Tuesdays With Dorie - Coconut Butter Thins

This week's pick was Coconut Butter Thins. Dorie calls them thins because these cookies spreeaaaddddd! I was disappointed after removing them from the oven because when they went in, they were plump little rectangles.

I modified the recipe a bit with ingredients on hand. I had a lemon to use, so instead of lime zest went the lemon. I think I put too much in because the lemon is very strong. Whoops. I also used walnuts instead of macadamia nuts because they were $4 a bag at Wal Mart. I would definitely make these again because I love how shortbread-based cookies melt in your mouth. Maybe I will make it with the specified ingredients haha




Thanks Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch for picking these delightful tropic treats! You can find the recipe on page 145 of Baking: From My Home to Yours or on Jayne's blog.

See's Easter Candy

With Easter candy and novelties hitting the stores as early as February, most people don't buy them until it gets closer to Easter. Don't be a slacker this year! Order your Easter candy from See's Candy! If you order early enough, you can have your chocolate in time for Easter to share with someone you love. Or keep it all for yourself. I won't tell.

See's Candy has contacted me about their products and offered to send some if I agreed to make a recipe with it. I chose Awesome Peanut Brittle Bars. I was debating between those, peppermint patties, dark molasses chips, and krispies. What made me decide was the dessert I was going to make. I really couldn't see these in a cookie or cupcake. I could see cheesecake or ice cream, so I will probably use the brittle for ice cream. '

Sorry to say I haven't tried their chocolate yet, but I wanted to get this post up early because Easter is in a few weeks. But really, how can you go wrong with chocolate?

Tuesdays With Dorie - Blueberry Peach Crumb Cake

This week's TwD pick was really Blueberry Crumb Cake, but past experiences told me to stay away from blueberries. Instead of skipping (especially since I've been a slacker!), I decided to take Dorie's suggestion and use a different fruit instead. We had fresh strawberries in the fridge, but Dorie specifically said not to use strawberries. Boo. My choices then became peaches, apricots, blackberries, or raspberries. Apricots were nowhere to be found in stores, so that was out. Peaches were cheaper than the berries and my mom's choice in fruit. Peaches it is.



A lot of TwDers said they had a pool of butter on the top when their cake was done. As you can see in my picture, I did not. Strange. I did cut out a tablespoon of butter because I didn't have enough, but I think it was in the batter, not the topping. I really can't remember because I made the cake two weekends ago.



Also, many said their fruit sank. My peaches did sink, and they were coated in flour too. Hmm. One blogger suggested sprinkling the fruit on top of the batter instead of mixing it in. Smart idea. Overall, this would make a lovely brunch cake. Or pair it with vanilla ice cream for dessert.




Thanks Sihan for picking this cake! You can find the recipe on pages 192-193 of Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Sihan's blog.

POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice

A special thanks goes out to Diana and the POM Wonderful team for sending me a case of their pomegranate juice! POM Wonderful is 100% pomegranate juice - no sugar, no preservatives, just juice. Because there are no preservatives, POM Wonderful must be refrigerated to guarantee long-lasting freshness.

I love the shape and size of these little 8-oz. bottles. Before receiving this juice, I've only had the actual fruit once back in high school. I was a little weirded out by eating just the seeds, but I don't remember much else of the taste. Since then, I've had pomegranate blueberry juice and applesauce, which is ironic because blueberries and my stomach do not get along. Since I couldn't really tell you what pomegranate alone tastes like, I didn't know what to expect. I must say it is definitely an acquired taste. My dad and I, who eat almost anything, liked it but my mom and brother, who are picky, did not. It's not to say anything against the juice. It's either you like pomegrante or you don't. And since it's 100% juice, there are no sugar or preservatives to hide the pure taste.

Overall, I would recommend this juice to pomegranate lovers (obviously). If you are unsure about liking it, as long as you are open to new tastes and are not picky, you should like this juice. If you don't like "exotic" flavors, you may want to pass on this.

My next step is cook/bake with the juice. I did find a nice white chocolate pomegranate mousse recipe somewhere. That probably won't happen until next month though. Maybe I'll try something quick, like muffins.

Will I buy this product once I'm out? Yes, as long as I can afford it. I honestly don't know how much a bottle goes for at the store, and student loans will be due soon...

Side note - I will be in Washington, D.C. Thursday - Sunday, so all comments and emails will be answered upon returning. Have a wonderful weekend!

Tuesdays With Dorie - French Yogurt Cake with Lemon Curd

Man, it's been awhile since I completed a TwD challenge. My bad. This week's recipe was the French Yogurt Cake. The recipe originally calls for lemon marmalade. I was going to make the marmalade from scratch, but I decided to make it easier and go with a lemon curd. Lemon curd thickens as it cools, and since I used warm lemon curd, it was more of a sauce. This cake is interesting because instead of butter, it used oil. You have to make sure the oil is fully folded in or it won't be pretty.



The yogurt definitely made this cake moist. It reminded me of a lemon pound cake, which is not surprising because Dorie said it was a cross between a pound and sponge cake. I wonder if I could change the flavors by using flavored yogurt instead of plain. I don't see why not.



Thanks to Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction for choosing this wonderful cake! My mom loved it so much, and she usually doesn't eat much of what I make. You can find the recipe on pages 224-225 in Dorie's Baking: From My Home To Yours or on Liliana's blog.

Coffee Cozy Giveaway!

Join the movement of going green with this coffee cozy giveaway being held at Megan's Munchies. Instead of using and throwing away a cardboard sleeve with every cup, skip the cardboard and go with a reusable, unique fabric cozy. I wouldn't mind having one myself. Go check out Megan's blog for more information.

Bahamas

So you all want to know about the Bahamas. This was my first time going away for spring break. My friend would argue that I was in Ireland for a semester, but that doesn't count. I'm talking about staying in Slippery Rock, going away, then coming back to Slippery Rock. Without going with this group for a class, I probably never would have made it to San Salvador on my own. It's not a touristy place at all. Just a little island with 1000 people or so. No museums or famous landmarks. Just the beautiful ocean with lots of snorkeling opportunities and some caves.


The tiniest airport. Ever. Security is in that trailer.

The class I went with is Oceanography plus some other geology/environmental studies students. As you can imagine, I was out of the loop with my lovely technology degree. At least I could answer the questions about the Amazon Kindle the one professor had on the trip.


Tidal pools

This was my first time snorkeling. The first few days were rough because I never used my gear before *cough* Once I was "trained," I snorkeled around and saw the reefs along with colorful fish. I am not a strong swimmer, so I didn't go out very far. Some other students did see a reef shark, sea turtles, and barracudas.


I did snorkel all the way out to that island and back!


We stayed at this research center rather than a hotel. This used to be a military base, so it was dorm-style living.


The truck used to get around the island. I didn't know Bahamians drove on the left side of the road. Reminded me of being back in Ireland.

As a food blogger, I wanted to get the most experience by eating Bahamian food. I can say that before this trip, I never knew you could eat conch. I've had conch salad, conch fritters, and conch sandwich. It has a similar rubbery texture like calamari. If you are unsure about the fishy taste, conch fritters is the way to go because you can't tell as much, plus there's a sauce on top. The sandwich was probably the most amazing thing I ate on the trip. The salad was a little too spicy for my taste.


Local preparing conch salad in Nassau (taken by another student)


Conch fresh out of the shell. It tastes better than it looks, I swear! (taken by another student)


I also drank Bahama Goombay Punch, which is pineapple, coconut, and maybe some other tropical flavor. It is more pop than juice. Tamarinds tasted like natural Sour Patch Kids or sour dates. My professor bought sopadillas at a fruit market, which reminded me of a kiwi. I also had absolutely the most amazing coconut cake. Ever. This guy went around selling slices, still warm from the oven. At first I thought it was rum cake. When he told me it was coconut, I was disappointed but bought it anyway. That first bite, wow! It was like a buttery cake with this buttery coconut filling. The one girl asked for the recipe, but he just rattled off basic cake ingredients. Speaking of cake, I had some samples of rum cake at the airport. The original was ok if you are a huge rum fan, but the key lime version was yum! It was more lime than rum, which is probably why I liked it even more. I bought a postcard with a Bahamian rum cake recipe on it, so I'll have to try that out myself.

If you want to see more pictures, you can view them here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Sometimes I don't know what people want to know about trips, especially in other countries.

Home

Just popping in to say I'm home safely and have 153 pictures to upload. I want to upload most of my pictures and share them before I summarize my trip. Thanks for everyone's comments about having a safe and fun trip. I did come back with scratches, scrapes, and bug bites but alive nonetheless. More to come later this week.