Super Yummy Double Chocolate Coconut Cookies

I know I've mentioned how much I love Martha Stewart recipes and how they have yet to let me down. I received her Cookies cookbook for Christmas and I realized that it has been far too long since I last made one of her recipes. So, I decided to bake some double chocolate coconut cookies.

What you need:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened, Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 cups white chocolate chunks
1 3/4 cups sweetened coconut flakes
1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

 Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix sugars and butter until smooth, about 2 minutes.

 Mix in your eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium mixing bowl. Gradually mix into the butter mixture on low speed until well combined.

Stir in the coconut, walnuts and white chocolate. Make sure they are distributed throughout the batter evenly.

Using a 1 1/2 ice cream scoop, drop batter on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about two inches apart. Bake until set, about 10-12 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets for about 2 minutes and then transfer with the parchment paper to a wire rack. Let cool completely.

These cookies are soooo good. I was worried that the ingredients would be overwhelming, but that wasn't the case at all.

I warn you, this recipe makes a lot of cookies. Try not to eat them all at one time!

Good luck and happy baking!
Rosie

Source: Martha Stewart

Banana Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream, by Request of My Sister

To begin with, I apologize most profusely for the late post. I went to a writing conference this weekend and was deprived of the internet for that time. But believe, I'm making it up to you with this recipe.

My sister is a bit of a pinterest fiend. I'll often check my facebook to find that she has left a recipe on my wall demanding kindly requesting that I make it for her. This recipe was just one of those finds. It was a bit of a chore to make, but the result was delicious.

What you need...

For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
3 crushed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg whites, beaten

For the frosting:
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, line with parchment paper and flour three 8 or 9 inch round cake pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Add the egg yolks and beat on high speed, creaming the mixture until it is light and fluffy.

In a medium bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients, whisking until they are well combined. Add to batter in three additions, alternating with the milk but beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until your batter is nice and fluffy.

Thoroughly crush the bananas and add to batter, along with vanilla. Mix until the banana is distributed throughout batter.

In a separate bowl, beat your egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold them into your batter, trying to keep them light and fluffy.

 Divide batter evenly between the three prepared pans. Bake for 28-35 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean with very few crumbs clinging to it. You don't want to overbake these either.

Let cool in pans for about 10 minutes. Release from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Meanwhile, let's get the frosting started.

Stir together the milk and flour in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and whisk constantly until the milk mixture has thickened into a cream. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile, cream the butter, brown sugar and salt until fluffy and very few grains of sugar remain. Be patient. This process takes awhile, especially if using a hand mixer.

Stir in the cooled cream and stir until well mixed. The frosting is deliciously sweet and buttery, but try not to eat too much of it before frosting the cake, or you might come up a little short!

 

Tada! I have to say, this turned out to be one of the nicest looking cakes I've ever made. The layers turned out nice and even and it looked incredibly pretty. A bit of warning, if you live in a warm climate like mine, you may want to store your cake in the fridge. I had to do this because the frosting started to get a bit melty if I left it out for too long.

 Pretty close to perfection I must say. This cake is RICH. I was stuffed after eating only a small piece of it! But the texture is really light and the combination of banana and buttery frosting is simply divine.

Good luck and happy baking!

Rosie

Sources: Cake: How to Cook Like Your Grandmother, Frosting: How to Cook Like Your Grandmother

Mother's Day Praline Peach Muffins

I've been obsessed with peach lately. Peach yogurt, peach cupcakes, peach ice cream... You name it and I crave it! So when I started brainstorming over what I should make for Mother's Day, I knew it had to have peach in the name!

I adapted this recipe from a basic peach muffin recipe I found online. I'll post the original but I've tweaked some of the details.

What you need:
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus two tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup peaches, chopped (see below for details)
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar
Dash of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a microwave safe bowl, melt two tablespoons of butter. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Place pecans in bowl and stir until thoroughly coated. On a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, spread the pecans in a single layer. Bake for 5 minutes or until brown and toasted.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream and vanilla and mix well. Combine flour and baking powder, stir into cream mixture until just moistened.

To begin with, I suggest using fresh peaches as this will give the muffins much more flavor. For my muffins, I pureed about 3/4 cup of the peaches and then roughly chopped the remaining 1/4 cup.

Break up the praline pecans so that they're not in giant chunks. Gently fold in the pecans and peaches.

Fill either greased or paper lined muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Try to even the batter out in the tins as it is thick enough that it forms big lumps if you're not careful. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Good luck and happy baking!
Rosie

Source: Recipe adopted from here

Cinco de Mayo Sopapilla Cheesecake

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking forward to tacos tonight. I have to tell you a secret though... I may have cheated and started on dessert last night. What can I say? I made this sopapilla cheesecake last night, expecting to eat it tomorrow, and I just couldn't resist!

What you need:
2 cans (8 oz) refrigerated crescent rolls, butter flavor
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Take one can of crescent rolls and gently roll out until they cover the bottom of the pan.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Spread over the crescent roll layer.

Roll out the second can of crescent rolls and lay on top of the cream cheese layer.

In a small bowl, stir together the butter, 3/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Place dollops of butter mixture over the top crescent roll "crust". Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crescent roll layer is golden brown and flaky. Drizzle with honey and let cool completely. Makes 12 bars.

Now tell me, if you saw this coming out of the oven, would you be able to resist? Not only does it look good, it SMELLS like heaven!

This recipe is super easy to make and requires very little time. This cheesecake is delicious as a dessert, but also makes a tasty brunch treat!

Good luck and happy baking!
Rosie

Source: allrecipes.com