Grandma's Coconut Chews

For the third year in a row (apparently), I decided to stick with coconut as the main ingredient in Nonni's gift. I also, once again, tried to find something that was heart-friendly and at least looked like it would go well with a morning cup of coffee. After a search through Pinterest I finally settled on the coconut chews from Barefeet in the Kitchen (the grandma referenced is the blogger's grandma).

Coconut Brookies

I almost didn't do anything for Barba John and Auntie Paldina. At one point in December I got an email from Nonni saying the three of them had decided that they wouldn't get Christmas presents for the others' grandkids. In other words, for example, I wouldn't be getting gifts from John and Paldina. Understandable. I still felt I should make them something at least this year, to kind of even things out from the past. So I searched for a chocolate coconut dessert for Barba John. I eventually settled on Coconut Brookies from Crazy for Crust.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Truffles

As I said in Barba John's recipe post, I got the main flavors for Barba John and Auntie Paldina mixed up. I really shouldn't have though - Barba John is Nonni's brother and while I know siblings don't always share favorite flavors (Anthony's love of dark chocolate and my distaste for it is just one example), there's still the possibility of that when they grow up together (my brothers and I all love peanut butter). I still mixed things up, though, and focused on the coconut recipes I've saved for Mom and Nonni when searching for Auntie Paldina's present. I finally settled on chocolate-covered coconut truffles from Sugar Apron, thinking they'd be easy. Right?

Coconut Jam Squares

Nonni's present was a bit hard to pick out. She had heart surgery back in August so I wanted to make something that was heart-healthy. Mom told me to try and be low on butter and salt. I also wanted to find something that would taste good with coffee and could maybe pass as breakfast because Nonni always texts me a few days after getting a gift from me saying that she's enjoying her present with her morning coffee. After lots of looking I found a recipe for squares with coconut and raspberry jam in my 500 Best Cookies, Bars, & Squares cookbook.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Biscotti

It's that time of year! Time for me to wear out myself and my KitchenAid mixer in order to give the best gift I can think to give: baked goods. Picking recipes out is often hard because even when I have specific flavors to go off of, there are a lot of options in the form of cookies, brownies, etc. Still, I somehow find recipes for everyone.

Nonni's was a bit easy. I decided to make her something with coconut in it. I do have a few coconut recipes saved for her and Mom on Pinterest so I looked at those before deciding on Coconut Chocolate Chip Biscotti from Desserts Required.

Strawberry Coconut Cake Mix Cookies

For Mother's Day this year I knew I had to do something simple. Auntie Vicki was having a brunch and my mom wanted me to make the orange pound cake I'd made her a couple birthdays ago (the night Anthony and Kati announced their engagement). Because I would be limited on time I decided to look at what kind of cookies or bars I could make with a box mix (I have no idea who it was that first came up with the idea to doctor box mixes but I will never not thank that person. The recipes are great when I'm short on time). For the flavor I decided to make something with coconut (I can't seem to not make something for my mom with coconut. Not that she's complaining) and that was strawberry flavored. The latter I did for two reasons: 1) I love strawberries and I know she's not picky about what flavors her treats are and 2) my dad (for whatever reason) hates strawberries so even if what I picked didn't have coconut, he'd stay away from them. I eventually settled on Strawberry Coconut Cake Mix cookies from The Frugal Girls.

(P.S. I know it's been two weeks since Mother's Day. My first excuse was that iCloud wasn't working so I couldn't get the pics on my iPad to make the collages. My second excuse is that I've been hesitant to do certain things lately. Like cut cable and switch to paid streaming services like Netflix.)

White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

As I've said before, one of few things my mom likes that almost no one else in our family does is coconut. So even when I don't have coconut in my pantry, I tend to focus on the coconut recipes on Pinterest when searching for Mom's presents. For Christmas I chose a white chocolate coconut cookies recipe from - believe it or not - Ebay (apparently they have a whole section on their site for recipes and how-to guides and such).