Lime Coconut Squares

Hi There! It's been a while, I know. I just returned from an evening work event and the King of Soup and our progeny are out at a Marlies game - what better time to plop myself in front of the computer to crank out a few posts I've been meaning to get to.

In the summer of 2012, the King of Soup's sister got hitched to a really awesome dude that we are proud to call brother. Since that time, we've been waiting patiently for offspring. While we were waiting, the King's brother and his beautiful wife produced a perfect little one so that kept the pressure off the sister for a few months. As we were basking in the glory of being Auntie and Uncle (and Cousins) to the beautiful one, an amazing announcement was made - that there would soon be another one joining the party! That day is soon upon us and we are all very busy getting ready and excited for this day. Several weeks ago, my Mothers-in-Law hosted a lovely baby shower for the King's sister, and the King's Mother baked these very excellent Lime Coconut Squares. I have made them twice since then and now I have to stop because every time I make them, I eat them.

I came late to the lime-is-awesome-in-dessert party, having had a deep relationship with chocolate for quite some time. With regard to citrus, I always knew about Lemon Meringue Pie but was never a fan. Later, I discovered lemon could be made into many pleasing desserts (like Lemon Squares, Lemon Ice Cream, Lemon Pound Cake), and realized there was more to life than cocoa. I was first introduced to lime with Key Lime Pie in the late 90s at a pot luck lunch. My friend Paula made the pie and of course, I tried it because that's what you do at pot luck lunches. It was to die for. I requested the recipe and have been making it at least once a year ever since.

These squares take it up a notch due to my Mother in Law's brilliant adaptation of the recipe, which is to use ginger snaps instead of graham cracker crumbs in the crust. The recipe also calls for coconut, and anything with coconut and lime together is A-OK in my books.

For my version I decided to use half graham cracker crumbs and half ginger snap crumbs for the crust, because I do love graham crackers and didn't want to leave them out entirely. I think that using all ginger snaps provides a little more kick, but both versions were delicious, and I am sure that using all graham crackers would also be yummy. For next time, I might even add some fresh ginger into the crust. Just sayin'.

Without further ado, here is the recipe. My adaptations are in brackets, as always. The original source for this recipe is Canadian Living Magazine, and I thank my MiL for sharing it with me.

Ingredients:

CRUST
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used half graham cracker crumbs and half ginger snap crumbs, or you can use all ginger snap crumbs)
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1/4 cup sugar (I cut this back to 1/8 cup, or half of a 1/4 cup measure)
1/3 cup butter, melted

CURD FILLING
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I used the "light" version - and take note, this stuff has an expiry date so make sure to check your can before pouring)
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp grated lime zest
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Method:

To make the graham cracker/ginger snap crumbs, use a food processor and spin until crackers/cookies are finely ground.

In the photo above you can see the layer of ginger snaps on the bottom and the graham crackers on top of that.

To toast the coconut, place it into a frying pan and put the burner on medium heat. Watch it carefully as it will burn before you know it.

In a bowl, stir together the crumbs, coconut, sugar and butter.

Press the mixture into a parchment-lined 8 inch square pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes and let cool on a rack.

While this is baking, zest and juice your limes. I think I used about 10 of them.

Then whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and the egg yolks. Add the lime zest and lime juice.

Pour into the baked crust.

Return it to the oven (still at 350 degrees F) and bake it for about 15 minutes, or until the edges are set and the centre still jiggles a little. Let cool completely on the rack.

Then put into the fridge for a full 12 hours. This way you will get a clean cut when you cut the squares.

These squares will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for a week. But who's kidding who? They won't last a day!

Makes 36 small squares and according to the Canadian Living site, each square is 83 calories, has 10 g of carbs, 2 g of protein, 5 g of fat, and 8 g of sugar. Remember that these counts are if you follow the original recipe to the letter. The site has a neat calculator so you can enter in the actual number of squares you got and see the calculation change. Here is the link: http://www.canadianliving.com/food/baking_and_desserts/lime_coconut_squares.php

Enjoy!

Black Bean & Chick Pea Soup with Sour Cream & Lime Topping

There’s no place like home. 

This past week I spent five long days in Puerto Rico. You may think that this is awesome, but I was there for work and was without my two kids and husband for that time. In addition, the travel time to get to Puerto Rico was about 12 hours (12 hours to get home as well), and the weather wasn’t even stellar (although it was definitely better than the weather in Toronto).

I missed my kids, my husband, my dog, even the hamsters. What I also missed was the ability to cook my own food. It’s one thing to go out for a dinner here, a breakfast there...but 5 days of that is tough. Especially when one is a vegetarian and Puerto Ricans love meat!

I arrived home late on Saturday night and the first thing I did on Sunday was to figure out what food I would prepare that day. I looked in the pantry to see what was there and spied some black beans. You’d think there would be lots of beans on hand in Puerto Rico, and there were, but they all had pork mixed in with them.

I decided to make a black bean soup so I turned to one of my newer cookbooks to check out the recipes. I found one that looked good in Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen. The King of Soup was heading out to watch the Super Bowl with his buddies, but before he left he was kind enough to prep all the veggies for me (what a Prince, I mean King).

I started cooking and went to the pantry to get the beans. Uh oh, only one can and the recipe called for 3. How about some chick peas instead? Sure! Why not?

Here is my soup, adapted from Deborah Madison’s recipe.

Ingredients:

1 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (original recipe calls for 3 cans of beans and no chick peas)

1 14 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large, sweet onion, finely diced

2 small carrots, finely diced

3 celery ribs, finely diced

1 green bell pepper, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch of cilantro, stems finely sliced and leaves more roughly chopped

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika, or more to taste

2 bay leaves

¼ tsp cayenne, or more to taste (I think it needs more)

Topping:

½ cup sour cream

Juice of ½ lime, or more to taste (I used one full lime and I think I might even add more lime to the actual soup)

Pinch of salt (I added freshly ground pepper as well)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot (I used my cast iron Le Creuset). Sauté the diced veggies and cilantro stems over medium-high heat until the onion has softened (stir often). Add 1 tsp salt and then add the cumin, paprika, bay leaves, and cayenne. Lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes more. Stir every couple of minutes and try not to let the spices burn.

Add 1 cup of water and cook for another 8 minutes or so.

Add the beans and the chick peas, another cup or more of water (original recipe does not call for additional water, but I felt it needed it to truly simmer), and 3 tbsp of the chopped cilantro leaves. Cook for about 20 minutes. Taste, and add salt and pepper as required.

Mix the sour cream, lime juice, the rest of the cilantro leaves and a pinch of salt in a separate bowl.

Puree the soup using a hand blender (original recipe does not call for pureeing). Serve hot with a dollop of the sour cream mixture on top. (I think toasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds would also be great with this soup.)

P.S. I did have the chance to eat an excellent Puerto Rican staple called Mofungo (fried plantain and garlic mash). I plan to do some research and test out my own recipe so stay tuned to this space...