Coconut Custard Tartlets

 

More than any other activity, food is the guiding principal on Taylor Family vacations. A good majority of our days are spent battling discussing what to eat, where to eat it, and what each person will eat when we get wherever we’re going. We dissect our favorite dishes with the intention to reinvent them in our kitchen, using amateur detective skills to debate questions like

who thought to put pears inside a pasta and can you please draw me a bath made of this sauce?

a taco shack! we have to stop! fish tacos FTW! what is that spice?

can you remember the name of that place without a sign in a Roman alley where we ate the best cacio è pepe of our lives eight years ago?

who invented this butterscotch pudding in a teacup / where can i get the recipe / is the inventor available for marriage?

The mother recipe from which these tartlets were born, a coconut custard pie, follows this pattern. Everyday lunch on my parents’ favorite Caribbean island is a celebration of local Antiguan fare and includes freshly-caught fish, garden vegetables, and coconuts from the palms that envelop the property. My mom loved this pie so much that the pastry chef sent her the recipe.

While I don’t have a tree in my backyard to shimmy up and harvest a few coconuts for tonight’s dessert, sweetened coconut works just as well here. Since it’s not seasonal, these tartlets will transport you to a tropical island far, far away — specially if it’s 15 below zero during an east coast winter — if only for a bite or two.

Coconut Custard Tartlets (adapted from Mark Smith, pastry chef at Curtain Bluff)

1 pie crust (Unfortunately for you, I’m taking my pie crust recipe to the grave. Try this one.)

1 lb sweetened shredded coconut

3 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

kiss of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.

Whisk coconut, eggs, cream, milk, and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Set aside.

Roll out your pie crust until to approximately 1/4-inch thickness, re-rolling the dough as necessary. Using a circular cookie cutter or a small glass, cut rounds out of the pie crust. Press each crust into the muffin tin and spoon ~1-1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut mixture into each cup.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tartlet crust is golden brown. Leave tartlets in the muffin tin allow to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Top with a dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream (or coconut whipped cream!) and serve.

Caramel Popcorn Bars

caramel popcorn crack

Popcorn — I’m talking stovetop popcorn here, get that microwaved nonsense out of my face* — is a severely underrated snack.

It’s quick and easy to make, (relatively) healthy, cost-effective, and versatile. All it takes is a pot, olive oil, kernels, kosher salt, and a bowl. Hella impressive sorcery right there.

My dad is the popcorn master. He instilled in us a love for the snack very early on, and continues to make a massive batch of it every time we’re home whether it’s for a movie marathon or football playoffs. It doesn’t matter if two or five of us are home, the quantity of popcorn rarely varies and the bowl always, always disappears in a matter of minutes.

Generally, I like my snacks to hit both sweet and salty notes so these caramel popcorn bars are right in my wheelhouse. Elevate your party snacks, bring leftovers to work, and bask in your baking prowess.

*While I think the world would be a better place if microwaved popcorn disappeared entirely, Tinder prospects take note: you best be prepared to share popcorn with me on a movie date. No butter. Also, something chocolate.

Caramel Popcorn Bars (adapted from Shutterbean)

cooking spray

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

3-4 cups pretzels, roughly chopped

1 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

1 cup mini dark chocolate chips (optional)

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon kosher salt, + more for sprinkling

2/3 cup mini marshmallows

Spray a glass pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large pot (preferably one with two handles), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add popcorn kernels and cover with a lid. Using oven mitts, swirl popcorn around periodically until kernels begin to pop. Leave covered over the heat until popping slows down, approximately 2 minutes. Carefully remove the lid to let the steam out. Put popcorn in a large bowl and set aside.

Add pretzels, almonds, and chocolate chips to bowl with popcorn. Toss together until mixed evenly.

Add sugar, water, and salt to a large saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat until caramel forms. Watch closely — while a watched pot never boils, boiling sugar will turn quickly to molasses if not monitored (I did this).

Remove pan from the stovetop and slowly add cream – the caramel will bubble up and nearly overflow. When the caramel settles, add marshmallows and stir until melted.

Spray a rubber spatula with cooking spray. Pour caramel over the bowl of salty snacks and toss together with spatula until evenly coated. Dampen your hands with water and transfer the popcorn to glass dish. Press popcorn into the pan and sprinkle with additional kosher salt. Allow to cool before you cut into squares. Try to save some for your friends (it’s difficult).

{Double Batch} Chocolate Chip Olive Oil Cake with Strawberries + Cream

leaning tower of goodness

For those keeping score, it is not warm yet in NYC.

Shoot.

As we wait ever so patiently (read: not patiently at all) for the longest winter ever to come to a close, the days of the week are getting curiouser and curiouser. They’ve been plagued with stomach bugs, workdays when you feel like you just can’t win, disappointing conversations, and harsh, reality-busting realizations. Luckily, the days have been conversely peppered with personal productivity, international travel plans, 30 Rock marathons, and insanely late weeknights traipsing around Manhattan because adulthood and #yolo.

After a weekend of both low lows and high highs, I couldn’t think of a better way to start the week than with a sweet and simple cake. The original recipe calls for the addition of cocoa powder to the batter, but I don’t prefer chocolate cake so I eliminated that element and added chocolate chips instead (Molly made the real version!). This cake is a really easy crowd pleaser (ask anyone in my office, they reaped the benefits of my Monday night baking), and is just as good completely plain as it is with strawberries and cream. It also makes for a great dessert, or even breakfast with coffee. AND it’s vegan if you sub the whipped cream for coconut cream.

Chocolate Chip Olive Oil Cake with Strawberries + Cream (adapted from Shutterbean)

for the cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon coarse salt

3/4 cup olive oil*

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 cups cold water

1 1/2-2 cups mini chocolate chips

for the filling

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups strawberries, sliced

*I enjoy the depth olive oil brings to a cake. For a more subtle flavor, sub in vegetable oil. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 cake pans and set aside. If you don’t have a cake pans (like me for some odd reason), a square, rimmed pan works as well, and you can slice out individual cake squares that way.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt and sir until mixed thoroughly. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add olive oil, vanilla extract, vinegar, and water. Using a whisk or a wooden spoon (guess who doesn’t have a whisk in their apartment?! This girl. #amateurhour), mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients until a smooth batter is formed. Fold in chocolate chips until consistent throughout.

Pour the batter into the cake pans or square pan and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

While the cake is cooling, whip heavy cream into soft peaks in a medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and vanilla until incorporated and slightly stiff.

If your cakes are round, slice the domed top off one of the cakes to make a flat surface and place on a serving tray. Top with whipped cream and place a layer of strawberries on top. Top these layers with the second cake round, add whipped cream and strawberries. Slice and serve.

If your cake was baked in a square pan, slice the cake like you would a lasagna. Split the square in half, add whipped cream and strawberries, top with other half. Add extra strawberries and whipped cream to the top. Proceed to inhale.

handful. it’s a technical term.

{Double Batch} Kitchen Sink Blondies

a classic cookie recipe, redefined

Growing up, whenever my sisters or I had to make some kind of baked goods for a school bake sale, team pasta party, or family barbecue, our mom always suggested the same thing — “Make a batch of blondies and brownies.”

Now, blondies and brownies aren’t a novel concept by any means — anyone can follow the recipe on the back of a bag of Tollhouse Chocolate Chips, and anyone can go buy a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix and call it a day.  I have exactly zero issues with the Tollhouse recipe — it’s a classic.  On the other hand, boxed brownie mix is a cardinal sin of baking.  Don’t do it.  Ever.  Brownies are not difficult to make and boxed brownie mix tastes like the cardboard box in which its sold.  But I digress — that’s a rant for another time.

While blondies are an unassuming, presumably boring addition to a dessert spread, they are actually the crowd pleaser to end all crowd pleasers. We had a few (read: 20, much to our mother’s chagrin) friends to the beach over Labor Day Weekend and needed a quick dessert option for people to snack on throughout the day, so we commissioned our youngest sister, Kristina, to making three batches of blondies.

Well, Kristina and the blondies were the MVPs of the weekend — it was the hottest topic of conversation and our friends are STILL raving about them.

This is our go-to recipe with a few mix-ins.  Experiment with your own combination of additions — toffee chips, peppermint sticks, nutmeg, walnuts, white chocolate chips…anything your little heart desires.

Kitchen Sink

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup toasted coconut

1/4 cup chopped almonds

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan (really any size square or rectangular pan will do) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl (or stand mixer, cream butter and sugars together.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each.  Add vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips, toasted coconut, and almonds.  Mix batter until evenly distributed.

Place batter into greased pan and press down until pan is covered.  Bake for 27-30 minutes until golden brown on top.  Let cool for about 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

{Double Batch} Raspberry Nectarine Crisp

In the past six months, 2011 turned into 2012, I celebrated turning 24, I traveled to Santa Cruz for work, my mom and baby sister were out here for spring break, and I was home for Memorial Day weekend.

But those momentous occasions, in addition to the spontaneous cross-country red eyes to the beloved east coast, the visits from friends from Northern California and New Jersey, the cooking classes, a new job, and plans to move back to the right coast for good seem to have all just happened.  In reality, all of these things happened no less than one month ago, some as long as half a year ago.

HALF A YEAR?!  SERIOUSLY?!  I feel like time is whizzing past me at an uncontrollable speed and I’m not really sure how to deal with that.  If this is a byproduct of getting older, I’d like to stop now.  Lord, I wonder how my parents feel.

I’m going to blame the obnoxiously and perpetually beautiful Southern California weather for feeling like this.  Look, I adore the 76-degree, zero-humidity weather and I’m not looking forward to moving to the east coast at the end of July (ew, muggy humidity).  But because of this irritatingly perfect weather I find myself unable to differentiate the beginning of July from the end of December and THAT is frustrating as hell.

As compelling a reason the SoCal weather was for me to move out here initially, as much as I despise an east coast winter, I miss the seasons on that coast — the crackling fireplaces during the holidays, the first teasing days of spring, the booming thunder and flooding rain in the summer, the color of the leaves in the fall.  I realize come November I might be eating my words, but I’ve had enough of the year-round cloudless skies and palm tree-lined boulevards.  It’s time to go home.

Here is super simple, super summery recipe that has me longing for a sticky hot, firefly-dotted, grill smoke-dusted, chlorine-scented summer night on the east coast.  I’ll be there soon enough.

Raspberry Nectarine Crisp (Inspired by Joy’s Peach and Raspberry Crumble)

{for the topping}

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for baking dish

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

{for the filling}

2 pints fresh raspberries

6-7 ripe nectarines, sliced

1 cup topping mixture

splash of vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour (or use non-stick spray) an 8×8-inch baking dish and set aside.

Combine all topping ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.  Using your hands, break up the butter until the mixture is crumbly.

Place nectarines and raspberries in a large bowl.  Toss about a cup of the topping mixture into the berries and use a spatula to incorporate.

Transfer the fruit into the 8×8-inch baking dish.  Spread the remaining topping evenly over the fruit, covering it completely.  Bake for 28-30 minutes until top is golden and crispy and fruit is bubbling.

Let the crisp cool slightly before serving (5-10 minutes).  Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and toast to everything summer means to you.

dessert for three

Sourdough Caramel Croutons + Balsamic Berries

sourdough caramel croutons

Tracy Shutterbean is some kind of genius.

When she posted these, I nearly leapt out of my seat.  I mean, WHO COMES UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE CARAMEL BRIOCHE CROUTONS?!  Croutons are the one salad additive I cannot live without (hello, Crunch Factor), and to turn croutons into a dessert-like thing is just remarkable.

Similarly, when I made these little golden nuggets of sourdough sweetness over the weekend, I nearly wept with joy over how good these things are.  So simple, yet so complex.  Ok, perhaps not, but they’re definitely a stroke of brilliance.  Try them for yourself to see what I mean!

Also, make sure to check out Molly’s experience with this recipe over at The Blog of 1,000 Awesomes!

Sourdough Caramel Croutons (adapted from Shutterbean’s recipe)

4-5 slices sourdough bread, cut into cubes (sourdough is my favorite so thats what I used, but any bread you have on hand will work)

6 tablespoons salted butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

6-8 strawberries, sliced

1/4 cup blueberries

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup vanilla ice cream or 1/2 cup whipped cream

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Cut sourdough bread into cubes and set aside.

Put strawberries and blueberries in a medium bowl.  Add balsamic vinegar to the berries and toss.  Let marinate while you prepare the croutons.

Combine butter, sugar, water, in a medium saucepan.  Heat over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved, approximately two minutes.

Allow mixture to boil until it turns an amber color.  Remove from heat.  Add bread a handful at a time, stir with a spatula to coat evenly.  Using a fork, remove bread from saucepan and place on the parchment-lined baking sheet, making sure the croutons don’t touch, or you’ll surely end up with one gigantic caramel crouton (but let’s be real, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world).

To assemble, layer the ice cream, then berries, then croutons.  Repeat as desired and you’ll end up with a little caramel crouton + balsamic berry parfait.  Because everybody loves parfait.

caramel croutons + balsamic berries

{veganized} Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

No butter!  No eggs!  No milk!

Whole wheat!  Healthy!  VEGAN!

Preface the word ‘cookies’ with any of the descriptions above and you’re bound to get more than a couple bewildered looks.  You should be prepared if skeptics run screaming from you and towards Paula Deen in need of some butter on a stick.

Don’t get me wrong, I love butter and eggs just as much as the next person, but I also like to experiment with new baking techniques.   I’m perpetually on the prowl for the Greatest Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever, so I’d feel like I’d be doing myself a disservice by not trying something new and quirky (and oh so California before I return to the Right Coast).  And these cookies are pretty damn good — just ask the kids in my office.

Veganizing this great American classic doesn’t have to be complicated — you probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen.  If you don’t, you could absolutely substitute the vegan ingredients for the regular (or normal) ingredients.

Make these cookies and take them to your next book club gathering, dessert party, or office meeting.  Don’t tell anyone they are vegan and observe as they marvel at your amazing baking skills.  Report back.

{veganized} Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies (slightly adapted from Emily’s recipe on Daily Garnish)

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed

1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water; let sit for two minutes)

2 tablespoons non-dairy milk (I used So Delicious Coconut Creamer.  Coconut or almond milk would work best.)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup vegan dark chocolate chunks (Whole Foods)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) together and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream together Earth Balance buttery spread with the cane sugar and brown sugar.  Once mixture is light and fluffy, add flax egg, non-dairy milk, and vanilla.  Beat until combined.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Scoop a dozen teaspoon-sized balls of dough onto each lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until bottoms are browned and tops are golden.  If you can stand it, allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack before consuming.  ENJOY!

delish, no?

Easter sweets (Lent is over!)

It’s no secret that I have a monster of a sweet tooth.

That said, I’m not going to waste my dessert cash and calories on just anything — I’m kind of a dessert elitist.  Most days, I don’t even eat dessert. But if it’s a special occasion or there’s a dessert I can’t pass up (such as German chocolate cheesecake with chocolate cookie crust and coconut topping), I will surely indulge.  I’m a strictly dark chocolate girl, will always choose chocolate over vanilla, and salted caramel anything trumps both of the former flavors.  Hershey’s chocolate tastes like plastic to me, and I’m not one to buy a candy bar in the grocery store.  Sour patch kids?  Dots?  Sour belts?  Gross.  Give me tiramisu or butterscotch pudding  and then we have a deal.

Because I love them so much, I usually give sweets up for Lent.  Logical, I know.  I like a good challenge every once in a while, and 40 days and 40 nights is a perfect length of time to cleanse my system of sugar and focus on some other things.  Also, Lent usually starts a few weeks after my birthday, so it’s a good time to detox from copious amounts of cake and champagne I undoubtedly consumed during my birthday week.

While 40 days of Lent isn’t unbearably long, it’s just long enough induce vivid dreams of brightly-colored, candy-covered trees and chocolate rivers a-la-Willy Wonka.  And by the time Easter comes around, I need to bake.  It’s as simple as that.

Last year, I tried my hand at my very first tiramisu courtesy of Bon App’s Italy issue.  To sweeten the deal, it was CHOCOLATE tiramisu, which is a totally non-traditional take on the classic Italian dessert.  Perhaps next time I’ll try my hand at salted caramel tiramisu.  Although I’m not sure how well those flavors would work together.

This year, I drew inspiration from my blogger friends Rachel and Joy and made an Almond Joy Cake.  I saw the recipe on Rachel’s site a few weeks into Lent, and knew immediately that I was going to make that for Easter Sunday brunch.  I decided to do a yellow almond cake and chocolate frosting, so used Joy’s best chocolate buttercream frosting recipe from her new cookbook.  And she was right — it’s the best chocolate buttercream frosting ever.

I also dove into the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook and made Christina Tosi’s cornflake-chocolate chip-marshmallow cookies (which Rachel also made).  They were unreal.  Bonkers.  Cray.  You get the picture.  My favorite part of the cookies was the cornflake crunch, which consists of toasty crushed cornflakes, sugar, milk powder, and melted butter to make sweet and crunchy additive for the cookies.  After incorporating the cornflake crunch into the cookies, I had some left over and miiiiiight have overdosed on the stuff.  But Lent was over so it’s fine.

Happy Tuesday.  Here’s some I’m-super-happy-Lent-is-over food porn for your viewing pleasure.

The Enigmatic Nature of Red Velvet

Can someone please describe to me what exactly Red Velvet tastes like?

My sisters adore it, it’s the birthday cake flavor of choice in my office, and bakeries everywhere have seem to suddenly jumped on the Red Velvet bandwagon.  It seems like a new phenomenon.  Maybe it’s just a factor of living in a city like Los Angeles which averages a bakery a block and working in an office where there has been a birthday every two weeks since I started in March (no, seriously) that makes it seem like Red Velvet is EVERYWHERE.  I cannot escape it.

Why does everyone love it so much?  Why is everyone I know constantly on the hunt for the perfect Red Velvet cupcake?  What makes it so glorious?

I simply don’t get it.  I don’t see the appeal.  For a dessert-loving foodie like myself, that’s seen as blasphemy.  And it’s not that I haven’t tried it.  Charlotte has made homemade Red Velvet cupcakes.  I received Red Velvet cupcakes from a well-renowkned bakery in L.A. as a “welcome to your new job” offering.  Every time I open my mind to Red Velvet and think to myself “Okay, I’m going to bite the bullet and try it for the zillionth time”, I’m disappointed.

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned moist vanilla cake with chocolate frosting?  Apparently, the entirety of the country decided to get über trendy and choose Red Velvet as America’s favorite cake flavor.

So if any of you Red Velvet lovers out there could explain to me why you love the flavor, I’d be much obliged.

P.S.-- the color sort of freaks me out.

Weird Food Quirks

I’ve never been a picky eater.  I’ll try anything once.  Even with my vegetarianism, I don’t shy away from odd-looking food.  Like kale.

Recently, I’ve noticed that while I’m not picky, I am quite particular about things I like and don’t like.  While I agree with her statement “I just want it the way I want it,” I definitely don’t micro-manage my orders like Sally.

A few of my quirky food things–

1.  Thoughts on ice cream:

• I don’t think Pinkberry’s fro yo tastes like anything
• To me, Ben & Jerry’s is nauseatingly sweet.  Which is weird considering my obsession with dessert.
• Coldstone grosses me out.
• Breyer’s is the best store-bought ice cream.  Hands down.
• Strollo’s Lighthouse is hands down the best Italian ice I’ve ever had.  Don’t challenge me on that.
• The best gelato on the entire face of the planet is from Gelateria dei Neri in Florence.

3.  I prefer white-based pizzas (sans red sauce).

4.  If I get pasta at a restaurant, I’ll almost always go with short pastas like penne or farfalle instead of spaghetti or linguini.  The exception to that is tagliatelle.  I have no idea why.

5.  Dark chocolate is the best chocolate.

6.  I’m constantly on a mission to discover the perfect french fry; a quest I’ve inherited from my dad.

7.  I LOVE cooked mushrooms but I can’t stand raw ones.

8.  I despise bananas mainly because I don’t like the squishing sound they make when you chew them (but I also don’t like the taste).

9.  One horrendous experience with goat cheese has turned me off from it forever (and yes, I have tried it since).

10.  Salt-and-vinegar chips are the only flavored potato chips I’ll eat in copious amounts.

11.  FACT:  My family’s top secret pie crust recipe will undoubtedly beat yours.

cookies & cream and frutti di bosco (forest berry) gelato from Gelateria dei Neri in Florence

Aformentioned pie crust