7 posts tagged “coconut”
I had a little shredded coconut to use up and was trying to figure out what to make for it that wasn't TOO awful. I decided biscotti would be a good way to use it because it's one of those things that, even when made according to recipe with no healthy substitutions, is not too bad for you. Plus, it's something to eat with my eggs in the morning.
I didn't have to do any recipe inventing here, though. I was glad to find a recipe for Coconut Biscotti on Cooking Light's site right after I got the idea. These turned out great, and even with my addition of the chocolate, are not a calorie killer. Plus, biscotti have a long shelf life, so these work out great even though there are only 2 of us.
This makes a sticky dough. I would recommend using a silpat or parchment paper to do all the kneading and forming, so you don't have to transfer it to the baking sheet. Kinda wish I would have thought of that when I was making them...
Coconut Biscotti
Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 20 biscotti
3/4 cup AP flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. grated whole nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
2 large eggs
1 cup flaked coconut
3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
a few drops of canola oil
Preheat oven to 300.
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat the sugar, vanilla and coconut extracts and eggs together at medium speed until thick (about 2 minutes). Add the flour mixture and then fold in the coconut mixture.
Turn the dough onto a heavily floured surface and knead 7 or 8 times. Shape the dough into a roll and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat. Pat to about 1" thickness. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Cool for 5 minutes on wire rack.
Cut diagnally into 20 slices. Place slices on baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Flip the slices, and bake 10 additional minutes.
In a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl over simmering water, add the chocolate chips and just a little canola oil to thin it out. Melt the chocolate and then drizzle over biscotti.
This will be my last post for a while because tomorrow we are going to Vegas to win millions. Actually we will probably do minimal gambling, but maximum eating. I should be back to blogging next week!
Our friends recently got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii. Andrea was telling me how she had at least one Mai Tai each day, which reminded me of all the pina coladas I drank when we were on our honeymoon in Anguilla. I adore pina coladas, and it's incredibly rare that I drink them. I am normally not a fruity drink kind of person (I much prefer vodka tonics, wine, and beer), but there is something about pina coladas that is oh so good. I think it's probably the millions of calories in them. Actually the third day we were there, I was reading the paper and there was an article about how pina coladas have like 800 calories in them. Did that stop me from having one every day during the duration of our honeymoon? Hell no.
At any rate, I started thinking of pina coladas and remembered that I had some leftover coconut from the almond joy cupcakes, so I knew I wanted to make something pina colada inspired. I decided on pancakes because we pretty much never eat pancakes. So, why not combine two things I rarely eat and indulge in breakfast for once?
I am still a bit of a novice when it comes to making up my own recipes for baked goods or breakfast treats, so I actually ended up making this recipe twice before posting it. The first time, I overshot the amount of liquid, so the second time I reduced it a bit and also added a little bit more flour. I also upped the coconut extract the second time around, and used brown sugar instead of white. And, I reduced the temperature on my electric griddle because I think the instruction manual is wrong. :)
I would not call these healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but they are slightly better than other coconut pancakes because they don't use coconut milk, which is very caloric and fatty. You can use a lowfat buttermilk or even skim milk (which is what I used when I realized I didn't have buttermilk). I've also used less sugar and butter than most pancake recipes. Oh, and I accidentally left the butter in the microwave one of the times and it didn't get added. Oops! But, it was fine without it. Better with, of course, but completely fine without.
Pina Colada Pancakes
Makes about 6 pancakes
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
small pinch of salt
1 egg
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
1.5 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, drained but reserving some juice
About 2 Tbsp. reserved pineapple juice
Enough milk or buttermilk to add to the reserved juice that it equals 3/4 cup
1/4 cup flaked coconut
Maple syrup
Rum or rum extract
Preheat your griddle or nonstick pan, and grease with cooking spray or butter.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
In another bowl, beat the egg until just frothy and then beat in the sugar to combine well. Beat in the coconut extract, butter, and milk/pineapple juice mixture.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in 2 additions, mixing until well incorporated but not overmixing. Fold in the pineapple tidbits and flaked coconut.
Using a measuring cup or batter dispenser, place equal amounts of batter on your griddle. Cook until you see bubbles on the top, and then flip until golden on the other side.
To make syrup: Put as much maple syrup and rum or rum extract in a small sauce pan and heat to combine the flavors.
Garnish with additional flaked coconut and pineapple if desired.
No matter who your candidate is, you are bound to disagree with them on one issue or another. One of the biggest discrepancies I have with my candidate, Barack Obama, is that he doesn't really like sweets. I've read that he likes pumpkin pie enough, but he is not much of a dessert guy. I'm not sure how a person can not like sweets. I am also not sure why someone who doesn't like sweets all that much chose to mention pie so many times, but I digress.
Normally, I wouldn't put my political thoughts on my food blog. But, I've also never felt compelled to bake something in honor of a great candidate. It's really exciting to vote for someone because you want to vote for him--not simply because he's not "the other guy." Not that I don't have plenty of things against "the other guy;" one of the biggest being that his first major decision as potential President was choosing a VP candidate who is a real...I'll just stop there. This blog post doesn't need to take a turn into a running list of negative adjectives. ;)
Anyhow, I decided to make some Yes We Can(dy) Mini Cupcakes, based on two kinds of candy/candy bars--Almond Joys and Whoppers. I had an almond joy bread from Peabody bookmarked for an eternity and then conveniently, she made Whopper cupcakes not too long ago, so I was set.
There are so many great food bloggers out there (like Peabody, I'd imagine) who plan out what they will blog. They set days aside to make new things, make sure they have the proper lightning, have plenty of time to take photographs, and so on. These bloggers tend to put much more work into their blog than I do, and it shows. Their blogs look great, clean, professional. I can never be one of those bloggers. I do care about my blog, and love running it. However, I blog about anything new I make (unless I'm too lazy to take pictures of it) that we happen to be eating for dinner. Every once in a while, though, I'll make something specifically for this blog--usually for a food blogging event or something similar. And every time I make something specifically for this blog, the same thing happens--I screw it up or it looks awful. It's a curse.
The almond joy cupcakes came together very easily. The frosting is maybe my new favorite frosting. Easy peasy. And so delicious! Mmm. Anything with coconut has my vote. So I moved onto the Whopper cupcakes. These spread a ton and didn't rise a lot when I baked them. I knew I probably overfilled them, but I didn't think that could be the only problem, and I was right. When I was transcribing the recipe, I put "2 tsp. baking soda" instead of "2 tsp. baking powder." Doh! So these basically turned into one giant mass of chocolate cupcakedom. They still tasted good and the cake was still very moist, but they did not look very pretty. Which meant I needed to cut them into something resembling a cupcake before photographing them. That can be our little secret.
I had also planned on making these early so that for once I could use natural light to take photos. But, that didn't happen either. Hey, you win some, you lose some. I'll take the cupcake loss if I can be sure McCain will take the POTUS loss. :)
Because I want to be sure you see some pretty pictures, I will just go ahead and link Peabody's blog rather than retyping the recipe.
I made the whopper cupcakes as-is, except for that pesky baking soda/powder transcription error. :P
For the almond joy cupcakes, I made the recipe as-is, except I substituted plain yogurt for the buttermilk (since that's what I had in my fridge) and doubled the coconut extract in the cake since I didn't make the glaze. I topped them with creamy milk chocolate frosting from Cook's Illustrated and some flaked coconut.
Creamy Milk Chocolate Frosting
| 1/2 | cup heavy cream |
| pinch table salt | |
| 1 | tablespoon light corn syrup (or dark) |
| 10 | ounces milk chocolate , chopped |
| 1/2 | cup confectioners' sugar |
| 8 | tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cold, cut into 8 pieces |
Instructions
-
Heat cream, salt, and corn syrup in microwave-safe measuring cup on high until simmering, about 1 minute, or bring to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Place chocolate in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. With machine running, gradually add hot cream mixture through feed tube; process 1 minute after cream has been added. Stop machine; add confectioners´ sugar to workbowl and process to combine, about 30 seconds. With machine running, add butter through feed tube one piece at a time; process until incorporated and smooth, about 20 seconds longer. Transfer frosting to medium bowl and cool at room temperature, stirring frequently, until thick and spreadable, about 1 hour.
Trying to bake without butter is not easy. I know what you're thinking--it's because baking without butter is a crime against nature. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good, buttery, fatty dessert. And in the rare event that I *do* make desserts, I spare no additional calories for something completely sinful and delicious. But, when I make something like muffins, I really prefer they are not calorie bombs, since I tend to eat one or two a day until they are gone. Most of the time, my breakfasts consist of some sort of egg (usually 3 egg whites, "fried" in cooking spray) and some sort of carb (usually ezekiel toast, sometimes a healthy muffin when I have them). So, often times on Sundays I will bake muffins for the work week.
I created what I guess could be called a basic muffin recipe, that I adapt based on what flavors I feel like that day or, more likely, what I have sitting in my fridge/cupboards. Today, I had some pineapple, flaked coconut and even some buttermilk so I decided to go with that. The recipe below veers a little more from my original than usual.
I only made 6 muffins, but the recipe below makes 12. I might add a little more coconut next time but overall, I thought these were really moist and delicious for such a healthy muffin.
Pineapple Coconut Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt.
2 eggs
2/3 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
1 small (8 oz.) can crushed pineapples, drained
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut, divided
Preheat oven to 400. Grease or paper-line a 12-cup muffin tin.
In one bow, sift together whole wheat and all purpose flours, baking powder and soda, and salt. (Many times I am too lazy to sift but I find it's a good idea when it comes to whole wheat flour because you have a lot more hard little pieces/balls than with AP).
In a second bowl, beat eggs with sugar until well combined. Add buttermilk, almond extract, applesauce, pineapples and oil and stir to combine.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until mixed. Fold in 1/4 cup of the flaked coconut.
Pour batter into prefared muffin tin. Top each muffin with 1 tsp. flaked coconut.
Bake approximately 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Nutritional Information (per muffin): Calories: 154 / Fat: 4.5g / Carbs: 26.2g / Dietary Fiber: 1.7g / Sugar: 4.1g / Protein: 3.6g
Mmmm. Chocolatey, chewy, coconutty goodness. Since I only made a half batch of the macaroons the other night, I wanted to make something with the remaining coconut. I decided on brownies because a) I had the ingredients on hand and b) there was no need to make anything additional, like a frosting or filling which I would have to do for a cake or pie.
I decided to go to the source of my cocoa: Hershey's. I used this recipe for cocoa coconut brownies, but added 6 Tbsp chopped walnuts--1/4 cup for the batter and the remaining 2 Tbsp. for the top. These would be great with slivered almonds (kind of like an Almond Joy).
They.are.delicious.
OK, well, to be honest, I did overbake these a little but they still turned out delicious, and are incredibly easy.
I got the recipe for these macaroons right off the bag of coconut, and dipped half of them in some melted chocolate.
Coconut Macaroons
Courtesy of the Baker's flaked coconut bag/Kraft
1 package (14 oz) flake coconut (5 1/3 cups)
2/3 cup sugar
6 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tsp. almond extract
Preheat oven to 325.
Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt in large bowl until well blended. Add egg whites and almond extract; mix well. Drop by tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto greased and floured baking sheets.
Bake 20 min. or until edges of cookies are golden brown. Immediately remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely.
I was just telling a friend that there are a couple main rules I live by:
1. To make sweets better, add Nutella
2. To make savory better, add bacon or goat cheese.
The German chocolate cake travesty-turned-trifle left me with some unused coconut. I considered making macaroons or even a coconut cake but I didn't want anything involved, and I felt like chocolate.
First I considered putting some chopped chocolate and coconut into an oatmeal cookie recipe but as I was scouring my cabinets to see what I did and didn't have, I came across an almost-empty jar of Nutella and decided to use that instead.
I started with the Quaker Oats Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe because I think it's pretty tasty. But I ended up changing it quite a bit to account for the coconut and nutella by adding a little less sugar, removing the cinnamon and raisins, changing up the flour, etc.
At 113 calories and 4.5g of fat per cookie, these are really not even that bad for you! (note to self: approach Nabisco regarding 100 calorie packs of mini Nuella-coconut-oatmeal cupcakes). And, thought I never think anything is "too rich" I really do not think these are overly sweet, since I cut the sugar. In fact, if I weren't trying to keep the calories low, I probably would have added more sugar, but then I never find things to be too sweet :P
Coconut and Nutella Oatmeal Cookies
Yields 2 dozen
1.5 cups oats
3/4 cup flour (I used half whole wheat and half AP)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar (I used a combo of brown and granulated)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup Nutella
1 large egg
2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Preheat oven to 350.
Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla, egg and nutella.
In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
Combine wet and dry ingredients well. Stir in coconut.
Drop by spoonfuls or cookie scoop onto a cookie sheet (I lined mine with a silpat but it's not necessary).
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until done (I always overcook cookies so if you are like me, remove them when they don't really look done because chances are, they are).
Cool one minute on cookie sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
