Colorful Coconut Macaroons

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 oz.)
1 pkg shredded coconut (14 oz.)

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 pkg mini M & Ms (10 oz.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix milk, coconut and flour until well blended.  Fold in M & Ms.  Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  Makes about 4 dozen.

Comment:  This can be done using different colors of M&Ms for different holidays.  Example - Green & Red for Christmas, orange for Halloween, etc.  I made some of these using my mini-muffin tin and some by dropping them onto a cookie sheet.  The cookie sheet made the best.  The texture was much better.

Coconut Pudding

1 pkg. Global Sugar Sprinkled Coconut Cookies
1 pkg. shredded coconut
2 pkg. vanilla or coconut pudding mix

In a 13 x 9 baking dish place 1 layer of cookies.  Sprinkle coconut over cookies.  Make pudding according to package directions.  Slowly pour over coconut.  Top with another layer of cookies.  Refrigerate

Comment:  This is a recipe that I came up with making it in place of banana pudding.  I make my own pudding but you can use instant or cook style pudding.  If you don't find coconut pudding or you make your own, add about 1/2 tsp. of coconut extract.  The cookies I used are the Global but any coconut cookie will work.  The Global are small and I used about 60 cookies.  You can even use vanilla wafers if you want.  This dish turned out so good.  My 99 year old neighbor dug into it as soon as I took it over.  It is so simple and a very inexpensive dish to make.  This will serve 8-10 depending upon the size of your serving.

Pineapple Coconut Cake

1 pineapple cake mix
1 can sliced pineapple (save juice)
1 can (or 1 cup) shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Make cake mix according to directions but use the pineapple juice in place of the water.  This can be made in loaf pans, round pans or 9 x 13 baking dish.  Spray the pan you plan to use with non-stick spray.  Lay out the pineapple.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Sprinkle with pecans.  Bake according to the directions on the package for the pan size you're using.

Comments:  This is one of the best cakes I've ever had the pleasure of eating and all of my food testers agree.  There is one ingredient I love to use but have a hard time finding.  It's a grated coconut in a can with coconut milk.  When I do find this it's usually in the Mexican food section but I seldom run across it.  If you use this grated coconut with milk, spoon it over the pineapple, picking up some of the milk as you go.  Use about 1/2 the can over the pineapple and include the remaining into the cake mix.  Just make sure you take the amount of coconut milk into consideration when adding liquids to your cake mix.  I measured my remaining milk and then added the pineapple juice to come up with the amount of liquid the cake mix called for.

Coconut Pecan Cornbread

1 pkg. Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup powdered sugar
cream (milk or water if you want)

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix muffin mix according to package directions.  Stir in coconut and pecans.  Pour into 3 mini-loaf pans.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Mix the powdered sugar with the cream (milk/water) using just enough to allow it to melt and drizzle.  Spoon over hot bread.  Sprinkle with more coconut and chopped pecans (optional)

Comment:  My order at a nearby BBQ house came with a sweet mini-loaf of cornbread.  I don't normally like sweet cornbread but gave it a try.  As I took a bite I noticed how moist it was and that it wasn't very grainy.  This made me start thinking about how good this would be with coconut and pecans added making it a dessert instead of just a bread.  I remembered how sweet Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix is and decided to give it a try.  I didn't hit the nail on the head, but I came close.  The Jiffy Mix did have a bit more of a grainy texture but it still worked beautifully.  And my food testers loved it too!  One stood eating her whole loaf while we were standing there talking about it.  She said it was that good.

Coconut Pecan Bars

Crust:
1 cake mix1 stick melted butter, cooled

1 egg, slightly beaten

Top:
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans, roughly chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Pour cake mix, butter and egg into a bowl.  Mix well.  Press into baking dish.  In a medium size sauce pan on medium high heat combine coconut, nuts, sugar and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until mixture starts to thicken.  Remove from heat.  Cut cream cheese into chunks and add to mixture.  Stir until melted and blended.  Stir in vanilla.  Spread evenly over cake mix.  Bake 30 minutes.  Let cool completely.  Cut into bars.  Makes about 24 bars.

Comments:  I found this recipe online and since it had some of my favorite ingredients - coconut, nuts, cream cheese - I had to make it.  For my cake mix I used Butter Pecan.  Also, I had a couple bags of walnuts and only 1 bag of pecans so I used walnuts instead of pecans.  And believe me, I couldn't tell the difference I have a feeling due to using the Butter Pecan mix.  I also used rum extract instead of the vanilla, only because I had about 1/2 tsp. left and needed to use it up too before buying more.  I don't think the rum made that much difference, if any, in taste.  The recipe said to reduce heat and simmer until it starts to thicken.  Mine never did thicken so I added the cream cheese after most of the water had cooked out.  No matter what, this dish came out delicious!  My lucky food testers all had nothing but praises for it and one question.  When will you make this one again?!

Coconut Pudding Cake

1 cake mix (yellow or white)

2 pkg. (4 serving size each) coconut pudding
2 1/2 cups milk

Mix the cake according to package directions and bake in 2 round cake pans.  Cool COMPLETELY.  Mix pudding and milk.  Allow to thicken.  Slice the cakes in down the middle making 4 round layers.  Carefully lay a layer onto your cake plate, cover with pudding.  Carefully add the next layer and repeat with pudding.  Continue ending with pudding being your topping.  Sprinkle with coconut (optional).

Comment:  This is so easy.  I originally thought about putting the pudding between the layers only and icing the cake but changed my mind using the pudding on top.  When I sliced my layers I carefully placed each on a paper plate.  When putting together use the thickest one 1st (there will always be one thicker than the other when you slice).  Add pudding, top with a thinner layer, add pudding and top with other thin layer using the other thick one for the top.  This cake came out so moist!  And think of all the other flavors you might want to use.  Pistachio would be delicious!!  You could do chocolate with chocolate cake, or yellow.  Lemon maybe.  Whatever pudding flavor you might like you can make a delicious cake with.

Lemon Almond Pudding Cake - the only changes was to use a lemon cake mix and lemon pudding along with almond slivers sprinkled over each layer.  So good!

Coconut Macaroons

2 egg whites
1/2 tsp. salt
1 bag (14 oz.) shredded sweetened coconut
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup almond slivers

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a large bowl whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold in coconut and sweetened condensed milk.  Stir in chocolate chips and almond slivers.  Scoop into 2" balls and place about 1" apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet or place into muffin cups sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake about 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes about 3 dozen.

Comment:  This original recipe came from an old Ladies Home Journal magazine.  The only changes I made was to use the semi-sweet chips and I added the almonds.  If you like Almond Joy candies, you'll love these.  I'm not a chocolate eater but I do love coconut and almonds and do eat an Almond Joy once in a blue moon and that is exactly what these taste like.  My 1st batch were cooked on the parchment paper which is a bit messy to prepare.  That is when I decided to try them in the muffin tins.  The 1st batch in the tins were not sprayed and a little hard to remove from the papers so I sprayed the next batch with non-stick and it worked perfectly.

Coconut Muffins

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 stick butter

1 large egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt the stick of butter, allowing it to cool afterwards but do not let it coagulate again.  Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Add in the sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix well.  Line your muffin pan.

Add the melted butter slowly to the egg mixture. You do not want it too warm or it will cook the egg. You also only want to add a little at a time, mix, add some more, mix and keep going until it's all in. Now add it to the dry ingredients you set aside and mix.  Do not over-mix. Lumpy is good!  Add 1/4 cup of coconut and mix.  Add the mixture to muffin pan. Fill almost to the top of the liner. Set aside when all are topped up.

Now, in a small sauce pan, add the other 1/4 cup of coconut. Turn the heat to med-high and keep stirring the coconut over the heat until it is lightly golden.  When it is golden, remove from heat. 

Using a small spoon, add some 'toasted' coconut across the top of the muffins. It gives a streusel-like topping.  Now pop those bad boys in the oven and bake until the toothpick comes clean, or approximately 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven.

*Please note: The mixture is a basic muffin mix. If you want blueberry or some other flavor, just replace the first batch of coconut with desired flavor. Then omit the last step of toasting coconut. You can have any kind of muffin you want with this mix.*

Comments:  I found this recipe on a site titled Freda's Voice and since it contains coconut I had to give it a try.  Love it!  I did make a couple of changes.  The original recipe above called for 1 cup of milk and I used Almond Coconut Milk which is thicker than regular milk so I added an extra 1/4 cup (1 1/4 total).  I also used the full half cup of coconut in the batter and toasted another 1/4 cup for the topping.  One mistake I made was to toast the coconut too long.  Let the coconut get barely tanned because it will darken while baking.  In fact, I will probably not toast my coconut topping at all the next time, letting the oven do it for me.  These muffins are not super sweet making them really appealing to me.  And as you can see from the note above, you can actually use this recipe for just about any kind of muffins.

Comment form Food Tester Carol:  Martha, when you brought over these coconut muffins, we were so excited!  There is nothing like toasted coconut and we dove into them!  This must be an "old-fashioned" recipe because it is so pleasingly simple and the coconut permeates everything.  It reminds us too, of a coconut pie with toasted coconut on top that some of the ladies in mother's church make for the harvest picnic (and we all stand in line for even a sliver!)."

Easy Coconut Cake

1 yellow or white cake mix
1 tsp. coconut flavoring
1 cup shredded coconut
1 can (17 oz.) grated coconut in extra heavy syrup
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven per directions on cake mix.  Mix cake mix following the directions on the box.  Stir in coconut flavoring and shredded coconut.  Bake in loaf pans (2-4 depending upon size) or 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish until tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.   In a small sauce pan stir together grated coconut and milk.  Over med. heat let the mixture barely come to a boil. Remove from heat.  Spoon evenly over hot cake. 

Comments:  I love coconut and when I found a can of Conchita Grated Coconut on sale at one of my local grocery stores I had to buy it.  I had no idea what I would do with it since I had not only never tried it but also never seen it before.  Well, it makes the best coconut icing you'll find.  I added the 1/4 cup of milk because I wanted it to soak into the cake some and the 'extra heavy syrup' is just that - heavy so the milk and heating both thinned it down enough to allow it to seep into my cake without even having to punch holes.  I have a friend who's favorite cake is coconut so I gave a loaf of this to him for Christmas.  He said he was in coconut heaven.  So where do you find this can of lust?  In the Mexican/Spanish section of the grocery store.  It is well worth searching for.

Coconut Pecan Bars

 

Crust:
1 cake mix
1 stick melted butter, cooled
1 egg, slightly beaten

Top:
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans, roughly chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Pour cake mix, butter and egg into a bowl.  Mix well.  Press into baking dish.  In a medium size sauce pan on medium high heat combine coconut, nuts, sugar and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until mixture starts to thicken.  Remove from heat.  Cut cream cheese into chunks and add to mixture.  Stir until melted and blended.  Stir in vanilla.  Bake 30 minutes.  Let cool completely.  Cut into bars.  Makes about 24 bars.

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl combine graham crackers, flour and baking powder.  Stir in condensed milk and butter.  Stir until fully blended with no dry ingredients left.  Stir in chips and coconut (this is easier done by hand).  Shape into walnut size balls.  Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.  Bake 12-14 minutes.  Don't over bake.  Cookies should be soft and lightly browned on the bottom.  Makes about 4 dozen.

Comments:  This is one delicious cookie.  When I tried to make them using their original recipe I found the batter to be too thin so I made a few adjustments by increasing the dry ingredients.  This was my end result.   I'm not a chocolate lover but these I can eat and enjoy.  For my chips I used milk chocolate but you can use whichever you like.  These would also be good with butterscotch or white chocolate chips.  And adding maybe 1/2 cup of chopped nuts would make these simply out of this world.

Coconut Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. sugar
4 cups Ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 tsp. coconut flavoring
5 eggs
1 jar coconut curd
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees if using a silver 9" springform pan or 325 if you're using a dark 9" springform pan.  Mix crumbs, butter and 3 Tbsp. sugar.  Press firmly onto bottom of pan.  Bake 10 minutes.

Beat ricotta cheese, 1 1/4 cups sugar and flour in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Add cream and coconut flavoring.  Mix well.  Add eggs 1 at a time mixing just until blended after each addition.  Pour over crust.  Bake 1hour and 20 minutes or until center is almost set.  Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake.  Cool before removing rim of pan.  Carefully spread curd over top of cake and sprinkle with coconut.  Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.  Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Comments:  The Ricotta gives this cheesecake more of a custard texture and a cheesecake texture.  It's not super sweet and the coconut gives it the perfect flavor.  You can change it around by using other flavors and toppings.  You can use vanilla and top with chocolate.  Use lemon flavoring and top with lemon curd.  Or just make it plain and serve with cherries or strawberries.  No matter what flavor you come up with, you'll love the texture and ease of making this cheesecake.