As I’ve been eating my way through yogurt that Chobani sent me, I’ve been trying to get creative on new ways to cook with it. Everyone knows yogurt is a great low-fat alternative for baking so I took that as my starting point and took off from there.

While a good base recipe is essential, a lot of the fun of cakes and brownies is what you put inside or on top of them. Chocolate chips and coconut are among my favorites. These might not seem healthy but with Greek yogurt in place of oil and butter and craisins and coconut filling it up(in addition to some chocolate chips, of course) these won’t do you wrong or steer you off your New Year resolutions.

If you want to make this more of a healthy snack, swap in 1/2 cup of crushed walnuts or slivered almonds in for the chocolate chips. Either way it’ll taste great.

Loaded Coconut Cake Squares

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 8 x 8 pan):

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vanilla Chobani greek yogurt
• 2 eggs

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl sift together the gluten-free flour and baking powder.
3. Add in the craisins, 1/4 cup shredded coconut, white and dark chocolate chips and mix.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the yogurt, brown sugar, and eggs until homogenous.
5. Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry until the batter is well mixed.
6. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 baking pan.
7. Pour the batter into the pan and press down evenly.
8. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup coconut on top of the batter and press in lightly.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the center of the cake has set and the coconut on top begins to toast.
10. Remove from the oven and let cool before cutting into squares.

Don’t forget to add caramel or fudge sauce just in case this doesn’t have enough flavors going on for you.

There is so much right about these it’s hard to know where to begin. Honey butter is a sweet and rich condiment made of 1 part honey to 1 part butter. It’s a great thing to spread on toast, in sandwiches—wherever! It only seemed natural that this would make an excellent blondie, and with chocolate chips(because what do those not make better?). The flavor of honey butter shines through more as an aftertaste. I would have liked these to be a little fudgier but if you like your brownies more cakey then these are for you.

Honey Butter Blondies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup(1 stick) butter(or Earth Balance) at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour(I used Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free)
• 1/3 cup chocolate or white chocolate chips.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Start by creaming together your butter, sugar, and honey until it’s nice and smooth without any clumps. Add in the egg, extract, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and beat lightly.

Sift in the flour and mix again until  the batter is even. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips gently.

Press the batter into a greased 8×8 baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the center has set. Cool completely before cutting in and serving.

The top looked burnt but it wasn’t at all; I can only assume the ingredients cook to be that deep brown color. It actually smelled a lot like graham crackers baking!

I ate mine hot out of the oven and it was amazing. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a pat of honey butter on top. Technically, these were honey margarine blondies since I made mine with Earth Balance, but that doesn’t sound nearly as appealing so we’ll just stick with honey butter.

If you ask most people what the pride of New England is, they’d probably say The Red Sox or The Patriots. A foodie, on the other hand, knows that the best part about New England is our maple syrup(with Ben & Jerry filling the 2nd and 3rd spot). There’s nothing like warm french toast with pure maple syrup and some hazelnut coffee on a Fall day in New England. But this isn’t a french toast recipe. It’s better: Dessert. Nicole posted these maple snickerdoodle cookies and instantly my mind was filled with a cinnamon sugar dessert. Instead of cookies, I made blondies since they’re a little less tempermental(and so much denser). This recipe is perfect to have after dinner with a little coffee because it’s just the right balance of sweetness and spice. As we say in New England, fuck you Yankees they’re wicked good!

Maple Cinnamon Blondies

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoon butter(or vegan alternative like Earth Balance)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup natural almond butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour(or gluten-free alternative like Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees and let your butter soften before using. Cream together the butter, sugar, almond butter, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until it’s all combined.

Next, add the maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract and stir briefly. Sift in the flour and baking soda and mix until just combined. The batter should be rather thick like a cookie dough.

Grease an 8×8 baking pan and press the dough down in an even layer. Bake for 28-30 minutes until the center is set and the edges turn a crusty golden brown. Let the blondies cool before cutting into squares.

Mine came out a little thin(read: fudgy) since I didn’t use an egg or egg replacer and used gluten-free flour. But the flavor was everything that I wanted and more.

On a related note, I have no idea when this week became all about baked good recipes.  I’ve been eating real food, too(sometimes…), so expect those recipes to come.