Key West Coconut Cornbread

 

I am not easily offended, ergo, the word “moist” does not bother me. I find that it is a necessary word to use when describing things such as cake, for example. There are plenty of synonyms: clammy, cloudy, damp, dank, dewy, drenched, drippy, dripping, drizzly, misty, muggy, oozy, saturated, but I ask you, would you want a cake described by any of the words listed previously? I don’t think so. Therefore, moist it is.

Personally, I find many other words far less tolerable than moist, yogurt is one I don’t particularly care for, phlegm is yet another. In the case of the latter, not only do I not like the sound of it, but the spelling is off-putting as well. Why am I mentioning this? I’ll tell you why, because this cornbread is moist, and deliciously so.

The recipe comes from Baking of the American South, scheduled for release next month (watch for my review), by way of the 1949 Key West Cookbook, published by The Ladies’ Annex of the Civil Improvement Society. This recipe is a keeper, my friends. You must try this cornbread. It is not overly coconut-y, nor is it too sweet. It is just a lovely combination of ingredients that creates a cornbread so tasty and deliciously moist that you won’t even need butter.Key West Coconut Cornbread

1 c. finely ground yellow cornmeal
¾ c. flour
¼ c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ t. baking soda
2 eggs
1¼ c. coconut milk
5 T. unsalted butter
½ c. sweetened shredded coconut

Heat the oven to 400° F with a rack in the middle.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, soda. Add the eggs and coconut milk, stirring with a fork just to break up the eggs.

Place the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Add melt over medium-low heat, 1-2 minutes. Pour the butter into the batter, and stir with the fork just until combined. Scatter the coconut over the bottom of the skillet. Pour the batter over the coconut and place the skillet in the oven.

Bake until the cornbread is golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched, 22 to 27 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven, let the cornbread rest in the skillet for five minutes, then run a knife around the edge, flip out onto a cutting board, and serve.

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Raggedy Jean Cookies

Occasionally I will get out my mother’s recipe box and rummage through. So many memories always come back as I mentally revisit parties, delicious desserts, and recipes contributed by friends, all written out in their own, unique handwriting. Recently I found a recipe that I hadn’t paid much attention to before. It appeared as though it had come from a box or bag of C&H sugar, but unlike many recipes retrieved from packaging, this one had actually been written out by hand. That told me that this one had been tried and kept, ergo was a good one. I gave it a try, wondering if I would live to regret my purchase of maple flavoring. As it turned out, no I did not. These are delicious; far better than I expected them to be. Flavorful, crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with the coconut giving them their delightful raggedy edges.

Raggedy Jean Cookies
Adapted from Jean Porter, C&H Sugar

1 c. dark brown sugar
1 c. butter flavor Crisco shortening
1 large egg
1 t. maple flavoring
2 ¼ c. flour
½ t. baking powder
½ t. kosher salt
1 c. shredded coconut
Granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In the work bowl of your stand mixer beat together brown sugar, shortening, egg, and maple flavoring until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; mix to combine. Stir in coconut. Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, drop in mounds 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet or Silpat. Dip bottom of greased small glass into granulated sugar, and press cookie flat leaving edges ragged. Bake 15 to 16 minutes. Cool on rack.

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Spellbinders

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Years ago my mother made these cookies and we all thought they were delicious. She only made them once, but they were memorable. She never bothered to make them again because she thought they were trouble, owing to the fact that she arduously drizzled her glaze from the tip of a spoon. Had she known about icing bottles, way back when, these cookies may have made an appearance far more often. When I stumbled across the recipe late last week, I had to make them to see if they really were as good as I had recalled. Yep. No doubt, these are yummy.

Spellbinders

1 ½ c. flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
1 t. soda
1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 c. butter, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
1 c. quick cooking oats
1 c. sweetened flaked coconut
1 c. salted Spanish peanuts
½ c. finely crushed cornflakes

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine flour, baking powder, and soda; set aside

In the work bowl of a stand mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add egg; beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients, blending well. Stir in oats, coconut, peanuts, and cornflakes. Using a cookie scoop, drop by onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with bottom of glass dipped in additional cornflakes or sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Drizzle with glaze in a spiral fashion.

Glaze

Mix 2 tablespoons butter in a 2-cup measuring pitcher. Add 1 cup confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon hot water, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until consistency of a glaze. If necessary, thin with a few drops of hot water.

 

 

Coconut Sheet Cake

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I am known as a bit of an oddity in my family in that I don’t like pie. I mean, I’ll eat it, occasionally I’ll make it, and I appreciate the artistry involved in creating pie, but if someone told me that I couldn’t have pie for the rest of my life, I would be fine with that. Cake, is another story. For years my favorite was German Chocolate, but recently it has been usurped by white cake. Specifically bakery white cake, more specifically wedding cake. That’s why my recipe for White Almond Cake is one of my favorites, and one of the most read posts on this blog.

Recently I had a craving for coconut cake, and decided to try this recipe that is similar to Tres Leche Cake in that it uses three different kinds of milk. With the first bite I thought of my dad who shared my love for coconut cake. This one is easy to make, and phenomenal! The cake itself is moist and intensely flavorful, the frosting is like a coconut cloud. If you like cake as much as I do, you must try this recipe.

Coconut Sheet Cake a.k.a. Coconut Poke* Cake

Slightly adapted from cookiesandcups.com

 Coconut Cake

1 (15.25- oz) box white cake mix

Ingredients on box to make the cake (oil, egg whites, water)

1 t. coconut extract

½ t. clear vanilla flavoring

½ c. flaked coconut

1 (14- oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (15- oz can) Cream of Coconut

 Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 c. powdered sugar

1½ c. heavy whipping cream

½ t. coconut extract

½ c. flaked coconut to garnish, optional

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9”x13” baking dish with Baker’s Joy; set aside.

Prepare cake according to package directions, adding in 1 teaspoon coconut extract and ½ teaspoon clear vanilla flavorings with the liquids. Fold ½ cup flaked coconut into batter and then spread into prepared pan.

Bake according to package directions. Cake is done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

While cake is baking stir together sweetened condensed milk and Cream of Coconut; set aside. When cake is done, poke holes evenly all over the top using a large fork while it’s still hot. Immediately pour sweetened condensed milk mixture evenly on top of cake, and allow cake to cool completely.

To prepare frosting: In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment mix cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth. Add in heavy cream and extract and mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Spread frosting onto cooled cake and garnish with flaked coconut.

Chill cake for at least 2 hours before serving. Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

 

*I changed the name of this cake because the words "poke" and "dump" should never be used in association with food. Nope. Never.

 

 

A.M. Delight Muffins

When I was going through my mother’s recipe box a while ago (in search of the elusive chili sauce recipe), I stumbled upon this one, cut from a magazine (from appearances, my guess would be Taste of Home), and stapled together. I don’t recall her ever making these muffins, so, muffin person that I am, thought it my duty to give them a try. I liked them!

I am not a person who enjoys sugary sweetness in the morning. While I do love a good donut — the bigger the better — along with the rest of you, I want mine in the evening, after dinner, with a cup of coffee. In which case, I found these to be the perfect breakfast muffin for me. They have a lot of flavor, thanks to the apples, carrots, coconut, and raisins, a bit of a crunch thanks to the nuts (I swapped walnuts for the called for almonds), and, despite the three-quarter cup of sugar, only have a delicate sweetness, nothing heavy or cloying. A slathering of pumpkin cream cheese on top of a warm muffin was the perfect fall breakfast.

A.M. Delight Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
Pinch of cloves
½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
½ cup of vegetable oil
½ cup whole milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chopped, peeled, Organic Melissa’s Granny Smith Apples
2 cups freshly grated carrots
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
½ cup golden raisins
½  cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease or paper-line muffin cups; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla. Mix well; stir in dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the remaining ingredients. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins test done.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen.

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Coconut Cream Pound Cake with Toffee Crunch Topping

Ever since making that Coconut Cake with Coconut Buttercream Frosting a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t been able to get coconut off of my mind. Today I wanted something a bit less labor intensive, and, being in the mood for pound cake, came up with this creation, using my wonderful new Nordic Ware loaf pan. I call this Coconut Cream Pound Cake with Toffee Crunch. Marvelous with a morning cup of coffee, but frankly, it’s just plain suitable anytime of the day.

Coconut Cream Pound Cake with Toffee Crunch Topping

½ c. unsalted butter, softened
½ pkg. (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 t. coconut extract
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. all-purpose flour
¾ c. cake flour
¼ t. baking powder
1 c. flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Spray a 9” x 4” loaf pan with Baker’s Joy; set aside

In the work bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until well blended, 3 minutes. Add sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, 7 minutes.

While mixer is running, take this opportunity to place coconut into a food processor and pulse 5 to 6 times; set aside. To the mixer contents, beat in eggs one at a time; stir in coconut and vanilla extracts. With mixer on low, beat in flour and baking powder just until moistened. Fold in chopped coconut.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan and bake for one hour, or until knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

Coconut Glaze

½ c. sifted confectioners' sugar
1 T. half-and-half
¼ t. vanilla extract
1/8 t. coconut extract
¼ c. crumbled Wickedly Prime Toffee Coconut Cashews

Whisk together all ingredients except cashews. Drizzle over top of cake. Sprinkle cashews over glaze before it sets.

Coconut Cake with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

Despite the fact that I am not much of a baker (Number two son tells me to stop saying this, assuring me that I bake more than his wife does, and she considers herself to be a baker.) I was missing my dad mightily over the weekend, remembering how much he loved coconut cake. I figured that he would love it particularly if it were topped with Coconut Buttercream Frosting, so I set to work and came up with this one. He would have loved it, and my guess is that the cake lovers in your family will too.

This one’s for you, dad.

Coconut Cake with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

For the cake:
1 c. flour
1¾ c. cake flour
1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1¾ c. sugar
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. cream of coconut
4 eggs, separated
1 t. clear vanilla flavoring
1 t. coconut extract
1 c. buttermilk
Pinch of salt
1 14-oz. pkg. sweetened shredded coconut
Coconut Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with Baker’s Joy; set aside.

Whisk together flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to blend.

In an electric stand mixer, beat together sugar, butter, and cream of coconut until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, along with extracts. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour.

In a medium bowl, with clean beaters, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Fold beaten egg whites into batter. Divide batter between two pans and bake about 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then invert onto racks to cool completely.

Frost with Coconut Buttercream Frosting. When doing the center layer, sprinkle ½ cup coconut on top of the frosting before topping with other layer. Coat entire cake, top and sides, with shredded coconut.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting

4½ c. confectioners’ sugar
11 T. (1 stick, 3 T.) butter, softened
2 t. clear vanilla flavoring
1½ t. coconut extract
2-4 T. whole milk

In the work bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugar and butter until creamy. Add remaining ingredients, and be at high-speed for six minutes until light and fluffy. Fin with more milk, if needed.

PRINT RECIPE

If you prefer your coconut in cheesecake form, you will love this Coconut Cream Cheesecake. It was one of my dad’s favorites.

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Hummingbird Pancakes

The other day I was watching a hummingbird at the nectar feeder and I thought, ooh, Hummingbird Cake sounds good. (For the uninitiated, a Hummingbird Cake is a moist Southern layer cake containing bananas, crushed pineapple, toasted pecans, and sometimes coconut, topped with a cream cheese frosting. As Andy Griffith used to say, “It is goo-ood.”)

Then I thought, gee, Hummingbird Cake is a lot of work. Well worth it, of course, but WORK! Then I thought, ooh, Hummingbird PANcakes, and I settled on that, first, because they are far less work, and second, because it was eight o'clock in the morning.

There are as many varieties of Hummingbird Pancake recipes as there are Hummingbird Cake recipes, and just as many different toppings. You can top your pancakes with a cream cheese drizzle, a mound of crushed pineapple, or layer your stack with sliced bananas. I prefer mine with pure maple syrup.

The recipe I use is a rather loose adaptation of an old one from Southern Living. Give it a try. It's a great way to brighten your morning.

Hummingbird Pancakes

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup mashed banana

1/2 cup crushed pineapple, undrained

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 extra-large egg

1/2 cup toasted pecans

1/2 cup coconut

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

In another bowl, combine the banana, pineapple, sugar, vanilla, buttermilk, and egg.  Whisk until just combined.

Add the wet to the dry and stir until just combined. Fold in pecans and coconut.

Pour the batter by 1/4 cup full onto a hot griddle. When the pancake starts to bubble, flip to the other side for 2-3 minutes or until browned; repeat with remaining batter.

Extra pancakes can be frozen between pieces of waxed paper for later use.

This post is linked to:

Friday Finds

Show and Tell Friday 

Friday Unfolded
Fridays Flash Blog
Simple and Sweet Fridays

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

What To Do Weekend 
The Weekend re-Treat

Magic Bars

I am petitioning in favor of the “Post-Christmas Cookie.”  You know, the one that you wanted to try, or that you really, REALLY, love to bake, but never had a chance to make during the season because you were just so darned busy/stressed/frazzled/overscheduled (please select one, or more, what the heck?).  Yes, if not for very generous bakers and their skilled offspring bringing me cookies, I wouldn’t have had a one.  So, after the day was over, I decided to bake a favorite recipe for bar cookies that dates back to my Home Ec days in high school.  They go by many names, Magic Bars, Hello Dollies, and a host of others, but whatever the name, no one is unfamiliar with this rich and chewy bar cookie.  I make mine a bit different from the original recipe in that I use both semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips.  I also like to make a richer nut mixture by using a mixed nut mix of pecans, cashews, macadamias, almonds, filberts, and Brazil nuts.

Why not join me in my post-holiday baking and give these chewy crowd pleasers a try?

Magic Bars

1 stick butter

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

(from about a pack and a half of graham crackers)

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped mixed nuts

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Now you have two options: spray a 9” x 13” pan with non-stick cooking spray, OR (as I did) line it with foil so that about 1-1/2” of foil hangs over the short edges, and then spray the foil with the non-stick cooking spray.  This will allow you to lift the entire thing out of the pan, slide off the foil (which is why it MUST be sprayed as well) and then make perfect little square cuts.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter.  If you buy graham cracker crumbs, just empty the correct amount into a medium bowl, drizzle with the butter, and stir until completely coated.  If using a food processor, break up a pack and a half of whole graham crackers, pulse until they become crumbs, and then pour the melted butter through the feed tube during the last stages of pulsing, and, Bob’s your uncle! 

Press crumbs and butter mixture into the bottom of your prepared pan.  Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the crumb mixture.  Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts.  Press down firmly with your hands (Sometimes it helps to lightly dampen your hands to keep the ingredients from sticking.).

Bake for 20-25 minutes until just browned.  Cool.  Firmly grasping foil overhang, carefully lift from pan and place on cutting board.  Peel foil away from the edges and slide it out from under the baked bars.  Cut in even squares.

This post is linked to:

Metamorphosis Monday  
Amaze Me Monday