I'm coocoo for coconut

When I was about 3 years old and my sister was at her dance class, my mom and her friend Catherine who's daughter was also in the class would take me to the cafe across the street and I would always order a chocolate-dipped coconut macaroon. Catherine would always ask for a taste, and I would reluctantly let her have some, but to freak me out she would say "Oh don't worry Kelsey, I just want the chocolate part", since she knew that was my favorite part.
Almost 14 years later and I still remember those days, so this year at her annual New Years day soup party, I decided it was only right that I made chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons.

I looked around online at different recipes, and ultimately chose one from Joy of Baking, based on the picture, because I wanted them to come out as close to the ones that I used to order at the cafe as possible.

Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons:

4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup cake flour, sifted
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1. In a stainless steel bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and salt. When this mixture is warm to the touch, and nice and creamy, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, flour, and coconut. Cover and refrigerate for about two hours, or until firm.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Place small mounds (heaping tablespoons) of the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing several inches apart. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool.

4. Once completely cooled, dip halfway in melted chocolate and set on a parchment-lined tray. Chill until chocolate is set, about 5-10 minutes, before serving.





They came out perfectly. I think they were a little more meringue-y and a little less coconut-y than the ones from the cafe, but they were just right.
When Catherine saw what they were, she instantly understood why I made them and gave me a huge hug. I think that it was a good idea making them for the party.
Sorry, I do realize that this post sounds like a writing assignment for like a 4th grade journal, but whatevs, I was out of school for 2 weeks and my brain has almost entirely turned to mush. I promise my writing quality will improve in the near future.

Peace. Love. Coconut.

When you get the urge to bake, well, you gotta bake.
And that is what I did tonight.
My mom bought me these mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's, and oh god they are so good. I love love love peanut butter and chocolate, and together, jeez, there are few things that can top that.
Also, because of that, these are very, VERY dangerous things to have around my house, because I can and WILL eat them until they are gone. So I made cookies with them. There are still a lot left, but that cut the amount down by a lot.
I adapted a recipe from the Joy of Baking. It was a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I just made the dough without the chocolate chips, scooped it out, and then placed 2-4 peanut butter cups on top and baked them like that. I kinda figured that since the peanut butter cups were a little more dense than your average chocolate chip, you wouldn't need as many. So anyway, I'll stop my rambling and give you the recipe.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (adapted from the Joy of Baking's Chocolate Chip Cookies)

COOKIES:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
A lot of (aka I'm not sure how many) mini peanut butter cups

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the white and brown sugars and beat until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated. If you find the dough very soft, cover and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).
4. With two spoons, drop about 1 tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Place 2 - 4 cups on each blob of dough. Bake about 10 - 14 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Cool completely on wire rack.



Okay I do realize that that is not the most amazing picture of them, but they are pretty freakin good and I'm tired and lacking any sense of creativity.


*NOTE: I am eating one right now and I kinda decided that I am going to double the amount of salt next time because the contrast of the peanut butter with the actual cookie is a little off. They're still pretty good, but they could be a little saltier.

Peace. Love. Peanutbutter.

Today, i have reached a peak in my baking.
Today, my friend and I not only had a cookie/cupcake day reunion, but we also made RAINBOW EFFING CUPCAKES.

I'm feelin' pretty good about myself right now, not gonna lie.
I thought it was cool when I made homemade funfetti, but gosh this is even cooler!
They taste pretty good, considering the heaps of chemicals the food coloring must have added, but they look even more badass.
we made a whipped cream to top it with, because we didn't want to take away from the epic-ness of the cupcakes. The cupcake recipe is adapted from http://bakingbites.com/, and the whipped cream is from http://www.joyofbaking.com/.

Anyway, without any further ado, I give you... Kelsey and Erica's COSMIC CUPCAKES:



Cosmic Cupcakes (adapted from http://bakingbites.com/ Rainbow Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Topping:

CUPCAKES

2 Cup all purpose flour
3 Tsp. baking powder
1/2 Tsp. salt
1 Cup sugar
4 Large eggs
1 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup buttermilk
2 Tsp. vanilla extract
red, yellow, green and blue food colorings




1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake tin with 20 with paper cups.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Pour in dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly into 6 small bowls; each should have a little more than 2/3 cup batter (approx 6 tbsp or so for each).
5. Add about 15 tsp food coloring to each bowl to make red, orange, yellow, green blue and purple batters. Stir well, so no streaks of plain batter remain. Add additional food coloring if necessary.
6. Starting with the purple batter, add a small spoonful to each of the 20 muffin cups (just over 1/2 tbsp in each). Repeat with all remaining colors, working from blue to green to yellow to orange to red, adding each subsequent spoonful on top of the previous color. Do not attempt to spread the layers of color out (as it can cause layers to get combined), but allow them to spread on their own.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting. Makes about 20.
*Note: We doubled this from the original recipe, and it actually only made about 18. Just sayin'.

WHIPPED CREAM:

1 Cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 Tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1. In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine.
2. Cover and chill the bowl and wire whisk in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.


(Not the best picture of us, but meh, what can you do?)



Basically, even though my parents declared that the cupcakes "look like the fake food that kindergartners play with", Erica and I decided all our friends are going to love them and that the rainbow just makes them extremely kick ass.

I'm super happy right now. YAY! (Okay, maybe I ate too much of the batter when I was baking...)

Happy Sunday y'all.
Peace. Love. Rainbowcupcakes.