Coconut Cake - A recipe from Vogue?!?!

I know, right?  For the first time EVER as I was reading the most recent issue of Vogue I came across an article about food....but not just any article, and article that actually involved eating something highly caloric and indulgent.  Not because it was some trendy new diet/healthy eating fad, but because it was sinfully indulgent.  The article was written by a man who was trying to recreate a coconut cake he had stumbled across more than 20 years ago and it had left such an impression on him, he deemed it the best cake he had ever had.

Besides being charmed by the article, at the end they referenced the recipe for the storied cake.  Granted it wasn't printed in the actual pages of Vogue as I think they didn't want to offend their readers by writing the words butter, sugar, heavy cream and more sugar, but they indicated you could find the recipe on the website, and of course they said it was NOT for the beginner baker.

It felt like a personal throw-down challenge...Vogue saying something was difficult to bake? Come on now, what do they know about baking?!?!  So I gave it a shot the other weekend.   The cake wasn't difficult to make BUT was very time consuming.  There are a ton of components, lots of layering, frosting, assembling  etc.  But in the end I have to say, the author was right on....one of the best cakes I have ever made.

So if you have a few spare hours some time and a special occasion to celebrate, bust out your big girl/boy apron and get mixing!

http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/sugar-high-baking-the-perfect-coconut-cake/#1 

 Hand whipping heavy cream to stiff peaks....not as hard as I thought.  The key was putting the whole thing in the freezer for a few minute before trying to whip by hand.

 The whipped cream then got mixed into the cake batter to help keep the cake light.  Light texture that is, not light calories.... :-)

 The cake was supposed to be 6 layers (3 cakes cut in half), but I short changed one of the cake pans with batter and didn't get a tall enough cake to cut in half, so I ended up with only 5 layers.  I know, right?  ONLY five.

 Assembled and ready for frosting....

The final product.  Amazing cake.  By using unsweetened coconut in spite of all the sugar in the cake and frosting, the whole thing was only pleasantly sweet. Not overwhelming at all and had a great strong coconut flavor (you brush each layer with coconut milk and add some to the cake batter as well).

Kale Chips

I took a shot at making some kale chips after talking about them with my work buddy Tom and my first trip to Whole Foods in about 5 years which brought on serious guilt about needing to eat better.  Kept it super simple...cut the stems out, ripped it into chunks and poured some olive oil over it before throwing them into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Good thing I bought two bunches of kale b/c I ate the first batch of "chips" in about 15 minutes all by myself.  These are definitely going to become a go-to snack for the summer!

Caramel filled Apple Cider Cookies

My fourth annual Xmas cookie exchange at work is this Thursday, so I decided to give a new cookie a trial run tonight.....Caramel filled Apple Cider Cookies.  Turned out completely dreamy....of course they're best when they're warm out of the oven, but still fantastic when they've cooled off.  Why did it take me so long to start putting caramel in cookies?!?!

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup granualted sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (I found this in my grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes.)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups all purpose flour

1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

 Directions

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (You really need the parchment!)
• In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
• With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.

• Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
• Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it so much easier to work with.)
• When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels. 
• Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)
• Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.

 Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake! Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off.

• Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Crackle Cookies

December 1...officially holiday cookie baking time.  Scarlett and I got right to it this morning and made some chocolate crackle cookies.  To mix it up, I hid half of a caramel with some sea salt sprinkled on, in the middle of the cookies.  The end result was unbelievably yummy and of course best while still warm and gooey right out of the oven.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
10 tbsp salted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 2 dozen caramels (such as Kraft), unwrapped (Rolos would also be good)
coarse sea salt
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, whip together butter, granulated sugar and light-brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition until combine. Mix in vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combine.

Scoop dough out 2 tbsp at a time and roll into a ball. Press one caramel into the center, sprinkle top of caramel with a small pinch of coarse sea salt then fold cookie dough around caramel and salt (make sure the caramel is fully covered with dough around all sides). 

Shape into a ball once more then roll in powdered sugar.  Place cookies on parchment paper or buttered cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven 11 - 13 minutes.

And while the cookies are baking, have your 2 1/2 year old get started with cleaning off the chocolate batter covered beater for you. :-)

A sexy make-over?

Coq Au Vin in my (newish) Le Creuset.  Must have been feeling French tonight.....and I realized the only way I can get close to an entire bottle of red wine is by cooking with it.  I followed the recipe that came in the little booklet thingy that was with the Le Creuset French oven Fre bought me for my bday.  It's a winner of a recipe and the pics turned out like a sexy makeover.....plain and simple before, saucy and tempting after. :-)

BEFORE the oven:

AFTER the magic:

Poppy Seed Cookies - Simple but perfect

I pretty much forget about poppy seeds until the holidays come around and I start dreaming about the poppy seed bread my Grandma Arndt used to make every Christmas (a recipe I'm still working to perfect).  As I was driving home a few nights ago I heard a bit on NPR about these two women who collect old recipes.  They told this great story about an Aunt of theirs who was famous for her poppy seed cookies.  Having never made them, and feeling like it's kinda the beginning of the holidays and therefore poppy seed time in my world, I decided to give them a crack this morning.  They're simple, quick and perfect to eat by the handful.

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup poppy seeds

1 cup peanut oil ( I used canola, turned out just fine)

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cover a 14 X 16-inch baking sheet with foil, shiny side up. Coat the foil with vegetable spray or use a silicone liner.

Sift together flour and baking powder; add poppy seeds.

Separately, whisk peanut oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix to combine. Chill the dough in the refrigerator one hour, or until firm enough to handle.

Using your hands, break off teaspoon-size pieces of dough and roll into small balls. Place dough balls on baking sheet about 2 inches apart, or 12 cookies per sheet. Pat into circles with your fingers (rather than rolling or stamping). Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges. Let cookies cool 1 minute on baking sheet on rack and then transfer cookies to a rack. Cookies will become crisp as they cool.

Butternut Squash Pasta

Last weekend it was a little "chilly" ( ya know, in the low 70's) here in FL, so I was in the mood to make something that felt like fall.

I improvised a butternut squash pasta sauce (roasted the butternut squash in the oven, pureed it in the food processor with some buttermilk, thyme, salt, pepper, sauteed onions & garlic and a tab bit of nutmeg).  To up the veggie content of the dish I used half pasta and half steamed cauliflower.

Of course I added some Parmesan cheese into the pasta sauce, threw it all into a dish with some fresh basil chicken I had roasted in the oven, sauteed mushrooms and topped it off with a decent amount of munster cheese.

It was a completely made-up recipe/dish, but it's a keeper!  And if you go with low-fat cheese, or lower the amount of cheese, this is completely guilt-free but really creamy and satisfying.