sciwitch | Entries tagged with coconut

I've made granola bars before. I wanted to try a recipe that made them more chewy then crunchy. Well... this one fit the bill. You cannot, in all good conscience, call it "good for you". But you can call it "damn good". So, if you're in the mood for some quick and easy chewy oatmeal bars that taste great and heck with the whole healthy thing, this is the recipe for you.

( C3A Oatmeal Bars )

Another very good source of cookie recipes is the Williams-Sonoma Cookies cookbook. Lots of very fancy, yet remarkably easy recipes can be found here. This one caught my eye because anything with macadamia nuts, coconut, and chocolate will probably turn out wonderful. Any they did.

( Coconut-Macadamia Triangles )

These cookies came out great... even though I baked them a few minutes less than the recipe called for. Seeing smoke begin to seep out of the oven was a strong motivator. But nothing burned, everything looked (and tasted) excellent.

( Cranberry Orange Macaroons )

While I have a ridiculously well stocked pantry, it's still a rare thing for me to able to bake something without have to a make a quick run to the store for one ingredient or another. This time, I happen to have everything on hand. Which of course meant I HAD to bake them. They are really good and really chocolaty.

Chewy Chocolate-Coconut Macaroons

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups lightly packed flaked sweetened coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 250º.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and secure with masking tape.

Place unsweetened chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at high for 1 minute or until almost melted. Remove from microwave; stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine cake flour, unsweetened cocoa, and salt in a large bowl. Add coconut, and toss well. Stir in melted chocolate, vanilla extract, and sweetened condensed milk (the mixture will be stiff). Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. Bake at 250º for 45 minutes or until edges of cookies are firm and center of cookies are soft, rotating baking sheet once during baking time. Remove from oven, and cool 10 minutes on pan on a wire rack. Remove the cookies from the parchment paper, and cool completely on rack. Store in an airtight container.

From the August 2005 issue of Cooking Light

****

Anybody but me remember the dreadful movie that inspired this entry's title?

I've been a bit hesitant on posting this recipe for Carrot Cake. Everyone at the office was raving about it, but I thought I was a bit too dry and crumbly. I like the way the frosting came out, and face it, cream cheese frosting can cover a multitude of sins. I think I'm going to keep looking for other cake recipes. But give it a try, maybe I was just having an off day.

Carrot Cake

Cake:
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups olive oil or grapeseed oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups of shredded carrots
1 cup of drained crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9 inch cake pans.
Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.
In separate bowl, add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Add to dry mixture and manually stir until well mixed.
Fold in walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple.
Pour batter into pans. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake for 50 minutes, until edges have pulled away from sides and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool on a cake rack.

Icing:
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-5 cups powdered sugar (depending on your preferred consistency)

In a medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add lemon juice and vanilla; beat until combined. Add sugar gradually, mixing on low until smooth.

Place one cooled cake layer on a cake platter, spread icing over the top to form a thin filling. Place second layer over the first, rounded side up. Spread the top and sides of the cake evenly with remaining icing. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to set icing. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Remember when I mentioned that I bake for my colleague's birthdays? Well, this Sunday is my birthday (helloooooo 40) and is also the birthday of two other guys in the office. So, I asked what kind of cake we should have, and was told "Something in cheesecake...". And since I live about a mile from the Peter Paul factory... I got inspired.

The recipe below is a bit of a mutt, being a blend of several different recipes I found on-line. It came out REALLY good (with 6 people begging for the recipe after the whole singing/candle/cake thing). Though be warned... it takes for-fracking-EVER to bake (4+ hours!!!) so give yourself plenty of time before hand. But OH SO worth it. I have NEVER had a cheesecake come out so flat and smooth on top before. It was almost a shame to glaze it. Almost... the glaze was insanely good as well.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Cheesecake

Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup flaked coconut -- toasted
1/3 cup sliced almonds -- toasted
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter -- melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Wrap outside of 9-inch diameter springform pan with foil. Finely grind cracker crumbs, coconut, almonds and sugar in processor. Add butter and process until moist crumbs form. Press mixture onto bottom and 1-inch up sides of pan. Bake crust until set and beginning to brown (about 12 minutes). Cool.

Filling
3 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons of corn starch
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup cream of coconut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons almond extract
2/3 cup coconut

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and corn starch. Add eggs, one at a time, to this mixture. Blend well after adding each egg. Stir in cream of coconut milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Add flaked or freshly grated coconut. Pour the filling onto the crust.

Bake for 15 minutes at 350°. Then, reduce the heat to 200°. Bake for 2 hours or until set. Run a knife around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake in the oven for 2 more hours. Then, chill overnight.

Glaze
6 oz chocolate (chips or cut into chunks)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Coconut and almonds to garnish

Combine chocolate, sour cream, and powdered sugar in a saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly. After this has melted, spread over cheesecake. Garnish with coconut and chopped almonds. Chill cheesecake until ready to serve.

This is a bit of a recipe mutt, with the filling coming from Cook's Illustrated and the cake coming from The Food Network. I had a friend who made the entire Cook's Illustrated recipe and thought the cake came out too dry (it had that chocolate sawdust texture common to cakes that just don't work). So, I stuck with my tried and true basic chocolate cake recipe, simply using Dutch cocoa instead of regular.

German Chocolate Cake

Filling
(from January 2005 Cook's Illustrated)

4 large egg yolks
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups (7 oz) sweetened shredded coconut
1 1/3 cups (6 1/2 oz) finely chopped pecans, toasted

Whisk yolks in medium saucepan; gradually whisk in evaporated milk. Add sugars, butter, and salt and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is boiling, frothy and slightly thickened, about 6 minutes. Transfer mixture to bowl, whisk in vanilla and coconut. Cool until just warm, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least two hours (I usually make it the day before)

Chocolate Cake Recipe

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (either Natural or Dutch - both work)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by rubbing with butter, sprinkling with flour and tapping out extra. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix together with a wooden spoon then set aside. In small bowl combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat well with hand mixer. Slowly add boiling water and mix. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and fold and stir until smooth. Pour batter into pans, dividing evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove cake from pans and cool on racks.

Remove filling from fridge, and stir in pecans.

With a serrated knife (I use a wire cake slicer), cut each cake into two even layers. Using an offset spatula, layer the first level with 1/4 of the filling, spreading it to the very edge of the cake and leveling the surface. Carefully place the next layer on top, and repeat until complete.

Refrigerate. Let stand 20 minutes before serving.

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The Witchery

So Much for Healthy

The Mysterious Triangles

Christmas Baking - 4

Goin' Coconuts

Dangling a Carrot Cake

Happy Birthday to Me (and the other guys)

German Chocolate Cake

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