toasted coconut-cream cheese bars

Remember as a kid when you made your first batch of chocolate chip cookies from scratch? How hard you worked and how amazing they tasted? Then remember when you found out you could make them into bar form? How cool and fancy that sounded to make them into bar form? Oh I sure do. Then I finally figured out the bar form is a lot easier; just throw it in a pan, no scooping or forming. Then came the add in's, the chopped up candy bars, nuts, etc...and you still thought how cool is that? Thinking I'm going to add in something that nobody else has ever added in before? Then you found out everyone was actually adding in peanut butter cups all the time, and you were so bummed.

These coconut bars reminded me of those past days. Long ago I did a cookie post (coconut cream cheese cookies) about 2 years ago, that is still, today, one of the most searched for recipes via google. It's kind of nice knowing there are that many coconut lovers out there. I've always wanted to re-create those cookies somehow, someway, and only came up with these bars. Not exactly the same recipe, this one is more of a crispy crumb cake with a cookie taste. Just as good though.
Lately I've been craving coconut; I do almost every winter.

Curious as to what is in coconut that my body craves, I did a little research and found a coconut research center. LOL How very cool. It seems legit; I did do some fact-checking to confirm their sayings. Apparently coconut is very useful for almost all things related to healthy gut, kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, gum disease and cavities, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, and other diseases. Helps in the absorption of calcium and magnesium, is good for utilizing the blood glucose...the list goes on and on. Read here for all the facts.

And for those of you who (like me) love real coconut to nosh on. Try these little gems. Inside are real pieces of coconut, not processed. Dipped in dark chocolate. Really good. I found them at my local natural health food store. I think Whole Foods carries them too.



toasted coconut-cream cheese bars
print recipe

dough:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup (or more if desired) shredded coconut (not toasted)
½ ts sea salt
1 large egg
1 ts pure vanilla extract

cream cheese filling
8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
1 large egg yolk
½ cup toasted coconut
Pinch of salt

Cook notes: This bakes up very fast, so please check it at the 30 minute mark. These are very crispy bars. I’ve said that you need half the dough for the bottom and the other half for the top (crumb topping) but you may need a little more dough for the bottom than just half. It might be a nice addition to add some toasted pecans or walnuts to the cream cheese mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease up a 8 or 9-inch square baking pan with butter. If you feel safer using parchment paper, then go ahead and butter up your pan then line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl mix the cream cheese, egg yolk, toasted coconut and salt until well combined; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt.
With a pastry cutter, fork or your hands, cut up butter and mix in with the flour mixture until you have large coarse-like crumbs. No need to over work.
In a small bowl, beat the egg and vanilla extract. Add this into the flour mixture and mix until it all just comes together.
Divide dough in half. Take one half and place in pan. Wet your fingers to smooth out the dough and make sure to get all the corners.
Take the cream cheese mixture and place over the dough. Keep the cream cheese mixture at least ½ inch away from the edges; this way nothing will seep out as it bakes.

Take the other half of the dough and crumble on the top, do not pat down. Just crumble as you would a crumb cake. Take the untoasted coconut and sprinkle over top (optional but wonderful).
Bake until topping is deep golden brown; which should be about 30 - 45 minutes.
Let cool completely in pan. Run a sharp knife around edges to help loosen it up. Then using a spatula to help you lift it out, place on cutting board and finish slicing.
Should make about 10-12 small bars.

friday fun stuff

The winner of the Aeropress is lucky number 19. Ruby of That's So Vegan you won! Congrats! Please email me and give me your address!

Trendy fire alarms? Absolutely. Check out these bird chirping fire alarms. Love these and would rather have a couple of these instead of the annoying, loud ones I have now.

You've all heard that coocnut oil is really good for you and thankfully we are beginning to see more and more recipes for it. Like this coconut oil granola, not only healthy but healthy food that will not suck. Sounds good to me but I would like to add a bit of chocolate to it--I just love coconut oil with chocolate, they go really well together like here when I made the chocolate hard shell for homemade donuts.

There is a pie shop in Brooklyn called 24 Blackbirds. You might have heard of them and you might have seen them on the cooking channel "Unique Eats". I have their salty caramel apple pie on my to bake list. They are also famous for their "chocolate-oatmeal pie".

Have you ever had a black & blue lemonade? It's a strange little concoction and I was hesitant at first but it really was tasty.

Have you seen these adorable merit badges for the home? Just like the boy or girl scouts but now for the home. A great way to motivate your kids or even your spouse to help out around the house.

Human camouflaged. The 3rd from the bottom is my favorite. Love that wallpaper for a fancy guest bathroom. Right?

Are you into what kind of homes do the celebrities have? How much did they pay for them? Me too. Check out this site: The Real Estalker.

I'm not that into the "instagram" craze. Are you? Here are some fabulous photo app alternatives. I have the Camera+ one and I love it. The app has everything all in one place. Definitely worth the money.

What do you like to collect? Or fancy for a hobby? One of mine is terrarium's. I just love them. Have any good links for them? Please share. I love to collect small and unusual ones.




Terrarium pendant--just love this.

Some reviews of various eBook apps. I love them all. Which one do you have or want?

A lot of the links I share I get from the website called thekitchn.com They share a lot of questions on their website and let the readers answer them in the comment section. Like this one, where they asked us "Are the any foods that should never be stored in the fridge?" See all the helpful answers in the comments.

I love the ginger beer that's sold at Trader Joe's. But it's quite pricey. Here' s way to make it at home. Do you like ginger beer?

Unusual elevators. Very cool.

What are you making for Super Bowl? I really want to make:

Bacon Guacamole. I could eat all that in one sitting.

How about this: bacon double cheeseburger dip. Yeah dip. Wow.

Philly cheesesteak sliders!

Greek Quesadillas

Beef Barbacoa

Baked Jalepeno Poppers

Mocha Cream Tart (oh heavens yes)

But hubby wants these ham & cheese sliders. Easy peasy to make and loaded with lots of topping.



And these sliders too.




But you know, I really want a kicked up hot dog this weekend. So I might make some sort of Chicago Dogs; I do have jars and jars of relish in the fridge that get used once and are left to sit there for years.


Or maybe some spicy buffalo chicken chili, because I truly crave that blue cheese drizzle on top the most.

Lately it's been really nice on cape cod, not a lot of snow and not a lot of bone chilling cold. Thank goodness. Last year at this time we were up to over 51 inches of snow by now. This year, so far 3-4 inches? Let's keep it that way and just slide right into spring.

Not quite sure what possessed me to be on the beach this day. It was very windy. Can you see the sand blowing around? Crazy day to be on the beach, but it was so very photogenic too.

Woods Hole Ferry.

Harwich port, MA. I could live here. No problem.

He's getting there!


Winter winds blow so much sand the roads have to be plowed for sand.

The best sloppy joe's

Are you a BBQ sauce junkie? I am. Some of the best BBQ sauce I've ever had in my life. I've made 1001 uses for it. The best part? It's all ingredients you can understand and are familiar with. And has real maple syrup in it! Maple syrup is one of the best ingredients for chili's, BBQ sauce, glazes for grilling, etc....

When I find a really good product, I can't help but tell all. I'll even make sure to tell people in the grocery store.

They did not pay me to do this post (I mean I wish they would in cases of BBQ sauce for me and my fans--I would gladly take that). But this post is all my own opinion. You need to try this if you are a BBQ sauce junkie like me.

Next time you go to whole foods, look for this special sauce. It's amazing on grilled chicken, steak, and even tofu. And I have used this on salads too. Amazing.

the best sloppy joes
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Note: found this BBQ sauce at whole foods and am in love with it.
It’s very tangy, sweet and not too salty. Has a list of ingredients that you can understand; very versatile with almost any dish.
You can use chicken or even grilled tofu works really well in this dish. Feel free to use any veggies you desire.

1 lb of meat (hamburg, chicken or tofu chunks), cooked/fried/baked/etc.
3 or more bell peppers, sautéed
1 large onion, sautéed
½ bottle (or more) of the Butternut mountain BBQ sauce
Toasted onion buns

Fry up or grill up the meat of your choice; sauté the veggies. Then mix all together in a pot with the sauce; heat up and serve over toasted buns.
Leftovers are amazing on salads!

blackberry-cream cheese crumb cake

Raspberry coulis, blackberry coulis---I could drink with a straw. Something about that tangy, not too sweet taste that makes me crave a small glass of it with a touch of tonic water. The uses of coulis are endless: ice cream, cakes, muffins, sorbets, gelato, and crumb cakes. Normally I crave coulis every other day in the summertime; lately I've been craving it in the cold winter months. Might be my lack of vitamin C? Who knows. Good raspberries, blackberries are hard to come by in my neck of the woods, but luckily at a not too far away Whole Foods, I eyed some precious, beautiful looking blackberries. Knowing I had a long overdue request from hubby to make a "kicked up" crumb cake, these blackberries fit the bill. I doubled up the batched of blackberries to make extra coulis for drinking and baking.
If the thought of this crumb cake looks good to you but the thought of all the steps is changing your mind, please don't let it. The coulis can be made days ahead and kept in the fridge. Really the coulis is the only time-consuming part, as well as the most important, as it really adds a nice, tangy burst to the crumb cake. But the best part of this crumb cake is that the longer it sits, the more flavor-full it gets. All those fabulous different flavors only get more intense as a couple days goes by.







blackberry-cream cheese crumb cake
print recipe

cake:
¼ cup canola oil, plus more for pan
½ stick unsalted butter, melted
2 TB sour cream
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
½ cup + 2 TB granulated white sugar
1 ts baking powder
½ ts coarse salt
1 large egg
½ cup + 2 TB half & half
2 ts pure vanilla extract

crumb topping:
1 cups flour
1 cups packed light brown sugar
¾ ts coarse salt
½ TB ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

Cook notes: the batter is very thin. It rises a bit when baking. This crumb cake bakes very fast! So please make sure to check it at the 25 minute mark. It will be hard to see if it’s done with all the layers on there, so use a cake tester to check cake layer. The coulis can be made a couple days ahead of time and stored in fridge until ready to use. It is optional, but wonderful to add in a couple tablespoons of the coulis into your cream cheese mixture. I doubled my ingredients for the blackberry coulis as I wanted a little bit more on the cake and for future use.

blackberry coulis:
1 pint fresh blackberries
2 TB granulated sugar, or to taste
1 TB fresh lemon juice, or to taste

For the coulis:
Put all the ingredients in medium sauce pan and cook over medium (not high!) heat until fruit is mostly dissolved and mixture has reduced a bit as well as thickened up; about 30 minutes or more. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pushing down on the solids. You might have to let this sit for a while to finish draining—it takes a while. Don’t forget to scrape off the bottom side of the sieve for all the juicy, thickened pulp. Discard the seeds. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if needed; it shouldn’t need anything. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the crumb topping:
In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, pour melted butter over mixture, and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Set aside

cream cheese mixture
8 ounces cream cheese, room temp.
1 large egg yolk
3 TB white sugar
1 TB fresh lemon zest
2 TB or more of the blackberry coulis (optional, but wonderful)

For the cream cheese mixture:
Mix all in a bowl (really well) until ready to use.
For cake:
Place rack in center of oven, and heat oven to 350°.
Lightly butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and dust with flour, and tap to remove excess. (I’ve also used the Pam with Flour and it worked just fine). Set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together 2 ¼ cups flour, add in the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together egg, butter, half & half, canola oil, sour cream, and vanilla.

Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into wet mixture.
Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, and set aside. (to keep batter from sticking to your hand or spoon, just wet or oil your fingers or a spoon and spread evenly throughout pan).

The batter should be about half an inch high. It will cook/rise to an inch thick. (Don’t worry if the batter is very thin and hard to get into the corners, it does spread out as it’s cooking). Use wet fingers to push batter into corners.
Next put on the cream cheese mixture either in one single layer, clumps or vertical lines. You can make swirls if you want too, I did not.
Next add on the crumbs. Then drizzle on the coulis (if it helps put the coulis in a pastry bag and draw lines).
Then transfer pan to oven, and bake for 14 minutes, rotate pan. Then cook another 10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Check cake at 25 minute mark for sure. Let cake cool and set up before slicing.
Using a serrated knife or bench scraper, cut into 3-inch squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 2-4 days.

Giveaway: AeroPress Coffee Maker!

Ever get offered to do a giveaway with something you really love? And just can't wait to post about it? I have been so excited to do this giveaway for the longest time. Plus I have one to giveaway to you.
The AreoPress is quite the remarkable little machine. It's absolutely perfect for one cup espresso. Makes more than just one cup too, but since I'm the only coffee drinker in the house it's perfect for me. I love my starbuck via's, but they can get costly. So glad I have an AreoPress now, far cheaper and just as tasty. The espresso is so much cleaner, crisper, and WAY less acidic.
I have to be honest when I first got the package and saw the parts I was a little intimated, but once it's together you are good to go, and cleanup is literally non-existent. All you really have to do is change filter, put in ground coffee, add hot water--just like any other coffee maker. But the flavor is so much better than those awful drip makers that have that bitter, heavy, cigarette-butts-in-water taste.
Trust me, if you like clean, sharp, crisp espresso, then you have to get one. They retail for only $29.99. That's not a bad price at all in this economy.
Don't forget to check out their Facebook page for deals and giveaways too!



All you have to do to enter the contest is go to their website and tell me where you can buy one. This is their website: AeroPress.
ONE entry per person.
PLEASE have a valid email, OR leave your email along with your answer.

NO anonymous comments.
The winner will be announced on Friday February 3, 2012. Good luck!