Day 12- A WandafulThing 12 Days of Christmas 2020

                  A WandafulThing 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – Day 12

Thank you for joining me for my 12 Days of Christmas 2020.

Well here we are at the end of the series. If you want to see what you missed, be sure to see all the links at the end of this post.

This year I went back to basics of why I started my blog and that was to inspire you to make, bake, create and decorate, all on a budget of course.  You still have time to try some of these simple, easy and budget friendly ideas just in time for the holidays.

Day 12: Holiday Coconut Lemon Loaf

For the last day of the 12 Days of Christmas series, I am sharing a brand new to me recipe.  I love coconut and lemon so why not combine the two into one delicious dessert. This coconut lemon loaf will be a hit at any holiday gathering.

This cake gets its amazing lemon flavor from a combination of lemon zest and lemon juice.   It gets a triple dose of coconut from coconut yogurt, shredded coconut and coconut oil.

To begin:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.

Ingredients you will need:

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 cup coconut yogurt I used full-fat coconut Greek yogurt
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • Finely grated zest of 1 medium-large lemon
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

For the cream cheese frosting you will need:

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
  • 2 ounces of cream cheese softened
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 12 tablespoons milk or half and half
  • Shredded coconut and lemon zest optional garnish

Instructions for the loaf:

  • In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and shredded coconut.
  • In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, coconut oil and almond extract until well combined. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until well combined, the batter will be thick.
  • Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a rack to cool.

To make the frosting:

  • Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until combined. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon milk, almond extract and lemon zest and beat until combined. If the frosting is too thick add additional milk to thin it out. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with shredded coconut and lemon zest.

Storing:

Store it in an airtight container in refrigerator to keep it fresh longer.
 
If you decide to make this loaf or try a new recipe this holiday season, what will it be?

Lemon Coconut Loaf – It’s AWandafulThing!

Day 1- 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – Papercraft Angel

Day 2- 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – Painted glass jar candle holder

Day 3 – 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – Macrame Keychain

Day 4 – 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – DIY Holiday Straws

Day 5 – 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – No Bake Energy Balls

Day 6- 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – DIY Christmas Bulb Napkin RIngs

Day 7 -12 Days of Christmas 2020 – DIY Nutcracker Place Card Holders

Day 8 – 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – DIY Honey Lavender Sugar Scrub

Day 9 – 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – Sweet & Salty Holiday Candy

Day 10 – 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – DIY Twig & Washi Tape Card

Day 11 – 12 Days of Christmas 2020 – JOY Vertical Sign

You can follow me at all these lovely places:

Twitter @awandafulthing

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/WTtrinketsandtreasures/

Thanks for stopping by….until next time.

 

10 Awesome Slow Cooker Recipes

I love using a Slow Cooker so much I own two of them (different sizes).

With the colder weather here in Alberta right now, this is the perfect time to dig out the slow cooker and give some recipes a try. Here are 10 recipes you should try.

  1.  Blackberry Jam – If you like jam, go check out Healing Tomato for a great easy recipe, and don’t ya just love the name of that blog?

slow-cooker-blackberry-jam

2.  Baked Potatoes – if  you don’t want to wait an hour when you get home from work for a scrumptious baked potato try making them in the slow cooker. The One Pot Chef will show you how. I make these quite often and they are yummy.

slowcookerpotshd

3. Meatloaf – this is on the menu for this week (Wednesday). Meatloaf is a comfort food in my world and this recipe from Modernly Morgan is one of the easiest and tastiest I’ve tried.

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4.  Porcupine Meatballs – over at 365 days of slow cooking you will find 2 ways to make porcupine meatballs.  I really like these with the marinara sauce.

porcupine-meatballs

5.  Bacon Mushroom Swiss Chicken – okay I love this one, bacon- yes, mushrooms – yes, chicken – yes, and swiss cheese – oh my god YES!! It’s just a winning combination and another adorable blog name Recipes that Crock – bah ha ha – love it!!

bacon-mushroom-swiss-chicken-sq

Continue reading 10 Awesome Slow Cooker Recipes

Day 11 – Edible DIY Pretzel Wreaths

Edible DIY Pretzel Wreaths

Here is a cute and delicious idea for Christmas. These can be made and given as gifts or hung on the Christmas tree.  I plan on storing some in an airtight container until Christmas Day and then my family and friends can pick an ornament from my tree that is edible and delicious.

pretzel-wreath-1

For these pretzel wreaths you will need 9 small pretzels for each wreath, melted chocolate chips to adhere the pieces together and candy of your choice for decorating.  I used M&Ms and colored sugar.

Lay your pretzels out on parchment or wax paper (to catch the extra chocolate and sugar, this could get messy) to the size you want, like I said I used 9 pretzels in total per wreath, 5 on the bottom and four on the top.  I dipped each of the bottom pretzels in the melted chocolate and placed on the parchment paper in the shape of a wreath. Then I dipped the 4 remaining pretzels and placed them so they would overlap the bottom layer. While the chocolate was still wet I added my candy and colored sugar. Continue reading Day 11 – Edible DIY Pretzel Wreaths

Day 9 : Christmas Shortbread Bars

Christmas Shortbread Bars

Shortbread is a wonderful thing. It is so full of butter and simply melts in your mouth. It is my all time favorite cookie at Christmas and a ‘must bake’ every year.

shortbread-day-0

This recipe is so easy, no cooling in the fridge, no rolling, no cutting. You just need to combine all the ingredients and pat into an ungreased baking pan. The hardest part is waiting for them to come out of the oven.

The colored sugar gives these cookies the perfect festive look and they are immediately ready for the holidays. This shortbread is Barbara Bush’s recipe from the “White House Cookbook” and can be found online here at Bake Space along with some other delicious recipes.

day-9-shortbread-bars

This recipe makes lots, it filled this vintage cookie tin, this tin wasn’t this pretty blue to begin with,  a can of spray paint can work wonders. 😉

Here is what you need to make these melt in your mouth shortbread bars: Continue reading Day 9 : Christmas Shortbread Bars

Day 7 : Peppermint Bark Oreos

Peppermint Bark Oreo Cookies

cookies-2

These make great neighbor gifts. They are easy to make and take no time at all. Christmas and peppermint seem to go together and when you combine peppermint with white chocolate and Oreos you have a winning combination.  If you give them to the neighbors they are going to love them, I promise.

jar-cookies

Here is what you need:  Continue reading Day 7 : Peppermint Bark Oreos