coconut Archives - Baked Chicago

Breakfast

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Nothing wakes you up like a delicious breakfast. Recently, I was inspired to try something totally different after seeing a TV chef slice up some fresh mango. Thankfully, my local grocery store has a great variety of fresh fruits like mangos, plantains and papaya. I even discovered a new fruit (at least it was new to me!) called pummelos. Amazing!

I got all my ingredients organized, including non-dairy coconut milk and orange-mango juice, to use in the recipe. I’ll also serve these beverages along with the Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast.

Toasting coconut flakes in a skillet takes only a few minutes, and the aroma is intoxicating.

If you’ve never done it before, slicing a mango can be a bit confusing. This video from the National Mango Board shows you how to cube or slice a mango. It’s surprisingly easy.

[youtube id=”http://youtu.be/WkCYV7v7P3M” width=”620″ height=”360″]

This is what all of the ingredients will look like inside the prepared pan before you pop it in the oven.

And here’s what Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast looks like on your plate! Topped with the toasted coconut flakes, sliced mango, and honey, the dish is plenty sweet without any additional condiments for me. But you may wish to dust it with some confectioners’ sugar. Any way you serve it up, it is soooooo good.

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut, toasted

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 mangos, thinly sliced

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup mango-orange juice

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

8 slices French bread, sliced 1-inch thick

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Generously grease a 13x9-inch baking pan. Set aside.

Place the flaked coconut in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the flakes are mostly golden brown. Do not overcook.

In a small microwavable bowl, melt the butter. Then mix in the cinnamon, honey and toasted coconut. Pour this mixture into the prepared baking pan, spreading it to evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Space the sliced mango evenly over the coconut mixture.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, salt, juice and milk. Dip both sides of the French bread into the egg mixture, letting it soak up the liquid. Then place it in the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Invert onto a serving platter and serve immediately.

The coconut-mango upside down baked French toast is mildly sweet without any garnishes, but you may prefer to sprinkle confectioners' sugar on top or use your favorite syrup.

Notes

You could also prepare this the night before, all the way up through placing the French bread slices dipped in egg batter into the prepared pan. Securely wrap with plastic wrap overnight. Remove from the refrigerator while you're preheating the oven. Continue cooking as directed.

https://bakedchicago.com/coconut-mango-upside-down-baked-french-toast-recipe/

Breakfast

Rise and Shine with Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Toasting coconut flakes in a skillet takes only a few minutes, and the aroma is intoxicating.

If you’ve never done it before, slicing a mango can be a bit confusing. This video from the National Mango Board shows you how to cube or slice a mango. It’s surprisingly easy.

http://youtu.be/WkCYV7v7P3M

This is what all of the ingredients will look like inside the prepared pan before you pop it in the oven.

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut, toasted

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 mangos, thinly sliced

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup mango-orange juice

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

8 slices French bread, sliced 1-inch thick

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Generously grease a 13x9-inch baking pan. Set aside.

Place the flaked coconut in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the flakes are mostly golden brown. Do not overcook.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, salt, juice and milk. Dip both sides of the French bread into the egg mixture, letting it soak up the liquid. Then place it in the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Invert onto a serving platter and serve immediately.

The coconut-mango upside down baked French toast is mildly sweet without any garnishes, but you may prefer to sprinkle confectioners' sugar on top or use your favorite syrup.

Notes

https://bakedchicago.com/coconut-mango-upside-down-baked-french-toast-2/

Breakfast

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast, inspired by Disney’s The Jungle Book

I was 5 years old when Disney’s The Jungle Book premiered; it was the first movie I remember seeing in a theater as a child. It was a magical experience and the beginning of a life-long love of great cinema.

Like every kid who saw the movie, I wanted the happy-go-lucky Baloo to be my new best friend in much the same way he befriended Mowgli on his journey into the jungle. I remember singing “The Bare Necessities” so much that it — or I? — became annoying to everyone around me. And there were so many interesting characters, like Kaa the sneaky snake or King Louie, a crazy orangutan. [I have an older brother Louis, so I could totally relate to that character.]

I was thrilled to learn that Disney is releasing a special Blu-Ray/DVD combo Diamond Edition of The Jungle Book on February 11, 2014, and you can get a free Jungle Book Lunch Box with the purchase of the Diamond Edition (exclusively at Walmart). So I headed off to my local Walmart to pick up some #JungleFresh produce for this #CollectiveBias #shop; I’m planning to make Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast that my nieces and nephews are going to love when we watch The Jungle Book together for the first time.

Walmart has really expanded its produce selections; I was surprised to see a strong variety of tropical fruits – including some I’ve never heard of before. I was focusing on mangos and coconut for this recipe but I also picked up a pummelo. I’d never seen one and didn’t know what it was or what it might be used for. Walmart has easy-to-ready signs for its produce that calls out some of the features and benefits of the ingredient, so I learned that pummelos are used in baking. Who knew? So that’s going to be an ingredient for a future recipe challenge!

Toasting coconut flakes in a skillet takes only a few minutes, and the aroma is intoxicating.

If you’ve never done it before, slicing a mango can be a bit confusing. This video from the National Mango Board shows you how to cube or slice a mango. It’s surprisingly easy.

http://youtu.be/WkCYV7v7P3M

This is what all of the ingredients will look like inside the prepared pan before you pop it in the oven.

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Coconut-Mango Upside Down Baked French Toast

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut, toasted

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 mangos, thinly sliced

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup mango-orange juice

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

8 slices French bread, sliced 1-inch thick

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Generously grease a 13x9-inch baking pan. Set aside.

Place the flaked coconut in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the flakes are mostly golden brown. Do not overcook.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, salt, juice and milk. Dip both sides of the French bread into the egg mixture, letting it soak up the liquid. Then place it in the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Invert onto a serving platter and serve immediately.

The coconut-mango upside down baked French toast is mildly sweet without any garnishes, but you may prefer to sprinkle confectioners' sugar on top or use your favorite syrup.

Notes

https://bakedchicago.com/coconut-mango-upside-down-baked-french-toast/

Breakfast/ Gluten-Free

Blueberry Coconut Muffins [gluten-free]

As the holiday season kicks into high gear, it’s easy to “fall off the wagon” with so many butter-rich, delicious baked goods surrounding you at office parties, family gatherings and such. One of the strategies I use to combat this potential problem is to volunteer to bring baked goods from my kitchen. That way I can control the quality of ingredients, especially their nutritional value, and ensure that there will be something delicious and nutritious available for me to snack on and for others to enjoy.

Blueberry coconut muffins are a satisfying breakfast option during the holidays or a weekend brunch. Or you could easily turn it into a dessert option for the office or family party by making bite-sized blueberry coconut mini muffins.

One of the things I like about this recipe is the use of coconut flour, coconut oil and coconut milk to achieve a flavor-upon-flavor layering that is subtle enough to let the fresh blueberries be the star of the show. I had not used coconut flour a great deal in the past, but I find that I’m using it more and more because sweet baked goods just taste better and lighter with coconut flour. The coconut flour also has a mild sweetness that elevates and pairs well with the blueberries. Did you know that coconut flour is naturally gluten-free? Every ingredient in this recipe is gluten-free. Yea!

Even though winter is nearly here, it’s still easy to find fresh blueberries in local markets. My local Mariano’s always has a great variety of berry harvests throughout the year and blueberries are available right now in Chicago.

Blueberry Coconut Muffins [gluten-free]

Cook Time: 22 minutes

Yield: 12 muffins

Blueberry Coconut Muffins [gluten-free]

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups coconut flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 eggs

1/3 cup coconut oil

2 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups blueberries

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 F degrees. Lightly grease a standard 12-muffin tin and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, salt and coconut.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil, coconut milk and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in the blueberries.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan with each tin about 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

https://bakedchicago.com/blueberry-coconut-muffins-gluten-free/

Desserts

German Chocolate Brownies

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease bottom of an 8×8-inch baking pan with butter or shortening.

In medium saucepan, stir dark chocolate and 3/4 cup butter over medium-low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in 1 cup of sugar, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and salt. Gradually add in flour, stirring just until combined. Spread batter in the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Let brownies cool completely, about 1 hour.

Prepare frosting by combining evaporated milk, 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolk and 4 tablespoons butter in large saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla, pecans and coconut. While frosting is still warm, spread on brownies. Cut into 4 rows by 4 rows to make 16 brownies.

Brownie Points: Evaporated milk is milk that’s been cooked down to allow water content to evaporate. The concentrate is canned, and the result is heavier, creamier milk with a slightly toasted or caramelized flavor. If you don’t have evaporated milk in the pantry, make your own! To produce 1 cup of evaporated milk, simmer 2 1/4 cups of regular milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until it reduces to 1 cup.

Ingredients:

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup and 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk, divided
3/4 cup plus 4 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla, divided
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes

Number of servings: 16

Cooking time: 30 minutes

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