I’m referring to coconut. Like cilantro, Brussels sprouts or sushi, coconut is one of those foods that people feel strongly about in one direction or the other. Fortunately I’m pro-cilantro, Brussels sprouts and coconut. No, I don’t like sushi. It’s a raw fish and/or seaweed thing. But that’s not the point today.

Today the point is this: If you love coconut, you will love these coconut lime cupcakes. Assuming that you like limes. But I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who was opposed to limes.

I’ve made these cupcakes numerous times in the past and they’re frequently requested by people who have tried them before. I think they’re second only to carrot cupcakes. This most recent batch was made for a cookout on the 4th of July. Joel requested that I make them despite the fact that we didn’t know how the people at the cookout felt about coconut. Fortunately I think most of the people liked coconut and the rest of them just had to go without a delicious cupcake. Their loss. I also shared some with a neighbor and her mom liked them so much that she requested the recipe. And since I needed to post something on my website anyway, here it is!

The recipe for these is from the fantastic Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook. If you haven’t ever flipped through this cookbook, it’s worth doing just for cupcake ideas.

I did make a number of changes to the original recipe and my version isn’t vegan as I used real dairy products instead of soy ones. I’ve made them the true vegan way as well and really couldn’t tell the difference. The recipe below is my non-vegan adapted version as it’s a lot cheaper to make them this way. Also, the original called for coconut oil and quite frankly, I am not willing to buy coconut oil as it’s grossly expensive and these cupcakes taste plenty coconutty without it.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Slightly adapted from recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Makes 12 regular or about 40 mini cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk (I use the light variety)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp coconut extract (if you don’t have it, I’ve subbed extra vanilla before and all was well)
• 1 tbsp lightly packed, finely grated lime zest
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sweetened coconut

Lime Buttercream Frosting:

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp finely grated lime zest (I like lime a lot and I used more like 1 heaping tablespoon. But that’s your call!)

Optional topping:

• 1 cup sweetened coconut, toasted in the oven until browned and crunchy

Directions

Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with liners. If making mini cupcakes, you’ll probably want to bake these in 2 batches.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the vegetable oil and sugar. Add the coconut milk, milk, vanilla, coconut extract, and lime zest. Mix to combine.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until smooth. Add the coconut and mix to incorporate.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes for regular cupcakes and slightly less for mini cupcakes, until the cupcake top springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean.
5. Cool completely on racks before icing.

Frosting:

1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until combined well and fluffy.
2. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and lime juice, beat for another 5 to 7 minutes or so until fluffy.
4. Add the zest and mix to distribute.
5. Chill until ready to use.

To Assemble:

1. Heap the frosting onto the cupcakes or pipe onto cupcakes using a pastry bag and decorating tip of your choice.
2. If using toasted coconut on top, sprinkle the cupcakes with the toasted coconut and press lightly so that it adheres to the frosting.
3. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

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Yes, I’ve been on a quest for The Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookie recipes. And I think I might have found it!

Published in Everyday Food magazine last fall, Martha Stewart and company dared to call these “Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies”. Ultimate is indeed a good word for these. They really weren’t falsely advertising the goodness of these cookies!

This is where I admit that I’ve wanted a chocolate chip cookie recipe that tastes like the cookies made from the stupid Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough that comes in a plastic tube. Despite my baking abilities and my good intentions to eat less processed food, I have to admit that I like the Pillsbury cookies as they are exactly and precisely how I want chocolate chip cookies to taste. I like them crisp around the edges yet soft, chewy and a touch under-baked. Sadly, Pillsbury always delivers on those qualities.

Fortunately this “Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies” recipe came along and I’ll never have to buy Pillsbury again. And neither should you.

The recipe make a lot of small cookies. When I saw how many cookies this recipe was going to produce, I wisely froze some of the scoops of dough for a future dessert emergency. I left them in the freezer for about 6 weeks and honestly the cookies tasted just as good then as they did when the dough was fresh.

You’ll notice that this calls for both milk and semi-sweet chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of milk chocolate but it works in this recipe. Use both kinds!

The recipe also mentions that you can add a couple of cups of walnuts or pecans to the recipe. I did add walnuts to part of the dough and they were a fantastic addition…if you’re the type to enjoy nuts in your cookies.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe very slightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine

Makes approximately 75 small cookies

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used kosher salt)
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer), beat butter and sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy, 6 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture just until incorporated.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.
6. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet with about 2 inches between each scoop of dough.
7. Bake until edges are light golden brown, about 10 minutes if you like your cookies slightly under-baked like I do, rotating sheets halfway through.
8. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
9. Bake remaining dough in same manner as directed above. Or if you’ve got more dough than you need, unbaked cookies can be frozen on a baking sheet until firm; store in a resealable plastic bag in the freezer. Bake from frozen in oven preheated to 350 degrees.

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As much as I love the fluffy buttercream frosting I’ve been making near constantly for almost 2 years, it was time to make a new friend in the frosting world. Maybe a wordly, sophisticated frosting that isn’t so reliant on powdered sugar? Swiss meringue buttercream frosting is that new friend and possibly a friend for life.

Swiss meringue buttercream is my new favorite frosting and it should be yours as well. The fluffy buttercream has been pushed aside for the not-too-sweet, super smooth and shiny Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. While the buttercream I’d been making called for about a million cups of powdered sugar, the new Swiss meringue buttercream calls for barely a cup. It’s a healthier option…if you can look past the copious quantities of actual butter in this frosting. I have. And so should you.

As my first venture into this new frosting world, I made the frosting to go with a batch of mini chocolate cupcakes. Both the cupcakes and the frosting recipes are from Martha Stewart‘s relatively recent Cupcakes cookbook. Just so you know, the One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes are pretty killer…and the recipe yields a LOT of mini cupcakes. 58 to be exact. It yielded so many cupcakes that we kept a bunch and both the boyfriend and I took lots of them to our respective offices…where they were met with high praise. Praise like “This is my favorite thing you’ve ever made!” and “It was so good, it made you want to slap your mother.” And it’s not like these people haven’t had lots of baked goodies from me in the past…the cupcakes were just that good.

Back to the frosting. For the mini chocolate cupcakes, I made a coffee version of the frosting following Martha’s careful instructions. Since then I’ve also made a batch of white cupcakes with a chocolate version of the frosting. Both versions are super-duper-amazingly delicious. Next I’ll try a plain version.

Let it be known that I made the frosting despite some old fears of screwing up what looks to be a fussy recipe. In fact, it was not a fussy recipe. It’s a little time consuming only because the mixer has to whip the meringue for a long time. Other than that, it couldn’t have been easier. I should probably note that in order to really make this frosting successfully, you should use a stand mixer. A hand mixer might work but you’ll be awfully tired of using it by the end. With the stand mixer, you can walk away and do other things while it’s whipping. If you’re like me, the other things you’ll do will probably be the dishes.

For the number of mini cupcakes I made, I prepared just a half batch of the frosting recipe shown below. Everything divided in half well other than the egg whites…so I used three of those. If you’re planning to use this frosting for a regular cake, make the full recipe. Or if you like your normal sized cupcakes heavily frosted with a bowl of extra frosting just to eat, make the full recipe.

One more comment: If you (or your office mates) love coffee, definitely try the coffee variation. My office mates actually ate their cupcakes in the morning…with their coffee.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Makes about 5 cups

Ingredients

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water.
2. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
3. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.
4. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
5. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla.
7. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth.
8. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month.
9. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Coffee Variation: Mix 2 tablespoons good quality instant espresso powder (do not use instant coffee) with the vanilla extract. Stir until espresso powder is mostly dissolved and add to frosting in step 6.

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I love flipping through magazines in search of recipes. Over the years I’ve become pretty selective about which ones I actually clip and file for later. Despite my selectivity, the vast majority of the recipes I clip are never made. Then there are the recipes that look so delicious that I make them before they’re ever clipped from the magazine.

These Peanut Butter Cup Cookies were one of those recipes. As soon as I saw these in the latest issue of Real Simple, I knew they would be made. Quickly. Like 2 days later…which was as soon as I could actually justify making another dessert. This recipe was not one that would linger in the binder for years without ever being made. This was a recipe capable of cutting in front of all the other recipes that have been patiently waiting in line for months (or even years).

If you like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (and I do), these are for you. The dough in these cookies is secondary to the Reese’s Cups and I’m okay with that. They’re super easy to make. The hardest part is chopping the Reese’s Cups. If you’re not really a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or peanut butter, you probably won’t enjoy these as much as I did.

I made only a few modifications to the original recipe. I added a little bit of peanut butter to the dough and I used regular sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups instead of mini ones. I prefer the peanut butter to chocolate ratio in the regular sized Reese’s Cups. But if you like the smaller ones better, use them.

This recipe uses a LOT of Reese’s Cups and that could get expensive…but Halloween is approaching and you should be able to find a jumbo-sized bag of them on sale soon!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Adapted from recipe in Real Simple magazine, October 2009.

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• about 16 regular-sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Beat the butter and sugars until creamy with an electric mixer. Add the egg, vanilla and peanut butter and beat to combine.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.
6. Fold in the chopped peanut butter cups.
7. Drop tablespoon-size balls of dough 2 inches apart onto the parchment lined cookie sheets.
8. Bake until light brown around the edges, about 10-12 minutes.
9. Transfer to baking rack and cool.
10. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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