Coconut Cream Pie

There's a looong story that goes with this post, but since I have a TON of work to do on the computer today, I'm gonna make it short and sweet. I asked my dad what dessert he wanted for Father's Day, and his first reply was pie crust. His favorite thing is when I bake my leftover pie crust scraps with cinnamon and sugar. I wouldn't feel satisfied if all I baked him on Father's Day was scraps, so his second choice was coconut custard pie... and pie scraps, of course! :D I found a great recipe for coconut cream pie in The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. I liked it because it used coconut milk in the custard.

I started by making and baking the pie crust. I made a double batch of pie pastry. I rolled out half and put it in a pie pan. Then I rolled out the other half, cut it into strips, sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar, and baked them as "scraps." While the crust was in the oven, I made the coconut custard. It was insanely delicious, and I knew it was gonna make a GREAT pie. Next is when the baking gods decided take a giant, steaming deuce on my day!

When I went to retrieve my beautiful pre-baked pie crust from the oven, it slid back on the oven mitt, and the 375 degree dark metal pie pan made contact with my arm flesh! Naturally, my reflex was to get it off me, ASAP! I jerked my arm forward and watched in slow motion as my perfect pie crust hit the floor and flattened into a fugly hot mess. My mom, trying to remedy the situation, grabbed the pie crust and tried to put it back together jigsaw style. "Cassie, you can't even tell!" No way! No way was I gonna serve my dad a pie that had once been in pieces on the floor! By this time, dinner was almost ready. I had no time to re-do anything. I accepted my defeat, and with my head down, I put the coconut custard in the fridge to wait until the next day when I could gather my wits and try again.But remember how I said the baking gods took not only a deuce, but a GIANT, STEAMING deuce on my day?? Yeah, I also baked a birthday cake for a family friend. Can you guess how that turned out? I'll put it this way, I took one bite and spit it out... SPIT IT OUT! How embarassing is that? I am trying to open my own bakery, and I just produced a cake for someone's birthday that might've tasted better if I'd made it in my Easy-Bake Oven! Gahh!! Needless to say, I had a well-deserved cry while Josh reassured me that I simply made a mistake somewhere in the recipe, and that I was still a baking goddess. :D I love that boy! <3 Ok, so it didn't end up being a short story after all. Oh well, that just means less time playing FarmVille later.... Here's the Coconut Cream Pie recipe. BTW, the pictures look redonkulous because I was using the camera I gave to my dad for Father's Day. I haven't figured out any of the settings yet.

Coconut Cream Pie (adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book)

1 pre-baked 9” pie crust (half of the recipe after the link)

Filling
1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk (look for this on the Asian food aisle in the grocery store)
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon table salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping (my own recipe)
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon coconut flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup toasted coconut, optional

Bring coconut milk, whole milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, and salt to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves.

Whisk yolks, cornstarch, and remaining 1/3 cup of sugar in medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisking constantly, gradually ladle about 1 cup hot milk mixture over yolk mixture; whisk well to combine. Whisking constantly, gradually add remaining milk mixture to yolk mixture in 3 or 4 additions; whisk well to combine. Return mixture to saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, whisking vigorously, until the mixture is thickened and a few bubbles burst on the surface, about 30 seconds.

Off heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla. Let the mixture cool until just warm, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Pour warm filling into cooled pie crust. Press plastic wrap directly against surface of filling and refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours.

For the topping, whip the cream, sugar, and flavorings with an electric mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat or the cream will curdle. Pipe or spread the whipped cream on top of the pie and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Coconut Washboard Cookies

You're probably thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Why are these called washboard cookies? The don't resemble washboards at all. Or maybe you read my Twitter rant at the time these cookies were baked. Remember that rant in all caps about my cookies not coming out right...?? Yeah, these are those cookies! According to the description in the book, these cookies are supposed to be "crisp and perfect with a cup of tea." Well.... no. They didn't exactly turn out like that. Actually it must be opposite day because these suckers are very cake-like. If you know me, cake-like cookies do not make me happy... UNLESS they are part of a whoopie pie. But, ladies and gentlemen, these are not whoopie pies. These are supposed to be washboard cookies! I hate that I'm making very few posts lately because of my new and improved busy schedule. And I hate even more that my last TWO posts both contained mishaps! Oh well, I must press on! If anyone has any advice as to why these cookies turned out soft and cakey instead of crisp, I'd love to get your input!
Also, if you have any clues as to why my camera decided to go all "Chester Cheetah" on me and turn all of my photos orange, that would be nice as well! Here's what they looked like before Photoshop:Recipe from Cook's Country: America's Best Lost Recipes
Washboard Cookies
MAKES 36 COOKIES

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I reduced this to only a pinch, but I'd completely omit it next time)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Whisk together the egg and milk in a small bowl. With an electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture and beat until well combined. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and coconut, and mix until just incorporated.

2. Following the photos, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and, using floured hands, shape it into a 15-inch log. (At this point, the dough was extremely soft and hard to work with. I'd recommend chilling it for about 15 minutes to make it easier to shape into a log.) Flatten the top and sides of the log so that it measures 1 inch high and 3 inches wide. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 45 minutes. (The dough can refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)

3. Adjust two oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, and arrange the slices 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Dip a dinner fork in flour, then make crosswise indentations in the dough slices. Bake until the cookies are toasty brown, 15 to 18 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve.

Almond Joy Ice Cream

While Stephanie was here I showed her how to make homemade ice cream. I let her pick the flavor, but I suggested that we choose something to use up the coconut milk we had leftover from the Piña Colada Cake. Since she LOVES all things chocolate, we both decided to make Almond Joy ice cream. We started with a recipe for coconut ice cream in Williams-Sonoma's Frozen Desserts. To that we added a bit of dark cocoa powder; 3 tablespoons was the perfect amount to deliver a perfect chocolate punch without taking away from the coconut flavor. We mixed cream of coconut with flaked coconut to make that sticky coconut filling you find in an Almond Joy. Then I found some cocoa-roasted almonds in my mom's secret snack drawer. She always hides the good stuff! When the ice cream was complete, it tasted just like an Almond Joy! It wasn't too sweet or too rich, which is a complaint I have with most homemade ice cream recipes. The chocolate flavor was just right, and the random dollops of coconut filling and chopped almonds were perfect! This recipe is a total keeper. Thanks, Stephanie, for helping me make AND eat this ice cream! <33333Almond Joy Ice Cream (based very loosely on the Coconut Ice Cream recipe in Williams-Sonoma’s Frozen Desserts)
Makes about 1 quart

1 ½ cups heavy cream, divided
1 cup whole milk
½ cup unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
1 ¼ cups sweetened or unsweetened flaked dried coconut, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
3 tablespoons cream of coconut
¼ teaspoon coconut extract
pinch of salt
½ cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped

In a small saucepan, whisk together 1 cup of heavy cream, whole milk, coconut milk, sugar, and cocoa powder. Stir in ½ cup of dried coconut and vanilla. Warm over medium heat, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves and small bubbles form around the edges, 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean saucepan to remove all the flaked coconut. Press on the coconut to extract as much liquid as possible.

Warm the coconut-milk mixture over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the remaining ½ cup of heavy cream until blended. Whisk ¼ of the coconut-milk mixture into the yolks. Then whisk the yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining coconut-milk mixture. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 4-5 minutes.

Pour the hot custard into a bowl and cool completely in an ice bath, 30-45 minutes. Once the custard has cooled to room temperature, remove it from the ice bath. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a “skin” from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. While mixture is churning, stir together the remaining ¾ cup dried coconut, cream of coconut, coconut extract, and a pinch of salt. Refrigerate until the ice cream is finished churning. When the ice cream reaches the consistency of thick whipped cream, pour it out of the ice cream maker and into a shallow pan. Dollop the coconut mixture over the top and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Without stirring, transfer the ice cream into a plastic freezer container. Cover tightly and freeze for at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.

The Cake Slice presents: Piña Colada Cake

For the June installment of The Cake Slice, the bakers made the Piña Colada Cake from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne. It's a brown sugar cake, filled with tangy pineapple filling, and frosted with coconut meringue buttercream (again, the recipe makes Italian meringue buttercream, but with a few changes I Swissed it up!). Stephanie from Cram It In Your Face is staying with me this week, and she helped me make it. If you remember from last month's Cake Slice recipe, I baked it at Stephanie's house and I did all the work! This time I put her to work! We omitted the rum soak because I don't like the flavor of alcohol when it's not cooked out a little. Stephanie and I both agreed that the cake needed more coconut flavor. I think next time I'd make extra coconut frosting and put some in the middle on top of the pineapple filling. Also, we felt that the coconut milk gave the frosting an "off" flavor. Next time, I'd leave that out and use coconut oil instead of coconut extract. But I'm the baker, so I'm the worst critic. The wing nighters loved it and gave it 5 stars!

See how the other bakers fared this month by clicking here!

Here's me measuring water (because I used buttermilk powder), but I wanted to show my newest fashion statement... pink hair! I put Stephanie to work this time!
I don't know how I could survive without my cake leveler!
Stephanie is the queen of action shots! ;)
Mmm that pineapple filling is BOMB!
Another action shot... and props to my cake turntable, thanks for the help!
Sorry for the lighting... it was so cloudy!!
Stephanie and I shared the first slice, the fruit of our labor!!

Piña Colada Cake
from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

Brown Sugar Cake
3 3/4 cups cake flour
1 3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and line the base of three 9inch cake pans.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk gently to combine. Add the brown sugar, butter and 1 1/2 cups of the buttermilk to the dry ingredients. With the mixer on low blend to incorporate. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
Whisk the eggs with the remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk and the vanilla and add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and beating only long enough to incorporate between additions. Divide the batter between the 3 pans.
Bake for 25-28 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper and allow to cool completely.

Pineapple Filling
1 can (20 ounce) crushed pineapple in juice (no added sugar)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 one-inch piece of vanilla bean split in half (We used 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)

Combine the pineapple, sugar and lime juice in a pan. Scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan too. Warm over a medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, 2 to 3 minutes.
Raise the het to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the juices have almost completely evaporated and its turned jam-like in consistency (This took us about 10 minutes). Let the filling cool completely before using. (Can be made a day in advance and refrigerated)

Coconut Buttercream
3 eggs whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water (We omitted this)
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature (We reduced this to 2 sticks)
2/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp coconut extract

(We changed this to make it Swiss meringue buttercream. Whisk the egg whites and sugar over a double boiler until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed for 6-8 minutes, or until mixture is fluffy and cool to the touch. Switch to the paddle attachment. On medium speed, add butter a few tablespoons at a time. When all the butter has been added, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture becomes very thick and smooth, about 3 minutes.)
Put the eggs whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whip attachment so they are ready to go.
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and cook without stirring until the syrup reaches the sold boil stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
Beat the egg whites briefly at medium speed. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, being careful to avoid the beaters. Continue to whip until the meringue has cooled to body temperature.
With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the butter, several tablespoons at a time and continue to beat until a smooth fluffy frosting forms.
Add the coconut milk in several additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well after each addition. Add the coconut extract and mix until smooth.

To assemble
9 tbsp rum – light, amber or dark
Coconut flakes and thin slices of pineapple

Place one layer flat side up on a cake stand. Sprinkle a generous 3 tbsp rum over the cake. Spread half of the pineapple filling over the layer, leaving a small gap around the edge. Add the second layer, sprinkle with more rum and cover with the remaining pineapple filling.
Top with the third layer and sprinkle with the remaining rum. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the coconut buttercream.
Decorate with some thin shreds of coconut and slices of pineapple if wished.

Ina Garten's (Toasted) Coconut Cupcakes

UPDATE: I wrote this entry when I was the only one who had tasted the cupcakes. The concensus from the wing-nighters is that these are the BEST cupcakes so far! One wing-nighter had this to say: "Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!" :D If that's not proof enough that this is a winning recipe, I dunno what you want... a sacrificial lamb? No thanks.

Strawberry cupcakes won the poll... but as you can see this post isn't about strawberry cupcakes. Well, what had happened was... It started raining before I had a chance to go out and find local strawberries. And the strawberries at the grocery store were from Florida. This time of year I can get beautiful strawberries that were grown only 10 minutes from my house. I wasn't going to settle. No offense, Florida. Anyway, if you voted for strawberry cupcakes, please direct your complaints to The Rain. Thanks!

On the other hand, if you voted for coconut cupcakes, feel free to direct all your exuberant exclamations to ME! Thank you! Thank you! *Takes a bow* You like me! You really like me! (Am I too young for that joke??) Excuse me, let me get myself back together. These cupcakes are the SHIZZ! They are sort of a re-imagining of Ina's coconut cupcakes. I made them with toasted coconut (for Josh! Am I a good girlfriend or what!). I also used buttermilk powder instead of buttermilk. I cut the recipe in half, but I used 3 eggs instead of 2 1/2 (the original recipe calls for 5 eggs). These are fantastic! The toasted coconut flavor really comes through. The almond extract is a good co-starring flavor, but it doesn't steal the spotlight. And the cream cheese frosting... well that needs no added explanation. These are definitely a 5 all the way across my ratings board! :D

Can you smell that yummy toasted coconut?? My favorite step...
...Creaming the butter and sugar until FLUFFY!
After the last addition of flour, I like to finish mixing by hand.
The recipe says to fill the cups to the top. I NEVER do that, but I decided to try it on 4 cupcakes...
The cupcakes I did not fill all the way to the top came out looking nice.
The full cups overflowed a bit and looked like mushrooms.
Ohhhhh yeah......
I urge you to add this to your "to-bake" list. The toasted coconut sends you straight into nirvana!

Ina Garten's Coconut Cupcakes (halved and with minute changes)
Makes about 16 (The original recipe says it makes 18-20, half would be 9-10... umm who are they kidding?)

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
3 eggs (original recipe calls for 5, half would be 2 1/2...)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used 2 tablespoons of buttermilk powder mixed into the dry ingredients and substituted 1/2 cup of water here)
7 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut (toasted, if you like; to toast, preheat the oven to 375F. Spread coconut evenly on a cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Stir the coconut and bake for 5 more minutes. Keep an eye on it because it burns quickly.)

Frosting
1/2 pound (1 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, room temp (I prefer to make mine with cold cream cheese)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 3 1/2 ounces of coconut (I took into consideration that my toasted coconut would have less moisture and therefore weigh less. I only added 2 1/2 ounces of it to the batter. And I crushed it with my hands to allow the flavor to spread more evenly throughout the batter).

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes (Mine were done at 19 minutes), until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5

Christmas Cookie Caper '08: #4 - Kitchen Sink Cookies

Alright, so you can say I punked out because this isn't a new recipe. Actually we used 3 recipes that we've done before. But you can't deny recipes that are super delicious!! I made these kitchen sink cookies a few months ago. I kinda made up the recipe by compiling a bunch of recipes. I wanted a cookie full of stuff and this is what I came up with. They've got oatmeal, walnuts, two kinds of chocolate chips, coconut, and raisins. Feel free to leave out any of those if you don't like them. One tip I like to remember when making cookie dough is to use butter that's softened but still cool. I'm not sure why but I feel better putting cold cookie dough into the oven. If you want, you can make this dough a few days ahead and scoop it straight from the fridge.

Kitchen Sink Cookies
Makes 18 cookies

MY NOTES: I used a cookie scoop that holds 2 tbsp of cookie dough.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped and toasted walnuts
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add egg and beat until fully incorporated. Mix in vanilla extract. With the mixer on it's lowest speed, slowly add the flour until almost incorporated. Mix in oats, then with a rubber spatula fold in the chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut and raisins. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets.Bake one sheet at a time for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets. Transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes - 2 Ways!

I'm gonna start a rating system using a scale of 1 to 5. Look for it at the end of each cupcake post.
Here's how it goes:
Moistness: 1 being as dry as Arizona weather - 5 being perfectly moist and delicious
Tenderness: 1 being hard as a rock - 5 being light as air
Frosting: 1 being really gross - 5 being out of this world
(Keep in mind I'm very critical. You might say something is definitely a 5, but I'm a little more harsh and settle on a 4.)

First I feel like I need to say I'm sorry! I know I haven't had a poll in a while. It's mainly because I have 3 cupcake mixes I need to use up. This week I had fully planned on using one of them. That is until it actually became time to bake. I was really in the mood to bake from scratch! I skipped out on Cupcake Hero last month, but when I started seeing everyone's cocoa powder cupcakes I got really jealous! I wanted to use the cocoa I found recently at Ross. So I chose a recipe from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. The original recipe calls for the cupcakes to be filled with pudding and topped with whipped cream. I don't really like the idea of a "from scratch" cupcake that has to stay refrigerated (because they tend to dry out and get hard... not yummy). I looked in the freezer and decided to use up some leftover Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (which I don't keep refrigerated once it's on the cupcakes because my mom never did and neither did my grandma and we're still kicking!). DON'T WORRY THOUGH! I did make 5 of them just how the book said too. The pudding in the middle really covers up the dryness they get when refrigerated. They are delicious straight outta the fridge! However, my cupcakes did turn out a little dry and hard even when they weren't refrigerated. I think it's due to the order of the ingredients that are mixed in. I added my own notes to the recipe to ensure that no one else will over mix theirs!

First, whisk the eggs and sugar. Mix in oil and dry ingredients.Add shaved chocolate, cocoa powder, coconut, and milk.

At this point it looks like brownie batter.

Whip egg whites to stiff peaks.

Fold meringue into chocolate coconut batter.

Fill cups 2/3 full and bake.

Cool cupcakes on wire rack.

Frost with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

and garnish with lightly toasted coconut.

Alternately, cut a hole from the center of each cupcake.

Fill each cupcake with pudding.

Top with whipped cream and garnish with whatever's laying around!

Chocolate Coconut Pudding Cupcakes
MAKES 12-14 CUPCAKES

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt, plus pinch for egg whites
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus 2 tablespoons
1 cup shredded coconut, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces dark chocolate, grated
1/4 cup milk
Chocolate pudding (instant, ready­ made or homemade)
Whipped cream, for decoration
Powdered chocolate or cocoa powder, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
3. With a whisk or a wooden spoon, mix egg yolks and sugar together. Add oil and then flour mixture, beating until batter is smooth (MY NOTES: Do not mix the flour completely in at this point; You will mix a lot in the following directions. In fact, I suggest stirring in the coconut, cocoa powder, and grated chocolate BEFORE adding the flour and milk. Remember, you still have egg whites to fold in). Mix in coconut, cocoa powder, grated chocolate, and milk and blend well.
4. Using an electric beater, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into chocolate batter.
5. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling about 2/3 full. Smooth batter with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle a little coconut over each cupcake. Cook for 10 minutes and then lower temperature to 300°F and cook for another 20 minutes (mine were done after only 12 minutes) or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.
6. When cupcakes are completely cool, cut a circle or cone out of the top with an apple corer and heap chocolate pudding in it. Add a little dollop of whipped cream for decoration. Dust with powdered chocolate or cocoa powder.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 3 (Probably my fault)
Tenderness: 3 (Most likely my fault... I over mixed!)
Frosting: 4

Kitchen Sink Cookies

These cookies are called Kitchen Sink Cookies because everything is in them except the kitchen sink! That's totally an exaggeration of course. I'm not sure how delicious they'd be with wooden spoons and paper towels mixed in. Anyway, I'm not usually a cookie person. If I am faced with a decision, I'll always choose cake over cookies. But yesterday the mood struck me to bake cookies. I searched and searched for a recipe, but nothing was jumping out at me. Finally I just took a bit from a few recipes and came up with these yummy masterpieces this morning! Some bites taste like an oatmeal raisin cookie. Some bites taste like a tollhouse chocolate chip cookie. Some bites are chewy. Some bites are crunchy. But all bites are fantastic! These are most delicious if you microwave them for a few seconds before eating them.

ingredientscookie dough (no walnuts, read to the bottom to find out why)

ready for the oven

cooling

Soooooo tasty!!

After the first 9 cookies were in the oven, I noticed the bowl of chopped walnuts still sitting on the counter! So I added half of them to the second half of the cookie dough. It was a miracle that I ended up with 9 cookies w/o walnuts and 9 cookies with walnuts. Almost like I did it on purpose... almost.

MY NOTES: I used 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp vanilla butter nut flavoring. I used a cookie scoop that holds 2 tbsp of cookie dough.

Kitchen Sink Cookies (my recipe adapted from like 5 other recipes)
Makes 18 cookies

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped and toasted walnuts
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add egg and beat until fully incorporated. Mix in vanilla extract. With the mixer on it's lowest speed, slowly add the flour until almost incorporated. Mix in oats, then with a rubber spatula fold in the chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut and raisins. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake one sheet at a time for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets. Transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.