Coconut Crusted French Toast with Coconut Syrup

I came up with this for Father's Day. One of our family traditions is breakfast in bed for Mother's Day, Father's Day and birthdays. I never like to repeat myself with the making the same breakfast that I have made in the past. I decided to spice up an old classic. I used as much coconut as I could think of for these babies. Coconut crusted french toast with coconut syrup! If you are a coconut lover, you will love it! I thought it turned out delicious. And Broc loved it. Really, that was all that mattered, since this special breakfast was for him!

I think it would have been even better topped with some fresh raspberries. But since this little island is fresh out of berries, I just gave him a banana to enjoy it with instead!

Coconut French Toast

2 eggs
2/3 cup coconut milk
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup flaked coconut, sweetened
6 thick slices of bread

Combine ingredients. Dip each slice of bread into egg mixture, soaking both sides. Place in hot pan and cook on both sides until golden brown. Serve hot. Top with coconut syrup and flaked coconut.

Coconut Syrup

1/2 cup butter, (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cream of coconut
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, place butter, sugar, cream of coconut, coconut milk, salt and baking soda. Stir over medium heat until butter melts and sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, and boil for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Serve warm.

New Name, New Look, New Blog!

Some of you might notice a little change with the name and look of the blog! I can thank my friend Katie Price at Priceless Design Studio for that! Though I probably drove her completely in sane with my indecisiveness, she came up with an amazingly lovely design. I love it! Since the change, I have added a few more posts- so take a look around. It is still a work in progress, but it is done! Yay! I am so excited to have a real home to house my recipes and ideas! Welcome to Lovely!

Cheese Rolls with Parmesan Crust

I first made these rolls on Father's Day last year. I found the recipe while perusing through Mel's recipes. Seriously, it's my go to website when I am in need of something new! Let me just say that I am OBSESSED with these rolls! They are amazing! Won the hubs over too! It is a homemade roll filled with Pepper Jack goodness and topped with buttery Parmesan! Oh my, I don't think it could get any better than that! They were a hit! I followed the recipe to a 'T' and they came out perfect! Quite possibly one of my favorite foods to eat... and they were super easy to make!

Cheese Rolls with
Buttery Parmesan Crust
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

INGREDIENTS:
Dough:
4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup lukewarm milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5-6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Filling:
8 ounces cheddar or pepperjack cheese, cut into 15 cubes
Topping:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup Italian-flavored bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water

DIRECTIONS:
For the dough, combine all the ingredients and mix and knead until you have a soft, elastic dough (don’t add too much flour – the key to soft dinner rolls is a soft dough!). Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover, letting rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.
Prepare a 9X13-inch pan by lightly greasing the bottom and sides with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Deflate the dough and divide into 15 pieces. Shape the pieces of dough into rounds and punch a cube of cheese from the bottom up into the center of each piece. Pinch the dough tightly together to close the bottom. Place the rolls, pinched side down, in the prepared baking pan. Cover and let rise again for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until nearly doubled.
While the rolls are rising, melt the butter and stir in bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the rolls have risen, brush the tops with the egg yolk beaten with water. Sprinkle tops of rolls liberally with the bread crumb mixture. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the tops of the rolls are nicely browned. Remove from the pan immediately and cool on a rack. Serve warm.

Amazing Dinner Rolls

So I was in charge of bringing the rolls to our Thanksgiving dinner. Truth be told... I have only made rolls from scratch maybe three times - EVER! The times I have made them they haven't really turned out. Not sure if it was the recipe or me? So making rolls for a crowd at Thanksgiving was a bit intimidating. Luckily, I came across this amazing recipe. These rolls were light, fluffy and buttery! And they will probably be making a weekly appearance at our table! I doubled the recipe and it came out great with 36 beautiful rolls. The original recipe used a bread machine, which I didn't have- so I changed it up to make it work without.

Sweet Dinner Rolls 

(slightly adapted from allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 (0.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup butter, softened

Pour warm milk and water into a bowl, add sugar to dissolve, then add yeast. Allow to proof for about 20 minutes until creamy foam appears. Add 1/3 cup butter and salt, mix. Add egg, mix to combine. Add flour a cup at a time, after each cup mix with a hand held mixer (I'm sure a Kitchen Aid mixer would work just as well but we our resources are limited here). Knead for a good 10 minutes. Allow to rise for 45 minutes in a warm area, covered.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 12 inch circle, spread 1/4 cup softed butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide end; roll gently but tightly. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover and put them in a warm place, let rise 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Take rolls out and rub butter over hot rolls.

Enjoy!