This week has been a bit chaotic ... A last minute trip home and I'm staying by myself at my parents house while they frolic in Hawaii.  In my boredom a few days ago, I organized my parent's pantry - sorry folks but I'll draw you a map if you need.  While I was on my pantry tour, I found a lot of random food items but no Oreos.  Ok. There we have it - I organized the pantry in hopes to find a stash of sweets.  Nope, sorry Charlie, nada, zip, nothing. 

Sitting here this afternoon I started craving something sweet again - you'd think I would have picked up something when I went out yesterday but no.  So here I am with no motivation to get up, drive to the store (it's been 105 here in Tucson) and buy those Oreos but alas, I remember I saw some fun things in the pantry so ... In pure desperation and to avoid death of starvation I cookies with what ever I could find ... Literally.

What I ended up with was a salty, sweet, chocolatly cookie ... The only thing I might add would be dried cherries ... Just to add some tartness.

Ingredients:

Goodness Mixture:

3 cups cereal - I used Honey Bunches of Oats

1/2 C Chopped Pecans

1/2 C Mini Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/4 Mini Marshmallows 

1/2 C Shreadded Coconut

2/3 C Brown Sugar

1 1/4 C Granulated Sugar

1 C Salted Butter

1 tea Vanilla

1 Egg

1 1/2 C All Purpose Flour

1/2 tea Baking Powder

1/2 tea Baking Soda

1 tea Kosher Salt

Mix pecans, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, cereal and coconut.

In the stand mixer cream room temperature butter and sugars.  Add vanilla & egg.  Add baking powder, baking soda and salt.   Incorporate flour.   Once all is well mixed start adding the goodness mixture - low speed.  Once all ingredients are mixed put dough in the freezer to chill.  

After chilling, scoop onto tray lined with parchment paper.  I used a medium sized scoop and the recipe made 3 dozen.

Bake at 350 for 16 minutes - let rest on tray for 10 mins ten transfer to cooling rack.

Enjoy

Happy Birthday to our favorite Minion, Silas!

Today is a fun day around these parts.  One of our favorite minions turns 2.   This little guy is so much fun and I hope he knows how much his Aunties love him.  Our friend, the Minion Mama, asked us to make a cake for Silas.  So it was done.

For the most part this cake is simple and straightforward - a 2 layer blue velvet banana cake.  Easy Peasy.  Color that bad boy yellow, pipe a white circle, add some black hair and smile and some chocolate licorice for the mask.  Done.

However, one thing I want to address as a public service is silver icing!  Have you ever tried to find silver tint or silver coloring.  I found every color under the sun including gold, no silver.  Dang it.  Let me share what I discovered - use a tiny bit of black.  That's it.  Done - you now have silver.  How did I not figure that out sooner.  

Traveling up the Kona Coast and MacNut Pie

Today is going to be a slow day.  Having little to do other than watching my Gilligan's Islands reruns, I started daydreaming again of a trip back to The Big Island.   When driving from Volcano to Kona the bestie and I stopped at a few places that were highlights and I can't stress enough why random road trip stops are the best.  Along the way we stopped at the Painted Church.  This church was so beautiful I'd consider abandoning my English Garden wedding ideas and hop on a plane to have a small, yet colorful, church wedding in the middle of the Pacific.

The next stop along the way was the Kona Coast Macadamia Nut & Candy Factory.  This was a small building with some displays and a gift shop.  So in the spirit of "shopping local", we grabbed a bag of MacNuts and headed to the next stop ...

The last stop along the way was a bit more deliberate, the Coffee Shack.  Sunset magazine recommended this place and rightfully so.  Everything from the sandwich to the iced Kona coffee to the Mac Nut Pie for dessert was great.  So, today's inspiration comes from the visit to the Mac Nut factory and the Coffee Shack - Mac Nut Pie!

I found a recipe from our good ol' friend Sam Choy's cookbook "Little Hawaiian Cookbook for Big Appetites" that will be tried tonight:

Macadamia Nut Pie

Serves 8

3 Eggs

2/3 Granulated Sugar

1 C Light Corn Syrup 

1 1/2 to 2 C Chopped Mac Nuts

2 Tablespoons melted Butter

1 Teaspoon Vanilla 

1 Unbaked 9 Inch pie Shell

Preheat oven to 325.  Beat eggs with sugar and corn syrup and stir in the Mac nuts.  add butter and vanilla and blend well.  Pour mixture into pie shell.  Bake for 50 minutes or til crust is golden and center is somewhat set.  Test this by shaking the pie gently.  Let cool and chill. 

Wait, what are Haole Brownies?

Holy Moly!  This whole Hawaii obsession is out-of-control.  I came across this recipe from the Kamehameha School District and was intrigued ... I grew up in Tucson and had my list of favorite school meal recipes ... Little Smokies with baked beans, tortillas, and a piece of sheet cake.  Super simple but looking back it was really fun.  So, naturally when I came across a school recipe, I had to try it.  I'm sure somewhere this means something to someone.

Since lord only knows I do not need 48 brownies ... I'm going to half it.   Let's do this!

Haole Brownies Makes 48 2" x 2" brownies 2-1/2 cups brown sugar (packed) 2 cups granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2-1/2 sticks (10 oz.) butter or margarine 1 level tablespoon baking powder (double acting) 4 cups all-purpose flour 6 large eggs 1-1/2 cups diced walnuts Cream together brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, butter (or margarine) and baking powder. Add and mix all-purpose flour until incorporated. Add and mix eggs until creamy. Add diced walnuts. Mix on low with paddle for 30 seconds if using KitchenAid-style mixer. If not available, then mix with wooden spoon to incorporate, but if mixing by hand, add eggs before the flour. (A hand held mixer may not be powerful enough for this heavy batter, but try if you like.) DO NOT OVERBEAT! Scrape down sides of bowl and then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes or by spoon for 5 minutes. Grease two 13" x 9" x 2" pans and preheat oven to 375-400 degrees. (Note: If pan sizes are different, pour batter to a maximum of 3/4 of an inch deep.) Divide mix evenly into pans and place on bottom rack and bake. Brownies will rise gradually for about 25 minutes and then flatten.  Wait for 3 minutes after they have flattened completely, then remove from oven and place on rack to cool. When warm to the touch, cut to desired size.  From Kamehameha Food Services:  http://kapalama.ksbe.edu/foodservices/recipes/haole_brownies.html And, as you can see from above I had to sneak a little taste before the rest of the crowd got to it.  Quality Contol.  Well, let's just say, by the time it was time to be served ... The whole top row was gone, vanished.

I'm calling it now ... We invented the Double Decker Bundt Cake.

This past week we were asked to help with a friend's wedding that is to take place early next year, and needless to say ... Totes stoked.   Tonight, I started looking through some ideas and realized one of our favorite weddings is about to come up on their 3rd anniversary.

They asked us for a dessert bar and we came up with a variety of desserts ... But my favorite was a non traditional wedding cake - we came up with a double layered Ricotta Bundt Cake With Browned Butter Glaze .  I still can't find another one any where - so, yeah we invented that.

Ricotta Bundt Cake With Browned Butter Glaze

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, stirred before measuring
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• ***Glaze:***
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla or vanilla bean paste
• 3 to 5 tablespoons whole milk or half-and-half

Heat oven to 300°. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt cake pan or spray with baking spray with flour.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat 1 cup butter and ricotta cheese with 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar until light. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Stir in the flour mixture.

Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold the beaten whites into the batter until well incorporated. Spoon into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched with a finger.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Glaze with the browned butter glaze (below) or dust with confectioners' sugar.

Glaze: Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until just golden brown, about 7 to 10 minutes. Be sure to remove it from the heat as it turns golden, because it can darken very quickly. Pour the butter into a bowl, leaving most of the sediment in the pan. Sift confectioners' sugar into the bowl and add 3 tablespoons of milk. Stir until smooth. Add more milk as needed to make the glaze thin enough to spoon over the cooled cake.

Source:  http://southernfood.about.com/od/bundtcakerecipes/r/r90315e.htm

Happy 3rd Anniversary Jen & Ryan

Kalua Pork

 

During my first go round of the islands I ended up on Maui.  And, while in Maui we did everything a first time tourist should - snorkeling, Road to Hana, Haleakala and the Old Lahana Luau.

When we returned we found some Hawaiian Restaurants that served Kalua Pork and found some at Costco and a few stores in San Diego that sell Hawaiian foods.   But this week Von's has Pork Butt on sale and I'm going to try this myself. 

Most of the authentic recipes call for Banana leaves.  After searching for them and racking my brain I ask my bestie where we saw the sign for them ... She reminded me it was on a truck, in Kona.  Well, I now know where to get them but it's a bit of a swim.

Without any banana leaves or the ability to dig a pit for the hog, it looked like the crock pot version is going to be the winner.  I read about 20 recipes and decided to wing it ... I know it's not traditionally made and the flavor might not be exact but it made my tummy happy. 

Crockpot Kalua Pork

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lb Pork Shoulder 
• 1 3/4 tbs Liquid Smoke, Hickory
• 2 tbs White Hawaiian Sea Salt 

Instructions

1. Pat dry the pork roast and poke holes with a fork
2. Salt the entire roast
3. Put in crockpot and sprinkle 3/4 tbs Liquid Smoke
4. Turn on crockpot and let cook for about 6 hours.  You'll know it's ready when you can shred with fork
5. I took out servings for 2 and browned a bit in a fry pan and swerved with some purple sweet potatoes and Hawaiian BBQ Sauce

University of Arizona String Art

Last weekend, I went to an alumni fundraiser for the University of Arizona.  It was a fun event and reminded me why I should be proud to be part of such a great community.  I realized a few weeks ago that I have pretty much every piece of UofA gear imaginable ... Tees, License Plate frame, Mugs, and, the list goes on. 

I decided to try a craft I have seen over and over - string art.  It was really quick, easy and looked great!  The cool thing about this craft is you can literally do any design, any size, any color ... It's all up to you! 

Supplies Needed:

• Various sizes of wood, any size your pattern fits on
• Pattern - I found an outline of the state of Arizona
• Paint, I used white and red for the center
• Nails
• Hammer & awl
• String

Directions:

• Sand and paint wood to desired color
• Once dry, center & tape the pattern to the wood.  
• Use awl to mark where nails will go.  
• Hammer nails into holes created by awl - hammer nail about 1/3 - 1/2 way 
• Tie string around 1 nail ... And weave around nails to create design
• Once finished tie to last nail.

If you prefer to purchase a piece, please feel free to email directly and I can provide pricing for you.