Monkey Bread Monkeys

Cienna promised to show me how to make monkey bread. I remembered it as a gooey, sticky, caramelized treat when I was a kid. Could it possibly be as good now?

Apparently these kids think so. They must be the monkey bread monkeys. I thought it was great, too.

Monkey Bread

In glass pie pan or bundt cake pan, mix:

2 T butter

1 T water

1/3 C brown sugar

If you are over 40 years old, add chopped nuts.

Heat in microwave 30 seconds, or until butter melts (optional)

Cut refrigerator biscuits into quarters. Add to sugar mixture and stir to coat. Push away from center and put a glass in the center.

Cook in the microwave 3 1/2 minutes or bake in the oven 10 minutes at 400 degrees. If you are using the bundt cake pan you have to bake it. Flip onto a plate and serve immediately. Double recipe if you are serving more than 6 people.

Strawberry Daiquiri

When we woke up 2 hours later than we had planned on Saturday morning, Kevin called the strawberry farm to ask if we could come later in the day. They stayed open until 1:00, so we drove to the farm and picked a flat of berries before coming home and devouring half of them. Then we realized that they would be gone soon if we didn't stop eating and start cooking.

Of course, freezer jam was on the 'absolutely must' list. If you are in need of a little jam, send me an email or a comment and I'll put you on the Christmas list. Or the 4th of July list. It lasts a year in the freezer, and we have been looking for things to give people that are consumables and not super-de-duper unhealthy. Not that jam can be classified as healthy....

I can't give you a recipe for freezer jam because all brands of pectin are slightly different so you have to use the recipe on the box. Get the 'low sugar' pectin.

The jam was setting and the berries were still looking at me when we started getting ready for a party. I suddenly realized that I hadn't had a strawberry daiquiri since 11th grade, when I ordered one on a date. It was sweet and cold and tasted just like summer should. Of course, it was a virgin one, and it was exactly the taste I wanted to sip all night.

I found a recipe and proceeded to change the amounts and ingredients. You know how I once said that I always make a recipe exactly according to the directions the first time? Well, I've been paying attention since then, and I haven't made a recipe exactly as written in over a year. Oh, well. I guess no recipe is safe in my hands.

The original called for lemon juice and white sugar, but I don't like lemon and I had a bottle of maple syrup in the fridge that was starting to crystallize. If you use regular sugar, mix it with the other juices and blend it for a bit before adding the ice to make sure it dissolves. The orange juice is so good that I highly doubt anyone will ever want to use lemon juice ever again.

Strawberry Daiquiri

1/4-1/3 C maple syrup (start with 1/4 C and add more if you want it to be sweeter)

4 ounces frozen strawberries

1/8 C lime juice

1/2 C orange juice

3 cups ice

spiced rum such as Captain Morgan (optional)

Mix everything except the rum in the blender until it is slushy and there are no ice chunks.Pour into a glass and top with a fresh strawberry and serve with a straw and an umbrella.

If you want this to be a little more like a sorbet, put it in the freezer and get it out every half hour to blend it again with the stick blender until it is frozen. That way it will stay scoopable but still icy instead of freezing into one large ice block.

If you plan to add the rum, use closer to 1/3 or 1/2 C of maple syrup and let each person add their own rum so they can choose how strong to make it.

Bye, bye, strawberry hulls.

Almond Rhubarb Coffee Cake

If you have ever wondered how heaven tastes, I've found the perfect recipe to give you a little preview. It's the almond and it is so good.

Khuong had a baby boy and has been out of the office for a couple of weeks, so when he stopped by WITHOUT his new baby but WITH a bag of rhubarb for me, I was filled with mixed emotions. Hopefully I get to get that new baby soon!

Last year he brought me bags and bags of rhubarb and I cooked a gazillion rhubarb recipes. By the end of the season I was so tired of rhubarb. He was going to rip our his rhubarb plants because he doesn't like it and doesn't want to devote so much of his yard to it. Thank goodness it squeaked in another year, because I have been craving a rhubarb fix for a while.

After eating one piece of cake, I took the rest to work where I proceeded to break one of the red heart dishes in a clumsa-tastrophe (which happens to be a clumsy catastrophe.) I may have to reconsider traveling with my fancy stuff. On one hand, I love to bring fun food to share with my friends, but I also know that my clumsy self isn't very well suited to nice things. *sigh*

Almond Rhubarb Coffee Cake

1 1/2 C packed brown sugar

2/3 C oil

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1/4 t almond extract

2 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose)

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 C milk

1 1/2 C chopped rhubarb

1/2 C sliced almonds

1/3 C white sugar

1 T melted butter

1/4 C sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch round pans (or whatever pans suit your fancy.) In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, oil, egg, vanilla, and almond extract until smooth. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to sugar mixture alternately with milk. Beat until smooth. Stir in rhubarb and milk. Pour into prepared pans. In a small bowl, combine white sugar and butter. Stir in 1/4 C almonds. Sprinkle over batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake tests done.