White Chocolate Cherry Coconut Blondies for The Leftovers Club

For this month's Leftover's Club I was excited to be paired (for the second time) with Shaina from Take a Bite out of Boca. Shaina has a great blog with lots of recipes and restaurant reviews. Shaina and I have been in the Leftover's Club for quite a while and we both love it. Who wouldn't want to trade goodies each month with a fellow blogger? If this sounds like fun to you (and why wouldn't it?), I encourage you to sign up at Food Ramblings!

 

After reading through Shaina's Blog, I discovered she likes cherries so I decided to make these delicious White Chocolate Cherry Coconut Blondies. White chocolate on its own has a tendency to be pretty sweet so the tartness of the dried cherries really complimented the sweetness of the chocolate. The unsweetened flaked coconut really adds to the chewy texture.

 

 

 

To me, these flavors are perfect for Valentine's Day so I decided to bake the blondies in the shape of a heart, cuz you know... hearts are just cute.

 

I hope Shaina enjoys the blondies and I hope you give them a try too!

White Chocolate Cherry Coconut Blondies
Makes approx. 15-18 bars (depending upon size)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup melted butter, slightly cooled
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chunks (I used Ghiradelli White Chocolate Bars)
1 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped if they are large
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (I used Let's Do Organic Coconut Flakes which is large flakes)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350f. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with non-stick aluminum foil (or use regular foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray).

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and light brown sugar until well combined and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture and stir until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the white chocolate chunks, cranberries and 1/2 cup for the coconut flakes.

Dollop the dough into the prepared baking pan and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut flakes.

Bake at 350 for approx. 25 minutes or until the bars are set and the edges and top are lightly golden brown.

Remove and place on a wire cooling rack to cool. When bars have cooled, cut into squares.

Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

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