Easy Coconut Pecan Pralines

Go ahead and add these Coconut Pecan Pralines to your holiday baking list!!! They are sinfully delicious!

My husband and I recently had a dinner meeting with some of our friends. When I asked our hostess what I could bring, she said dessert. Then her daughter chimed in and begged for No-Bake Cookies. Fine by me! I LOVE NO-BAKE COOKIES!

I had seen a new “No-Bake Cookie” recipe on Pinterest a while back. I thought I would try this new recipe along with the old faithful No-Bake Cookies and see what folks thought about them.

I had a little trouble with these new “cookies”…well, at least I thought I had.

They didn’t set up in time for me to take them to the meeting. UGH! I was a little frustrated. So, what else could I do but start eating the gooey cookies right off the waxed paper with a spoon! Oooohhhh! They were so yummy! Still a little warm…WOW!

I looked back at the recipe. I had not let the mixture boil quite long enough. I probably didn’t stir long enough either. The name of these “No-Bake Cookies” was actually Coconut Pecan PRALINES! I have made pralines in the past, successfully and unsuccessfully. The unsuccessful time, the mixture set up way too quickly. Maybe I cooked them too long. I was unable to set out the batch as individual pralines! It did make a fine topping for ice cream though.

As the afternoon went on, and I fixed a second batch of No-Bakes to take with me, I noticed my pralines starting to set. There was still no time for them to be ready for the meeting. So, I took a double batch of regular chocolate peanut butter No-Bakes to my friends’ house. Their daughter was excited that I left a bunch for their kitchen!

Back at home, however, I had a whole batch of Coconut Pecan Pralines! Oh, poor me! Well, it would be “Oh, my poor pants!” if I didn’t get rid of some of them~and fast!

It was just a couple of days later when we learned of my death of my husband’s 92 year old grandmother. You may remember Mamaw and her Lemon Jello Cake  being featured here as a “guest chef”.

Perhaps you remember some of her handiwork…

We have so many special memories of time spent with Mamaw.

I took the Coconut Pecan Pralines to share with family after the funeral. Everyone loved them. I have to think Mamaw would have loved them too.

No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

1 stick of butter

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups oats

Bring first four ingredients to a boil. Stirring to avoid scorching. Boil one minute.

Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until peanut butter melts.

Add oats. Stir.

Spoon onto waxed paper in bite-sized mounds. Work quickly! They set up pretty fast.

Coconut Pecan Pralines

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 stick of butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups chopped pecans

2 cups coconut

Combine the chopped pecans and coconut in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Bring the first four ingredients to a boil, stirring to avoid scorching. Boil for 3 minutes!

Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and coconut-pecan mixture. Stir until mixture starts to thicken~about 4 minutes!

Spoon onto waxed paper in bite-sized mounds.

A couple of these in a cellophane baggie with a ribbon and you may as well move to the North Pole!

 

 

 

 

Coconut Lime Cookies

Several months ago I stumbled upon a yummy sounding recipe over at The Girl Who Ate Everything. Her Chewy Coconut Lime Cookies sounded so yummy and fresh.

Limes were on sale not long ago. I figured it must be time to try out this recipe.

The recipe was delish!

Coconut Lime Cookies

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one large lime, finely minced
3 tbsp lime juice
½ cup unsweetened toasted coconut
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar.(Keep reading to see how my experimenting turned out!) Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

I mixed up the cookie dough just fine. It seemed a bit sticky though.

I had a “brilliant” idea. I remembered that I had some leftover green sugar from Christmas. I thought rolling the dough in the green sugar would be cute.

I was wrong!

Since the dough had gotten soft I decided to refrigerate it for a bit. But wait! Brilliant idea #2 hit. I thought that I would make the dough into a log and have slice & bake cookies.

This idea worked out okay. Brilliant? Not so sure about that based on what I did next…

Yes, brilliant idea #3. I decided to roll the dough in the green sugar so it would look like a lime slice. Then I took a glass from the cupboard that had a “lime slice” pattern on the bottom and squished it into the cookie.

Brilliant!

Not so much.

While it looks like these cookies would have turned out cute, they didn’t. The pattern was totally lost after baking.

I decided to go back to the original instructions. I used a small scoop to make the cookies then rolled them in white sugar. Nice!

If you look closely, you can see the lime zest.

Well, so much for the experimentation. Sometimes a simple yummy cookie is better. They were yummy indeed!

Critics’ Corner

Chip: Tastes like a tiny little Caribbean island.

Megan: I liked them well enough, but it needed more coconut.

Katie: There was a bit too much lime for me, but it was rather tasty!

 

Piña Colada Pie

I stopped by Mom and Dad’s house the other day after taking Megan to the dentist. I found Mom in the kitchen making a pie. She already had the crust made. I said, “Hey, wait! I’ll take pictures and you can be a guest chef on my blog!” Dad has a camera just like ours, so I knew how to use it. Well, at least as much as I know how to use ours.

Mom and a few other ladies have a book club. They pick a book to read then take turns as hostess. The book they had this month was  The Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini. Naturally, a Hawaiian theme was in order for the evening.

Piña Colada Pie

Crust:

1/3 cup butter, softened

2 1/2 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine coconut and butter and press in a 9-inch pie pan. Bake 4-5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

 

Lucky you! The recipe Mom used for the crust was actually from a different pie. You get a bonus recipe!

Mom said that the 4-5 minutes was not quite long enough. The pie would have been better with a crispier crust.

Filling:

3/4 cup pineapple-coconut nectar (recommended: Kern’s)  Mom couldn’t find the Kern’s. She substituted Bacardi Pina Colada Mix.

1 cup light coconut milk (recommended: Thai Kitchen)

1 1/2 teaspoon rum extract, divided

1 (3.4 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding and pie filling

1 cup shredded coconut

8 ounces whipped topping, divided

1/2 cup shredded coconut , toasted, for garnish

•In a a large bowl, combine nectar, coconut milk, and 1 teaspoon rum extract. Sprinkle pudding mix over liquid and whisk for  a couple of minutes.

I love this little measuring cup!

•Fold in coconut and 1/2 the whipped topping.

•Pour into pre-baked pie crust and chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

•Combine remaining whipped topping with 1/2 teaspoon rum extract. Top chilled pie with whipped topping and toasted coconut.

Oops! She accidentally put all the rum in the filling.

I think something is wrong with Mom’s oven. The coconut was in there for 30 minutes and it still didn’t brown! It felt like toasted coconut. Oh, well.

I think the ladies had a good time. I don’t know about the book. Maybe they will leave us a comment about the book AND the pie!

If you look carefully, you can see Mom’s reflection in the mirror of the cabinet.

Critics’ Corner

Megan happened to be there to taste the filling since she was out of school for her dentist appointment.

Megan: It was soooo yummy!

PCTuesday: The crust looked very yummy. I didn’t get to taste it though. The filling was oooo la la! I didn’t even taste the rum much. Of course, I just had a little sample from the bowl. You could leave the rum out all together if you want.