Feeling Toasty: Coconut French Toast With Bananas Foster Recipe from Joe Yonan

What happens when coconut, French Toast, and Bananas Foster make sweet love?

Well, find out for yourself (pervert!)--check out Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One by Joe Yonan. He was kind enough to share the following recipe from the new release:

Coconut French Toast with Bananas Foster

• 3 tablespoons pecan halves
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 thick (3/4- to 1-inch) slice rich white bread, such as brioche or challah, trimmed neatly into a round or square (crusts removed)
• 1/4 cup Japanese-style panko
• 2 tablespoons dried unsweetened coconut flakes (medium shred)
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
• 1 banana, peeled and diagonally sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 2 tablespoons dark rum

Procedure

1. Toast the pecans in a small, dry skillet over medium-high heat, shaking the pan frequently, until they start to turn dark brown and smell very fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Immediately transfer them to a plate to cool.
2. Whisk the egg, coconut milk, and vanilla extract together in a shallow bowl. Add the bread; let it stand for about 10 minutes, turning it over about halfway through, until it has absorbed most of the liquid.
3. Combine the panko crumbs, coconut, and granulated sugar on a plate. Use a spatula to transfer the soaked bread to the crumb mixture, and turn to coat both sides evenly. Pat as much of the mixture as you can onto the bread.
4. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-low heat in a small skillet. Add the bread and cook until it is golden brown and crusted, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn it over and cook another few minutes, until it is golden brown on the second side. (Reduce the temperature as needed to keep the bread from getting too dark.) Transfer to a plate. The inside of the French toast will be fairly spongy.
5. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of butter to the pan and let it melt. Add the brown sugar and stir until it melts, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the banana slices and stir until they are warmed through and coated with the butter in the pan, 1 minute. Add the pecans and rum, and stir to combine.
6. Spoon the warmed banana mixture over the French toast, and eat.

Note: Some brands of coconut milk, such as Chaokoh from Thailand, are available in 5.6-ounce cans rather than the standard 13.5 to 14 ounces. Store coconut milk in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or freeze in ice-cube trays and then store the cubes in freezer-safe heavy-duty plastic bags for several months.

Reprinted with permission from Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One by Joe Yonan copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Seeking Sweetness: Daily Snapshot, Cake Slice at the Police Station

CakeSpy Note: if you follow me on facebook or Twitter, you probably know I'm partial to adding bits of sweetness to my daily surroundings, via sidewalk chalk, small cutouts, and the like--I call it "gentle street art". Here's where I post a daily feel-good photo, for no particular reason other than to showcase these sweet little nothings, in hopes that they'll make you smile.

And this one gets even better once you back up the view. Sweetly subversive!

Biscuit Time: Butter and Jam Biscuits from Oddfellows, Seattle

It's a documented fact that if you talk to me for more than, say, 10 minutes, I will start talking about my deep love for biscuits. Buttery, flaky, fluffy, did I say buttery, biscuits.

Happily, in Seattle, there are some gorgeous specimens. But my current obsession? The jam-and-butter-filled version from Oddfellows Cafe in Capitol Hill (beloved by The New York Times, and, happily, just up the street from my store!).

These biscuits have a perfect texture, with a dense, flaky, buttery consistency, and a nice crunchy crust on top.

But what takes them from great to awesome overload is the fact that they serve them sliced in half, with about a fourth of a stick of butter and a thick spoonful of jam waiting like a sweet and rich secret inside of those carbohydratey halves.

Bonus: these freeze quite well, so if you pick up several, you can freeze them and then reheat at 350 degrees in your oven until warm.

Also excellent: a rotating selection of savory biscuits, including bacon-cheddar. 

Biscuits from Oddfellows Cafe, 1525 10th Ave., Seattle; online here.

Oh Fudge: Chocolate Covered Cherry Fudge by Fields of Cake

Images: Fields of CakeCheck it. So, a week or two ago, I went to Vermont for the Maple Open House weekend. Which was awesome. You'll totally hear more about it soon. But.

Right now, I want to address a beautiful diversion from said Vermont Maple Weekend. 

So, I have been bloggy BFF's for, like, ever with Fields of Cake. Carrie Fields, the talented proprietress of this blog and Portland, Maine-area home-based baking business, has not only been a customer of mine for years, but has wowed me with her baking prowess on many occasions.

So when she sent me a message that basically amounted to "You're this close, come to Maine!"...I listened.

And I went to Maine, where I was treated to sea, sunshine...and the most delicious fudge I have ever, in my life, tasted.

And I have tried my share of fudge varieties, let me tell you.

This chocolate-covered cherry fudge is extremely sweet in the up-front, assertive way that only fudge can get away with. But Carrie's was a gorgeous variety: completely smooth, none of that "chocolate sand" gritty texture business, and in spite of the sweetness you could still taste the flavor of real cherry shining through.

Basically, this was the type of fudge that could make you swear off chocolate covered cherries forever.

Find the recipe here.

Sweet News: Bakesale for Japan at CakeSpy Shop on April 2nd

Photo: Jackie BaisaConsider this your official reminder. This Saturday, April 2, at CakeSpy Shop, we're gonna bring a little sweetness to those who may be struggling in Japan.

Here's how we're gonna do it. With a Bakesale for Japan, hosted at CakeSpy Shop! (415 E. Pine Street, Capitol Hill, Seattle).

This is a national project, and in Seattle, bakers will be gathering and selling baked goods for this sweet cause at my little shop in Capitol Hill. You will have plenty of delicious things to choose from, including sweet treats by these celebrity bakers:

The Sated Palate (she will be making cupcakes and possibly Nanaimo Bars too)

The Harvest Vine (she will be making "buns of love", which you probably already want without even knowing what they are, and chocolate-hazelnut tarts)

Not Martha (she will be making "Jars of Stars"--jars of star-shaped cookies, like OMG)

Sugar Rush Baking (the owner will be making mini cupcakes adorably packaged in egg cartons)

Here are the details of the project:

When: Saturday, April 2nd from 9am-1pm

Who: Professional and amateur bakers, cooks, artists, artisans, and musicians coming together around food to make something BIG happen.

How: Want to help? We’ll need bakers, artists, volunteers, and lots and lots of customers. Please send offers of help to seattlebakesale@gmail.com

Why: So we can donate BIG BUCKS to Peace Winds Japan and help our brothers and sisters over there in the best way we can. Stay tuned for details.

But don't hesitate! The sale will be over once we sell out (and trust me, we WILL sell out). Once again, if you want to be part of it, please emailseattlebakesale@gmail.com.

Maple Madness: Vermont Maple Cookies with Maple Buttercream and Canadian Bacon Recipe

Fact: Vermont Maple cookies are pretty awesome.

But, you know, that's not to say that they can't be made better with the addition of two things that make pretty much everything better: frosting and bacon. When paired with the fact that this enables you to eat two cookies, at once, with frosting and bacon, pretty much puts us all at the point of awesome overload. Here's how you do it.

Vermont Maple Cookies with Maple Buttercream and Canadian Bacon

For the cookies

• 1 batch Vermont Maple Cookies (find recipe here)

For the frosting and garnish (frosting adapted from this recipe)

• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 cup pure maple syrup, best quality
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• To garnish: 3-4 slices Canadian bacon, glazed with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and baked until very crispy, and crumbled

Procedure

1. Bake cookies and let cool.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolkson high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes; set aside. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the maple syrup to a boil, and cook until it registers 240 on a candy thermometer, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.With the mixer running, slowly pour syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow, steady stream, until completely incorporated, about 1 minute.
3. Continue beating until bowl is just slightly warm to the touch, 4 to 5 minutes. Add butter, one piece at a time, until thoroughly incorporated and the frosting is fluffy, about 4 minutes more.
4. Turn over one of your cookies and place a healthy dollop on the bottom. Sandwich a second cookie, bottom-side down, on top. Sprinkle the exposed frosting sides with crumbled bacon. Enjoy.

Maple Madness: Vermont Maple Cookies Recipe for Serious Eats

When it comes to baking with maple, Grade C (or sometimes Grade B; see note, below) is anything but average.

It's is the deepest, darkest, most assertively maple-flavored grade of syrup you can get; while it can be a bit strong for, say, topping your pancakes (that's Grade A territory), the higher-octane stuff lends a rich, almost caramel-like maple flavor to baked goods. These simple drop cookies, adapted from a recipe I discovered in a vintage Vermont baking pamphlet at the Maple Museum of New England, are an ideal recipe to let the maple flavor shine.

They're great on their own, or if you want to double your pleasure, sandwich two with a smear of buttercream.

Note: As I learned on this website, Grade C Maple Syrup is no longer used by USDA. Grade C Maple Syrup is now designated USDA Grade B Maple Syrup. However, while in Vermont last week, I still saw a lot of maple labeled Grade C. If you can't locate Grade C maple syrup, simply choose the darkest Grade B variety you can find.

For the full entry and recipe, visit Serious Eats!

Seeking Sweetness: Daily Snapshot, Hamantashen from Jenny

CakeSpy Note: if you follow me on facebook or Twitter, you probably know I'm partial to adding bits of sweetness to my daily surroundings, via sidewalk chalk, small cutouts, and the like--I call it "gentle street art". Here's where I post a daily feel-good photo, for no particular reason other than to showcase these sweet little nothings, in hopes that they'll make you smile. This one was an unexpected cookie: a hamantashen baked by Jenny, which she gave to me when I ran into her on the bus. Want to share?

Sweet and Salty: Closeup on the Maple Canadian Bacon Nanaimo Bars Recipe

CakeSpy Note: by popular request, here's an individual post, all on its own (originally part of this massive Nanaimo Bar oeuvre), for the Maple Canadian Bacon Nanaimo Bars. Um, plus I thought it would make for a great entry in the Denny's / Foodbuzz Baconalia challenge for a chance to win! Enjoy!

Inspired by two other Canadian specialties, these bars were made with a "blonde" (sans cocoa) bottom layer, topped with a maple-infused buttercream center, all of which was topped off with a thick layer of white chocolate sprinkled with brown sugar and Canadian bacon baked until crispy with a maple glaze.

Makes 24-36 bars, depending on how hungry you are

Bottom Layer

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 ¼ cups graham wafer crumbs
• ½ c. finely chopped pecans
• 1 cup coconut

Middle Layer

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons cream
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup (I used grade B)
• 2 Tbsp. vanilla custard powder or vanilla instant pudding powder
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Top Layer

• 3-4 slices canadian bacon
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

 Procedure

1. Melt the butter and sugar in the top of double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut, and nuts. Press firmly into an ungreased 8" x 8" pan.
2. Cream butter, cream, custard powder, sugar, and syrup together well. Beat until light. Spread over bottom layer, making sure that it is as smooth and flat as possible. 
3. Prepare the bacon. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet with parchment. Place the canadian bacon slices on top of the parchment, and drizzle with the maple syrup. Place in the oven until it is very crispy, turning after about 5 minutes. For me, the slices were fairly thin so it only took about 10 minutes total to get them very, very crispy. Remove from the oven and let cool while you prepare the rest of the topping.
4. Melt white chocolate in the microwave in 20 second increments, stirring after heating, until it is melted and smooth enough to spread on top of the buttercream layer. Spread it on top as quickly and smoothly as you can.
5. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the white chocolate, and then crumble the bacon on top, making sure to get even coverage. 

Cake Byte: CakeSpy To Teach a Class at Cornish College of the Arts

So, officially I attended a magical sort of college known as Art School. And if you've seen Art School Confidential, you have a pretty good idea of what it was like. Without the murder and stuff.

But unofficially, my college years at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn were spent as a part time bakery stalker--when I moved to NYC, I came toting a list of every bakery in the city and Brooklyn, and during my NYC years I made a pretty considerable dent in that list. 

So it brings me extreme pleasure to announce that now, things are coming full circle, and I am teaching a one-day class at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts, which is designed to mimic my art school foundation year--but with a foodie twist.

Here's the course description:

Revisit the foundations of visual communication, trading in your pencils, brushes, and clay for the sweet stuff! In this afternoon intensive, you’ll return to figure drawing and still lives, but this time with cakes. Explore the principles of light and color theory by mixing primary, secondary, and tertiary food coloring and frostings. Have you always wondered the difference between aserif and a san serif? Exercise design strategies by creating typography with cakes. And no foundations course is worth its salt, or sugar, without some nod to art history. We’ll also look at how the masters (Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo) have used sweet foods in their art. 

Yeah, the course is $100, but you know, I need to buy supplies and stuff, and it's very true that the memories will last forever. I totally promise. Sign up here!