This Sunday is Mother’s Day and what better way to say “Mom, I love you” than baking up a batch of treats? Every woman loves her sweets 
.
I will be featuring 3 easy to make treats for today — Pecan Bars, Coconut Macarons and Brownies. You may choose to be fierce and make all 3 or simply pick your favorite one for your mommy dearest.
Ingredients for Coconut Macaroons:
- 14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until they make medium-firm peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
Drop the batter onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper using either a 1 3/4-inch diameter ice cream scoop, or 2 teaspoons. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and serve.
Ingredients for Chewy Pecan Bars:
Crust
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Topping
- 1 1/4 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 4 cups coarsely chopped pecans (about 14 1/2 ounces)
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9x2-inch baking pan with foil, leaving 1-inch overhang on all sides. Butter foil. Blend flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt in processor. Add butter and process until mixture begins to clump together. Press dough evenly onto bottom of foil-lined pan. Bake crust until set and light golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Let stand while preparing topping. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
- 8oz unsweetened chocolate
- 12 oz butter
- 12 oz eggs
- 24 oz sugar
- 0.12 oz salt
- 1/2 oz vanilla
- 1/2 oz instant espresso powder/coffee
- 16 oz all purpose flour
- 12 oz of dark chocolate discs or bittersweet chocolate
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder/coffee
Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Stir in espresso powder. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before pouring over a cake. Start at the center of the cake and work outward.
Also today will be your last chance to enter my giveaway which will end at 7PM. (CT)
The lovely folks of Challenge Butter sent me a loooovely Zoo Animals Pancake Griddle from Nordic Ware($35 value), it is the most ADORABLE thing I’ve ever seen.
And you will win your choice of a 5″x7″ framed and matted color photo from my Spring Flower collection listed below ($50 value).
I will select one winner on Friday, May 7th at 7:00 PM using a random number generator service. In order to be eligible for this giveaway please:
1. Leave a comment about your favorite Zoo animal and why.
2. Become a fan of Joylicious on Facebook.
3. Follow me on Twitter.
Good Luck!
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Wow. Your photos are gorgeous. What kind of camera & lens do you use for your images?
And I guess since I’m already commenting
, I might as well enter for a chance to win!
Fave animal: elephant – just from simple size alone they’re amazing to me
I’ll head to FB to become a fan. If you’d like to do the same, find me under The Professional Palate & on twitter @profpalate
Will do Regan — thank you for the kind words. I shoot with a sony alpha 550 and usually use my macro 50 mm f 2.8 lens.
Those treats look positively decadent, Joy!
She’s coming for a visit later this month, though, and I think those brownies would be a wonderful treat to celebrate a belated Mother’s Day.
I won’t get to see my Mumsy this weekend, unfortunately, because she lives quite far away.
Ah thank you Isabelle for the kind words — How wonderful that your mom is coming to visit soon! I hope you two have a wonderful time together, what better way to connect again than through a plate of treats and a few glasses of something nice
Oh What a beautiful treat selection for your mom, She will be delighted for such a treatment! Lucky you to have a wonderful mom living close by. Mine is in France and I miss her a lot! Enjoy!
Ah France! How I long to visit that place some day — my mother actually is not a fan of treats, I made my mother in law a fruit tart for Mother’s Day
I will feel your pain once my mom moves away this year, I am dreading the departure! Any tips on how you deal with the distance?
I love the expresso brownies. They are so pretty.
I’ve got to say you have a pretty cool name
Thanks for the kind words, those brownies definitely will give you a nice buzz!
Delicious assortment of homemade baked treats for Mom! My Mom would especially like those chewy pecan bars!
Ah thank you Cristina
The pecan bars are my favorite too!!! (hopefully your mother will agree)
What delicious treats for mom! I have to say I love the chewy pecan bars
Wow. I’m on a sugar high looking at those wonderful recipes and photos. All good stuff!
Hahaha Thank you Bao! I got a sugar high from having to “taste” them all
everything looks fantastic even the macaroons, and I don’t even like them! My favorite one would have to be the brownies. I’m bookmarking this post! Thanks!
Ah
Thank you Memoria!! I hope you enjoy them ^_^
Ah, my mother would love chocolate but her doctor says “no way” though she can’t give me a clear reason why he says “no way”. Frankly I think her diet has become so limited that it hardly makes life worth living some days.
So I sent her a book.
What a good option, as delicious as chocolate can be, sometimes a book is even better. You can reread a book a million times and learn it page for page, but you can only eat a chocolate bar once.
Your mom is in my thoughts.
Confession: We don’t celebrate anything, maybe birthdays, but really my family is pretty quiet on the holidays.
However, if I wanted to make the ganache brownies, could I change it without the espresso powder?
Confession noted because guess what? My family didn’t celebrate CRAP, the only birthday we’d celebrate would be mine and that was on an occasional basis. For many years I tried buying my mom presents during mother’s day only to have her return them the next day — her exact words are ” I don’t want present. Only thing mommy want is for you to get straight A. Oh that and maybe a card.” So that’s all I’ve done for the past 8 years — no more presents, just cards.
Asian moms are so funny.
The original recipe actually called for no espresso powder, I added them in so please feel free to leave out!
Chewy pecan bars please!
Amen to that!
Joy, They all look sooooo good!! I’d love to try them all!! Probably the pecan bars first
Thank you Reiko!! The pecan bars are my favorite
!!!!! I use to sneak a bite every morning — it’s so hard to resist…
My, oh my… Luscious-looking desserts. I made coconut macaroons as well and use the crust to make a cheesecake
OOO JACKIE you bad girl — that sounds DIVINE, I am imagining the flavor possibilities with that combination and I am sold. Please tell me the recipe is on your website!
Oh yes Joy, I love that expresso brownie too! They look so scrumptious! How could you do this to me! *soop* Three at a time! How dare you! =(
HAHAHA…….
Have a fabulous weekend, dear!
Blessings, Kristy
*evil grin* Consider it payback Kristy for all the yum yums that always make my tummy growl!!!
Thank you for the kind words as always, you are the best. ^_^
Of all the the three, I’ll go for expresso brownie. Looks so fabulous and nice clicks as usual.
Have a great weekend!
Ah Thank you Anncoo!
Oh, Joy, your mom is so lucky to have you, such a talented and sophisticated daughter!
Joy, you are one precious daughter to your mom!!! Love all of the goodies!!! Enjoy Mother’s Day with your Mom!!!
Hahaha thanks Sara!! I think am growing increasingly nostalgic as the days inch closer and closer to her departure. I hope you had a wonderful mother’s day
Wow….everything is so amazing here! I love all of them. Now I think I want to celebrate Mother’s Day everyday!! I better show this to my girls….hint hint
Awesome pictures as usual, Joy!
Hahaha! Thanks Mary Moh
I completely 100% agree that everyday should be Mother’s Day (therefore I see no problem with your daughters making you a few extra treats).!
These are beautiful!
This post is almost too much for my senses! Those brownies with ganache are pastry-shop quality, I am extremely impressed and am adding them to my favorites.
Thank you so much Amanda! I actually made these desserts for a wedding tasting when I was a pastry chef for a catering company, they are addicting!
That’s adorable. Specially the brownie bites. Mother’s day in Sweden does not happen the same time as in the US though, so I guess I’ll have to save your recipe for later.
When does Mother’s Day happen in Sweden? I think Mother’s Day should happen several times a year
beautiful layout…. and amazing recipes.
joy, it would be hard for me which one to pick.. to be honest, i want them all. i don’t care how many calories i will gain if i eat them all… hahahah it’s absolutely food porn… you know it’s bad but you just want to have them!
im sure you bring so much joy to y our mom…
Ah thank you Malou
I definitely got quite the belly while making these, I think my favorite would have to be the Pecan Bars. I will have to lay off of these treats for the rest of summer if I have any intention of wearing cute dresses haha. I hope I bring much happiness to my mom, I gave her quite the hard time when I was a teenager haha hopefully I’ll make up for it (majorly) for the years to come.
wow, Joy. Gorgeoussssss, I loveee loveee loveeee the bright flowers you used to decorate your plates. The desserts look sinful. yum!
Thank you Nadia — they are actually edible flowers. I ate one and they were pretty tasteless haha I think next time I would sugar coat them
they all look great!!
Thank you Betty
A.MA.ZING pictures. I can’t wait to try the macaroons – they look divine! All these recipes do, and I’m sure I’ll make several of them. Thanks for the great job you do of inviting folks into the kitchen. MMM!!
Wow! Your photos are awe inspiring! I’ve never baked for my mum on Mothers Day before but I think this year might be a first after coming across your blog. Thankyou