Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Coconut Raspberry Squares

These are my Coconut Raspberry Squares from The Everyday Vegan. If you love coconut, you must try these. (I know some people aren't big on coconut, my hubby for one. He won't eat one, but my sister's family inhales them!)

Anyhow, you make a simple base (I used spelt flour instead of white) that gets pressed into a square pan. Then, you spread on some raspberry (or other jam), and then top with another simple coconut-flour mixture. Very easy.

A couple of cooking tips for you:
1) When sprinkling on the topping, lightly press it into the jam mixture.
2) For no-fuss cleaning, use parchment paper to line your pan. This is easier than you might think. Cut out a square and lay your pan on top. Then, cut slits at each corner into the pan, as pictured below. Rotate the pan and make another cut, until you have all corners. Then, pop the parchment into the pan and let those slits fold over one another (sorry, I meant to take a photo of this - next time).

Vegan Food For Thought: - Did you know that the late Donald Watson pronounced the 'p' in raspberry? I love that.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever tested your recipes using gluten free flours? (i.e. rice, tapioca, potato starch, etc) If so, how well do they work with these conversions? These bars look delicious!

I am an omnivore but am intrigued by many of your recipes. I am also gluten free (not by choice but medical necessity..celiac diseas) and casein (dairy) free. Many of your recipes suit my sometimes challenging diet.

Guinnah said...

Dreena - these look so good. I'll definitely be giving these a try.

To anonymous - my daughter's best friend has celiac's. I love trying to come up with GF foods for her that are new. It is a challenge, you're right.

Julie said...

Rasberry and Coconut-sounds like a winning combo to me!

Flo @ Yielded Heart said...

These look so wonderful! Can I have a piece with my tea, please?
Speaking of coconut, I made the carob chip muffins from VLV today- 5 stars.
I used chocolate chips, but the combination of that with the coconut and the orange zest was unbelievable!

Dreena said...

Hi anonymous, I have done just a little experimenting with non-gluten flours. After writing TEV, people asked me for wheat-free recipes. I put a lot of wheat-free recipes in Vive, and certainly many of the entrees/dips, etc are gluten free, however most of the desserts are not. I will be experimenting some for my next book and hope to include some gluten-free baked goods/desserts in there. As for these squares, because they don't rely as much on the binding nature of a gluten-flour, I think they would work pretty well with something like millet flour. Thanks for your note and drop by again!

Hey Madelyn! Yes, I agree entirely that it is astonishing that you managed to get a morsel away from them!! :) And I also agree that these squares are awesome straight from the freezer - and with a hot drink... mmmm!

Thanks, Nancy and Julie!

Thanks kaivegan!! Funny, I was going to make those muffins today, but I didn't have muffin liners and I really don't like cleaning muffin pans, so I decided to wait. So pleased you are liking them... so nice to see you in the avatar photo, btw! :)

Dreena said...

Veggiewoman, this is fantastic!!!

Wow, it sounds like you are very inspired and just having fun with new vegan recipes. I went on a very low-fat regimen years back... not sure if I was completely vegan or not, but I do know that I watched fat like a hawk. Now I understand that it is important to consume the 'good fats'. Olive, canola, flax, sesame, sunflower oils - all good fats. As are the oils in avocado, and nuts/nut butters. And of course we don't want to overdo the amount of fat we consume as vegans - and certainly avoid the trans (hydrogenated fats), but these good fats are important - *essential* - to our health. It is better to get the white sugar and white flour out of our diets and reduce overal sugar intake than to cut out the fats. You can now make baked goods with things like spelt flour or whole wheat flour and ground oats, and using unrefined sugars, and they still taste terrific! Even desserts, while treats, are far healthier than SAD desserts - and less 'addictive'.

Oh, yes, I also love letting my older daughter lick the spatula... no worries about food safety!! That was one of my fondest memories growing up and I hope it will be one of hers too! :)

Thanks, veggiewoman!!

Anonymous said...

I just made this recipe last week for the first time! It's SO easy and delicious. I brought the pan to work and a little mouse emptied the pan over a few days. The pan showed up clean on my desk with a sticky note that said "refill?" My colleague (the mouse) said she couldn't believe they were vegan and has decided to try a vegan diet for 2 weeks.

Harmonia said...

First, last, and late post today...but I will be back tomorrow! You are the only blog I visited today! I wanted to let you know I posted a lengthy informational post about kumquats along with 2 FLOGS. :) More tomorrow! Looks like you had a busy one too, eh!?

Harmonia said...

What are filberts? jw

Dreena said...

Hi veggiewoman! If it sounded like I was implying that you weren't eating the healthy fats and lecturing that you 'should', that certainly wasn't my intention - sorry!!! I was just trying to convey that there is still a tendency for people to avoid fats in general, and not distinguish between the good and bad kinds. You obviously know your stuff (well, you are veggiewoman after all)! :) By the way, give avocadoes a try again. Chopped in a salad or mashed with some salt and lemon juice (to taste). Perhaps the guacamole you had in that restaurant was too seasoned with onions, garlic, etc... and that could have turned you off of them. We love them in our house, but I know not everyone does.

Thanks tina k! What a great story about your coworker!! I love the 'refill?' bit... excellent, and even better that she is going to try eating vegan - good work by you! :)

Well, I think I feel very honored, Harmonia! :) Yes, my day has been absolutely mad from the get-go! Not sure how I'll fare by the evening at this rate!

Thanks again veggiewoman for clearing up the filbert confusion!

Anonymous said...

These Coconut Raspberry Squares are amazing. I used Fruit Sweetened, Organic, seedless raspberry jam and shared them with a girlfriend with tea. We kept going Mmmmm.

SoVeg said...

The perfect dessert. I'm trying this one for sure.