Cakes & Bakes: Coconut sultana oat cookies

Justin often cooks porridge with added coconut and sultanas for breakfast. He thought it would be a great idea to use the same ingredients to make coconut sultana oat cookies.

The number of cookies my recipe yields really depends on the size of your dough balls. Mine were somewhere between the size of a large marble and a ping-pong ball.

I made 16, largish cookies; don’t forget to give each ball lots of space away from its neighbours, they spread quite a bit during the cooking process.

They turned out beautifully – they looked delicious, smelled delicious and – you guessed it – tasted delicious!

Just the right amount of sweetness and crunch, the addition of the small amount of medium oats gave a lovely bite to the consistency.

Click here or on the image below to save my coconut sultana oat cookies recipe to Pinterest

Coconut sultana oat cookies

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Cook Time 10

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 16

Ingredients

135 g/4¾oz butter softened
125 g/4½oz sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium egg
125 g/4½oz plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
25 g/¾oz medium oats
35 g/1¼oz sultanas
25 g/¾oz desiccated coconut

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease & line a large baking sheet
In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add the vanilla extract and egg to the mixture and combine well
Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the mixture, add the medium oats and fold in using a flexible spatula
Add the sultanas and desiccated coconut and fold in until well mixed
Form spoonfuls of the cookie dough into balls in the palms of your hands and place them well apart on the lined baking sheet. Press the tops of them down ever so slightly
Put the tray into the centre of your oven and cook for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are a golden brown
Remove from the oven, leaving the cookies on the tray for a couple of minutes. Transfer the cookies on to a wire rack to cool completely
Follow stages until all the cookie dough has been used

They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days

Keyword coconut, cookies, oats, sultanas

Cakes & Bakes: Almond and coconut macaroon nests

I bought a bag of Cadbury’s mini eggs in the supermarket this week with the being to use them to make some kind of Easter recipe. Rather than a cake or cookies, I decided to make some almond and coconut macaroon nests.

It’s a simple macaroon recipe; and, if you prefer, you can use all dessicated coconut or all ground almonds. Simply use an equal weight to the caster sugar. Whisking the egg whites aren’t absolutely necessary, I just think that it gives the nests a light and airy consistency.

A tablespoonful of macaroon mixture should be enough to make a nest that can easily hold 3 mini eggs. If you’d like to ‘glue’ your eggs into the cooked nests, pour a teaspoon of melted chocolate (white, milk or dark) or fruit jam inside the nest before you put the eggs inside.

They’re a lovely Easter teatime treat to have with either tea or coffee. Two per person should be ample. If there are any left over, they will keep for a few days inside an airtight, lidded container.

Click here or on the image below to save my recipe to Pinterest

Almond coconut macaroon nests

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Cook Time 15

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 12

Ingredients

100 g caster sugar
50 g dessicated coconut
50 g ground almonds I used 30g of ground almonds and 20g of flaked almonds for some added texture
pinch of salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 x 80g bags chocolate mini eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2
Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the sugar, coconut, almonds and salt
In a large sized bowl, whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage. Fold them into the dry ingredients
Add in the vanilla extract
Take tablespoonfuls of the mixture and gently roll them into balls in the palm of your hands. Place them on the lined baking tray
Form each ball into a nest shape by pressing down on the centre using the back of a measuring spoon (the desert spoon sized one works best for me) or a finger
Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes, or until the macaroons begin to turn golden brown
If they have spread a bit, you can reshape them with your fingers while they're still warm
Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack
Once cool, add 2 or 3 eggs to each basket

If you'd like to stabilise the eggs in the baskets, you could always use a dollop of fruit jam or melted chocolate inside each nest

Keyword almond, coconut, Easter, macaroons

Cakes & Bakes: Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies

We have a lovely glass cake dome which usually sits on the dining room windowsill. Normally, it houses a tasty treat to accompany our afternoon cuppa, but it’s been empty for about 2 weeks now… and there’s nothing worse than an empty cake dome. A tray of these delicious toasted coconut & white chocolate blondie was the perfect quick solution to the crisis!

“What’s a ‘blondie’?”, I hear you say. Well, it’s like a brownie but without the addition of cocoa or milk/dark chocolate. It also usually includes brown sugar, but I used white caster sugar so it wouldn’t overpower the flavours of the white chocolate and coconut.

Pre-toasting the dessicated coconut really brings out the nutty flavour – don’t leave out this initial stage. Plus, it makes your kitchen smell heavenly!

The milk chocolate chunks give the blondies a luscious, creamy mouth-feel. You could use a bag of white chocolate chips instead, if you prefer. I like biting into the odd big chunk.

It’s a really delicious treat, and really quick to mix and cook… an hour, tops.

Click here or on the image below to save my toasted coconut & white chocolate blondie recipe to Pinterest

Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies

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Cook Time 20

Cuisine American

Servings 9 pieces

Equipment

large mixing bowl
wire balloon whisk
rubber spatula
20cm/8" square cake tin

Ingredients

115 g salted butter softened
150 g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
135 g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
100 g white chocolate roughly chopped
75 g dessicated coconut

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease & line a 20cm/8" square cake tin with parchment paper
In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet pan add the dessicated coconut and shake to level out. Put the pan in the oven for about 3 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and give the contents a stir and shake to level out again. Keep doing this until the coconut is uniformly golden brown. Set aside to cool. You could do this step on a stove-top using a wok or other steep-sided pan
In a large mixing bowl and using a wire balloon whisk, cream the butter & caster sugar until light and fluffy
Add the egg and whisk until fully incorporated
Mix in the vanilla extract
Sift over the plain flour and baking powder. Fold in using the spatula
Stir in the white chocolate and cooled, toasted dessicated coconut until well mixed in
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level out using the spatula or the back of a spoon. Make sure to push the blondie dough into the corners
Bake for 20 minutes, until the top turns a lovely golden brown
Remove from the oven and leave the blondie in the tin for 5 minutes. Lift the blondie (still in the parchment paper) and allow to cool completely on a wire rack
Slice the blondie into 9 equal sized squares

Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies ingredients

Keyword blondies, chocolate, coconut

Coconut ice cream

We’ve been craving light food at mealtimes in this run of hot summer weather. We’ve been eating lots of salads and having the odd barbecue too. I always have to finish a meal with something sweet; so this week, instead of baking a cake, I made some cooling and refreshing coconut ice cream.

The recipe I devised couldn’t be quicker or simpler; just 4 ingredients – half a carton of coconut drink, a tin of coconut milk, some caster sugar and drop of vanilla extract. A delicious 100% vegan recipe.

It’s delicious served on it’s own or combined with slices of fresh fruit such as mango or peaches. It’s also great with chocolate sauce. We love to eat it after spicy foods. It’s the perfect dessert to follow a hot curry or chilli-laden stir fry.

Click here or on the image below to save my vegan coconut ice cream recipe to Pinterest

Coconut ice cream

2020-08-13 10:23:49

Yields 1

Prep Time

35 min

Total Time

35 min

Prep Time

35 min

Total Time

35 min

Ingredients

500ml unsweetened coconut drink
85g/3oz caster sugar
1 tin (400ml/14fl oz) coconut milk
1tsp vanilla extract

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Instructions

In a 1 litre measuring jug, stir the caster sugar into the coconut drink until dissolved
Stir in the tin of coconut milk
Add the vanilla extract
Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Mine takes approximately 25-30 minutes)

Notes

If you use sweetened coconut drink you can lower the amount of sugar that you add. Similarly, if you like your ice cream sweeter, up the sugar added to 100g/3½oz

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