Toasted Coconut Sorbet

It has been a long time since I posted about something that I made.  I usually post things that excite me and recently, I haven't felt compelled to share with you anything.  Today, however, I have found a recipe that REALLY is THAT good. 

Oh my.... this coconut sorbet will knock your socks off.  I used a recipe that didn't call for chunkiness in the final product, but I think that is a mistake.  The end product of this recipe is smooth, creamy with chunks of delicious fresh coconut that has been toasted perfectly.  You really must give it a try if you love coconut.  I also made Salted Coconut Sauce for on it, but to be honest, it doesn't need it.  If you want to make the sauce, it is delicious too, but save it for something like chocolate ice cream or over a crepe or something.  This sorbet really doesn't need anything extra.

You may think that using a whole coconut and preparing it is a lot of work, but in the end is it SO worth it.  If you just don't have time for that, you can always use flaked, unsweetened coconut.

Both recipes follow....

Toasted Coconut Sorbet {1 Quart}
 2 cans coconut milk, well shaken! (I used one full-fat and one low-fat)
 2 cups grated fresh coconut
 1 cup sugar
 dash salt

Prepare the coconut by following the directions in this video. Once you have the meat out of the coconut, grate it using a box grater. 
1) In a small pot, combine the coconut milk, flaked coconut and sugar with the dash of salt.
2) Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and stir for about 2 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved.
3) Take the pot off of the heat and let sit until it has cooled.
4) Strain the mixture into a bowl, pressing all of the liquid out of the flaked coconut.
6)  Refrigerate the coconut sorbet base until cold.
5) Preheat your oven to 400 and put the flaked coconut on a cookie sheet.  Toast the coconut until light brown and fragrant approximately 10-15 minutes. Cool.
7) Freeze the coconut sorbet in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturers directions, or even just place in a large bowl and put straight into the freezer, stirring every half hour or so until it is the texture of soft serve. 
8)  After it is at the soft serve stage, add some of the cooled toasted coconut (and mini chocolate chips if you like... or almonds.... which are all not necessary, but a great addition) Save the extra coconut for garnish.
7) Let freeze until it is hard enough to scoop, and when ready to eat scoop and serve!

Salted Coconut Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup white sugar

1 cup Cream of Coconut (I found this in the mixed drink mixers section of the grocery store)

Instructions

Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat for about 7 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved.  Use warm or chill and then warm it a bit in the microwave.

 

 

 

Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins with A Trefoil Girlscout Cookie and Heath Crumble Topping

These muffins turned out so well.  I love the crunch of the topping and the light, airiness of the cake.  Perfect for brunch or an after school snack!  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

Crumble Topping

1/2 cup cookies crumbled (I used GirlScout Cookies: Trefoils but you can use any cookie)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Heath English Toffee Bits O Brickle Toffee Bits (sold with chocolate chips)
2 Tbsp flour
6 oz chocolate chips
2 Tbsp milk (if needed)

Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup ripe mashed banana
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and Oil the top of the muffin pan so the muffin tops release more easily.  Then line  the muffin cups with paper liners or grease them well.  
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together.
In a mixer bowl, use the paddle attachment to mash the bananas until no lumps exist.  Add the eggs and then mix in the remaining ingredients one by one, including the chocolate chips
Add the dry ingredients but do no over mix.  Only mix for approximately 1-2 minutes. Use your spatula to scrape the bowl and give a final mix before filling the cups.
Fill muffin cups to completely full. They will rise to spill over the top and create a muffin top. .
Bake for 8 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 and add the crumble (recipe above) and continue baking for another 6-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let the muffins sit in the pans for a few minutes before removing them to wire racks to cool.

Fun Recipe Card Kit and Freebie!

Look at this kit!  I WON it on a Sweet Shoppe Designs giveaway!  It is by designer Libby Pritchett.  I am so excited to make some fun recipe cards for my Grandmother's recipes which {ahem!} I have been doing for quite a while now.  I get bored with this project, so this kit is the perfect thing to get me back on track to get this job done. 

 

 

There are so many things you can make with just one kit!  Here's an example of a simple recipe card I made.  Now I can print as many as I need and so can you thanks to Libby for allowing me to share these cards made with her kit!  So fun.  Right click to save and print.

 

Here is a larger layout for you.  The others a pretty small.

This one is single and the next one will print two per page.

 

 

 

 

Off to get those recipes typed up!

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Oh yummy... This soup was soooo good!  Tonight's dinner recipe came from an old Food Network magazine (Nov 2010).  I was browsing it while waiting to pick up my son from school and found this recipe, so I went to the store after fetched my son and bought the stuff to make it straight away!  It looks a little strange in the photo because I used glass noodles (or bean threads) and it was dark out by the time I took the photo, so I had to use my flash.  Not great photography, but great flavor!

The recipe used rice noodles, which are good too and I know this because I had a few rice noodles and used them in my son's soup (which I made less spicy). 

This was so easy and fast that it made a perfect weeknight meal. 

Thai Chicken Soup
30 minutes:  Serves 4

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp green curry paste
6 c low-sodium chicken broth (I used Better Than Bouillon, not low-sodium)
1 15-oz can coconut milk (I used low-fat)
1 Tbsp fish sauce, plus more to taste (because I used a full-sodium broth, I used just 1 Tbsp)
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
4 ounces thin rice noodles, broken into pieces (I used bean threads)
2 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 lb), very thinly sliced crosswise
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice, plus more to taste
1 c roughly chopped fresh cilantro
my additions:  2 c fresh green beans cut into bite-sized pieces
                        1 dried Thai chili (more or less depending on how hot you like it)

1.  Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-hight heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic and curry paste and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the chicken broth, coconut milk and fish sauce; cover and bring to a boil.

2.  Add the bell peppers and noodles and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente, about 3 minutes.  Add the chicken and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 more minutes.  Stir in the lime juice and cilantro.  Add more fish sauce and lime juice if desired.

Per serving:  Calories 561, Fat 30g, Sat Fat 22g, Cholesterol 103 mg, Sodium 821 mg, Carbohydrates 36g, Fiber 4g; Protein 38 g

Shop Amazon - Father's Day Shop

 

Sourdough Bread

Have you ever tried to make your own sourdough bread? I tried years ago, but after two weeks, my started turned pink and smelled really funky, so I tossed it. Now that I have had lots of practice making yeast breads, I decided to take it on again. I am a total novice, but wanted to share with you my success. Finally, it worked! It took about a month of feeding and tending to my starter, but it finally turned out the way I wanted; sour flavor without being too sour and just enough of a rise and perfectly crunchy on top, chewy on bottom crust. Love it! I am soooo happy and it is worth all of the effort. I am just going to share with you the starter and bread recipe I used.

I don't need to try to recreate the recipe since there are actual experts out there.  Confessions of a   Bright-Eyed Baker had the recipe I found on Pinterest. I tried it because they didn't make you feed it more than once per week or two. I fed mine more than that sometimes and I made several loaves over the month, but none of them were sour tasting. After I refrigerated my starter for a week or so, it finally turned sour. Exactly as I like it. I used the San Francisco bread recipe at the bottom of this post. It takes a long time to raise it this way, but I love the flavor enough to keep doing it. I have some recipes that take NO time and NO kneading and barely any work, but sourdough is such an awesome flavor that I will continue on with this old-fashioned way of making bread.

Here is the link to the recipe I used. I hope you will try it.  Let me know how you enjoyed it (or otherwise!)

If you would rather start with a sourdough starter that is already started, you can always order one on Amazon or somewhere like that. I think even King Arthur Flour has one that you can order at their site.

Here is a link to an Amazon one...

Or this one...

Or... you can see there are lots of options...

And a few more that you may find useful...


I have this pizza stone and it works well for bread making if you don't want to use parchment and a cookie sheet like I do.



Tami

Free Recipe Cards to Print

Hey there, Sunshine! I've been trying to finish my recipe book that I have been creating, so I made a few more recipe cards tonight.  I may print extras and use one of the recipe books as a gift for a teacher or for a neighbor.  I think they are turning out cutely.  So, here are two more recipe cards.  If you would like to print the book covers (front and back) and the first two free recipe cards, go here and scroll to the bottom of the post!

I thought a pretty recipe book might be a great gift for each family who joins you for Thanksgiving or any special meal.  You can put the recipes in the dollar store photo album and give it to the family so they have them if they liked them.

Thanksgiving Cupcake Wrappers and Recipe Cards to Print Free

 

Hi, Sweet Blog Followers!  I had the day off today, so I played with some graphics and made up some pretty fall leaf cupcake wrappers and toppers along with some recipe cards since I needed some for my Thanksgiving recipes.

If you need help using these cupcake wrappers and toppers, go here to see how to use them.

I made two different recipe cards.  The first one will use more ink. If you want to use less ink, go down to the white recipe card and print it.  Click on the card you want to use and it will take you to a larger version of it.  Right click on it and choose "Save Image As" and this will allow you to save it to your computer.  Next, open that file in your photo editing software and print it from there.

Keep scrolling down this post to see a few other printables for your private use.

I buy photo books from the dollar store and store my recipe cards in them, so I've also made a cover for those books.  If you have some and want to use them for recipes, here are front and back covers for your recipe book.  Mine happen to be 4x6 inches, so that is the size of these printables.  I also made a few recipe cards to match.  You can see pictures of my finished product below.  Have fun with them!

You can see that I also have 3-ring binders in which I save recipes that I have printed from the internet. 

Those recipes are usually ones that I want to try. After I find and try recipes that I love and that my family loves, I hand write them on recipe cards and keep them in the photo books.  

Click on this printable, save it to your computer and open it in your photo software.  Print it from there.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Mmmmm..... I had been thinking about making pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin mousse, etc. etc. for a while now.  Fall is finally here.  Our leaves have begun to change in upstate NY and the weather at night is getting cooler.  The sweater and riding boots have come out and I am ready for PUMPKIN!  I bookmarked and pinned A LOT of recipes, so I pulled up the first one I saw and made them today.   I don't know if I need to move on in the list of pumpkin recipes.  This one is so good and so easy that I think I will make it again!

Check these out!

The swirl of the vanilla cheesecake mixed in lightly with the spicy pumpkin batter is a perfect mix of fall goodness!  I found this recipe on instructables.com. If you are comfortable with just following the recipe, you can check mine out.  I made a few changes to the recipe and it turned out perfectly, so I will tell you that I tried to make them a little more healthy and used whole wheat flour rather than white.  I also replaced the white sugar with brown just because I had no white sugar on hand and it was delicious!

Here is a link if you would like to see the STEP by STEP tutorial. 

Here is the recipe as I made it.

Pumpkin Muffin

1- 15 oz can pumpkin

1/4 cup canola oil

2 jumbo eggs

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Filling

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1 jumbo egg yolk

5 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix pumpkin, oil and sugar together on low.  Add in eggs and vanilla and mix in.  Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients.  Combine thoroughly and scrape the sides of the bowl until well combined.

Make the filling:

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla until combined.

Assemble:

Line your muffin tins with paper cups (or grease your muffin tins if you don't want to use paper cups).  Drop in spoonfuls of pumpkin mixture to fill about 1/2 way.  Add smaller spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture to top to fill the cup to about 3/4 full.  Use a skewer or spoon handle to swirl.

Bake:

Mini muffins:  20-25 minutes

Standard muffins:  25-30 minutes

Jumbo muffins:  30-40 minutes

Canned Salsa

I have vivid memories of my mom canning when I was a kid.  It seemed like a huge process.

My Mr. and I went to a great fresh produce stand bought a huge bunch of tomatoes which were perfectly ripe, jalepeños, huge onions and cilantro. I decided I would make salsa and can it.  It really was a lot of work, but in the long run, it will save time and clean-up and money.


I started by making two batches of my favorite salsa recipe.  I have posted the recipe before and you can find it here:
Salsa Recipe

I roasted the vegetables on the grill this time.  It added nice smokiness.  This is the first time I have done it this way.  Give it a try!

You will notice that there are warnings on Jeff's Salsa.  This is because this batch has 8 or 9 habenaros and 10 jalepenos!  Yikes.  To be honest though, even the mild is very spicy.  You really have to taste the peppers before you use them to determine how many to put in.  Depending on the time of year, they seem to be hotter or more mild.

So, I found out that canning was much easier than I remember. Just boil the jars, fill them with the hot salsa, clean the mouth of the jar, top it with the lids and boil the jars for the amount of time indicated on the jar box. As a matter of fact, I just followed the directions on the back of the jar box.

2011 Annual Cookie Decorating Party & Marshmallow Fondant Tutorial

If you have been following my blog for a while now, you have probably seen photos from our cookie party we have each year.  This year was even better as we had sweet new faces as well as the girls who come each year!  I enjoy this party so much because it is just for me and my friends.  No kids allowed!  :-)  I love kids as much as the next person, but it is nice to be able to get together with MY friends and do something that I love to do!

Anyway, we had a great turn out and the cookies were adorable when we were all done. I have been collecting cookie decorations for years now and I have sooo many to share.  Sanding sugars, non-parielles, jimmies, cute little shapes as well as candy coated sunflower seeds, Sixlets, and icing eyeballs.  You really can't have too many!  I found these little tart cups at our local dollar store.  They were awesome for this purpose.  I love the scalloped edges!

 This year I added a few designs to my cookies.  I have seen some of the ideas online and some I made up myself as I go.  Hope you enjoy the ideas and if you want to copy them, feel free! 

One of the things I played with this year was marshmallow fondant as a background. It was so fun.... like playing with PlayDoh!  I cut the fondant with the cookie cutter I used so that it fit perfectly on the cookies.  I will include the fondant recipe below.  I made my fondant anise flavored because we all love it.  The cookie icing, however, is vanilla or lemon.  I think that will go over better with others who might not love anise like we do!  The bottom reindeer cookie with the 2011 on it is made with fondant as are the backgrounds of the blue Happy Holidays and the O'Holy Night cookies.

The blue tree with snow below was made with fondant as was the white quilted cookie with blue pearls and the ornament cookie. 

The square cookie with the white tree on the white background was also done in fondant.

Marshmallow Fondant and How to Use It on Cookies

This is the original recipe, but I've changed it up a bit and I've got a few notes to add.
http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Rolled-Marshmallow-Fondant

Ingredients:

• 1 package (16 ounces) Fireside white mini marshmallows
• 2-5 tablespoons water
• 2 pounds (about 8 cups) sifted confectioners' sugar  
• plus extra confectioners' sugar for rolling fondant
• Pinch of salt

Makes:

About 2 pounds marshmallow fondant.

Instructions:

Step 1

To make marshmallow fondant, place marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds on high; stir until mixed well. Continue microwaving 30 seconds more; stir again. Continue until melted (about 2 1/2 minutes).

Step 2

Using a mixer, mix sugar & salt into marshmallow mixture. Flavoring should be added at this point.  . Generously sprinkle extra powdered sugar onto counter. Turn marshmallow mixture onto counter.  Separate into pieces per the color you need. Add your coloring here. This allows the coloring to flow easily through the fondant.  Dampen your hands with water.  Start kneading like you would dough. Continue kneading, adding additional confectioners' sugar to the counter so the fondant doesn't stick. If the marshmallow fondant is tearing easily, it is too dry; add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time) kneading until fondant forms a firm, smooth elastic ball that will stretch without tearing, about 8 minutes.

Step 3

It's best to allow Marshmallow Fondant to sit, double-wrapped, overnight. Prepare the fondant for storage by coating in confections' sugar and wrap in plastic wrap and then place in resealable bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Marshmallow Fondant will keep well in refrigerator for several weeks.

Step 4

When not working with fondant, make sure to keep it covered with plastic wrap or in a bag to prevent it from drying out. When ready to use, knead fondant until smooth. Roll out fondant 1/8 in. thick.

Step 5

To color fondant: If you need to tint the entire batch of fondant, add a little icing color to the melted marshmallow mixture before adding confectioners' sugar. For smaller amounts of tinted fondant, add icing color to portions of fondant as needed.

My notes:
In case you are wondering.... this fondant does get hard (like a royal icing would) on the cookies, but it still tastes great and keeps the cookies somewhat soft.  If you flavor it with vanilla, it tastes a lot like candy corn, which to me is too sweet.  I put anise flavoring in it this time and will try lemon next time.  I also added a dash of salt to the recipe.  This cut some of the sweetness.

I have made this using the medium-sized marshmallows too.

I usually separate the larger mass into smaller balls before I start kneading in the color and the extra powdered sugar. If you make it the day before you need it, it really makes the color nicer. Always put LOTS of powdered sugar down when you are rolling the fondant out. It will keep it from sticking. Put powdered sugar on the top of the fondant before you roll it with your rolling pin too. Be generous with the powdered sugar, you can't use too much. Pretend you are playing with Play-doh and have fun with it! 

The original recipe had you put shortening on the counter and your hands, but I found that this just made a big mess to clean up and really was unneccesary.  I just wet my hands often and added more powdered sugar. 

In order to use it on cookies, roll the fondant to about 1/8 inch thick.  Cut the shape you used for your cookie with the same cookie cutter. You can also use a smaller shape than the one you used so that you will have cookie edges.  I did this with the square Christmas tree cookie in the picture just above.  I cut the square cookie with a larger cutter. Then I used a smaller square cookie cutter for the background.  I then used a tree cookie cutter to cut the tree out for on top.  In order for the fondant to stick to your cookie and to itself, use a little of your icing.  You can then add icing on top to decorate, or you can use dabs of icing to hold your little decorations on.  Enjoy and have fun!

Boy Party Ideas - For the Gamer Kids

Boy party ideas are getting harder and harder to come by.  My son is getting older and the boy themes are really too immature for him and his friends, so this year I created a BOY themed party.  Okay, so it wasn't a theme at all.  It was just a party in which I used all kinds of BOY favorites. 

My son wanted a 3DS for his birthday, so I made him 3D 3DS cookies.  As you can see, they are 3D!  They were by no means perfect, but the boys loved them and the disco dust on the screen added a bit of pop to these gamer cookies.  If you would like recipes for the sugar cookies or for the icing, check out this post!  For other cookie decorating ideas, look here.  If you don't feel like making cookies, I realized after they were made that I had cut them about the same size as a graham cracker, so you could actually use two graham crackers for this cookie project! 

I also made some monster pops out of marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and decorated with candy and marshmallows. Boys like monsters, right?  Even 11 year old boys. I found a ring of floral form at the dollar store and wrapped it in crepe paper so I could display the pops.

Next were the Ninjabread Men.  I love these cookie cutters and so do my boys.  I have mentioned before that my boys love ninjas.  They have to be included!

Another gamer favorite it Pokemon and so I made some Pokeball cookies to go in the treat bags.  Simple and fun!  I used red chocolate for the red part and white icing for the white.  They really did turn out well and have two different flavors, so they are a bit like a black-and-white cookie.  I also found these cute little test tubes filled with flavored sugar.  I'm sure the moms appreciated me.  Can you say hyper?!?  I did have each child put pizza toppings on his own grilled pizza and they ate lunch first.  I promise!

I also filled apothocary jars with my son's favorite candies just for some fun color on the "candy bar"...

I asked my son what kind of cake he wanted and he said he wanted "my" chocolate cake with chocolate icing and if I could add some raspberry to that, it would be great, so I made a white chocolate, raspberry ganache for the filling.  Fudgy cake and icing with raspberries.  He loved it.  For the recipe, look on the back of the Hershey Cocoa box!  A great recipe I have been making for years and years.  For the icing on this cake, I used the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Cocoa. 

You don't need to print it out, but here is the recipe.  It has been on the box forever and for good reason!

http://www.hersheys.com/pure-recipes/184/HERSHEY'S

and here is the delicious icing also from the Hershey's site...

"ESPECIALLY DARK" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter, Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

For the ganache, I used a recipe I found on http://www.cakecentral.com/ and modified it because I had already gotten some frozen raspberries in sugar liquid.

White Chocolate Strawberry ganache

Ingredients

• 1 12 oz. package white chocolate chips
• 6 oz. heavy whipping cream, scalded
• 1 Tbs. of softened butter
• 2 oz. crushed, frozen rasperries in sugar liquid, thawed

Instructions

1. Pour white chips into medium-sized bowl and microwave for 1-3 minutes.  Check after each minute as each microwave varies. 

2.  Heat 8 oz. of heavy whipping cream to a simmer.

3.  Pour cream over melted chips.

4.  Add raspberries.  Stir until creamy.

5.  Place bowl into refrigerator until cooled and thickened (can be placed in freezer if you are in a hurry.)

6. Whip with mixer until thick and fluffy enough to spread between cake layers if necessary…..

You will love this cake if you haven't made it before.  It is a classic!