A cracking time: Coconut a superfood packed with healthy fats and plenty of oh-so yummy sweetness

BALANCED AND TEXTURED: Semolina and coconut cake

Hello everyone!

Hope you’re well and keeping cool in these super-hot days.

This week I want to chat about a very versatile ingredient: coconut.

The coconut is a member of the palm tree family and is actually categorised as a fruit, and not a nut, as I always believed.

It is also known as a ‘superfood’ with healthy fats.

Coconut water can be enjoyed as a drink, coconut milk or cream can be used in curries, coconut oil can be used in cooking and my favourite is using coconut in bakes.

I love baking with both fresh and desiccated coconut, I find that its unique taste adds the perfect balance to some flavours.

Like South Africa’s most loved koekie, Hertzoggies. The coconut adds to the taste and texture while balancing out the sweetness of the jam perfectly.

If you cannot wrap your head around baking with coconut, then think of a Tennis biscuit or Romany Cream.

If these are on your list of lekker biscuits, then you are an undercover coconut fan!

I love cooking with coconut too. If you are vegan or prefer being dairy-free, then coconut oil, coconut milk and coconut cream is an amazing substitute for dairy.

Being from Indian heritage, coconut or naarel as my granny used to call it, is incorporated in many of our dishes, like sweet coconut-filled pancakes, coconut chutney with roti and even coconut chicken or crayfish curry.

So go grab a bag of coconut and happy baking!

For more recipes or baking and cooking inspiration, visit my website www.sprinklesandspice.co.za or visit my social media platforms on Instagram @sprinklesandspicect or Facebook Sprinkles and Spice by Farzana Kumandan.

Love, your Cooksister!

Coconut jam drops

Ingredients

125g soft butter (not melted)

½ cup castor sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

1 pinch cardamom

1 cup flour

2 cups fine coconut

Method

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and no more sugar crystals are visible. Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix well. Add in the flour and coconut and mix until well combined.

Grease spray a 24-hole mini cupcake tray with baking spray.

Add in a tablespoon’s amount of dough (either rolled in a ball or I used a cookie/ice cream spoon).

Using the back of a wooden spoon or thick chopstick, make a hole in the middle of each ball.

Bake on 180°C for 15 minutes until the tips are golden brown.

Just before the 15 minutes are up, fill a small piping bag with apricot jam. Once removed from the oven, go over the middle hole once more and add in the jam while the bakes are still hot. The jam will melt into the jam drop.

Serve with a hot cup of brewed tea.

Choc coconut biscuits

Ingredients

250g soft butter

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla essence

200g coconut

2 heaped tablespoons of cocoa

500g self-rising flour

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar and add all the remaining ingredients to form a soft dough.

Roll out on a floured surface and press out your desired shapes with a cookie cutter.

Bake on a tray lined with baking paper for 10 to 15 minutes on 170 degrees.

Drizzle with chocolate and enjoy.

Strawberry Lamingtons

Ingredients

2 eggs

¾ cup sugar

½ cup oil

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

1 ¼ cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup milk

Method

In a mixing bowl add the eggs and sugar and whisk together until light and creamy.

Add in the oil and vanilla essence and mix until well combined.

Sift in the baking powder and flour.

Add in the milk and mix until smooth and lump free.

Transfer to a medium-size rectangle Pyrex dish and line the dish with baking paper.

(This ensures a smoother square).

Bake in a pre-heated oven on 180°C.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown or a toothpick comes out clean.

Once completely cooled, cut in squares, dip in the cooled strawberry sauce and roll in coconut.

For the strawberry sauce:

Ingredients

1 cup strawberry jam

2-3 Drops pink food colouring

½ cup warm water

2 cups fine coconut

Method

Stir the jam with a spoon until smooth.

Add food colouring and water and mix together and allow to cool completely.

Give it a quick dip in the sauce, let the excess liquid drip and roll in coconut.

Tip cake and sauce must be cool and not warm.

Do not dip for too long, it will make the cake soggy.

Coconut bread pudding

Ingredients

Add all ingredients to blender

6 slices of bread

4 eggs

2 tablespoons butter

¾ cup sugar

750ml full-cream milk

3 heaped tablespoon custard

¼ cup coconut

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

½ teaspoon fine cinnamon

Pinch of elaichi and/or nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Method

Blend ingredients until smooth. Spray medium rectangle Pyrex dish with cooking spray and pour in mixture. Bake at 180°C on lower rack of oven for 45 minutes until top is golden brown and slightly cracked crust formed. Remove from oven and brush over apricot jam. Turn off oven but return pudding to warm oven to rest and settle for 20 minutes.