Here I am behind yet again. That’s ok. There’s no real time line for this anyway. This is a combined mental health and baking blog so here’s some of the mental health part. I’m sitting in a hotel room in Florida attending a technical conference on how to build your business. I’m definitely suffering pretty heavily from Imposter Syndrome being here. I feel like a total fraud and like I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. I don’t really. I’m pretty new to the business side of things. That’s why I’m here. I’m cutting teeth to help my company out. It’s really awesome and inspiring and confidence boosting. It’s also super stressful. I’m very unconfident and always think people are judging me. Being a huge introvert doesn’t help that part. I’ve sat in the hotel room unable to join in the networking events because I’m so nervous and unsure of myself. How lame is that? I know I need to put myself out there I’m just not ready yet. Anyway I figured while I’m here I should finally write this one up. I made them last week and they’re a hit. Also my SWOT analysis and other fun business-y things have been written up and sent out for feedback. Feels good to do that.

These were inspired by Hummingbird High baker Michelle’s Weekday Baking and the King Arthur Flour cookbooks. I wanted to make some brownies and had the idea that coconut would probably work pretty well. I looked through my many cookbooks and found two recipes that looked like they’d be good. I took pieces and parts from both and then added my own touches, coconut and chocolate chunks. You can really do any add ins that you’d like. It is a good idea to let the melted butter chocolate mixture sit and cool for a few minutes before you add it to the wet ingredients. You want to avoid scrambling the eggs.

I’m getting late and I’m wiped out. I really want to get this posted and off my plate. The brownies have been a good baking confidence boost for me. They worked out very well. The feedback from @deardefheart (my other half) and a blog follower have been that they were awesome and perfect. I’ll take it. Now if I can get the same thing when I’m at weird networking events then I can probably conquer that weird fear too.

Michelle - Hummingbird High baker - thanks for your recipe inspiration. I found it very helpful. I know I probably didn’t tweak it much, but I hope I made you proud. I hope you find this some day and smile.

Ingredients

1 Cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 3.2oz bars of dark chocolate 60-70%
1 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup dark brown sugar
1/4 Cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract
1 Cup dark chocolate chunks
1 Cup shredded sweetened coconut

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper letting the excess hang over the sides. spray the parchment with cooking spray
Over a double boiler, or in a microwave safe bowl melt the butter and cocoa powder and mix
Break up the 3.2oz bars of chocolate and stir into the butter mixture until melted. (microwave as needed) - set aside to cool
Combine the granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, eggs, coconut extract, and vanilla in the bowl of your stand mixer using the whisk attachment
Add in the melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine
Remove the bowl from the mixer and, with a spatula, fold in the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Pour the batter into the prepared 9x13 baking pan. Smooth and even out with a spatula
Bake 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle. It’s better to under bake these
Let the brownies cool in the pan and then lift out using the parchment
Cut and ENJOY