Ugh! My mystery illness continues. I went to the ER on Wednesday, but after blood work and an x-ray, they can’t tell me what’s wrong with me. I would feel SO much better if I knew what it was that is giving me this fever. If it’s not gone by Monday, I need a CT scan to rule out a reoccurrence of the lymphoma. May the odds be ever in my favor.
And the worst part of being sick is that I haven’t got anything accomplished all week. I haven’t been to the gym all week, my apartment is a disaster, I haven’t got groceries. Thank goodness for Michael! He’s been really fantastic. I’m so happy he happened to be around this week. He’s brought me juice and water, brought supper home, did my dishes, took out my garbage.
So I will continue to lie on the couch and watch too much TV and drink lots of fluids and take many naps until I get better, which will hopefully be very, very soon. I am the worst sick person ever because I convince myself I have some rare deadly disease and then try not to worry myself to death.
Luckily for you folks, I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago. I really wish I had some right now.
I saw Jessica from How Sweet It Is post a recipe for Mini Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes that she had adapted from her Vanilla Lime Pound Cake. The brown butter idea didn’t super thrill me, but the vanilla lime combo got me thinking about what other flavours go well with vanilla and my mind instantly thought of my vanilla coconut candle which I love so much.
If vanilla coconut smells so good, I bet it tastes even better!
Plus it plays right into my summer goal of having more coconut flavored things in my life.
So I swapped out all the lime and put in coconut and it turned out to be one of the best things I have ever baked.
I made this one evening I was lonely because Michael had to leave me to drive for hours to get to where he was going to work the next day. That’s what I do when I’m lonely and bored – I bake. And in this case I also watched the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie which I had DVR’ed (how cute is Orlando Bloom as a pirate?). I really wanted to eat the whole thing myself, but that would be hard on the thighs, so I took it in to work the next day to share.
You need to try this now! Even if eating more coconut isn’t on your summer goals list. I promise you won’t regret it.
Vanilla Coconut Pound Cake
(adapted from How Sweet It Is)
3 eggs
1/4 cup + 3 tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp sweetened shredded coconut
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup margarine (1 1/2 squares), room temperature
Preheat oven to 350°.
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean. Combine the vanilla seeds with the eggs, extracts, shredded coconut, and coconut milk in a bowl. Whisk together.
Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in the bowl of stand mixer. Mix on low speed until combined. Add margarine and mix until combined. Add half the milk mixture. Mix on medium speed until combined. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and combine on medium speed.
Butter a loaf pan. Place a piece of parchment the size of the loaf pan in the bottom (trace bottom of pan, cut out, flip paper over so the side with pencil marks is on the bottom and won’t touch the batter). Butter the exposed side of parchment. Pour batter into pan and bake for 50-55 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Once cool, top with glaze.
Vanilla Coconut Glaze
(slightly adapted from Martha Stewart)
1 1/3 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp coconut extra
Combine ingredients in bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whip on high speed, scraping sides often, until combined. Should be the consistency of glue. Add more sugar or milk as needed.
A Freckle in Time 