Cooking With Amanda: July 2015

Friday, July 31, 2015

Lemon Coconut Dream Bars

I feel like possibly with the exception of olives, no food is more polarizing than coconut. I think you either love it or you hate it. Sometimes you can love it and hate it in the same lifetime. I remember shunning all coconut-based Halloween candy as a kid, but now I buy tons of coconut goodies for the trick or treaters coming to my house, in hopes that those kids shun them like I used to, and they'll all be left for me to eat.

Whenever I make a baked good with coconut in it, I feel like I always need to qualify it when offering it to other people. Like, "here . . . I brought you these lemon and almond bars . . . but FYI there's coconut." And then I wait for the reaction, crossing my fingers that my friend is a fellow coconut lover.

If there were a matchmaking site for friendships (there probably is, actually), I would ensure that all of my friends are coconut fans like myself.

I mean, it's just so . . . tropical! I can't eat a coconut dessert without envisioning myself back on my honeymoon in Hawaii, lying on the beach or cruising the twisty Maui highways in a convertible.

These lemon coconut dream bars take lots of elements that I love and combine them into one chewy bar dessert. Coconut? Check. Lemons? Of course. Graham cracker crust? Yep, the gang's all here.

One quick note about assembling these. I learned the hard way that once graham cracker crust is par-baked, it's pretty hard to "spread" the thick coconut and almond mixture on top of it without disrupting the crust. Instead of plopping the coconut mixture into the center of the pan and trying to spread it across the crust, make sure you just place small dollops of the coconut mixture evenly across the crust.

That way, the amount of spreading you have to do is very minimal, and the graham cracker crust will stay perfectly intact!

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Lemon Coconut Dream Bars Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
nonstick baking spray

For the Coconut and Almond Layer:

2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup sliced almonds

For the Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus additional if needed

Directions

To Make the Crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs and butter.
Lightly spray bottom and sides of 9 x 13-inch baking pan with baking spray. Evenly press graham cracker mixture into bottom of pan.
Transfer to oven and bake 8 minutes.

To Make the Coconut and Almond Layer:

In large bowl, beat eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla extract until well combined.
Add flour, baking powder and salt; mix until fully incorporated. Stir in coconut and almonds.
Evenly dot coconut mixture over graham cracker crust. Gently spread coconut mixture evenly across crust.
Transfer to oven and bake 17 to 20 minutes or until coconut mixture is golden brown.
Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before glazing.

To Make the Glaze:

In small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice. Glaze should have a thick but pourable consistency. If necessary, add additional lemon juice in 1/2 teaspoon increments until correct consistency is achieved.
Pour over bars, cut and serve.

Source: Adapted from Taste of Home.

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Dairy Free Cheesecake

When my daughter was a toddler, her favorite nut (other than myself) was the mild cashew nut.

If I gave her a bowl of cashews and berries, she was one happy camper! Back then, I had no clue that cashews came from cashew apples!

Actually, I don't recall even knowing what a cashew apple was, when I found out where cashews came from. I thought they might have something in common with Wood apples, which were plentiful in Sri Lanka; but, good ol' Google told me I was wrong. I've looked for cashew apples in grocery stores I frequent, but, just like wood apples, they seem elusive.

Over the years, I have fueled my daughter's love of cashews by making trail mixes, stir fries, and curries, for her.

But, a couple of years ago, stumbled on cashew cream. Cashew cream is made in many different ways, but, the way I make it is to blend soaked cashews with some almond or cashew milk and voila - a delicious and versatile dairy free "cream". I've experimented with cashew cream and made curries with it as well as chocolate pudding. It can even be used to make cashew cheese!

And today, I used cashew cream as the beginning foundation of this gluten free, no-bake, strawberry and blueberry "dairy free cheesecake"! This luscious, yet healthy cake is jam-packed with strawberries and blueberries in addition to cashews. Coconut oil, sugar and vanilla are the only other add-ins.

It stores well in a freezer or a cooler, till it's time to eat it. That makes it the perfect dessert for any picnics during these warm summer days. When I first made it, I froze it and took these pictures after about 30-40 minutes of thawing. I refroze a few slices and they thawed out wonderfully too. That makes this a make-ahead treat too. Win!

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Dairy Free Cheesecake Recipe

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Ingredients

4 cups cashews, soaked overnight and divided

For the Blueberry Layer:

1/2 cup cashew milk, heated up for 40 seconds in microwave
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

For Strawberry Layer:

1/2 cup cashew milk, heated up for 40 seconds in microwave
1 pound fresh strawberries
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted

For Garnish:

white chocolate chips

Directions

Begin by warming your overnight-soaked cashews in the microwave for 40 seconds. You will divide them in half, using 2 cups in the blueberry layer, and 2 cups in the strawberry layer.

For the Blueberry Layer:

Place 2 cups of heated cashews, heated cashew milk, fresh blueberries, sugar, vanilla and melted coconut oil together in a powerful blender. Pulse until well incorporated and creamy.
Pour into a foil-lined cake pan and freeze for 30 minutes.

For the Strawberry Layer:

When the blueberry layer is frozen, make the strawberry layer.
Place 2 cups of heated cashews, heated cashew milk, one pound of fresh hulled strawberries, vanilla, sugar and melted coconut oil together in the blender and pulse until creamy.
Pour the strawberry layer on top of the blueberry layer in the cake pan. Allow the cake to freeze for an hour.

To Serve:

Top with berries and white chocolate chips, cut and enjoy.

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Thursday, July 30, 2015

Stone Fruit Cobbler with Bourbon

Raise your hand if you've been in this situation; it's a beautiful Saturday morning, you're strolling your local farmer's market and right there staring back at you is summer fruit in all its glorious bounty.

Peaches, cherries, apricots, plums and nectarines.

You begin to panic - what do I pick, how much should I buy, will it still be around next week? So you buy it all, it's there, it's fresh, it's only a day or two out from being perfectly ripe.

Stone Fruit Cobbler with Bourbon Picture

Then you get home and realize just how much fruit you bought ...and there are only two people in your house – reality sets in. There's no way this fruit will be consumed before it goes bad. It's a good thing I have a solution for you today, and it involves all the stone fruit, drop biscuits and bourbon.

This stone fruit cobbler with bourbon is so easy to put together that you'd actually be almost tempted to pick up extra fruit just to have an excuse to bake it up. During the summer I'm a lazy baker, especially when it comes to fruit. I don't peel the skins off my peaches and pitting cherries involves taking the flat side of my knife and slapping down hard on a whole bunch until they split open.

The cherries needed to be sliced in half anyway, so essentially the pitting and cutting get done at one time. It makes a mess, but when does cherry pitting not look like a scene from Dexter? After you've sliced, pitted and gotten yourself good and messy, you just toss everything into a bowl with a touch of sugar, salt, vanilla, cornstarch, and of course - the bourbon.

The cobbler topping comes together even easier, then before you know it all that extra fruit is used and your home smells amazing.

Serve it up with some vanilla ice cream for an a la mode treat that can't be beat.

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Stone Fruit Cobbler with Bourbon Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Cobbler Filling:

2 large peaches, sliced, or 3 small
2 large nectarines, sliced
2 apricots, sliced
3 red plums, sliced
1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Topping:

2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, cold
1 large egg
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 tablespoon honey

For Serving:

vanilla ice cream, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, toss together sliced peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and cherries with sugar, cornstarch, bourbon, vanilla bean paste and salt.
Pour into a 9X9 square baking pan and bake for 10 minutes.
While the fruit is in the oven, in a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
Using your hands, add in the butter and combine it together so the flour looks like coarse meal.
In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, egg, bourbon and honey.
Pour the mix into the center of the dry ingredients and fold together until there are no dry patches. The mix will be like the texture of pancake batter.
Remove the fruit from the oven and pour the batter over the top and place bake in the oven to bake for another 20 minutes.
Remove and let cool for about 10 minutes before serving with scoops of vanilla ice cream on top.

Notes

Store any leftover cobbler in the refrigerator covered for 2-3 days.

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How to Make Croutons

1. You're going to want to make sure you start with good quality bread when you're making homemade croutons.

A nice store-bought baguette or sourdough bread works great as does leftover homemade bread that may have gotten a little too dry a little too fast

2. The size you cut the bread into really depends on your personal preference, but I recommend 3/4 – 1 inch sized cubes of bread.

Don't worry if the cubes aren't all 100% uniform in shape as long as they are pretty close to the same size. You don't want to end up with a portion of your croutons over or under cooked.

3. Place the cubes in a large, wide bowl and drizzle them with olive oil or butter. You'll use about 1-2 tablespoons of melted butter or olive oil for each 2 cups of bread cubes. Toss the bread evenly to coat.

4. You can choose to keep it simple and head straight to step 4, especially if you started with bread that already has a lot of flavor (such as a parmesan herb bread).

If you'd like to take it up a notch, go ahead and add some seasonings to your bread cubes. You might like just a simple salt and pepper or something stronger like garlic powder, onion powder, fresh herbs (thyme or rosemary are great), or dried herbs (basil or Italian seasoning are great).

5. Spread the bread cubes out evenly on a large baking sheet. There should be plenty of space so the cubes aren't too close together or piled up on each other.

6. Bake the prepared bread cubes in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 – 20 minutes (until they reach your desired crunchiness) , stirring every 5 minutes. Make sure you keep at eye on things because all ovens behave differently.

Alternatively you can toast in a toaster oven.
I like them a little crunchier for use in soup since they will soak up a lot of liquid. Less crunchy croutons become soggy faster.

7. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container to maintain freshness and crunch.