mango blueberry sherbert

People all over the world - except Australians and their backwards idiosyncrasies - are on the brink of summer; however they're ill prepared and I'm here to help. My suggestion? Go to Costco, buy a 24 family pack of sunblock, grab 6 industrial sized towels, and some summer fruits - provided that you left Costco otherwise you're gonna have to buy a lot of fruits (which is probably a problem only particular to the first world). After you finally leave Sampleworld with all of your beach day things run home and make this sherbert! It's so good, and surprisingly easy. 

When I was making this recipe I overestimated the capacity of my ice cream maker and when I measured the first batch I realized only an eighth of the mixture could fit in at one time. I practically have a toy ice cream maker. I concluded that the only sane thing to do was to make the sherbert by hand. So, every 30 minutes I took the sherberts out of the freezer and stirred them. That's probably why the blueberry one turned out kind of icy. Nevertheless I loved it even more because I literally made it myself. So the moral of the story is don't get your cooking equipment from Dave & Busters. 

frozen yogurt shortbread bars + coconut + chocolate

I want to say thank you to all the kind people at Foodista and Food Gawker who featured this measly, blurry picture filled blog on their sites. How you inflate my ego internet. Now I can't walk down the produce aisle without knocking down apples. (So with the cooking unrelated introductions aside, so do the cooking related introductions begin)

In the beginning of the summer of my sixteenth year, I made Frozen Yogurt Shortbread Bars (and watched TFIOS). I'm sure all of you have seen The Fault in our Stars in movies, but for those of you who haven't what's wrong with you. But, this blog isn't about movies or whether if Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are dating, it's about food, good food, especially fudge swirled creamy coconut frozen yogurt layered upon delicious buttery crunchy shortbread food. 

This chow creation was born out of my desperation to escape the beating heat of the San Diegan sun. And I know what some of you may be thinking, "I didn't know San Diego had it's own sun?" Troll much. You don't know how many trolls spite me and mock my ambiguous 10th grade wishy-washy grammar. Anyways. People of the internet and beyond, before you can graduate to Frozen Yogurt Shortbread status, you need to learn how to make the veins of Easy Vegan Hot Fudge Sauce that is swirled throughout this dessert. For those of you who need me to say, click the orange link.

easy hot fudge sauce + coconut + sea salt

Remember when you were a kid and you used to brazenly cascade pump after pump of chocolate sauce over your ice cream, beautifully unaware of its affects on your mind and body. Before now, the health conscious population has avoided the indulgent world that I live in. Finally a chocolate sauce that will take away all that worry, and bridge the gap between health and food. That's right this is vegan. Say what?

coconut rice pudding - spring break partying pudding style

This week I have for ya'll a delicious Coconut Rice Pudding, the easiest, creamiest, smoothest rice pudding you have ever had, or in this case, read about and saw in pictures. Originally I was going to make something rose infused or scented, but then I got attacked by a colony of spiders living inside my roses. So that can happen. Anyways, that's why this week instead of drawing inspiration from the garden-y, flower-y aspect of spring, I thought about Spring Break. And what food item do you think of first when I say Spring Break. Pina Coladas. I know it's a drink, but you haven't seen those college students, Pina Coladas are spring breakers substinance for an entire week. So long story short, instead of partying I'm making rice pudding. I know, ya'll are the ones missing out.

Rice pudding is a very easy dessert to make. There isn't much skill involved with it and you can make it any flavor you want it to be. This week, I'll be showing you the base of a rice pudding and how you can spike it with a burst of tropical flavors like pineapple and coconut, maybe a little rum if you want but we'll talk about that more later. First things first we need to prepare our rice. 

chewy coconut bars - the brownie's lesser known cousin

The holidays lend me so much to be grateful for, my family, good health, and coconut bars! Well, less than good health after you eat them. But isn't that what the holidays are about. We suffer and scrape by on atkins and or weight watchers for the better part of the year just so we can eat chewy coconut bars today. This holiday season don't you think your family deserves to indulge a little, and what better way to gain back those 3 pounds than with this scrumptious chow-fection.

assorted macaroons - welcome to america

Oh boy! Macaroons! I sure love me some of those mini french sandwich cookies that are soooo in style right now. You're really showing us how to make those Chef Chow? EH-UH! That was supposed to be the sound a buzzer makes. No I'm showing you how to make the american coconut macaroons. You know the you always shy away from because they're way too sweet macaroons. The only difference is, mine are delicious!

Now I know not all of you think that they're overly sweet but I do, and so do the members of my weekly, overly sweet macaroons club. But you don't have to worry because I found two tricks to cut the sweetness of the macaroons so they taste just perfect! The first trick is to toast your coconut flakes before you actually bake the cookies. This way the initial sugar from the sweetened coconut gets caramelized, and all you're left with is a deep coconut flavor. My second tip is to add different flavorings. Macaroons are often too sweet because there's no flour or butter to absorb the sugar. Adding citrus or nuts can balance the flavor, and not to mention show people that you aren't just a one-trick pony. 

sweetened coconut flakes - better than store bought

Now if you've been following me since the last post on how to prepare a coconut, you probably have a container of coconut meat hidden in your fridge so take that out now. To turn this fresh coconut into sweetened coconut that you buy from the store you need to boil a cup of water. Add 16 teaspoons of granulated sugar and mix until dissolved, shut the stove off. While your water was boiling you should've taken your coconut and shredded it on a grater or in a food processor. You want small flakes of coconut, it depends on how merciful you are feeling today. Pack cups of coconut and throw them into the sugar water. You should have 4 cups. Buy more if you don't, and eat the remainder if you have extras. The coconut should absorb all of that liquid. Spread them on a lined cookie sheet until dried. To speed up the process every thirty minutes shuffle the flakes around with a spatula.

skills test - how to prepare a coconut

Now I know what you're thinking. Does this mean I have to get my jackhammer out? No silly let's leave the jackhammers for the roads please. Cracking open a coconut is much easier than you think but i can't blame you, even I was a little intimidated at first. It used to be before when I was at the supermarket, I would always try to avoid the coconuts. I couldn't help but feel their "eyes" staring at me, all of them judging and sizing me up, kind of like high-school. But, today I summed up all my courage and went to pick one up and guess what? I lived to tell the tale. 

In this lesson I'll be showing you how to crack the code on a mature coconut. This variety of coconut is what you would picture hanging from a palm tree, or at least what I picture. These are not to be confused with a young coconut which are white and look like a pentagon. So today's blog post isn't so much a recipe as it is a very helpful skill. On a sidenote, if you're ever stranded on a deserted island you can thank me for saving your life. I kid I kid - but seriously.