Apricot and Coconut Squares

Did your friend/ mum/ local internet provider just turn up on your doorstep and all you have to offer them with a cuppa is a ghost-town-empty biscuit tin?

Well here is a recipe to save the day! 

These wee morsels are so simple to whip up, and they use just a few key ingredients. 

See the bottom of the recipe for more flavour combo ideas.

Preheat oven to 180C (Bake).

Line a square tin with foil. A handy tip; flip your tin over and shape the foil around it to create an easy to insert foil lining! (Cannot claim the genius on that one sadly).

Ingredients:

115g butter (melted)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup caster sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla essence

A good pinch of salt

1 large egg

1 cup standard flour

1/2 cup desiccated coconut 

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly.

Add the sugars to a bowl, along with the butter and mix until combined.

Add the vanilla, salt, and egg to the bowl and mix quickly and thoroughly.

Add the flour, along with the coconut and apricots (or your choice of additionals) and mix until well combined.

Pour and smooth the mixture into the tin and bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden.

Leave to cool before cutting into squares.

Additionals:

( essentially add 1 cup total of any of the options below that you like to the mix )

Chocolate chips

Dried fruit 

Nuts 

M&Ms 

Freeze dried fruit

Flavour combo ideas:

Coconut and Apricot Squares:

1/2 cup desiccated coconut, 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

Chocolate Chip Squares:

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/3 cup white chocolate chips, 1/3 cup milk chocolate chips

Raspberry and White Chocolate Squares:

1/3 cup freeze dried raspberries, 2/3 cup white chocolate chips

Cranberry and Almond Squares:

1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds, .5 tsp almond essence 

Coffee and Walnut Squares:

1 cup chopped toasted walnuts, 2 tbsp instant coffee (may need to dissolve in a splash of hot water before adding to the mix)

Baked Banana Pie with Brown Butter Caramel Sauce

Inspired by my love for cooked bananas, this pie is straight sassy, and a nice update on the beloved banoffee pie we all know. This pie features a seared banana coconut cream custard encased in a sweet short pastry shell, with a brown butter caramel sauce, topped with toasted walnuts (say whaaat).  While there are a few steps involved, it isn’t as complicated as it seems and I can guarantee this pie will be a delicious and memorable finale to your next gathering.

(Makes 1 large pie)
See the bottom of the recipe for a gf variation.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1.5 sheets sweet short pastry (or 1 packet)
(For a paleo, gluten free crust option see the variations at the bottom of recipe)

For the filling:
5 ripe bananas (the riper the better, but not black)
Knob of butter
Pinch of salt
Sprinkle of cinnamon
1 C coconut cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the toppings:
2 ripe bananas
Oil for pan frying
¼ C walnuts

For the Brown Butter Caramel Sauce:
1 C white sugar
3 tbsp water
6 tbsp butter
¼ tsp salt
½ C coconut cream



Preheat your oven to 150C (Fan bake).
Prepare your pie crust, greasing and lining your pie dish with baking paper before molding the pastry around it evenly. Prick with a fork all over and blind bake for 10 minutes (for notes on blind baking see bottom of recipe). Set aside.

To start the pie filling, roughly chop five bananas into pieces.  Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan on a medium heat, and when hot, add the bananas. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and cinnamon. Fry until the bananas are squidgy and soft. Set aside to cool completely.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, coconut cream and vanilla essence.
In a food processor/blender combine the mixture with the cooled cooked bananas and whizz until smooth.
Pour the mixture into your pie crust and set aside.
For the topping, slice the two bananas into 2 cm thick rounds and pan fry in a little oil until the bottoms are nicely browned. Arrange them in a decorative fashion on top of the pie.

Bake the pie for 25 minutes, or until the center is firm (to test this give the pie a little jiggle, remember: jiggle not wobble). Leave to cool before removing from the pie dish.

While the pie is baking it is the perfect time to toast the walnuts and make the brown butter caramel sauce (drool).
Roughly chop the walnuts, and move them around in a dry sauce pan on a medium heat until they are golden and fragrant. Sprinkle them on the pie at your leisure.

To make the sauce, start by making some gorgeous brown butter. To make brown butter you simply add the butter to a saucepan on a low heat and cook it down until it is a golden brown colour. Set this aside to cool.

Combine the sugar and water in a sauce pan, and cook on a low heat, stirring continuously until the sugar is fully dissolved.  Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the brown butter, salt, and coconut cream until well combined. Set aside to cool, and stir occasionally to encourage it to stop separating (note: if left overnight, this sauce gets exceptionally thick and glossy).

And just like that my friend, we are done and there is pie! hooray!
To serve I recommend the pie is warm and the sauce plentiful.

Variation Ideas:

Paleo and GF Pie Crust:
Combine the following in a large bowl and press into the pie dish by hand. You need not blind bake this crust. Please note this is not a sweet crust.

3 C almond flour
2 -3 tbsp coconut oil
1 egg
¼ tsp salt

Blind Baking tips:
Blind baking will stop your crust getting misshapen during the cooking process, and it is as easy as pie (ahem). Simply put some baking paper down in your pie crust, and fill it will baking beans/ dry rice/chickpeas. The weight from this will prevent the crust from getting crazy yay! You can keep your rice/ chickpeas in an airtight container when cool for future blind baking. 

Introductions and Round Foods

Well hello and welcome!

This blog is my small start toward a much larger goal, and I am thrilled you are here to take a look around.
For those who don't know - my name is Bridget and I'm a part time foodie, maker, and lover of all things yesteryear.
My passion for cooking comes from my love of serving good food and sitting down together over a plate.

As time has gone on I have adapted my cooking style to be more and more inclusive of the dietary requirements of others.
I love experimenting with new ingredients and methods, and discovering alternative ways to create culinary dreams. When I look over a recipe I can almost 100% guarantee you I will not strictly stick to it, as adaptation and variation are constantly on my mind.

Outside of the kitchen I love to spend my time sewing, painting, reading, drinking coffee, walking around my city, buying fresh flowers and just recently; riding my bike Merida around the coastline (bliss!). I love most round foods, but particularly bagels and doughnuts. I also have a ridiculous love of home wares, so it is not out of place to find me in interior/ kitchen stores on my days off from work.
My hopes for Togetherness Journal include creating many delicious dishes and treats, refining and expanding my cooking skills, sharing my thoughts on meals, and one day discovering the holy grail of doughnut recipes.
I'm intending to post here regularly, as I have a heavy arsenal of recipes up my sleeve that I just can't wait to share with you. And I'll try to share the cooking fails too so that we can all learn together, because hey, I'm willing to take one for the team.

So to you - welcome, stick around, and let's start cooking!

Also go listen to this song - it's my favourite to blast while cooking (or while doing anything really).

Coconut Bread

This simple and delicious coconut bread is the ideal morning tea treat, moist and sweet you’d be crazy not to pair it with a hot cuppa. It has a gorgeous coconut aroma that will fill your home and leave your neighbors contemplating why they aren’t more neighborly.

(Makes 1 loaf)
See the bottom of the recipe for gf and other delicious variations of this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 C plain flour
1 + ½ tsp baking powder
½ C white sugar (caster if you have it)
½ C brown sugar
1 C desiccated coconut
1 C coconut cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat your oven to 180C (Fan bake).
Grease and line a loaf tin.
Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a large bowl.
Sieve the two sugars together into the bowl and mix with the other dry ingredients. If you find the brown sugar is being a pest and won’t sieve – using a spoon to push it around the sieve may help, but as long as the big lumps are out dump it in the bowl and move on.
Add the coconut cream, desiccated coconut and vanilla essence to the dry ingredients and mix until everything is just combined.
Pour into a lined/greased loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean).
Your baked coconut bread should be golden brown and beautiful.
Leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing.

Variation Ideas:

Lemon Coconut Bread:
Add zest of a medium lemon, and a good two squeezes of the juice to the mixture.

Lime Coconut Bread:
Add zest and juice of a small lime to the mixture.

Gluten Free Coconut Bread:
Replace the flour with 1 cup of gluten free self raising flour, and follow all other steps as per usual.