Spring Dessert - Coconut Cream

There's something about spring, and we've had enough warm days now to make it real, that says its time for a coconut dessert, the creamier the better. My personal favorite is Coconut cream pie, but that will be another blog, This is also the season of spring luncheons. Every women's group has a luncheon, bring a covered dish. This dessert recipe fits that perfectly - pretty, serves about 24, and with a light taste and rich texture.  If there are lots of desserts you'll probably have enough left to take home, too.
We don't know much about the coconut as we usually only see it in a bag as a shredded sweetened product. Occasionally our store will have whole coconuts, but most of us don't know what to do with them and don't want to bother with cracking the shell and shredding the meat. Coconuts grow in tropical climates, so the only places in the United States that produce coconuts are Hawaii and southern Florida. One trivia fact I found was that falling coconuts kill 150 people a year, ten times the number of people that are killed by sharks. Hearing that, I'm glad they don't grow in Kansas! We have enough things falling out of the sky in the spring.

Layered Coconut Cream Cheesecake Bars
84 vanilla wafers, divided
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese softened (I used the lite variety, saved a few calories)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping (again, the lite variety), divided
2 packages (3.4 oz. each) vanilla flavor instant pudding
2  1/2 cups cold milk
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut, toasted, divided
Crush 60 vanilla wafers, saving out 24 (each time I've made this I've only had 1 or 2 extra cookies to eat. They count those out well!) Mix crushed wafers with butter (food processor works well to crumble wafers and mix in butter). Press into the bottom of a 13x9-inch pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer (or food processor) until well blended. Whisk in 1 cup whipped topping. Carefully spread over crust. Stand reserved wafers around edges.
 Beat pudding mixes and milk with whisk in medium bowl 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup whipped topping and 3/4 cup coconut; spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping and coconut. Refrigerate 5 hours.
(to toast coconut, spread evenly in shallow pan and bake at 350 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Watch carefully, as coconut can burn easily!)

Amazing Muffin Cups

Sometimes you find recipes in the most unusual places. A recent e-mail from AAA (the trip planner and auto service company) had this recipe for Amazing Muffin Cups. I'm not sure that these would travel well, or that it's something you would want to make while traveling, or if it even would give you more time for travel - but they were good. I'd seen similar recipes before, but usually for a large egg type casserole. I like this one because it makes 12 individual servings, which can be refrigerated or frozen for future meals. We had this for a light supper with a fruit salad and toast, and the extras are in the freezer for a quick breakfast or brunch. I think these would work well for a morning meeting as well. You could make the hash brown 'basket', bake it, and add the egg mixture and finish baking just before serving.

Amazing Muffin Cups
(prep time: 20 minutes)
(cook time: 25 minutes)
Yield: 12 servings

3 cups refrigerated shredded hash browns
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
12 (I used 8) breakfast sausage links
6 eggs
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
chopped fresh chives or green onions, for garnish

Spray 12 cups of muffin pan with cooking spray (be generous with the spray!) In a bowl, combine hash browns, butter, salt and pepper. Press hash brown mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, cook sausage according to package directions; cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Divide sausage between muffin cups. Combine eggs, cheese and bell pepper. Pour over sausage. Sprinkle with chives. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until set.

Hash brown 'baskets' with sausage

Ready to bake

Nutter Butter Krispie Treats

Last week's baking session included some "No Bakes" - a new recipe I found on Pinterst. When a recipe combines two favorites - Nutter Butter cookies (my all time favorite boughten cookie) and Rice Krispie Treats (a long-time family favorite) - it sounds like a new favorite, and this didn't disappoint. Rice Krispie Treats have long been popular with our kids and when they were young I always kept a box of Rice Krispies, a bag of marshmallows and a bag of M&M's (hidden, of course) for an emergency morning when someone would remember they needed to take cookies to school or Sunday School.
I like to learn the history of food customs, and I found out that Rice Krispie Treats were developed in the 1940's by an Iowa State University Home Economics graduate who was working for the Kellogg Company. The original bars were a fund raiser for Campfire Girls. Rice Krispie cereal had been around since 1928. Campfire Marshmallows were a staple with the Campfire Girls. The result was a best seller in Battle Creek, Michigan. The early name was "Rice Krispie Marshmallow Squares", it wasn't until 1986 that the name "Rice Krispie Treats" was used.

Here's the recipe for a new favorite:
Nutter Butter Krispie Treats (makes about 30 squares)
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz.) package of Nutter Butter Cookies, chopped
6 cups Rice Krispie cereal
1/2 cup butter
2 (10.5 oz) bags mini marshmallows

How to make:
1. Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
2. In a large sauce pan melt the butter over low heat.
3. Still on low heat, add the marshmallows to the melted butter and stir until marshmallows are melted.
(My usual Rice Krispie Treats prep is in the microwave. But on this day all the marshmallows I could gather from the cupboard were in various degrees of petrified. Together they weighted 21 ounces - just enough. But softening and melting them on the range top worked much better than microwaving ever would. Slow heat and lots of stirring and they were salvaged.)
4. In a large bowl, mix Rice Krispies and chopped Nutter Butters. Remove marshmallows from heat and stir into the mixture.
5. When combined, pour mixture into prepared pan and press evenly.
6. Allow to cool, about 20-30 minutes and cut into squares.

There could be many variations of this recipe - chocolate Rice Krispies, Oreo cookies, chocolate chips, peanut butter, etc. Not your usual "Snap, Crackle, and Pop", but those characters would have been proud.

A Half Carat/Carrot Cake

Today I was searching for a new Carrot Cake recipe as it is Baking Day in preparation to visit my son in Iowa for his birthday tomorrow. Carrot Cake has long been his favorite choice of birthday, or any other time, cake. I found this wonderful, rich sounding recipe in Taste of Home Grand Prize Winners book and, sure enough, it seemed like a prize winner. But it sounded like a lot! A lot of ingredients (pricey ones) and a lot of cake. 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of Confectioners' sugar! 1 cup heavy whipping cream (which I didn't have - see recipe for substitution ) 2 cups of pecans!? I'm a little stingy with my pecans, I buy native southeast Kansas pecans in bulk from Kansas State University Research Center; they are wonderful, but pricey!
And the recipe made 20 servings! How much cake can a cake-eater eat? March is birthday month at our house with son's and daughter's birthdays four days apart and their father's a week earlier. We couldn't eat 3 cakes in a month! When both kids were home, they got 'half cakes'. I made a layer cake, split it and decorated half on the 19th for daughter, and the other half in another theme on the 23rd for son. (Their dad got cookies, which he preferred anyway)
So this Carrot Cake was to be a "Half Carat" cake. In the recipe here, I'll put the half measurements in brackets. I baked the cake in 2 small (8-inch) square pans, then trimmed the corners (Don got to taste some that way!)

Carrot Layer Cake
FILLING:
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup)
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (1 T)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1/8 tsp)
1 cup heavy whipping cream (1/2 cup)
  (substitution for whipping cream: 3/4 cup milk + 1/3 cup melted butter = 1 cup heavy whipping cream)
1/2 cup butter (1/4 cup)
1 cup chopped pecans (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/2 tsp)
CAKE:
1-1/4 cups canola oil (1/2 cup + 2 Tbs.)
2 cups sugar (1 cup)
2 cups all-purpose flour (1 cup)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (1 tsp)
2 teaspoons baking powder (1 tsp)
1 teaspoon baking soda (1/2 tsp)
1 teaspoon salt (1/2 tsp)
4 eggs (2)
4 cups finely shredded carrots (2 cups)
1 cup raisins (1/2 cup)
1 cup chopped pecans (1/2 cup)
FROSTING:
3/4 cup butter, softened (3 Tbs)
2 packages (3 oz each) cream cheese, softened (1 pkg)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/2 tsp)
3 cups confectioners' sugar (1-1/2 cup)

1. For filling, in a large heavy saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in cream; add butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until the butter is melted; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Cool and set aside.
2. For cake, in a large bowl, beat oil and sugar until well blended. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with eggs, beating well after each addition. Stir in the carrots, raisins and nuts.
3. Pour into three greased and floured 9-inch round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
4. For frosting, in a small bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until smooth. Spread filling between cake layers. Frost the sides and top of cake. Store in refrigerator.
When you see my finished product here, you'll know why I used the photo from TOH at the top! My cake is scrumptious, but not too pretty! I thought the frosting mess (very runny) was because I used no-fat cream cheese - so I chose to use it as a heavy glaze instead of frosting which would have never stayed on the cake. Just as I was typing the recipe, I (a-haa!) realized I'd used a 8-oz package of cream cheese instead of a 3-oz!!   Oh well, Birthday Boy will enjoy it!

Potato Soup for St. Patrick's Day

The 17th of March

by Martin Shaw

st. Patrick's Day's a special Day,
When everyone wears green,
When shamrocks and wee Leprechauns,
Are very often seen.

It's time when people sing and dance,
Tell jokes and tall tales too,
For on the seventeenth of March,
That's just what people do.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, time to remember Irish ancestors and history with food and legend. I always think of potatoes as one of the foods we get from our Irish backgrounds. 

The potato was introduced to Ireland by the late 1500s. Within 200 years it had replaced older staples, including oats and dairy products. The potato became the mainstay of the Irish diet. In the 1840s, the country's heavy reliance on potatoes led to the disaster known as the Irish Potato Famine. Most Irish farmers grew one particular variety of potato, which turned out to be highly sensitive to disease. A potato blight that had started in Belgium swept the country. It destroyed one-third of Ireland's potato crop in 1845 and triggered widespread famine. In the next two years, two-thirds of the crop was destroyed. More than one million people died as a result of the potato blight, and two million emigrated (moved away) to other countries. Even though they had suffered through the Irish Potato Famine (also called the Great Famine), Irish people continued to love potatoes. As soon as the spread of the disease stopped, the potato returned its place as the staple food in the Irish diet. Farmers began to spray their crops with chemicals to protect them from disease. As of 2001 the Irish were consuming more potatoes than most countries in the world.

We in the U.S. consume our fair share of potatoes also, and it doesn't all have to be potato chips and french fries. Here's a recipe for potato soup mix that is easy to make, easy to store and makes a great gift. We like to keep a jar of the mix for a quick supper. For a thicker hardier soup, chop a baked potato onto a couple of servings and sprinkle shredded cheese on the top. 

Potato Soup Mix

2 1/2 cups instant mashed potatoes

1 1/4 cups powdered coffee creamer

1 packet chicken gravy mix

2 tsp. salt-free seasoning (i.e. Mrs. Dash)

2 tsp. dried minced onion

2 tsp. chicken bouillon granules

1/2 tsp. pepper

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Divide into individual servings of 1/2 cup each in plastic bags; or store in a larger airtight container. To use place 1/2 cup Potato Soup Mix in a mug or bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water. Stir well. Let stand 3 minutes until thickened. Optional - sprinkle with shredded cheese or bacon bits. 

Happy Birthday Oreo!

The Oreo cookie is turning 100 years old! It has been American's favorite cookie since it was introduced in 1912. No wonder we can't imagine life (especially childhood glasses of milk) without Oreos. The Oreo slogan is "Milk's Favorite Cookie", and Oreos make a good tasting treat by themselves or in dessert recipes.
The word "oreo" is a common crossword puzzle answer (to the clue 'sandwich treat'), but was coined just for the sandwich cookie. According to Nabisco historians, the Oreo cookie was named by taking the "re" out of creme and squishing it, like a cookie sandwich, between the two letters "o" from the word chocolate.
There is actually a personality quiz about how you eat your Oreos - by a woman who is a psychologist and psychoanalyst! A few are: If you eat the whole thing at once - you consume life with abandon. If you eat the cookie one bite at a time - you lack imagination, but you're normal (that's me, not sure if its a good thing or not!) If you dunk - you're always upbeat (well, I do this sometimes - in a glass of milk). Twisted apart, the inside, then the cookie - you're highly curious nature and take pleasure in seeing how things work, but may not always be able to put things back together, so you destroy the evidence (thats my daughter, wonder what 'evidence' she's destroyed?)
Actually,  my favorite ways to enjoy Oreos are in a couple of our favorite recipes...

OREO BALLS  

1 package regular size Oreo cookies, crushed

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 package white almond bark

1 package chocolate almond bark

1. Using a blender or hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together.
2. Roll into walnut size balls.
3. Chill for an hour.
4. Melt approximately ¾ package of white almond bark.
5. Stick a toothpick in an Oreo ball and dip it in the melted white almond bark.
6. Allow to harden on wax paper.
7. Takes about 15 min.
8. While waiting, melt about ¼ package of chocolate almond bark.
9. When Oreo balls are no longer sticky to the touch, decorate with drizzles of chocolate and white almond bark.
10. Can use a sandwich bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner to drizzle the almond bark.   

OREO CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

38 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided

5 T. margarine, melted

5 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, divided

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese softened

½ cup sugar

1 ½ cup sour cream, divided

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 T.  sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Finely crush 24 of the cookies, mix with margarine. Press firmly onto the bottom of spring form pan. Stand remaining cookies around inside edge of pan. Firmly pressing bottom edge of each cookie into crust. (Or crush all cookies and press onto the bottom and sides of pan.) Set aside.

Melt 4 of the chocolate squares in saucepan, set aside. Beat cream cheese and ½ cup sugar well. Add ½ cup sour cream, eggs and vanilla, blend well. Add melted chocolate; mix well and pour over crust. Bake 35-40 minutes or until top is slightly puffed and center is almost set. Mix remaining 1 cup sour cream and 2 T. sugar, spread over cheesecake. Bake an additional 5 minutes. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim.

Melt the remaining chocolate square; drizzle over cheesecake. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. 

Sunday afternoon Schiacciata

One of my enjoyable Sunday afternoon pastimes is baking yeast bread. That and the crossword puzzle. With luck the yeast bread is a type of sweet bread that makes a good Sunday evening supper with scrambled eggs and bacon. This week I should have quit the crossword earlier! As I bake through the Kansas Wheat Commission's 2011 Recipe Book, the recipe for "Tart Cherry Schiacciata" caught my eye, "a schiacciata (pronounced skee-ah-tah) is an Italian flat bread or focaccia which can be sweet or savory. The winning baker was from Troy, Ohio, and developed this recipe after a trip to Italy. The recipe was one of the winners of the National Festival of Breads so it had to be good! And it is good, just time consuming. We ended up with different supper and some schiacciata for a bedtime snack.

This recipe is worth the time however. I didn't have brandy as called for but did have brandy extract. To make the 'fake brandy', put 4 teaspoons of extract in a measuring cup, add water to make 1/3 cup and then add 2 more teaspoons water. Also, the almond paste wasn't at our local grocery store or even the city's Target store - just keep looking, I found it at a larger Dillon's store. The cherries I used were the frozen fruit the church sells (again, love that fruit order). 3 1/2 cups is 1 pound, just how I'd packaged them for the freezer. I thawed them slightly in a colander under running warm water and sliced them while partly frozen. Then let them set, they will thaw by time to add them to the bread.

Tart Cherry Schiacciata
3 1/2 cups unsweetened frozen tart cherries, thawed
2 teaspoons brandy (or 'fake brandy')
1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
1 (1/4 oz) package active dry yeast
1/3 cup granulated sugar for sponge
2 large eggs, room temperature, beaten
4 -4 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose flour, divided (the National Festival of Breads is partly sponsored by King Arthur flour, so of course all recipes call for King A. But I do think it makes a better product. Not available at my local store either, keep shopping!)
3/4 cup sugar for almond sugar
4 ounces almond paste
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1 teaspoon almond extract, divided
1/3 cup brandy (or 'fake brandy')
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened, divided
4 tablespoons sliced almonds, divided

1. Cut cherries into halves. Marinate cherries in 2 teaspoons brandy.
2. In mixer bowl, add water, yeast, and 1/3 cup sugar; let stand 10 minutes. Add eggs and 2 cups flour; beat 2 minutes on low speed. Scrape down sides of bowl. Cover; let rise 30 - 45 minutes; until bubbly.
3. In food processor bowl with knife blade, add 3/4 cup sugar, almond paste, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Pulse the mixture until the almond paste is cut finely into the sugar. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
4. To prepare dough, blend into flour mixture 1/3 cup brandy, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Gradually add the remaining 2 cups flour and salt until thoroughly blended.
5. Add the butter, cut into small pieces. Once the butter is incorporated, switch to the kneading hook. Knead on medium low speed 5 minutes. If needed gradually add enough of the remaining 1/4 cup flour to make a moderately soft dough. (this dough is really soft, forget about kneading by hand - perhaps you could do it with a big wooden spoon if you don't have a dough hook)
6. Place in greased bowl. Lightly spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (a good rising place is the microwave oven after you've heated 1 cup of water for a couple of minutes. Remove the water and set the dough bowl in the mw and close the door. If you will want to use the mw in this 2 hours, another place is the oven - preheat to 200 degrees and turn it off! When it cools some, place the dough bowl in the oven. If it seems too warm leave the door open a bit for a little while. Dough needs a warm place to rise and in the winter or summer with air conditioning, our kitchens are often too cool for dough - but comfortable for us)
7. Drain cherries thoroughly. Grease two 17 x 11-inch sheet pans.
8. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, but do not punch down. Divide dough into four equal pieces. Stretch one-fourth into a 10 x 7-inch rectangle. Move to pan, forming a rectangle. (I found it easies to tape a flexible plastic cutting sheet to the counter, stretch the dough out on that, then untape and invert it over the pan to peel the dough sheet off with a dough scraper) Stretch the second 1/4 portion and put into the second pan.Sprinkle each with 1/4 of the almond sugar mixture and 1/4 of the drained cherries.
9. Shape/stretch the other 2 portions of dough. Cut 6 half-inch slits to release steam. Lay these on top of the first layers and pinch edges. Top each evenly with the remaining half of the cherries. Cover; let rise until puffy, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
10. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir the sliced almonds into the remaining almond sugar. Sprinkle half over top of each bread. Bake 20 to 24 minutes until golden. Place pans on a rack and cool 10 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan to wire rack and cool slightly.

Each loaf makes 16-24 slices. With the 16-servings, each slice = 163 calories; 3 g protein; 23 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber; 6 g fat; 22 mg cholesterol; 36 mcg folate; 1 mg iron and 44 mg sodium.

As I said, it took all afternoon/evening, but was well worth it. Very tasty. And with all that waiting & rising time, there was time to go back to the Sunday crossword!