Daring Bakers! Coconut Tres Leches Cake

Inma of la Galletika was our Sept. 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and WOW did she bring us something decadent and delicious! Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake, creamy yet airy, super moist but not soggy... just plain delish!

I was simultaneously excited and apprehensive about the Daring Bakers challenge this month. Not because of the recipe, but just because of all the oven fails I've been having lately. I decided to minimize risk and take my baking elsewhere. A large number of my female friends live in an honor house dedicated to sustainable food, and informed me I was welcome to use their oven anytime. So I packed up all my supplies and trucked it down to the house. It was nice to have a large enough space for me to bake and socialize at the same time. 

I slid the cake into the oven nervously, praying that it would not burn or collapse. Thirty five minutes later I pulled it out and hurrah! It had baked up into a fluffy, golden sponge. 
"That smells really good!" someone called from the dining room, and I did a small victory dance (mostly an internal victory dance). Finally, a success. 

Obviously I wasn't done there, but the tricky part was over. You can't have a tres leches cake without the milks! I've made the traditional recipe before, so I wanted to try something new. I was delighted to find that The Pastry Affair had a coconut tres leches cake on her site. The sponge is soaked in a mixture of sweetened condensed milk, coconut milk, and coconut rum (side note, purchasing this was my first time actually buying something from a liquor store. I was a little nervous that there would be some rule I had overlooked preventing me from purchasing alcohol and I would be unceremoniously booted from the store. Thankfully that did not happen). Finish it off with a thick layer of coconut rum spiked whipped cream and toasted coconut and you've got yourself...a pretty irresistible cake.

Coconut Tres Leches Cake 
from The Pastry Affair


Cake
5 large eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 x 13-inch cake pan.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar until the yolks are a pale yellow. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt until just combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter, mixing until just combined (over-beating will result in a denser, flatter cake—not what we want!). Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan until cake reaches room temperature. Pierce top of cake with a fork a couple dozen times to allow glaze to soak into the cake.

Glaze
1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup coconut rum
In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, and coconut rum. Pour evenly over cooled, hole-ridden cake, making sure to get the edges and corners as well as the center. Now here's the hard part: refrigerate the cake overnight so the cake can fully absorb the glaze.

Topping
1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon coconut rum
Flaked coconut, toasted (garnish)
In a large bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and coconut rum together until topping is thick and spreadable.
Spread topping evenly over coconut cake, sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Kaya

(I have a cold...so I'm currently writing my post like this):

Happy Pancake Day! For some reason, instead of Mardi Gras or Carnivale, in Ireland, they have Pancake Tuesday. Apparently this is a thing in many cultures, but I had no idea. If I had the means to make a King Cake (So gaudy! So beautiful!) I totally would be all over that, but unfortunately, not go. Unless I make a really tiny one...anyway, pancakes. 

When they say pancakes in Ireland, they usually mean crepes or something similar. I do not consider that a pancake, but crepes definitely have their place! Also, I am not very good at making them. It's on my list. Pancakes are a very easy thing to make anywhere, since the ingredients are readily available and an oven is not required!

You might be wondering what all these weird pictures are and what the heck kaya is and how it is at all relevant. Well I'll tell you! I just like to ramble, that's all.  Last week while wandering the Asian Market, I came across an ingredient I've been searching for for a very long time: pandan leaves. You better believe I snatched up those leaves as fast as I could. Mm, okay, I'm trying to figure out how to describe pandan. In many parts of southeast Asia, the leaves are used to add a wonderful aroma to both sweet and savory dishes. It's hard to describe the smell...simultaneously floral, piney, nutty...almost vanilla but not quite? 

I wasn't feeling quite ambitious enough to tackle pandan crepes, but I realized that kaya would make an excellent topping for pancakes! Kaya is a coconut jam made with eggs, coconut, sugar, and pandan leaves. It has the consistency of lemon curd and is excellent spread on pretty much anything. Normally, kaya takes hours of constant stirring, but I found a recipe for quick kaya, and it turned out great. Pancakes slathered with butter and kaya made for a super rich, almost dessert like breakfast this morning. Try it out! If you can't find fresh pandan leaves, you can substitute something like this (but seriously, go on an ingredient adventure. Never know what you'll find!)

 

Quick Kaya 

from Kitchen Tigress

6 tbsp sugar (90 g) If you want, you can use half palm sugar, half white sugar
200 ml undiluted fresh coconut milk
4 pandan leaves, cut in halves or third and knotted

4 egg yolks (make sure there's no egg white at all)

  

Cook 3 tbsp sugar in a pot over medium-high heat till light brown, swirling slowly. Reduce heat to low. Keep swirling till sugar is medium-brown. Add coconut milk (beware of steam), remaining 3 tbsp sugar and pandan leaves. Increase heat to high. Stir till sugar is melted and coconut milk is just starting to simmer gently. Turn off heat. Instead of caramelizing 3 tbsp white sugar, you could just put 45 g roughly chopped palm sugar in the pot, then add the coconut milk and 3 tbsp white sugar, and bring everything to a gentle simmer.

 

Slowly stir half of coconut milk into egg yolks. Next, pour all of egg mixture into remaining coconut milk in one go. Over medium-low heat, cook combined mixture till slightly thickened. Reduce heat to low. Continue stirring till mixture is thick enough to coat spoon thickly. Taste (ideally with a piece of bread) and add more sugar if necessary. Discard pandan leaves. Transfer to a bowl or bottle. Leave till completely cool. Cover and refrigerate. May be stored up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature before serving if you want a softer, squidgy consistency.
 

 

Daring Bakers! Chocolate Coconut Cookies

 Holiday season is the time for sharing and Peta of Peta Eats is sharing a dozen cookies, some classics and some of her own from all over the world with us.

Thanksgiving break is over, and it's back to the daily grind of college. My lucky sister, whose school runs on trimesters, is already off for her six week winter break, and will be heading out to Dubai for a couple weeks to study African-Arab women. So cultured! Even though I only have three weeks left of the semester, it seems like there are so many obstacles to overcome before I get that sweet, sweet Christmas break. But there will be good things in between, and I can't forget that.

For right now, I will think about cookies and puppies (you should adopt a dog. It'll be your best friend forever. I mean, c'mon, look at this lil' guy!) Anticipating Christmas, this month's Daring Baker's Challenge was the 12 Days of Cookies! Fortunately (unfortunately?) we didn't have to make all twelve types, but instead had a choice! I like choices. One of the cookies on the list was rainbow cookies, which I adore, but I've already made them. You should make them soon. They are delightful.

I opted instead for these Chocolate Coconut Cookies, which I think was a great decision. I lurve the combination of chocolate and coconut. The outside cookie is sort of a cross between shortbread and sugar cookie, and the inside is like a coconut macaroon (except better, cause they have cream cheese, nomnomnom). If you make these, you'll likely have extra filling, so make some macaroons! Also also, these totally look like siu mai. They aren't, but you could make some and have a delicious dim sum and cookie dinner!

Chocolate Coconut Cookies
from Baking Glory

Coconut Filling

6oz / 175ml Cream Cheese, softened
¾ cup Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
2 ¼ cup Coconut Flakes, unsweetened

 

Cookie Dough

1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour
⅓ cup Cocoa Powder, sifted
½ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Salt
1 ½ sticks Butter, unsalted
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg

Preparation Instructions

Beat the cream cheese with the ¾ cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, and vanilla extract and continue mixing for another minute.

Add the shredded coconut and continue beating until everything is well incorporated.

Preheat oven to 375° F / 190° C.

In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. In the bowl of a mixer add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy, add the egg and beat until smooth.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the mixture is stiff but still pliable.

Using a tablespoon, scoop some of the cookie dough into your hand. Flatten the dough into a circle that’s about 2in to 3in (5cm to 7.5cm) in diameter, add about a teaspoon of the coconut mixture into the middle of it and then fold the sides of the dough but do not seal it at the top.

Repeat this with remaining cookie dough.

Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake the cookies at 375° F / 190° C for about 18 to 20 minutes

Cool on a wire rack.

Marshmallows!

"Why are you making marshmallows? They're like a dollar a bag," my mom asked me, echoing the question that's already been asked about four times. I scowled and shook my head.

"It's not the same at all! They're so much better. I'll prove it to you," I promised. And besides, they'd been on my to-do list for a while (and on the Sweet 100 List, which I'm kind of determined to complete someday). So when a friend offhandedly mentioned that he'd been wanting to make homemade marshmallows, I jumped on that opportunity. 

Marshmallowery is a good intro to candymaking, since you're working at fairly low temperatures (relatively speaking. Do NOT touch the boiling sugar). I still consider myself a novice in the field, having never really worked with sugar past the firm ball stage of cooking (around 250ºF). So if the project failed for some reason, I probably wouldn't ruin any pans or hurt myself too much.

 

Though it's possible to do it alone, I recommend doing any sort of candymaking with a friend (or enemy, if you're into that sort of thing). It's nice to have an extra pair of hands, since everything has to move fairly quickly. And it's fun to have someone to poke marshmallows with. Remember to put some in your pocket for secret eating!

Marshmallows

From BraveTart 

Notes - Our marshmallows had a layer of toasted coconut on the bottom, but you should do whatever flavor you want. The possibilities are endless. I have my eye on mint chocolate chip for next time. Additionally, we also 2/3'd the recipe, since I only had an ounce of gelatin. Do what you need. Still made more than enough.

1.5 ounces gelatin
8 ounces cold water (or coffee, mmmmm, coffee marshmallows…)
11 ounces corn syrup, honey, or maple syrup
8 ounces water
28 ounces sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod reserved for another use

ample powdered sugar for dusting (1 cup or more)

Unless you have a supercharged motor on your hand mixer, I don’t think it will survive this recipe. Use a stand mixer if at all possible.

Have a lightly greased 9”x13” pan at the ready.

So. Combine the gelatin and water together in the bottom of a stand mixer bowl. Set aside.

In a medium sized heavy bottomed pot, combine the syrup, water, sugar, salt, and vanilla bean scrapings. Set over medium heat and stir gently, taking care to not splash liquid (and thus sugar crystals) up the sides of the bowl. Once the mixture starts to simmer, stop stirring and put a lid on it for 5 minutes, letting it go to town (this lets some steam build up in the pot to “steam off” any sugar crystals stuck on the sides of the pot.).

Warning: if you use honey, the smell will be awful. Barnyard and hay and all kinds of musty awful. The end result will taste awesome, but getting there will fill you with doubt. Hold the course. It’ll get better. Mine smelled likes cows even though I used corn syrup. Hmm...

After 5 minutes, remove the lid and stick in a candy thermometer.

Keep cooking, undisturbed, until the mixture reaches 240°. Then shut off the heat and let it stand until it cools to 210°. This is important.

Once the mixture has cooled to 210°, and taking a goodly amount of caution as this mixture is super hot, pour all of it into the mixing bowl with the awaiting gelatin. Fit the bowl with the whisk attachment and crank it up to medium-high speed.

You are gonna let this thing whip it, whip it good until the mixture has really increased in volume, doubled? tripled? It will nearly exceed the bowl at any rate.

Once you’ve shut off the mixer, move quickly. There’s no delicate way to put this: it’s gonna be a sticky mess. But that’s half the fun, so don’t stress it. Set the whisk attachment aside (or give it to a small child if you really want to see what a mess looks like) and scrape the marshmallow goo into the prepared pan.

Get your fingers a little damp and pat down the mixture. Lift up and smack the pan a few times against the counter to dislodge any air bubbles and help it level out more. The goal is for more or less even.

Dust the top of the giant marshmallow with some powdered sugar (I forgot to do this....getting the plastic off was such a pain!), cover in plastic and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Rejoice! You’ve done all the hard work, now for the best part!!!

Get a cutting board ready by dusting it with powdered sugar. Take your pan of chilled marshmallows and literally reach your fingers between the ‘mallow and the pan, and pull that guy right outta there.

You’re now holding one giant marshmallow pillow. 

Dust the exposed bottom of the ‘mallow with some more powdered sugar.

Use a hot knife to cut the marshmallows into about 13, 1” strips. You’ll have to stop periodically and clean your knife. Once the strips are cut, roll them about in some powdered sugar so none of the sides are sticky.

Now use the knife to cut each strip at 1” increments. Of course, the marshmallows are probably close to 2” tall, so they won’t be perfect cubes, but rather rectangles.

Toss these cut pieces in more powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking.

So store these guys in an airtight container or a big zippy bag. They’re essentially nothing but sugar, so they have a terrific shelf life. Weeks. Months even, if you refrigerate them. A year in the freezer.

 

Secret Recipe Club – Choco-Coco Banana Rum Bread

Time for another round of Secret Recipe Club! It's oh so much fun. I recently cleaned out our freezer and found what amounted to a whole bunch of bananas, frozen. Now I've done banana on here before. Rather frequently, actually. But I have never had a banana bread recipe. Which is weird! Because it's like, the most basic thing to do with speckly bananas. 

But they are just SO ugly. I will never get over that.

For my whole baking life I feel like I've been striving to achieve banana bread perfection. Nirvana, if you will. I've found recipes that were very tasty (I'm partial to this one) but I've never felt like "oh, this is it. My banana bread search is over". I have a funny feeling I will never reach that point. But I'm okay with that. Nothing wrong with continuing to strive for something elusive, something better.

 

My blog assignment this month was Robin, Restored and lo and behold, she had a banana bread recipe posted! And...it was from Joy the Baker. I know I promised I wouldn't post anything else from Joy's cookbook, but this was serendipitous. And I adapted it a little, adding some coconut and substituting bourbon (with which I was unfamiliar. Don't judge) with rum. Can't go wrong there. In my opinion, this bread tastes even better the second day. So be patient! 

Choco-Coco Banana Rum Bread

adapted from Joy the Baker, via Robin, Restored

2 cups flour 

 3 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

3 Tbsp rum

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
Sift flour and baking powder

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture. Add bananas, vanilla, and rum Mix well.
On low speed, add flour mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips and coconut.
Batter will be very thick. Spoon into prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until skewer comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool about 20 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool completely.

Nutella Nanaimo Bars

Hey, I'm back from the dead! Tea and naps are great. So as my comeback post, I'll give you something super nom-worthy. You may ask, dear reader, as I once did, what the heck is a Nanaimo? The more appropriate question is WHERE is Nanaimo? The answer is British Columbia! 

This tasty treat originated in that great wilderness of Canada in the 1950's. Traditionally, it's a no-bake, three layer dealio, said layers consisting of cookie crumb, vanilla custard, and chocolate topping. There are all sorts of variations out there now, and when I found a nutella version, I knew I had to try it. I feel like nutella is unreasonably popular with hipsters and college kids, but maybe I'm just making that up. 

So, how did my bars fare? Well, I am a Nanaimo novice, so I can't really say how authentic they were. But they tasted soooo good. Everyone who has had one just kind of pauses and sighs after the first bite. My favorite part is not the nutella layer, but the thick oreo and coconut crust. It might have to make another appearance someday. 

Nutella Nanaimo Bars 

adapted from Sweet Twist of Blogging

2 cups crushed oreos (I used two of the rows in a package)
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Filling
3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup Nutella

1 tbsp heavy cream

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Topping
5 oz dark chocolate
2 tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 8 inch square pan with parchment and spray with non-stick spray. 

Make the base: In a large bowl combine cookie crumbs, sugar, cocoa and coconut and mix together. 

Stir in the melted butter, egg and vanilla, mix all together until damp.

Press the crumbs flat into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool while preparing the filling. 

Make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix butter and icing sugar and beat together to form a thick paste. Add the Nutella, cream and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Using an offset spatula spread the filling on to the crust. Cover with plastic wrap, directly on the filling, pressing flat. Let chill until firm.  

When firm make the topping. Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler. When completely melted let cool slightly and spread over the filling layer. Chill again to completely set. Slice into bars and store in the refrigerator. 

  

Brown Sugar Coconut Bubble Tea

Ever since I was a little kid, I've had the tendency to get a one track mind about certain things. For example, I was convinced I was going to have a summer job washing dogs when I was younger (there's still one of my hand drawn promotional posters hanging in the house). Or the time I got really into Neopets (let's not talk about it...). And when I was 13 or 14, I somehow learned about bubble tea and became completely obsessed. 

My first bubble tea was consumed here and I have to admit, I didn't like it very much. The bubbles were little cubes! That's not what it looked like on the internet! I think honestly that the concept of chewing my drink was very cool in theory, but I didn't appreciate it in practice. But I would grow to acquire a taste for it.

If you're not familiar, the "bubbles" in bubble tea are large pearl tapioca, which, up until recently, I had a hard time finding. But they should be readily available at any asian grocery store. Don't try and substitute the small ones used in tapioca pudding...it's just not the same. The nice thing about making bubble tea at home is that you can control what goes into it. A lot of stores use weird, artificial flavor powders and lots of sugar. Mine used fresh brewed almond-coconut tea and coconut milk! Nom.

Brown Sugar Coconut Bubble Tea

adapted from The Pastry Affair

Yields 2 servings

1/2 cup large pearl tapioca
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup black tea, cold
1 cup coconut milk

1/4 tsp coconut extract

To cook the tapioca, follow the directions on the package. Different brands of tapioca pearls cook at different rates and require varied amounts of water. Mine were a 5 minute variety, but if yours take longer to cook, it would be a good idea to cook more than a half cup if you'd like more bubble tea later in the week. When cooked, drain the pearls and rinse with lukewarm water to remove the starch. In a small bowl, coat the tapioca pearls with the brown sugar. The tapioca pearls can be refrigerated for up to 3 or 4 days, but are best if used immediately.

To make the bubble tea, blend together the black tea, coconut milk, and coconut extract. I used a cocktail shaker. If you want a thicker tea, I would combine the ingredients in a blender with some ice. In a tall glass, place 1/4 cup of tapioca pearls (but if you want more, add more!). Pour the tea over top. More brown sugar may be added to adjust the tea to your sweetness level. Drink with a large straw!

Pink Snowball Cake

Not really sure if I've made this clear, but I'm not really a pink girl. AS a kid I was a proud tomboy, often the only female at boy birthday parties and a fierce rejector of dresses. Heck, I once told the neighbor kid to punch me in the stomach just to prove how strong I was. Yep. 

I've definitely toned it down since then, but I still feel more at ease around males compared to females, get pretty tuckered out by shopping excursions, and would much rather play video games than watch something with the word Liar, Gossip or Vampire in the title. I'm gonna stop now before I make any more stereotypes, haha. 

Point I'm trying to make is...I made a pink, fluffy, girly cake and you should be surprised. It's pretty, and totally not my original idea. Sprinkle Bakes is a total genius and makes me want to be fancy and bake pink things. And that is something to be impressed with.

 Pink Snowball Cake

by Sprinkle Bakes

(This cake is modeled after those Hostess Snoball thingies you can buy at convenience stores. Mine didn't turn out as hemisphery looking as I wanted, so I'd recommend using a 2 qt bowl, nothing larger)

 Cake

6 tbsp. cocoa

6 tbsp hot water

1 ½ cups flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (12 tbsp)

1 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

½ cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 2 quart heat-proof bowl (stainless or pyrex) with shortening and lightly flour. Set aside.
Whisk together cocoa and hot water.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer until mixture has cooled enough to add the eggs without scrambling them.

Add eggs, vanilla, and then cocoa mixture.  Beat until well combined.  Reduce mixer speed and add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream.

Pour into greased bowl and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick tester comes out clean.  Let cool slightly. Run a knife around the edge of the cake, then turn out onto a cake stand or serving tray lined with wax paper strips. Let cool completely.  Cut the dome of the cake off about 1/3 of the way down from the top.  With your fingers, press to make an indentation in the middle of the base of the cake.  This will make room for the marshmallow filling without wasting any cake.

 1 lb unsalted butter, softened
1 16 oz. jar marshmallow cream
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 generous cup sweetened flaked coconut 

 Pink soft gel food color

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until fluffy.  Add marshmallow cream and beat again, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.  When thoroughly combined, remove 1 cup of the white mixture and place in the center of the cut cake.  Place the top of the cake over the marshmallow center and line up the edges as best as possible.

Add the 1 cup of confectioners' sugar to the remaining frosting.  Mix well. Use a small dab of pink food coloring to tint the frosting pastel pink.  Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl so no white streaks remain.  Frost cake with an offset spatula. 

In a medium bowl, tint coconut with a drop of pink gel food coloring.  Mix well - you can use a fork but I found my fingers did a much better job.  Coat frosted cake with pink coconut.  Remove wax paper strips from underneath the cake and tidy up the serving plate edges if coconut remnants are present.

Thai Chicken

I'm moving back to school in five days, and I'm beyond excited. Going back to college as a sophomore is so different from moving in as a freshman. That fear of the unknown (which drives me crazy. I like to be in control) is pretty much gone. I have friends and familiarity to return to. And by this time you kinda realize who you are and what you need. Example: I did not iron my clothes for the first 18 years of my life, and I did not suddenly start ironing in college. Stupid example, haha. 

 Before I leave I have to have my favorite foods that I won't get for months. I did try and create this chicken at school once, but it required a lot of advance planning. It's just one of those things probably better made in the comfort of your own home. Over the years I've adapted this recipe until reaching what I believe to be coconutty curry perfection. Nom. 

 

Oh, and if you're a college freshman, or nearing that time in your life, no worries. It may be tough at first, but you'll find your place. I mean, I did, and I'm kind of a "socially retarded misanthrope",  to quote Gesine Bullock-Prado. So you'll be fine.

So tasty I forgot to take a picture, haha

Thai Curry Chicken

adapted from the Usborne Children's World Cookbook

Ingredients

2 medium onions

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp chili powder

a dash curry powder

pinch of salt a pepper

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

6 skinless chicken breasts

1 lime 

1 can coconut milk

1/4-1/2 c cream of coconut (the stuff to make, pina coladas, y'know?) 

1-2 tsp red curry paste

Peel and chop the onions into small pieces. Mix the ginger, curry powder, chili powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken breasts and cook them for 5 minutes on each side. Lift the chicken breasts onto paper towels. Pat them dry with another paper towel to remove excess oil. Cut the lime and squeeze the juice over the chicken, then sprinkle each piece evenly with the spice mixture. In a bowl or measuring cup, combine the coconut milk, cream of coconut and curry paste until combined. I like my sauce a little on the sweeter side, so I tend to add more cream of coconut and less curry paste. Up to you. Heat the oil in the frying pan again. Cook onions and garlic over low heat until soft. Put the chicken back in the pan and pour the coconut sauce over it. Stir everything together well. Cook the chicken for twenty minutes, until it is cooked all the way through. Serve with sticky, short grain rice.

Coconut Cupcakes

I love me some coconut. Many people are not of the same opinion. Especially younger people (someone explain to me why the incredibly delicious almond joy candy bar is considered "old people candy"?) I think it's the texture that throws them off. Shredded coconut just sort of...feels like something that isn't exactly food. But I enjoy that sort of thing. Food that seems more like a non food. Like these things.

I've been wanting to bake with coconut oil for a while now. It's quite versatile, and can also be used to pop popcorn, saute things, and it's good for your skin and hair ^_^. But it's so darn expensive. I finally splurged, so I knew I had to make something super good with it. I think I succeeded. These cupcakes have an awesome, delicate crumb and a very subtle coconut flavor. Even my coconut hating siblings liked them! It's the frosting that packs more of the coconut flavor punch. The recipe can easily be adapted for a killer yellow cupcake with vanilla frosting.

Coconut Cupcakes
(makes 17-20)
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes



1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coconut oil (I imagine butter would be fine as well)
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream oil and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add extracts and eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk and ending with flour mixture. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 1/2 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. 

Coconut Frosting 

6 Tbsp butter
2 tablespoon coconut milk 

3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 tsp coconut extract 

shredded coconut for garnish

Cream butter and powdered sugar, and salt. Add milk and extract and beat until desired consistency is reached. Top with shredded coconut.

Choco-Coco Veganish Bars

College has prompted me to experiment with vegan baking a bit. Not because I'm vegan ( or even vegetarian for that matter) or trying to be healthy or something. Harharhar. Me, healthy. Anyway, it's because sometimes I run out of butter and eggs, and it's too inconvenient to pick up more. Plus, my hand mixer has met its untimely end. R.I.P, Little Buddy. 

So when the baking urge strikes....I have to get creative. Canola oil can be substituted for butter. Banana, yogurt, or applesauce are all fine binders instead of eggs. Keep in mind you can't make substitutions all over the place for every recipe. But generally it's fine in cookies and bars. 

These tasted nice. They can easily be adapted to be de-veganized or made to be actually vegan and not halfheartedly so. I'm pretty lax, since I'm not going to be bothered about vegan chocolate chips and such, or vegan sugar.

Also, I forgot to take a picture of my finished product, so here's this creepy thing that's been hanging out in our dorm's lounge! 

*jibblyjibblyjibbly*

(This post is full o' obscure pop culture references!) 

Choco-Coco Veganish Bars 

adapted from Passion 4 Eating

makes a 8×8″ (20cm x 20cm) pan

• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/3 of a ripe banana, mashed
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips 
• 1 cup dessicated, sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350°F

lightly grease a 8×8″ baking pan

In a large bowl add the sugar and the oil and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.  Then add the banana and the almond extract.  Beat again until well combined.  In a smaller bowl combine the flour and baking powder until well mixed, then add to the sugar mixture.  Mix until well blended but do not beat it to death. Add the chocolate and coconut.

When all ingredients are completely combined, scoop batter into the baking pan.  Smooth it out, if the mix is a little dry press it evenly into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool slightly.