Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

John loves coconut and requested these for his birthday.

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. butter
3 eggs
3/4 t. pure vanilla extract
3/4 t. pure almond extract
1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with a little vinegar)
1 7-ounce package flaked sweetened coconut
cream cheese icing

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer speed to low, and add the eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each. Beat in the vanilla and almond extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat again briefly.

Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately to the butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Fold in only 1 1/3 cups of the coconut.

Fill each muffin cup almost full with batter. Bake in a 325-degree oven for 20 minutes or until the cupcake tops are golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. When cool, frost with cream cheese icing and sprinkle remaining coconut on top.

For the frosting I did:

4 oz cream cheese
4 oz butter
1 T. milk
1 t. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar
3 drops food coloring
Beat until smooth. This generously frosted 24 cupcakes.

Warm Potato Salad with Blue Cheese

(we ate this with fried okra)

This was a quick, flavorful salad - and I don't even like blue cheese!

4 pounds red potatoes, cubed
8 strips of bacon
1 red onion, thinly sliced
pepper
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. vinegar (I used 2 T. red wine vinegar, 2 T. white vinegar, 1 T. balsamic vinegar)
1 T. sugar
1 c. crumbled blue cheese

Cook the potatoes until tender. Cook and crumble bacon. Remove all but 2 T bacon fat. Cook onion in bacon fat until tender. Add olive oil, vinegar and sugar. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Pour over potatoes. Season with salt and lots of pepper. Add bacon and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle with blue cheese.

Baklava

I accidentally bought phyllo dough instead of pastry dough a while ago, and what better thing to use if for than learning to make baklava? It was a little time intensive, but not difficult, and very delicious! I actually made 1/2 the recipe in a 9x9 pan.

1 16 oz package phyllo dough
1 lb chopped nuts (I used pecans and walnuts)
1 c. butter
1 t. cinnamon
1 ½ c. water
1 ½ c. white sugar
1 ½ t. vanilla
¾ c. honey

Butter a 9x13 pan. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Melt butter Unroll phyllo dough. Cut stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a damp cloth to keep from drying out. Place two sheets of dough in pan, brush thoroughly with butter. Repeat for 8 sheets. Sprinkle 2-3 T of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering. Top layer should be 6-8 sheets.
Cut into diamond shapes with a sharp knife. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes until golden and crisp.
For sauce, boil sugar and water. Add vanilla and honey and simmer for 20 minutes. Cool. Spoon cool sauce over warm baklava. Leave uncovered so it doesn’t get soggy.

Tortillas

I originally got this recipe from my cousins, Alyssa and Camilla. The recipe makes 25, but I don't recommend making that many without a tortilla press and a helper (over age 3). I usually make 1/4 the recipe.

Original Recipe (makes about 25)
8 c. flour
1 t. salt
4 t. baking powder
4 T. Crisco (or butter)
3 c. hot water

Here's how I make them: 1/4 recipe (makes about 6)
1 1/3 c. flour
2/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 T. oil
3/4 c. hot water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut Crisco/butter/oil into flour mixture. Add water. Knead. Let stand 3 minutes. Grease hands. Form Balls. Roll and cut into circles. Fry or cook on grill. I cooked them on the George Foreman this time and they turned out good. Usually I fry them in a little oil.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

This is the cake I made for Maggie's birthday. The frosting is very lemon-y, but balances out the cake nicely. I added a couple drops of yellow food coloring to both the cake and the frosting. You need 3 total lemons. Recipe is from John's sister, Jamie.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Combine:
3 c. flour
1/4 c. poppy seeds
1 t. baking soda

Beat until fluffy:
1 c. softened butter
2 c. sugar

Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time.
Add juice from 1 lemon

Add 1 c. plain yogurt, alternating with dry ingredients, 1/3 at a time.

Blend in zest from two lemons.

Bake at 325 for 50-65 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on rack. Invert pan.

Glaze:
2 T. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
juice from 1 lemon
zest from 1 lemon

Melt butter. Blend in other ingredients. Spoon over cake while still warm.

Playdough

There is a section in my recipe box titled "Misc." There are several rather wacky family recipes (or science experiments) and Maggie is a great age to start trying them. Maggie's playdough was dried out when we went to use it today, so we whipped up some of my mom's recipe. She picked two colors (blue and white) and I made 1/4 batch, or about 3/4 cup of each.
2 c. flour
1 c. salt
4 t. cream of tartar.
Combine in a saucepan. Add 2 c. colored water and 4 t. oil. Stir quickly and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly until it forms a ball. Turn out and knead. cool. Store at room temperature in Tupperware.
I made 1/4 batch at a time because you add the color when you first mix it, not afterward. It was fast and easy, only about 5 minutes per batch.

Sugar Cookies and Buttercream Frosting

This is the recipe my Mom used for Christmas cookies to decorate every year. I mixed it up by using almond flavoring in the frosting for Valentine's Day. One batch of each makes about 2 dozen medium rolled-out cookies. I am very good at saving money and time by leaving out ingredients. I used to make the cookies without the lemon rind, but I recently discovered they are much better with it. So don't leave it out!

Sugar Cookies
Blend together:
1/2 c. butter
1 t. grated lemon rind
1 c. sugar

Beat in:
1 egg
2 T. orange juice

Stir in:
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. soda
1/2 t. nutmeg

Chill for a while to ease handling. Roll to 1/4" thick and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 400 7-9 minutes. We rotate the dough in the freezer so it stays cool and easy to roll. Also, if you don't roll the dough thin enough, the cookies will spread and ruin your cookie cutter shape. And, if you keep the cookies in a sealed container, they will stay nice and soft. Just layer wax paper in between.

Buttercream Frosting (James Beard Cookbook)
1/3 c. butter
3-4 T. heavy cream
3 c. powdered sugar
flavoring

Cream together butter and sugar and beat in the cream. Flavor with 1 t. vanilla, almond, or lemon extract. For chocolate frosting, add 1/2 c. dark cocoa sifted with the sugar.

Make one batch for frosting for each batch of cookies.