Coconut French Toast - fun for brunch

By Victoria Abbott aka Mary Jane and Victoria Maffini

 

 

We were thinking about something fun to have for a Saturday brunch on this Easter weekend, when eggs are so appropriate.

Our friend Joan Boswell mentioned that she’d recently served Coconut French Toast.  We couldn’t get that idea out of our minds and dived into this project on day when we were four adults and a child for brunch.  Luckily, seven-year old Connor was with us and  also in the mood to cook.

We were very happy with the results: tested three times until we think it’s just right. You, of course, can rejig your version to suit yourselves.  Victoria, who doesn’t eat anything with a face, thought for those who do, it would be very good with crisp bacon on the side. 

 

COCONUT FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients 

6 extra large eggs at room temperature  (we're showing four, but that was for a smaller amount)

1 ½ cups of coconut milk, can shaken first.

1 ½ cups shredded sweetened coconut

1 tsp almond extract

2 tsp vanilla

Pinch salt

8 - 9 slices rustic French bread (not baguette!) about ½ inch thick

Maple syrup and sliced strawberries or other berries to serve

Directions

Preheat oven to 475 F. 

Grease two baking sheets.

Whisk eggs, coconut milk, vanilla, almond and salt until well-combined in a bowl. 

Transfer to a shallow baking dish. Place the coconut on a large plate.  Dip the bread slices one by one into the egg mixture, turning to absorb egg into both sides. 

Dip both sides of the slices in the coconut.  

 Transfer to baking sheets. 

Bake, turning after five minutes, until golden brown and cooked through, about five minutes a side.  If the coconut starts to burn, you may need to lower the heat and add a few minutes. 

Serve with maple syrup and berries. 

We loved the results and hope you will too. Baking the French toast is easier than using a frying pan or griddle and the clean-up’s a breeze. Having said that we will try it on our griddle as soon as we find where it’s hiding. 

Coconut French toast been added to our easy weekend entertaining menu as of this minute.  

The shadowy figure known as Victoria ABBOTT is actually the mother daughter collaboration of artist Victoria Maffini and her mystery writer mother, Mary Jane Maffini.  Together they have created four books in the popular book collector mystery series.  

The fifth book, THE HAMMETT HEX will be out in October 2016 but you can preoder it  HERE

or at your favorite source for new books.

  

If you missed THE MARSH MADNESS, make sure you catch up!  JUST CLICK HERE 

Happy Easter!  However you celebrate (or if) we hope this weekend is full of flowers, chocolate, family and love. 

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Asparagus Tart with Puff Pastry, Cheese and Mushrooms #recipe #CleanSweepWeek @AbbottMysteries

What a fun theme week this is with all the hidden treasures and occasional terrors found in the back of the cupboard, pantry, freezer and wherever.  Need some detective work to use those odd ingredients?  That's what we're here for. I have been taking note of everyone's great ideas and plan to try them all.  Isn't necessity the mother of invention?

VICTORIA ABBOTT FEARS NO CUPBOARD

We are nothing if not resourceful.  It’s the perfect month for this challenge because for the second Mystery Lovers Kitchen recipe this month, we’ve been stuck at home because of dangerous road conditions.

That meant I (MJ here) had an extra reason to check out what was in the back of the freezer.  I was on a serious quest for a ‘just before grocery day’ meal made of ingredients that we actually had. 

Turns out I found a package of frozen puff pastry, hiding in the bottom of the freezer. The pastry was rapidly approaching its Best Before date. I don’t even remember why, when or even IF I bought it, but it wasn’t long for this world.  

In the fridge I had a pound of uncooked asparagus that had been forgotten two days earlier when we made a salmon dinner. Asparagus is not a forgiving vegetable and something needed to be done ASAP. 

Luckily, some detecting turned up a recipe for Asparagus Tart with Puff Pastry from a Foodland Ontario's website.  Of course, it’s not asparagus season in Ontario now (ahem), but we do have an excellent local supplier of mushrooms which is one of the reasons we always have them.  I had to improvise a bit on other ingredients because we didn’t have shallots (local or otherwise) which the recipe called for.  I used a small onion, caramelized it, and upped the garlic.   

We didn’t have Ontario Havarti either, although I love Havarti and I will try this the next time.  I fiddled a bit with the cooking times and added a bit of extra oil and butter.  Not only did we have a storm but in the storm immediately preceding it, our basement flooded. The emergency clean-up crew was there as I was preparing that. They were worried about the drive home!

By the way, you could reduce the amount of oil or butter if you want because the pastry is quite rich. You could probably use a bit of stock to pre-cook the veggies.  Go ahead and use a salt substitute too.

I  was glad to discover the Foodland Ontario site, because it does have great recipes for the kind of fresh ingredients we can easily find in the province, as long as we can get out the door. They also have a great recipe calendar. 

Asparagus Tart with Puff Pastry, Cheese and Mushrooms

 

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 ½ cups sliced brown mushrooms
• 1 lb sliced asparagus, snapped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 sheet (225 g) butter puff pastry, thawed
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
• 1 1/4 cup (250 mL) shredded cheese.  We used Black Diamond medium cheddar.
• seven or eight chopped chives

Directions:

In large skillet, heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook for about twenty minutes over low heat. 

 

Add additional tablespoon of oil and mushrooms; cook for 5 minutes. 

Add asparagus and garlic; cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat. Season. 

Unroll puff pastry and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. 

Brush Dijon over surface. 

Poke entire surface with fork. Arrange asparagus over pastry and top with mushroom mixture, leaving 1/2-inch border.

 Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Bake in 400°F oven 20 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Let stand on sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes before cutting to serve.

The results:  The surprised husband (who doesn’t care for pizza and up until this point had been saying “So is this some kind of pizza?” changed his tune to: “Wow, this is really delicious!” 

We loved it and will make it again.  It will serve four as a light lunch with a salad or maybe six as an appetiser.  We may try it for brunch too.  You could easily pre-cook the veggies and just add in time for baking.  

You probably know that we Mary Jane and Victoria Maffini are actually VICTORIA ABBOTT, author of The BOOK COLLECTOR MYSTERIES, But in case you don't, we thought it worth mentioning again.   

So thanks to this fun theme week and some rotten weather, Victoria Abbott has new favorite lunch.  We also have a new favorite cover:  The Hammett Hex has now been revealed. 
TA DAH!  Just click this link because it's NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies With Cranberries and Salty Tops #mysteries #cookies @AbbottMysteries

By Victoria Abbott aka Mary Jane and Victoria Maffini

Our story begins on a bleak January day with a storm swirling. There was not much chance to venture out to the store, even once the plow came. So very many stories start out that way, but this tale stars heroic and delicious cookies and so you readers may anticipate a happy ending. 

I love and I mean LOVE The Barefoot Contessa’s cookbooks and own most of them. As a rule, I don’t make changes to them.  Ina Garten gives us tasty and beautifully presented recipes that are not impossible to do.  I had been planning to make these very fabulous Salty Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies from her Make It Ahead cookbook, to take to lunch at our cousins’ new home the next day.  But we hardy Canucks had been advised to stay off the roads because of the storm (many accidents!) and I didn’t have Fleur de sel or bittersweet chocolate. 

So I had no choice but to make a few changes to the recipe or go without cookies the next morning.  You know, by this point I had my heart set on them.  With a bit of improvising, we were all very happy with the results.  Under the circumstances, we think the Contessa would forgive us!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies With Cranberries and Salty Tops

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1¾ cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1¼ cups old-fashioned oats (NOT INSTANT)
¾ pound (12 ounces)  semi-sweet chocolate.  We used Baker’s because that’s what we had.

5/8 cup dried cranberries (We love dried cranberries, so added a bit to the original)
Pink Himalayan salt or other special sea salt 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 4 sheet pans with parchment paper. Or two and then freeze or wait to bake the rest.  We only have three pans, so used two at a time.  

Chop the chocolate into nice chunks.

 
Beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. 

Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl again. 

Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Mix in the oats. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture (low speed on mixer or by hand) Don’t over beat it! Stir in the chopped chocolate and cranberries until the dough is well mixed. 

With a 1¾-inch ice cream scoop (or two spoons), scoop round balls of dough onto the prepared sheet pans. 

 Keep them well apart as the cookies spread when baking. (SEE OUTTAKES BELOW!) Our second batch was spaced further apart than the ones shown here. Sprinkle lightly with the Himalayan or sea salt.  For those of you who can't have much or any extra salt, take heart. These are great cookies without the extra salt too.

 Bake for 13 minutes, until nicely browned.  You may have to experiment with timing. Our oven seemed to take longer and one batch took fourteen minutes. The original recipe said twelve. 

We took Ina’s advice and kept some of the ‘balls’ in the fridge, in well-sealed plastic bags. We waited a couple of days before we baked them.  We froze a few of the baked ones and they ‘performed’ very well after freezing. According to the recipe you can freeze them baked or unbaked. They do smell great baking, so next time we’ll freeze some of the balls. 

All in all, a tasty success!  Here our adorable cousin, Gabi, is taste-testing the results, in a suitably dramatic way.  Like all of us, she was bundled up against the cold.  Brrr! But the cookies helped.

Hope you can also enjoy these special treats on a blustery winter afternoon.  Or any time really.  This afternoon, I'm enjoying mine with a nice cup of hot tea.

Speaking of treats, we're thrilled to see the new cover for our forthcoming fifth book collector mystery, THE HAMMETT HEX!  We'll let you know as soon as it's available for pre-order!

 

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We love the outtakes on movies: so here is an outtake from our first batch of cookies, the ones that were too close together.  They tasted great but would never win a beauty contest.

Have a happy reading January, everyone!