Granola Bars: Finally, a Winner!!

I have made what seems like endless granola bars, searching for the perfect combination of taste and texture...  usually the recipes are good in one department and not so much in the other.   This recipe, though, is a winner on both counts.  Chewy and crunchy (not too sticky or crumbly), sweet, salty and nutty.  Mmmm.  Thanks, Ina.

I made them last minute (hence the blurry airport cell phone pic) as a travel snack for our looooong one taxi-two flights-one car-two boats journey to Bunaken... good stuff.

Coconut Energy Bars

I keep seeing all of these copycat energy bar recipes floating around the internet lately... many different variations on the same theme: 

nuts + dried fruit (usually dates) + extra flavorings x a quick zip in the food processor = 

raw energy bars similar to Larabars

I thought these might be a good grab-and-go breakfast option for me and Tim.  We've been exercising in the mornings before he heads to work and I start my work-from-home routine, but since we're not very good at getting up early, there's not a lot of time in between for a sit down breakfast of any sort.

I decided to use this recipe for chocolate and coconut flavored energy bars.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a bust and required much troubleshooting to achieve the ultimate product.  The recipe calls for dates (Medjool, but I used Deglet Noor, which perhaps was part of the problem), nuts (almonds and walnuts), dried unsweetened coconut and cocoa powder.   The ratios (dry to wet) seemed to be off for me, though, as my final product was much too dry and very crumbly:

I had to almost double the amount of dates in order to get a sticky enough consistency to form the bars.  Plus a couple tablespoons of honey, just in case:

In the end, we liked them ok, but we want to try one of the other recipes for a different flavor combination.  I think I was hoping for a little more chocolate flavor myself.  I'll definitely give it another try.  Perhaps chocolate chip?  Or peanut butter chocolate?

Maple Coconut Granola

While in the U.S., I picked up a copy of the new cookbook from Deb Perelman (the blogger behind my go-to recipe source, Smitten Kitchen)... good stuff!  Her photos are beautiful and the recipes look like they stay true to her trusty simple/easy/beautiful style.

 

Tim and I are trying to make morning workouts and breakfast more of a priority in the new year (especially after recently overindulging in all of the things we rarely get here, including pork products and good booze), so I am on the hunt for fun and healthy breakfast options.  Deb's book had just such an offering: homemade maple granola.  Yum. Paired with tart yogurt, fresh passionfruit (markisa here in Indonesia) and a banana, it's a pretty healthy and satisfying breakfast.

The recipe doesn't require anything too crazy... oats, dried coconut (unsweetened), maple syrup, wheat germ, walnuts, a hint of cinnamon.  It uses an egg white to stick everything together and achieve the large clumps/clusters that Deb was striving for.... somehow that didn't work out for me, but I think perhaps my Indonesian eggs are smaller than the typical American egg.  Alternatively, it may be because I overloaded my mini baking sheet in my mini oven.  In any case, I did not get clusters, but I'm not too worried about it because it tastes great- crunchy, nutty and a little sweet.

Grilled Veggie and Rice Salad with Fish Sauce Dressing

Omg.  This salad is so good.  Even Tim liked it, lamenting the lack of meat only somewhat, stating that, "maybe it would make a really good side... you know... to some meat."  I liked it on its own, but agree that it would also make a kick-ass side dish and/or bed for some Vietnamese-style grilled chicken (we made a recipe quite similar to this one at our Hoi An cooking class in June.)  

I had lots of fresh herbs left over from our Vietnamese pomelo salad last week and saw this herb-heavy, Vietnamese-esque recipe in my July 2012 Bon Appetit magazine... I am so glad I made it.  It's got a lot of ingredients, but don't be intimidated, as it's really quite easy once you light up the grill and is a great way to utilize all your summer veggies and herbs- corn, eggplant, zucchini, okra, mint, basil, cilantro.  Mmm.

I made only a couple small changes to the recipe- the dressing is supposed to have grilled Holland or Anaheim chilis, but here there are just cabe rawit (the little ones) and cabe besar (the big ones).  All are blow-your-face off hot and not really the equivalent of an Anaheim.  Thus, I decided to substitute with some Sriracha to taste.  Also, rather than plain white jasmine rice, I bought some whole-grain Javanese brownish/reddish rice and cooked it coconut milk substituting for 1/3 of the liquid.  I think the hearty, nutty rice and extra coconut flavor really put the finishing touch on the recipe.

Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango

For some reason I had the most intense craving for rice pudding last week... I rifled through my cabinets and the internets and decided that I could make a combination of these two recipes.  Good plan... the end result had the homey, spicy feeling of a traditional rice pudding mixed with flavors reminiscent of mango and sticky rice.  Mmmmmm.  

Here's what I did:

- I used the risotto method from Joy the Baker, but substituted one cup of milk with coconut milk.

- I used brown sugar as the sweetener.

- I added the vanilla bean and cinnamon Joy suggested, as well as the 1/4 cup of freshly toasted coconut from the Evil Shenanigans recipe.

- Finally, I topped it all off with diced mango and some more of the toasted coconut, then ate it for breakfast.  Pretty tasty!

I think next time I might cut down on the cinnamon to let the other flavors stand out a little bit more.  My only complaint.

Individual Peach Cobblers

A couple weeks ago Tim came home from work with some super fresh and ripe local peaches. We ate most of them straight up as a snack, but eventually there were two of them still sitting there, getting a little wrinkly and begging to be mixed with butter and sugar and turned into dessert. Luckily for us, Joy the Baker had just posted this cute recipe for Peach Cobbler for One...

Joy's topping recipe is really delicious- a little body from the oatmeal, unexpected tropical flavor from the coconut, lots of butter and sugar.  

Since we had 2 peaches, I doubled the topping recipe. This may have been an unnecessary step. I never thought I'd say this, but there was actually too much topping. 

What?! 

Yes, too much topping. 

I think I could have done one topping recipe and split it among the 2 peaches...

Belated Birthday Magic Bars

Tim's birthday was last Saturday, but I didn't get around to baking something sweet in honor of his 32nd until Sunday. And we were hungover. So basically we ended up with whatever I could easily make with goodies out of the cabinet.
Ta da: Magic bars! A perennial favorite...

Pecan Coconut Tart

I over-bought shredded coconut back when we were making Christmas cookies, so I was trying to come up with a way to use it up- this recipe looked interesting and had a lot of good reviews on epicurious, so we gave it a try.The recipe was pretty good- it seems like a cross between a pecan pie, a granola bar, a 7-layer bar. It's oaty, nutty, and caramely. Like some of the other recipe reviewers said, maybe I wouldn't cook the crust quite as long since it gets a second bake with the filling.

Cookie Extravaganza!

Chuck and I, with the help of Mark and Leah, made about a thousand cookies to put in Christmas tins and hand out to friends. Here are the recipes!

Pecan Tassies: mini pecan pies, made with the tart press that Martha stuck in my stocking one year.

Matcha (Green Tea) Cookies: sugar cookies with green tea powder mixed in.

Turtle Thumbprints: chocolate, pecan and caramel goodness.

Ginger Chewies: gingery soft and chewy cookies with raw sugar on top for crunch.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats: No photo, but you can imagine...

Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons: another Ina recipe, dipped in semi-sweet chocolate.

Jam-Filled Cream Cheese Cookies

A Martha Stewart Every Day Food recipe that I can't find online, but that's probably ok because they were a FAIL anyway... they were supposed to look like this (which about 2 of ours did):

But the vast majority of them looked like starfish writhing on the ocean floor as they bleed to death:

Pistachio Refrigerator Cookies

Not sure where Martha got the recipe, but here it is:

2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup finely chopped pistachios
non pareils
green food coloring

Mix dry ingredients. Cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix.

Using 1 cup of dough, add green food coloring, then add chopped nuts. Shape into a 10” roll. Wrap in waxed paper and freeze for 10 minutes.

Roll remaining dough into a 10x6 rectangle. Place other roll of dough on the rectangle and gently wrap the dough around the nut dough and seal it.

Roll the whole log in nonpareils sprinkled on waxed paper.
Wrap the dough in the waxed paper. Freeze for about 20 minutes. Slice about 1/8” thick. Place about 2” apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for about 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 6 dozen.

Tropical Banana Bread!

Made this coconut banana bread with lime glaze this weekend in order to use up some old brown bananas and some of the many limes that Jennifer brought from the tree in her San Diego yard. Pretty tasty!!