Boozy Watermelon Granitas

I'm smack dab in the middle of some serious summer vacationing.  Last week, we spent 4 days up in New Hampshire with my family.  We hung out by the lake, lounged in the water, waterskiied, did some paddleboard yoga, and ate more delicious food than anyone actually needs to eat in a 4 day period.  Needless to say, it was awesome.  But of course the best part was the family time with my parents, grandparents, aunt and cousins.  I wish we all lived closer!



This past weekend, we took a trip up to Wisconsin to camp and catch a Brewers game.  It was meant to be a test-run for our camping gear, since we just got a whole bunch of new stuff to take on our big trip out West.  It was also a chance to check another baseball park off of our lists.  I've been to 3 new parks so far this summer and will be at one more (I hope) by the end of the week!  Despite the fact that traffic in both directions was pretty horrific, limiting our ability to actually do any hiking, we had a great time.  I'm excited for us to do the real thing next week.



Before we left, I had sent this recipe to the Monkey Scientist's mom.  I didn't really read it, or think about how much work went into making granitas.  I just thought it looked good.  I should have known better - by the time we got back she'd stressed over making it all day and bought these cute little serving bowls for it.  I was so excited!  She's the sweetest.



I tried to help out by making the coconut whipped cream, but it didn't work out great. The taste was spot on, but it never really stiffened up.  Not quite sure what I did wrong; maybe I overwhipped it in the electric mixer?  It didn't really matter though because these were so delicious that we all slurped them down pretty quickly.  When they started melting it almost turned into a soft coconut-watermelon ice cream.  What a refreshing and tasty summertime treat!

Next, we're off to the West Coast for our big summer trip. I'll be sure to tell you all about it when we get back!



Boozy Watermelon Granitas
from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients
4 cups fresh cubed watermelon
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup coconut rum
1 (14-ounce) can of full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight

Instructions
1. In the blender or food processor, completely puree the watermelon. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve over a measuring cup and use a spoon to press every last bit of liquid out of the watermelon pulp.
2. Add the watermelon juice and sugar to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and once the liquid comes to a boil, turn off the heat.
3. Pour the juice into a 9x13-inch baking dish and whisk in the rum. Freeze for 4 hours.
4.  Use a fork and scrape the mixture into small icy bites. Freeze again and repeat the scraping one or two more times within the next two hours or so.
5.  When ready to serve, open the can of cold coconut milk (don't shake it first!) and remove all of the liquid. Scoop the cream into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed with a whisk attachment until peaks form, about 2 minutes. If desired, you can sweeten your coconut whipped cream with a little sugar.
6. Serve the granitas by layering a spoonful of the whipped cream, the granitas and more whipped cream. You can garnish with a sprig of mint if you have any on hand.

Coconut Lime White Chocolate Macaroons

I decided this year to host Passover at my apartment.  I invited most of my good friends (some Jewish, some not) and figured most of them would say no and maybe a few would come for dinner.  I was totally wrong and ended up having 22 people over!

Being my mother's daughter, I was so afraid I wouldn't have enough food.  I made this recipe before I realized how many people were coming over - I doubled it but I probably would have made 4 times this many had I realized.  Fortunately, a friend brought more macaroons over.

Keep in mind, when making macaroons for Passover, that some brands have HFCS in them.  I don't like to buy HFCS anyways, but corn isn't kosher for Passover if you're Ashkenazi so you really need to pay attention this time of year.  Fortunately, this brand (which you can usually find in the Latino section of the market) has all natural ingredients, and no corn!

The minute I saw this recipe, I was drawn to it.  Coconut? Lime? WHITE CHOCOLATE? Some of my favorite ingredients.  Of course, I missed a step (it wasn't a good baking day) and so the picture above and below are missing the egg whites.  I added them back in at the end, which I don't recommend but it did work.

Overall, really easy to make!  You basically just combine all of the ingredient and make little mounds of the coconut mixture.  1 bowl for easy clean up!

I would make the mounds a little smaller than I did.  The recipe says 2 tbsp, but I think you can go smaller than that.  Also, I just drizzled them with white chocolate at the end instead of dipping.  However, the recipe below is just as it was written on two peas and their pod.  Lots more Passover recipes to come in the next week!

Coconut Lime White Chocolate Macaroons
from two peas and their pod


Ingredients
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 large egg white
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3½ cups sweetened coconut
10 ounces white chocolate, chopped

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, egg white, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir until combined. Add in the coconut and mix well.

3. With a spoon, scoop up about 2 Tablespoons of the coconut mixture and form into mounds that have a slight peak at the top. Place on lined baking sheets, about two inches apart. Bake cookies one sheet at a time for 15 to 2o minutes, or until cookies are set and slightly golden brown.

4. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula onto a cooling rack.

5. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Make sure you keep stirring the chocolate every 20 seconds or so until chocolate is melted and smooth.

6. Lay out a large piece of wax paper. Dip the cookies into the chocolate-just so the bottoms are covered in chocolate. Set dipped cookies on the paper to dry. Drizzle macaroons with white chocolate and let dry completely.

Makes 18 macaroons

German Chocolate Brownies

When I'm feeling a little down, my first instinct is to bake.  More importantly, to bake chocolate.

I'm not a huge chocoholic, but chocolate definitely has it's time and place in my diet.  Especially brownies.  I love making different types of brownies from scratch.  This week definitely called for some homemade brownies.  This recipe was great because I just so happened to have everything I needed in the house... almost.  I was a little short on cocoa so I micro-planed in some unsweetened chocolate to top it off.

These did not let me down.  Even my coconut-hating coworker enjoyed them.  I left the rest in the kitchen of office when I left to go back to New Hampshire for a week and there definitely weren't any left when I got back!  This recipe is a KEEPER!

German Chocolate Brownies

from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen on Bluebonnets and Brownies

Ingredients

Brownies:

1/2 cup salted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Topping: (adapted from Good Housekeeping Brownies)

2 egg whites

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

dash of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 pan with foil and spray the foil thoroughly with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, combine melted butter and cocoa powder, stirring until the cocoa powder is dissolved. Add the sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Add flour and stir only until you can no longer see flour in the batter. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter in prepared 8×8 pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

In a medium bowl, beat egg whites with a wire whisk until foamy. Stir in coconut, pecans, brown sugar, milk, vanilla and salt until well combined. Spread topping evenly over batter.

Bake brownies for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs stuck to it.

Cool brownies on a wire rack to room temperature, then peel off the foil, cut and serve.