Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had to experiment a bit to come up with a recipe that closely resembles those of that famous bakery.  These cookies are like Paradise. ;) The tricks to keeping the cookies from spreading too much were to use shortening instead of butter and to hand mix rather than use an electric mixer. 


INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugar by hand.  Hand beat in egg and then add vanilla.  In separate bowl, sift or stir together flour, soda and salt.  Add to sugar mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips and coconut.  Drop by rounded tablespoons (or use a cookie scoop) onto sprayed cookie sheet (or Silpat).  Bake approx. 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Yield: 2 dozen

Corn Fritters with Roasted Tomatoes and Lime Aioli

This is a very impressive appetizer that is quite tasty and not too difficult to make. If you can make pancakes, you can make fritters! Original recipe taken from Cooking Light. 


INGREDIENTS:
8 ripe tomatoes, halved (the vine-ripe variety was a good size for me.)
olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups corn kernels (3 ears fresh)
1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon salt
Aioli Ingredients:
3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 garlic clove, minced

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Arrange tomato halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet (my Silpat works great for this). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil; sprinkle with freshly ground cracked pepper. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and have lost a lot of their moisture. They should look a bit like sundried tomatoes - kind of flat. After 1 hour, check them every 15 minutes or so to make sure they don't burn.
3. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk and egg; stir until smooth. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon pepper, corn, green onions, and salt.
4. Heat some olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls into pan; cook 2 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges are golden. Carefully turn fritters over; cook 2 minutes or until golden. Repeat procedure with remaining batter. (*This is just like cooking pancakes. Add more olive oil as needed in between batches.)
5. Combine mayonnaise, lime juice, and garlic.
6. Place one tomato half onto each fritter and drizzle with aioli.

Serves: 16


*NOTE: you can make these ahead of time (minus the aioli on top) and store in the freezer or fridge. You can heat them back up by baking for 10 minutes at 350° or in toaster oven on Medium.

Buttermilk Cornbread

I like cornbread. I *love* sweet cornbread. You know, the kind that almost tastes like a cake? And one that holds together and doesn't crumble into dust before you get it to your mouth (like a certain unnamed box version...).  This may be the world's perfect cornbread recipe. Or at least Lori's perfect cornbread recipe. Yum!  (taken from allrecipes.com)



INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square pan.
• Melt butter in large microwave-proof bowl. Stir in sugar, then add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture. Add cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Smooth out the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool, then cut into 16 squares.

Yield: 16