Currant Tart

The first time I had currants was working at Garden Dreams. We had a couple bushes at the farm. I had no idea the berries were edible or better yet, delicious. They're really tart but paired with creamy coconut and sweet almonds they are perfect. The recipe for the almond tart came from this shortbread recipe. 

I made this on a weekend when my sister and I stayed at home alone. We ate lots of ice cream and watched the Lizzie McGuire movie. Ya!

Red Currant Tart

Crust:

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup softened butter

1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Toppings:

1 bunch red currants

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Cream:

1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled overnight in fridge

1 vanilla bean, scraped

1/3 cup powdered sugar

To make crust:

Place dried ingredients in a food processor and blend. Add wet ingredients and blend again. Mixture will be soft. Also you can do this all by hand.

In a 10 inch pie pan, spread out the cookie mixture on the bottoms and sides just like a pie crust. It's very sticky so you can use a greased spatula or just your hands to help you along. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and prick dough with a fork all over. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crust is a nice golden brown color. 

Let cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the crust and let melt for 5 more minutes. Carefully spread chocolate with a spatula over the bottom of the crust. Let crust cool completely, then chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

To make coconut whipped cream:

Chill ceramic bowl and beaters in freezer for 10 minutes. Remove can of coconut milk from fridge. Scoop out the cream on top and place into chilled bowl. Beat on low increasing speed until medium. Add in vanilla bean caviar and powdered sugar gradually. Increase speed up to high until the mixture looks like whipped cream! 

Pour into chilled tart.

Top with currants. I kept the fruit on the vine- people can pick them off as they eat. It's prettier that way.

Tart keeps in the fridge for 1-2 days.

Coconut Cherry Cobbler

Cooking gluten free and vegan recipes generally directs me to a lot of paleo sites. Surprisingly I really like all of the recipes! They are really creative and use ingredient in ways I never thought of. For example, this cobbler from Predominantly Paleo. The recipe was fantastic and I'll definitely be making it again. 

2 cups cherries, pitted (I used frozen)

1/4 cup cane sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup coconut shreds (unsweetened)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add the cherries to the bottom of a small dish. I think mine was 5x7?? I have no idea really. Do what you want. I am the worst blogger. Anyways sprinkle cherries with 1/4 cup sugar.

Combine the rest of the ingredients minus the coconut oil. Then add the coconut oil and use your hands or a fork to cut into dry ingredients.

Bake for 25 minutes until lightly golden brown on top. Serve warm or cold. If the cobbler is served cold, it's extra crunchy! Yum!

Toasted Oatmeal

I've been eating oatmeal daily with a cherry smoothie. This is how I've been making it! Actually I've been making toasted oats and oats the regular way too depending on how much time is on hand. The toasted oats from A Couple Cooks take oatmeal to another level. So yum. Also coconut manna is a must. I am so obsessed. You can make it at home easily in a food processor.

The goji milk is part of recipe from Earthsprout's 30 raw breakfasts app. It's actually the first thing I've made from Elenore's recipes. Check out her blog from Sweden! It is gorgeous. Also she just posted about foods that we can use for skincare! 

Toasted oats (serves 2 people):

1 cup rolled (old fashioned) oats

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 cup cashew milk 

1/2 cup water

Pinch salt 

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

In a skillet over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. Add the oats and toast for about 5 minutes until they smell nutty and delicious. Don't toast so much that they start browning. 

In a separate pot, boil the water, milk, salt, and cinnamon. Turn off the heat as soon as this happens, add the oats, cover, and let sit for 7 minutes. Serve with goji milk and toppings!

Goji milk:

1/2 cup cashew milk

2 tablespoons goji berries, soaked overnight in 1/4 cup water

Blend cashew milk, goji berries, and soaking water until completely smooth. This recipe makes extra.

Toppings:

Coconut manna (same as coconut butter)

Goji berries

Almond butter

Maple syrup 

Mochi Cake!

In the spirit of Lunar New Year (which was 2 weeks ago but who's counting?), I want to share an awesome cake with you all- mochi cake! I love mochi, especially with ice cream. Check out the mochi sold in the Trader Joe's freezer section. It's gooey and has a great crust. My mom makes a similar version but with yams somehow. I found the recipe on A Periodic Table's blog and she has a warning on eating the cake. I'm not going to post it here since this is a New Year's post and should only be positive! By the way, I am really sad to live in Pennsylvania right now (so much snow). I'm looking up flights to anywhere everyday and hopefully Laura and I will cement some exciting plans to share with everyone...

But first, the recipe:

2 cups sweet rice flour (found at your local Asian food store)

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/3 cups evaporated milk

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted at room temperature 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan (9x5) and a mini loaf pan (or some cupcake tins). Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl including sugar. Whisk together liquid ingredients in a larger bowl. Stir ingredients together. 

Pour into loaf pans. Bake for 30 minutes. Check smaller one for readiness. A toothpick removed should just have a few crumbs stuck to it. Rotate larger pan and bake for another 30 minutes, checking after 15 to see if the cake is baked.

Let cool completely and serve with some vanilla ice cream. Also my cake collapsed just a bit but was still delicious.

Pumpkin Red Thai Curry

I like my curry strong- like strong enough to punch you in the face just like they serve in Thailand. It needs to be super spicy and flavorful. None of that mild stuff. If you want something more gentle, try the recipe from Love and Lemons. My recipe is loosely based off of it. I also like to make about 10 servings at a time, so if you're not feeding lots of people, halve the recipe.

Also this is a picture of Rex eating a Turkey cake from the Dining Dog. It's the coolest pet store with food for animals and humans. I had a chai spiced yoghurt sample from there. So good.

Pumpkin Thai Curry

4 cups Kobocha + pumpkin squash purée

1 jar Red Curry paste

7 kefir lime leaves, sliced

5 cloves garlic

1 medium red onion

3 shallots

2 inch piece ginger, peeled

1 red thai chili, whole

1 can coconut milk

1/4 cup maple syrup

Splash fish sauce

4-5 cups water

Pumpkin Pie

No one in my family really likes pumpkin pie. I usually end up eating the entire pie by myself after thanksgiving, which I completely don't mind doing. This pie, however, I had to share. It was a hit with my cousins and even my mom who doesn't even like pumpkin. The recipe is from 101 Cookbooks. I knew it was going to be good since none of Heidi's recipes have failed me yet. Anyways, the recipe is unique since it calls for coconut milk and fresh spices to make the pie really special. If I had access to Penzey's spices, I would totally use their spices. Instead I used regular old pumpkin pie spice. Next time, I'll try to use the spice grinder. I also really like graham cracker crusts for pumpkin pie which you all can feel free to switch out. What really makes the recipe awesome is the fresh pumpkin purée.

Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp honey
Pinch sea salt

Mix all of the above together and press firmly into a 9 inch pie pan. Then make the filling. No need to prebake the crust.

Filling:
1/2 cup real dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 1/2 cups of roasted pumpkin puree from pie pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 extra large eggs
1 cup coconut cream from can

Prejeat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Pour into pie crust and bake for 50 minutes until the center is just set. My sister, Tiffany, was in charge of taking the pie out of the oven and she pricked it with a fork, haha. So don't do that. Let pie cool before serving.

Coconut Cardamom Squash Soup

At the organic apple festival back in the fall, there was a farmstand complete with a mountain of squash. Literally all of the pumpkins and gourds. I picked out a couple I've never heard of before and decided to make soup with one pumpkin. I completely forget the name, so I've been calling it mystery squash. I saw this recipe on Love and Lemons and knew this is what the mystery squash was destined to become.

1 medium squash or pumpkin

2 cooking apples

3 leeks

1 medium yellow onion

1 head garlic

1 can coconut milk

1 inch piece ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Vegetable broth, to thin

salt + pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Slice squash in half, remove seeds, and drizzle with olive oil. Roast, cut side up, for about 30 minutes until fork tender. Let cool, then scoop out all the squash meat.

At the same time, I roast all the veggies. Peel and quarter the onion. Slice the white parts of the leek into coins. Halve and core the apples. Peel ginger. Peel garlic. Place everything on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown. I like to roast until the edges of the onions are black.

Once everything is cooked, place all vegetables and fruit into the blender. Add spices and thin a little with vegetable broth. Blend until completely smooth. Then add coconut milk and season with salt and pepper.

I ate my soup with some cheese ravioli with garden peach tomatoes and prosciutto on the side.

The mystery pumpkin:

Z

Magic Bars

While we were visiting my aunt in California, she requested I make these delicious bars. The last time I made these for her was in high school, and it was Christmastime. I couldn't believe she remembered this treat from all those years ago. Either way, they're super easy to make even if they are comprised of only sugar. Stay tuned for a vegan, healthier version that's even better than these!
We're winding down to our two last weeks of working at Maison Chance. Our projects are about completed, and I"m looking forward to some beach time. Like literally just staying in the ocean all day. In two weeks, my good friend Cate will be here. We're spending the week exploring Saigon with her. On the day after my birthday, we're headed to Bali. Then after that, probably Thailand though we haven't booked our flight yet. Then home!!! Time flies.
I really thought we would be ready to come home by now, but honestly we're not missing the cold one bit. Our life rules here. We get fresh pain au chocolat (French style) from the bakery at Maison Chance in the morning, work, lunch+ coffee+ smoothies with our coworkers at our favorite coffee shop, take a nap, eat snack together, work a little more, and then the rest of the day is spent finding dinner. We have dinner with our fellow volunteers here or we go out and explore by ourselves on the bike. Sometimes we go to my cousin's cafe where she stuffs us with delicious Vietnamese food. We've even found a great sushi and ramen place. Every day has truly been an adventure and we don't want it to end.

Ingredients
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 -14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or even better, dark chocolate chips)
2/3 cup butterscotch chips
1 1/3 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Combine the crumbs and butter in a small bowl with a fork. Press firmly into prepared pan.
Sprinkle the chips and pecans over the crumbs. Then evenly distribute the shredded coconut. Pour the sweetened condensed milk all over the bars.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack. Using a wet knife, slice into squares or triangles. I prefer really little bars since these are very, very sweet.

Coconut Beet Soup

This soup was made with both golden and red beets to make the swirls you see in the picture. We harvested beets at the farm but both kinds were planted in the same row so it was hard to distinguish since the roots are underground! It worked out this way because I got to make a beautiful beet soup!

1.5 lbs mixed beets
1 cup coconut milk
1 lime, juiced
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 hot red pepper, seeded and sliced
nasturtium flowers and leaves to garnish

Trim the beet greens and stringy roots off the beets. Roast the beets in a baking pan half filled with water at 375 degrees until tender, about 45 minutes depending on the size of the beets. Reserve 1/3 cup of the beet water. Saute the ginger, onion, garlic, and hot pepper for about 5 minutes until soft. Separate the golden and the red beets. Once cool enough pull the peels off. They should come off easily.
For the golden beet part: Blend the golden beets, half of the onion mixture, and 1/2 cup coconut milk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and lime juice. Add more coconut milk if necessary.
For the red beets: Blend with the other half of the onion mixture, beet juice, and the rest of the coconut milk. Add lime to taste.
To serve: pour the golden beet soup into a bowl. Then spoon the red beet mixture into the soup, swirling the two soups together. Drizzle some olive oil over the soup and some jalapeno hot sauce. Top with nasturtiums and enjoy!

Clam Chowder

This is my version of clam chowder made with coconut cream instead of heavy cream. Feel free to substitute if you want in equal proportions. When my family goes to the beach, we spend our time in the bay digging for clams, cutting mussels away from bay grasses, or catching crabs. If my sisters and I are lucky, we'll get a little bit of time on the beach at Assateague Island (wild ponies!). Both my parents love activity! If we're not in the water, we're at the beach house cooking. This soup was a combined effort from all of us. My dad steamed the clams, Tiffany chopped them, and all of us helped to catch them. Well Kelly and I mostly just splashed other people and got in the way...

When we catch the clams, we let them sit in a bucket in they bay for a day to filter out all of the sand before eating them. One of the neighbors recommended pouring a beer on the clams, which apparently makes them spit out all of the sand quickly.

Ingredients:

5 strips thick bacon, sliced
3 cups roughly chopped clams
3 cups small diced potatoes
7 celery stalks, sliced
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
6 1/2 cups clam juice
1 bunch fresh parsley, leaves chopped
1 can coconut cream
1 tsp old bay seasoning
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

To cook the clams: Steam the clams until they open, pulling them out individually as they just open. Keep the clam juice that's in the shells and the clam juice in the steamer. You should have about 6 cups, but if not just dilute with some water. Once cool enough to handle, chop roughly (I like big chunks of clam).
For the soup: Fry the bacon until crispy over medium high heat in a large soup pot. Take out the bacon and set aside. Keep the bacon grease in the pot, add the onions to cook until translucent. Add the celery and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes.
Add the clam juice and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook on medium heat until they are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Then add the coconut cream and the spices. Cook until the soup is heated through. Add the chopped parsley, the chopped clams, and the bacon. Season again if needed and serve with some sourdough bread.

Chocolate Coconut No-Bakes

No-bake cookies are so simple and delicious, but I always forget that they exist and haven't made them in years. I finally remembered how amazing they are, so I'm posting the recipe to remind everybody else! Today's actually not particularly hot, but no-bakes are, of course, especially good on summery days when you don't want to use the oven (so your house isn't too hot to stay inside and watch New Girl, read A Game of Thrones and hang with the dog).

I made the go-to, standard recipe, but there are a lot of options out there. Here are a few I was looking at: Healthy No-Bake Cookies from Two Peas & Their Pod, Coconut-Chocolate Patties from Martha, and No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Walnut Cookies from My San Franciscan Kitchen.

CHOCOLATE COCONUT NO-BAKES
From Food.com
2 cups sugar 
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 dash salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups oats*
1 cup coconut flakes

Optional add-ins: peanut butter, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, more chocolate, mini-marshmallows, dried fruit...

Thai Coconut Soup

I've been wanting to make this soup as soon as I saw it on My New Roots. The first time I had it was when we were in Iceland in a great Thai restaurant. It blew my mind! Nick and I were amazed at the complexity of the subtle flavors. It was perfect served over rice.
We pulled out the cilantro plants at the farm today and I was able to take all the roots home. They have a great delicate taste. The roots:

I wasn't able to track down the keffir lime leaves, sadly. I left them in the recipe just in case someone out there can track them down. There's actually an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about how you can't buy them in Pittsburgh, even at Lotus. Therefore, I'm investing in a lime tree!!! I was, however, lucky enough to get some gorgeous spring shallots. If you can't find them, just use the shallots themselves.

Ingredients:
2 cans coconut milk (full-fat!)
10 cilantro roots
7 stalks lemongrass
3 spring shallots with greens attached
3 whole thai chilies (I used fish peppers)
50g / 1.75oz ginger root
1/4 cup palm sugar
12 kaffir lime leaves
7-9 shittake mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic
juice of 3 limes
3 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 pound shrimp, deveined
thai basil, to garnish

Prep:

-Wash the cilantro root well in a bowl full of water. Cut the stems off, leaving about a half inch attached to the root.
-Bruise the lemongrass by pounding it with the side of the knife and cut some slits in the stalks.
-Slice the shallots about 1/3 of their greens (use the other greens as you would a green onion).
-Peel and cut the ginger into chunks and pound it until it releases a little liquid.
-Peel and smash the garlic.
-Cut slits into the chilies.
-Slice the mushrooms.
-Cook the shrimp in about 3 cups boiling water for about 1 minute. Reserve the water.

Cooking Directions:

In a soup pot, place the coconut milk, cilantro roots, lemongrass, shallots, chili, ginger, sugar, lime leaves, and garlic. Bring to a very gentle simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, with a lid on.
 

Strain soup through a sieve into another saucepan. I kept the shallots and garlic in the soup to eat. Add the sliced mushrooms, lime juice, fish sauce, and 2 cups shrimp cooking water. Bring soup up to a light simmer again just to cook the mushrooms slightly. Do not boil. Season to taste and serve immediately with thai basil and shrimp. Serve over rice.

Update! Since I went home this weekend, I was able to stop at the asian market with my mom. They had all the ingredients I needed like galangal root and keffir lime leaves. We were also able to use lemongrass and thai chilies from my parents' garden. The coconut sugar was from a neighbor. It was definitely a group effort. We also got some shrimp with the shells on, which makes a much better shrimp broth. Overall, this soup was excellent with all the right ingredients. I also ordered a lime tree so we can make coconut soup whenever we want!

Vegan Orange Cake

This was my contribution to the bridal shower. I made it with a coconut frosting because my sister, Tiffany, said that the cake was ugly just with the glaze. This recipe was found on The Kitchn while I was looking up recipes to use the blood orange jam I was about to give out as favors. The cake got rave reviews and it was gone before everyone got to even try it! It was really moist and sweet with just a hint of bitterness from the blood oranges. Also, it's vegan!!!

Sticky Layered Blood Orange Cake
makes two 9-inch round layers
Cake
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups raw cane sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 oranges, zested (I used 1 blood orange and 2 oranges)
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup water or orange flavored tea
1/2 cup blood orange jam or marmalade
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Coconut Frosting (same one I used on the coconut cupcakes)
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup orange marmalade

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes

For a family get together, I was asked to make dessert. I decided on these coconut cupcakes from Chef Chloe because I had all the ingredients in the apartment. They turned out to be a big hit! They were gone in about an hour into lunch. My cousins, Sara and Tony crushed about 5 of them between themselves. It was pretty impressive!

Cocunut Cupcakes

• 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup raw cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coconut milk (from a can)
• ½ cup canola oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Coconut Frosting

• 3 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil 
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 tablespoons coconut milk 

Garnish

• shredded coconut
• coarse sugar

To make the Coconut Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cupcake pans with 15 cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make sure to shake the coconut milk in its can before pouring out into the measuring cup to make sure the milk is uniform and creamy. It tends to separate in the can especially if it is cold outside. In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut milk, oil, vanilla, and vinegar.
Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full with batter.

Coconut Chicken Fingers

I wish I had taken a better picture! We were in a hurry to start eating. These chicken fingers were kind of messy but very tasty, with good texture. I fried these ones up just a little before baking to make them crispy, but you could also spray with cooking oil and just bake them on the baking sheet for a couple extra minutes. 

Coconut, almond and panko breading mix

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COCONUT CHICKEN FINGERS
Adapted (a lot) from Stay for Dinner

3 chicken breasts, cut into relatively even strips, or tenders
1 cup buttermilk*
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup toasted, chopped almonds
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup panko (or breadcrumbs)
salt & pepper to taste
chili powder to taste
1 egg, whisked
2 tbsp oil for frying

Marinate the chicken "fingers" in the buttermilk and honey for at least one hour or up to overnight. I usually put the chicken and marinade in a plastic storage bag and then put that in a bowl to keep in the fridge. 

Mix together the panko, coconut, almonds, salt & pepper and chili powder.

Preheat to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and wire rack. Take the chicken out of the marinade. Dredge the chicken first in the eggs then in the panko/coconut/almond mixture until well-coated. Cooking in batches, fry in oil in a skillet for 2-3 minutes on each side or until it starts crisping up. Then arrange on the baking sheet transfer to the preheated oven for another 10-12 minutes. Be careful not to overcook since they're pretty small pieces of chicken.

Dip! I like honey mustard (half honey, half mustard) or mayo-mustard (3/4 mayo, 1/4 mustard). 

*Remember that you don't have to go out and buy buttermilk if you don't have any - mix one cup milk with 1 tbsp vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes.

Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Crepes)

When my mom makes these, they are perfectly thin and crispy with the perfect balance of flavors. Traditionally they are made with fatty pork and fried in a caste iron pan with bean sprouts and green onions. In Vietnam, this is the best street food! I got this recipe from a vegetarian cookbook called Plenty that I got for Christmas and this version has a thicker crepe. I made these on Sunday for Nick's family. It was their first time trying this food and I think they liked it!

Makes 4 thick crepes
For the crepe batter:

1 1/3 cups brown rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 3/4 cup coconut milk (from a can)
1 bunch green onions, green and white parts chopped

Mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk.

Then add the coconut milk slowly, stirring to incorporate. Then add in the chopped green onions.

Mix the batter and set aside to rest. While preparing the filling.

Avocado Cupcakes

There's this lady in Pittsburgh that makes vegan treats and sells them at various farmer's markets and fairs. At the I Made it Market before Christmas time, I tried one of her avocado cupcakes and it was phenomenol. I finally got around to making them myself. You can really taste the avocado in the cake part and the cupcakes turn out to be a really great pale green color. The avocado replaces the fat in this recipe which is pretty cool. I found this recipe off of epicurean vegan's blog. I did, however, substitute actual yogurt instead of soy yogurt so my version is not vegan.

INGREDIENTS:

Cupcakes:
1-1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
3/4 C almond milk
1/3 C plain yogurt
2 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
1/4 C Earth Balance margarine
1 C confectioner’s sugar
Coconut cream
Sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin with liners. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the food processor, puree the avocado.
Add the almond milk, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla; blend until smooth and creamy.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture with a whisk until there are very few lumps.

Divide the mixture among the muffin tins and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

To make the frosting, I did not measure anything but I combined the ingredients a little bit at a time until I liked the taste and consistency of it. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting! I actually like to wait until I'm ready to serve them and then just frost them right before.

Peanut Butter Honey Truffles

I made these cute and not too incredibly unhealthy truffles (really PB balls, but "truffle" sounds nice) for the kids at our after school program. They probably won't like them because they are nasty picky brats (jk...), but I think they're very tasty.

PEANUT BUTTER HONEY TRUFFLES
Adapted from The Shiksa

Makes about 30 1" balls

1/2 cup oats (blended to a fine powder)
1+ cup peanut butter (natural unsweetened if you have it)
1/2 cup honey (the stronger flavor the better, like lavender or wildflower)
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt (if your PB doesn't have salt)

Coating options:
(to coat about 3/4 of balls) 1/2 cup shredded coconut (blended to a coarse flake)
(to coat about 1/4 of balls) 2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
or crushed toasted almonds or some other nut, powdered or normal sugar, chopped up raisins, or more blended oats or whatever...

Do your blending - the oats and the coconut. Then mix together the ingredients (oats through optional salt). Taste and adjust to your liking. Roll into balls and coat them with coconut, cocoa powder or whatever you're using. Add more PB as needed. If they're really hard to roll, refrigerate a little first. 

I mixed about half of my batter with about a 1/4 cup of melted chocolate. These need refrigerated a few minutes before rolling. 

Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Cake

This is the second time we've made this chocolate two-layer cake for my Grandpa's birthday - it's VERY good. There's coffee to make it extra chocolate-y and buttermilk to make it extra moist. Last year I had to make it all in less than an hour and it still worked out perfectly, so that's proof that this is a simple recipe, especially since I'm slow and hardly ever make cakes. I add toasted coconut for another great texture. Only the outside is coconut, unlike Kate's crazy coconut birthday cake!

My mom took the lead on the baking this time. If she's around, I'm generally not allowed to do much in the kitchen. We are on opposite ends of the of cooking/baking spectrum: she measures EVERYTHING, adds it all in order and follows the recipe verbatim. She even had everything measured out ahead of time for this one. 

I hope you all live to be 87! If you do, I will make you this cake. If not, tough, make it yourself.

the grandparents with their favorite grandchild

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BEATTY'S CHOCOLATE CAKE
From the Barefoot Contessa

Butter for greasing the pans 

1 3/4 cups all ­purpose flour, plus more for pans 
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra ­large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Chocolate Frosting
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra­large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
11/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Crazy Coconut Cake

 

 Coconut Cake, with Coconut Buttercream Frosting, topped with coconut flakes. Obviously for the hardcore coconut lover.

Much to my aggravation, my fiance Mark's birthday happens to be three days after Christmas. It's killer for me because he's already hard to buy for, and I have to think of enough present ideas for two occasions in the same week.

His food tastes, however, are pretty easy to figure out. When I saw the recipe for Coconut Cake in the June/July 2012 issue of BUST magazine several months ago, I knew I had to keep it in mind to try.
So, the morning of his birthday, I woke up at 8 a.m. to put the thing together. I never made a homemade cake before, let alone a layered one, but I was extra motivated by the fact that his mom just bought us a Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas. It was also my first time making homemade buttercream frosting.

This recipe I found in BUST, but they cited the recipe from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, by Cheryl Day & Griffith Day. This recipe is repeated nearly verbatim from the magazine.

Cake Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
3/4 cup cream of coconut (could not find this stuff in the store anywhere, so opted for coconut milk instead)
1 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 lb. (three sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Prep time: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Cook time: 45-50 minutes
Serves: 10 - 12