Tag: Delicious

Coconut Cupcakes

9 Comments

On Saturday mornings, my boyfriend sometimes takes me on a hot date… to the swap meet.  What can I say, we’re classy like that.  Clearly by “hot” I mean it’s literally warm out.

He likes to get an enormous tejuino.

I like to get an enormous cup of mixed fruit, which I proceed to douse in lime and chili.   In my mixed fruit cup, there’s always cucumber, pineapple, watermelon and fresh coconut.  The only reason I get the mixed fruit and not the delicious mango covered in chili and lime is that I absolutely love coconut.

I pretty much like anything that’s coconut flavored but you can’t beat the taste of real, fresh coconut.  So next time you feel the need for a coconut treat I recommend going to the swap meet at OCC (if you live in Orange County), but if not, make these:

No extracts.  Just the real stuff.

Coconut Cupcakes

adapted from Epicurious

For Reduced Coconut Milk:

2 cans coconut milk (to be reduced)

For Cupcakes:

2 cups cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature (3/4 cup)
1 1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup reduced coconut milk

For Frosting:

1 Stick of Butter, Room Temperature
4 oz cream cheese
3 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp reduced Coconut milk

In a deep saucepan, bring 2 cans of coconut to a boil.  Simmer about 30-40 minutes until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups liquid.  Set aside to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a bowl, combine cake flour, baking soda and salt.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Then blend in vanilla extract.  Add dry ingredients, beat until just combined.  Beat in coconut milk.  Pour batter into 18-20 lined cupcake pan.  Bake 18-20 mins (depending on your oven this will vary).  Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

Next make the frosting. Beat together all the frosting ingredients.  Gradually add in coconut milk until you get the right consistency.

Frost and garnish with extra flaked coconut.

Serve and enjoy!

The coconut flavor is light and delicate, but most definitely there.  So when you need your coconut fix, give these a whirl.

They’re probably easier to make than cracking open a coconut or searching for a swap meet… just sayin’.

Weekend of Brunch: Part One

3 Comments

This weekend was delicious.  I really can’t describe it any other way.  I went up to San Francisco and stayed with this fella…

my friend, Daniele.

He’s pretty.

You might remember him from World Cup Waffles where we woke up early made waffles and watched the World Cup.   Now he’s just being amazing in San Francisco.  So I visited, because few people in the world understand my love of food like this man does.  So the first stop on this weekend of fun was brunch, at the place called Plow.

It was quite possibly the most wonderfully amazing place ever.  We shared some millet corn bread muffins.

Austin was obviously intrigued.  It’s my new mission in life to recreate them.

I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this, but I’m a brunch enthusiast.  Eating out usually isn’t that exciting for me.  But brunch.  I have a special place in my heart for brunch. This brunch…

That was November in my mouth.  Daniele said it.  I agreed.

Basically everything was delicious.

After brunch, we decided moving around would probably be a good idea.  That meant moseying to a park and looking at dogs.  Because, well… that’s what we do.

I can pretty confidently say that this summed up the weekend: food, booze, public spaces, staring at dogs and babies, admiring gentlemen… in the least creepy way possible.  But wait there’s more!

Later, back at the ranch Daniele’s house, we might have made an apple crisp.  And I might have poured bourbon in it.  It might have been amazing.

Ok you should probably go try putting bourbon in your apple crisp.  It’ll revolutionize your life.

Well friends, stay tuned for part two.  Part two might be more exciting since right now I’m running on about 3 hours of sleep.

Goodnight!

Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini

4 Comments

Let’s take a break from the usual sweets I present to you on this blog.  Instead, I’ll show you some real food.  As in a real meal.  Are you pumped?

Thought so.

This weekend, I met my neighbors for the first time when I went across the street to ask if they could spare a wood pallet.  They could, more on that later…  But in addition to giving me a wood pallet, my neighbor showed me her vegetable garden and gave me two huge bags filled with tomatoes and an assortment of squash.

If you know me, you could only imagine how excited I was, especially after being cooped up in the vegetable desert that is my parents’ house.

So my first creation with these delightful vegetables:

Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
4 good sized zucchinis
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
5 tomatoes, diced
3 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste
few ounces of queso fresco or queso cotija

In a sauce pan, combine quinoa and broth.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add onion and cook until translucent.  Add red pepper and carrots and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper.  Continue to cook until tomatoes have cooked down.  Then add the quinoa, turn off the heat and stir together.

If you choose to stop here, you can have a wonderfully delicious and healthy quinoa side dish that I’m guessing would be amazing served over some sauteed kale.

Or you can continue.  Slice the zucchinis in half, length-wise and spoon out the center (I actually diced up the stuff I spooned out and added it to the quinoa mixture.  No waste!).

Fill the zucchini with quinoa mixture and bake at 400F for about 30 minutes (depending on the size of your zucchini times may differ). I used the toaster oven, because it’s hot and who wants to turn the oven on when it’s 90F degrees out?

Take the zucchini out of the oven, sprinkle with cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

Serve and enjoy!

Oh but wait! One last thing… If you decide to put whipped cream on yesterday’s Lemon Blueberry Tartlets

It is divine.

Lemon Blueberry Tartlets

10 Comments

There are 8lbs of blueberries in the fridge.  No, I’m not kidding, nor am I exaggerating.

I love blueberries, and usually I am of the firm belief that they are so delicious that they should be eaten fresh on their own.  But I’m the only person in my household who eats blueberries and as much as I like them.  I don’t think I can eat 8lbs before they spoil.

So be prepared for some blueberry-related recipes.

This first one though should really be categorized as a lemon recipe.

If you don’t love lemon flavored desserts, we can’t be friends.

Okay, not really, I still love you.  But this recipe is so intensely lemony that it takes a true lemon fanatic (aka my sister and me) to truly appreciate its majestic qualities.

Truth be told.  It’s pretty easy.  All you do is make some lemon curd, put it in a graham cracker crust and top it with fresh blueberries.  Don’t let the simple preparation fool you.  This thing is intense, amazing and perfect for summer.

Lemon Blueberry Tartlets

1 package graham crackers
6 tbsp melted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice (about the juice of 2 lemons)
4 tbsp butter, softened
zest of 2 lemons
1-2 cups blueberries

Make your crust:

Crush the graham crackers, pour melted butter over graham cracker crumbs.  Toss to combine and press into one large tart pan or about 5 mini tartlet pans.  Refrigerate.

Make Lemon Filling:

Place a stainless steel or glass bowl over a pot of boiling water.  In the bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice.  Stir over the double boiler until thick.  This will take about 10 minutes.  Carefully remove from heat and stir in the butter and lemon zest.  Set aside and allow to cool completely.  You can make this a day or two in advance and just keep it refrigerated.

Assemble Tartlets:

Spoon lemon filling into prepared graham cracker crusts.  Arrange blueberries over the filling.  Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar to make it look extra special.

Serve immediately or refrigerate.  Makes 5 mini tartlets or 1 large tart.

If you love lemon and blueberries as much as I do, I can almost guarantee the end result will look like this:

Lastly, do you have any blueberry recipes or ideas to recommend?

Coconut Cream Pie but Better

2 Comments

I’m not completely sure what the difference is between a pie and a tart, other than the shape of the pan.  For all intents and purposes, what follows is a pie disguised as a tart.

Thus, it is a much fancier (almost French seeming, hey, it’s Bastille Day!) version of coconut cream pie.

Okay, let’s be honest.  I’ve never eaten coconut cream pie.  I don’t think I’ve ever even seen one in person.  That was until I made my version of what I think coconut cream pie should be like.

I have no idea if this is what coconut cream pie should taste like, but here’s my creation.  Karla’s new and improved version with rich chocolate whipped cream for topping.

I’m going to go ahead and call it a winner.

Coconut Cream Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream

1 package of graham crackers
6 tbsp butter
3 cup finely shredded coconut
1 1/2 cup milk
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/4 cup corn starch
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 + 2 tbsp cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder

For the crust:

Crush graham crackers and combine with 1 cup of coconut.  Melt butter and pour over graham cracker mixture, toss to combine.  Press into a pie or tart pan.  Refrigerate.

For Custard Filling:

In a saucepan, combine the milk, sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, vanilla and salt.  Heat, stirring constantly, until nearly boiling.  Take some of the warm milk mixture and combine in a small bowl with the corn starch, stir until smooth.  Pour in the corn starch mixture and the 2 cups of coconut.  Continue to stir until thick (not too thick though!).  Put in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap.  Lay the plastic wrap directly on the custard.  Refrigerate until completely cooled, like so:

Once your custard is cool, fill the tart crust with the creamy filling.

Then make your whipped topping.

For the topping, sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  Using a mixer start to whip cream, gradually add in cocoa powder and sugar.  Whip until the cream holds firm peaks.

Lay it on there, or nicely use a piping bag.

Either way, it doesn’t really matter.  Even the worst spreading will be covered up with some divine toasted coconut.  Lay your coconut on a baking sheet or on a piece of foil and stick it in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes.  Turn it every so often and watch out because it can easily burn.  Allow the toasted coconut to completely cool and sprinkle as much or as little as you’d like onto your beautiful tart!

Serve, enjoy and feel fancy while you eat it.

Summer Pie in a Jar

7 Comments

Ithaca made me a jar person.

At the risk of sounding totally hippie/granola, I will say I find jars to be very multifunctional.  Not only can you carry soups, beverages and meals in them, you can also make a pie in one…

Versatile.  I like it.  I also like blueberries and nectarines.  Let’s find a way to combine them all.

Doesn’t that look like summer?  I thought so.

Summer Blueberry-Nectarine Pie in a Jar

5 half pint mason jars
1 recipe for pate brisee (this is the crust, you can also use store bought)
2 nectarine, diced (optional to peel)
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

A quick note before starting: make your crust/pate brisee a few hours, or the night before, to prevent the dreaded shrinking crust. The longer it rests, the better!

Roll your crust on a well floured surface.  I suggest rolling it thinner than you would roll your average pie crust, if not your crust to filling ratio will be quite high, but keep it thick if that’s you’re style.  After rolling, line jars with pie crust.  This was a little tricky for me.  I bought the jars that were kinda narrow so I couldn’t fit my hand in it, so I suggest using the wider mouthed jars.  I had to piece to together and use a spoon to press it down.  Either way it should look somewhat like this by the end:

Place them in the fridge or freezer as soon as they’re ready.  You don’t want melted/soft crusts in your jar!

While your jars chill, dice (and peel, if you like) your nectarines and wash your blueberries.  In a bowl, combine nectarines, blueberries, sugar, flour and vanilla.  Toss to coat all the fruit in the sugar and flour.  Let sit for a few minutes.

In the meantime, make your pie lids.  Roll out some more pie dough then using the jar lid, cut out circles.

Next, quickly fill your pie jars with fruit filling.

Put on the lids and either press the edges using a fork, or your fingers.

Whichever you prefer is fine.  You can also get creative with cookie cutters and cut out different shapes to make the top, or use a crumble topping.

At this point you can either put them in a freezer and save them for a rainy day or you can bake them off!

Should you choose to bake them right away, pre-heat your oven to 400F.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling on the top.

I used the toaster oven.  It’s summer after all.  Who wants to turn the oven on and heat up the whole house?

No thanks.  But I would say yes to this

After they’ve cooled, you can put a bow on them

and give it as a gift.

or serve it up on a plate.

Either way, this is a pretty fun way to use a jar!

Bananas Foster Creme Brulee and How I’m Going to Find the Love of My Life

6 Comments

I’m pretty sure this is how I’m going to get a husband.

One sunny afternoon, I’ll be making this wonderful creation:

I’ll serve it up to that special someone. He’ll take a bite and propose to me right then and there. Simple as that.

Okay, so it probably won’t happen that way, but I can almost guarantee that if you were to feed this to a fella (or lady! Gentlemen, don’t be scared to get in the kitchen!) it would most certainly, at the very least, land you a date.

Worth a shot, right?

Bananas Foster Creme Brulee

6 prepared ramekins of custard for creme brulee
3-4 bananas, sliced
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp hazelnut liqueur (or rum, optional)
6 tsp white sugar

In a skillet, melt together the butter and brown sugar. Add bananas and turn the heat up to high.

Add the hazelnut liqueur. Shake the pan a little bit then flip each banana. Once the liqueur has reduced (and nearly completely evaporated), turn off the heat.

Arrange bananas over custard.

Sprinkle with a teaspoon or so of white sugar.

Using a kitchen torch, burn the top of the bananas so you get a good caramelized crust.

Serve and wait for a dinner invite/proposal/confession of adoration/etc.

If this doesn’t work… then I’m pretty sure men are crazy, and I’m doomed to be an old maid.

Samoas Bars

43 Comments

You have my permission to drool.



Go ahead. It’s totally expected. Samoas will do that to you, even more so in bar form.

I followed this recipe pretty much exactly.

Samoas Bars

from Crepes of Wrath

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups shredded coconut
12-oz  chewy caramels
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
20 oz. chocolate chips

Make cookie base. Preheat oven to 350F.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Next beat in eggs and vanilla.  Mix in flour and salt until just combined.  The mixture will be pretty crumble.  That’s okay!  Press it into a baking dish (I used a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper and pressed it into about half the pan, but you can probably just use a 9×13).  Bake about 20-25 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  Allow to cool.

Next make the topping.  Start by toasting your coconut.  Turn the oven on to 300F and lay coconut on a baking sheet.  Turning occasionally toast about 10 minutes, once golden, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Next melt the caramels in the microwave.  First unwrap the caramels and put them in a large bowl with the milk and 1/4 tsp salt, microwave about 3-4 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until evenly melted.  Add the coconut to the melted caramel and stir to combine.  Once combined, spread coconut/caramel topping onto shortbread base.  This is easier if you spray your spatula with pam or grease it.  Allow to cool completely (I refrigerated it a bit).

Remove bars from pan (this is easy to do if you used parchment paper).  On a cutting board, using a large chef knife, carefully cut the bars into the desired shape. Melt chocolate in the microwave (remember to stir every 30 seconds).  Dip cookie base into chocolate (or spread on with a spoon if your bottom is too crumbly), place on fresh wax/parchment paper.

Put the remaining melted chocolate in a ziploc bag and cut off a tip so you get a tiny piping bag.  Pipe lines of chocolate on each one.  Refrigerate a little bit so chocolate hardens then serve!

I suggest you do the same. Then feel free to give them away to a bunch of dentists, like I did. …or just keep them for yourself. Whichever works best.

The Most Amazing Peanut Butter Banana Pie Ever!

10 Comments

Hi friends!  It’s pretty much been forever, but I’m back in California so things can get back to normal!

In the past few weeks, quite a bit has happened.  I graduated!  I have a Master’s! Woo!

My hat didn’t fit on my head.  Such is life.

Then I came back to California and my sister and I made the most amazing pies EVER!

Truth.

Okay so one sorta melted.  No biggie.

AMAZING Peanut Butter (or Nutella) Banana Pie

inspired by Joy the Baker’s No Bake Peanut Butter Tart

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (or Nutella or other nut butter)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
7 oz (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream for whipping
1 banana, sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 prepared graham cracker crust
1 cup cool whip or other whipped cream for topping

In a pan, melt butter and fry banana slices until golden (you can probably skip this step and just use fresh bananas, but the crispy fried banana was pretty delicious).  Arrange fried banana on the bottom of the prepared graham cracker crust.

Using a mixer (or a strong  arm) mix together the cream cheese, peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk.  Once combined, set aside.  In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it holds solid peaks.   Then fold together the peanut butter mixture and the whipped cream.  Once combined (don’t over mix), spoon the mixture into the pie pan, top with whipped topping and chill for a few hours before serving.

We made two, one with nutella and one with peanut butter.  They were both a hit, but I won’t lie: the peanut butter one is to die for!

You should probably go make it now.  You won’t regret it.

Banana Breakfast Polenta

4 Comments

I’m starting to get desperate.  My life without oatmeal, not just any oatmeal but oatmeal made with big chewy rolled oats, is sad.

Okay, I’m being dramatic, but I do miss oatmeal.  Last night, I was trying to figure out what to do with a very ripe banana.  Normally, when I’m at home, super ripe bananas are exciting because they mean extra sweet oatmeal or smoothies.  Here, without oats or a blender, I was sort of at a loss.

Then I had an idea, it cooked in my brain overnight at this morning I tried it.

Polenta for breakfast, which for me means something sweet.

It’s pretty tasty and pretty easy to make!  Worth a try, right?

Banana Breakfast Polenta for One

1/4 cup cornmeal (aka polenta)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (or more if you’d like)
1 ripe banana, thinly sliced
garnishes such as fresh or dried fruit, nuts, maple syrup, etc.


In a small sauce pan, combine all the ingredients.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, once it’s boiling lower the heat to low.  Stir constantly for about 5-10 minutes.  Put in a bowl of plate, garnish and serve.

Not the same as oatmeal, but sometimes we all should try something new.  Fun new way to start your day!

Have a good one and Happy Mother’s Day!