Camp Cupcake: Coconut Pecan Cupcakes

I think I am losing my touch.

When I started the cupcake project, I realized that it was going to collide with my dissertation, possible job interviews, and whatever other unexpected things life had in store for me.

What I didn't count on was wanting to abandon the project because the pieces of my life started to fall into place. I started this project because I was worried that the pieces of my life would never fall into place, and at least cupcakes were something I could control. But there are definitely times when I have wanted to scrap this project for the sake of other things. However, I find that, even though I now have a pretty good idea of what I will be doing with my life, I still get stressed out, and I still need to bake.

I also didn't count on the fact that when I started making recipes that deviated from a standard Martha recipe (all-purpose flour, butter, eggs, etc.) that I would have trouble.

One of my favorite lines from the movie Julie and Julia is when Julie Powell (Amy Adams) says, "You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say nothing, I mean, NOTHING, that you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort." That was one of my favorite things about the cupcake project. I learned that there are rules in cooking, and that if you follow them, you can be assured how your food will turn out. It's the only place in my life where this happens.

That said, I had some trouble with these. I am still learning about what happens when you use oil instead of butter (the cupcakes bake flatter and overflow the liners), and this recipe used coconut oil, which I was completely unfamiliar with. Martha calls it creamed coconut (different from cream of coconut), and it is sold in health food stores in glass jars, usually in the refrigerator section. It can be used as a substitute for butter, but it does not bake up like butter.

I would have to say that I like the concept of this recipe, but I was not pleased with the execution.

Coconut-Pecan Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

1 c. firmly packed shredded sweetened coconut

3/4 c. pecans (about 3 oz.) toasted, and cooled

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

1/4 c. coconut oil, room temperature

1 Tbsp. coconut extract

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 c. plus 2 Tbsp. (9 oz.) unsweetened coconut milk

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted

Preheat oven to 350F. Line standard muffin tins with papers. In a food processor, finely grind shredded coconut; transfer to a bowl. Process pecans with 2 Tbsp. sugar until finely ground. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; stir in ground coconut and pecans.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, creamed coconut, and remaining sugar until pale and fluffy. Add extract and then eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of coconut milk, and beating until just combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden, about 20 to 22 minutes.

To finish, dip tops of cupcakes in chocolate glaze, then turn over quickly and garnish with toasted coconut.

Camp Cupcake: Coconut Chick Cupcakes

This was another one of those recipes where style could have replaced substance. However, the cupcake is a lemon-vanilla bean base, which, by itself, was pretty darn good. I had some leftover mini-cupcakes which I glazed with Martha's citrus glaze, and I got lots of compliments.

Here's a link to the recipe.

A word of advice: Martha advocates using candy that may be difficult for some people (like me) to find.

For the combs, I used Hot Tamales, instead of red Good 'N Plenty. For the eyes, I used blackberry jellybeans instead of black licorice whips. Also, because mine went to Relief Society, I made them more portable by leaving them in the liners, rather than putting them on plates. For this reason, my chicks do not have feet.

I was satisfied with the results and would highly recommend them for a spring party, an Easter function, or a baby shower.

Pie Are Squared: Susan Howell's Banana Coconut Pie

I didn't mention in my previous post that the recipe book I chose has a subtitle: An uncommon collection of womanish observations, with pie. The author of the book collected the recipes from friends and family members, along with recording their stories and memories. Hence, we get a nice taste of Saginaw, Michigan, life in addition to the nice taste of pie. So I'd like to add an excerpt from these womanly observations in each post, if I can:

"My good friend Susan tells me that she cooks every meal as though that particular meal will be the one her boyfriend, Edward, will always remember her for. She says it picks her up when Edward, who's normally not much of an eater asks, "Got any more of that?" Susan says she relishes the compliments she receives for her cooking skills, the way some women like to hear how good they look in their hair and makeup....For some women, cooking for a man is more than just a matter of throwing something together ans saying, 'eat this'; it's about tailoring what they cook to please his palate. It's about pouring a measure of themselves into what they cook--ultimately offering him servings of love and passion on his supper plate.
When you put that kind of ardor into your cooking, it's no more than right to expect the man you're cooking for to show a little appreciation."

The nice things about these observations is that, just when the feminist part of me is ready to discount what she's saying for being too June Cleaver, it comes back with a nice little comment to even things out a bit. If that makes sense. Anyway, on with the pie.

My reason for choosing this pie for my first pie experience was simple: I already had all the ingredients. Because of this pragmatic, if unexciting, thought process, I fully expected this pie to be just okay. The ingredients were simple and few. Banana is not a glamorous ingredient. But the results were super yummy. This is not a cream pie, as you'd typically expect a banana and/or coconut pie to be. It is a custard pie, baked and golden.
But the first obstacle was the crust. I have never made a pie crust I felt I could be proud of.

Until now.

While most other pie crust recipes I've seen call for water to bind the other ingredients together, this one calls for cream. Yummy cream. Also, instead of just using Crisco, I used butter straight from the fridge. The instructions also said to add only enough cream to make it start to stick, erring on the side of dryness. I really thought my crust was too dry, but I decided to trust Ms. Pinner, and she proved trustworthy. Finally, you refrigerate the ball of crust dough for at least 30 minutes.

Then, the rolling. I worried about the rolling, since I have encountered problems here in the past. But with the dry ball of dough and a spice shaker full of flour, I was able to conquer the rolling. Swish.

Then I came up against a problem: I had been following the instructions for a 9-inch pie so closely, I failed to realize that my pie plate is 10 inches. So there was not enough for pretty fluting. Boo. I'll know better next time.

On to the filling: cream butter and sugar.

Add banana, egg, milk, and coconut. Pour into shell.

Bake coconut.

Remove from oven.

Put it all together. Enjoy.
Have your husband use the leftover crust pieces to make a little ginger pear tart.


Ratings:

Flavor: 9-Even though it was cooked, it still tasted like fresh banana! It seriously was better than I expected.

Execution: 7-the crust tasted good and was a good texture, but I measured wrong, so it suffered aesthetically.

Difficulty: Very easy

Overall rating: **** 4 out of 5 stars.