Coconut Cream Pie Dip

 I tried out this dip last fall as one of many at a family get together.  It taste great, and it was nice to be able to get a small scoop as opposed to committing to a whole slice....it left room for me to pile another piece of pie on my plate with a scoop of this dip on the side.  This can be used as the filling to a coconut cream pie, or you can make it in a bowl and serve it with graham crackers or a shortbread cookies.  I found this via southyourmouth.

Coconut Cream Pie Dip

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Ingredients:  15 oz can cream of coconut (if you can't find this near your baking section, look by the drinks-it's apparently used a lot for mixed drinks), 1/4 c. milk, 5.1 oz box of instant vanilla pudding, 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk, 2 c. sweetened coconut flakes (toasted), 8 oz tub of cool whip, graham crackers or shortbread cookies.
Instructions:  
1.  Stir cream of coconut and milk together.  Add pudding mix and sweetened milk.
2.  Fold in a heaping cup of the toasted coconut and cool whip.  Mix until just combined.
3.  Chill for at least 4 hours.  Garnish with the remaining toasted coconut just before serving.
4.  Serve with graham crackers or shortbread.

Coconut Cream Pie

 There's a restaurant in Downtown McKinney (about 20 minutes from where I live) called the Pantry.  Supposedly this is their recipe for Coconut Cream Pie.  The bottom line....I don't care who came up with this, it's delicious, and really simple to throw together.  It's also light and creamy, and, surely, with coconut in the title this counts as part of my five a day.....
Coconut Cream Pie Recipe
Mix together and pour through a strainer: 
4 T cornstarch, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 cup karo (corn) syrup, 2 c. milk, 2 egg yolks.  Cook over medium heat until thick (sort of reminded me of pudding).  Add 1 T butter, 1 1/2 t. vanilla, and 1 1/2 c. coconut.  Cool.  Place in a baked pie shell. 

 Top with whipped cream.  I just used a tub, and cut a little zig zag in a ziplock and piped a pattern. 

Hummingbird Cupcakes

 I made these for Easter, and they were de-licious.  I thought they'd also be a cute cupcake to share for Mother's Day....and then a few months later, I finally got around to posting!  Regardless, these are probably one of the tasties cupcakes I've ever accidentally made.  Accidentally because I ended up totally altering the fruite combos inside these cakes, but it was so good, I'd be afraid to try it any other way. 

Hummingbird Cupcake Ingredients

Mix 3 c. flour, 2 c. sugar, 1 t. baking soda, 1 t. salt, 1 1/2 c. veg oil, 3 eggs, 20 oz can of crushed (drained) pineapples, 2 mashed (very ripe) bananas, 1 c. chopped walnuts. 

*you can add just 8 oz of pineapple, and 2 c. of bananas as the original recipe from all recipes called for, but the extra pineapple made this really moist, and it also yielded 36 full cupcakes instead of 24. 

Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.  (If you choose to make a cake, it takes two round pans, and the baking time is closer to an hour). 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat 4 oz butter, 4 oz of cream cheese, 2 c. powder sugar, 1 t. vanilla. 

I iced the cupcakes, piling up more on the edges, and leaving a smoother center.  Reserve about 1/2 c.

Next I toasted up some flaked coconut.  I spread out a thin layer on a pan. 

I put it in the 350 oven for about 5 minutes, but I did stir it around about half way through, the edges browned quickest. 

I dipped the cupcakes.  :Pause:  Have you ever smelled baking coconut flakes?  If so, can you bottle this scent up and send it to me....or send me a few thousands pounds of flakes so I can smell it forever?:

As for the birds, I saw this idea on Martha Stewart, the Granddiva of many a cute idea.   Dye your remaining cream cheese icing blue and orange.  I just snipped a quarter inch of the corner of a ziplock and piped on my birds.  I repeated with a much smaller snip for the beaks, and then I melted chocolate and dabbed on eyes with a toothpick. 

 I took a strange picture of a cluster of birds with an orange glow. 

I pulled out my favorite elastic shorts...and got down to hummingbird eating business.  Think suped up banana bread. 

Linking To:  Crafty Soiree Paisley Passions Tatortots and Jello Funky Junk Sweets for Saturday

Pina Colada Cupcakes

This is a part of a bigger post I'll be throwing up on Friday (another 3-D edible invitation-and no, it's not a luau).  I wanted a tropical cupcake, and so I googled cupcakes that use boxed cake mixes.  I really prefer boxes, they are so much moister than most from scratch recipes.  I'm sure that says something about my palate, but I'm OK with that.  I found this recipe via Betty Crocker.  It calls for rum extract as well, but I just went with the pineapple and coconut.  I really liked the results. 

Ingredients:  1 yellow cake mix, 3 eggs, 1/3 c. oil, 1/4 c. water, 8 oz can of crushed pineapples (don't drain). 

Instructions:  Mix all ingredients, including juice and crushed pineapples.  Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes.  (I was able to get 18 cupcakes out of this cake mix).

 For the coconut icing, I just used a can of whipped icing, and then I dipped each cupcake in shredded coconut. 

I decided this wasn't good enough, so my last 12 cupcakes (that were going towards my project) got the same treatment, except I just mixed the coconut right into the icing, spread it in one big clump, and then I rolled the cupcakes in crushed graham crackers to look like sand. 

 Heather provided the crushed grahams and umbrellas.  Her husband questions my influence, and ultimately our sanity. 

 He's not far off base in his concerns, but regardless....more on these cupcake destinations soon, but I just need to say one more time....

umbrella or not, they were tasty!  ...and easy to make. 

Linking To:  Fireflies and Jellybeans Glue Sticks Sugar Bananas HOH Fingerprints on the Fridge