Butter Beer Our Way

Double Vanilla Butter Beer

We finally made it! D's 10th birthday was celebrated with a Hogwarts style dinner with a 3-course menu that made 16 kids really happy. But the highlight of the feast was not the food, or even the fantastic cake and jell-o extravaganza inspired on Aunt Petunia Pudding, but our interpretation of butter beer.

The mix was really easy to make and combined four delicious ingredients. The literal butter was "covered" by adding the whipped cream, looking like beer foam. To add mystery to the drink I added creamed honey as yet another mystery butter, which worked really fine, because the guests had to guess what was the "pretend" butter that was added to the mix in front of them. To celebrate a birthday or a grown-up cocktail party (just add 2 oz vanilla vodka to it), here's the recipe:

1/2 cup French Vanilla Ice Cream (TJ's)
4 oz Dry Sparkling Vanilla Bean
1/2 teaspoonTrader Joe's Creamed Honey
Dairy Whipping Topping (Berkeley Farms)

Add ice-cream to the bottom of a transparent cup, top with vanilla soda, add honey (the wannabe butter), stir with a spoon, and top with cream. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Jewel Yam Walnut Bread (and The Need to Bake)

It's already fall and I haven't posted for more than a season! Things got a little bit out of hand here with all summer activities, travels, volunteering, designing a new blog, and beginning of school. So I had to take a forced break - but not at all of cooking or developing recipes.

Darienne was the brave one who managed to post a wonderful thing in the middle of summer, a souvenir from Hawaii. And then, that was it. But then, faster than I thought, October arrived. Silently and not even the deciduous trees know it yet. Here in the San Francisco South Bay Area the weather is still on dog-hot days. And I needed to bake.

Yes, because above all, Autumn is, for me, is the baking season. I like to test new recipes, create my own, bake with the seasonal ingredients and... have a quiet baking morning while surfing the web sipping nice Italian coffee. So, in total disregard of the outside temperature, I wen there and baked my first seasonal bread: this time, with Jewel Yams.

The result of my experiment - based in one recipes from the web and one from my library- was moist, flavorful and silk-textured bread, perfect to eat for breakfast and to perfume the home wit its spices. I shared slices with friends, and kids suggested that I should cover it with dark chocolate. Which I will do soon for Halloween treats. It looks like it will be a wonderful combination.

Jewel Yam Bread

It's a very free adaption of Epicurious recently published Sweet Potato Bread with Caramel and Aleppo-Spiced Pecans and a Brazilian traditional recipe. 

1 medium jewel yam, baked and puréed (to make about 1 cup purée)
1/2 cup apple juice (I think orange juice would work as well)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Korintje cinnamon (my favorite, but any good cinnamon will do)
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cup all purpose non bleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts (save a few to top the loaf)

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper (or grease it and flour it). Preheat oven to 325 F. In a bowl whisk jewel yam purée, apple juice, eggs, oil, sugars, vanilla and spices up to a very creamy and well blended mix. Add flour and baking powders on top and whisk again lightly on the surface to mix. With a spatula integrate the flour to the wet mix on the bottom. When mixed let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then add walnuts and finish mixing with spatula.  Top with some whole walnuts if you like, sprinkled with sugars. Transfer batter to pan and bake it for about 50 to 75 minutes or up to when it is golden on the top and a knife comes out of it clean.  

Brazilian Coconut Corn Bread (Gluten Free!)

Every year we have a special day to show off a bit of our countries of origin at the International Faire at school. Years before we brought brigadeiros, ants house cake and even Carioca black beans to share with the students. This time we brought Bolo de Fubá,  one of the traditional foods prepared in the month of June – and sometimes throughout the year in some regions – in most parts of Brazil.

This corn bread is one of the corn-based staples of Festas Juninas. It's a time to celebrate the harvest of the corn, to dance to old folk songs and to dress up like a caipira – a peasant style which includes a raffia hat, some makeup to pretend that we are country people, and gingham shirts. It's also the month of Saint Anthony, Saint John, and Saint Peter.

Baking this cake was a great opportunity to share stories and food with my children and their colleagues about this very special time of year which makes part of my childhood. It was so much fun that we even improvised a little fishing game, also typical on those parties. Kids "fish" prizes from a decorated cardboard box with a bamboo rod with a magnet on its end. That way they all had to fish for cake!

Bazilian Cornbread with Coconut

I chose yellow cornmeal, and I used unsweetened coconut to make sure that it wouldn't be overly sweet, a common taste in Brazilian cuisine inherited from the Portuguese traditions.

For cake:

4 cups yellow fine cornmeal
2 cups unsweetened dry coconut flakes
1tbsp baking powder
2 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter or canola oil
1 cup sugar
4 eggs

For topping:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix eggs, sugar, and oil (or butter) in another bowl. When the mix is creamy, add milk gradually. Add dry mix to the wet ingredients, mixing with a spatula. Pour batter in prepared baking pan and bake for about 45 minutes or up to when it gets a golden crust.

For the topping, melt butter in a skillet and add coconut, stirring as it toasts. When the coconut is toasted, add condensed milk and spices, then reduce it over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mix changes to a custard texture, pour over the cake right after it comes out of the oven. Enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Clusters

Hello Spring! This might be a great way of using leftover chocolate bits and pieces (aka broken and forgotten easter eggs) and make them part of a healthier treat. The first version is the one I made with kids at school: just a swirl of melted chocolate ove a nest of grains and mashed banana, and grapes are pretend-to-be eggs. The second, made with leftovers of the project is based on lots of chocolate biding grains and coconut. It was a nice way to celebrate Earth Day and shape the clusters like little planets. Just choose yours and play with the imagination to make your nest a unique piece of art.

No Bake Chocolate Clusters

Before beginning to mix and shape, melt chocolate chips on a double boiler (my favorite process), or in the microwave (70% power stirring every 30 seconds up to when chocolate is totally melted and ready to swirl. 

1  cup quick oats
2 cups high fiber cereal shaped like wood chips or sticks
Bananas (1/4 per person) - optional if just swirling chocolate
1/2 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
8 oz semisweet or milk chocolate chips or any chocolate you find in the house, melted

Mix all dry ingredients. Mash bananas on the plate to make the base for the clusters, nests or planets. After adding cereal mix  shaping bind with a swirl of melted chocolate. If your choice is to make just the cereal chocolate shapes, forget the bananas and fold chocolate into dry mix. Shape with the help of two spoons or inside a baking cup, and let it sit at room temperature up to when chocolate is back to solid.  Decorate with grapes or chocolate candies. 

Coconut and Raspberry Macaroons

It's the last night of Passover and I've been cooking so much for these holidays that I didn't have time to sit quietly to share my latest recipes here.
Belonging to a interfaith family has its advantages but sometimes is just plainly overwhelming. It's great that Passover lasts for 8 nights, so that we can keep trying new recipes and variations over some staples, like matzo balls soup and gefilte fish.
I made theses sweet treats for the first night of Seder when we had some friends and family over, and despite of the extreme sweetness, it just almost vanished from the table. This photo was taken today, with some hidden in the fridge goodies.
Usually guests bring these as dessert but at this time I just thought it would be nice to make them anyway. For my luck they were the only macaroons on the table, so no competition - and absolutely one of the items that I will incorporate to my family's tradition. They are good on their own or topping a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Raspberry Coconut Macaroons

This is a variation of Mark Bittman's recipe. I added and substituted some ingredients and needed to adjust some of them, as I added more texture with the dried raspberries. 

3 egg whites, lightly beaten with 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 cups dried shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup toasted shredded unsweetened coconut (10 minutes in the oven before using)
3/4 cup ground dry raspberries (I used Trader Joe's), measured before grinding
1 teaspoon orange oil

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. With a wired whisk, beat eggs with salt up to very soft peaks. Slowly fold in sugars and orange oil, and finally coconut and ground raspberries. The mix will look very dry.  Using two teaspoons, lay each macaroon on the baking sheet, and shape them like pyramids with wet hands. Bake for about 40 minutes or up to when peaks are looking slightly charred. Cool down on a wired tray and transfer to the fridge up to when serving.

Leprechaun Shelter Salad... and Green Pea Dip

Photo by J. Balbi

Maybe they say they don't like greens. But when it comes to building a hiding place for a leprechaun... perhaps the little ones will change their mind.

While looking for ideas of something healthy to make with the kids at school I finally put the project together while browsing the aisles of my favorite grocery store. Lately I've been working a more with food presentation with older children, but thought that the idea of building a hut, a bed or even a boat made of vegetables would be enticing enough to make kindergartners and first graders enticed.  After building,  we were working with the notion that the best place to "hide" the secret leprechaun hideout would be their tummy, not the trash can.

I was lucky enough to have J. working with me at school that day, who was fortunate enough to have a mini figurine of a leprechaun in her bag, and a good eye for taking the photos which are in this post.

Photo by J. Balbi

A big bag of romaine hearts, some micro-greens to imitate little shamrocks, pea stick and lots of imagination made the whole experience a great activity. They all helped to blend the green dip, excited with the mouse from the hand blender. The green pea dip, inspired on this dip recipe by Darienne, was the foundation. For some children, it was a unique chance of eating salad, disguised as something they had built for the little man.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Photo by J. Balbi

Leprechaun Shelter Salad with Green Dip

You can always play with the greens around the project, but it's good to have something to make the structure possible, like a big leaf for the shelter, and some cucumber sticks to be the support. 

For the salad

Romaine Heart Leafs as needed
Cucumber, cut in sticks in same length
Green pitted olives
Green pea baked snacks (such as Inner Peas by Trader Joe's
Baby Spinach
Curley Parsley

For the dip

1 bag frozen organic green peas
4 oz whipped cream cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons oregano
Kosher salt to taste

Cook peas as directed by package. Drain and blend with all other ingredients in a food processor or hand blender up to when it reaches a creamy texture. Serve on the side of salad or on the bottom of the late to serve as the foundation for the hut. 

So bring me a Figgy Cake... And a Happy New Year!!!

It's my first post of the year and yet it's something I baked last year... . But this is not your average end of the year celebration cake! It was so good that I had to stop all my fourth day of the new year activities to post it. Maybe you will want to bake sometime to celebrate something other than Christmas. If you are a grown-up who drinks, it's a perfect pairing for a bubbly. But a warning: it's so delicious that I had to make an effort to freeze a slice to be able to replicate it later, once it was a very improvised recipe.

The project was to bake a original British style figgy pudding so to go with the song, as my sons are always repeating "So bring me a figgy pudding"asking me when I was going to bake one. The problem was that I was crazy busy as most of you guys, and had to improvise the steaming for something like "wet" baking. I will explain myself: Once I came across this recipe that recommended to bake normally adding a water filled pan to pretend it is also steaming. And it worked. Happy 2014!!!

Almond Figgy Cake

This recipe is vaguely based on Simon Rimmer's Figgy Pudding, published in Something for the weekend, and online at BBC.

2 cups chopped california dried figs
1/3 cup cognac ( I used Remi Martin)
3/4 cup hot water
1 cup flour
1.5 cups almond meal (ground almond)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup concord grape raisins soaked overnight in1 cup of your favorite wine
1 orange, zest and juice
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F, with a large baking pan filled with water on the lower rack of oven. Start soaking figs in cognac and hot water for about 15 minutes, or overnight, if you have time. Mix flour, almond meal, baking powder and nutmeg in a bow and set aside. In another bowl mix brown sugar, eggs, olive oil and whisk up to when you get a creamy texture. Slowly add cognac and water mix from the figs. Add figs and raisins to flours and mix up to when they get fully coated. Add liquid mix to flour mix stirring with a wooden spoon. Let it rest for 5 minutes, mix again and pour batter on a flutted tube pan.  Bake in the oven from 45 to 55 minutes (still with the water filled pan in there, refill if necessary), or up to when crust is golden and core dry. Serve it hot with vanilla ice cream, or cold for brunch with a latte. 

Mashed Potato Snowman

If you happen to live in a place where it doesn't snow,  like we do,  you might use this idea to make the kids have a little winter cheer with something else. It was the last hands on class I gave to second and third graders at school this year, after a series of edible craft sessions, which included sweet potatoes and green beans turkeys and a pea spread cemetery for Halloween.

The project to celebrate the end of the year was to make a snowman out of mashed potatoes and other foods, and the result was so much fun. We made those my son's classroom today with second and third graders. They were really thrilled to work on the project and eat it right away after finishing.

I baked the potatoes at home, and when I brought them to school, they were ready to be peeled with the tiny fingers and mashed easily with forks. Carrots became little noses, bell peppers for the mouths, but of course, some children's couldn't refrain to think outside the model and made...something completely different!

You will need: 

One medium organic baked russet potato per child
Enough mini carrots to make noses
Cooked black beans for buttons
Crimini  mushroom tops for hats
Red bell peppers for the lips
Cooked peas for eyes
Parmesan cheese to dust the snowman
Salt to taste



Invite the kids to peel and mash the potatoes, and use their imagination! You might be surprise that they might come up with something like this:

Or that:

The process is fun and can be a little messy, but they were so proud to see their artwork ready to eat with all their classmates when they finished:

Fresh Pumpkin Muffins

One of my favorite things about the arrival of fall is pumpkin season. With the falling golden leaves and cold weather comes the inspiration: Halloween is almost here and all the parties that surround it invite me to bake.

This recipe is a good old-fashioned one that calls for freshly puréed pumpkin. Yes, no cans here, please. It might be good not just Halloween but also for Thanksgiving. My children, who are mostly averse to pumpkin pies, loved them. I can't wait to have another excuse to bake another dozen of these delicate-flavored muffins.

Fresh Pumpkin Muffins

I used a medium-size sugar pie pumpkin, cooking it in chunks with a bit of water for 30 minutes in the pressure cooker. If you're not familiar with a pressure cooker, just bake the pumpkin in the oven at 350 degrees for about one hour or until it is tender. 

1 cup sugar pumpkin, cooked and puréed
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup oat bran
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a big bowl mix pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and oil. Let the mix rest for about 15 minutes and then whisk again.

In another bowl mix bran, flours, baking powder, baking soda, and spices and mix well with a whisk. Gradually add the dry mix to the wet mix with the help of a spoon just until you get an even batter. Slowly add walnuts and chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into baking cups, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Bake about 25 minutes until the top of the muffins are golden. Enjoy for breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack. 

Super Omega Cookies

 This is the kind of fully packed snack that is perfect for a fast bite at school break. It's MKA (my kids approved) although they usually don't care so much for raisins, flax seed or oats. But in this case  they are all inside a wonderful crunchy and chocolate-chip cookie, and so,  it is another story...

When I bake a batch, the smell of wonderful cinnamon embraces the whole house and that's enough for them to ask for the super cookies. On the next morning, cookies travel to school in the lunch boxes  as a sweet reminder that delicious can meet nutritious. And then I feel good. Mission accomplished and appreciated.

Super Omega Cookies

Omega-3 is one of those wonders of nature that might help on the kids brain development, and that's why I love it. In this recipe it comes form many sources, but animal sources. Canola oil, flax seed, oat meal, walnuts. I prefer to use all organic ingredients and the organic Saigon cinnamon is something special that I've found to boost the flavor of the cookie with a special zest. Oh, and by the way decrease the amount of sugar to a half if you want. It won't interfere on the texture.

1/2 cup canola or another vegetable oil
2 tablespoons finely ground flax seed mixed with 1/2 cup water (or two Omega-3 eggs)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/2 cup oat bran
2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 F. Whisk oil, flax seed mix (or eggs), sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a big bowl. Add flour, baking soda oat bran and whisk again the surface. With a spatula, mix all the ingredients and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then add all the other ingredients and mix well to guarantee that the chocolate chip will go to all cookies. With the help of two spoons, or an ice cream scooper, distribute dots on baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. 

Cucumber and Avocado Sushi Roll

 It was a midsummer dream: thanks to two Japanese arts, origami and sushi making, a whole afternoon taking care of four boys went fast paced and relatively peaceful. Maybe the secret was to keep their hands busy...

First they were all folding magazine pages to make paper boats. And after testing them on the water table, they were rolling roasted seaweed to make avocado and cucumber sushi.
The original idea was to prepare California rolls, but they were not enthusiastic about real crab. The result was simple and elegant: just rolls filled with cucumber and avocado, or just avocado.

After folding paper to make boats, it sounded as easy as it could be. Tiny hands are delicate enough to use the wood rolling mat and the wood paddle. To make the whole process fast and relaxing  I asked them to spread the rice on the roasted seaweed, as if they were painting a canvas. Then they chose what ingredients they would like to put inside the roll, and after I sealed the ends of the seaweed they helped me to roll. I put a parchment paper layer in between the mat and seaweed to make sure we wouldn't get sticky rice all over the place. It worked.

Simple Maki (Cucumber and Avocado Sushi Roll)

You could use one of Darienne's egg thin omelette inside, or just have a few ingredients available so to play with them as the children (or grownups) want. I used the Yamamotoyama brand of the roasted seaweed, easily found in grocery stores.

6 cups cal rose rice, cooked as directed or with this recipe for sushi rice
cucumber sticks
Haas avocado, sliced
soy sauce
wasabi (optional)

Most packages of roasted seaweed have instructions on how to roll a sushi roll. Stretch the cooked rice over the seaweed paper, draw a line with the fillings, moisten the seams with water using your fingertips, and roll it and slice. Once you do it right, you will do it right forever. Like folding paper or riding a bike. Enjoy!

Tofu and Asparagus Bowl

Having a vegan husband is a challenge. Our kids are very eager to eat protein of animal origin. They are the type to ask, "Mom, can we have steak tonight?"  I see myself as a flexitarian, eating a bit of everything doesn't harm my body or my foodie soul, although I tend to load my plate with more vegetables than anything else.

So my husband is the one who feeds my alternative creativity in the kitchen. I am happy to do that — he is a happier and healthier man since adopting some changes suggested by Forks Over Knives. And this time his dish was so beautiful that even the kids wanted to try ... and would have eaten more of they could.

They liked it so much that they asked me to post it here. For the 8-year-old, the secret of the food success was the juice of the dish. For the 6-year-old, all was good.

Tofu and Asparagus Bowl

Go for non-GMO extra-firm tofu. For this recipe I used Whole Foods 365 Brand, and the result was quite good. 

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 block extra-firm organic tofu, cut in 1-inch cubes
6 to 10 asparagus stems, cut diagonally
1 ripe tomato, diced
1 spring onion stem, cut diagonally
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon basil, folded and cut in strips (chiffonade)
1 tablespoon snipped chives
Kosher salt to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add tofu and increase heat to sear the cubes. Add asparagus, tomato, and spring onion. Stir-fry for 5 minutes.

Lower heat and let it sweat for about 5 minutes. Now add the minced garlic and stir. After about 4 minutes, remove from heat and add basil.

Serve over a bowl of basmati or jasmine rice. 

Kale Chips

My kids love kale! Yay!!! We'll... the truth is...

I mean, they love kale chips. Loaded with olive oil, garlic, and sometimes a bit of salt, those crunchy leaves are the ideal treat. My 6-year-old kindergartner loves it so much that he asked me to roast three full bags of fresh kale, planted and harvested by the students at school, to share with his friends. I was tired but enthusiastically spent 40 minutes in front of the oven on a hot night preparing their treat.

He told me that they all loved it so much. And I could believe it... See the photo below with the leftovers in the huge bowl?

I've been working with this recipe for years, and possibly every mom I've met in California has her own version. The important part is that kale is a wonderful source of nutrition and is the perfect pairing for black beans (see this classic Brazilian recipe here) and other vegetables. Or enjoy these chips on their own, as a wonderful snack.

Kale Chips

My favorite way is to make these is with green or purple kale. But dinosaur (a.k.a. Lacinato) kale works too. Make sure to get rid of the overly moist stems and leaf ribs and use just the shredded leaves. You also might want to use an olive oil sprayer.

kale leaves, washed and dried
extra-virgin olive oil, enough to spray or coat the whole batch
garlic powder
salt to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spread kale leaves evenly on sheet and spray with olive oil (or drizzle olive oil over the leaves and invite little hands to mix the leaves with the oil). Sprinkle kale with garlic powder and, if using, some salt.

Roast for 5 minutes, then open the (HOT!) oven and use long tongs to turn the leaves to make sure they roast evenly. Roast for 5 more minutes and check. If the leaves aren't crunchy enough for your taste, roast just a bit longer. 

Skillet Cookies

Something to celebrate with your mom this weekend? These cookies are the perfect fit for a surprise breakfast, brunch or tea, and so easy to make. Ask your dad or older brother or sister to help you, if that's the case. If you're mom, please read this to your kid(s) for inspiration. If you are not a mom, not a child, but still want to make something different for the weekend — and are not concerned about carbs — that's a cute and delicious project.

This recipe was adapted from many griddle cookies from the web, with the added benefit that it's suitable for vegans and those who are gluten intolerant or allergic, as it was tested many times at the Cooking Club at school.

The beauty of all these is that it can be mess-free, using a freezer plastic bag (like ziplock)  to prepare, so that the dough is kneaded inside the bag, avoiding spills.

And, please, don't forget to wash and reuse the bag after, or to recycle it. It would be great to save our big mother, Earth, from more trash.

Skillet Cookies

Use a electric griddle, like we did at school, or a large skillet. 

1 cup unbleached flour (or 1 1/2 of gluten-free flour, like the one from Trader Joe's)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon ( I love Organic Saigon Cinnamon)
1/3 cup vegetable spread (I use Earth's Best, vegan)
1 tablespoon oat bran mixed with 1/3 cup soy or almond milk
1/3 cup raisins (or any other dry fruit, or none)
Vegetable oil to spray or brush on the griddle or skillet surface

Mix all dry ingredients in a gallon-size plastic bag like the ones used for freezing. Close it and shake it many times. Cut the vegetable spread into tiny cubes and add to the bag. Close the bag and squeeze it until the mix looks like crumbles. Moisten the dough with the milk and oat bran mixture until the dough forms a ball.

Roll out dough on a floured surface (you can use parchment paper to cover the surface) until it's 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes. Heat the skillet to medium-low heat or 320 F if using an electric griddle. Spray or brush oil on the skillet or griddle surface and carefully transfer the cookies to it. Flip them when they are golden on one side (about 3 minutes each side), and grill for another 3 minutes. Wait for cookies to cool before tasting. Enjoy!

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

It feels like summer in California. And coconut is again an ingredient in the spotlight for the season. I can see more and more products made from coconut in the shelves of my favorite grocery stores, and its versatility is always inviting to try different recipes.

This recipe was made many times by children at cooking club at school, and it was the most popular one during the school year. We made it after reading the funny Should I Share My Ice Cream, by Mo Willems. It's a 1-2-3 process, and can be made in an ice cream machine, popsicle maker, ice tray, or even a plastic bag!

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream 

For faster results, freeze the coconut milk for a couple of hours before mixing the ingredients. 

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 can sweetened condensed milk (for a dairy-free version, use just 1 cup of coconut milk drink with coconut palm sugar)
1 can organic coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut milk drink

Toast coconut in a baking tray for about 5 to 10 minutes at 350 F. Watch closely to avoid burning. If you're in a hurry, toast the coconut in a glass dish in the microwave for a couple of minutes until the coconut becomes golden.

Mix all ingredients. Transfer to the ice cream maker as instructed by the manual, or freeze in popsicle maker or in the freezer in ice trays. Enjoy!

Three Ingredients Treats, aka Quindim

Long story cut short: I've been always obsessed about making this Brazilian treat, but called it quits when for a dozen of times it went wrong. And when something goes wrong with eggs, believe me it's such a difficult task to finish it. But finally, having 12 yolks left over from another treat, There I was, again trying to make it.
Quindim, as it is called (probably derived from candy), is a popular dessert back home. I used to love when my mom made them. Through the years I tried to make it so many times with appalling results. But this time, I compiled many recipes I had to achieve this easy going one.
The taste of eggs is not there, I promise. And the shiny surface will delight kids who love different textures in their mouth. My youngest kid couldn't have enough of them. And I am so happy that I broke of the last taboos standing on my kitchen! Yes, I can make quindins!!!

Quindins 

12 egg yolks at room temperature
3/4 cups of sugar
3/4 cups of organic unsweetened dry coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. You will need a deep baking mold, like a sheet cake mold that can be used as a water reservoir, so that a cupcake mold can go inside it, to make a double boiler. Coat a 12 cupcakes mold with butter and then sugar. After that you can start  to work on the mix, whisking the egg yolks with the sugar. Then add the coconut slowly, with a wooden spoon. Fill 1/3 of each whole with the eggs mix, stirring again quickly before filling each cupcake hole. Let it rest foR about 15 minutes. Then fill the cake mold with warm water (not hot, please!). NOw carefully submerge the cupcake mold into the cake mold, avoiding any water to spill in the egg mix. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 45 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to see if the top is golden. If not let it bake for more time, checking every 5 minutes. When it is done, take it out from the water and let it cool on a wire rack. Transfer to the fridge, covered. Enjoy after a few hours! Happy Easter!