Seven Layer Bars

I was told by my Aunt Chris that I have been neglecting my cooking blog and she is 100% correct. I have a very busy 9 month old on my hands and barely have time to cook these days, let alone take pictures of it, edit the pictures, and sit down to write it all up in a blog. But this blog was kind of my first baby (aside from our very spoiled pug Wendell) and I do need to give it some love and attention from time to time. Thank you for those of you still checking in on it. I hope you will forgive me for the neglect by sharing these delicious Seven Layer Bars! I had never made them before and really have only had them a couple times, but for some reason I got it in my head to make them a couple of weeks ago. I sent them in to work with my husband and when I asked how his co-workers liked them he told me that one lady said, "I love your wife!" And that makes it all worth it, knowing someone else enjoyed these tasty treats. They are fairly simple to make but plan ahead because they have to cool for TWO HOURS!

Seven Layer Bars
From Brown Eyed Baker
Printable Version
Ingredients
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
9 graham crackers, crushed or 5 ounces of graham cracker crumbs
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (I prefer pecans so used those)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Directions
Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9X13 pan with two overlapping pieces of foil or parchment paper, leaving overhand to act as handles for lifting the bars out of the pan. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. 
Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake until the outer flakes begin to brown, about 4 minutes (keep a very close eye on it!). Set aside to cool.
Melt the butter and combine with the graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl. Toss with your fingers until the butter is evenly distributed. Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan to form your first layer. 

In order, sprinkle the pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and then coconut on top of the graham cracker crust. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the entire dish. 

Bake until the top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack until room temperature, about 2 hours. 

Remove the bars from the pan using the foil or parchment paper handles and place onto a cutting board. Using a sharp knife cut into small bars because these babies are RICH!

Brownie Pizza

If this dessert from How Sweet It Is doesn't knock your socks off, then I truly don't know what will. Let's see: brownies covered in cream cheese frosting and topped with fresh strawberries, bananas, toasted coconut, Snickers pieces, and then drizzled with caramel. Are you drooling yet? 

I brought this amazing concoction to one of my school's end of the year meeting as a dish to pass because I have been wanting to make it for a while but needed an occasion to make it for. Also because I didn't want to die from sugar overload. 

This dessert is extremely decadent. Make them for a large crowd, as they are just begging to be shared...and photographed for that matter. I really could not stop taking pictures of these beauties.

Brownie Pizza
From How Sweet It Is 
Printable Version


Ingredients
1 box brownie mix
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 banana, sliced
1/2 cup coconut
Caramel sauce for drizzling
12 fun sized candy bars, chopped (Snickers is the best)
2 cups cream cheese frosting

Directions
Prepare brownie mix according to directions. Spread batter on a round pizza pan or on a long baking sheet with edges. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the brownie is baked through. Meanwhile, toast the coconut in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Toss frequently until browned. 

Let the brownie cool completely (you can stick it in the refrigerator to speed things up). Spread cream cheese frosting on brownies in a thin layer. 

Add toppings and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving. 

Make sure to serve within 24 hours or the bananas will start to brown.

Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies

Toasted coconut and cream cheese make these cookies from Vanilla Sugar over the top delicious. They are soft and creamy and a very different take on your every day cookie. They made so many I took them into work and shared them with my coworkers. Everyone loved them and my friend Keisha even said that these cookies made her want to bake and she never bakes! :)

Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies

From Vanilla Sugar

Makes about 45 cookies

Printable Version

Ingredients

2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking sode

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2) sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled until room temperature

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla (I used my homemade vanilla extract)

2 1/2 cups toasted coconut

Directions

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (I didn't have any so used tin foil with the shiny side up and that worked fine). Spread coconut evenly on baking sheet.

Once oven is preheated place coconut in oven. Bake for 10-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes for even toasting. Remove from oven when the coconut is light brown. Do not allow them to burn. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely (about 20 minutes) before adding to the dough.

Whisk dry ingredients together and set aside. With an electric mixer or by hand mix butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugars and beat until throughly combined. Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients at low speed until combined. Stir in cooled coconut. 

Chill the dough overnight.

When ready to bake cookies preheat oven to 350 degrees. Reline cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough (roughly 1 tablespoon) onto cookie sheets.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are set and bottoms are brown. Do NOT over bake. These cookies should NOT be golden brown or they will burn as they cool.

Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets until you are able to lift them with a spatula without them breaking. Place on a wire rack to cool. 

Note: **Vanilla Sugar recommends adding a whole pecan on top to add a little extra crunch. 

Coconut Shrimp Soup

This dish was inspired by an amazing coconut shrimp soup that hubby and I order from our favorite local Thai restaurant. I decided to just wing it, with no recipe, and for a girl who relies heavily on recipes, this was a very exciting success for me! The flavors were awesome and really how can you go wrong with shrimp, coconut milk, onion, garlic, lime, tomatoes, and cilantro.

 I served this "soup" over cheesy garlic grits and it was an excellent choice.

Although it is not pictured in the ingredient shot, I added some red chili flakes to kick things up a bit. One thing I learned from this dish was not to overcook the shrimp! They really only need a couple of minutes in the pan or else they become tough. Next time I will add them in at the very end.

Coconut Shrimp Soup

An Ashley's Cooking Adventures Original

Makes 4 servings

Printable Version

Ingredients

1 pound shrimp, cleaned and thawed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

1/2 cup coconut milk

Juice of 2 limes

4 tablespoons cilantro, minced

4 servings of prepared grits, rice, or quinoa  (if desired)

Directions

Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add in shrimp, tomatoes, and coconut milk and raise the heat to high.

Shake in red chili flakes and stir. Bring to a simmer for 3 minutes. Plate grits or other grain of choice in a bowl. Drizzle lime juice over the top of the shrimp soup and pour over the grits. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

Coconut Flan

After making my first flan (Spanish Flan with Blueberries) a couple of weeks ago, and realizing how incredibly easy and delicious flans are, I had been wanting to make another one. I decided to try out Paula Deen's Coconut Flan when my Mom, Aunt Chris, and cousin Lindsey came to visit. They all have huge sweet tooth like me and my Mom and Aunt Chris really love coconut so I knew this recipe would be a hit with them. 


I was disappointed that this flan didn't set up as well as my first flan did. I even cooked it about 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for and it was still very runny. Regardless of the loose texture, the flavor was still incredibly creamy and coconuty (there I go making up another word again). Lots of people rave about this recipe on Food Network.com so even though mine wasn't the flan perfection I was hoping for, it's still a great recipe and I am still very much hooked on flan. 

Coconut Flan
From Paula Deen 


Printable Version 


Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut flakes
Whipped cream, for garnish
1/4 cup coconut flakes, for garnish


Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the sugar until it caramelizes. Pour it into a flan dish, pie plate, or round souffle baking dish with shallow sides, swirling it around to coat the bottom. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until foamy with a wire whisk. Beat in the condensed milk, vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup coconut. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. It will need to bake in a water-bath in the oven. Set the dish into a large baking pan with sides and carefully pour water around the flan to come 2/3 the way up the sides. Carefully transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for about 1 hour, until the flan is set and the center only jiggles a little bit, like a cheesecake would. Remove from the oven and water-bath and allow to cool completely. Turn the flan out onto a flat serving platter. Cut into slices for serving. Garnish with whipped cream and toasted coconut. 

Cinnamon Flax Muffins

There is not much better, in my opinion, than a piping hot muffin with a huge glass of a cold milk. I wanted to find a muffin recipe that incorporated flax seed meal since I have a bunch sitting in my fridge but unfortunately, there aren't a lot of recipes out there with flax seed. Thankfully I came across this recipe at Your Organic Child. I modified the recipe by using more carrot and adding in sweetened coconut, which I had on hand. These muffins were soooo good. Very moist, sweet, and filling. I ate a couple for breakfast and didn't feel hungry at all until late into the afternoon. They also stay moist for several days which I've found that most muffins don't do. You could add in 1/2 cup of raisins, but my hubby despises raisins and I wanted to him to eat these, so left them out. This recipe makes 18 muffins.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cups Bob's Red Mill flax seed meal

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups shredded carrots

2 peeled and shredded apples

3/4 cup sweetened coconut

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, flax seed meal, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Shred carrots and apples in a food processor. Stir in carrots, apples and coconut. Combine the milk and eggs. Pour into lightly greased muffin tins (I use cooking spray) and bake for 15 - 20 minutes. 

The Best Homemade Granola

In my quest for a healthy lifestyle I am trying to incorporate less processed foods into my diet. I really love granola, and decided that it was time to learn how to make my own so I added it to my List of 30 Things to Make Before I Turn 30. I am not sure this is the most low fat/low calorie recipe out there, but it's definitely one of the best granolas I've ever eaten and I consider myself a granola enthusiast. My favorite store bought granola is Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Granola. If you like granola and have never tried it, I whole heartedly recommend you pick a box up sometime.

I searched and searched for a good granola recipe and ended up choosing this one from Kiss My Spatula.com. With a blog name like that, I knew this recipe would be good. (I also chose this recipe because it is tweaked from Barefoot Contessa, and it contains brown sugar and flax seed - the brown sugar because I knew it would be sweeter, and the flax seed because the Nature's Path Granola that I adore has flax seeds.)

This granola is very easy to make and it made a huge batch - about 7 cups!! I decided to use low calorie apple juice and added in two tablespoons of Trader Joe's flax seed oil because I have it on hand and forget to take it! Why the kick for flax seeds? This article about flax seeds on webmd.com states that flax seeds may fight everything from heart disease, to diabetes and breast cancer. They contain Omega-3, Lignans, and Fiber. Basically, they're really good for you! Eat them!!

Another thing I loved about this recipe is that it made my home smell like apple crisp while it was baking. I didn't add in any dried fruit because I wanted to top the granola with fresh fruit instead. Note to Margaret: go make this granola!!! And please let me know when you do!

Best Homemade Granola

from Kiss My Spatula

Ingredients

4 cups organic rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (not a big fan of these, so I omitted them)

2 tablespoons flax seeds (I used ground)

1 cup shredded coconut

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable or olive oild

1/3 cup good honey

1/3 cup apple juice or apple cider

1 cup dried cranberries or your favorite dried, chopped fruit

Directions: 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl stir together the nuts, oats, flax seeds, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk the oil, honey, and apple juice in a measuring cup.

Pour the liquid mixture over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated. Spread onto a large sheet pan. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture forms a nice, even golden brown, abound 30 minutes, depending on oven.

Remove granola from the oven and allow to cool completely, stirring occasionally. Add the dried fruit. Store granola in an airtight container. 

Note: The Best Homemade Granola + Oikos Greek Yogurt + Fresh Blackberries = Snack of bliss after working out!