by TheLastWonton | Apr 28, 2016 | Baking & Desserts, Cookies, Hawaiian
Golden, butter-crunch, coconut cookie happiness.
"Dear John Macaroons, it's not you, it's me. You're quite wonderful, marvelous even sometimes. (Waimea Coffee Company!!) I didn't know it, but I am fickle. I thought I needed and loved only your pillowy-chewiness. Alas, I was only fooling us both. Thank-you for being there for me in the past. I will remember you with fondness….." was my first thought, when I eagerly munched into a just-baked, gorgeously deep golden, addictively-butter-and-coconut packed Coconut Brown Butter Cookie.
"Oh my, where have you been all my life?!"
I know, I know, I do get a little passionate carried away sometimes, but what can I say, these are damn good cookies, if you're of the coconut-cookie-liking persuasion, that is. And I happen to be just that.
Once again, I have to throw kisses a big Thank-you to Deb of Smitten Kitchen fame for being obsessively driven to perfect her fave coconut cookie. Who else, I ask you who, would have had the delicious abandon to combine nutty browned butter, nice big coconut chips and sea salt, creating a drop cookie-florentine hybrid of divine bite?
Look!! When was the last time you baked cookies that had bottoms as nice as their tops?! (cue applause)
These cookies are easy to make, but you do have to be mindful of the more exacting quantities that this recipe calls for. And the moisture. The recipe calls for adding 2 tablespoons of water to make up for lost volume when you brown the butter. I found that I had to add 4 tablespoons of water to bring the butter back up to level.
And then, once I was mixing the ingredients all together, some intuition whispered to me to add just one more tablespoon of water to get that 'perfect' moisture quotient to my cookie dough. When I saw how the cookies baked up, I was very glad I added that wee bit of 'extra' water.
And I say to myself, "What a fine thing to happen across the hubba hubba pairing of brown butter and coconut, cleverly cookied."
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"Cookies are made of butter and love."
~Norwegian proverb
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COCONUT BROWN BUTTER COOKIES – Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup butter
2 or more tablespoons water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Slightly heaped 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
4 cups dried, unsweetened coconut chips (flakes) (see photo below)
In a medium pot, melt butter over medium heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden (with a foamy top) and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Don't take your eyes off the pot as it seems to take forever (more than 5 minutes) but then turns dark very quickly. Once it is a deeply fragrant, almost nut-brown colour, remove from heat and pour butter and all browned bits, at the bottom, into a measuring cup. Adding 2 tablespoons water should bring the butter amount back up to 1 cup. If it doesn't, add another tablespoon of water, until you are at the 1 cup level. (I added 4 tablespoons of water to bring butter up to level, and then 1 more tablespoon to the dough when I was mixing) Chill browned butter in the fridge until it solidifies, about 1 – 2 hours.
Heat oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
Scrape chilled browned butter and any bits into a large mixing bowl. Add both sugars and beat the mixture together until fluffy. Add egg and beat until well combined, scraping down bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour half of the flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined, then add remaining flour and mix again,
scraping down bowl, if needed. Add coconut chips in two parts as well.
Scoop dough, by heaping tablespoonfuls (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) into balls and arrange a few with a lot of room for spreading on first baking sheet. I baked 6 cookies at a time on 18×13-inch cookie sheet. Use the back of a spoon or your fingers to flatten the dough slightly. Bake first tray of cookies 9 -11 minutes; take the cookies out when they're deeply golden all over. If cookies have not spread to be quite thin (as photo), stir 1 tablespoon of water into the cookie dough, mixing thoroughly, before baking off another tray. This should do the trick, but if it does not, repeat the same with your next batch. Once you've confirmed that you have the water level correct, bake remaining cookies.
Cool cookies on baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cookies keep for up to one week at room temperature. Munch, crunch, enjoy!
The End! Or is it just the beginning……..
Here is the coconut that I used
Happy Coconutting!
by TheLastWonton | Apr 24, 2016 | Baking & Desserts, Fruits, Treats
The unbridled tartness of lime muddled with the irresistible velvety richness of sweetened condensed milk, all cloaked in the sweet familiarity of graham crackers crumbs. Crazy delicious!
This year Spring has hit the Okanagan Valley with a true blast of summerness. It's nearly impossible to walk outside, in the last few days, without your face automatically turning skyward, seeking the glorious warmth of golden sunshine. And finding it! Aaahhhh.
Our forest yard is a symphony of the melodic trill, tweeting, cooing and murmur of orioles, sparrows, mourning doves and humbirds, the happy chirp-chirp-chirping of scurrying squirrels and always, on the side, the percussion of the tireless sprinkler, pffft, pfffft, pfffft, pfffft, easily splashing green everywhere it can, within earshot.
Overhead in the cerulean canopy, puffy, wispy, luminous, exquisite, pillowy, clouds present their beautifully untouchable, moving performance. Encore!
Ethereal, and rather sublime, early summertime pleasures.
But, um, something is missing…..
I don't know about you, but I'm craving popsicles.
Yup!
I mean, come on, hot, laying-on-the-grass-cloud-animal kinda' days and popsicles just go together. Like chips & gravy, or carpe & diem, or patios & BBQs.
Which brings me to an early morning last week, as I sipped my always-anticipated first cuppa' coffee of the day, whilst perusing Facebook to see what my friends and family were up to….Wham Bam! there it was…….Smitten Kitchen's status stopped me in my tracks.
Key Lime Pie Popsicles!!!
My tastebuds instantly started jumping up and down in anticipation.
Key Lime Pie is way up on my happiness list. And now, Ta da! here it is, in all it's glory….in popsicle form!!! Genius.
Total bonus that this is a Smitten Kitchen recipe. We can always put complete faith in Deb's creations. She's a wizard in the kitchen! Tried, true, trusted.
Okay, so what's in these babies? Yay, only the sheer, simple basics, same same as this popsicle's namesake. Now we're cookin'!
The name speaks of those trickier to find, fun little Key Limes, but absolutely no worries on using regular limes. They work perfectly.
Before we move onto this easy peasy recipe itself, I find that I would be highly remiss if I did not include this excerpt from Smitten Kitchen's Key Lime Pie Popsicle post:
"But when we tried one, I swear, the world stopped for a second. The lime was so bracingly tart, the sweetened condensed milk was so rich with concentrated creaminess, the exterior crunch of ground cookies so brilliant that we had to sit down for a minute and consider the nirvana of it all. Tina Fey once said that she believes that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich, but I think it’s just because she hasn’t had one of these yet."
You know what else? These marvelous, tangy, creamy little licks of summer, would be as refreshingly suitable for a dinner party dessert treat, as they would for a lazy afternoon frosty fix. You're welcome!
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Once again, oodles of big Thanks to Deb of Smitten Kitchen
for another sumptuous recipe!
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KEY LIME PIE POPSICLES – Makes 10, 1/3 cup or 3-ounce popsicles
Approximately 4 large, juicy, regular limes or 6 to 7 several key limes
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half-and-half (or, 1/2 cup heavy cream + 1/2 cup milk)
Pinch of sea salt
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
Zest however many of the limes needed until you have 2 teaspoons total in the bottom of a medium bowl. Juice limes until you have 3/4 cup fresh lime juice. Add juice, condensed milk, half-and-half and salt to zest and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour into popsicle molds Freeze for about 5 hours, or until completely frozen.
Dip in lukewarm water for 10 seconds or so to unmold each popsicle and press each side into graham crumbs, coating completely. Devour slowly, lick by lick, nibble by nibble.
by TheLastWonton | Apr 22, 2016 | Appetizers & Snacks, Greek Food, Salads & Bowls, Sauces, Dips & Condiments, Sides, Vegetarian, Veggies
Tiny little and big fat, taste and texture explosions of salty, savory, fresh Greek goodness. Swoop, scoop, slather, munch. Repeat. Opa!
It's Spring!
When I relax, and plunk down on my couch, there's nothing but windows in front of me, which brings the outside, in.
I don't have a drop-dead gorgeous view. I have nature. It surrounds me. I am in the forest.
Through the open windows I hear the Spring rushing of our backyard creek. Usually a happy, meandering, laughing-out-loud-as-it-jumps-over-the-rocks brook, it is now fancying itself, by the sheer power of this new season, something more. Is it a river?
I see bright green leaves popping out everywhere. The sun breaks through and makes everything that much greener.
Humbirds revel in the fact that we were the early birds, thinking ahead and put out those filled to the brim feeders.
We're ever watchful, anticipating the first exciting sighting of a lumbering, hungry bear just out of hibernation, sniff his way through our backyard.
The forest never disappoints. The spirit of trees, creek, sky, nature, smack me right in the kisser.
So I cook.
In the evening the sun peeks in, in between the trees, in between the leaves. It's art, and it's breathlessly beautiful.
I wonder again how many people get to experience this particular joy. This brand of beauty.
It's a good ponderance.
During exactly such a ponderance, I grabbed my tablet, headed directly to the table on my back lanai so I could be amongst it all….be one with the forest. But, with my handy dandy Surface Pro 3 in tote. Ooooooh, a rather fun juxtaposition, indeed. Don't you just love such yin and yangs?!
And that my friends is exactly what lead me to crossing paths with some Pinterest posts that some very clever kitchen artisans put together, knowingly combining a good schwack of those always delicious Greekish ingredients, resulting in a rather divine dogpile of beauty and flavour, flavour.
I did not copy-cat any one or two specific recipes, but more just mixed and matched our fave stuff, until I ended up with this stacked goodness. It's easy peasy, and fun, and pretty. It's great with warm pita or naan bread, pita chips, crusty little baguette slices, you name it.
We had ours with bite-sized, tender morsels of grilled leg-of-lamb steaks with vinegary mint sauce and warm naan bread.
And if you can get your hands on some great quality Olive Oil to drizzle over the top of your Greek Goodness, all the better to munch you with my dear.
Recently, whilst wandering the aisles of one of my all-time favorite stores, Valoroso Italian Foods, I found this gloriously tasty Venta del Baron Extra Virgin Olive Oil, that even comes in a box with a sticker that boasts, "World's Best Olive Oils Campaign 12/13 First Prize" and you don't have to reach very deep into your pockets, to buy it. Bonus!!
Now put your listening ears on, "Go get some of this golden elixir." I promise it'll make you smile when you drizzle it here, drizzle it there.
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"When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself."
~ Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
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GREEK GOODNESS DIP
1 – 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried dillweed
3 plump garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
About 1 1/2 cups Ethereally Smooth Hummus, or your favorite hummus
About 1 cup seeded, diced English cucumbers
About 1 cup diced, firm, tomatoes (2 medium)
1/2 cup chopped Kalamata olives
1/3 cup purple onion, chopped
About 1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese (I use creamy Sheep feta….Mmmm)
2 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
Good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling
In bowl of electric mixer, combine cream cheese, lemon juice, dillweed and minced garlic. Beat until light and fluffy. Spread on the bottom of serving tray, pie plate or shallow casserole dish. Then spread hummus evenly over top.
In order, create layers by evenly sprinkling with cucumbers, then tomatoes, then olives, then onions, then Feta. Top with parsley. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
(If using a serving dish, similar to what I did, you may have to drain a smidgeon of liquid that gathered on the bottom.) Drizzle with olive oil and serve with warm pita or naan bread, pita chips, crackers, or your fave dippers. Opa!
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The forest sky smiles in a hundred shades of blue.
May the Forest be with you……
by TheLastWonton | Apr 20, 2016 | Appetizers & Snacks, Beef, Pork & Lamb, Breakfast & Brunch, Burgers, Main Dishes, Sides
Satiny, golden on the outside, firm but soft and moist on the inside. Buns to transform your burgers or breakfast sammies.
(Looks good, doesn't it?)
(It so was.)
(The bun made the burger.)
(And I ate the whole damn thing!)
(Well look at it, who wouldn't?!)
Don't you just love tried and true recipes?
Since I found this recipe, a couple of years ago, on The Brewer & The Baker food blog, I've made these buns at least half a dozen times. They always turn out just as they should. The Brewer & The Baker pretty much promised that would happen.
They're not as soft and airy as your more run-of-the-mill burger buns, but instead offer up bolder textures – the outside is smooth, golden and almost crusty, while the inside is hefty enough to stay the course for a piled-high burger, buxom breakfast sandwich or heap of BBQ brisket.
A little mountain of grated sharp cheddar disappears into the dough, throwing the most amazing, cheesy aroma into the airwaves when the buns are baking and leaving behind that distinct cheddar flavour. And that mound of, now seedless, fresh sliced jalapenos, riddle themselves throughout the dough, so that when you munch into a perfectly baked bun, you get bites that are more of a soft, warm zing than a hello-honey-I'm-home, hot zap.
So next time you're in the mood for a burger that begs to be rather outspoken, or a bit of a brazen Tex-Mex club sandwich or mayhaps just want to amp up your Chili Dogs……well, have I got the buns for you!!
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Thanks oodles The Brewer & The Baker
for these-are-great-buns recipe!
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JALAPENO CHEDDAR BURGER BUNS – Yields 8-10 buns
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) traditional yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola or olive) plus more for greasing bowl
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons sugar
3 – 3 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
A generous 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar, grated
3 medium jalapenos, seeded, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
Add warm water and 1 tablespoon of the sugar to the bowl of your mixer and sprinkle the yeast over top. Let sit 10 minutes, until frothy.
Add the oil, 1 beaten egg and the other 2 tablespoons sugar to the bowl. Add 3 cups flour, salt, cheese and jalapenos and mix on medium-low speed with the dough hook until the dough holds together, about 2 minutes. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl. If not, add additional flour, by the tablespoon.
Increase speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes. Transfer dough to a large bowl that has been lightly greased with oil. Cover it with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Line baking sheet with parchment. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half and each half into 4-5 pieces (depending on the size of your burgers, I typically get 8-9 buns per batch). Roll into rounds and flatten, flatten, with the palm of your hand onto the baking sheet; placing buns about 1-inch apart. Cover with a damp towel and let them rise for 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Whisk the remaining egg with 1-2 tablespoons water. Brush the buns with the egg wash and bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing and serving. (I usually cut, butter and lightly grill the two halves of my buns before I burger them. Yup I do, I just do)
Store leftovers in a zip-top bag at room temperature. These freeze well, too.
by TheLastWonton | Apr 19, 2016 | Breads & Sandwiches, Breakfast & Brunch, Fruits, Main Dishes
Tra la, tra la……golden, crispy edged outtards and soft, puffy, fluffy innards. Insanely great!
TOP TEN REASONS TO MAKE WAFFLES OF INSANE GREATNESS.
10. It doesn't matter whether it's Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter, waffles are always apropos.
9. No unnecessary indecision required, waffles come with 4 sections for mixing & matching toppings.
8. Belguim waffles = larger squares and deeper pockets = all the better to slather you with, my pretty!
7. Breakfast for dinner just got a tad more interesting.
6. No eggs were separated and beaten in the making of this recipe.
5. The secret ingredient to those crispy edges is none other than…….cornstarch.
4. The recipe comes from Aretha Frankensteins restaurant in Chattanooga.
(How often do you get to say that?)
3. Your friends and kinfolk will appreciate you just a teensy weensy bit more.
2. You just nailed one of the most quintessential breakfast foods, ever.
1. When someone says, 'What are you making?", you get to say, "Waffles of Insane Greatness."
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Thanks oodles Ann of Thibeault's Table for another damn delicious recipe!! Boy, you're good!
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WAFFLES OF INSANE GREATNESS – 4 servings
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon good vanilla extract
Butter and syrup, for serving – or Berries and cream, or mayhaps Bananas and caramel sauce, or…..
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mix well. Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.
Preheat waffle iron. It is said that you do not need to butter your waffle iron or use non-stick spray because the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily. I'll leave that up to you.
Follow the directions on your waffle iron to cook the waffles. Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup….or….
I know, I know, I do get a little passionate carried away sometimes, but what can I say, these are damn good cookies, if you're of the coconut-cookie-liking persuasion, that is. And I happen to be just that.
