Honey Chocolate Cake
Look at the bees! My name means honeybee. I get a kick out of anything cute-bee related, and by cute-bee I mean not the real kind that buzz buzz in your ear.
http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail…
It was an ordinary Saturday afternoon: I did some cleaning, did a little design work, and headed out into the world to do grocery shopping and such.
I was just strolling down the food sections of Target, searching for deals, as usual, when these little buggers immediately caught my eye. Like, I had passed them and caught them out of the corner of my eye, rubbernecked for about 10 seconds to read the description, and practically fell over myself backstepping to grab them:
Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut
The name is a mouthful for sure, but you definitely want to have your mouth full of this. There’s a whole macadamia nut place on top of each bar, real pieces of soft dried banana, and huge chunks of coconut flake. Regarding texture, I am used to the soft, yet crunchy, compact Quaker Chewy Bars. These are soft and not as crunchy. They almost fall apart. For a granola bar, you might even consider them “messy.” But let’s get real here, it’s a granola bar, not a Hot Pocket. Nutritionally, they’re low in protein (not good), but fairly low in sugar (8g), but high in fat for their size (5g). This is mostly due to the sunflower oil, coconut oil, and macadamia nut. Overall, if you’re not counting calories, and you’re not on a lowfat diet, these are a delcious snack! And the packaging is so pretty.
Other flavors are Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond, and Honey Roasted Cashew Berry. I don’t know about the other flavors. Raspberry and chocolate together aren’t really my thing, and I don’t like berries in granola.
Want to try them for yourself? Sign up here to receive a free sample and here for a $1.00 off coupon!
Oh! They have a website too: QuakerTrueDelights.com
This is amazing! It’s a device for bakeries that tweets when fresh items are available! Check it out at BakerTweet.com.
Last night’s dinner:
Emeril’s Lemon Herb Grilled Shrimp
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/emerils-lemon-herb-grilled-shrimp
Tonight’s dinner:
Shrimp and Zucchini Tostadas
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/shrimp-and-zucchini-tostadas
This post was inspired by Liz over at Cmd Shift Design.
I’ve been sitting on it for a few days now. Trying to think of what I did in February…It’s not until I went through my email that I could remember anything that went on. I wish that was because I was on some wild drug induced trip for 28 days straight, but I think overall February was slightly unmemorable. Here’s what I was able to gather:
- Began discussing and writing a webseries show with my best friends from college
- Spent a lot of time consulting and designing for the band Mike manages, Hyper Crush, as well as his two companies
- Fell back in love with web design and discovered soooo many helpful design sites such as Noupe
- Booked my airfare, hotel, and bought tickets for Bamboozle
- Got a new client!
- Made a yummy yummy Coconut Passionfruit Cake which I have neglected to write and post pictures about so far…
February should be my last snoozer month for awhile. By snoozer month, I pretty much worked, designed, slept, and hung out with friends. All very good things to do. But there are exciting events coming up:
+ I hope to sign another client (packaging!) this week.
+ Crossing my fingers to sign on to do a website for a restaurant this week also.
Looking forward to April:
+ Coachella.
+ My Birthday during Coachella weekend!
+ Mike’s coming to visit and we’re going to a wedding.
Looking forward to May:
+ Bamboozle (Third Eye Blind, No Doubt, Hyper Crush, Taking Back Sunday).
+ Kevin Devine at the Troubadour May 17!
Life is in full swing and spring is right around the corner. One of my favorites.
I’ve got a yummy post coming up soon…It has to do with coconut. But first, to hold you over, let’s take a preview at the next recipe I’ll be making:
It’s the lovely Smitten Kitchen’s Toasted Coconut Shortbread Cookies. Ahhh my abs are gonna love me for these ones…1.5 sticks of butter! Eek!
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/…
These are one of my favorite cookies. Everytime I make them, I forget that when it comes time to eat them, you’re essentially consuming two cookies at once, and that I need to make them smaller. I don’t know if I’m being over generous with the suggested size, or if it really needs to be scaled back, but when they’re baked they come out to 2″ in wide dome shapes. Use just enough frosting between the two cookies so that it starts to ooze out, don’t overdo it.
This is the first time I’ve made them with food processor-ed coconut; prior to purchasing my food processor I chopped shredded coconut to make it a bit finer, but the food processor method really does work best. It releases the flavor of the coconut more and infuses the dough.
These are best when eaten the first and second days after baking, but they will last for up to a week.
Photo: ErinCooks.com
Coconut Sandwich Cookies
Everyday Food Magazine December 2007
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (7 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut (about 2 1/4 cups)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Creamy Vanilla Filling (see below)
Preheat oven to 350, with racks set in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Place 1/2 cup coconut into a small bowl; set aside. Place remaining coconut in a food processor; pulse until coarsely ground. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and ground coconut; mix just until combined.
Drop dough by level tablespoons onto two baking sheets, 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Dividing evenly, spread filling on flat side of half the cookies; sandwich with remaining cookies. Roll edges in reserved coconut, and chill until ready to serve.
Creamy Vanilla Filling
Using an electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup (1 stick) room-temperature unsalted butter until light and fluffy. With mixer on medium, beat in 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract , increase speed to high, and beat until filling is light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Makes about 1 cup.
This is hilarious!! I’m at work right now and this came through on one of my industry newsletters. I couldn’t resist taking 5 minutes to blog about it. I love Burger King’s marketing!
“Two days ago - just in time for the holidays - the fast food chain began selling the body spray, for $4 a bottle, at Rickey’s, a New York City retailer, and on the Web site, http://www.firemeetsdesire.com/.”
I’m definitely buying this as a gag gift for someone this year!
Last Saturday:
Photo: Smitten Kitchen
Mine didn’t turn out great. I skimped a bit on the crumbs for the bottom crust, resulting in hard to handle bars, and also used *eek* vegetable shortening instead of butter! I know, I know, terrible!! But I had some leftover from when my mom was here (she uses it in her favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe) and I just wanted to get the evil stuff out of my pantry. And it’s so hard for me to just throw food away…
This Saturday:
Photo: Smitten Kitchen
This is most definitely a favorite. I use strawberries with a pinch of cinnamon (I just love cinnamon, can’t help it!) instead of rhubarb with ginger.
I loooove Smitten Kitchen. I subscribe to her RSS feed. So now you know what I do when I need a break from QuickBooks at work…It’s only momentarily Gregory (my boss), I promise!
