Coconut & Lime

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg, at room temperature
2 tablespoons root beer extract*


vanilla ice cream



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour 12 wells in a cupcake pan. Whisk together the root beer extract and milk. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg, mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture. Pour the milk into rest of the batter and beat until well combined. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just one or two dry crumbs. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before topping with a scoop of vanilla ice cream right before serving. Eat immediately.



* I used Zatarain's Root Beer Extract extract (available for purchase here). It's affordable and tasty. Fun fact: root beer was actually the first product sold under the Zatarain's name back in 1889.

My thoughts:

I have had the idea for root beer float cupcakes floating around in my head for ages but it wasn't until Stef announced her ice cream cupcake round-up that I really put the idea in motion. The fact that I had some ice cream soda print cupcake liners, was the icing on the er, cupcake.



I have seen some recipes for root beer cupcakes or cake that call for actual root beer in the batter, but I worried that the flavor would be diluted during baking. I know when I developed the recipe for cuba libre cupcakes I ended up with a cupcake where while you could still taste the coke, the flavor wasn't super strong. Of course for the cuba libre cupcake, a strong cola flavor wasn't needed because I was going for a balance with the other flavors. For a root beer float cupcake, however, there needed to have a clear root beer flavor in the cake. So I turned to the root beer extract I use to make individual glasses of homemade root beer (using homemade club soda) and it worked wonderfully. It has such an authentic root beer flavor, you almost expect bubbles. Another added benefit of using the extract versus the actual soda is that the extract is unsweetened so you have greater control over how sweet the cupcakes end up. Using soda in baked goods is tricky if you don't want something super sweet because if you are using a butter based recipe, you still need to add at least some sugar to cream the butter with and oil based cakes don't have the texture I was looking for-moist with a soft crumb but sturdy enough to support a scoop of ice cream. This cupcake is sweet but not overly so, the focus is on the root beer.

I think these would be great to serve at a party or cookout because you don't have to worry about icing them and they transport so well. Just bake them ahead of time and have the ice cream ready to scoop when you serve.

Ingredients:
2 lb potato, cubed
1 lb beets
2 cups chopped beet greens
1 onion, diced
2 slices thick cut bacon


dressing:
2 tablespoons grainy deli mustard
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 shallot, grated
salt
pepper
pinch sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Roast the beets until fork tender, about 50 minutes. Rub the skin off with a paper towel and then cube. Meanwhile, whisk together all of the ingredients of the dressing together, set aside. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until tender but not crumbly. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Drain on paper towel lined plates and crumble. Drain all but 1 teaspoon of bacon drippings out of the pan and saute the onion until just softened. Drain the potatoes and immediately toss with beets, onions, bacon and beet greens. Add the dressing and toss to evenly distribute. Serve hot or cold.

Quick note: Beets are in season this time of year, so it should be easy to find beets with healthy leaves still attached. Avoid beets with wilted or bruised leaves.

My thoughts:

It's been unseasonably cold and rainy all month here in Baltimore, so I have been doing more dreaming of picnics than actually having them. As soon as the weather warms up a bit, this salad is going back on the menu.

This salad takes its inspiration from the classic German potato salad but elevates it to a whole new level with the addition of beets and greens. It just might be a little healthier too; less frying, more vegetables. Now the beets do pretty much color everything with their juices which might be off-putting to some but the flavor isn't overwhelmingly beet-y; the potatoes and greens provide the needed balance. The dressing is wonderfully tart yet slightly sweet and really brings out the roasted beet flavor and the smokiness of the bacon.

As I creep closer to posting my 700th (!) original recipe I was reminded that my four year blogiversary is in a little over a week.

It's contest time!

To enter you can choose to do one of the following:
Make one of my recipes and post it to your blog.
Create an original recipe using the ingredients coconut and lime.


Then:
E-mail me at coconutlimeblog @ gmail . com with "Coconut & Lime contest" in the subject line.

Include:
Your name
Your blog name
Recipe title
Direct link to your post


Quick notes:
If you are making one of my recipes (you have a lot to choose from!) please link back to the original recipe in your post.

You don't have to have a food blog to enter, post your entry to whatever blog or website you have or post it to your flickr account.

While I do have my recipes organized by ingredient, occasion and cuisine, it is not a complete list of all of the recipes on this blog. I suggest using the search tool on the right side column or checking out the archives for a wider selection of recipes.

Not required, but fun: you can post pictures of food you made using my recipes to the Coconut & Lime flickr group.

Also, I know a lot of you have already made and posted my recipes to your site in the past. To be fair, I'd like everyone who enters to post something new for this contest.



Post and e-mail me by June 5th and a random winner will be announced soon after.

The prize: Exact contents to be determined, but it will include a collection of some of my favorite food related things. Think: spices, cookbooks, candy etc. I don't want to be too specific until I know where the winner lives, there are a lot of rules regarding what can be sent food-wise to different countries and regions but it will be fabulous.




Have fun and feel free to e-mail me directly with any questions or concerns! I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Ingredients:
marinade:
5 cloves garlic, grated
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and minced
3/4 cup sour orange juice*
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt
pepper

3 or 4 thick cut, boneless pork chops
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Whisk all of the ingredients to the marinade together. Pour over pork chops and marinate for 2-6 hours. Heat oil in a large skillet. Drain pork and reserve marinade. Add pork to skillet and cook about 5 minutes on each side. Make sure they are completely cooked through. Remove the chops to a plate and cover. Add marinade to the skillet and bring to a boil until it reduces to a glaze, about 2 minutes. Drizzle over pork chops before serving.

*Available bottled at most well-stocked grocery stores. Substitute fresh sour orange juice or a 50/50 combo of orange and lime juice.

My thoughts:

Best pork chops ever! Simple, but so juicy and full of flavor. I bet they would be good out on the grill as well, but we just ordered a grill and it hasn't arrived yet so I did the skillet method. If you are not a sauce person, feel free to leave it off, the pork has plenty of flavor as-is.

Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
4 oz defrosted frozen artichoke hearts, chopped
3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained*
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 shallots, sliced
2 chipotle chiles in adobo with 1 teaspoon of the adobe sauce
1 tablespoon key lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt




Directions:
In a food processor, blend together the cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, shallots, lime juice, chipotle, and adobo sauce until very smooth. Stir in spinach, artichokes until just combined. Serve chilled.

*This should yield a packed 1/4 cup of defrosted chopped spinach.

My thoughts:

I think this might be my new favorite dip. The chipotle adds just the right amount of smoky spice and it is so packed with spinach and artichokes, it's like getting in an extra serving of vegetables. It's a perfect accompaniment for all the fresh veggies just making their appearance at the farmers' market. I also enjoyed it with sesame and pumpernickel pretzel sticks and as a topping on a baked potato.

Quick note: For this recipe, good quality reduced fat sour cream and cream cheese would work just fine.

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh, whole strawberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup (loose) fresh basil

Directions:
Bring the water, sugar and basil to boil in a medium sauce pan. Boil, stirring occasionally until it reduces slightly and thickens to a light syrup. Strain and cool. Add to strawberries and blend until smooth in a blender. Pour mixture into 13x9 metal pan. Place in the freezer and freeze for 20 minutes. Rake any frozen areas with a fork, return to freezer for 20 minutes, then rake again. Re-freeze for 30 minutes, then rake with a fork before serving. It should look flaky and granular-not frozen solid. Store any leftovers in a freezer safe air-tight container in the freezer.

My thoughts:

I love making granita* because not only is it quick and easy (no ice cream maker required) but it is a great way to use up fruit that is on the urge of going bad. I had rather a lot of strawberries leftover from cupcake making and there was no way the two of us were going to be able to eat them before they spoilt. Enter the granita. It took about 5 minutes to mix together and now I have a fruit-packed, slightly herbal frozen treat that will keep longer in the freezer than the berries would have on my counter. The strawberries are fresh tasting and the basil keeps it from being too sweet.



*The difference between sorbet and granita is mostly a matter of technique. Sorbets are churned using a gelato or ice cream maker and the granita has a coarser texture as a result of being frozen in a sheet and raked with a fork. Sorbets can also contain egg whites (although not milk, that would make it sherbet) and granitas are a strickly a water-sugar-flavor affair.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup milk
3 large strawberries, mashed (with juices)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature
3 sprigs thyme leaves, lightly crushed
zest of 1 small lemon


lemon thyme frosting



Directions:
Allow the thyme to seep in the milk for at least 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour 6 wells in a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and zest then mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture. Strain the milk into a small bowl and mix it into the strawberries. Add the mixture the rest of the batter and mix until well combined. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just one or two dry crumbs. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before icing with lemon thyme frosting.

My thoughts:

There have been several times when I have thought that Stef (of Cupcake Project fame) and I might be secretly related. Or that at the very least, we are transmitting some sort of subliminal signals to each other. How else to explain that we have both come up with several of the same concepts (absinthe cupcakes! Kentucky Derby cupcakes! winter Starbucks inspired cupcakes! our favorite versions of chocolate cream cheese frosting among others) with very different recipes just days apart? We finally decided to take this to the next level: we would both deliberately make cupcakes using the same ingredient (thyme) and post the results on the same day. Now, we didn't know what the other one was doing with the thyme or what the other ingredients might be, just that thyme had to be a star ingredient. I wasn't sure what I was going to make until I saw some impossible to resist and extremely-early-for-Baltimore strawberries for sale and decided to make a strawberry-thyme cupcake topped with a lemon-thyme icing as thyme pairs well with both citrus and berries. The result: edible Spring! Fluffy strawberry and thyme infused cupcakes with fluffy and not too sweet icing makes for possibly the the lightest and freshest flavored cupcakes I've ever made. Not terribly sweet, these are more on the adult side of the cupcake family but they are definitely not muffins. I love the bits of strawberry that are found throughout the cake and the thyme is a perfect counterpart to its fruitiness.

As a side note, the song "Time after Time" (both the Cyndi Lauper and unfortunately, the Paul Anka version) has been stuck in my head for days while I worked on these thyme-centric recipes. I can only hope that you are not similarly afflicted, Stef.

Check out Stef's thyme cupcake here.