Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Coconut Cupcakes

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 large whole eggs plus

2 egg whites

1 1/2 tsp. pure coconut extract

3/4 c. unsweetened coconut milk (canned)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Pulse shredded coconut in a food processor until finely ground, and whisk into flour mixture.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in whole eggs, whites, and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of coconut milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cam tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. remove from oven; turn out cupcakes onto wire racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread a generous amount of frosting onto each cupcake, and if desired, garnish with toasted coconut. Store at room temperature.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 tsp. coconut extract

With an electric mixer, on medium speed beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed on low. Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add vanilla. Mix until combined, scraping the bowl as necessary. If thinner frosting is desired, add a little milk.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

I love my sugar cookies soft. If you don't, this recipe isn't for you. But these turn out right every time. And just in time for Valentine's. Adorn these cookies just the way you want. I'll include my frosting recipe as well.

Sugar Cookies

3 cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, then add sour cream and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture 1/3 at a time.

Wrap dough in wax paper and chill.

Roll out 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies in desired shapes and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.



My Cookie Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese
1 stick of softened butter
2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

With an electric mixer, mix all together and add a little milk if necessary. Mix in desired food coloring.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

This is probably one of the first cookies I learned to make when I was young. When I was a senior in high school, my parents moved to Texas and allowed me to finish my cherished years in high school in an apartment in Arkansas with my brother who was in college. In an attempt to cure some homesickness, I traveled to visit my family to Amarillo via a sketchy Greyhound bus. While I was gone, my brother got a craving for these cookies I had made him once before. Upon arriving back to our apartment, I opened up our fridge to find a bowl full of dark brown, gooey liquid. I then heard my brother admit, "Oh yeah. I tried making those cookies." Apparently he didn't add quite enough flour. I'm sure he wasn't planning on even getting to the baking step because I witnessed this same brother, a few years later as we both ventured to college to Utah,  lick a bowl clean full of a Jiffy blueberry muffin mix prior to the oven preheating to make his muffins. He does love batter. Those with raw egg aversions, turn away.

Anyway, here's a great, moist, and slightly messy to eat cookie recipe:

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. confectioner's sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. Roll each ball in a bowl full of confectioner's sugar. Then place on cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Apple Pie

Now, who doesn't like apple pie? Who doesn't like apple pie that was possibly cooked a few minutes too long like the one in this picture? Don't worry. It still tasted great. Just note, when it suggests bake 30-40 minutes. The 35 mark didn't cut it. 

Apple Pie (from the Lion House cookbook)

Pastry for 9-inch two crust pie

4 to 5 cups tart apples; peeled, cored, and sliced (*Read my notes below)

1/4 to 1/2 cup water

3/4 to 1 cup sugar

1 to 2 T flour

1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. salt

1 T lemon juice

2 T butter or margarine

Steam or simmer apples gently in water until they wilt and begin to become transparent. (This is a partial cooking only so that apples will cook thoroughly in the pie.)

Combine the sugar and other dry ingredients. Mix well. Spread half over the pastry-lined pan. Lift apples from cooking liquid into crust. Add 1/4 c. of the cooking liquid. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Sprinkle pie filling with lemon juice and dot with butter. Roll, fit, and seal top crust. Brush with mil and sprinkle with sugar, if desired. 

Bake on lower shelf of oven at 425 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes (again, I would just put the timer at 30 and watch it)

*My notes. Our family LOVES Gravenstein apples. It's not one readily found in the stores. Luckily we get some given to us by David's parents each fall to make this and an apple crisp. We don't use any other apples. Hence the reason we are trying to grow our own Gravenstein tree on our property.

These apples have a tart taste and aren't the best to eat just plain. They make great cooking apples. They don't keep their flavor for long, so we prepare batches of this filling in advance to bake up later in the winter to enjoy. So, to make the freezer filling, do all of the ingredients as if you were preparing the pie (of course, not the pie crust), and don't add the butter. Just put it all into a gallon-sized freezer bag and lie it flat until it cools. Label it and remind yourself to add 2 T butter to the top when you're ready to bake it. Then place the bag flat into the freezer for a "rainy day"! 

If you really love apples, you have to try this Cheddar Apple Bread. Yummy!!! 

Triple Layer Carrot Cake

Triple Layer Carrot Cake
adapted from Martha Stewart


Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans 
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
• 3 large eggs 
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup water 
• 1 pound carrots (8 to 10 medium carrots), peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 3/4 cups)
• Directions:
• 
  
• Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
• Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans.
• Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cakes to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up, and let cool completely.
• Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes. Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Generously spread the frosting on. You will have pleeeennnty. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.
• Frosting:
• 16 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 sticks (16 Tablespoons) ucutter, cut into small pieces and brought to room temperature
• 2 pounds (roughly 7 1/2 c.) confectioners sugar, sifted
• Beat cream cheese and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add butter, beating until incorporated after each addition.
• Reduce speed to low, Gradually add confectioners sugar and beat until fluffy and smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days; bring to room temperature and stir well before using. 

Coming Soon

In a perfect world I would bake a treat again for you every Tuesday. However I have seemingly lost hours in my day and can't resurrect that time anymore. My intent someday is to share a recipe of the treats each Tuesday so that perhaps one can make them at home. We will see if this goal comes to life soon.

In the meantime, feel free to check my other blog where I sporadically add recipes for the heartier meals such as dinners and lunches.