Toasted Coconut Rice Krispie Treats

I looooove coconut so I HAD to make these. Had to. I am glad I did, too. This recipe is a keeper! I have coconut loving friends that are going to want to me to make these. I'll offer to bring them to their parties. I could offer to bring a trio of Rice Krispie treats...these, salted brown butter, and peanut butter. I could get a lot more invitations to a lot more parties!

I found this recipe here http://cravingchronicles.com/2010/05/25/toasted-coconut-rice-krispie-treats/ but had to change it up a bit.

Toasted Coconut Rice Krispie Treats

3 tablespoons butter
10 ounces mini marshmallows
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 teaspoon coconut extract
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1/2 cup toasted shredded coconut*

3 ounces (about 1/2 cup) bittersweet chocolate chips, melted (optional)

* To toast coconut, spread shredded coconut in an even layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 300F, stirring every few minutes, for 10-15 minutes or until coconut is golden brown. Don’t walk away from the oven! The coconut will brown very quickly, so keep an eye on it. Set aside to cool.

Prepare an 8 or 9 inch square dish by either buttering or spraying with cooking spray.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add marshmallows and heat over medium-low heat, stirring until melted. Stir in shredded coconut and coconut extract. Remove from heat. Add Rice Krispies and stir until thoroughly coated. Spread Rice Krispie mixture into prepared pan. With the back of a buttered spatula or using a sheet of waxed paper, press mixture firmly into an even layer. If desired melt chocolate chips and drizzle over the tops of the treats. Spread slightly, if desired. Sprinkle toasted coconut and press lightly to adhere to the chocolate and the top of the treats. (In the picture above the coconut was put down first, then the chocolate.  Not a good idea.  The chocolate fell off...)  Cool at room temperature until chocolate hardens. Once cool, cut into squares and enjoy!

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Strawberry Cake (with Real Strawberry Puree)

The strawberry cake was a success! YAY! Abby took the cake back to college for the birthday boy, but left some cupcakes here for us to enjoy (and photograph). The cake is bright pink, made from scratch-with with real strawberries! The cake packs a good strawberry taste. Taste! Not the boxed cake mix perfumed aroma that is supposed to stand in for taste. Yummy!

I think the frosting needs work. We used a basic cream cheese frosting...and I think it is a bit too much for the cake. A plain buttercream would be better, but I think a whipped cream frosting or a milk chocolate frosting would be best...or maybe we should have tried the posted frosting, too. DUH!

I am hoping Abby will send a picture of her cake. She's going to decorate it with chocolate covered strawberries with a white chocolate drizzle. It should look spectacular. This boy had better now propose. He'd be the third. In a year. Until then though, here's a picture of the cupcake she left for me!

I found the recipe here...http://www.mangiodasola.com/2010/04/strawberry-cake.html but had to change it a bit. I have included the strawberry frosting recipe from the site...perhaps we should have made that, too.

Strawberry Cake

2¼ cups cake flour (9 ounces)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool
6 large egg whites (¾ cup), at room temperature
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups strawberry purée (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick baker's cooking spray. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed. Add in butter and continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining. Add all but ½ cup of milk-egg white mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup of strawberry purée and beat for 30-45 seconds. Then, add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture, and beat 15 seconds more. Add another 1/2 cup of purée, and beat for 15 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed, and beat 20 seconds longer. Do not over-mix. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation OR bake them individually.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 22 to 24 minutes.

Let cakes rest in pans for 5 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Re-invert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1- 1½ hours.

For Strawberry Puree
2 cups fresh strawberries,sliced and stems removed
1/4 sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Place the cut strawberries in a blender. Add sugar and lemon juice. Purée the mixture until smooth. You will need 1 1/2 cups puree for the cake and 1/4-1/2 cups puree for the frosting.

Strawberry Frosting (did not test--but probably would have been better than the cream cheese frosting we did use)

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup shortening (can sub more butter for a less fluffy frosting)
3-4 cups powdered sugar (to taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/2 cup strawberry purée

Beat butter and shortening for 3 minutes. Slow down beater or mixer, and add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Once the mixture is well-integrated, add in the purée until desired consistency is reached.

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Chicken Enchiladas with Green Sauce

Mmmm...must have been the thought of Cinco de Mayo... but I've finally found a great green sauce for enchiladas.  Not spicy (although it would be easy to up the heat) but tasty and tangy, which it should be, having being made with 2 lbs of fresh tomatillos. I liked the flavor of the chicken poached in cilantro and mint, but I think that delicate flavor got lost when the sauce, cheese, and tortillas were added.  So you might just want to make your own enchilada filling, and use this sauce. Delicioso

Don't assemble the enchiladas until 10 minutes before you want to eat (but the the sauce, the chicken, and the filling can be made a day or more in advance). I made the mistake once of assembling the enchiladas in the morning and refrigerating until ready to cook.  The sauce soaked into the tortillas and by the time I had removed the casserole dish from the oven I knew that I had one horribly dry dish on my hands.  So dry, that all the sour cream in the carton couldn't help...

Green Sauce (Salsa Verde)

2 lbs tomatillos (about 15), husks removed and washed
2-3 Serrano chilies or 1 Jalapeno (I'm a wimp, I used 1 Anaheim)
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small while onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil (divided use)
1 1/2 tsp. salt (more or less to taste)
1 cup chicken broth (saved from poaching the chicken)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Char the tomatillo and chilies. Do this over an open flame on your stovetop, on the grill, in the frying pan, or in a hot oven.  I grill over the gas burner on my stove.  You are looking for the tomatillos to soften slightly and have a few charred spots.  Remove tomatillos to a large bowl or platter to cool.  Put the charred chili in a brown bag to cool.  When cool, remove all the charred skin.  Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil to a frying pan.  When hot add onion and saute onion until soft, add the garlic, and saute about 2 more minutes.  Put the tomatillos, peeled chili, onion and garlic in a blender and process until smooth.  Heat remaining 2 Tablespoons olive oil in the frying pan.  Add in sauce from blender and cook for about a minute. Stir in salt (to taste), chicken broth, cumin, and cilantro. Simmer for about 4 minutes and set aside.

For Chicken

1 small chicken, cut into 3 parts (or all thighs, or all breasts, or combo...about 2 lbs meat total)
8 cups water
1/2 yellow onion, coarsely chopped (skin still on)
6 garlic cloves
2 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt, divided use
8 springs cilantro
3 large sprigs fresh mint
1/2 tsp. black pepper
salt, to taste

Place chicken in pan with water, yellow onion, garlic, 2 tsp. salt, cilantro, and mint.  Poach chicken until done, 20-45 minutes depending on cuts of chicken and thickness of meat.  Let chicken cool in broth. Remove chicken from broth and shred.  Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken bones back into broth and simmer for an additional 30-60 minutes to make a richer broth. Strain 1 cup of broth from pan and add to the green sauce above.

For the enchiladas

shredded chicken from above
2 cups monterey jack cheese (or mexican blend cheese), divided use
1 can sliced black olives, optional
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup salsa verde
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
Queso Fresco, crumbled (or additional shredded cheese)
Sour cream or Mexican Crema
1/2 red onion, finely chopped, optional

Combine shredded chicken, 1 cup shredded cheese, optional olives and onion along with 1/2 cup salsa verde.  Stir to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Just before it's time to eat...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat vegetable oil over high heat.  Lightly fry tortilla in oil for about 5 seconds on each side or until soft. Drain on a paper towel.  Repeat until all 12 tortillas are cooked.  Dip tortilla into salsa verde, add in a scant 1/4 cup of chicken mixture, and roll.  Place into baking dish, seam side down.  Repeat until all tortillas and chicken are used.  Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas in pan. Top with remaining 1 cup shredded cheese.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Finish off in a hot broiler for 2-3 minutes if you want nicely browned cheese.  Garnish enchiladas with crumbled Queso Fresco and sour cream or Mexican Crema.  Servir y disfrutar.

Ooops.  Almost forgot to tell you where I found this recipe.  In the San Jose Mercury News last month (don't have the date on the clipping)  and it's attributed to Agustin Gayton.

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Strawberry Oatmeal Scones

My daughter Abby insisted I post these.  She said they are delicious.  She's a wonderful girl, but unfortunately suffering from dormfooditis.  Nevertheless, these scones are good, and they do look pretty.  They'd be good with a mother's day cup of tea, don't you think?

Scones are not supposed to be sweet, and not supposed to resemble a muffin, and these don't.  They have the right texture for a true Englsih scone. Next time though, I will put a bit more sugar in them, and a bit less nutmeg.  (I love nutmeg, so I was a bit overgenerous, and the scones ended up with a bit of an unappetizing yellow tinge.)

Here's where I found this recipe...Adapted from Joy the Baker, originally from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan http://homeiswheretheholmansare.blogspot.com/2010/04/strawberry-oatmeal-scones.html

Strawberry Oatmeal Scones

1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup sugar (next time I might use 1/2 cup)
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 T unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.

Whisk together the egg and buttermilk and set aside. Combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a mixing bowl. Add the cold butter pieces and cut in with a pastry blender or your hands, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add in the chopped strawberries. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir with a fork until the mixture comes together in one hairy ball (be careful not to squish too many strawberries). Place the dough on an ungreased baking sheet and pat into a disk about the size of a dinner plate and  1 1/2 inches thick. Cut the dough, like a pie or a pizza, into about 8 or 12 wedges.  Pull wedges apart, so there is about 1 inch between each slice.

At this point scones can be refrigerated to bake later, or frozen to be baked much later.  Place in preheated 400 degree oven  and bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown (25 minutes if frozen--do not defrost before baking). Transfer to a wire rack to cool about 10 minutes before serving.

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Brown Sugar Ice Cream

In the last few weeks, I have deemed only one new recipe worthy of posting, this one: Brown Sugar Ice Cream. My daughter Abby brought home a quart of Haagan-Daz's Brown Sugar ice-cream a few months ago. So when I ran across this recipe at http://dishingupdelights.blogspot.com/2010/04/brown-sugar-ice-cream.html it wasn't a completely foreign concept. Just for the record, this homemade version is wayyyy better than the Haagan-Daz version. The Haagan-Daz version has an odd texture and a more of a molasses flavor than a brown sugar flavor. This homemade version is simple, rich, smooth, creamy...

I served this last night with a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp. The flavor combo was not quite right. I kept thinking this ice cream will be perfect with something...but what IS it? I was driving myself CRAZY...finally, almost 24 hours later, it has come to me. I was on the right track with the oatmeal crisp topping, but brown sugar ice cream needs...apples! MMmmm...can you imagine a warm apple crisp with oatmeal topping and a bit of Brown Sugar ice-cream on the side? Or, how about Apple pie with Brown Sugar Ice Cream? I know all you nut lovers are going to want to sprinkle a few toasted, glazed, or spiced walnuts or pecans over that!

The recipe below calls for whipping cream and whole milk. I've started going one step down on the dairy with all my ice cream recipes. For this recipe I used half-and-half and whole milk. Use anything you want: whipping cream, half-and-half, whole milk, 2% milk. The less fat in the milk or cream, the less creamy and rich the ice-cream. Next time I will use all whole milk or whole milk and 2%...or maybe all 2%...and I'll make an apple-oatmeal crisp...or maybe a peach-oatmeal crisp..

Now for those leftover egg whites...Pavlova! I'll post the recipe soon. I've promised a friend of mine I would for about 6 weeks now...

Enjoy!


Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (see note above)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks

Combine heavy whipping cream, whole milk, (or your choice of milk/cream products) and 1/2 cup brown sugar in heavy large saucepan. Bring cream mixture to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Meanwhile, whisk yolks and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in large bowl of an electric mixer until very thick, about 2 minutes.

Gradually whisk hot cream mixture into yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan. Stir over medium heat until custard thickens and thermometer inserted into custard registers 180°F, about 6 minutes (do not boil). Strain custard (if needed) into large bowl set over another bowl of ice and water. Cool custard completely, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Cover and chill overnight (I was only able to chill for about 3 hours).

Process custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer ice cream to container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours and up to 1 day.

I think he's closing his eyes!  Do you think he knows how good it's going to be?

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