Tiki Week: Frozen Key Lime Pie Cups

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and that means we’ve hit the end of tiki week. Hopefully this little series has inspired you to do something fun and different for your ma this year. Put away the bubbles and scones and shove a rum drink and rumaki in your mom’s hand, for once! 

Coconut Margaritas

My sister and her boyfriend just got back from the most amazing look tropical vacation ever. They went to Turks and Caicos, those jerks! And while I zipped up my raincoat and pulled on my galoshes, she texted me pictures of white sand and bright blue water. Jealousy level max over here. 

Fact: the only possible way to overcome tropical vacation envy, aside from hopping on a plane, is to drink tropical drinks. Bonus points for pink umbrellas. 

Turks and Caicos is all about the rum punch, but I only had one drink of my mind: coconut margaritas! 

Last week my friend LZ and I had these coconut margs at happy hour the other day, and they were amazing! They weren't too sweet or over the top, and since they were made with coconut water, I felt all good and hydrated, something I don't usually feel when I'm drinking tequila! 

So of course, over the weekend I decided to shake up my own coconut margs, and pretend I was somewhere sunny and warm…just ignore that rain sound on the windows. That's just ocean waves. Obviously. 

I'm not trying to brag or anything, but these are the most amazing margaritas I've ever had. A little tart, a little sweet, a little coconutty… tropical perfection! I invited LZ over for taste testing, and we each had a couple tastes. I mean, full-glass sized tastes. Then maybe a couple more. Who was counting, ya know? We certainly weren't. 

Coconut Margaritas, on the Rocks

Inspired by El Borracho Coconut Margaritas
Makes enough for a crowd

Coconut Tequila (I used this brand)

Fresh lemon/lime juice (juice of 2 lemons & 3 limes, mixed)

Ginger syrup (like this, or make your own)

Coconut water (C2O is my favorite, Zico is my 2nd favorite)

1 can coconut cream (different from coconut milk, but that would work as well-PS. how great is Coco Lopez website... from like, 1999)

Toasted coconut sugar (2 tablespoons sugar & 3 tablespoons toasted desiccated coconut, stirred together)

To prepare your glass, add toasted coconut sugar to a plate. Run a lime wedge across the glass rim, and dip rim in sugar and coconut, twisting to coat. Add ice to glass.

For each margarita, fill up cocktail shaker half way with ice, and add:
 

1 oz tequila

1 oz lemon/lime juice

1/4 oz ginger syrup

2 oz coconut water

1/2 oz coconut cream

Shake until combined, and strain into prepared glass. Serve with a lime wedge and pink umbrella! Add a floater of coconut cream if you like it a bit sweeter. 

The Cake that Keeps on Giving

Even though I love cooking, I've never been crazy about baking. I find baking to be too regimented... my cooking style is more organic- it evolves naturally, without strict recipes or instructions. I'm more of a little-of-this, little-of-that, taste-as-I-go-then-adjust kind of gal, using recipes as basic guidelines for over-arching flavor and technique ideas, rather than as step-by-step directions. Baking will go terribly, terribly wrong if certain ingredients are omitted, or if too much of this, or too little of that is added... This I learned when I was about 10 years old and Amanda and I tried to make brownies following a recipe in a 'cookbook program' on our fancy new computer. She mixed ingredients in the kitchen while I'll called out measurements from where the computer was perched in the living room. Math was never my forte, and apparently I had not learned fractions yet, because for every 1 and 1/2 cup, I called out to Amanda to add 1/2 cup, for every 1 and 3/4 cup, I instructed her to add 1/4... and so on. Needless to say, the brownies were flavorless balls of dense dough, and the cookbook program on the computer was never used again, replaced with the Spider-Man Cartoon Maker program and the game "You Don't Know Jack."


While I've overcome my fraction-dyslexia, I never did regain the desire to be the next oven mitt wielding, goodie-baking-Betty Crocker. Because of the strict rules of baking, I'm more of an occasion baker, only baking when a special event calls, or when I'm feeling particularly patient (which isn't often). Recently, however, I decided to try to expand my baking horizons.

A few months ago, I put on my apron, pulled out my measuring cups, and I baked a cake. Following directions VERY closely, I made a lovely Orange Polenta Cake, from Gourmet Magazine. With ground almonds and polenta in the batter, the cake had a crumbly yet moist texture, and a buttery delicious flavor. With a dash of orange flower water and a handful of orange zest adding a special zing, and an upside-down style sliced orange caramelized topping, I knew this cake was a winner.

With my confidence renewed, I decided to try the cake again, but this time I would make it my own. For the first time ever (chocolate chip cookies aside), I would improvise on a baked good. Excited and scared, I went forth on my baking experiment, fully prepared for any outcome. I followed the basic instructions for the batter. You know... the flour, eggs, butter, polenta, baking soda... all of the essentials. Then, things got crazy. Instead of orange flower water, I added dark rum and Mexican vanilla. In place of orange zest, I added shredded coconut and lime zest. I replaced the original orange caramel topping with a pineapple-caramel-macadamia nut topping. I popped my creation in the oven, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best.

I shared the finished product with some girl friends. I topped the beautiful cake with flaked coconut and a curl of lime zest. I nervously awaited the first bite... hoping it would taste as wonderful at is looked.

It must have... because five girls and less than five minutes later, the cake was demolished. Every last crumb. It was buttery and rummy, gooey on top, moist and crumbly in the middle.

Although delicious, the flavor was not as tropical as I had hoped, I think it needed more coconut, possibly even a splash of coconut milk. I have a feeling that I'll be making this cake again... and again and again. Maybe next time I'll add that extra coconut and throw in some ginger... or maybe I'll improvise with figs and brandy, or lemon and lavender? I learned that with this cake, the possibilities are endless, and that with a really good base recipe (and a little bit of patience), baking doesn't have to be tedious or disastrous.