butterless coconut cupcakes

I have not been posting for awhile.. main reason was that I was trying to refrain from baking since I was trying to cut down my calories to lose those 'baby fat' from pregnancy. My son turned one last month and I still have 8 kg to go to pre-pregnancy weight. It's already hard enough to control one's diet, I didn't want to make it worse by having oven fresh homemade treats and not getting to eat them.

These coconut cupcakes are really easy to make but what prompted me to do was the fact that it is butterless, and only needs 4 ingredients, which I have ready at home.

I made a big modification on the milk amount, the original called for 1 1/2 cups but when I started mixing, the batter was really runny at the point of 3/4 cup so I decided to stop and try out. It turned out fine.

Coconut cupcakes

1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup castor sugar (cut down from 1 cup)
3/4 milk

1. Preheat oven at 175 degree C
2. Toast the coconut in a shallow pan until slightly brown to bring out the aroma
3. Mix together the coconut, flour and sugar. Slowly pour in the milk while mixing and mix til all combined.
3. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

recipe adapted from allrecipe.com

I used some chocolate chips as decoration for some of the cupcakes but it is totally fine to skip this step as I don't think the chocolate chips complimented the coconut taste that well.

The texture of the cake is dense, flavourful and kind of reminds me of the traditional 'kueh', esp at the centre of mine which was very slightly under-baked. One thing to note, the fact that it is butterless means it will stick to the mold VERY MUCH. So unless you don't mind heavy cleaning, remember to grease or use liners.

I was very impatient to try one while the cupcake was still warm, so quite a bit of the batter actually sticked to the liner as you can see from the photo above. However, for those that I waited until they really cooled off came out clean with hardly anything sticking to the paper liner at all.

Though I am quite happy with the result, I am really curious how it will turn out if I would have sticked to 1 1/2 cups of milk instead. Maybe I will try again... but if there is anyone out there game to try, be sure to let me know the result, k? Oh, if I am to make these again, I will try adding a dash of salt to see whether it will bring out the sweetness more.

childhood coconut tarts

I wrote about my craving for my childhood coconut tarts in my last post... and so happened that I had a trip back to Penang last week. So how could I not drop by the shop and buy some for myself?

So here it is...

I used the plastic bag that came with the tarts as the base for me to shot the tart :p

The shop has moved from it's old location at the back alley to one that is along a main road. The shape of the tart has changed slightly as well. It used to be elongated oval shape but now it's round. But the taste and texture are still the same as I remember it to be.

The base is made of flaky pastry, the filling is of rich sweet savoury coconut paste (that contains full body shredded coconut) and the it's topped with buttery crumble. All the different textures make each bite a truly enjoyable experience... aaaaww....

coconut icebox cookies

I am not particularly fond of coconut, nor do I distain the taste of it. Considering that coconut is such a common ingredient in our diet here (think curry, nasi lemak, laksa, kueh...), I am surprised that it never crossed my mind to bake something with it.

It all started one fine day last month, when I was sitting in the bus on my way to work. For some unknown reasons, I started imagining the taste of coconut tarts from a neighbourhood bakery in my childhood home back in Georgetown, Penang (which is also a UNESCO heritage site by the way). It started mild, then grew stronger and stronger with each day passing. The buttery, rich, sweet + savoury taste together with semi crunchy texture of the coconut tarts invaded my mind in such an explosive manner that I had to do something about it - I baked something with coconut to eat!

Well, you would naturally think that I will make some coconut tarts... No, no, if I do that, I knew I would definitely be disappointed... It would be a futile effort to rival childhood memory. So I took an easier path, I made coconut cookies.

Coconut Icebox Cookies

1/2 c butter (I used 1/4 c butter and 1/4 c oil since I ran out of butter)
1 cup white sugar (I cut to 3/4 c)
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract (I didn't use since I do not have it at home)
1 3/4 c sifted flour (I used cake flour but think all purpose may be better)
3/4 tsp salt (I actually used slightly more)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c shredded coconut (I toasted it slightly to bring out the fragrance)

1. Cream the butter until smooth; add sugar and continue creaming until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, vanilla and coconut flavouring.
2. Mixed the sifted flour, baking soda and salt. Alternately add the flour mixture and the shredded coconut into the creamed mixture.
3. Form the dough into logs about 2 inches in diameter. Tightly wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight (I did overnight)
4. Preheat oven at 190 degree C. Remove dough from the fridge and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Bake on ungreased sheet until edges are golden, about 10 mins. Cool on wire rack.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.

The cookies are delicious and crispy, they actually taste like 'aerated' butter cookies with coconut goodness. Every mouthful is so additive that I kept reaching for more. I really think the salt is important, or rather important to me bcoz I really like the sweet savoury taste of the coconut cookies. Maybe it is my childhood memory again, or maybe it's a Chinese thing? We seem to have more sweet savoury traditional cookies.

While the whole process took longer than the usual cookies, it works for me. I started doing the dough at night after putting baby to sleep and the next day, after I put him to nap in the late morning, I took out the dough to bake.

Oh, it is crucial that you do not take out both dough logs at one go. If you take both out, by the time you finished slicing the first log, the second dough would be too soft and sticky to work. So, take one out, finished slicing and arranging on the sheet before repeating for the second.

Having done this, I am contemplating to try more recipes with coconut in future.... :)... so let's see if I do.