Coconut Meltaways

Well I was going to make brownies, but then when I turned the brownie recipe over, there was one for coconut meltaways, which seemed way more interesting. We will save the brownies for another time!

You need:

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tbspns sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup angel flake coconut

Combine all the ingredients except for the coconut.



This seemed more difficult than it should have been, because everything was so dry. It didn't really mix, it just formed little clumps. Maybe I should have melted the butter beforehand? But you wouldn't think that would make this big of a difference. In any case, afterwards you add the coconut and mix well, and then roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. When you actually picked up the mixture and squished it in your hand, that's when it finally all mixed together. Flatten the balls with a fork.



Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.



I did 20 minutes, and the bottom rack came out a little burnt, but not too bad. When you take them out of the oven, sift powdered sugar onto the tops of the warm cookies.

The taste was complicated. At first they seem bland, unless you get a good chunk of coconut and then it's delicious. The aftertaste though is excellent. I feel like the recipe was missing something but I don't know what. I mean, I will still totally eat them.




Next week maybe we will take a shot at those brownies!

Why Worry?

My mom gave me a bunch of new recipes she found in a photo album. One of them is for my most favorite dessert - rainbow cookies - so I am pretty super pumped about that one (although it looks really complicated). I was looking through them all tonight, and saw that hiding in there with all the cookies and cobblers was a clipping from an old newspaper. Kind of like a poem, and it was called: Why Worry?

There are only two things to worry about -
Either you are well, or you are sick.
If you are well, then there is nothing to worry about.
But if you are sick, there are two things to worry about -
Either you will get well, or you will die.
If you get well, then there is nothing to worry about.
But if you die, there are only two things to worry about.
Either you go to heaven or to hell.
If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about.
If you go to hell, you'll be so darn busy shaking hands with old friends,
You won't have time to worry.

It made me smile to think she liked that little poem so much, she cut it out and put it in this photo album, who knows how many years ago.

This weekend, I am going to try a brownie recipe from the album!

Biscuit Calzone

You will need:

1 package (tube) of refrigerated biscuits
1 egg
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup cooked ham (I used pepperoni instead)
Crushed red pepper to taste (I used a real chopped up red pepper)
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

The directions say to separate the biscuits and roll them out, and I think the idea was to make 8 separate mini calzones. Instead, I mashed half of them together and rolled it out flat to make the bottom of the calzone, and did the same with the other half to make the top. So instead of 8 tiny ones, we made 1 giant one.

Rolling the biscuits out was way hard. It was kind of elastic-y, and when you rolled it flat it would just bounce back to its smaller size. But after I had them both a decent size, I beat the egg slightly in a medium sized bowl, and then stirred in the cottage cheese and mozzarella.

Then, I coated the bottom biscuit with the pepperoni, then this cheese mixture, and then the red pepper that I had cut up. I put the other biscuit layer on top, and pulled the bottom edges over and folded them together. It looked just like a pie.

Before you put it in the oven (oh, which by the way should be preheated to 425 degrees), you brush the top with the egg yolk and milk mixture, and then cut small x shapes in the top to allow steam to escape (and then it looks even more like a pie). I put it in a pan that I had lined with foil, and baked it for 15 minutes.



It was life changing. So delicious and easy, and I realized you could put absolutely anything inside and make a meal out of it (or more like four meals).



I actually just made another one today that had tomato, basil, and mozzarella (picture below), and I plan to make another one this weekend with chicken, broccoli, and cheese. The biscuits are so sweet and flaky and amazing. This was definitely one of my favorites so far.



Next week, I haven't decided yet, so it'll be a surprise!