Spiced Apple Cider

For some reason it doesn't feel like the holidays until I've had some type of "holiday" beverage. Whether it be a peppermint mocha, pumpkin spice latte, or hot apple cider, I need some type of hot comfort to kick off the season right. A few weeks ago I tweaked my usual spiced cider recipe and came up with this:

Ingredients
1/4 gallon or 4 cups of apple cider (I used gala apple cider)
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1 inch of sliced ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated orange peel
orange slices (put the naked orange from the previous ingredient to use)          

You're probably wondering why my orange looks so tiny. At the time that I made this apple cider I was in the middle of a bag of mandarin oranges, so I used a mandarin orange instead of a conventional orange.

***On a side note, I have a problem buying too much produce when it's packaged conveniently, is a two for something deal, or just looks delicious. I once came home with a very large bag of grapefruits, and I'm the only the one around that eats them! It took me weeks to get to the very last, almost borderline too ripe to eat, slightly shriveled almost tasteless grapefruit. I also have a problem letting food go to waste and sometimes torture myself with not so good produce just to save myself from throwing it away.

I started the cider by putting the cider, orange slices, cinnamon sticks and other spices in a dutch oven. To prevent debris in the final product, I placed the allspice, ginger slices, cloves, and grated orange peel in a tea infuser and dropped the infuser into the luscious liquid.

I let the mixture come to a boil, and then let it simmer for 15 minutes (all uncovered). To be extra sure that my drink was as perfect as possible, I ladled the cider through a small mesh strainer into a mug with fresh apple slices. It was a nice treat at the end of the cider to eat warm cider soaked apples from the bottom of my mug.

 This particular recipe makes enough cider for 2-3 people. Double, triple, or quadruple the portions for larger crowds or if you have a sharing problem. Plan on about a cup to a cup and a half per person depending on the size of the mugs you plan to use to serve.

Coconut Cake

...with Chocolate Coconut Filling.

Brett wanted a "chocolate coconut cake" for his birthday this year. He had never had a chocolate coconut cake; he just thought it sounded good. I had never had such a cake either...so we had to make one up.

I found a recipe in my Southern Living cookbook that I cannot find online. Here is my version of Southern Living's "Four-Layer Coconut Cake" recipe:

Cake Batter: 
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 2/3 cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk (SL said to use regular milk)
6 ounces flaked coconut (I could only find a 14 ounce bag so I used about half of it)
2 teaspoons coconut extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream shortening and butter. Gradually add sugar and eggs 1 at a time. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and add to butter mixture alternately with milk. Add coconut, coconut extract, and vanilla extract. 


Before I go on I must admit that I did not end up with a four-layer cake. I only had three 9" round cake pans, so I made a three layer coconut cake instead. 


Pour batter into three greased and parchment paper lined 9" round cake pans. 

I love using parchment paper instead of flouring the pan. It's less messy and more importantly, super easy! All you do is take three layers of parchment paper and fold them in half several times until you have a triangle. Put the point of the triangle in the middle of one of your pans and cut a rounded edge where the edge of the plan lies. Unfold and you have three perfect rounds for your 9" cake pans. I spray the pans before and after placing the parchment.

Bake at 350 for 23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. SL says to let the cake rest for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Place all layers on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, I ended up putting the layers in the refrigerator--with parchment paper in between each layer and covered with plastic wrap. 

Filling:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
14 ounces of flaked coconut
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (My addition, not in the original recipe)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (My addition, not in the original recipe)

Place the first four ingredients in a large saucepan. Before adding the beaten eggs to the pan, I ran them through a mesh strainer to eliminate egg lumps in the final product.

Cook egg and milk mixture over medium-low heat for 12-15 minutes (while whisking constantly) until thickened and bubbly. I do not know why, but it seemed to take me over 30 minutes to achieved "thick and bubbly" filling. I may have taken the whisking constantly too seriously...


Remove from heat and stir in coconut, vanilla extract, almond extract and chocolate chips. Make sure that all the chocolate is dissolved (add more if you desire). Note: I ended up with filling that tasted a little too sweet for my tastes. I was still very enjoyable, but next time I plan on either reducing the sugar or using unsweetened baking chocolate. Cool completely.

I stored the cake layers and filling overnight in the refrigerator. The next day I made the topping and assembled the cake. 

Topping:
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar


Beat cream at high speed until foamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until soft peaks form. 
 
Toasted coconut flakes:
A few handfuls of coconut flakes

Toast on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper of course, in a 325 oven for about 10 minutes. Or toast them however long you like to get the color and texture that you fancy. Mine looked like this: 

I like to start assembling all layer cakes by putting a small amount of filling or frosting directly on the tray before any morsel of cake is placed. This makes the cake stay put while you frost.

Spread chocolate coconut filling in between each layer. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the topping and garnish with toasted coconut flakes. Enjoy with steamy mug of coffee!

Wine Cork Projects

I recently came into a large wine cork collection due to a flippant comment I let out that I was saving corks for a project the last time my in-laws came to visit. A few months later when we ventured to their place, I was handed a substantial amount of corks that my father-in-law so dutifully collected for me, and my mother-in-law couldn't wait to see go from a very large glass bowl taking up space on her dining room buffet. Forgetting about my endeavors to get creative with corks, I graciously accepted the donation looking forward to the fun I would have experimenting.

Weeks later I dedicated an entire evening to the company of a good friend, a bountiful supply of wine corks and Chinese take-out. We started the festivities with a run to the nearby craft store. I grabbed scrapbook paper, blank wood frames, wood plaque looking things, a hot glue gun and craft paint. Following are the fruits of my labor:

This one I made from one my "plaque looking things" painted with red craft paint and glued three corks vertically next to each other. I liked the contrast between the plastic and natural corks. Below I painted two of the same plaques blue and glued a cork horizontally on each. I placed a plaque on either side of a large mirror. To hang all three, I used 3M tabs that pull away from the wall cleanly.

For this one I painted a plain wooden frame with cream colored craft paint and glued corks in a random yet organized pattern. I created the pattern before gluing by tracing the frame onto a piece of paper and organizing the corks. This way I was able to play with the pattern before I was locked into something that wasn't pleasing to my eye. Instead of a picture, I placed a sheet of scrapbook paper in the frame and the embellishment is a hair pin from a craft fair. This frame looks elegantly eclectic on my antique sewing machine.

Hopefully I can come up with more ideas as I am bound to come home from our Christmas visit with another ridiculous amount of corks...

Beginnings.

This is us. Brett and I got married last August in Indiana, where most of my immediate family lives, and where many family members were able to drive to--with the exception of Brett, myself, and Brett's parents and sister who live in Western Washington. We met through Brett's best friend from high school whom I conveniently went to college with. I went for two years without meeting Brett, or knowing much of his existence. In my third fall at school, Brett made his first trip to visit his friend, in which a double date consisting of salsa dancing was one of the weekend activities. I was not our friend's first choice for a date for Brett, but I was the choice who didn't have any plans for Saturday night.

Neither of us were good at salsa dancing, or dancing in general as long as we're talking about things we're good at...but we hit it off chatting away in the noisy restaurant turned wanna-be dance hall. We went months without communicating, but reunited via Facebook at the beginning of Spring Semester. Long story short, we continued to get to know each other through wall posts and messages which led to Brett making another of many treks to visit me in Idaho.

I decided to let our relationship become official when Brett surprised me in Phoenix while I was on a multi-hour layover waiting for a plane to take me and my classmates to Costa Rica. (Intro to Tropical Ecology was a course that was 90% take a trip to Costa Rica and learn about tropical ecology and 10% meet one hour per week until the trip and talk about what we will do in Costa Rica...that was the best way to take Science as far as I'm concerned.) I got off the plane on a quest for a quiet corner to sleep as I had woken up at a ridiculous time in the morning and had been up late working on a Spanish paper, and before I could hit even a bathroom, Brett was walking towards me.

After I got over the initial shock of seeing him hundreds of miles away from where I last knew he was, I enjoyed the rest of my layover and happily went on my way to Central America. Long story short we continued to date, became engaged in December of 2008, Brett moved to Idaho in May of 2009, and we tied the knot in August of 2009. And that's how we began...