Toasted Rice Ice Cream

Jun 12, 2014

If I had to choose a dessert to enjoy for the rest of forever, it would be ice cream.

My favorite is to scoop some into a mug late at night and let it get a little melty while watching TV. But I’m also happy to pull into a drive-through for a vanilla ice cream-like product cone. Just no nuts, please and thank you.

Sadly, we don’t have Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams where I live. But she has shared lots of recipes for ice cream and other treats in her book. And she shared a technique for getting super smooth ice cream without making custard that is full of eggs.

Not Exactly Key Lime Pie with Whipped Coconut Cream

Apr 22, 2014

I still remember the first time I tasted key lime pie.

When I was a teenager, my family went on vacation to Florida for the whole Disney World – Epcot Center – Space Center adventure and that was all great. One night after dinner, my mom suggested that we order key lime pie for dessert. The combination of tart, smooth lime filling layered between the buttery graham cracker crust and creamy topping was heaven.

Coconut Nutella Surprise Cookies

Mar 7, 2013

At first glance, it isn’t obvious that these tasty cookies are made with Nutella.  Even after a bite or two, you will enjoy the delicate coconut flavor enhanced with chewy oatmeal, but you might wonder, “Is there really Nutella in here?”  That’s when the surprise comes in, and BAM, you bite into the smooth and creamy chocolate-hazelnut spread, and it all comes together.
It seems like only a short while has passed since I made these cookies, but since time flies so quickly, it’s actually been close to a couple months.  I wanted to make a Friday treat, and couldn’t decide between two different cookies that I’d seen that week on Pinterest, both from Two Peas & Their Pod.  The first was a coconut oatmeal cookie that practically called my name.  The only hesitation I had about bringing it to work was that not all people are lovers of coconut.  And by that, I mean that the people who aren’t lovers of this ingredient seem to be haters.  The second cookie that caught my attention that week was a giant chocolate chip cookie stuffed with Nutella in the middle.  I was pretty sure this would be a sure hit, since everyone I work with loves them some Nutella.  But I did mention the coconut recipe was calling my name, and so the decision was made to combine the two.  Done and done.

I decided to follow Annie’s method for stuffing her Nutella cookies on Annie’s Eats, and it worked perfectly.  Thursday morning before work, I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and placed scoops of Nutella on the parchment.  I stuck the sheet in the freezer, and left it there until I was ready to make cookies that night.   And just to make the coconut a little friendlier for everyone, I pulsed it in the food processor with the oatmeal just a bit.  My friends, we have a winner.   

Coconut Chicken Curry Soup

Nov 9, 2012

We should already be well into soup season, but you wouldn’t know it by the weather we’ve had around here lately.  We had one early snowfall that dumped six inches on every flat surface in the neighborhood, including the two lounge chairs on either side of a big umbrella still sitting on our back deck.  I wish I had taken a photo of that.  Since then, we’ve had warm and sunny afternoons with only somewhat chilly evenings.  However, that’s about to change because we’re experiencing the “warm before the storm.”

Still, in my brain it is soup season.  Several days a week I pop open a can of soup to heat up for lunch and that’s just great with me.  There are a lot of tasty canned soups out there.  Have you tried Campbell’s Gouda Bisque with Chicken or Progresso Chicken Tortilla   No?  Click  here for a coupon.  So good for lunch.

Big, Bold Lemon Bars with Toasted Coconut

Sep 4, 2012

Do you ever stumble upon a recipe with an enticing picture over these interwebs, and you HAVE to make that recipe right now?  Right now, as in, at the front of the line before countless dog-eared pages, bookmarks, and pins?  Yeah, me too, and this lemon bar recipe is an example of that.  When I ran across the recipe on FREUTCAKE, the enticing picture grabbed my attention, and the ingredient list held my curiosity.

On any given day, there’s a good chance I would pass over a chocolate-loaded brownie in favor of a good lemon bar.  I’m talking about a lemon bar with a buttery shortbread crust and a lemon layer that’s tart enough to make me pucker.  I had a feeling that these bars would not disappoint.  First, the crust is mixed with graham cracker crumbs and toasted coconut.  And then there’s the lemon layer that includes the zest and juice from eight lemons, twelve egg yolks, and four whole eggs. 

Tres Leches Cake with Coconut and Lime

May 5, 2012

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  What better way to celebrate than with tres leches cake?  Okay, maybe a margarita.  But if you’ve never tried tres leches cake, you’re in for a treat.  Tres leches cake is a simple yellow sponge cake soaked in a sweet milk mixture and topped with dreamy whipped cream.

I’ve made a basic tres leches cake for Cinco de Mayo the last few years, and I had planned to do just that this year, too.  But on the day I planned to bake the cake, my latest issue of Fine Cooking Magazine arrived, and it had an entire spread on variations of this Latin American dessert.  After looking at the photos, I wanted to taste one of each.

So I decided to do something a little different this time by putting the lime in the coconut and mixing it all up.  For the soaking liquid, I replaced the cream with half a can of unsweetened coconut milk and some lime juice.  I have to say, it was a delicious change.