Kokoski

The first recipe I want to share with you, is one of my most favorite desserts. If you like chocolate and coconut you will love this recipe. It reminds me of the candy I used to like as a small girl called Bounty. It’s not very popular in the United States. I guess Almond Joy is the American version of it.

I chose this specific recipe to be the first one posted in my blog because it reminds me of my childhood and my mom. My mom used to make it a lot for us. I loved helping her in the kitchen. Sometimes my brother would also participate. We had lots of fun hanging out in the kitchen and a great family time. I think it is important to get the kids involved and let them help out in the kitchen. Whenever I cook anything, my daughter comes next to me and wants to add the ingredients. She also loves to take out all the pots and pans from my kitchen cabinets :< All my spoons and other utensils get thrown all over the house and then when I start cooking I run around the house yelling at her and trying to find what I need 🙂 She also makes a great obstacle course on the floor lol .When I walk around I have to try not to trip between the pan and the potato masher. But she likes to be involved in the kitchen and pretend that she is cooking something for me. She gets very upset when I don’t want to try her ‘pretended dishes’ 🙂

Regardless of the fact that I get angry when everything is lying all over the house, I really enjoy those moments spend together in the kitchen. That’s how memories are created. I think no matter what culture you come from, food brings people together.

Ok, but going back to my recipe 🙂 I have prepared for you a simple white cake that is cut into squares then covered in melted chocolate and finally sprinkled with the coconut flakes. It is very simple to make and great with the cup of coffee. If you’d like to take a shortcut you can just take a regular store-bought pound cake and chocolate chips. In my house we always made everything (almost everything) from scratch. So this is the recipe:

For the Cake you will need:

½ cup of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
Pinch of salt
4 eggs
2 tbsp of canola oil
¼ cup of sugar

To make the cake

I separate the whites from yolks and beat the whites with a pinch of salt until stiff picks.
To the whites I add the sugar and mix until combined. I keep mixing and add one egg yolk at the time. Finally, add the canola oil.
Then I turn the mixer off and start adding the flour. I gently add the flour and mix the batter with the wooden spoon. (ok so my mom always believed that you are supposed to mix this cake with the wooden spoon, so it rises better. I’m not sure if it really helps or not but just in case I use wooden spoon like she taught me 🙂 )From this point you need to be gentle with the cake so the spoon works better than the mixer.
Finally,I transfer the cake to the 8inx8in baking dish and bake in the oven preheated to 325 for approximately 30 minutes. The cake is ready when after inserting a tooth pick it comes out clean. Try not to open the oven while the cake is baking so the temperature is not lowered and the cake doesn’t fall.
After the cake is baked I take it out of the oven and let cool for few minutes. I am very restless so waiting is the hardest part of making that cake 🙂 Then I cut the cake into squares.
Ok so the cake is ready. That was easy right? 😉 Now we need chocolate sauce for dipping. As I mentioned before you can simply use chocolate chips or any kind of chocolate you like. Just melt it with a little bit of butter and start dipping the cakes.
This is how we make chocolate sauce from the scratch in my family.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
1/4 cup of milk or as needed

To make it I melt the butter in the pot. While the butter is melting I add the sugar. I use the whisk to stir everything together. If the butter and sugar are separating I add a little bit of milk. I keep adding one tablespoon of milk at the time until I get a smooth consistency. Then I add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.
I let the chocolate cool a little bit and then start dipping the cake into chocolate.
After the chocolate, I transfer it into the coconut and cover all the sides evenly. I use approximately 3 cups of the coconut flakes.
Sometimes I run out of the chocolate cover or the coconut so I have to add a little bit more. It all depends on how the chocolate is sticking or how large I cut the cake. After all the pieces are done I let it cool in the fridge for few minutes until the chocolate sets. ( Ok, I’ll be honest….I can’t wait. I eat it right away lol )
I hope you try this recipe. Let me know how you like it and feel free to post comments or ask questions if I was not clear in my explanations. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING !!!