I love coconut. The smell, the taste, the texture…everything. I love to rub coconut oil on my legs to make them all shiny. They’re still pasty and pale…but SHINY! I love the smell of VS Beauty Rush Coconut Craze lotion.
And I love to eat coconut desserts…obviously.
In the mornings, I usually have oatmeal for breakfast. Oatmeal mixed with almond milk, Chia seeds, banana slices, a skiff of peanut butter, a few almonds, and topped with coconut.
I recently saw a recipe on the bag of Baker’s Angel Flake Coconut. Chocolate Dipped Macaroons? Sign.me.up.
Chocolate Dipped Macaroons
Recipe from Baker’s Brand
Makes about 3 dozen macaroons
Ingredients:
1 14 oz package flaked coconut
2/3 cup sugar
6 tbl flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1 tsp almond extract
1 package (8 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour your cookie sheets. Mix the coconut, sugar, flour, and salt together. Stir in egg whites and almond extract. Use a cookie scoop and drop macaroons on cookie sheets.
Bake 18-20 minutes. You want the edges to be golden brown. Remove macaroons from cookie sheets immediately. Place macaroons on wire racks to cool. If any of your edges seem too brown, just snap them off! No one will know. 
Melt your baking chocolate following the directions on package. Dip each cooled macaroon halfway into the melted chocolate. Lightly place chocolate dipped macaroons onto waxed paper.
Let them stand at room temperature until chocolate is firm or you can place them in the refrigerator.
So, I made cinnamon rolls on Sunday night. No biggie.
Syke! It was a H-U-G-E biggie. By the way, did you like how I just brought “syke” back? And since we’re on the topic, is it “syke” or “sike”???
While we ponder the depth of that, back to the cinnamon rolls of awesomeness. It was a biggie for me, because I was scared to death of this little ol’ thing.
I’d never made any bread that required yeast. The closest I’ve come is beer bread. Beer bread…yum. This yeast stuff though….you look online and it’s horror stories of bad yeast packets and what when wrong stories. Yikes!
I finally conquered my fear for my friend, Amy, though. When I started my food blog in May, Amy mentioned how much she loves cinnamon rolls. She said that she and her co-workers would love some cinnamon rolls to go with their morning coffee…hint hint hint. I put her off and said, “Well, maybe I’ll make them for your birthday.” Guess who had a birthday this weekend?
Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman
Makes six 8.5 inch aluminum pans worth of cinnamon rolls
Ingredients
For the cinnamon rolls:
4 cups whole milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 package active dry yeast
8 cups + 1 cup separate all-purpose unbleached flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 scant tsp baking soda
1 heaping tbl salt
1.5 cups melted butter
2 cups sugar
copious amounts of cinnamon
For the maple frosting:
1 bag powder sugar
2 tsp maple extract flavoring
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup brewed coffee–I used Caribou blend
1/8 tsp salt
To make the cinnamon rolls:
Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pot on the stovetop. Heat the mixture just before the boiling point. (I turned off the heat just as I saw the first bubble in the liquid.) Leave the liquid on the burner with the heat off and let it cool for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, the liquid will still be warm, but NOT hot. This warm temperature is what you want for the yeast. Sprinkle in 2 packages of the yeast. Let the yeast sit for a minute to get all happy and hoppy. After that, add 8 cups of flour. Stir together. Cover and let rise for an hour. (I covered the pot with two dry dish towels.)
(After an hour (no peeking before then!), your dough will have risen! Success!! I was seriously nervous I would lift the dish towels to see no change in the dough! Crisis averted!)
Now, add 1 more cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together.
Now, place the pot in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (I only did an hour, but could have kept it in longer to easier to work with dough.) You can even leave it in overnight too. If your dough starts to get too big in the pot in the refrigerator, just pop it down with your fist.
Let’s get rolling! Sprinkle your counter and rolling pin generously with flour. Take HALF the dough and form a rectangle. Then roll the dough out, keeping a rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 of your melted butter over the dough. Sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter Sprinkle cinnamon over the sugar. (I went a-crazyyyy with the butter & cinnamon! I love ooey gooey cinnamon rolls. These cinnamon rolls are not diet food, folks! Go wild!!)
Now, start to roll the dough in a nice line toward you. Try to keep the roll tight. Pinch at the seam to seal it.
Coat your six pans with melted butter. (I used 1 tbl melted butter per pan.) Cut your rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch think. (I used a pizza cutter to cut my rolls) Lay rolls in butter pans. Let the rolls rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 18 minutues until light golden brown.
Repeat the process with the other 1/2 of the dough.
To make the maple frosting:
Mix together all listed ingredients. Stir on low in mixer until smooth. Frosting will be thick but pourable. Once again, go wild and pour frosting on the cinnamon rolls as soon as you take them out of the oven!
This frosting is great on the rolls!! Don’t be afraid of the coffee element. Delicious!
Happy Birthday, Amy!
Do you read Vogue? I do. Or rather, I flip through the pages every month. I’m not a Vogue girl. My idea of being fancy is shopping at JCP instead of Old Navy. But for some unknown reason, I’ve been receiving Vogue for free for two years. I feel too bad to not at least look through it. Sometimes I rub the perfume samples on my wrists. That’s the most I get out of Vogue though.
Why can’t I suddenly start getting Real Simple or O Magazine for free instead?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie
Recipe from Joy the Baker
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbl sugar
a pinch of salt
4 tbl unsalted butter, melted
For the chocolate layer:
2 ounces of dark chocolate, melted
For the peanut butter layer:
3/4 cup peanut butter–I used Jiffy smooth PB.
For the banana layer:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
2 tbl cold unsalted butter
3 ripe bananas, thinly sliced
For the whipped cream layer:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
To make the crust:
Use a rolling pin or food processor to crumble the graham cracker. In a medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and salt. Melt your butter in a separate bowl. Combine the dry ingredients and melted butter until consistently moist. I used my fingers. Pour the ingredients into a 9 inch pie plate. Press the crumbs with your fingers to create an even layer of crumbs on the bottom and sides of the pie plate. If the crumbs seems too dry, add more melted butter. Don’t be afraid to firmly press the crumbs into the pie plate. You can use the bottom of a glass to help press down too.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put your pie plate in the freezer while you wait for the oven to heat. Once heated, bake pie crust for 10-12 minutes. Remove crust from oven and set crust aside to cool.
To make the chocolate layer:
Melt your 2 ounces of dark chocolate. You can use a doubler boiler. I just melted it in the microwave using 30 second increments and stirring in between. Once your chocolate is cooled, pour over your crust. Spread with a spatula. Place pie plate in the refrigerator for chocolate layer to harden.
To make the peanut butter layer:
Simply take your pie plate out of the refrigerator. Add the peanut butter over the hardened chocolate layer. Spread with a spatula. Set pie plate aside to start on the bananas.
To make the banana layer:
In a bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add in the egg yolks. Whisk until smooth. Meanwhile, bring milk to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Take 1/2 cup of the hot milk from the saucepan and add it to yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream. Whisk constantly as you’re adding the 1/2 cup milk.
Now, pour the entire yolk mixture into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk. Cook and whisk constantly until the mixture begins to bubble. It will eventually become think. You’ll need to whisk for 6-8 minutes!
Remove from heat. Add the 2 tbl unsalted cold butter. Stir until butter melts. Fold in your sliced bananas. Pour into the crust and spread evenly.
Place plastic wrap directly on surface of the banana filling. The plastic wrap will help to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 2 hours. (You can use these 2 hours to catch up on your Vogue reading.)
To make the whipped cream layer:
Beat together the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Spread whipped cream over your banana filling. If you want to be a little fancy, add some chocolate shaving on top!
This pie is YUM!!! It’s a fun way to ramp up a traditional banana cream pie. Do take your pie out of the refrigerate about 20-30 minutes before serving! The chocolate layer will need time to come to room temperature and cut easier.
Enjoy!!
Good morning!!!! It’s a beautiful morning outside. Haley and I went for a 45 minute walk at around 7 am. You have to get out early to avoid the heat! During my walk, I decided it was about time I brought out my waffle maker.
Success! Well, after a first batch failure, they were a success.
I spread a little Nutella and marshmallow creme on them. Yum!
Now I’m ready to tackle the day. I just need to pry myself away from watching Sleepless in Seattle. Love that movie!! I love the soundtrack even more.
Did you listen to NPR today? They did a story from Harvard about weight loss. Nuts & yogurt are the foods most closely related to weight loss. And potatoes are most closely related to weight gain. Darn you, potatoes!!!!
If you remember, I had a strawberry chicken salad from Biederman’s recently.
Today, I recreated and IMPROVED it at home for lunch.
The suspects: organic sweet baby lettuce, a Gardein chick’n scallopini breast, organic cauliflower, mushrooms, slices of yellow pepper, a sprinkle of Chia seeds, strawberries, and Maple Grove Farms of Vermont citrus vinaigrette.
This salad was great!!
The Garden chick’n scallopini was very good. It had been an impulse buy. A successful impulse buy, very tender and juicy!
I also love this dressing. It was much better than the poppyseed dressing from the restaurant version.
Do you like to recreate dinners from restaurant at home?
Whew…that’s a mouthful of a title, eh? A mouthful of goodness!
These cupcakes are RICH! Before you dismiss them and say you’re on a diet, listen to my rebuttal. These cupcakes are rich, but satisfying! Sometimes when you eat a cupcake, it sends you spiraling into the inner debate with yourself arguing whether to have another cupcake. Does that happen to anyone else??
But with these cupcakes, I was able to truly enjoy one and feel satisfied. I wasn’t tempted to eat another one 30 minutes later.
That pretty much makes them diet friendly, eh?
For these cupcakes, they have a chocolate chip cookie bottom and a brownie cake top. And delicious, delicious frosting on top. Always delicious, delicious frosting.
Brownie Cupcakes with Cookie Bottom and Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting
Recipe from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
One tube refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough — I used Pillsbury cookie dough.
One box of brownie batter PLUS the ingredients listed on back of the box. — I used Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge.
For the frosting:
2 sticks salted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbl milk — I used 1% milk
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup Hershey’s cocoa powder
2 tbl chocolate syrup
7 oz jar of Marshmallow creme
To make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350. Line your muffin tin with 12 liners.
Slice the cookie dough into 1/4-1/2 inch slices. Place one slice into each of your cupcake liners. (Take a moment to press the cookie dough into the liner creases as best you can. You don’t want the brownie batter to seep under the cookie dough or else it will take away the Wow factor after you bake them!) You will have cookie dough leftover. Try not to eat it all….these are diet cupcakes, remember??
Prepare the brownie batter per the instructions on the back of the box. I followed the instructions for cake-like brownies. Spoon the brownie batter over the cookie dough. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool cupcakes on rack.
To make the frosting:
In your mixer, beat the butter, vanilla and milk on medium speed until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Beat on low until combined. Then, add the chocolate syrup. Increase speed to high and beat for 2 minutes.
By hand, fold in the marshmallow creme. You don’t have to completely mix it in. You can leave some swirls if you’d like!
Frost on brownie batter cookie bottom cupcakes.
You can’t see the cookie bottom very well on my cupcakes. :/ These cupcakes taste very good though! Definitely don’t skip on the cookie dough slices when you make them! I think you’ll be pleased and I think kids would get a kick out of these cupcakes.
I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Deborah at Taste and Tell for featuring me on her Blogger Spotlight today too!
Check it out!
…my food blog.
As a new food blogger, I love to see HOW people find my blog. Other than my friends and family that have to listen to me blabber about my blog all the time. Bless you, kind friends and family!
It’s so fun to look at my site stats to see the search terms that people used on Google or whatnot to find my blog.
Can I share some with you?
–I love kids breakfast cereal.
Hey, same here!! We’re cereal soul mates. Well, actually I believe this was a post about how I DON’T eat Cookie Crisp anymore, so this searcher was probably disappoint to find my blog.
–Mexican themed bachelorette party
Wow searcher, I hope you lived it up at your par-tay!! Ole!!
–Free Jem and the Holograms cartoon full length episodes
Hahahahahaha!! I wonder if this searcher is related to the kids cereal searcher.
–In Something Borrowed, what is Dex’s sister’s name?
Searcher, I don’t remember Dex’s sister being in Something Borrowed. But welcome to my food blog! 
And if you read Heart of the Matter, you’ll learn his sister’s name is Tessa. You’re welcome.
–What kind of yogurt does sugarfoot use
Wait what?? Umm, Greek yogurt….mainly Fage or Chobani…with a sprinkle of crushed Cookie Crisp on top.
–Can’t get over Wilson Phillips on Bridesmaids
Ditto that, searcher! Wasn’t that super fun!!? If you were here, we could sing that song and hold our hairbrushes like microphones.
–Love Amstel Light
Oh.my.goodness!!! This search term that led a searcher to my blog is my favorite!!!!!!!
And finally, by FAR the search term or variation of search terms that leads to my blog the most is my Target bistro table!!! I get so many searches about this table. I still love my table and it’s done wonders for my blog. Thanks Target for not having it stock so that it leads people to search for it.
Okay, back to food!!
I was recently in Winfield watching Noah’s, my nephew, baseball game. The game was at 6 pm. I had to leave by 4:30 pm to get there on time. So needless to say, I was so hungry after the game. Luckily, my parents were up for having a quick bite before heading back home. There are only a handful of restaurants in Winfield. My favorite is Biederman’s Bistro.
I love the quaint decor at Biederman’s.
After having sat outside in the heat for the baseball game, the Strawberry Chicken Salad immediately jumped out at me!
This salad was good and refreshing. The strawberry, chicken, and red onion combination worked really well. I’m planning on recreating this salad for dinner at home this week. I plan to use more dark, leafy greens though. I’m not a huge fan of iceberg lettuce. Also, the poppy seed dressing didn’t seem to mesh well with the strawberries. I think a nice vinegriette would be more appropriate.
When we were leaving, I was eyeing the bakery counter. I was contemplating getting a slice of carrot cake to go. That’s when the wind was taken out of my sails a bit. I saw that the label was still on the lid over the carrot cake. I had assumed their baked goods were homemade. But the cake was from the Dillon’s grocery store!! :/ I’m sure it’s still yummy, but learning this little secret (or maybe I was the last to know) made me a little sad. At least it saved me some cream cheese frosting calories!!
What’s your favorite summer salad to enjoy?? Do you like fruit on salads??
I got a ticket this weekend for only making a rolling stop at a stop sign. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! I haven’t gotten a ticket in about 7 years and never for not stopping at a stop sign. Boo!!!
Didn’t the police officer understand that there were 2 puppies romping around outside in a yard that caught my attention? Stupid cute puppies!
My wise Dad asked if I immediately said I was so very sorry and would never let it happen again to the police officer. And well, no I didn’t. I just gave her my license and proof of insurance and kept quiet. Giving an apology in a sweet, fake voice…I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
If I’d known ahead of time that it would have been a $141 ticket, I sure would have been sweet and turned on the waterworks for good measure though!!
Oh well, live and learn.
You know what else I learned?
Caffe Moderne serves great breakfast!!! I’ve been to Caffe Moderne a number of times for lunch or dinner. I usually get The Roman sandwich with tomato bisque soup. Our book club group regularly meets here for dinner and gossip. But, I’d never made it over there for breakfast.
I had plans to meet my friend, Mari, for lunch on Saturday. She was kind enough to agree to meet at 10 am, so that I could finally try Caffe Moderne’s breakfast. And because I knew I would have a busy afternoon of baking on my hands.
I’ve heard AWESOME things about Caffe Moderne’s The Bella, which is their pumpkin cinnamon waffles. I decided that I’m going to wait it out to try these until the fall though. I think they’ll feel more special then. Also, after eating so many dang carbs recently, I was craving some protein.
I decided on The Gustav omelet with a side of fruit.
The Gustav is made with eggplant, tomato, zucchini, onion, and Gournay cheese. It was delicious!! I definitely recommend it.
The downside of my Caffe Moderne experience was the service. When we got there, only one server was working. She was hustling though! i felt for her. Shortly after we ordered, 3 other servers finally showed up to work. But the one assigned to us kind of stunk!! No refills on coffee or water. And I finally had to ask her for our checks, ugh.
I gave her a snarky look when she walked away after we paid. But she turned around in time to see me. Oops!! I felt so mean and ended up giving her a good tip, ha.
Hope you have a great day!! Please make a complete stop at stop signs during your morning commute.
Happy Father’s Day!!!!!! My Dad is the BEST. No, you think your Dad is? Well, let’s just agree to disagree, shall we?
I was thinking about my Dad and memories from when I was younger. And I few reasons why my Dad rocks.
Can I share a few with you?
My Dad taught me how to whistle. And didn’t get upset when I became a better whistler than him.
My Dad used to throw me into fits of giggles when he talked in his Donald Duck voice.
My Dad and I share the EXACT same sense of humor, much to the dismay of my Mom.
My Dad and I also share of love of trashy reality TV. I know that we’ll soon both be obsessing over Big Brother!!
My youngest memory was my Dad bringing home a toy box with toys inside for my 3rd birthday.
When I was 18, I got a tattoo on my ankle. Oh man, my Dad was mad. He left me a note on the kitchen table telling me how disappointed he was and that I had to give back the Phillips 66 gas credit card. Oops. But he gave it back to about a month later.
My Dad once was making meatloaf for Sunday lunch. He started screaming for me to come quick. There was red everywhere and he yelled that he cut himself. I screamed and ran to get my Mom. He proceeded to crack up laughing. It was only ketchup. I still remember that story every time I eat meatloaf.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I hope you enjoy these cupcakes later today.
Coconut Cream Cupcakes
Recipe from How Sweet It Is
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup coconut milk–You can find coconut milk in the Asian cooking aisle at the grocery store.
1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup flaked coconut
For the frosting:
1 stick butter, softened
2 8 oz blocks of cream cheese, softened
1.5 lbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3.4 oz package Jello instant coconut cream pudding
flaked coconut for garnish
To make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the flour and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and eggs together until fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix.
Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Now, add the coconut milk and heavy cream to the wet ingredients. Once mixed, add the second half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Fold in the flaked coconut.
Pour batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven. Place cupcakes on wire rack to cool before frosting.
Makes about 12-16 cupcakes. Mine made 12 big cupcakes.
To make the frosting:
In a mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add in the powdered sugar gradually. Add in the vanilla extract and mix. Finally, add in the instant pudding mix. Mix until smooth and creamy. Frost cupcake and top with flaked coconut for garnish.
*Note: this made WAY more frosting that I needed. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing.
Love you, Dad!!
