Sneaky breakfast nutrition packaged into one deceptively small package, complete with whole grains/fiber, potassium, and healthy fats. All it needs is a cape to achieve complete superhero status. Can’t you just imagine this little caped cookie crusader swooping in, shoving your boring (and non-nutritive) Â breakfast off your plate, and (standing with fists on hips, cape blowing in the wind… wait. do cookies have hips? Whatever, indulge me) trumpeting: “I am the breakfast cookie, here to save your butt from a boring breakfast! Eaaaat meeeee, you know you want to! I’m tasty and portable, and a COOKIE. Hellooooo, who DOESN’T want to say they’ve had a cookie for breakfast?!”.
…
demonstrating amazing feats of super-cookieness
And then you eat it, and feel so ridiculously awesome, like you could go off and save the world. Or wear a cape and look bomb. You know, just some minor benefits of eating a proper breakfast (or a legit breakfast cookie, since as I’ve demonstrated, that clearly equates to the same thing). Besides, these cookies are one of the easiest to make: just toss all the ingredients together, stir and chuck onto the cookie sheet in roughly cookie-shaped balls. Bake. Let cool (yeah right). Eat. Done! Go don your cape.
dense cookie complexity up close and personal-like
Banana-Granola Breakfast Cookies
I adapted these ever so slightly from Fannetastic Foods, here! I’ve made them before, but I really wanted granola in this batch somewhere. They’re lightly sweet and nicely hearty, perfect for a capped crusader breakfast. Mine were 2-3″ across fully baked, and I ended up with 14 total.
1 c rolled oats
2/3 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tsp whole chia seeds
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 ridiculously ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c plain lowfat yogurt (or whatever you have on hand)
1/4 c pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c granola of choice*
*I used 1/4 c Nature’s Path pumpkin flax granola, and 1/4 c Nature’s Path Ancient Grains + Almond granola (a winning combo, I must say)
mmm, coookies
Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly grease a cookie sheet (or two, whatever floats your boat). In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flour, coconut, flaxseed, chia, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, mash up the bananas, and then add yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add wet into dry, and fold in granola as you stir them together. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Bake for 13-14 minutes—mine were done at 13. I pulled them off the cookie sheet right away, as I didn’t want them to dry out. Let cool on  a cooling rack. I store cookies with banana in the fridge—I think it improves the consistency and I like them cold, but that’s up to you :)
It’s been one of those weeks where you get up and think… do I really have to put clothes on today? Dis.Gust.Ing. Too hot to live, let alone bake. I really am a pacific northwesterner in this regard: hot weather makes me nutty. Today I sort of decided to stick it to the weather and go take a hot yoga class, since I’d been sweating all day anyway. Surprisingly, it was a great idea: maybe there is something to that ayurvedic  idea of eating hot foods on a hot day? Huh. Anyway. After said hot yoga class, all I wanted was a dunk in cold water and one of these.
yum.
Yes.
No bake, for the WIN.
The solution for when it’s too hot to do much of anything and turning on the oven (or really even the stove, let’s be real here) turns into a capital offense. I had grilled cheese for dinner last night (although I did go gourmet with some sauteed veggies, ha) since I was so unmotivated to do much of anything except watch other people (i.e. Olympians) be ridiculously fit. Whatever, I made up for it with my yoga today, so there. And with these bars. These are FAB. And healthy, which is a bonus considering most no-bake items seem to involve some form of strange food product like cool-whip. Let’s not go there, shall we? Back to these:
cooooconut
Mmmm. Banana coconut bars on a nutty date crust. Naturally sweet and so frostily delicious. Bonus points for being gluten free and vegan, as well as refined sugar free. You also get a healthy dose of magnesium from the cashews, calcium from the almond butter, healthy medium-chain fatty acids from the coconut, and potassium from the banana. See? It’s like a complete summer meal in a bar (welllll…sort of). Wheee! Squat and gobble to your heart’s content, I won’t tell… even if you do it in a sports bra and running shorts because, like I said, it’s too hot to live or bother to look decent. Or to blog… this is all I got today!
drippy. LOVE.
Vegan Banana-Coconut Bars
I slightly adapted these from the DAMY health blog, here! These are frosty and best when straight out of the freezer. Easy to make, they come together in a snap and set up decently quickly, satisfying all kinds of crazy summer cravings (Besides, they’re healthy to boot!)
Poke around and scrounge up the following:
For the crust:
1/2 c raw cashews
scant 1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1 c pitted dates, chopped into smallish pieces
a tbsp or two of water, if the crust needs a little help to come together
For the topping:
1 ripe banana
scant 1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut+ some for sprinkling
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 c organic almond butter
1/4 c light coconut milk
look! another one materialized!
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together cashews, coconut, and date pieces until the dough comes together, with pieces of nuts intact. Add a tablespoon or two of water if it needs a little help. Spread this mixture in the bottom of a lightly greased pan (mine was 9″ square, making thinnish bars), flattening it out as you go. In your food processor once again, blend the topping ingredients, scraping down the sides occasionally, until smooth. Pour the topping on top of your crust, and use a spatula to spread it out evenly. Top with some reserved coconut, and cover with plastic wrap or foil (bonus points for foil, it’s recyclable!). Let set for at least 2ish hours before slicing (it should be firm). Store in the freezer!
Love tasty food. Eat. Feel magically cooler… ohmmmm.
eeeeeatmeeeeeone of the nicer parts of warm weather: these are all from my back yard!
Today and tomorrow I’m doing makeup for my elementary school’s play! I looove helping with the play—I’ve attended every year since I was in it myself, and I did makeup last year as well. The kids are adorable and so excited! And Mrs. Noel is hands down the most awesome director. EVER. Who else could wrangle that many children with such grace and humor?! This year, they’re doing Beauty and the Beast, which is awesome, since I was in that one in 5th grade (I was also in Pirates of Penzance in 4th)…. except today I realized as I was doing Gaston’s makeup that most of the kids in this show were born the year I was in the play. EEEEKKKK! Way to make me feel SO OLD.
Okay really, I need to get onto a more regular schedule for this blogging biz… How is it that when I was in school and theoretically “busier” that I had more regular posts?! Whatever… I’ve been crazy busy and having lots of fun, so absolutely no regrets there. However.
//
It’s cake time! It’s been waaay too long. Well, at least since I’ve MADE a cake. No guarantees on what I’ve eaten recently… I’m sure there’s some cake in there somewhere…
I’ve been intrigued lately by interesting flavor combinations, like the curry-chocolate chip cookies. When I was down in San Luis Obispo last weekend visiting friends, I made the curry cookies again, except this time with five spice! It was totally inspired, and sooo good. I think I may like those better than the curried ones, actually. There’s something about the coconut+five spice+chocolate that is really tasty. So, when I got home, I wanted to do something else with those flavors. But I decided, rather than making yet another batch of cookies (though we do know how much I love cookies), I would make a cake! But not any cake, oh no… A cake roll! I’d actually never made one before this, so this was quite the novel experience… not as difficult as anticipated, with just a minor bit of cracking. No big deal, nothing that cleverly placed whipped cream can’t hide, ha. AND, added bonus: this cake is fat free! (the cake bit. Not the whipped cream, obvs,… gotta have a little indulgence in there somewhere!). Five spice is also reputed to have health benefits (though I’m not entirely sure what they are).
mmm… five spice = new favorite flavor!
Five Spice Roll Cake with Coconut-Chocolate Chip Whipped Cream
I adapted the cake recipe only slightly from Cooking Light, and ignored their filling idea in favor of using whipped cream with chocolate chips folded in. The chippies got rave reviews from all tasting parties, since they add texture interest and go well with both five spice and chocolate.
For the cake:
1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c granulated sugar, divided (6 tbsp + 6 tbsp)
1 tsp five-spice powder*
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
largeish pinch of salt
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut rum**
1/3 c unsweetened shredded coconut
*the blend I used was organic five spice, with cinnamon, star anise, fennel, sichuan pepper, and cloves. Try to find one that doesn’t have any weird additives beyond spices
**the original recipe called for coconut extract, but no way was I going to shell out $6 for a small bottle of imitation coconut flavor, eww. So I did what I do best: improvise! Malibu rum worked exceptionally well instead…
yumyumyum
For the filling:
1 c whipping cream
powdered sugar to taste
coconut rum, to taste
vanilla extract, to taste
a good handful of chocolate chips
For the cake! Preheat the oven to 325, and line a 15 by 10 inch jelly-roll pan with waxed paper. No worries if it doesn’t come all the way up the sides.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, 6 tbsp sugar, and five spice powder. In a non-reactive bowl (I like to use the metal bowl from my kitchenaide), beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. Add in cream of tartar and salt, and beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 6 tbsp of sugar 2 tbsp at a time, and beat until you see stiff peaks when you pull the beaters out (beating egg whites might be one of my favorite things ever… I love how they change!). Once you have stiff peaks, quickly beat in the lemon juice, vanilla extract, and coconut rum.
egg whites are awesome!
Sift 1/4 c of the flour over the egg whites, and fold in until combined. Repeat until all the flour is incorporated. Spread the batter out into the prepared pan, smoothing out the top. Sprinkle the top with coconut, and bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned. The top should spring back when you touch it lightly.
Place a clean (preferably relatively smooth, not really ribbed) dish towel over a largish cooling rack, and lightly dust with powdered sugar. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 3 minutes, then loosen the sides and invert onto the towel. Peel off the wax paper. Starting from the narrow end of the cake, roll the cake and towel up together in a spiral, and place seam side down on the cooling rack to cool completely.
While the cake is cooling, make filling! Using an electric mixer, beat cream until it starts to get a bit more solid. Add in powdered sugar a little at a time, as well as a little vanilla and rum (to taste, as desired! I probably used about 3-4 tsp of powdered sugar, 1/2ish tsp vanilla, and 1 tbsp rum—my measurements were definitely not exact… pour and taste is my preferred method for whipped cream). Beat until the cream is… creamy?! You’ll know when it’s done, just don’t go too long and turn it into butter! Fold in chocolate chips.
When the cake is completely cool, unroll carefully from the towel. If it rips a bit, don’t freak out! Better luck next time, and you can disguise the rip with a bit of whipped cream, or else put the cake on it’s plate rip-side down, haha… and yes, I speak from experience! Spread the whipped cream filling evenly over the inside of the cake, and then carefully roll it back up. Sprinkle the top with a bit of powdered sugar or extra coconut if desired. Eat immediately or chill briefly, but make sure you keep it in the fridge for storage (if it lasts that long, ours didn’t!). Serrated knives work best for slicing and serving.
Mortar board covered in red glitter and a puffy painted anchor? Check.
Honor cords acquired? Check.
Imminent familial arrival? Check.
Pre-graduation nerves and free time resulting in inventive baking and cooking? MEGA CHECK.
Last blog post before the merriment of commencement commences? Probably check.
thanks, Willamette!
It’s happeninggggg!!! This Sunday I graduate from Willamette University with a BA in Art History magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and with departmental honors. Yesssssss! I had to brag, just a little! I still can’t believe it’s happening. It probably won’t hit me until after it happens, at which point it likely won’t feel real either, ha! Jeez, I thought I had copious amounts of free time after I finished thesising?! I have sooo much now (at least until tomorrow when all the fun starts), I don’t know what to do with myself! Oh wait… yes I do. Cook and bake! Duh. I’ve made some super tasty yummies the last few days, but unfortunately they escaped into my stomach before being photographed. BUT. I’m fully intending on making most of them again, so maybe at some point they’ll make it on here.
coookies! But… can you tell me what the curry is doing lurking in the picture?
Anyway… today when I was sitting around post-running trying to figure out what to do with myself, I stumbled upon these cookies. And had one of those moments where I was suddenly fixated on them and determined to make them, despite already having made red wine chocolate cookies yesterday (but whatever, irrelevant, since they’re almost gone). These are pretty much the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the red wine ones… They have CURRY in them! What a novel and EXCELLENT idea! Curry + coconut + oats = yumyumyum. I’m so glad the inside of my car smells like a spice shop now, since now I have these. Win win win all around. And besides, now I’ll have something to sustain me through the (three hour?! Willamette is so NOT big enough to justify a 3+ hour commencement, pshh) graduation ceremony… I’ll have to hide them under my robe, for snackies! Can’t have the gremlins grumbling when I’m about to get my diploma, can we?!
yumyumyummyy
Curried Chocolate Chip-Oat Cookies with Coconut
Only slightly adapted from Cookie Madness, here! I made half of the recipe on account of already having some red wine-choc cookies left over, and got 7. I’ll include the full recipe here, with my modifications.
These cookies are unusual, but so good! I like them for a change from standard chocolate chip/oat cookies. The sugar and coconut add just the right sweetness to balance the curry powder—I reduced the sugar a bit already, but I probably wouldn’t take it down much further. These are easily made vegan!
1 tbsp curry powder (any kind is fine, just make sure there’s no garlic in it, that would be awkward)
1.5 c rolled oats
1/2 c shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 c chocolate chippies
they look kind of like Horta-cookies! heheh.
Preheat the oven to 375.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together butter, applesauce, and sugars. Add in egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat to combine. In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and curry powder. Add this to the liquid bowl, and stir until just combined, and then toss in oats, coconut, and chocolate chippies. Drop by small (or huge, if you’re like me) blobs onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of your cookie blobs… mine were more like 12, since they were on the large side. Let cool for a minute or two on the sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack for eating further cooling.
I can’t even believe I’m going to type these words…
Wait for it…
I FINISHED MY THESIS! For realzies. 92 pages? Check. Bound and printed? Check. Coherent (and relatively humorous) presentation? Check. Wait. NAILED. (Despite feeling I was going to go into cardiac arrest for the first few sentences, ha). I feel a thousand pounds lighter! [and mildly exhausted… this may be on account of running on adrenaline for the last 24 hours] Or maybe that’s just the removal of the pile of books that is now off my living room floor and back to the library…? It’s like my child. I sort of want to frame it, and keep it up on the wall forever and ever.
So…
I love the way citrus looks.
Now what?! So much free time, what to do, what to do?! Oh wait. That’s right. Bake more! And alternatively get more creative with dinner. Because I’m stuck in a dinner rut the size of the Grand Canyon. Except not tonight. Because tonight is a fancy-schmancy department dinner! YAY! Celebration time. And time to do all the fun senior-type things at the end of the semester (which is rapidly approaching, sheesh. Sloooowww for the cone zone, please). Which means that I have an excuse to bake a ton… in order to mitigate the amount of food to be carted back down to California when Kira and I move out, of course. You have to admit, this a is a perfectly valid excuse. Not that I really ever need an excuse to bake.
Except today. I was celebrating :)
mmm.
Coconut-Banana Bread with Lime Glaze
Mega thanks to Christine for showing me this (and for several ingredient donations)! It’s adapted from Cooking Light. I made 1/2 the batch and ended up with 2 mini-loaves, though putting it all in one loaf pan would be fine as well (just increase the bake time). I reduced the sugar quite a bit, as sweetened coconut is already pretty sweet. This bread comes together quickly and is DELICIOUS. Just sweet enough, with a pronounced coconut flavor… mmm. It’s also decently not so bad for you, considering it comes from Cooking Light. Win all around :)
look at all that toasty coconut
Acquire:
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
very heaping 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 c Earth Balance (or butter)
1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
3/4ish cup mashed ripe bananas (the riper the better, obvs) (about 1.5 bananas)
1/8 c plain, lowfat yogurt
2 tbsp rum (don’t leave this out, it’s YUMMY!)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
heaping 1/4 c shredded sweetened coconut + 1 tbsp (mine was probably closer to 1/3 c… I loooove coconut)
optional: chocolate chipppies! (But really… why would you leave these out?!)
1/4 c powdered sugar
juice of one lime
/
Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly grease your loaf pans of choice. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a larger bowl, combine Earth Balance and sugar with a hand mixer until fluffy. Beat in the egg until well combined. Add in banana, yogurt, rum, and vanilla, and beat to combine. With the mixer on low speed, add in flour until just combined. Stir in 1/3 c coconut and chocolate chippies, if using. Pour batter into the prepared pans, and top with remaining tbsp of coconut. Bake for about 30 minutes for the mini loaves, until a tester comes out clean. (Or about an hour for a larger loaf).
While the bread is cooling/baking, combine powdered sugar and lime juice, and whisk until smooth. When the bread is cool, drizzle the glaze over the top of individual slices, or poke holes in the bread and drizzle over the whole loaf… up to you!
I warned you about the baking itch, did I not? Or wait. Let’s be real: the stress baking prior to my thesis presentation on Tuesday! Butterflies, I will defeat you with copious amounts of baked goods! So there. Baked goods and lots of yoga. Stress ain’t got nothin’ on downward dog. (Or this is what I will tell myself, ha)
So, since I had a spare afternoon yesterday relatively unexpectedly, I made a tart! Because what else am I supposed to do with that time? That’s right, I thought you’d agree that a tart is clearly the superior option.
This tart was/is delicious! I’m so pleased with myself since I winged bits of it, and threw a bunch of elements together into a credible whole. YAY! Love when that happens. The flavors all work really well together, and it’s even semi-healthy! Or at least not bad for you… I’m sure I can come up with some nutritional benefits: coconut is always good; the crust is vegan; blueberries contain LOTS of antioxidants, and cardamom has some spice-type benefit, I’m sure. And it gave me another excuse to use my tart pan, and that awkward half bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer.
AND I baked it whilst wearing one my pearl necklaces. Which made me feel lots like Julia. Especially when my tart turned out fabby! Don’t forget, you’re all alone in the kitchen! Bonnnnnn Apetit!
crust! I always have fun with my tart pan...
Blueberry Tart with Coconut-Cardamom Pastry Cream and Almond Crust
Makes one 9″ tart. I used a really basic crust recipe, and adapted the pastry cream from Delicious Shots, here! Assembly is really easy, and the chilling times are probably the longest part of this recipe. Fresh blueberries would be wonderful, but frozen work just as well—I defrosted them in the fridge and then in the counter for a bit. The crust is suuuper crumbly, but don’t worry, you can press it into the tart pan and it’ll behave.
/
Tart Crust:
1.5 c whole wheat pastry flour
4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp Earth Balance
1.5 tbsp almond paste
2-3 tbsp cold water
In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add in butter and almond paste until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Add water until the dough comes together. Don’t worry if it’s crumbly—mine was, and turned out fine. Shape into a disc, and wrap in plastic. Let it chill in the fridge for 30-45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375. Once the dough is chilled, roll it out to 1/8″ thickness on a floured surface, and press it into your tart pan, evening out the sides as you go. Prick the bottom with a fork, and line with foil and weights (I used rice. Beans are fine too, or pie weights if you’re swanky and have cool kitchen tools like that). Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned. Mine went for 20 with the weights, and then 5 without them. I’m sort of a crust noob, so mine seem to come out ‘needing improvement’. Granted, I usually think they taste great… this one maybe could have used a tablespoon-ish more Earth Balance, perhaps?
cardamom flecks!
Coconut-Cardamom Pastry Cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 c turbinado sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp whole wheat pastry flour
1 c light coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp cardamom, depending on preference (I used more like 1/2, since Kira and I are cardamom nuts)
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and half of the sugar until light yellow in color. Toss in the cornstarch and the flour, and whisk until combined. Set aside. In a small saucepan, combine coconut milk, vanilla, and cardamom, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Temper the milk mixture by pouring it in a steady stream over the egg yolks/sugar, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Once the two are completely incorporated, pour the mix back into the saucepan, and bring to a boil again, still stirring constantly (Sorry. Lots of stirring. But oh hey, arm workout!). The custard will start looking thick and your whisk will make tracks. Boil for just one or two minutes, and then remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool. I used a shallow one, so it would cool faster… and place a bit of plastic wrap or sandwich baggie over the surface to prevent a skin forming. Once cool, place in the fridge for further chilling.
tart. Sans antioxidants.
Assembly! (Aka the best part)
Fruit of choice. I recommend blueberries… I used about 5 oz, or half a bag of frozen.
Pour the custard into the cooled crust, and smooth it out until it looks pretty…and then top with fruit! Easy peasy. And delicious. And looks like you put so much more work into it than you actually did. Shhh, I won’t tell :)
Best eaten the day it’s made, but it still makes excellent (if not quite as aesthetic) leftovers. Store in the fridge!
Ohhh my goodness. It is amazing how fast the end of the year is going… how is it already April 17th?! Thesis presentation a week from today? Oh yeeesh. BUT. My advisor approved my final draft, hooray! Which means… I’M FINISHED WITH THE THESIS BEAST! Well, at least finished with the text… minor formatting and image addition notwithstanding. 62 pages of text? Goodness. Up till now, I’d never written that much in my life! And graduation in less than a month?! Almost time to be a real person! Imagine that. Cue ridiculous upheaval, ready… go! At least I’m ready to be finished with school bizz, but definitely not ready to give up the Nerdaerie (Kira and I have been having separation anxiety!). I am excited to move onto something different though :) Onward! Second star to the right, and straight on ’till morning (Since I occasionally resemble Peter Pan, I thought this was appropriate)! I’ll just keep on truckin’ with those diamonds on the soles of my shoes.
BUT. Besides all of that business, time to focus on the present! I’m determined to enjoy my last thesis-free weeks. Staff appreciation dinner at my sorority meant an excuse to bake… so pie happened! I’m a little bored with cakes and cookies, so this was a welcome change. AND it’s healthy. Mostly. Sweet potatoes for Vitamin A and beta carotene, plus coconut for healthy fats. Not to mention cinnamon for stable blood sugar, and nutmeg and ginger for digestive support!
I can tell when I get busy, as blog posts become few and far between. My dinners of late have been economical and rather uninspiring. BUT, lucky for you, I’ve got major baking-itch. So expect to see some new and interesting things coming your way soon. I’m also aware that pantries soon should be emptied, which means I’ll be trying to use up random baking supplies. Oh drat, extra baked goods? What a bummer!
yum.
Sweet Potato-Coconut Pie with Gingersnap Crust
Make one 9″ pie. Only slightly adapted from Whole Foods, here. This pie is delicious and simple, made with stuff I seem to always have around. Besides, it’s an excellent source of Vitamin A and beta carotene from the sweet potatoes, as well as good-fat medium chain fatty acids from the coconut.
crust!
For the crust:
1.25 c crushed gingersnap cookies (I used Anna’s Swedish Ginger thins, as they were easier than fatty gingersnaps to pulverize in the food processor)
1/3 c shredded unsweetened coconut
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter (mine happened to be salted), melted
gingers! hehe.
For the pie!
2 mega sweet potatoes
3/4 c light coconut milk
1/2 c brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
//
Preheat the oven to 350.
Pulverize the gingersnaps by the method of your choice. I used my food processor, but I’m sure a rolling pin and a plastic bag would be just as satisfying, if you’re feeling the need to vent. Combine melted butter, gingersnap crumbs, and coconut, and stir until combined. Press this into your pie dish, evenly across the bottom and up the sides. Bake the shell for 15 minutes.
While the shell is baking, deal with the rest. Now, for the sweet potatoes: on account of laziness time constraints, I microwaved the sweet potatoes instead of roasting them. If you microwave them, poke them a few times with a fork, and stick them in for about 7-8 minutes. They should be soft to the touch when they’re done. If roasting (which I’m sure is also delicious), poke them with a fork and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 50 minutes. Let both methods cool before peeling the skin off and scooping out the nice orange interior.
Using a food processor (or a blender, as I did, since my food processor is teeny), puree the sweet potato flesh until smooth. Add in coconut milk, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and blitz until incorporated.
Pour the filling into the prebaked shell, and bake for 50 minutes, or until set in the center (no jiggly!). Mine was perfectly done at 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack, and serve or chill. (Btw, side note: this pie cuts very easily, even when slightly warm, extra bonus!).
Kira and I had… wait for it… TWO DEAD BANANAS in the apartment this morning.
…
This might seem unimpressive, or rather unextraordinary, under normal people’s circumstances, but let me explain. It is ridiculously hard to keep us in bananas. Here’s the deal: we shop for foodstuffs on Sundays… and buy upwards of TEN BANANAS. For two people. And they usually last us until about Saturday… with no dead bananas leftover for baking purposes. Which is sad, as baked banana things are suuuuper tasty. But seriously. The amount of bananas consumed in the Nerdaerie is astounding. Potassium deficiency ain’t got nothin on us!
So. Since I discovered this bonanza of potassium-rich goodness sitting in our adorable hanging fruit basket, I decided that cookies needed to happen! Natch. Besides, cookies are more fun than thesising on a Saturday morning. (Even when the bunnies are helping out on the thesising front, cookies still win by a long shot…besides, then when I actually do buckle down and work, I have cookies to put in my thesis cup! ha.)
the bunnies are helping me thesis!
These cookies are, like a lot of my cookies, good for you! I love having snacky-type cookies around, so I feel like I’m getting nutritional benefits out of my dessert. Enter the banana cookie! Bananas: excellent source of potassium, fiber, and prebiotics for calcium absorption. Raw almond butter: mufas! (monounsaturated fatty acids: healthy fats), and cholesterol-lowering properties. Oats: whole grains! Cinnamon: helps control blood sugar spikes. Coconut: all kinds of good things, including good fats. PLUS, these cookies have no added sugar, are vegan (with vegan chocolate), and are friendly for those of my peeps dealing with genetically high cholesterol (which really doesn’t seem fair). These cookies have no cholesterol, so feel free to indulge :)
And besides all that goodness, these cookies are fab. Soft, and like Kira said, almost like a macaroon. Tasty, just like a Saturday morning should be! I may have start buying an extra bunch of bananas, just to let them spottify on me for baking purposes… too bad Kira and I would have to hide them from each other to keep them around longer than a few days!
natural light, look at that!
Banana, Almond Butter and Oat Cookies
Adapted from A Full Measure of Happiness, here! I got 14 cookies. Of course, I put a Hayley-type spin on these…I’ll give you one guess. Yep. CHIA SEEDS! How did you know?!
Rustle up:
2 dead bananas (mine were spotty brown)
1/2 c nut butter (I used crunchy raw almond butter for these)
1 tsp vanilla extract
very scant 1/4 c canola oil
1 heaping spoonful of unsweetened applesauce
2 c rolled oats
1/3 c shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp baking powder
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon (I think I would add more next time)
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/3 c chocolate chips
mmm, oaties.
Preheat the oven to 350! Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
In a largeish bowl, mash up your banana, and then mix in nut butter, vanilla, and oil until thoroughly combined. In a smaller bowl, stir together oats, coconut, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and chia seeds. Mix dry into wet, and stir in chocolate chips (these are some low-maintenance cookies). Drop by the spoonful onto your cookie sheet: I crammed all of them onto one, since they don’t spread, and was able to fit 14. Bake for 12-14 minutes (I took mine out at 14ish), until lightly browned on the edges.
Shazaaam! Two cookie posts in a row! Are you feeling loved? You should be… I have only your best interests at heart :)
I promise I haven’t fallen off the blogging wagon! I’ve been SO BUSY with recruitment, but my normal schedule is returning to me on Monday, so we’ll have lots of tasty eats coming. Hooray! I’ve been getting antsy: there is decidedly NOT enough time to cook when you are expected to eat dinner at 3:45 in order to have time to recruit new sisters. A fun activity, to be sure, but definitely not friendly to kitchen experiments. It’s a bit more conducive to eating a sandwich for dinner. Yes. I did that yesterday.
BUT.
I made up for it with spontaneous cookies made during my lunch break between class and work! Time management, for the win! Hayley:1, crazy schedule: ZERO. Take that, empty Tupperware. Rejoice, in your fullness! You are empty no longer. And I am satisfied. For the moment, anyway. I’m sure the combined efforts of Kira and I will make short work of this current batch, like the last *cough* two. Oops. What can I say, a girl’s gotta have cookies! It’s in the blog title, after all.
the not-so-leaning tower of cookies!
Besides, these are healthy(er) cookies—not your average white flour/sugar laden/yucky additive cookies. I like to make cookies that are bursting with nutritional value (or at least have some redeeming qualities!), so that I can eat them for a snack, in a pinch. And when I eat them for dessert, they’re much more satisfying. This particular incarnation is full of healthy things: they’re vegan (if you use vegan chocolate chips, which I didn’t), which means less saturated fat. They have oats and whole wheat flour, which means whole grains and soluble fiber! AND they have chia seeds (antioxidants galore and mega omega-3s) and coconut (healthy fats and anti-inflammatory properties!). And chocolate. Because what is life without chocolate? For cookie, these are pretty spectacular little guys. Oh yeah. Did I mention they are DELICIOUS?! Because they totally are. So seize your next awkward block of time (hellooo, lunch break!) and bake yourself some indulgently healthy sweets. You’re worth it!
These cookies are soft but a bit crumbly, with oaty-coconuty goodness. If you like a slightly denser cookie with nut butter, or want another chia recipe, check these! Both recipes produce cookies that are lightly sweet, but satisfying. I got about 11 good-sized (like 3″) cookies from the full recipe.
Whatcha need!
1/2 c Earth Balance spread
scant 1/4 c brown sugar
scant 1/4 c turbinado sugar
1/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 c unsweetened shredded coconut (or flakes. I used shredded)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 c instant oats (make sure you use instant, I think rolled would be too flaky/crumbly)
1/3-1/2 c chocolate chippies, depending on your preference
1.5 tbsp chia seeds
*If you want to throw in other add ins, feel free! I might try wheat germ next time…
they're saying: make meee!!
Preheat the oven to 350.
With an electric mixer, cream together Earth Balance and sugars until creamy. Add applesauce and vanilla, and beat to combine. In a smallish bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, coconut, salt, baking soda and powder. Add dry ingredients to your butter/sugar bowl, and combine (I used the mixer again for this, and it was fine…just be careful wher you’re flingin’ that stuff!). Stir in the oats, chocolate chippies, and chia seeds by hand.
Drop/roll into little balls and flatten slightly, making sure not to lose any of those precious choc chippies! Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Mine were done at about 11.
Go eat your cookies outside, in the warm (!!) Oregon sun, like a somnolent kitty in front of your apartment door. Thank you, Oregon, for this gloriously sunny day in January!
mountains of curry in exchange for boatloads of rain!
The best way to combat boatloads of rain?
Make boatloads of curry!
Since Salem and the Willamette Valley are in the process of attempting to become the new Atlantis and submerge completely under water, we’ve had (by some estimates) about 6 inches of rain in the last 57 hours. Apparently the weather gods have gone completely nuts… there are creeks flooding all over the place, and according to the Statesman Journal, this is a once every hundred year occurrence, where the Willamette River rises about 30 feet. Excellent. At least I live on the second floor… Perhaps I should start constructing an ark? I’ve rather resigned myself to being damp for the foreseeable future. Forget about wet feet, I’ve been damp all over for about 4 days! Yeeesh.
Anyway, because I didn’t work today (the kiddies at Bush Elementary, where I work, got sent home due to extreme weather) I ended up with a strange amount of free time. And a headache. Which meant that I wanted nothing to do with my thesis. Consequently… baking/cooking explosion! Why would I spend the afternoon doing anything else when it’s beyond nasty outside? Right. That’s what I thought too.
Which means that mega dinner happened. Because boatloads of rain calls for boatloads of curry! And because curry is spicy, sweet, and warming all at the same time: a good thing to consume when it’s semi-monsooning outside. And then flatbreads. And cookies. I wasn’t just going to make curry, with no accoutrements, now was I?! How boring. I am now feeling quite productive and refreshed. And full. (I would perhaps like to digest just a wee bit faster… I want cookies!)
So. Without further babble, here is tonight’s din din! Deeeelicious. Go make yourself some. I would invite you over to eat some of mine (since Kira and I will now be eating curry for the next million years, hahah oops. I made a lot!), except you might have to locate a boat to come see me… maybe paddle upriver like a salmon?
curry isn't curry without a HUGE BLOB of chutney
Mega-ton of Chicken Coconut Curry, with Oregano-Yogurt Flatbread
Curry adapted from the blog Including Cake, here! Flatbread recipe adapted from here! This makes… a lot of curry. Which is a good thing! Helloooo, leftovers! And look how good it is for you! Lots of beta carotene from the sweet potatoes and orange pepper, and garbanzo beans are high in fiber, antioxidants, and minerals like molybdenum and manganese. Plus coconut is good for you on all levels :)
For the curry:
1 large, 1 small (or 2 medium) sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1/2 a large onion, diced
2 tbsp Madras curry powder (only the best!)
1 orange bell pepper, sliced (or whatever color you have)
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed
1 can of light coconut milk
cornstarch mixed with water, if needed to thicken
cooked chicken (if you want. I added a broiled chicken breast to mine for extra protein)
I would have added spinach, if I’d had any! Next time :)
Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion, cooking for a few minutes until soft. Add curry powder, stirring to combine. Cook for a minute more. Toss in sweet potato chunks, bell pepper, chickpeas, and coconut milk! Simmer for about 15 minutes. At this point, add cornstarch if not thick enough for your taste. I tossed in my chicken pieces and let it simmer for about 5 more minutes. Serve hot, over flat bread, naan, or rice. And be sure to top it generously with shredded coconut (if you like that sort of thing), and mango chutney. I like me some spicyyyy curry!
Oregano Yogurt Flatbreads
I made half the recipe, which yielded 4 cute little breads. I would definitely make the whole recipe if not cooking this for just two people, so I’ll include the full measures here. I also used oregano tonight, but any spice is fine! It appealed to my olfactory sensibilities tonight :) AND it went well with the curry, bonus!
1.5 c whole wheat pastry flour
2.5 tsp herbs of choice (I used oregano)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c yogurt (I used nonfat plain, not greek, as it was what I had on hand)
a bit of canola oil, for cooking
Whisk together flour, herb of choice, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add in yogurt, and stir to combine. The dough will be shaggy-ish, so add a little yogurt if it looks to dry. Mine seemed fine with the amount given, but I might make it again, and see what happens with a bit more. I found my breads to have a nice consistency as is.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it holds together and is not sticky. Divide it into the number of breads you want, and roll it into balls. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
Swirl a bit of canola oil in the bottom of a nonstick skillet. When the oil is hot, plop the flattened dough into the pan, and cook until golden brown on each side. Serve hot, preferably with a mountain of curry!
Wait...are those...cookies?! 