Coconut Dream Bars

With the warmer weather upon us, all I can think about is kicking back with an icy pina colada on a beach. I can almost feel the salty air whipping through my hair, the sand rubbing between my bare toes, and the ice cubes clinking against the glass in my cocktail...I've been playing a lot of tennis outside and there's nothing more refreshing than a cold drink after a sweaty match.

The scent of coconut brings me back to lazy summer days. These bars make great treats to bring to a picnic with your friends, to a barbeque, or why not take them to that dreamy beach with a pina colada in hand? 

These bars smelled remarkably good, I replaced some of the all-purpose flour in the original recipe with coconut flour. When I mixed the batter, I couldn't get over how aromatic the coconut flour was.  Coconut flour is also gluten-free for those looking for avoiding gluten in their diet and it's higher in fibre than all-purpose flour (for more info on coconut flour and it's benefits, visit Nuts.com)

The bottom layer of these bars is a shortbread topped with a sticky coconut mixture. These bars are best the day they are made, the next day I found the shortbread had absorbed the moisture from the top layer and didn't retain its crisp texture anymore. Regardless, the filling is not too sweet, it's chewy and marries well with the buttery shortbread. 

Tweet

Recipe here!

Coconut Cake with Chocolate Cloud Frosting

What happens if you're not ready to turn 27? When you feel like your life isn't where you imagined it to be in your youth? I didn't have concrete 5 or 10 year goals, but in my head, I had hoped to make decent progress in life. But then again, what defines someone as successful? It's subjective. One person's success might not mean the same thing to someone else. But I can't help but compare myself to my peers. Some friends I've grown up with are now married, popping out babies, or devoted mothers, and/or own a home. I don't have any of those things. I don't even have a dog (something I hope to change next year--hey look, an attainable goal!). I know that those things don't define you and everyone's timeline is different, but how does that reflect about you?

I feel like I haven't traveled enough, I want to eat and drink my way through Italy, stuff my face with platters of fresh pasta made by nonnas with wrinkled hands and sip homemade limonello followed by pistachio gelato. I want to visit New Orleans and blues dance with a hot stranger on the street with a saxophonist crooning in the background. I haven't read enough books! I want to lie on the beach in Santorini and read food memoirs. 

I want to own my own house and paint the bathroom a brilliant shade of pale turquoise to remind me of the Caribbean ocean, hang up a ton of photos I've taken of my friends and family to show off to my friends and family. I want a bright and open kitchen with grayish white marble countertops and host dinner parties like I used to during my Montreal days. I want to have a golden retriever and call him Brinkley (named after Tom Hank's dog in You've Got Mail) and throw frisbees for him to catch and bring back to me. That's only a tiny glimpse of the many things I want to do. I feel like I'm running out of time. Is it just me? Is this what a quarter-life crisis feels like?

Anyway, I made this layer cake for one of my best friend's birthday. I made the cake layers and froze it for a week since I knew there wouldn't be time to make it before her party. I whipped up the frosting which was definitely THE most decadent, buttery, and creamy frosting I've ever made. Other frostings I've made lean towards the sugary side or have sandier texture and who don't the words "Cloud Frosting" just beckon your name? The frosting has a high butter to sugar ratio which makes it uber smooth. I'd prefer a stronger chocolate flavour, but that didn't stop the compliments from flowing at the party. 

The cake is absolutely amaZING. It's moist and the flavour marries well with the frosting, there's just enough shredded coconut to give it some nibbly texture too. I put plenty of kosher salt in the frosting too because I can't resist that sweet and salty combination. There were no leftovers which made us sad, but I suppose it goes to show just how delicious it was. 

Tweet

Recipe here!

Coconut Bread

I feel guilty for how much I've ignored my blog. My dad came to visit from overseas so I was busy spending time with him. My parents taught Jacques, my boyfriend, how to play mahjong (not the computer game) the real deal, using tiles engraved with various shapes and colours. A week later, I went to see Kings of Leon in concert with my girlfriends (featuring Gary Clark Jr., who is frequently on repeat on my Ipod) and spent the following days belting out this song.

I haven’t baked much lately, but I did cook for my family. I made lasagna and layered fresh pasta sheets with white sauce and meat sauce simmered with plenty of wine and topped with mozzarella so that after 30 minutes of oven time, the edges were crispy and just a couple of minutes away from being burnt. It was perfect. The insides were squidgy and the flavours melded together. What a difference fresh pasta makes! Lasagna-epiphany never felt so good!

On another night, I made pavlovas, something I've been meaning to make for a year or so. I folded in dark chocolate chunks into whipped egg whites and sugar and before serving, laid slices of fresh pears and generous scoops of ice cream. We all dived into them, quiet and eager to stuff our faces with crisp and pillowy goodness.

I also went to a Fabulicious lunch. It’s an event where wineries in the Niagara area get to show off their culinary talents with meals at a set price. My mom and Jacques arrived at Peller Estates an hour late but they were thankfully accommodating. 

There was arugula salad with quail, pan-fried salmon with curried butternut squash, wild boar panini, duck confit with truffled fettuccine carbonara and of course, the best part was when we shared our desserts: sticky toffee pudding with oatmeal ice cream, cranberry and apple crumble, and the best one of all: chocolate cream pie with macerated cherries. I wish I had worn my stretchy pants.

As if all that food wasn't enough, I still felt like eating something sweet. I wanted to make something simple, with the preparation done in less than 20 minutes. I had my eye on this recipe from Smitten Kitchen in a while and it looked doable for my lazy mood. You really can't go wrong with the mixture of toasted coconut, sugar, browned butter, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. This bread can be mixed by hand and comes together easily, I reduced the amount of sugar a little and it turned out fine. Like Deb describes, it has a drier crumb than banana bread and is just as good. You can add nuts, grate citrus fruit into the batter, add chocolate chips, whatever suits your fancy. I like it plain, toasted with Speculoos. 

Tweet

Recipe here!

Coconut Rhubarb Scones

Boy troubles. Every girl I know has them. Lately, I’m losing sleep over my boyfriend. It’s an ongoing issue. My close friends know about it, I always turn to them when I need someone to hear me out, to enlighten me with a fresh perspective and especially, to give me some kind of comfort and let me know everything will be ok.

If you’ve been a visitor of my blog, you know I love making desserts, mixing and stirring ingredients is like therapy to me. I tried making coconut panna cotta last week when I was feeling sad and planned to serve it with mashed up blueberry sauce. As I unmolded one of the puddings, it belched and melted into a bowl like a lifeless amoeba. My first response was to violently throw the rest of it into the sink, but I didn’t. I hate wasting food, besides, they tasted fine, just not stunning and I wanted to share something worthy. Instead, I picked up rhubarb on the way from the liquor store (I know beer and root vegetables don’t go hand in hand, but they were conveniently located within footsteps to each other and I really needed alcohol that night).

These rhubarb scones turned out way better. They were attractive and smelled freaking awesome. Chunks of tangy rhubarb balance out the richness, they’re sprinkled with just a touch of sugar, the coconut milk gives it a delicate aroma. I even switched out some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour to justify eating more since it’s supposedly healthier. A word of warning, the dough definitely finicky, but if you don’t mind getting your hands sticky with flour, it’s not that bad. It took me a few attempts to shape the dough properly and being in my I’m-so-goddamn-upset-do-not-bother-me mood didn’t make things easier. I love that they don’t look perfect, they’re rustic craggily messes and though they don't have the same effect as chocolate, these do make you feel a little better when you're blue.

Tweet

Recipe here!

Andy's Fairfield Granola

I bought a small bouquet of tulips the other day. They were singing to me, their yellow tinged lips and ruby petals were too pretty not to bring back home. They’re sitting on my dining table by the window, happily soaking up the bright rays of sunlight. It’s March and also that time of year when you start cursing why there is the snow still lying on the ground, and whining about wearing boots when you would rather break out those sandals you bought last year. On the upside, the days are getting longer and by the time I get home from work, the sky is still streaked with brilliant shade of gold. I’m excited to strip off to break away from the biting cold. Spring is here people! Spring!

I’ve been eating this for the past few weeks and don’t think I could ever get tired of it. There’s everything I want in the morning in this granola: wholesome, crunchiness filled with roasted nuts and chewy, dried fruit. Granola sprinkled over plain yogurt makes my insides feel happy and healthy. I’ve made granola many times before, but there’s usually too much oil or sugar and it makes a breakfast food taste more like dessert than something to start your day off right. Nigella’s recipe uses applesauce to help glue the ingredients together, ground cinnamon and ginger to give it extra oomph of flavour and only a moderate amount of sugar and fat to make this granola even better.  

I love that granola is also customizable to your tastes. Throw in any nuts, seeds, flavourings, spices, dried fruit as you please. I’m an almond and coconut advocate and made sure there was plenty of it in this batch. This recipe makes a boatload of granola and I’m still working through of it. 

In other news, I’m published! In PRINT!! I wrote a piece for Acquired Taste, a magazine that features beautiful photography and inspiring food stories. It feels pretty awesome to have my name in the same magazine as Christina Tosi, the pastry chef of Milk. I’m stoked for the next issue. 

Tweet

Recipe here!

Almond Coconut Granola

There was a time when I was fervently passionate about my profession. I went to school to be a dietitian*, moved to Toronto, but particular circumstances has slashed my love for nutrition. Some days I feel like it's wringing out all my juices, till nothing but the bitter peel is left, even the pulp is a pile of mush lying neglected and tasteless.

Some days, I just want to throw up my arms in the air and call it quits, discard the title that took me 6 years to achieve. Self doubt kicks in, I wonder whether I am really destined to be a dietitian, then, I wallow at my misfortune that seems to have parked a permanent spot in my life.

But yesterday my dad said something to me that put things in perspective. I'm in my early twenties, this is merely but a minor bump in the road, a small hurdle in my career, I am still a dietitian, I need to be positive and find a way over that towering stone wall. Which is true. So true, sometimes I just need a reminder that my life isn't over. It's also a reminder that my parents are very wise and I love them so.

So to make the world a better place and to numb my cocktail mix of emotions, I made granola.

There's been a nip in the air lately. I grudgingly watched the sun cast a blood red sky across the horizon by 7pm instead of 9pm. Even the leaves have started to shed their emerald green colors in exchange for gold and rusty shades. Folks, autumn is upon us and granola is a brilliant way to welcome the new season.

Store-bought granola, to me, is overly sweet or laden with ingredients that you can't pronounce, but this recipe, from Leite's Culinaria is a just the remedy to satisfy that breakfast crunch.

There's cinnamon and coconut to give the granola flavor and aroma. Roasted almonds are crucial, providing a much needed crisp in each mouthful, I added sunflower seeds to amp up the nuttiness. And finally, dried fruits are a must, they add contrast to the otherwise tedious noshing of hard ingredients. I tweaked the recipe by using less sugar, confident that the quarter cup of honey will suffice.



My favorite kind of recipes are the ones you can easily adjust to suit your tastes or whatever is sitting in your pantry. If you, like me, wanted to make exotic granola using crystallized ginger, but they suddenly disappeared because you used them for this and couldn't help but suck on them as a snack, wincing in its spicy heat, you can use other dried fruits. I used dried blueberries, which aren't my favorite, but dried apricots, raisins, and cranberries would be excellent choices.

I had a generous cup of granola with an equally generous amount of yogurt for breakfast, and I must say, even with the early arrival of fall, I think I'll be ok, as long as I have this to keep me satisfied.

*Disclaimer alert! I am a registered dietitian, but this site was created as a space for me to showcase my love for food and photography and occasionally, lament about life, it is not intended as nutritional advice.

Tweet

Recipe here!