DIY Fresh Coconut Pancakes

We love the variety of fresh produce available here and like trying to out new recipes. One new thing we've been enjoying this spring has been lots of fresh coconut in all kinds of things. My husband is getting quite good at opening them. :)

I haven't seen many recipes for baking that use straight fresh coconut, so I am creating new recipes. One of the first I made up, was these delicious fresh coconut pancakes. Topped with butter, pancake syrup, and toasted coconut these are a real treat.

This recipe uses the coconut juice (also known as coconut water) that you pour straight out of the coconut and shredded fresh coconut meat. I also toasted extra shredded coconut in the oven to sprinkle on top. If you wanted to make or double this recipe and don't have enough coconut juice, you can add regular milk just fine. I would imagine that you could also substitute coconut milk and dry coconut flakes but haven't tried it myself.

One thing you don't want to do, is to try to save the coconut water in the refrigerator for very long, like more than one day. It goes bad really fast once opened. Trust me, don't try it. It does however freeze fine to use later.

Homemade Fresh Coconut Pancake Recipe

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup fresh coconut water/ juice or milk
• 1 cup fresh shredded coconut (plus more toasted flakes for topping if desired)
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon if desired
• 1 tsp baking powder

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and stir until well combined.
2. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto a hot greased griddle.
3. Cook until underside is brown. Flip over, and cook until the other side is brown.
4. Continue until all of the pancakes are cooked.

DIY Fresh Sugarcane (or Sugar Cane) Syrup

Alright, so here is quite a unique post and recipe (process?) that I am sure is not for everybody or to do everyday, but it was fun to try a couple of times. I also could find hardly any info online on how to make fresh sugar cane syrup with regular kitchen equipment, and while their may be a reason for this, maybe this post will be helpful to someone.

Perhaps the greatest thing about the food here in southern China, is that you can buy fresh items at the market that are practically unheard of in the states. I have seen sugar cane at a few Mexican supermarkets around New Years though, so if you have high quality ethnic markets nearby you may be able to find some sugar cane at certain times of the year. Anyway, sugar cane is very easy to get lots of seasonally in the spring here. Around spring festival time.

Getting unusual ingredients inspires us to try new, and sometimes crazy things. Most people here just chew on the sugar cane to taste the sugar and then spit out the fibrous pulp. We've done that too. But the regular sugar takes longer to dissolve and tastes more manufactured than in the states. So we wanted to see if we could make a simple syrup to sweeten drinks, pour on pancakes, and possibly even bake with.

Thus begins our little culinary adventure......

Homemade Sugar Cane Syrup Recipe (Using only regular kitchen equipment: knives, cutting board, blender, strainer, cheese cloth or tea towel, bowls, spoons, and pots)

• Fresh Sugar Cane
• Water
  
  
  
  1. The first step in the process (after finding the sugar cane) is cutting it into short lengths and removing the tough outer layer with a very sharp knife. When you buy it here, you can usually ask to have it removed and the friendly salesman will hack away like crazy with a giant clever and several pounds worth will be cleaned in minutes. This is totally the way to go. We had the outer layer removed from the first batch we bought by a professional, and then later we were actually given some free leftover sugar cane that still needed the outer layer removed. Our knife actually broke while trying to remove the outer layer ourselves, so the free batch might have actually cost us more in the long run. Anyway, long story short, remove the outer layer very carefully with a very sharp and very sturdy knife.
  
  
  
  
  
  2. Next cut the sugar cane into little pieces that your blender will be able to handle blending very small. (Side note: my blender isn't very powerful but it didn't have any problems. However, I already mentioned that we broke a kitchen knife the second time we did this, so use caution and good judgment and you may want to even try a small test batch to see if it seems like it is taxing you blender too much).
  
  
  
  
  
  3. Pour water to cover the sugar cane pieces in the blender. Put the lid on and pulse to blend into pulp.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  4. Now rig up a straining apparatus. I took a big bowl that a colander could hang down into and rest on, and then I covered the colander with a cheese cloth. You could also use a clean tea towel or other clean cloth. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  5. Pour the pulp into the colander and let the liquid drain into the bowl. Use a wooden spoon to really push on the pulp and squeeze all the liquid you can out of the pulp.
  6. Repeat the above steps as many times as necessary to process all of the sugar cane you have in batches your blender can handle. This may be the point when we started to question how much this syrup was really worth to us, but we persevered and chopped and blended quite a few batches of sugar cane.
  7. The next step is to put this liquid into a pot and slowly boil it down until you get the consistency you desire. You may have to scrape foam and impurities off from time to time to keep this from boiling over. I boiled ours down to about one third of the original volume and it seemed close to a 1:1 simple syrup (one cup of sugar to one cup of water), the same viscosity or "thickness"  as simple syrup, but not quite as sweet. I didn't want to keep watching the boiling pot at that point so I called it good and we used at that sweetness. You would have to boil it way, way, way down to get actual store bought sugar cane syrup consistency.
  
  
  
  
  
  8. After you are done boiling the syrup, you will need to strain the mixture again to remove more impurities. Then you can store the syrup in a bottle or jar in your refrigerator.
  
  We used this syrup in hot tea and coffee and over pancakes. It did have a bit of a "grassy" taste (imagine that a syrup made from a grass and water tasting grassy), but not bad and it does taste less manufactured to us than our regular white sugar here. The second time we repeated the process (except for breaking the knife), turned out the same and the syrup was equally good. It was quite good as a natural sweetener. Since we didn't get a huge amount of syrup, I didn't try baking with it. I don't know if we will actually try it again with just regular kitchen equipment, but it was a fun adventure slash science experiment.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

DIY Protein Bars (Peanut Butter Black Bean Brownies)

Ever wish your chocolate fix had a little more staying power as a snack? These homemade protein bars are black bean brownies that are made with lots of eggs and peanut butter to really pack in the protein. You can even add walnuts, almonds, or other nuts to get even more protein into your dessert.

Unlike store-bought protein bars these taste like chocolate, not cardboard and don't have any questionable additives. This can be a completely organic whole food recipe if you choose and is gluten and dairy free.

This recipe tastes really rich and moist, but is actually fairly low in sugar and pretty healthy overall. Makes eating a brownie for a snack (or even breakfast) better for you than many, many store-bought snack and breakfast foods.

Homemade Protein Bars Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or one 15oz can drained and rinsed very well)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Optional additions such as such as additional nuts to pack in even more protein

1. Add all ingredients together in a blender (except for any optional additions) and blend until smooth.
2. Stir in additions if desired (or you could wait and sprinkle them on top too).
3. Spread into a greased 8x8 baking pan.
4. Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes. 

DIY Non-Alcoholic Irish Cream Coffee Syrup and Virgin Irish Cream Lattes

I don't drink and I've never had an actual Irish cream coffee, but the upcoming St. Patrick's day holiday made me crave the fake Irish cream coffee creamer I used to use sometimes back in the states. I've never seen international delight creamer here, and I'm sure even if there is somewhere, it is crazy expensive. So I set out to make my own flavored coffee syrup.

The vanilla, almond, and touch of chocolate flavor combo seems just like the Irish cream flavor as I remember it. You could mix the flavors into 1 cup sweetened condensed milk and 1 cup cream or half and half if you want ready made creamer instead. That should be quite similiar to store bought versions. I just prefer to add more regular milk instead.

This syrup is also great in hot cocoa. And of course if you give anyone a cup of hot cocoa topped with whipped cream and sprinkles you'll instantly becpme their hero. At least that is what happens around here. :)

Homemade Non-Alcoholic Irish Cream Coffee Syrup Recipe

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder

1. In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a slow boil until the sugar completely dissolves.
2. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, turn off heat. Add vanilla, almond, and cocoa and stir until well combined.

 I store the extra syrup in a glass jar in the fridge.

Homemade Virgin Irish Cream Latte Recipe

• 1/2 cup strong coffee
• 1/2 cup milk
• Homemade Irish cream coffee syrup to taste
• Whipped cream (optional of course)

1. Brew coffee.
2. Heat milk in a small saucepan or in the microwave until just beginning to bubble at the edges. Froth milk if desired.
3. Add coffee syrup to taste and top with whip cream if desired.

DIY Chili Lime Popcorn

We love popcorn around here and eat it instead of chips most of the time. Most often I either just add sea salt or cheese powder, but sometimes I like to add different seasonings to change things up a bit.

I recently saw this idea for Chili Lime Popcorn over here and it sounded so good that I made up a big batch the other day. I actually didn't really follow any recipe, just sprinkled stove popped popcorn liberally with sea salt, chili powder, and lots of lime zest (like several tablespoons). This was sooooo good and quite different from our usual flavors. Everyone loved it! In fact we all ate so much we called it lunch.

Homemade Chili Lime Popcorn Recipe

• Popped popcorn (I popped mine on the stove in some sunflower seed oil)
• Zest from some limes (I recently discovered what I think are actually key limes here, more on this later, and I used several tablespoons of the zest from a bunch of those tiny little guys that were still under ripe and very green)
• Chili powder
• Sea salt

Once your popcorn is popped begin sprinkling on seasonings, stopping to stir and taste until desired flavored combination is reached. Enjoy!

DIY Edible Chocolate Play Dough Gift (Special Preschool Age Activity and Treat in One!)

This year I decided at the last minute on February 2 that we would actually celebrate Groundhog's Day with some activities this year. Yeah, I'm kind of random like that. So (among other things that maybe I'll talk about another time) I mixed up some chocolate edible play dough on a whim, and we made chocolate groundhogs. They were tasty.

The boys loved the play dough so much and they have been asking for it ever since. So I decided one of their Valentine's presents would be edible chocolate play dough and M&M's to decorate their creations with. This activity is great because it is so easily customizable for any holiday. You could also challenge a young child to make certain shapes or an older child to make letters and spell words out of the play dough to make it more educational.

Whether you need a last minute Valentine for your kids, an activity and treat in one for any other holiday, or just something to do on a rainy day, I think this will be a hit.

Homemade Edible Chocolate Play Dough Recipe

• 1 cup peanut butter (you could probably substitute sun butter for those with allergies, but I haven't tried)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup powdered milk or oat flour (I used homemade oat flour and it worked great)
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder (of course you can just leave it out for a non-chocolate version)

In a mixing bowl stir and knead all ingredients until well combined to form a soft dough. If it turns out too dry, you can add more peanut butter or milk (if you are going to use it very soon) one tablespoon at a time.

Store in an airtight container. And since I made it ahead of time,  just to be safe I am keeping it in the refrigerator until I give it to them in two days.

I am packaging it up with some M&M's which are a huge treat at our house. I think any colored candy or even dried fruits and nuts could work well though.

DIY Oat Flour

This is so simple that this may be my shortest post ever. This isn't even really a recipe, but it uses basically the same process as making powdered sugar at home.

Homemade Oat Flour

• Rolled oats or oatmeal

Place rolled oats or oatmeal in the blender and blend until finely ground. This homemade oat flour has worked well for me in pancakes, muffins, cake and bread. I haven't tried it yet in a recipe that uses 100% oat flour, but I don't generally make recipes that call for that. I love adding this whole grain flour into recipes for some variety now.

DIY Chinese Potstickers

Traditionally, Chinese Dumplings (jiao zi) are eaten at Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) time because the shape resembled ancient money and they are thought to bring prosperity to the household. We just think they are tasty. Jiao zi prepared any way (boiled, steamed, fried, and deep fried) are probably one of our most favorite Chinese foods. My boys helped me make these this time and they were super excited to help cook one of their favorite foods.

I have talked about how to make the actual dumplings before and then how to boil them. More recently I learned how to pan fry these same dumplings the traditional way to make what is called here either jiān jiǎo, 煎餃 (meaning oily but dry fried) or guō tiē, 鍋貼 (literally pot-stick) and is known in North America by the name potstickers. This is probably our most favorite way to eat them because the bottom is fried crispy, but there is only a small amount of oil and the top is steamed soft and chewy.

Homemade Potstickers

• Premade dumplings homemade or purchased
• Oil
• Water
• A wok (chǎo guō, 炒锅  which literally means fry pan- so why do we call them woks?) with lid

1. Put a small amount of oil (you can use any amount from 2 Tbsp up to just covering the bottom of the pan that you want, but keep in mind these are called potstickers for a reason).
2. Place on stove and begin to heat.
3. Add dumplings in a single layer and begin to heat.
4. Now very carefully, the oil may spit and splutter and you don't want oil burns,  add water (3/4 cup is enough if your filling meat is precooked use up to 2 cups if the meat is raw) to the pan. and put the lid on.
5. Cook until the water evaporates and then the jiao zi should be done. Eat with vinegar, soy sauce, and/or hot chili sauce for dipping.

 

Make dumplings

Dumplings prepared by my 4 1/2-year-old, pretty good!

Add oil

Place dumplings in single layer

Very carefully add water

Place lid

And they're done!