Coconut Banana Bread

After years of dreaming of this recipe, my mother finally re-found it among her archives and we made it not once, but twice! while I was there for a week last month. The coconut-banana bread of my memories was the only banana bread I really ever wanted (although I did find a thoroughly delicious commercial banana cake at the 7-11s in Thailand) and now that I have this recipe, banana bread may not be baked in my oven any other way. So happy to finally have it.

From Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads, as originally written.

Ingredients:

1 C. flaked coconut

1/4 C. butter or margarine, at room temperature

2/3 C. sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

3 T. milk

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 C. sifted all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)

Directions:

1. Prepare a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, greased or Teflon, by lining with greased wax paper cut to size.

2. Toast the coconut on a baking sheet in a moderate over (350F) until lightly browned, 15 minutes. Stir the flakes occasionally and keep a watchful eye on them so they don't burn. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Leave the oven on.

3. In a large mixing or mixer bowl fitted with the flat beater cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the milk, lemon juice, and almond extract. 

4. Sift the flour again into the mixing bowl with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend thoroughly.

5. Work the bananas into the mixture and gently fold in the toasted coconut. (Reserve a large pinch of coconut to sprinkle on the top of the loaf.)

6. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan, pushing the dough into the corners and leveling the top with a rubber scraper.

7. Bake until light brown, 1 hour. A metal skewer or wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf should come out clean. (If using a convection oven, reduce heat 40 degrees.)

8. Remove bread from the oven. Let the loaf cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before carefully turning it out onto a wire rack. Allow it to cool completely before serving.

Hello Dolly Bars

My sister TMP made these for our little graduation shindig at home last Saturday. My in-laws loved these and as my husband is, you know, an in-law he loved them too and insisted that we get the recipe. So here it is, dear Robber, for you.

From somewhere, didn't ask TMP where she got them.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. (1 stick) salted butter, melted

1/2 C. graham cracker crumbs (ca. 1 1/2 packages)

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 C. chocolate chips (replace 1 c. with butterscotch or other chips, if desired)

1 1/2 C. chopped pecans, lightly toasted

1 1/2 C. sweetened shredded coconut

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. Mix the graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon with the butter and press into the bottom of the pan. 

2. Layer the chips, nuts, and coconut on top of the crust. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the lot. 

3. Bake at 350 for approx. 30 minutes, until nicely browned and a bit bubbly. Cool completely before cutting.

Yield: This quantity will make an 8"x8" pan of thick bars or a 9"x13" pan of thinner bars.

Triple Coconut Cream Pie

(Adapted from Tom Douglas at Dahliah's Bakery in Seattle)

I found this recipe on pieloveyou.blogspot.com and decided to make it for Bob's birthday. I was a little worried it would be too hip for him. If it's all the rage in Seattle, it is probably a little avant garde for Bob's taste but why not try it?

In the end, he wanted just the regular old coconut cream pie. He liked this pie, but likes a saltier crust to offset the sweetness of the filling. I, on the other hand, enjoyed this coconut crust, the less sweet filling, and wanted to put white chocolate curls on the top were it not for Bob's preference otherwise (it was his birthday pie.) I think in the future I will mix and match this recipe-- maybe try the crust with another filling or the filling with a saltier crust. Or both together again, that would be just fine for me. After all, this was gloriously creamy, gloriously coconutty, and wonderful to the taste.

Ingredients:

Coconut pie crust


1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour


1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut


1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces


2 teaspoons sugar


1/4 teaspoon kosher salt


3 to 5 tablespoons ice water



Coconut Cream

2 cups milk

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

2 large eggs

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Cream Topping

2 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled (2 cups if probably sufficient)

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Garnish

2 ounces unsweetened "chip" or large-shred coconut (about 1 1/2 cups) or sweetened shredded coconut

Chunks of white chocolate (4 to 6 ounces, to make 2 ounces of curls)

Directions:

Crust

1. Pulse first 5 ingredients in a food processor 6 to 10 times or until mixture is crumbly. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing once after each addition, until dough holds together when pressed between fingers. (Dough will not form a ball or even clump together in processor-it will be loose.)



2. Turn dough out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap; press into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill 1 hour.


3. Roll dough to a 12- to 13-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate, trimming excess to a 1- to 11/2-inch overhang. Turn dough under along rim of pie pan, and flute edges. Chill at least 1 hour before baking.



4. Preheat oven to 400°. Place a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper in pie crust, extending over edges, and fill with dried beans, rice, or pie weights. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; discard foil and beans, and return pie crust to oven. Bake for 14 to 17 more minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Coconut Cream

1. Make the coconut cream while the crust is chilling in the fridge. To make the coconut cream, combine the milk and coconut in a medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add both the seeds and pod to the milk mixture. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the mixture almost comes to a boil.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring a small amount (about 1/3 Cup) of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and coconut. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. Remove and discard the vanilla pod. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water. Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The coconut cream will thicken as it cools.


3. When the coconut cream is cold, fill the prebaked pie shell with it, smoothing the surface. In an electric mixer with the whisk, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla on medium speed. Gradually increase the speed to high and whip to peaks that are firm enough to hold their shape. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe it all over the surface of the pie, or spoon it over.

Garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the coconut chips on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, watching carefully and stirring once or twice, since coconut burns easily, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Use a vegetable peeler to scrape about 2 ounces of the white chocolate into curls.


Serve!

Coconut Cream Pie

From The Joy: The Robber LOVES this pie. I made it on our ninth day of marriage and it just about blew his socks right off his Robber body. I love this man. Check out the bottom for a sweet picture of our pie!

Ingredients:

2/3 C. sugar
1/2 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
2 C. milk (Note: I use 1 C. coconut milk, 1 C. cow's milk)
2 whole eggs or 3 egg yolks
2 T. butter
2 t. extract -- vanilla, coconut, etc.
1/2 - 1 C. coconut

One baked half pie shell

1/3 C. toasted coconut
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
Directions:

1. In saucepan, combine sugar, flour, salt, milk. Beat in eggs/egg yolks and heat, stirring continuously until thickened. Take off heat, add butter and extract.

2. Stir in coconut. Pour into pie shell, cover completely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for three hours or until completely cooled and solidified. Cooling overnight is best.

3. Just before serving, toast coconut on cookie sheet in oven at 400F until it barely changes color. Whip cream and add a bit of sugar to sweeten it. Spread whipped cream over surface of pie and sprinkle toasted coconut over the whipping cream. Enjoy!

p.s. Check out this sweet pie plate the Robber's labbies gave us!

End-Of-The-Year Faux-Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Four days to the end of the year and counting! Wahoo! In between me and those four days are two big finals, and then I leave to go on my DC/NC trip the day right after. So I needed an easy fast way to dispose of all my left over perishable foods in an easy-to-eat way this week that would be gone when I'm gone. This soup was the answer. This concoction is roughly based of the famous chicken noodle soup pioneered by G., the mother of my friend KT.

Ingredients:

Pot full of water
Salt
Four boneless chicken breasts, thawed
1/2 package whole wheat egg noodles
1 1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup lime juice (or juice from one lime)
1 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. chicken bullion

Directions:

1) Put the chicken breasts in a deep pot and cover with water. Lightly salt. Bring to a boil and leave at boil until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken from water and cut into bite sized pieces.

2) Increase volume of water to 2/3rds of total volume of pot. Add noodles.

3) While noodles are cooking, combine peanuts, coconut, lime juice, and whipping cream in a blender. Blend on high chop/puree until a rough solution is formed. Peanuts and coconut do not need to be thoroughly blended, but smaller bits of peanut and coconut should be emulsified in the lime juice and cream.

4) Chop the cilantro and parsley. When noodles are not quite all the way done cooking, turn the temperature down to simmer and add in the cilantro and parsley. Allow to simmer for five minutes.

5) Add in the bullion and the peanut/coconut mixture. Stir thoroughly. Put the cooled cut chicken back into the pot and stir. Adjust the water level accordingly. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for ten more minutes and serve hot.

Excellent! I am quite proud of my little left-over soup. It was genuinely tasty, filling, and the perfect balance of cream and peanut and cilantro and lime and flavor. A left over home run.

Also, can I say how proud I am that these are the ingredients I had left over? Fresh cilantro? Fresh whipping cream? A lime? Booyah. Big leaps from my college years, when being down to the wire meant a box of saltines.

Caribbean Dream Pie

From The New Moosewood. Seriously better than I thought it was going to be, and ridiculously easy to make. It would be hard to mess this pie up.

SWEET CRUMB CRUST:

2 cups crushed graham crackers or ginger snaps (easily done in a food processor)
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (optional, If you prefer you can substitute another 1/2 cup crushed graham crackers of ginger snaps)
1/4 cup finely minced pecans
6 Tbsp. butter, melted

1) Preheat over to 350F.
2) Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan, building a handsome 1/2-inch ridge around the edge. You will have more than enough to fill the pie pan-- sprinkle the rest in another pan. Place both in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

FILLING:

1 14-15 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbsp. grated lime rind
1/2 cups plus 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
1/2 a ripe mango, peeled and sliced (or chopped)

1) Pour the milk into a medium-sized bowl.

2) Add the grated rind and juice, and whisk for a few minutes until the milk thickens.

3) Layer the banana and mango slices in the baked, cooled crust. Pout the thickened milk mixture over the fruit, spreading it into place. Sprinkle the top with extra crumb mixture, and chill until cold. Serve cold.

Skeptical of the filling, I added one more bananas (three large bananas total) and tripled the mango (1 1/2 mangoes total). I also increased the lime zest, but not the lime juice or the milk. I found this to be just fine. I also topped the pie generously with lightly sweetened whipped cream and then sprinkled the extra crust crumbs on the top of the whipped cream, not the pie itself. The overall was wonderfully creamy and fruity and perfect for the lovely early summer evening. This pie should be served in California often.

Frog-Eye Salad aka Ambrosia

This dessert-ish salad is a Utah/family classic. Served at picnics, Thanksgivings, with potatoes, on the side, this salad goes just about anywhere you want it to be. Best of all, it doesn't involve any jello. The salad is really a throw whatever you want in, with your own sense of proportion, but here is my most recent version:

1 package mini marshmallows
1 package sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 finely sliced mango
1 small can drained crushed pineapple (important that you drain thoroughly)
1 cup cooked small round pasta (I used acini de pede)
1 half pint whipped whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sour cream

Can also add: grapefruit, apple, pecans, or canned mandarin oranges. Say no to grapes, walnuts, strawberries, or untoasted almonds. Lime zest might be ok, if used sparingly. Think about toasting a little bit of the coconut for a more interesting flavor. Make sure you drain and cool the pasta thoroughly before adding to the mix. I whip the sour cream directly into the whipped cream before using the whipped cream to bind everything together. Be careful not to make this salad too soupy, it kills the leftovers and makes the salad feel limp. Don't use too much grapefruit, if you do, eat it quickly and sweeten the whipped cream a bit with powdered sugar.

Mix it all together and chill covered before serving.

KT's Banana Bars

Another dip into the KT-box for this recipe, which I baked up this morning in homage of Mother's Day and two quickly ripening bananas left on the kitchen counter. The ingredients given in italics or to the side are my modifications to the original recipe, in hope of making a jazzier treat. (The originals are delicious and addicting, but not particularly jazzy.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (omit the vanilla, add 1/2 tsp. coconut extract)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (I used 1/2 tsp. salt)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cardamom
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 (16 ounce) container cream cheese frosting
Toasted coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.

2. In one bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom.

3. In a second bowl, mash two bananas.

2. In a third, large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the sour cream and flavoring. Stir the flour mixture into the batter by hand, not with the beaters. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

4. While baking, spread a generous layer of flaked coconut on to a full size baking sheet and toast at 350F. Set aside.

5. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle toasted coconut on top of the frosted bars.

KT says: p.s. I just mix 8 oz. of cream cheese with 2-2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar to get the cream cheese frosting - so easy!

Super easy to make and always a winning way to dispose of bananas or produce a quick treat for social occasions.

Satyamma's Famous Cauliflower Curry

This recipe comes from The New Moosewood by Mollie Katzen and was easily one of the more satisfying moments of my night-- although I think the samosas could have been just as satisfying with a little more time and skill. I would serve this again, even though it requires a lot of ingredients and chopping. We ate it without rice, but I think like all curries it would be better over some rice or noodles.

On The Side:

Begin cooking some rice at around the same time you start preparing the curry. 2 cups brown rice in 3 cups water will be the right amount.

Ingredients:

2 medium-small (3-inch diameter) potatoes, cut into small chunks
[1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 Tbs. mustard seeds
3 medium cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
1/2 C. lightly toasted peanuts
1 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cloves or allspice
2 Tbs. toasted cumin seeds
1 to 2 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/2 C. water (more, as needed)]
1 to 2 Tbs. peanut oil
1 1/2 C. chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1 large cauliflower, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
optional: 1 cup cooked chick peas
3 to 4 Tbs. lemon juice

Directions:

1) Boil the potatoes until just tender. Drain and set aside.

2) Place the next 11 ingredients in a blender and puree until fairly homogeneous. Add extra water, as needed, to form a soft, workable paste.

3) Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven, and add onion and salt. Saute for 5 minutes over medium heat, then add cauliflower and carrot and mix well. Cover and cook about 10 minutes, then add the paste. Mix well. Cook, covered, over low heat until the cauliflower is tender, stirring every few minutes. Add more water, if necessary, to prevent sticking.

4) Add the cooked potatoes, chick peas, and lemon juice, and cook a few more minutes. Taste to adjust salt, and serve hot, with rice and condiments.

ON THE SIDE:

Your choice of condiments:

Raita
Lemon slices
Orange slices
Toasted nuts
Toasted coconut
Raisins
Sliced cucumbers
Sliced tomatoes
Thin strips of bell pepper

Time: 30 to 40 minutes to prepare.

Yield: about 6 servings. (This served eight easily. I think it could do ten if needed.)


I omitted the cumin seeds and substituted 2 Tbs. cumin powder, omitted the sesame seeds, and omitted the carrot. I did use one can of cooked chick peas and some sweetened coconut, but I don't think it harmed anything. This made a massive amount of delicious curry. With all the potential flavors in it, however, I found it too bland for my liking and added a significant amount of salt and pepper at the end. I would keep the chick peas, cut down on the lemon juice and add in some non-blended toasted peanuts to the final dish and serve it over the brown rice, instead of as a free standing entree.