Coconut Cupcakes

Are you ready for a big secret?

Are you sure?

I used a box mix to make these. You don't always have to make something from scratch for it to be delicious or impressive. There were a lot of extra steps to upgrade these beauties, but it is so worth it. I start off with a normal, but good quality brand white cake box mix (I used Betty Crocker because that is what I had) then add a bunch of special yummy ingredients. Lots of coconut, a filling, a frosting, some decoration and voila. A coconut cloud of yummy dreams. I made them for a co-worker's birthday and they were hailed as the best she's ever had.

Coconut Cupcakes

1 box White Cake Mix

3 Eggs

 *Coconut Milk
**Butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

*Substitute Coconut Milk for the amount of Water the box calls for.
**Substitute Butter for the amount of Oil the box calls for.

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare cupcake tins. Sift the cake mix--tedious, yes, but well worth the effort. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium for two minutes. Scoop batter into tins, 3/4 of the way full. Once all of the batter is scooped out you can add the filling. Bake according to box directions, or around 15-18 minutes. Best practice is to keep an eye on them and use a toothpick, just make sure not to stick your toothpick into the filling.

Coconut Filling

1 bag Shredded Coconut

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Mix together. Scoop a tablespoon of mixture on top of filled cupcake batter, pushing down slightly. 

Coconut Frosting

1 stick Butter, softened

2 Tbsp Coconut Milk

1 tsp Coconut Flavoring

1/2 bag Powdered Sugar

Whip the butter. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until just combined. If the frosting is too dry/stiff/thick and a bit more coconut milk. If the frosting is too runny/soft/wet add more powdered sugar. If not using the frosting immediately cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Frost the cupcakes once they have cooled completely and your toasted coconut is ready. Frost the cupcakes and dip into the coconut right after. If you wait too long the frosting may have hardened and not allow the coconut to stick. 

Toasted Coconut

1 bag Shredded Coconut

There are a few ways to toast your coconut. I stuck half a bag in a frying pan and put it over medium heat. I stirred it around until I was happy with the color, about 5 minutes. Keep a watchful eye on it as it can quickly burn. Once you have it where you want it, let it cool completely or else you might melt your frosting. Once it has cooled completely, put the toasted coconut in a bowl, frost your cupcakes, and dip them into the toasted coconut, or sprinkle the coconut onto the cupcakes. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Snickers Cake

My wonderful Mother celebrated a birthday on the last of June. I won't tell you which one because I don't want to get in trouble, but no one who didn't know her would guess her age correctly because she looks so terrifically splendid for her age and I have luckily inherited that gene. Along with the young looking genes, my dear Mother also passed down to me a deep love of chocolate. So when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dessert I was not surprised in the slightest to her that she wanted something really chocolaty--maybe a Snickers cake. Here was my solution. 

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and carmel and snickers to decorate the top. Perfect.

P.S. Please excuse the mess in the background, and yes, my

serving tray is my pizza stone.  Nothing else was big enough around. 

I got the recipe off of the Hershey's Coaco box. The cake and frosting recipe are on there. I've always wanted a chocolate cake recipe that was just as easy as a box recipe, tasted great, and was a little bit denser than a normal cake--not super light and airy. This recipe is exactly that. The end result is the perfect combination of dense, almost brownie like deliciously chocolate richness. So good. I made it for dessert at my in-laws and they scarfed it down. It always amazes me how much teenage boys can eat but they set a new standard when they each ate a couple pieces and still wanted more.

Chocolate Cake
2 cups Sugar
1 3/4 cup Flour
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp salt
2 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Oil
2 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Water, boiling


Preheat oven to 350 and put a pot of water on to boil. Grease well two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment papers. Stir together ingredients sugar through salt in a large bowl. Add eggs through vanilla and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the cup of boiling water--mixture will be very thin. Pour evenly into the tins and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool a bit, loosen the edges and turn out the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.


Chocolate Buttercream 
6 Tbsp Butter, softened
2 2/3 cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa
1/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until just combined. If the mixture seems too dry/thick/stiff add a tiny bit more cream. If the mixture is too runny add a bit more powdered sugar.


Toppings:
Caramel Sauce
1 bag fun size Snickers, cut into chunks


When the cakes have completely cooled, level them. Place a dollop of frosting on a cake board to keep the bottom round of cake in place. Drizzle the bottom round of cake with the caramel sauce. Place a layer of Snickers chunks on the caramel then add half the buttercream and spread out to the edges. Place the top round of cake on the buttercream. Add a layer of caramel sauce, the remaining buttercream frosting then the Snickers chunks. A final drizzle of caramel finishes the cake. I like to let that last drizzle go over the edges and run down the sides. Enjoy!

 The recipe itself is pretty easy. My tip is to stick to it. I know, not really a tip, but I usually never stick to recipes exactly. You really do need to grease and flour your tins really well though if you want them to come out. I could have used a bit more grease and flour and would have then saved one of the sides of my cakes. Good thing chocolate frosting is a great glue for cake.

Needless to say, it was a big hit. Now I don't mean to be cocky. My biggest fear is that I make something and people don't like it. My wonderful husband knows just how much an underwhelming reception of my food crushes my confidence so he's always very dramatically positive. The best is when we got to my mom's house with the cake. All the grandkids were jumping up and down and the adults oohed and ahed. My nephew Boyd (age 3) wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Grandma as soon as he saw the cake, so he led every one in a verse of "Happy Birthday to Grandma." As soon as we finished the song he expected cake right then and there. He was very disappointed to find out that just because you sing the song doesn't mean you get the cake. Unfortunately you have to eat dinner first. Those cruel parents.

Pizza

Here it is.

The recipe everyone always asks for.

Pizza

1 cup water, lukewarm*

2 Tbsp Yeast (dry, active)

1 Tbsp Sugar

1/4 cup Oil

3-4 cups Flour

1 tsp Salt

Optional:

1 Tbsp Basil

1 Tbsp Parsley

1 tsp Pepper

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Onion Powder

Toppings:

Cheese, Pesto, Sauce, Oil, Pepperoni, Sausage, Ham, Tomatoes, Olives, Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms, Basil, Jalapenos...

Cornmeal

My Pizza is never a perfect circle, but that just adds to the rustic charm of it. 

Place water, yeast and sugar in a bowl and mix. Let stand 1-2 minutes until mixture is bubbly. Add in oil, 3 cups of flour and salt. If you would like to flavor your crust with the optionals, add those in as well. Mix together to form a sticky dough. If you need to add more flour go ahead, every time is different due to humidity and what not. When you feel you have a dough you can manage, turn it out onto a floured surface. Knead the bread, adding more flour if necessary, until you have a nice, smooth and elastic dough that should no longer be sticky--about 5 minutes kneading. Return the dough back to the bowl, cover with a towel and place in a warm dry place to rise--1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400. Once the dough has doubled in size, or come close to it, punch it down and knead it again on the table for a bit till its a nice smooth dough. Divide the dough into your pizza crusts, leaving one out to work with and putting the rest back under a towel. Roll out the dough to your desired thickness and shape. Transfer the crust to whatever you are going to cook it on in the oven; I like to use a sprinkle of cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking after its been baked. Top your dough then toss it in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust has hardened. Different thicknesses of dough will call for differences in cooking times--my thin crusts usually take no more than 10 minutes.

For this pizza I used half whole wheat flour. It was yummy, couldn't really tell. 

Notes:

1. *Lukewarm mean slightly warmer than room temperature, but I would not consider it hot.
2. I pretty much only like thin crust pizza and I can usually get 3 pizzas out of this recipe. I make my pizzas the size of my pizza stone, about 12" diameter.
3. Our favorite topping combinations: {Tomato sauce, mozzarella, jalapenos, pepperoni} {Pesto, mozzarella, sausage, caramelized onions} {Tomato sauce, mozzarella, sausage, pepperoni} {Oil, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil}
4. A pizza stone helps the crust cook evenly and quickly and also helps make it nice and crispy.
5. You can use this basic dough recipe to make lots of other yummy things; rolls, calzones, bread...
6. We make a lot of pizza. The more you try it, the better you'll get at making the dough and finding what toppings you like, and really be able to make it your own and have fun with it. We've made stuffed crust and a mexican inspired pizza and so many topping combinations I don't even remember half.
7. Please, do not put pineapple on my pizza.

I think this is another half whole wheat flour pizza.

Mac & Cheese

I became a little child today around lunch time. I decided to make Mac & Cheese, switching out the macaroni for shells, adding sausage, 3 yummy cheeses and in general heightening the whole dish to an adult level. My first bite made me feel like an oh so sophisticated 6 year old.

Mac & Cheese

1 box Pasta

3 Tbsp Butter

4 Tbsp Flour
2-3 cups Milk

1/2 Onion, finely diced

1 clove Garlic, minced

1/4 cup Parsley chopped

2 Tbsp Basil, chopped
Salt and Pepper

2 cups Mozzarella, shredded

1 cup Monterey Jack, shredded

4 oz Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 lb Sausage, cooked

1/4 cup Bread Crumbs

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta and cook according to package instructions while melting the butter in another pot. When the butter has melted, add in the flour and stir until all the lumps are gone. Continue to stir while the flour cooks--if you don't let it bubble a bit, the mixture will taste like flour. After a minute or so, add in milk, a bit at a time and mix until creamy again. The amount of milk you add in will determine how much sauce you end up with--I generally add at least 2 to 2 1/2 cups. Add your onion, garlic, spices and mix. Let simmer away, stirring every so often so as not to let it burn. When the pasta has finished cooking and is drained, add in the cheese to the sauce, withholding 1/2 cup of mozzarella, and mix until it has all melted. Add in the pasta and sausage and mix. Pour the mixture into an oven proof dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese and bread crumbs. Place uncovered in the oven and broil on high for 1-2 minutes. Keep a close eye on the pasta so the bread crumbs don't burn. Serve hot and enjoy.

Orzo Pasta and Sausage

This is by far one of my favorite dinners ever. Orzo pasta and sausage, so simple but soooo good. You can always dress it up and make it more fancy, but I'm usually too impatient for that. I made mini sausage meatballs as a variation on this recipe for a friend's baby shower and they were a big hit. I've always wanted to try freezing leftovers to see how they would do defrosting, but there are never any leftovers. I'm also thinking about attempting a crock pot version, but the original is just so darn easy a crock pot almost defeats the purpose. 

Orzo Pasta with Sausage

1 box Orzo Pasta

 4 qt Chicken Broth

Sausage

2 Tbsp to 1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/4 tsp Onion Powder

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

1 Tbsp dried Basil

2 Tbsp dried Parsley

Salt and Pepper

Romano Cheese

(For optional add ins and upgrades see Notes below)

Cook pasta according to package directions, but use chicken broth instead of water, or add chicken bullion to your cooking water. Cook the sausage, keeping the chunks relatively the same size. Drain the sausage of extra grease. When the pasta has finished cooking, set aside a cup or two of the liquid and drain the pasta. Return pasta to the pot and add the sausage. Mix together while adding a couple Tbsp of olive oil. Add more oil and/or leftover cooking liquid until you feel the pasta has been coated enough and does not look too dry (this is all the 'sauce' your getting so don't skimp). Season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve with freshly grated cheese.

Notes:

1. There are lots of things you could do to make this dish fancier--
2. Swap sautéed onions and garlic for the dried powder
3. Use fresh basil, parsley or rosemary instead of the dried stuff
4. Add chopped sun dried tomatoes or a few red pepper flakes for some heat
5. Try garlic or rosemary olive oil instead of regular oil
6. Make the sausage into meatballs before cooking
7. Use chicken broth or chicken bullion instead of water to cook the pasta. If you use bullion make sure to taste before adding any extra salt.