Coconut Chocolate Cookie

I like chocolate. I like coconut. I like cookies. So I combined them, and the result was very well-received. I mostly just modified a standard cookie recipe by adding flaked coconut and chocolate chips. I made some cookies without the chocolate chips because I thought there was too much chocolate, but my roommate's boyfriend convinced me that there's really no such things as too much chocolate. Sorry about the coldness of the picture though; I haven't quite worked out how to take good food pictures with my new camera.

Ingredients
1.25 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup minus 1 Tbsp white sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.25 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease baking sheet(s).

2. In a small bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until well blended. Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients until well mixed. With a wooden spoon, mix in the coconut and chocolate chips last.

4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-12min. Cool on wire rack.

Chocolate Covered Coconut Macaroons

For Father's Day, I decided to make my grandpa a sampler plate of desserts, so there will be a plethora of baked goods recipes from me forthcoming. My favorite I think are these - they were easy to make and turned out really well. I pretty much just followed this recipe. I decreased the amount of sugar and it turned out not sweet enough, so I dipped half in chocolate to sweeten it up, and it was fabulous. You could alternatively add an extra 1/2 Tbsp sugar, and it'll be sweet enough as a stand-alone.

Time: 0:30
Serves: 15

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp flour
dash of salt
1 egg white
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
4oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and flour baking sheet.
2. Mix coconut flakes, sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in egg white and vanilla extract, making sure to mix well.
3. Using a 1/2 tablespoon spoon, drop little balls onto baking sheet. They'll be very uniform and pretty, and just the right size.
4. Bake 20 min or until tips start to brown. Immediately remove from baking sheet and let cool completely on plate. Resist eating them all immediately, as they are much better with chocolate.
5. Using a double boiler (or a smaller pot in a bigger one, which is what I did), melt the chocolate chips. With a pair of chopsticks, dip half a macaroon into the chocolate, being sure to coat the half uniformly. With a wooden spoon, wipe off excess chocolate.
6. Set on a plate covered with wax paper, and chill in fridge until chocolate hardens.

Alternatively, add 1Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder and an extra Tbsp sugar and make chocolate coconut macaroons, which are also yummy.

Mild Thai Chicken Curry

I have very little experience coooking Asian food, but lately I have really developed a taste for Thai food, particularly curries and pad thai. This is a mild Thai chicken curry that I modified from a recipe I originally found on epicurious, and it's very easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 14-oz can of coconut milk
1/2 T of red curry paste
1/2 red pepper, sliced into 1/3 in wide strips
1/2-1 small head of broccoli, chopped
1 T brown sugar
1 T fish sauce
1/2 lb. cooked chicken, cut up into bite size pieces.
1 cup rice, prepared according to package directions (with water and butter)

Directions: Cook curry paste and coconut milk in a skillet over medium low heat for a couple of minutes. Add vegetables, brown sugar, and fish sauce and cook for 5 minutes. Add (cooked) chicken, mix together and cook for a couple more minutes. Serve over rice. Makes 3-4 servings.
This recipe is very mild. I don't have much of a taste for spicy food, and even I found myself wishing it were spicier. If I made it again I would probably use an entire tablespoon of curry paste. Even as is, however, the recipe certainly has flavor. This recipe is also easy to modify - the original recipe called for onion and red pepper, but I substituted broccoli to fit my tastes. It would also be easy to cook the chicken in the skillet with the coconut milk, if it's added at the beginning. I would imagine it would also be easy to substitute a different kind of meat. The core of the recipe is of course the coconut milk and curry paste, and the brown sugar and fish sauce give it a Thai flavor. Epicurious commentators suggested adding some garlic or peanut butter, so I might try that the next time I make it.
A note on the Thai ingredients - I was able to find all of them in the International aisle of my local grocery store, but if they're not available in the general grocery store they can be found at an Asian supermarket.