Girly - {Maraschino Cherry Lamingtons}

I briefly considered opening this post with a paragraph-long deprecation of Valentine's Day, but I did something along those lines last year, so why do it again? Instead, this year, I'm going to talk about what I do like about this ingeniously marketed holiday.I'm sure it's rather straightforward and plain considering my interests and my gender. But not too simple; of course I like flowers and

An Experiment: Magic Cookie Bar Cupcakes!

When  was in Marlboro, New York recently I had the awesomest Magic Cookie Bars made by Meghan Gaffney...I fell in love!

 So, I asked Meghan to send me the recipe...which she did!

 I made the bars as cupcakes...I divided the entire recipe ingredients into twelve parts and made them into cupcakes! When I took them out of the oven, it seemed as if they hadn't baked all the way through.

I was ready to throw them away, but let them sit overnight. The next morning, they had set up and had hardened over night! I was so surprised...and happy. Took them to work where they were devoured and everyone said they were the BEST!

Here's the recipe:

Melt 1 stick of butter with 1-1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs; press mixture into cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers (sprayed with PAM) to form a crust. (Divide by weight into the 12 cupcake liners.)


Pour one ounce of condensed milk (from 12 ounce can) over crumbs in the cupcake liner.


Sprinkle 12oz bag of mini chocolates chips (1 ounce in each cupcake liner) on top of  the condensed milk.


Lastly, cover each "cupcake" with 1-1/3 cups of coconut flakes (divided by 12). 


Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.


Have a great week...working on Thanksgiving cupcakes next!!!


CQ

An Experiment: Magic Cookie Bar Cupcakes!

When  was in Marlboro, New York recently I had the awesomest Magic Cookie Bars made by Meghan Gaffney...I fell in love!

 So, I asked Meghan to send me the recipe...which she did!

 I made the bars as cupcakes...I divided the entire recipe ingredients into twelve parts and made them into cupcakes! When I took them out of the oven, it seemed as if they hadn't baked all the way through.

I was ready to throw them away, but let them sit overnight. The next morning, they had set up and had hardened over night! I was so surprised...and happy. Took them to work where they were devoured and everyone said they were the BEST!

Here's the recipe:

Melt 1 stick of butter with 1-1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs; press mixture into cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers (sprayed with PAM) to form a crust. (Divide by weight into the 12 cupcake liners.)


Pour one ounce of condensed milk (from 12 ounce can) over crumbs in the cupcake liner.


Sprinkle 12oz bag of mini chocolates chips (1 ounce in each cupcake liner) on top of  the condensed milk.


Lastly, cover each "cupcake" with 1-1/3 cups of coconut flakes (divided by 12). 


Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.


Have a great week...working on Thanksgiving cupcakes next!!!


CQ

Me? On the Martha Stewart Show? - {Chocolate, Mango and Coconut Cream Cake}

Over a red sky, the sun sets paints the cars ahead of me as muted silhouettes. The median's green trimmed grass has lost its brightness in comparison to its pavement cell walls, and the tall untamed trees beyond the shoulders have darkened under the pressure of brilliantly illuminated jet streams. Across the way, cars and trucks speed eastward, away from the sun, discernible only by pairs of

Cold Feet - {Alfajores}

On a chilly February day, I find myself venturing carefully down the sidewalks of the main drag just north of campus. Although dutifully cleared, the walkway is menacing and slick under my shoes. Charting my unsure steps over its surface proves to be quite a challenge, but I see myself through by gluing my eyes appropriately to my salt-stained toes. Carrying on in a semi-confident if not slow

Pumpkin Coconut Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 egg, at room temperature
5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour or spray (with baking spray with flour) 1 loaf pan. In a medium mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the coconut milk, egg and pumpkin, mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle with coconut if desired. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan about 5 minutes then invert to a wire rack.

My thoughts:

It has been an incredibly long time since I've made a quick bread. Looking back through the archives, I see that I made a lot of them back in 2007 but the last couple years have been filled mainly with muffins and yeast raised doughs. But! I have nothing against the quick bread so here I am with a new recipe. I personally abhor pumpkin pie (it is one of the three foods I refuse to eat under any circumstances) but I don't mind actual pumpkin so every year I try and find new non-pumpkin pie-y ways to use it. I've made pumpkin muffins, pumpkin corn bread, pumpkin pancakes and my favorite: pumpkin cheesecake brownies. This bread creeps a bit into the "dessert for breakfast" category but makes a great snack! Coconut and pumpkin go together suprisingly well and the bread is rich and very moist.

Almost - {Coconut Cupcakes}

I've been spending the past few weeks stubbornly wearing short sleeve shirts and sandals to class in protest of the dying summer. In complete denial, I check the temperature every morning before I head out, refusing to believe that the 54F displayed on my monitor is actually anything less than 75F.And so I don my skirts, bury my socks deep into my drawers and toss my hoodies into the darkened

Homemade Sno-balls

Ingredients:

for the coconut:
5 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
food dye

for the cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cups hot buttermilk
1/2 cup dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs, at room temperature
pinch salt


for the marshmallow:
1/4 oz. unflavored powdered gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/8 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

for the cream filling:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup cold butter
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
for the coconut:
This step can be done the day before you want to assemble and serve the cupcakes.
Place the coconut and a few drops of dye into a resealable plastic bag. Shake to evenly distribute the dye, adding more as needed to reach the desired color. Pour the coconut into a large bowl.

for the cake:
This step can be done the day before you want to assemble and serve the cupcakes.
Preheat oven to 350. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar cocoa, and instant espresso until smooth.

In large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until smooth. Alternate the chocolate mixture and the dry ingredients until well blended. Fill each well of the cupcake pan(s) 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of the center cupcake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.


for the marshmallow:
In a large bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water. Allow to seep for 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/8 cup water. Bring to a vigorous boil and boil for 1 minute. Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed for 1 minute. Add the salt and vanilla and beat for 12 minutes. Quickly spread on three sides of the cupcakes (bottom/indented side up) and form to make a dome. Roll in coconut. Brush any coconut off the bottom. Place, plain side down on a try and allow the coconut to set up before filling.



for the cream filling:
In a small pan, mix flour with milk and boil until thick. Cool. Beat until fluffy and add other ingredients one at a time, beating well after each addition. Refrigerate 1 hour. The cream should be cold and rather stiff when you pipe it into the cake, the act of piping will soften it a bit so do not be tempted to let it warm up before filling. By this time, the marshmallow on the cupcakes should be firm enough that it is safe to fill them. Pipe cream into the center of the bottom of each cupcake.

Yield: about 10 cupcakes (depending on pan size)

Note: I used this dessert shell pan I found. It has a little indentation on the top. I just filled that tiny dent with marshmallow. It made perfect sized (and round!) cakes. If you don't have the pan, I would make regular cupcakes and coat the bottoms and sides liberally with marshmallow, leaving the "top" free of marshmallow and sort of shape it (after the coconut) into a dome manually.

My thoughts:

Today's my 30th birthday! I wanted to make something special after last year's success with homemade Chocodiles so I returned to the snack cake world and created a homemade Hostess Sno-ball! If you are not familiar, a sno-ball is a coconut and marshmallow-covered, cream filled chocolate cupcake. Traditionally they are white (like a snowball) but around holidays they have colored coconut.

For this recipe I wanted to keep the character of the packaged cake but of course, homemade is tastier! I created a dark chocolate sort of devil's food cake recipe because the original cakes are actually rather rich tasting for a commercial cupcake. My husband made the cakes last night so today there was less to do. The marshmallow on these cupcakes isn't just fluffy marshmallow-y frosting, it is actual marshmallow just like it is on the packaged cakes. That's why it is important to quickly roll them in the coconut and then have to wait for them to set up before you pipe in the creamy filling. Honestly they were very easy to make, there is just a number of steps (and again, making the cakes the day before is a great idea-no waiting for the cakes to cool enough to spread on the marshmallow on the assembly day) but they are all simple. It is rather messy but luckily marshmallow is just sugar so it washes right away.

They are so tasty! The cake is moist and the perfect texture and flavor. Best snack cake ever!

Martha Stewart's Coconut Chick Cupcakes (#6)

This is my sixth cupcake in the Martha Stewart self-challenge to make all 175 cupcakes in Martha Stewart's cupcake book: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat (Paperback). So, far this one has been the most fun!

Even Layla liked it...she thought she had a new friend to hang out with!

I actually made three of the chicks...they are pretty labor intensive. Luckily, I was able to find the red candy-coated licorice pastels at the Candy Kitchen while I was in Ocean City, MD over the weekend. I thought I was going to have to order them online! The little beak is an almond!

After that I just used the remaining frosting and toasted coconut to make regular cupcakes.

I brought the chicks into work for two of my colleagues who have little girls names Kate and Aerial...they will love them!

It's the first time I've made toasted coconut! It was pretty easy and I was so impressed with myself!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Makes 20 Vanilla Cupcakes
Nonstick cooking spray
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 vanilla beans, halved length-wise, seeds scraped and reserved
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons (about 2 tablespoons)
3 large eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated; scrape down sides of bowl, and beat in vanilla.

Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed.

Transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

Makes 5 cups
5 large egg whites
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions

Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

(Optional) To tint buttercream (or royal icing), reserve some for toning down the color, if necessary. Add gel-paste food color, a drop at a time (or use the toothpick or skewer to add food color a dab at a time) to the remaining buttercream. You can use a single shade of food color or experiment by mixing two or more. Blend after each addition with the mixer (use a paddle attachment) or a flexible spatula, until desired shade is achieved. Avoid adding too much food color too soon, as the hue will intensify with continued stirring; if necessary, you can tone down the shade by mixing in some reserved untinted buttercream.

Decorating

4 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 piece (10 inches) black licorice lace, cut into 40 (1/3-inch) pieces
20 whole almonds
140 red candy-coated licorice pastels (about 1/3 cup), or pieces of snipped red licorice laces


Step 1:
Bake cupcakes and cool completely. When turned upside-down, each cupcake becomes the body of a chick. Spread buttercream frosting on a cupcake to anchor it to the serving plate while you are working. Use a small offset spatula to coat the sides thickly with frosting, and then mound more on top to create a dome shape.

Step 2:
Press toasted shredded coconut (see how to toast coconut below) into the frosting -- it stands in for fuzzy feathers. Hold the plate at an angle while applying the coconut so the excess falls back into the bowl.

Step 3:
Place eyes (made from snipped black licorice laces) on chicks using tweezers. Use a whole almond for the beak and red licorice for the feet and comb; both can be pushed into the frosting by hand.

Toasted Coconut:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut on a small baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool.

---

Have a great week!
CQ

Martha Stewart's Coconut Chick Cupcakes (#6)

This is my sixth cupcake in the Martha Stewart self-challenge to make all 175 cupcakes in Martha Stewart's cupcake book: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat (Paperback). So, far this one has been the most fun!

Even Layla liked it...she thought she had a new friend to hang out with!

I actually made three of the chicks...they are pretty labor intensive. Luckily, I was able to find the red candy-coated licorice pastels at the Candy Kitchen while I was in Ocean City, MD over the weekend. I thought I was going to have to order them online! The little beak is an almond!

After that I just used the remaining frosting and toasted coconut to make regular cupcakes.

I brought the chicks into work for two of my colleagues who have little girls names Kate and Aerial...they will love them!

It's the first time I've made toasted coconut! It was pretty easy and I was so impressed with myself!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Makes 20 Vanilla Cupcakes
Nonstick cooking spray
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 vanilla beans, halved length-wise, seeds scraped and reserved
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons (about 2 tablespoons)
3 large eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated; scrape down sides of bowl, and beat in vanilla.

Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed.

Transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

Makes 5 cups
5 large egg whites
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions

Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

(Optional) To tint buttercream (or royal icing), reserve some for toning down the color, if necessary. Add gel-paste food color, a drop at a time (or use the toothpick or skewer to add food color a dab at a time) to the remaining buttercream. You can use a single shade of food color or experiment by mixing two or more. Blend after each addition with the mixer (use a paddle attachment) or a flexible spatula, until desired shade is achieved. Avoid adding too much food color too soon, as the hue will intensify with continued stirring; if necessary, you can tone down the shade by mixing in some reserved untinted buttercream.

Decorating

4 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 piece (10 inches) black licorice lace, cut into 40 (1/3-inch) pieces
20 whole almonds
140 red candy-coated licorice pastels (about 1/3 cup), or pieces of snipped red licorice laces


Step 1:
Bake cupcakes and cool completely. When turned upside-down, each cupcake becomes the body of a chick. Spread buttercream frosting on a cupcake to anchor it to the serving plate while you are working. Use a small offset spatula to coat the sides thickly with frosting, and then mound more on top to create a dome shape.

Step 2:
Press toasted shredded coconut (see how to toast coconut below) into the frosting -- it stands in for fuzzy feathers. Hold the plate at an angle while applying the coconut so the excess falls back into the bowl.

Step 3:
Place eyes (made from snipped black licorice laces) on chicks using tweezers. Use a whole almond for the beak and red licorice for the feet and comb; both can be pushed into the frosting by hand.

Toasted Coconut:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut on a small baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool.

---

Have a great week!
CQ

Almond Cherry Coconut Granola

Ingredients:
5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup raw, whole almonds
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup pepitas (unsalted hulled pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Slow cooker instructions:
Place the oats, honey, oil, vanilla, almonds and vanilla in a 4 quart slow cooker. Stir. Leave uncovered and turn on high. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 20 to 30minutes. Reduce to low and add the coconut, pepitas and cherries. Continued to cook on low uncovered for about 4 hours, stirring every 20 or so minutes. The granola is done when it looks completely dry. Cool on baking sheets then store in an air tight container.

Oven instructions:
Preheat oven to 250. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients but the dried cherries. Divide among 3 baking sheets and spread to a thin layer. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Pour it back into the bowl, and stir in the cherries. Allow to cool on baking sheets then store in an air tight container.

My thoughts:

I hadn't made granola before and frankly wasn't too sure I liked it but I thought I'd give it a shot. While the slow cooker method is longer, I liked it much better than baking the granola. It cooked really evenly without over browning or burning. In the oven granola has a tendency to brown unevenly and if you have an oven like mine, you really can't bake more than one tray at a time which takes it into the slow cooker time range anyway. What I did was start the granola going in the slow cooker, set my time to 20 minutes and only came back in the kitchen to stir.

As for the granola itself? It was the best I've ever had and my husband agrees. It isn't the super clumpy type of granola (to make that you'd love to more than double the amount of honey and oil I used) but it is perfect to top yogurt, eat as cereal or have on its own. It is lightly sweetened and the coconut and cherries add lots of flavor.

Coconut & Lime Waffles

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons unsweetened, dried coconut
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon lime zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1 egg

Directions:
Whisk together the flour, sugar, coconut, baking powder, salt and zest in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, vanilla and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine. Follow the instructions included with your waffle iron to complete the waffles. For most large, Belgian-style waffle irons you would use 1 cup of batter for each waffle.

Yield: 2 large Belgian-style waffles

My thoughts:

I bought a Belgian-style waffle iron a week or so ago to supplement the one we have that makes the flatter style of waffles in cute heart shapes. I've been very pleased at how our waffles are turning out! Our first attempt at using it was just plain waffles, I thought I'd make some coconut & lime waffles in honor of the blog's 5 year anniversary. They were pretty great; there was a light coconut and lime flavor throughout and minimal chewiness from the coconut. The texture was the real star, crisp on the outside and moist and soft on the inside. I also liked how they were thick but not dense so they were filling without being heavy.

Note: You can easily double this recipe to make four waffles. Two is all we can handle!

Coconut Cubes

Ingredients:
4 cups confectioners sugar
2 cups unsweetened (dessicated) coconut
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring


Directions:
Line a 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper or lightly spray with cooking spray. Using a mixer, mix all ingredients except the food coloring together until the coconut is evenly distributed. The mixture will be very thick. Divide the mixture in half, press one half into the bottom of the pan. Add food coloring to the remaining coconut and stir to evenly distribute. Press firmly on top of the uncolored coconut in the pan. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm before cutting into one inch squares.

My thoughts:

Despite the amount of sugar in the cubes, they don't taste quite as sweet as you would think, the coconut keeps it from being too over the top. They are sort of a cross between a coconut cream candy and fudge-dense but chewy. A perfect candy for Easter or Passover.

Two tips:
First, please do not use sweetened coconut in this recipe. Secondly, do not reduce the amount of sugar or they will not set up properly.

Lime & Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 sweetened flaked coconut
5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
zest of one lime

glaze:
juice of one lime
1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease 2 cookie sheets. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, coconut, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar. Beat in the egg. Add the lime juice, zest and mix. Add the flour and mix until a soft dough forms. Drop heaping teaspoons of batter on the lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes or until just golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool. In a small bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients, adding more confectioners sugar if needed to thicken. Brush on cooled cookies.

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

My thoughts:

These are remarkably light and fresh tasting cookies. They have a slightly chewy texture and the glaze highlights their sweet-tart flavor. They also freeze well.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup toffee chips
1/8 cup cocoa nibs
1 egg, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder



Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, salt, and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and combine thoroughly. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sweetened butter and mix until a very thick dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips, coconut, nibs and toffee. Distribute them evenly in the batter. Form cookies by dropping 1 teaspoon of dough on the sheet two inches apart. Flatten slightly then bake until light brown, about 12 minutes. Remove (using a flat turner or spatula) to a wire rack to cool.

One tip: The center of these cookies should look slightly soft (almost as if they were raw, but not shiny) when they are ready to be taken out of the oven. The trick is to take them out when their bottoms are just lightly brown-generally at exactly 12 minutes. They will set up as they cool.

Yield: about 1 dozen cookies

My thoughts:

What does one do when they realize that they have a bunch of odd amounts of their favorite baking ingredients? Make cookies! This recipe unfortunately didn't entirely take care of my odds and ends problem but does combine a wide range of ingredients into one delicious drop cookie. The ingredients might not sound like they go together but the cookie totally works. The nibs provide a nutty crunch and the toffee helps keep the cookie soft and chewy. The coconut provides a back note of flavor and the chocolate pulls it all together. Seriously tasty stuff.

Mango & Coconut Lumpia

8 lumpia wrappers
1 mango, sliced into strips
1 cup macapuno*
canola oil
sesame seeds (optional)


Directions:
Heat about 3 inches of oil in a deep pan. Meanwhile, dampen the outer edges of the wrapper with water.



Place 2 slices of mango and about 1/4 cup of macapuno towards the bottom of the wrapper (optional: sprinkle with sesame seeds.



Then roll them egg roll style-bottom towards the middle, then fold in each side, then fold the top triangle down to cover.



Place the wrapped lumpia on bottom half of a second wrapper and repeat.




Set aside. Repeat until all of the wrappers are filled. Fry until crisp and golden brown. I used my Fissler pressure skillet which in addition to being a pressure cooker is the best pan I've ever fried in.




Drain on a paper towel lined plate then serve.



Yield: 4 lumpia



*Most often found jarred, it is a type of coconut that is grown in the Philippines. I've seen it labeled as "string coconut". It normally comes in a sort of thick syrup/jelly.

My thoughts:

I've mostly had savory lumpia but I have had some sweet banana a mango lumpia in the past (I've also heard the sweet ones referred to as turon)that was pretty good. While I love mango, I am not a big banana eater so I never made them but I kept the idea in the back of my mind. Recently I came across a jar of macapuno and I knew what I had to make: mango and coconut lumpia. They are so tasty and positively oozing delicious Keitt mango and coconut juices. They were also surprisingly quick to make, we spent only about 15 minutes on them from start to finish. Another great thing about making dessert lumpia is that while you want the filling to be hot, there is nothing in them (like egg or meat) that you wouldn't want to eat raw so you really can take them out of the oil

Note:
I like to wrap my lumpia in two wrappers because they are less likely to fall apart and I think it makes them a little crunchier. The two layers sort of meld together when cooking so it isn't noticeable.

Mango, Coconut & Carrot Spice Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups shredded carrot
1/2 cup cubed mango
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour or line 20 wells in a muffin tin. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and all of the spices. In a small bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, applesauce and vanilla. Pour into the dry mixture and mix thoroughly. Fold in the carrots, coconut and mango. Fill each well 3/4 of the way full and bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center muffin comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

My thoughts:

These are super moist and flavorful muffins. The combination of fruits, vegetables and spices might seem odd, but it totally works, I promise! These muffins also freeze well, we like to make a batch on the weekends and then freeze the rest in a single layer. They defrost really quickly once you take them out of the freezer without any change to the texture or flavor.

Coconut Pancakes with Cardamom Syrup

Ingredients:
for the pancakes:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut natural flavor blend*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs

for the syrup:
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/2 tablespoon butter
6 drops of cardamom extract**

butter for griddle

Directions:
Whisk together all pancake ingredients together in a large bowl until just mixed. Spoon 1/3 cup of batter on a hot, buttered griddle. Cook until the top is bubbling, then flip. Meanwhile, place all of the syrup ingredients in a small pot and cook until hot, stirring occasionally. Cook the pancakes until the underside is golden brown, then serve drizzled with syrup.

Yield: about 8-10 pancakes



*I used this product from Silver Cloud Estates, a local spice company.
** Available from Supreme Spices.

My thoughts:

This is a Matt-created recipe. I am lucky that he both enjoys my cooking and likes to cook himself. He made this perfect-looking and scrumptious pancakes to fortify us before heading off to Great Grapes. I knew they had to be good when he insisted I take a picture of them. They were beautiful and equally tasty, not to mention very light and fluffy! The combination of the coconut flavoring and the small amount of coconut really gave the pancakes a coconut-y flavor without sacrificing texture.

Mango & Avocado Dessert Sushi & Onigiri

Ingredients:

filling:
sliced avocado
sliced mango

for the rice
1 1/2 cups uncooked Japanese rice
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar
juice of 1 lime

garnish:
black sesame seeds

Directions:

For the rice:
At least 1 hour before you want to cook the rice, wash the rice. Allow to dry in a colander. In a small, bowl, whisk together the lime juice and sugar, set aside. In large nonstick saucepan (with a lid) add the water, rice and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Cook 5 minutes or until the water level is almost equal to the rice. Cover, reduce heat to low. Cook 10-15 minutes or until the rice is tender. Remove from heat, keep covered and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar and lime juice.



To make the triangular onigiri: Cut some of the avocado and mango into small cubes. Place a small amount of rice in your hand, place some cubed avocado and mango in the middle and press down slightly. Cover with another mound of rice and firmly shape into to a triangular shape. Take care to fully cover the filling on all sides with rice. You could also use a triangle shaped onigiri mold/press. Garnish with sesame seeds.

For the mock sushi: The easiest way is to use a tubular onigiri mold . Fill it halfway with rice, then add one strip of mango and one of avocado vertically in the mold so the filling makes it to both short ends of the mold and won't be totally encapsulated by the rice. Top with the rest of the rice, then place the top of the mold on top and push down firmly. Unmold and make one cut down the middle to form two pieces of sushi. Alternately, follow the instructions to make maki sushi and use soy wrappers instead of the nori or use a small amount of plastic wrap instead of the nori then remove it before serving for wrapperless rolls. Roll in sesame seeds.

Note: While rolling the sushi the traditional way works well, using the tubular onigiri mold is quick and easy. Each use yields 6 slices (most tubular onigiri molds have 3 wells) which is the same amount as it would if you rolled them out the traditional way.


Yield: 4 to 6 servings

My thoughts:

I have always wanted to make dessert sushi. I've made (and love!) mango and coconut sticky rice before and thought a sushi version would be fun. Onigiri, while not sushi, is a fun and easy way (especially if you have a mold! They are about $2 at most Asian grocery stores) to quickly make any eat any number of treats. Normally it is savory snack but here we have a lightly coconut flavored and slightly sweet rice covering a filling of two of my favorite things to eat together: mango and avocado. The creaminess of the avocado really sets off the tart-sweet juiciness of the mango.

When it came to make the sushi, I tried rolling it out the traditional way and it worked but the process seemed a little involved for making only a couple of rolls. If I was wasn't also using the same batch of rice to make the onigiri, that might have been fine, but for such a small amount, I wanted to come up with a quicker alternative method. The tubular onigiri mold worked great, three little tubes filled with mango and avocado (just make sure you don't cover the short ends with rice-let the filling peek through on both sides) and then slice them each in half to make the "maki sushi".

Ginger-Coconut Milk & Cereal Bars

Ingredients:
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup raw almonds
3/4 cup uncrystallized candied ginger
3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250. Oil one 11x7 baking dish OR one 8x8 dish and one standard loaf pan. In a saucepan, heat the condensed milk. Add all of the dry ingredients and stir to thoroughly mix and evenly distribute all ingredients. Pour the mixture into the prepare pan(s) and flatten with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for about 65-70 minutes or until the mixture looks dry and is only slightly sticky to the touch, but not browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan. Use a spatula to remove the entire contents of the pan to a cutting board and then cut into bars. Store in an air tight container.

Yield: approximately 15 small bars

My thoughts:

Breakfast bars seem to be big business these days. I honestly am not a breakfast person (bar or not) but I like the idea of having something solid and homemade to tuck in my bag as I go about my day. I had debated making straight up granola bars but couldn't find a recipe I liked. Everything called for lots of butter, sugar, honey or corn syrup and just seemed too sweet, sticky and possibly oily. Not to mention unnecessarily complicated. Then I saw mentions of homemade milk and cereal bars that used sweetened condensed milk (mixed with honey, sugar etc) and commercial cereals (like Cherrios). I didn't quite see the need to add extra ingredients and we don't eat boxed cereal so I went for a simpler approach. And you know what? It totally worked. Strangely, using sweetened condensed milk not kept the bars intact, and lent the bars a slightly caramel flavor, but the resulting bars were not overly sweet. They also had a richness to them (and a vanilla flavor) that belied the simplicity of the ingredients. And if you make them over the weekend, they will last all week.