Mounds of Coconut

Gluten free mounds! (yes, I'm hitting a food blog buzzword)

But it's true. There's no gluten in these.

There's coconut and chocolate though, and really, that's all that matters.

There are a few no-gluten people at work and I feel bad every week when they have to pass on the cookies, so I thought I'd give the gluten free thing a shot.

These are more of a candy than a cookie, but I doubt anyone will complain.

Chocolate Coconut Candy Cookies

Filling

• 2 c sugar
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/2 c butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c ground almonds
• 3 c unsweetened shredded coconut

Coating

• 2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp butter

 

In a pot big enough to hold all the ingredients, combine the sugar, milk, and butter over medium heat. 

These are basically a variation on Taneasha's No Bake Cookies and she has some great tips there on how to make the "candy" part of these "cookies" come out perfectly. I didn't follow any of them. 

What?

You expected me to follow rules?? Seriously, I'm amazed I managed to measure the sugar and the milk. No comment on the butter.

Bring the candy combo to a boil and set a timer for 3 minutes. (I let mine go an extra couple minutes and I think that I won't next time)

After 3 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and pour in the vanilla. You can even measure it if you want to.

Stir that in and then dump in the almonds and coconut. Yes, I know Taneasha's tips said to pour this onto the dry stuff, but this way, there's only one pot to wash.

If you want pure coconut you can replace the cup of ground almonds, but I'm thinking it might be fun to go the other way and do these with ground almonds only.

I recommend using the 3 minutes of boiling to lay out parchment paper on the counter or a table.

Since my air conditioner is in the bedroom, and the air in the rest of my apartment is distinctly not conditioned, I moved my kitchen table into the bedroom and laid out the parchment.

Fill a small scoop by pressing it against the edge of the pot. If you have a melon baller that wold work. Do people even have melon ballers any more? Me, I have a tablespoon measure that is dome shaped. Look! I measured something!

Drop these little mounds of coconut candy onto the parchment.

They will start to set pretty quickly, but the stuff in the pot will still be hot. Be careful if you decide that you want to use your hands to try to shape them a bit.

You can't roll them, or they'll fall apart; you have to press them into shape. Which was more work than I wanted to do so I went back to the scoop.

Now, you could leave these things as is, and everything would be lovely.

Or, you could decide that they need some chocolate drizzled over top.

I totally forgot to take pictures of the chocolate part, but if you follow Taneasha's chocolate tempering steps you'll be just fine. Okay seriously, is there anything candy-related the woman can't do?

Mine came out beautifully. Damn she's good.

Drizzling didn't work out so well.

So I dipped.

And dipped

and dipped.

And managed to avoid licking my fingers between dips.

And if you're wondering what to do with the crumbles left in the bottom of the pot, and the last bit of chocolate in the bowl, I recommend balls. 

Some of the dips will come out looking like they were made by a 5 year old (actually, most of them will... or maybe it's just me),

but some of them will be lovely.

And all of them will need about an hour for the chocolate to set.

So, are you willing to try gluten-free recipes?

Because Little Buns are in Fashion

Sliders are all the rage right now, and to be honest I think it’s great!  Not only are sliders cute (we all know little things are cute) but because of their small size, they’re easy to eat, and you get to have more than one!  That definitely appeals to our greedy nature, and it also allows for variety.  For those of us who are somewhat decision impaired, that’s a very good thing.  These little buns are perfect for your summertime cookouts.  (I’m converting to the local lingo.)

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• ¼ cup warm water
• Pinch of sugar
• Packet of yeast
• ½ cup hot water
• ½ cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4-ish cups flour

 

Into your mixing bowl go the ¼ cup warm water (think bathwater temp), pinch of sugar, and yeast.  Stir them together and set that aside. 

In a measuring cup combine the hot water and the milk, which should also land at warm. Add the butter and give it a minute to melt.

Once it has, add the egg and whisk everything together. 

Now back to your yeast.  It should be showing signs of life by now, in the form of bubbles mostly. 

Pour in the milk mixture.

Stir that together and add 2 cups of flour along with the salt and sugar. 

Mix that together until you have a nice batter consistency.  Add another 1 ½ cups of flour and mix until it comes together. 

If it looks like this, with a large area still sticking to the bottom of the bowl, you need more flour. 

This is what you’re looking for.  It should almost completely remove itself from the bowl.  I know it it’s a shaggy mess, but a few minutes of kneading will fix that. 

Allow it to knead for 5 minutes or so, or if you’re kneading by hand, probably 10 minutes.  Either way, you’ll need to butter a large bowl. 

When your dough is ready it should be smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky. 

Place it top side down into the bowl, then turn it and flip it over so that it has butter on all sides. 

Cover with a damp towel and set aside to rise. 

You want it to double in size.  That will probably take about an hour, but it depends on the temperature of your house.  You’ll know it’s ready when it looks something like this. 

Dump it out onto a floured surface and deflate most of the large bubbles with your knuckles. 

Cut off a small piece of dough and flatten it into a disk. 

Pull all the edges together to form a ball.

Then place it on an unfloured surface and move it in circles with your hand.  You should have a nice smooth ball about the size of a ping pong ball. 

Place it onto a parchment lined sheet pan. 

Keep your balls covered with a damp towel as you work so they don’t dry out. 

Continue doing this until you have 24 balls of dough.  I had a little extra dough left, so you could probably actually get 28 out of this recipe.  I just used the extra for a little dessert thing. 

Flatten them out a bit. 

Then, as before, cover with a damp towel and set them aside to rise. 

Generally, the second rise doesn’t take as long, so maybe 45 minutes or so.  They should be nice and puffy. 

This is probably a good time to preheat the oven to 375°.  Then, in a small dish, combine an egg and 1 Tablespoon water.

Beat thoroughly with a fork. 

Using a pastry brush, apply a small amount of egg wash to the top and sides. 

Repeat until each roll is coated. 

Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top. 

Or, if you’re like me, sprinkle some of them with sesame seeds, some with poppy seeds, and some with dried, minced onion.  I did mention I’m slightly decision impaired, right? 

Bake for 15 minutes.  They should be nice and golden on top and around the edges.  Move them to a rack to cool. 

Here are the sesame seed ones

The poppy seed ones

And the onion ones. 

Take your pick.  They are all fabulous.  I have actually done a batch since these and used all three toppings together.  They were basically “everything” buns and they were absolutely delicious.  Don’t limit yourself to just burgers on these little buns, either.  I made Sloppy Joses on some of mine, and next week I’ll be showing you a fabulous Thai chicken slider that is to die for. 

What is your favorite thing to put on your buns?