Grandma was an excellent baker, and I believe she could probably whip up a tasty batch of cookies without even consulting a recipe. But she still wrote down plenty of recipes for sweets. This one is labeled as an "Ariz. recipe," which may mean she got it while visiting her son or daughter in Arizona. Or maybe they brought it with them on a visit to Minnesota. Whatever the case, Grandma wrote this recipe for "peanut butter coconut brownies” on the back of the program for the cornerstone laying ceremony for Grace Covenant Church in Little Falls, Minnesota that took place on July 16, 1967.
As I scanned through the ingredient list, I expected this one to be well-received around here. The coconut in there seemed like an unlikely ingredient - I don't usually think of pairing it with peanut butter, but somehow it works, I concluded after sampling the finished product. You can't really taste it, but it adds some texture.
I can't bring myself to call these brownies as there's not a speck of chocolate in them. I've resorted to calling them peanut butter bars. To make a pan of 30 bars, you'll need the following:
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup chunk-style peanut butter (or smooth if that's what you've got)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flaked coconut
Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan. Sift together dry ingredients. Beat eggs in a medium-sized bowl until thick and lemon-colored. Gradually add brown sugar, beating until thick. Add butter, peanut butter and vanilla. Mix well. Fold in dry ingredients and coconut. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
These bars reminded us of the blondies I sometimes make, though they're a bit fluffier - more like cake, our eleven-year-old noted. They seem to keep well too. Five days after baking, they still tasted as good as they did the day I pulled them out of the oven. Our boys like them quite a lot - I had to shoo them away while I was taking the photos for this post or those three bars above would have been devoured before I could document this recipe trial.
I imagine we'd like them equally well - or better - with a cup of chocolate chips stirred in. Perhaps I'll try that the next time I bake them.
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