Coconut Chai Cutie Cakes

I walked into Heika's bedroom and saw a tin. It was a Tea Tin. It was called Coconut Chai. I smelled it and thought, "I wish I could eat this." Then Heika walked in and I shared my idea. "Heika, smell this. What if we baked this?"

What happens next? This recipe. True friends come together and create things. That is exactly what we did.

Well, first we ate indian food and bought pants and shoes.

Anyway, the concept and science of the recipe is based off of a carrot cake recipe.

Coconut Chai Cutie Cakes.

1 lb sweetened coconut shavings

3 large eggs

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups coconut oil (or veggie oil)

3/4 cups applesauce

1/3 cup coconut milk mixed well (you can use buttermilk if you don't have it)

1 1/2 coconut extract (vanilla is fine, I guess)

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

8 oz. Cream Cheese

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1/2 cup toasted coconut shavings

1/2 cup toasted coconut shavings for garnishing

** if you're shopping, buy two bags of sweetened coconut shavings.

add one bag to the mix. Preheat your oven to 350 and spread the rest of the coconut shavings on a baking sheet and toast for 10 min. Keep an eye on it and mix it around once or twice so it toasts evenly.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325

Combine first 7 ingredients and mix well. It's not going to be very runny, it's going to be kind of chunky and pasty. Don't worry.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.

add dry ingredients to wet and mix just until moistened.

heavily coat a mini cupcake pan with cooking oil. Drop mixture into tins and just about fill each one. Bake for 14 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

while they're baking, whip together cream cheese, powdered sugar, cinnamon and coconut extract until smooth. Fold in a fistful of toasted coconut shavings.

After the Cutie Cakes have cooled, frost each one and garnish with toasted shavings to be fancy.

Please don't be intimidated by the seemingly complicated and long process. It's so worth it and not as hard as it seems. Just grab a friend and bake some memories!

I brought these Cutie Cake creations to my friend Melissa Walsh's (soon to be Karner!) bachelorette party this past Saturday. Well, I had to make another batch because I left the first batch at the lake house on accident. Either way, I was proud of them and excited to share them with my friends :)

Texas Caviar

This recipe is one commonly requested by Jordan, my Dad, and Dante.

It's mostly assembly and it's not a strict recipe, but it always turns out great.

Ingredients:

4 different color peppers (red, green, yellow,orange), diced

1 vidalia onion (white or red work just fine too), diced

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can black eyed peas. (any four to five cans of any beans are fine), rinsed and drained.

1 can shoepeg corn

Sauce:

1 cup sugar

1 cup white or apple cider vinegar

To make: assemble all ingredients in a giant bowl. Then, in a small sauce pan, bring vinegar and sugar to a boil until dissolved. Pour the sauce over the other stuff and let it chill in the fridge until it's cold and saturated (about 1 1/2 hours minimum). Serve cold with tortilla chips or on a bed of lettuce and enjoy!

I know what you're thinking, "Darla, this is like 5 gallons of texas caviar". Will you just trust me? I made this one night and it was all gone by lunch the next day. My dad eats it in a bowl with a spoon. He calls it bean salad. It's good for you. It's delicious. Just give in. Worse case scenario, you have to share with a neighbor and they love it and you become friends forever.

what do you have to lose?

Maple Syrup Married Bread

I'm a married woman. I have resolved to post more recipes after the wedding, so here I go.

What do you bake when you're married? Well, my husband wants bread. That has been his only request so far. Oh, and Leftover Chicken-Chicken Salad sandwiches, but I'll make that tomorrow.

So I made bread.

Well, I'm making bread right now. I'm listening to my awful bread-maker as I type this. That sound and my wedding reception playlist. I am a sap.

This recipe is hardly new. It's just bread. Made with Maple Syrup that Heika gave us from vermont. She also gave us blackberry jam that we're going to put on our maple toast tomorrow.

Mmm. I would love Vermont so much more if it didn't hold her hostage for far too long.

Anyway, here's some bread. Toast it. Sandwich it. Pinch pieces off of it and nibble them (and don't count the calories). Do whatever you'd like. All I ask is that you remember me as you make and enjoy this recipe.

Maple Syrup Married Bread.

1 ½ cups Milk/Water

1 1/3 Tbs Vegetable Oil

2 Tbs Maple Syrup. (don't be shy)

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour (I did 1 cup whole wheat to ease my binge guilt)

2 tsp yeast

You know the drill. Pile it all in there in order and press start. Then go read parenting books while your husband plays call of duty.

Love,

Darla Jean Innis.