HummingBird Bread

Earlier this year my husband and I spent the week in Atlantic Beach, NC. We went to this restaurant called The Channel Marker (twice in fact) during our trip. If you ever go there be SURE to order the Hummingbird Cake for dessert! Apparently Hummingbird cake is a popular dish in the south, however before this trip I had never heard of such a thing. This cake is reminiscent of a carrot cake but instead calls for bananas and pineapple - but at the Channel Marker they also added coconut.  Topped off with cream cheese icing - and it was to die for!

This recipe was modified from one I found HERE I was in the mood for Carrot cake, but felt like giving this one a whirl as well. So I also added carrot and coconut. 

So here was the problem. I baked this bread/cake at night, and let it cool overnight. By the next morning I had developed a pretty quick moving cold and unfortunately couldn't even taste this cake. I'm assuming that by how quickly the hubby devoured it - that is wasn't that terrible...especially given that he doesn't like carrot cake. 

I made the glaze according to the directions in the link above, and I should have known by the word "glaze" but I didn't like how liquid this glaze stayed. I was hoping it would harden at some point but never did. Of course by then, it was too late to add more sugar and thicken it up. Nonetheless I heard it tasted pretty good. I'd like to make this cake again, but I think I'll use a different recipe next time - I'm still looking to replicate the one at the Channel Marker - does anyone know their baker? Hook a sister up!

Samoa Bars

With summer in full swing and relatives visiting from out of town, we planned a family BBQ a few sundays ago, and craving coconut, I made these Samoa bars, recipe found here: Baking Bites Samoa Bars These are my most favorite girl scout cookies ever, but the boxes just seem to keep getting smaller and smaller every year...maybe I just eat them too fast? Who knows.

Cookie base: 
1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened1 large egg1/2 tsp vanilla extract2 cups all purpose flour1/4 tsp salt



You make the dough by creaming together the butter, sugar, vanilla and egg, then slowly adding the flour and salt until dough is crumbly. Then press it into a 13" x 9" pan lined with parchment (for easy removal). Bale at 350˚ for 20-25 min. 


Next time though I would make the cookie layer thinner, as you can see from the photo above the cookie base is much much ticker then the coconut caramel topping - but this is just my preference. 

Topping: 

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Toast coconut in oven at 350˚ on a baking sheet stirring every 5 min til golden. Unwrap caramels and put in a microwave safe dish with milk and salt and nuke on high for 3-4 min (stopping to stir every minute). Stir til smooth and add coconut when melted. Spread on top of cooled cookie layer. Let sit for a few min and cut into squares. 

Melt chocolate in double boiler (if too thick add a 1/2 tsp of shortening) then dip each square into the chocolate so that bottom is coated. Let cool on parchment lined baking sheet. 

Finally, use remaining chocolate to add decoration to the top of the bars. let cool completely and serve!