Every now and then you come across one of those recipes that’s absolutely amazing and despite the fact that you just made them, so you know quite well how many ingredients were involved, you’re still stunned by how simple they were to make!  Michelle’s Coconut Chocolate Chip Brownies from her website, Brown Eyed Baker, match that description perfectly.

These brownies are have only eight ingredients, come together almost effortlessly and super quick, and to quote a colleague of mine: “these are so good, they’re criminal!”.  I’ve also had them compared to tasting like a cookie but with the texture of a brownie, and even got a thumbs-up from a friend of mine who doesn’t particularly care for coconut.  These brownies are winning over everyone I’ve shared them with, so I’m going to stop talking now and give you the recipe so that you can go and make them!

With Thanks To: Michelle for her recipe, which I’ve slightly modified here.

Preparation Time: 20-30 minutes
Yield: 40 mini-muffin-sized brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup (165g) brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup chocolate chips (dark, milk, or white)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and either line with cups, or grease and flour, a mini-muffin tray.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
3. Beat together the butter and sugar until well-combined.
4. Add in the egg and vanilla and continue mixing until well-combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly, about 1/4 cup at a time, blending until just-combined.
6. Fold in the coconut and chocolate chips.
7. Drop tablespoon-sized amounts of batter into each mini-muffin cup.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes; the edges should just be turning golden.
9. Let cool for 8-10 minutes in the trays and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Thoughts:

• The original recipe includes instructions for baking these in a greased and floured 8×8 pan instead of the mini-muffin cups that I used here.  If you want to cut down on the preparation time even more and trade it for time spent in the oven, that’s a fine way to go (you’ll have them ready to go into the oven in 15 minutes at most).  I tried that for my third batch and followed the original instructions for 25-30 minutes in the oven, after which I let the brownies cool to room temperature in the pan to ensure that the center was able to set up properly.  After popping them out they cut up easily into 36 two-bite-sized pieces.
• As I hinted at up in the ingredients list it seems that any kind of chocolate chip seems to work well here (this recipe is just that amazing).  I’ve tried folks out on a batch made with white and another batch made with bittersweet, and got about an even 50/50 split on preference.  I’m leaning towards the bittersweet myself, but the white chocolate and coconut do go really well together.

Step-by-Step:

Not much to see here, just some flour and salt.  Give it a good whisking and set it aside for now.

The melted butter and brown sugar will come together into a thick, melted caramel mix.

Adding the egg and vanilla will help thin it out.

Now blend in your dry ingredients.  The dough will still be quite moist when it’s all folded together.

Add the “extras” and gently fold them in.

This part is a little time-consuming, but in certain circumstances being able to share brownies each with their own wrapper can be extra convenient, plus I just like the shape that they come out with this way!

What could be better at this point than a bowl of bite-sized brownies?