Coconut Pyramids

The pile of papers to grade is sitting to my left.  There's plenty of piles of laundry waiting, too.  And after just returning from a week of skiing in Norway, there is gear to put away and pictures to upload.  But for now, I am happy to forget it all and tell you about these sweet little coconut gems.

Not only can you pull the dough together in five minutes flat, you can have a batch (approximately 24) of delicious treats in the time it takes to clean the bathroom or watch an episode of Diary of a Foodie.  I think I know which activity I'd rather do.

Coconut Pyramids
1.5c/200g unsweetened coconut
1c/125g almond flour
1/2c/50g sifted all purpose flour
1c/397g (small can) sweetened condensed milk
1 whole vanilla bean

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F/175C

1.  Place milk in a small bowl.  Add the scraped seeds of the vanilla bean and mix well.

2.  Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir until combined.

3.  Add milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well.  The mixture will be thick and quite stiff.

4.  Using your hands and small spoonfuls of dough, shape the mix into pyramids.  You will note that some of my pyramids are smooth and some are nubby.  That's because I manhandled the smooth shapes and used more water during the shaping process.  The nubby version received minimal manhandling.  I like that word.  I like the word nubby, too.

5.  Bake pyramids on a parchment lined baking sheet for 10-14 minutes, depending on your oven.  You want a pyramid with a golden brown top and edges.

6.  Optional:  dip pyramid bottoms in melted dark chocolate.

Honey Wheat Thumbprint Cookies

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a pretty cookie for you and yours.

To whom do I owe the inspiration for the recipe?  Meryl Streep of all people, by way of Good Housekeeping Magazine.  This, my friends, is the favorite cookie of arguably the greatest American actress of all time. I mean, The Deer Hunter.  Out of Africa.  Doubt.  So many amazing film roles.  Nearly 50 in all.  And who can forget her spot on performance as the boss from hell in The Devil Wears Prada?

Well, little known fact:  Meryl makes cookies on set breaks.  Or at the very least, in the comfort of her sprawling home.

Don't you just love the raspberry thumbprint?  It steals the show. The cookies would look so plain jane otherwise.

Anatole and I spent the better part of a morning making these cookies and Valentine cards for the special people in our lives.  He was particularly happy with his three personalized cookies; see if you can find them.

Honey Wheat Thumbprint Cookies

Adapted from Meryl Streep's Heart Cookies, Good Housekeeping

1c butter, soft

3/4c honey

1t vanilla

2/3c almond flour or finely ground almonds

1 3/4c whole wheat flour

1 1/4c all purpose flour

Raspberry jam for thumbprint

Directions

1.  Cream honey, butter, and vanilla.  Add flours and mix well until blended.

2.  Divide dough into four pieces, form each into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours or overnight.

3.  Work the dough a little in your hands to soften.  Apply a little flour to your work surface and roll each disk flat with a rolling pin, approximately 1/8" thick.

4.  Use heart shaped cookie cutter to make hearts.  Make an indentation with your thumb and apply a dab of jam to each cookie.

5.  Transfer to a parchment -lined cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half way through.

6.  Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes 4-5 dozen, depending on the size of cookie cutter(s) used.

Wordless Wednesday

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough on a Stick

I wonder if the Queen of Denmark likes cookie dough.  Maybe she has the royal chef make it for her on the sly and then sneaks some when no one's looking.  And then there's Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, who just gave birth to twins and welcomed her fourth and fifth children. I wish for Mary's sake that she's lying in bed resting and enjoying a nice big spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough.  Danish royals and cookie dough?  I say why not.

For as long as I can remember I have had a weakness for dough in various forms.  Cake batter, pastry dough, play-doh (well, that was many many years ago), and, naturally, cookie dough.  Love it with all my heart.  To my traditional mind, the best is chocolate chip, but I would never turn up my nose at peanut butter, oatmeal, sugar or virtually any other kind of cookie dough, either.  As George Bush senior used to say, It wouldn't be prudent.  Did I just quote George Bush?

What you really want to hear about is cookie dough.  It all went down some time last week when I discovered Joy the Baker, my new favorite blog.  If you like to create delicious things to eat, please do yourself a favor and check it out.  And even if you are not so into sharing time in the kitchen with measuring cups and bowls, check it out anyway for the gorgeous photography and food styling.  Joy Wilson is my newfound food idol.  I'm delighted by the fact that she, one, has an English degree just like yours truly, two, whips up spectacular stuff without having had any formal training (i.e. no culinary degree), and three, seems like an ultra cool lady.

I have Joy to um, credit, for the cookie dough on a stick.  I hesitate in giving her too much credit because this stuff is addicting.  And let's face it, we're not talking health food here.  On the other hand, everything in moderation is okay.  Unfortunately, I highly doubt that moderation is defined as inhaling half a bowl of cookie dough.  Maybe in some universe far far away...

Ahem, another fantastic part of this recipe is that you can consume as little or as much dough as you wish without worrying about salmonella.  Ta da, it's egg free.  Joy's recipe uses Greek yogurt, but she also suggests apple sauce and peanut butter as other suitable egg-substitutes.  I went with the Greek yogurt and achieved splendid results.

If you are a fellow cookie dough lover, you must try this!  I'm talking to you, Queen Margrethe.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough on a Stick
Source:  Joy the Baker

1/2c unsalted butter at room temperature
1c. plus 2T flour
1/2t baking soda
3/4t salt
1/2c brown sugar
1/3c granulated sugar
1t vanilla
1/3c Greek yogurt, applesauce or peanut butter
1c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2c chopped walnuts
1c. semi sweet chocolate chips for melting

Directions

1.  Combine flour, soda and salt and set aside.

2.  With a hand mixer or standing mixer, beat the butter and sugars together.  Add vanilla and Greek yogurt and mix again.

3.  Add flour mix to sugar-butter mix and combine thoroughly.

4.  Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

5.  Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, place mounds of dough on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper.  Insert a plastic fork, light-weight metal fork (it won't stand up if it's too heavy), or popsicle stick in the middle of each mound.  Place in freezer 3-4 hours, until hard, or overnight.

6.  Remove from freezer, dip mounds into melted, slightly cooled chocolate.  Return to the baking sheet and freeze until chocolate is hard.

7.  Serve cold straight from the freezer (store extras, if you have any left, in the freezer).

Wordless Wednesday: Because one bowl is not enough

Wordless Wednesday: The bane of my existence

Raspberry Mousse

Has the grey of winter got you down?  I am so over the leafless tress, frozen earth, and washed out surroundings.  I need color!  I have just the thing to bring a smile to your face and leave you feeling like you have just tasted a little bit of summer.  Although there are several steps involved in this raspberry mousse recipe, it's rather simple to whip up and unbelievably refreshing and delicious.  I found some sweet, diminutive chocolate coated waffle cups in the grocery store that were the perfect vessel for the mousse.  Little chocolate cups also would be terrific.  And naturally, you can skip the edible cups all together and simply dig into the bowl with a spoon.  Just saying.

Raspberry Mousse
Adapted from Food and Wine

2 sheets husblas (Danish gelatin) or 2t unflavored powdered gelatin

400g frozen raspberries or 2 10oz. bags, thawed

150g sugar or 3/4c

2 large egg whites (pasteurized)

1/4 liter (2 1/2dl) or 1/2c heavy cream

Directions

1.  Place husblas in a dish of cold water and let sit 5 minutes until soft and pliable.  Remove from water, add to a saucepan with 2T warm water.  Heat over medium-low heat 2-3 minutes until gelatin has dissolved.

2.  Place all but 1/2c of thawed berries and 1/2c sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until well combined.  Reserve 1/2c berries for later.

3.  Strain berries through a sieve, discard seeds.  Whisk in the dissolved gelatin. Set aside

4.  In a bowl over a pot of simmering water, whisk the egg whites and remaining 1/4c sugar.  Whisk until mixture is warm to the touch.  Remove from heat and, using a hand mixer, beat on medium-high until mixture is glossy and still peaks form.

5.  Fold the egg whites into the berry puree.

6.  In the same bowl that you mixed the egg whites, add the heavy cream and mix until firm.

7.  Incorporate the cream into the raspberry mixture.

8.  Using a spoon or potato masher, crush the 1/2 reserved berries.  Carefully fold into the mousse.

9.  Refrigerate until set, minimum 1 hour or overnight.

10.  If desired, decorate with chocolate ganache swirls.