Buttermilk Coconut Pie

Buttermilk Coconut Pie

Everything tastes better baked with buttermilk. I love how rich and creamy it makes desserts and cornbread. It helps it maintain it's moisture even under a hot oven. Buttermilk is really the way to go if the ingredients suggest adding regular old milk.

(Tip: If you don't use all of your buttermilk, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. Once they're frozen, you can pop them out and put them in a freezer bag and pull out buttermilk cubes next time you need it. Less waste and saves money!)

 

Ingredients for 2 pies:

6 beaten eggs

2.5 cups white sugar

2Tbsp flour

1 stick melted butter

1cup buttermilk

1tsp vanilla

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped pecans (This recipe really needs nuts in it. I'm not a fan of nuts in my dessert, but this is delicious!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together. Tip: I mixed the sugar and flour together first then added everything else to the bowl. Another one of those one-bowl-stops!

If you have a frozen crust, let it thaw out almost completely before filling the pies. Bake 40-45 minutes. It will be custard-like so if the middle has set while still in the oven, you're good to go. It'll have a nice golden color and shouldn't be jiggly at all.

The pie is tasty when it's warm so let it cool at least 20 minutes before slicing. I like this pie cold, right out of the fridge on the second day.

I made this pie already and have it in my freezer for Thanksgiving. I will pull it out of the freezer the night before and place it in my fridge. The day I plan on eating it, I'll set it out on the counter a few hours beforehand, just to make sure it's thawed out completely.

This is a good idea to make ahead since it can be frozen after baking. If you make two, eat one now and freeze the other for later. Never know when someone is going to have an impromptu dinner/dessert date!

Eat and Enjoy!

*Thank you, Miss Hella, for the recipe!*

Coconut Biscotti

Coconut Biscotti

Coconut! Mmm! I love almost anything with coconut in it and again, pinterest.com had me at 'hello' with this recipe. Go here to find the original recipe.

 

I've tried baking biscotti once and it was a total flop so I thought I'd try it again. It is a very simple recipe that uses one bowl. I'm all about not having to get out a bazillion bowls and measuring cups to bake something. One pot stop!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4tsp baking powder

1/4tsp salt

1/4tsp baking soda

3/4cup sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1cup flaked sweetened coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Beat sugar, eggs and vanilla on medium-high for 2 minutes until it gets thick and creamy.

Add the remaining ingredients to bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. I added the coconut after I had stirred all of the flour/powder ingredients together. On a floured surface, kneed the sticky dough 7-8 times.

Pat and roll with hands into a log of 15x3. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly press down until the dough is about 1" thick.

Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown then move to wire wrack to cool for 5 minutes.

Cut roll diagonally in 1/2" slices and bake again for another 20 minutes.

Slices will be slightly soft in the middle but will harden when they cool completely on a wire wrack.

You can dip them in melted white chocolate and sprinkle with some coconut flakes or dip them in dark chocolate if you prefer. I don't have white chocolate so I used semi-sweet chocolate on some and powdered sugar and food coloring on some.

(Mix a little bit of water and powdered sugar. Add food coloring for festive colors!)

If you want, you can add white or dark chocolate chips in the batter before you cook it. Also think about adding almonds or walnuts before cooking if you're a nutty type of person.

Eat and Enjoy!!

Cinnamon and Sugar Muffins

Cinnamon and Sugar Muffins

I found a very easy muffin recipe whilst browsing pinterest.com. It is an awesome website and now I believe I'm addicted to it. Of course, I made my own version of these muffins since I don't enjoy overly sweet desserts anymore thanks to zone eating and Crossfit! Here's the original recipe and I'll have my notes at the bottom of what I changed.

Ingredients:

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar*
1 egg (preferably room temperature)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg**
1/2 c. milk

Topping:
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, stir together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined. It’ll be a little bit lumpy and that’s okay. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop batter into muffin tins that have been sprayed. I got 6 large muffins out of this batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

If you'd like to bake them without the extra step of dipping them in butter then sugar/cinnamon mixture after they bake, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the mixture minus the butter and bake accordingly. They'll turn out just as good.

*I used a little bit over 1/4cup sugar instead of the entire 1/2cup
**I used a little bit of cinnamon instead of nutmeg (I hate nutmeg).

ENJOY!!!

Scalloped Potatoes

Scalloped Potatoes

I love, love, love scalloped potatoes! They are creamy, rich, and cheesy and I love anything with cheese! This was a great side dish we had tonight and very easy.

Ingredients:

2tbsp unsalted butter

+ more for the dish

1/2 to 1 tsp salt

1/2tsp pepper

2 large baking potatoes

2tbsp all-purpose flour

2cups whole milk at room temperature

3/4cup grated cheese + 1/4cup grated cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Bring to boil enough water for the potatoes and salt the water. While the water is coming to boil, thinly slice the potatoes with a mandolin or a food processor. Boil the sliced potatoes for 8-10 minutes.

In the meantime, butter a 9x13 baking dish and have that ready.

Once the potatoes have cooked, strain them and set them to the side.

Over medium heat, add 2tbsp butter and 2tbsp flour and let the flour come to bubbles but make sure you don't burn this. Stir it with a wooden spoon.

Once the butter has cooked approximately 1-2 minutes, whisk in the room temperature milk and keep whisking for 3-5 minutes. You should add it slowly but whisk quickly .. this will help ensure there are no lumps in the mixture. If there are lumps, simply strain it before moving to the next step.

Add the salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Add the potatoes and the milk mixture to a large bowl and combine. Add 3/4cup grated cheese and combine. Pour into baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 1/4cup cheese.

Bake 10-12 minutes.

Turn the broil on high *and make sure you watch it so it doesn't burn!* This will brown the cheese on top and give it a delicious taste. If it's golden brown, it's ready to come out.

Set to the side for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Eat and ENJOY!

S'mores in the oven

S'mores in the oven

Who doesn't love s'mores? I absolutely love the warm, soft, gooey marshmallow and the hot, melted chocolate with the sweet graham crackers. To me, it's the easiest dessert to make that fills my tummy with joy!

My friend, Heather, shared the easy way of making them in your oven... here's how!

Ingredients:
Graham crackers
Chocolate
Marshmallows

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to the "Low" setting on broil and get a cookie sheet prepared. No oil or spray is needed, just a dry pan.
Place both sides of the graham crackers down and put a marshmallow on one and the chocolate on the other one. Broil on low until the marshmallow is as dark as you like. I like mine slightly browned and gooey.
Mush, technical term, both of the sides together to make the s'more sandwich. Eat and enjoy! It's that simple!

Trust me.. when there is "nothing else to eat", this is the best thing to have! One is definitely enough but two are worth it!

Pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling

Pumpkin bread with a cream cheese filling

Thanks to a fellow blogger, Christy Cutler, I found this delicious recipe! It's a spin on the pumpkin roll.. I can never seem to roll them properly or they become soggy!

Cream cheese filling ingredients:

1 package cream cheese - softened
3/4 cup sugar*
1 T all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/2 t vanillaBread ingredients:1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour**1 t baking soda1/2 t salt
 2 t pumpkin pie spice
10oz. pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil***
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar*
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 325.  Grease and flour two loaf pans.

Prepare the cream cheese filling by combining cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg and vanilla.

Mix until creamy.  Set aside.
Prepare the bread batter by mixing together the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl. Mix so that all dry ingredients are well incorporated.
In a separate bowl combine the pumpkin puree, oil, eggs and sugar.  Mix together until creamy. Stir the pumpkin mixture with the flour mixture until just combined. If you want to add the nuts, fold them in gently. (I added chopped walnuts to the top of one bread so that I'd have one loaf with nuts and one without.)
Pour half of the batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter in each loaf pan. Top with remaining pumpkin batter. Take a knife and stick it through the top pumpkin layer and the middle cream cheese layer. Swirl the knife threw the two layers to create a marble effect while baking. Place the loaf pans in the oven and bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once you remove the bread from the oven, let the loaves cool in the pans for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.  Allow the bread to cool completely.

*I used half of the sugar that was in the ingredients only because I try to eat as clean as possible and also because I don't like desserts to be too sweet. The extra sugar in this recipe would have been a cavity waiting to happen!
**I also used 1cup organic all-purpose flour and 2/3cup organic whole wheat flour and it tasted awesome!
***I used olive oil instead of veggie oil.

ENJOY!