Key Lime Pie with Coconut Graham Cracker Crust

One of my "a few times a week" blog reads is Coconut and Lime. Upon reading last week, I saw that Rachel is celebrating her three year blogiversary so I figured, "What better way to honor Rachel and her blog than to make a Key Lime Pie with Coconut Graham Cracker Crust?" This recipe is my standard key lime pie recipe in which I substituted 1/2 cup of the crushed graham crackers in the crust with 1/2 cup sweetened coconut instead. Also, I sprinkled the top of the pie with toasted coconut and added a slice of lime for some much-needed visual pizazz.

Happy 3rd Blogiversary, Rachel and Coconut and Lime!!!

Since Rachel isn't here in person to enjoy this cool, refreshing pie with me, I enjoyed a big, yummy piece of it along with my friend Kurt. I know that key lime pie just happens to be one of his favorite desserts, and since his birthday is coming up, it was an early treat for him (and also a nice change from a traditional birthday cake). The tart, creamy filling is delicious, and the coconut in the crust and on top really adds a nice texture and flavor, too. Who knew coconut and lime were so good together? (Obviously, Rachel did.)

Key Lime Pie with Coconut Graham Cracker Crust

Crust
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 (8 ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
½ cup key lime juice

Topping
3 tablespoons sweetened coconut, toasted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In medium bowl, mix crushed graham crackers and coconut together. Add melted butter and mix until well blended. Using the tines of a dinner fork or your fingers, press crust mixture into bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake crust until set, about 5-6 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack before filling.

In medium bowl, beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk using an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add in key lime juice; stir to combine. Pour filling into crust. Sprinkle top of pie with toasted coconut. Cover pie with plastic wrap and chill at least 12 hours (or until set) before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

 
















A celebratory slice for Rachel:

 

Sad and Stressed

That's my boy Kurt today. Sad because his Red Wings suck (I mean, lost). Stressed because he's closing on his townhouse on Friday and driving/moving out to Arizona next week.

(Hey, Atlanta...where's everybody going???)

Since I was on a baking spree in the kitchen today, I figured, "Why not bake a batch of cookies for both Chris and Kurt?" (See the recipe for the cookies I baked for Chris in the previous post.)

(Sorry for all of the cookie recipes with chocolate chips, coconut and almonds recently. I didn't realize how much of these three ingredients I had in my pantry and need to use up before my move to Vancouver in five weeks. FIVE WEEKS!!! Yikes...and Yippee!!!)

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

Adapted from Epicurious - Gourmet, August 2001

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups packaged finely shredded unsweetened coconut
2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks (I used chocolate chips)
3/4 cup almonds with skins, toasted, cooled, and chopped

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Beat together butter and sugars in a bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until just blended, then beat in vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add flour and mix at low speed until just blended. Stir in oats, coconut, chocolate, and almonds.

Arrange 1/4-cup mounds of cookie dough about 3 inches apart on 2 lightly buttered large baking sheets (about 8 cookies per sheet), then gently pat down each mound to about 1/2 inch thick. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position and rotating pans halfway through baking, until golden, 15 to 18 minutes total.

Cool cookies on sheets 1 minute, then transfer with a spatula to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies in same manner.

Makes about 24 large cookies.

 

Nanaimo Bars

It's Victoria Day up in Canada, and I figured today would be a good day to post the Nanaimo Bars I made for my brother over the weekend. (And what exactly is Victoria Day, you ask? Yeah, I don't know either. Let's all learn something new today and read about it here.)

With so many recipes for Nanaimo Bars out there to choose from, which recipe did I decide to make? The one from the City of Nanaimo website, of course. The recipe is here.

This recipe is very good. However, I would suggest reducing the amount of graham wafer crumbs, almonds and coconut in the base, though. (I had a lot of the mixture leftover since I didn't want a super-thick base.) If I were to make these again, I would definitely use 1/4 cup less of each of those ingredients. Make sure you use European butter (e.g., Plugra or Lurpak) in this recipe...the butter taste is very prominent. Use quality chocolate, too. Using good ingredients is key to really bring out the flavor of these bars. Cut these bars small, too, as they are really sweet and rich.

I will be visiting Nanaimo in October (or at least taking a ferry there from Vancouver to get elsewhere on Vancouver Island), so I may be inspired to make another batch of Nanaimo Bars come fall. (There's a peanut butter version I really want to try, too, so stay tuned.)

 
















I was in a hurry to meet Mike for lunch, so I only snapped one (bad) picture, but you get the idea of what they look like:

 

Chocolate, Coconut & Almond Cookies

These BIG chocolate chips are well-suited to be baked into a batch of BIG cookies. They really live up to the “smoother, meltier” hype that the package promises, too. I adapted a basic cookie dough recipe and added in the chocolate chips by ¼ cups until the dough had just the right amount of chips...not too few and not too many. A heaping ¾ cup of these super cookie chips was the perfect amount. For good measure (and in a continuing effort to clean out my pantry), I also added a heaping ½ cup of shredded sweetened coconut and a heaping ½ cup of sliced almonds (after I toasted them, of course). The end result was a plate full of BIG, thick and delicious a la Almond Joy cookies. These toothsome cookies have just the right amount of chocolate in them, they're moist and chewy from the sweetened coconut and the toasted almonds add a subtle crunch. Definitely a well-rounded cookie that ranks among the best of all the batches of cookies I have ever made. They’re so good, I made another batch this morning just for me (and me only). Kurt liked these so much that he asked me to email the recipe to him so he could send it to his mom up in Michigan. Since I didn't stay up all last night trying to think of a more clever name for these cookies, I just named them after the three main ingredients. (Genius, I know.)

Chocolate, Coconut & Almond Cookies

1 cup plus 2 T. all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 T. granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (heaping) Guittard Semisweet Chocolate Super Cookie Chips
½ cup (heaping) sweetened flaked coconut
½ cup (heaping) sliced almonds, toasted and cooled

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and the sugars on medium-high speed of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla extract; mix well. Beat in flour mixture. By hand, fold in chocolate chips, coconut and almonds.

Form dough into large mounds (about 1/4 cup in size) and place 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake cookies in middle of oven 11-13 minutes, or until golden. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely.

Cookies keep in an airtight container for 5 days.

Yield: Makes 12 (very) BIG cookies (or 24 regular-sized cookies).

Note: You can use regular semisweet chocolate chips in place of the Super Cookie Chips.

 
 
 

Vanilla Coconut Quick Bread

I had a package of unsweetened coconut and an unopened bottle of coconut extract in my pantry, and over the weekend I was trying to figure out what I could make to use up the coconut and put a dent in using up the coconut extract. After a quick internet search, I came across this recipe for Vanilla Coconut Quick Bread.

Perfecto!!!

My poor loaf pan barely gets used, so after a 15-minute search through three different kitchen cabinets, I finally found it. I baked this recipe yesterday and let it sit overnight before cutting into it (with a serrated knife, of course) for breakfast this morning. It's perfect as written...don't change a thing. The coconut flavor is fantastic. It has a nice crunchy crust (thanks to a generous spray of cooking spray in the loaf pan) and the middle is perfect...not overly moist, but by no means dry. Make sure to use a finely shredded unsweetened coconut, not the stringy sweetened coconut (like Baker's) you find on the baker's aisle in your local grocery store. You can find the unsweetened coconut in either health stores or specialty grocers like Whole Foods. You may be able to find Bob's Red Mill brand in your regular grocery store's organic section, too.

Your kitchen and house will smell fantastic as this bread is baking, too.

Vanilla Coconut Quick Bread

Source: The Vanilla.COMpany

1 1/4 cups (about 2 1/2 ounces) shredded unsweetened coconut
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons coconut extract
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet; toast, shaking the pan once, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Immediately transfer to a bowl and cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, coconut, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine the milk, oil, eggs, coconut extract, and vanilla. Beat hard with a whisk until frothy. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in. Stir well with a large spatula until evenly incorporated; batter will be slightly lumpy.

Scrape the batter into the loaf pan. Bake in the center of the preheated oven 50 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The top surface will be crusty and firm to the touch, the sides deep brown. Let rest in the pan 10 minutes.

Turn the loaf out onto a rack, right side up, to cool completely before slicing. Wrap in plastic and store at room temperature.

Makes one 9x5-inch loaf.

Notes: Be sure to use unsweetened coconut rather than sweetened, as the sweetened is too moist for this recipe.