BBC Frozen Colada- Bananas, Baileys & Coconut

June 22nd... 54 degrees and pouring rain.
Happy second day of Summer to you too.
Don't you wish you were somewhere wonderful and hot and tropical?

How about a little wonderfulness of a tropical cocktail?
All my favorite flavors; banana, coconut and rum.

Ah St Maarten, what a wonderful, beautiful place.  I'm not sure why this cocktail is synonymous with that island, but somehow it is. It's the first place I had one, and once I started to research them, it seems like everyone's memories of this cocktail are from that fair isle.

We spent two weeks in St. Maarten last December, what a surprise that place was. First off, the booze is all duty free on the island... a liter bottle of Bailey's was $14.00 at the grocery store and came with 375 milliliter 'bonus' bottle. When your Bailey's is that cheap, I guess you start dreaming up frozen concoctions with it.

 Last weekend, when I first tried these at home, my husband proudly (loudly) announced this was his favorite mixed drink "of all time".  Hmmm..."of all time?" I drily remarked?
Ha, going to have to stop serving you buster, you are SO cut off!

Think ahead on the bananas, and next time you have a bunch going speckly and brown, peel them and freeze them whole in a large ziploc bag. Not only do they make excellent smoothies in the morning with a little juice, or yoghurt, but they also make fantastic cocktails.

BBC baby... this is where it is at.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 bananas, frozen, broken into 4-5 bits each

1/3 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur

1/4 cup Malibu Rum

1/4 cup creme de Banana liqueur (creme de cacao would work too)

In a blender, break the frozen banana into 1-2" chunks, add in the liquid ingredients and blend on high until it is totally smooth.  Blend it a bit longer than you think it needs... unless you like a lump of frozen banana.  After one, or two, of these you won't care about the cold rain of a Seattle Summer, or of lump of frozen banana. 

You are going to be THIS HAPPY after one of these...

Maui Cookies

 

Chewy, Crispy, Crunchy....  everything all in one cookie.

Coconut, chocolate, nuts, dried mango and dried pineapple.  Everything yummy to make a tropical paradise cookie.

It all started with a Pepperidge Farm package on a co-workers desk, it said MAUI cookies.  Yum, I thought as I walked by... what would a Maui cookie have in it?

So I started my food day dreaming on all the things I would add as I walked to my next meeting.

What a disappointment to come home and check out Pepperidge Farms site to see that their cookies have coconut and chocolate in them. And? And?  Nope, that's all.

So I kept thinking about my original idea, and decided to come up with something that lived up to MY expectations. When I was happy to my creation,  I brought in a plate to share at a meeting (call it bribery to get people to come to a meeting if you like) and they were enthusiastically received. Even those people who say they don't like coconut said the coconut wasn't over powering and get "stuck in their throats" (like some people in my extended family say about it).  Since I happen to be a major coconut lover, I really can't understand that feeling, but I am glad that everyone liked these!

About the nuts, you could definitely leave them out, but I might recommend that chopped macadamia nuts would be a fantastic addition.  I used almonds, because, dang it, I was fresh out of macadamia nuts! I do recommend that you use MINI chocolate chips... I think that big chocolate chips might over power the other flavors and textures.  The mini chips really just enhance the others.  

But really, it's all about what YOU want.  

Don't you just love it when people say that to you?

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen 2" cookies
Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour             

1 teaspoon baking soda           

1/4 teaspoon salt                      

3/4 cup butter  (1 1/2 sticks)           

1/2 cup granulated sugar            

1/3 cup light brown sugar         

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract                 

1 egg                                      

1/2 cup rolled oats, blended

1/2 cup almonds or macadamia nuts, sliced or chopped                   

1 cup chocolate chips, (I used mini chips)

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

1/2 cup dried mango, chopped

1/2 cup dried pineapple, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a blender, or a food processor, blend your oats until they are pulverized into a flour type texture.  I found that 1/2 cup whole oats equaled 1/2 cup oat flour. Whisk together the oat flour, the white flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

On medium speed, cream together the butter and both sugars together about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oat 'flour', nuts, coconut, chocolate and dried fruit.

Bake for 10-11 minutes.  I froze pre-made cookie dough balls and baked frozen for 12-14 minutes, and it worked out great.

Coconut Water Martini

I know, the picture looks like water. But, it's not. I promise you will be able to tell right away.

I remember the first time I ever had one of these, it was at Rum Jungle at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas on my 40th birthday.  I think I've mentioned that I like coconut before, so you know why I would have ordered a Coconut Martini. 

We ordered two, one for me, and one for Mr. I love Coconut too.
Instant love.  I immediately wrote down all the different liqueurs listed on the menu onto a small coaster and tucked it into my wallet.  Clever, huh?
Smile, sip, sip, sip, smile.
Then, we ordered two more.... $12 bucks each? Totally worth it.

It really wasn't too hard to recreate at home, a heck of a lot cheaper plus no waiting for the snotty waiter to come back.  We've done some tweaks to make the finished drink a little less sweet than the original, so it's even better.

Makes 1 large martini
(You could share, but you won't want to)

1 jigger Malibu rum
1/2 jigger Creme de banana
1 jigger Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay coconut rum
1 jigger Bacardi Coconut Rum
1 jigger seltzer water (the original had Sierra Mist in it)

Fill a shaker with large ice cubes, add all the ingredients but the seltzer water. Shake and pour into martini glasses, add the seltzer water and enjoy!

Coconut Flan

I've been making this for years and it's become a family favorite. It's a soft, rich taste that appeals to everyone.  In fact, when my daughter heard I made this yesterday, she started whining into the phone as she is too far away to come get the leftovers. 

It's so darn simple that it's ridiculous.  It took me longer to write about it then it did to actually make it.

The hardest part is making the caramel out of sugar and water.

Yep. Not hard at all, except I did manage to burn mine, so I do have some advice for you below. The ladies I served it to last night loved it, and assured me that it was not burnt, so even if you don't do it perfectly, you are still going to have a great dessert.

When caramelizing the sugar, use a small, heavy saucepan.  Swirl the sugar water mixture over medium high heat, it takes a minute or two for the sugar to melt, and another couple minutes for the sugar to start to turn amber color.  That's when you want to pull it off the heat, because the mixture is so hot at this point, and your pan is still cooking it, your caramel will continue to brown.  That's where I went wrong, I took it off the heat when I liked the color... and that mixture kept on getting darker.  I was really annoyed with myself... I may have said some choice words about it.

Also, I have used a ring springform pan, and Mexican Flan's are mostly served in a ring shape, BUT, you can make this in any kind of pan!  A springform cheesecake pan, but even a pie plate would work.  If you use a springform pan you MUST cover the outside with foil to protect the mixture from getting OUT of the pan and the hot water from getting INTO the pan. 

Do NOT skip this step or you will have a mess...

Make sure your pan is deep enough so that you can add water around it.  You need to cook this dessert in a 'bain marie'... which only means you cooked it with water around it to keep the heat consistent and didn't cook it from the outside inwards... which would make the texture weird with all the eggs.

 

¾ cup sugar

2 Tbsp water

1 can (15 oz) coconut milk

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 can (12oz) evaporated Milk

6 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp. vanilla

*** I made this with light Coconut Milk and lowfat evaporated milk with great results!

Heat Oven to 325 F.

In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and the water and melt over med low heat until the sugar turns an amber color. 

Pour the caramel into the bottom of a large baking pan. Mine is a little dark, but it turned out okay.

Whisk together cream of coconut, and other canned milks, eggs and vanilla. 
I even used my blender for this step... talk about easy!

Pour mixture into pan, place that pan in another pan with hot water poured around it, bake for approx 40 minutes. It's best if you pour the hot water in the pan around your flan after your pan is already in the oven on the rack, less slooshing about.

 

Cool and cover with plastic.  Chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
Before serving, loosen the outside of the dish by running a sharp knife around the edges.  Invert the pan onto a serving tray.

Mahi Mahi with Coconut Curry Sauce

This recipe is dedicated to a friend who posted on Facebook, her 4 favorite ingredients, and that she wished she had a good recipe including them all. 

Fish, Coconut Milk, Curry and Cilantro. 

I love stuff like that, I find it very fun to see what I can come up. Erin is a funny, sweet, smart gal who makes me smile daily with her updates on being the mom of two beautiful girls.  I love her take on things, and by reading comments from other friends, I see that she is loved by everyone she meets.

It also helps that these four ingredients are also in my big list of favorite flavors too! Next time, I might try a minced up jalapeno to add a little more heat, but otherwise, this is just right the way it is.

4 servings

Ingredients

1 teaspoon sesame oil  

2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced or 2 tsp. garlic hot pepper paste
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1 cup chopped green onions

2 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoons red curry paste

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

4 teaspoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk

2-4 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

4 (6-ounce) mahi mahi fillets, or other firm white fish

3 cups hot cooked rice, calrose or basmati

4 lime wedges 

Preparation

Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add pepper and onions; cook 1 minute. Stir in curry powder, curry paste, and cumin; cook 1 minute.

Add soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and coconut milk; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Stir in cilantro. Place fish in the sauce, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness. Remove the lid for the last five minutes of cooking to help reduce and thicken the sauce... or not, you decide.  The sauce is incredible on the rice...

The fish should flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve fish sprinkled with more cilantro, with more sauce, rice, and lime wedges.
Don't skip the lime squeeze, it really is yummy!

Like curry?  Here's another good one...
Spicy Shrimp Curry

Pina Colada Bread Pudding with Rum Caramel Sauce

Yum, I love bread pudding.  It's funny to me that everyone thinks it's such a great dessert to order when you go out, because to me, bread pudding really says breakfast! It's got all the great breakfast components that French Toast has, so really keep your options OPEN and don't banish this dish to dessert only!!!

My Mom used to make this stuff all the time, we loved it, even though now I know she was using up all that old bread! That's OK, I really like this stuff.  I find myself throwing bread bits and pieces into the freezer in a ziploc bag all the time, for things like this, or a savory Spinach & Feta Strata. If you don't have any stale bread, you can cut cubes out of a fresh loaf of bread and dry it out in the oven for 15 minutes or so at 350 degrees.

Here's my trick for figuring out how much bread cubes you need.... take the dish that you are going to use and FILL it over the top.  I mean heaping over the top, there's nothing worse that a flat little bread pudding- do it like you mean it! It condenses down a whole bunch once you soak it in the egg/liquid mixture. 

Serves about 6-8, 8x8 dish
Ingredients
12 cups bread cubes, cubed
1 can light coconut milk
1 cup half and half, or cream
1 cup (8 oz. can) crushed pineapple, with juice
1 cup coconut, sweetened, flaked (optional, I left it out of the recipe, just sprinkled the top)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark rum, or coconut rum
1 tsp almond extract
4 eggs

In a very large bowl, beat up the eggs, coconut milk, cream (half & half or milk works too), sugar and rum.  Beat until well mixed.  Add in crushed pineapple (and coconut if using), and then toss in bread cubes, mixing well.  Add back to a buttered 8x8 baking dish and cover.  Refrigerate for a couple hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake on a baking sheet (no spills in your oven...) at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. I baked mine uncovered, and it did not get too brown or dried out. In the last 5 minutes, sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and coconut flakes.
Serve warm, or even room temperature.

Rum Caramel Sauce
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 Tbsp dark rum, or coconut rum (optional)
1/2 cup cream

Over medium high heat, melt the butter and the brown sugar together, adding the rum and then the cream.  Cook at a rolling boil for about 5 minutes as it bubbles and thickens.  Pour over the bread pudding and serve... remind people that the caramel sauce is molten if you serve it right away after the sauce is done.

Coconut Cream Filled Cupcakes



I pretty much love COCONUT everything. Coconut Prawns, Coconut Layered Cookies, Coconut Cream Pie, Pina Colada Bread Pudding.... and I recently thought, why not Coconut Cream Cupcakes!!!  Yeah!  I almost swooned when I took my first bite after photographing these.  I imagined they would be good, and I have a very good imagination, but these surpassed that.  They are luscious and creamy, and really, not too sweet!

I do have to tell you, these cupcakes are not low calorie or low fat, even though I tried to do what I could by using "light" coconut milk and "light" cream cheese.  It's a really good idea that this recipe only makes about 18.... 

I do know that some people don't care for coconut, but usually it's a texture thing, so if you have some of those people in your house, just skip the coconut in the pudding and the top of the cupcakes- viola, everyone happy!

The cake is vegan friendly, if you care, really I don't, but I will admit that I think that the recipe is the bomb (which is good...). I made it for my Chocolate Reese Stuffed Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and it's been my #1 recipe on the blog! Wow, was I surprised, because frankly, I prefer to make spicy, savory kind of dishes, and not so much desserts. 

Coconut Pudding

Makes about 2 cups
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk*
1 egg yolk

1/2 cup Coconut milk
1 cup Milk
1 1/2 Tbsp of corn starch
1/2-1 cup of toasted coconut (reserve some for top of finished cupcakes!)

Mix all ingredients, except toasted coconut, together and mix well.  Cook all ingredients together over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to boil and thickens. Add the toasted coconut, if using, after the  pudding has cooled.

P.S. This pudding scorches very easily, causing little brown bits to float around in your pudding.... hence me adding the toasted coconut!!!  The scorched bits don't taste bad, but they might bother you, everyone else will be scarfing down cupcakes and won't care.

*Sorry about the 1/2 cup thing, but the leftover sweetened condensed milk makes great Vietnamese Iced Coffee! You could also make a double batch and leftover pudding, which is not a bad problem to have... which is what I did in these pictures.  I'm a little afraid to be in the house with coconut pudding in the fridge though... yum!!!

Because I made the cupcakes first, I needed to rush to get my pudding cooled.  Here's a great trick (clean out the sink, fill it with ice and some water and put your bowl in the middle.  Stir every 5 minutes or so until the pudding is cooled.  Make sure that it's stable and won't tip over, you will really hate getting water in your pudding!!!

I also use this trick for anything really hot, like stock, soup or stews, that I want to get in the fridge right away.



Here's what cooled pudding looks like.  See how the texture on the top is starting to hold it's shape?  It looks thick enough for the cupcake filling.



Coconut Cupcake Ingredients:
Makes about 18 cupcakes

Stable Whip Cream Frosting
This is frosting for people who don't like normal frosting... not too sweet! It would be great on Carrot Cake or even on top of pies! While this says "stable", you will need to refridgerate this overnight if you do up ahead of time, ibut t's fine for a couple hours at room temp. 

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract, or coconut extract, if you have it!

2 cups heavy cream

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Scrap down the bowl as you go, if needed, whipping until the frosting can hold a stiff peak.

Assembling the cupcakes, cut a little hole in each cupcake with a paring knife and remove the top, fill with pudding and put the top back on.  This gives you a nice shape to pipe frosting around, giving your cupcakes a 'tall' look and not flat!

Coconut Cupcake recipe
 
2 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil

1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon vinegar, white or Cider

Preheat oven at 350.
Mix together all dry ingredients, then the coconut milk, oil and extract, then add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until uniformly moistened.  This batter is a bit more liquid than most batters, but it cooks up nice and moist! Line your muffin tin with papers and fill each one about 1/2 full.  Bake for about 20 minutes. Let cool completely

Sticky Coconut Chicken

From the first time I made this recipe it was a hit with everyone who had it.  I’ve made some changes, and suggest tweaking the recipe to your tastes. When I make this for young kids, I reduce, or altogether omit the red peppers flakes so it’s not too spicy. If you want an easy make ahead dinner, throw the frozen thighs into a gallon Ziploc bags and make the marinade right into the bag.  The chicken thaws and marinates at the same time.  I’ve also got this ready to go in the Ziploc and brought it to the beach, or even camping! Easy AND yummy.

6-8 boned, skinned chicken thighs (approx 1-1 ½ lbs)

¾ c. canned coconut milk

1 Tbsp. Minced fresh ginger

1 tsp. Fresh ground pepper

1 tsp. red pepper chili flakes

1 Tbsp. Sesame Seeds, toasted

4-5 green onions, sliced on the diagonal

Rinse chicken and pat dry.  In a bowl, or large Ziploc bag, mix coconut milk and spices with chicken.  Marinate 1 hour, or up to 1 day.

Lift chicken from marinade, reserve liquid.  Barbecue thighs over greased grill over high heat, both sides, until cooked through.  Serve drizzled with glaze, green onions and sesame seeds.

Chili Glaze:

¾ c. rice vinegar

½ c. sugar

3-Tbsp. Soy sauce

1 tsp. Chili pepper flakes

Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until mixture is reduced to a ½ cup, about 5-8 minutes.  Stir constantly or it will burn.

Drizzle the glaze over the chicken, and serve the extra for the steamed rice!  Yum!

Side Dish Inspirations

I’m sure you can think of a million things to serve this with, but here are some ideas if you are feeling low on inspiration today:

• Steamed sticky Rice
• Yakisoba noodles
• Cabbage Salad

Round Two cooking… make more and use it for:

If you plan it right, you could make a double batch to have enough leftover to make any of the following for another meal.  You could even slice up the leftovers and freeze them if you wanted!  Here’s some ideas:

• Chicken Fried Rice
• Chinese chicken salad
• Chinese chicken wraps (tortillas, cabbage, chicken, cilantro, shredded veggies, cellophane noodles).

What else would this technique work on???

While I think you can use this technique on chicken breasts or tenderloins, I do think the moist chicken thighs are the best. Try others if you prefer them, or if they are the ones you seem to have on hand!  I have not tried this technique with Pork tenderloin, but I do think it could be very good!  Let me know if you try it.

(adapted from Sunset Magazine June 2001)