JEWELED COCONUT DROPS

I was trying to come up with some lame excuse as to why I haven't posted for a few weeks. It was going to go something like...."Well it's hard to bake when your back yard looks like this!"

Then I realized that, since the oven isn't actually inside that monsterous hole, it's not a valid excuse. And then I thought about telling you that I've been touring some exotic locale, and that baking is now for the Commoners, and I now consider myself above all that. Lame. Then, I thought I should just come clean. I really have been baking, but I either forget to take pictures, or I don't have anything interesting to say about the dish I've made. Sometimes I can't think of anything more creative to say about a recipe than "It's good."And that can make for a short, boring entry.

I've been on vacation this week, and I've gotten a lot done. It's been moderately relaxing and of course, the baking has been nice. And the Jeweled Coconut drops are all kinds of delicious. You may have noticed that I'm doing more recipes that appeal to my pallette, and those of you who read this blog regularly know that I am passionate about coconut. For those of you born without the "coconut gene", you may want to stop reading now.

These cookies are chewy, fruity, filling and versatile.

The recipe calls for seedless raspberry jam to be used as the topping. I did make some of them using raspberry jam, but it had seeds (seedless is overrated), and since I had some peach preserves, and some cherry preserves I made a few using each one of those flavors. Why yes, we are jelly freaks at my house. We often have two to three different jelly and jam flavors in the fridge. Mostly because Mr. Icequeen has the soul of a ten year old boy, and I think he could eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day and not become sick of them. Wait. Does that make me a pedophile?

I really liked the version using the cherry preserves, and the peach wasn't too bad.

What some of you may not know is that most of the stuff that I bake for this blog doesn't stick around my home. It goes....away. We sample the final product and then the rest is given to family, friends, co-workers, etc. If I ate all of the stuff that I bake, in its entirety, then the airlines would require that I buy an extra seat when I fly. These particular cookies were given to Mr. Icequeen's co-worker, and she was generous enough to share the cookies with others in her office. The drops were a big hit. One person even said that they were "Like sex in your mouth". Hmmmm. I'm not so sure. They're good, but they're not orgasmic.

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CLUSTERS

Candy, candy, candy..I can't let you go. Are you surprised? I'm a little surprised myself. I've never been much of a candy maker, but the past couple of Christmases I've tried to step outside my comfort zone and make more candies. Usually with pretty good results. Some of you may already know that BFMHTY, doesn't contain any candy recipes. I confess, I had to get away from the cookbook for a bit. I plan on finishing that part of this project, but I don't like limiting my sugary adventures to just one set of recipes. Sooooo, why not some heart-stoppingly sweet, turtle-like candies? Why not indeed.

These candies literally took about thirty minutes to throw together, that includes set up time on the chocolate. I used chocolate bark, so that I wouldn't have to go to all the trouble of tempering chocolate (tempering is a bitch of a task, and one of the reasons I don't enjoy candymaking much). After you melt the chocolate, you throw some nuts on top, and then cover with melted caramel (yum) and more melted chocolate.

The chocolate has a strong cocoa taste, which I like. The caramel has a little heavy cream added that really adds to the richness. Overall these were very good, but if I make them again, there definitely needs to be an addition to the recipe. See, these little patties are sickeningly sweet. The sugar hit was so strong that I couldn't even eat a whole piece, luckily, Mr. Icequeen was around to scoop up the scrap I left behind. I wish that the cashews had been saltier, to balance out the sweetness of the choclate and caramel. So, I recommend topping the clusters with a sprinkling of sea salt just as the chocolate is setting up. The salt on top would also help them to look more appealing.

I'm sure you could make these same candies using white instead of milk chocolate. But, why the hell would anyone want to do that? White chocolate is satan's breast milk! Blah. It's heresy! It's not even real chocolate. It's mockalate.

Personal Note: February marked five years since my last cancer treatment, and I visited my oncologist earlier this month and he gave me the all clear. I was told that once you're cancer free for five years (as I am) that in the medical community you're considered to be "cured". Yep, he said it just like that, with the air quotes and everything. I despise my oncologist. Now, I know what you're thinking..."That man saved your life. You shouldn't hate him". Many people treated me and took wonderful care of me, but he was not one of them. He was not the one who found my tumor, he did not conduct the chemo and radiation treatments. He primarily made the whole process less bearable with the way he runs his office. Plus, he has a huge God Complex. I'm not going to tell you who he is, but he has a life size portrait of himself in his waiting room. And I hope none of you are ever in the situation where you end up getting to see that portrait. The point that I'm actually trying to make is.... Yaaaaaaaay me! Thanks to the support of my family and friends I made it through the treatments and I feel great. Also, props to my gyno, who really did save my life (Dr. Heywood, you are the greatest!) Okay, enough of that crap, this ain't no Lifetime movie.

CHEWY, CHUNKY BLONDIES

Spring has definitely sprung around here. That means home projects on the horizon, that's in addition to the tending of flower beds, prepping our garden for planting, mowing. But, I hope to get in plenty of baking in between other projects. So, don't worry my darlings, I will not abandon you just because the sun has decided to return.

The onset of warmer weather will also allow me to get to a several recipes that I had been putting off because the fruit needed to make them was out of season. Fall is my favorite season, and I don't even mind the gloom of winter. Because when you're as pale as a vampire*, but without all the sexiness, Summer, frankly, sucks. Things are different this year though, I don't know if it's the happy pills or the fact that this past winter was just so damn cold, but I'm actually happy ( dont' get used to it) that the warmer weather is here.

The blondies featured here are delicious. Moist and most importantly, sweet. This recipe finally had enough sugar in it to satisfy my sweet tooth. The subtlety of the sweetness in some of the previous recipes were making me want to hang this project up, or move onto a different cookbook. After making the blondies, I'm glad that I stuck it out. The batter is nothing spectacular, but the addition of the bittersweet chocolate, butterscotch chips, coconut (all hail!), and I snuck in some milk chocolate chips too, make for a combination that sings in your food hole.

Sometimes I judge how good a recipe is by how many people ask for the recipe after they've tasted the end result. This one is definitely a winner.

*Fictional vampires are supposed to scare the hell out of you and make you afraid to go to sleep at night. They are not supposed to make you swoon and wish you were a bloodsucker yourself, or wish you had a vampire boyfriend. I'm not completely anti-Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries, etc., mind you,  I do think that any franchise, no matter how cheesy, is a good thing if it gets people to read who otherwise wouldn't dream of cracking open a book for pleasure. Rant complete. Icequeen out.

CHOCOLATE OATMEAL DROPS

Hmmmm. This post is going to be a short one, because there isn't anything too exciting to say about these cookies, except that they are very chocolatey and have a somewhat cakey texture going for them. They're best described as a rich, sweet chocolate cookie with some oats thrown in for texture. I feel like the addition of the oats made the cookies dry and didn't really add anything worthwhile to an already dull recipe. There are better chocolate cookie recipes out there, so I say avoid this one.

Side Note: Pictures to be posted tonight.

BROWN SUGAR BUNDT CAKE

Okay, Okay. I know that the picture sucks. But I'm tired, so there.

I'm starting to think that all the cake recipes in this cookbook are just variations of the same cake. The flour, sugar, butter (always two sticks, MY GAWD) and egg quantities are always the same. The only change for this particualar cake is that it calls for only light brown sugar, no granulated sugar, or for my British fan club, caster sugar.

This is more of a fruit cake, but in a good way, and the brown sugar really just takes a back seat to the pears, and the raisins and/or prunes you mix into the batter. I opted for prunes. What?! Prunes are delicious, and I feel they get a bad rap in the fruit world. The cake turned out really moist, and I didn't even bother adding the glaze I had planned on. I'm getting a little too "glaze happy" with my desserts lately anyway, so it's just as well.

The baking time on this recipe was actually spot on, at 55 minutes. I think Mr. Icequeen liked this one a little more than me. Don't get me wrong, it was good, it just wasn't anything you couldn't find at your local church social, or weekly meeting of a cake cult (please see previous posts). I do see where you could swap out the pears and/or raisins for dried cherries or even dried cranberries and this would make for a passable dish. I give it a two out of four licks of the bowl.

DULCE DE LECHE DUOS

I haven't been posting many finished recipes lately because I've been a little depressed and I haven't felt much like baking, but... I'm back bitches. And I must say this is a good recipe to start off my comeback with.

These little cookies are easy to make ( I know that I say that about most of the recipes I post, but it's true).

It's really just a basic chocolate chip cookie dough, without the chips and the addition of 3/4 c. of dulce de leche. Then after baking, you fill the centers with the lefter over dulce. The cookies are soft and tasty and the filling is creamy and delicious without being too sweet. I think this is a cookie that kids would really enjoy too because it's so unfussy and easy to eat and what kid doesn't love a cookie sandwich? One with caramel no less? I mean, I would eat my old sneakers if they were slathered in caramel.

Dulce De Leche Duos

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup store-bought dulce de leche, plus more for filling

3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs



Getting ready: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.



Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.



Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat butter at medium speed until soft. Add the Dulce de Leche and both sugars and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Don't be concerned if the mixture looks a little curddled, it will smooth out when the flour mixture is added. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter.



Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets, using a heaping teaspoon of dough for each cookie and leaving 2 inches between them.



Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies should be honey brown with a light sugar crust, but they will be soft, so remove the sheets from the oven but don't touch the cookies for another minute or two. Then, using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.



Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure you cool the baking sheets before spooning the dough onto them.



When the cookies are completely cool, spread the flat bottoms of half the cookies with a small amount of dulce de leche, and sandwich with the flat sides of the remaining cookies

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