square coconuts

Two times two = squares!

As Taneasha mentioned we're two and since she got to do the cake I figured I should come up with something representative of this, our most illustrious day.

Two posts in one? Nope, I'm more likely to split one post in two. A two-fer? That still sounds like two posts. Two twos...  well, that's two squared. I can square things.

Like coconuts.

Coconut Squares

• 2 eggs
• 2 c sugar
• 2 c coconut
• 2 halves of a teaspoon of vanilla
• two pinches of salt

(Actually, I only used 1-1/2 c of sugar, but the recipe I used as a starting point for these called for 2, and well, we're 2)

Preheat the oven to 350. Wow, we really are learning.

One bowl. Crack the two eggs into it. And beat them with a whisk. Don't worry about hurting them; they actually kinda like it.

Drop in the sugar, salt and vanilla, and give them a good mix.

Then the coconut. Okay, one bowl, but maybe a bigger one next time.

A whisk will not work any more. Time to move up to the wooden spoon (they still won't say ouch) and then spread it into a square pan that's been buttered and lined with parchment.

Bake them for about 30 minutes. I think. Pretty sure I started with 25 and they needed about 5 more...

A toothpick should come out clean when they're done. I really should write this stuff down. It's a good thing we take pictures of ingredients.

Cut them into 16 squares. That's two raised to the power of 2 twice. In case you were wondering how that applied to twos.

They will have a lovely meringue-like crust on the top (this is why we beat the eggs to within an inch of their lives) and be deliciously sweet and chewy and coconutty on the inside.

Almost like a coconut marshmallow.

They keep just fine in a container on the counter, and whatever you do, don't spread dolce de leche on top of them.

And omg do NOT use Taneasha's lime sugar. Lime? In your coconut?

It's way easier if you get a third involved

So, it's only 3 weeks into the semester and I'm putting up a tip for my weekly post. Taneasha only thinks she wants to kill me. Next week, she'll see the wicked amazing dish I made that's taking a long time for me to get all together into one post.

For now, I thought I'd show you a little trick you might like to turn when you're separating eggs.

So, there's the yolk and the white and usually a bowl for each. But, what happens if you add a third to this happy little pair?

Part of the issue with separating eggs is that sometimes the yolk breaks. Especially when you're just starting out with baking and learning new techniques. I mean, juggling a delicate sac filled with gooey fluid between two tiny fragile cups with sharp edges? Does not sound easy. That's why sometimes it's handy to get a third party involved.

So, get yourself an egg. Gently tap it on the edge of a bowl to crack it, and then carefully pry the halves apart.

You're going to want to do this over a bowl because the white will immediately start to ooze out.

Now, gently ease the halves to the right and tip the yolk into the half shell in your right hand. More white will fall into the bowl.

Tip the other way and transfer the yolk to the left half of the shell. After doing this a couple times, you'll have all the white in the bowl and nothing left in the shells but the yolk.

Dump the yolk into the second bowl.

You just separated an egg!

But, you've got three more to go! I don't know, maybe you're making ice cream or merengues or something...

Before you grab another egg, grab another bowl.

Set your bowl of white aside and start the process again over the newly introduced third bowl.

When you've got your second egg separated, you'll have one bowl with 2 yolks, and two bowls with 1 white. Combine all the white into one bowl, whichever one you want.

Now you're back to a white bowl, a yolk bowl, and an empty bowl.

Why? Well, because if, as you were passing that delicate yolk back and forth over sharp edges, you happned to break the yolk as you were working over a bowl of egg white, you'd end up with a bowl of egg white and some yolk. That's kinda the opposite of separating eggs.

Sharp edges, see:

And it can be disastrous if you're trying to collect whites to whip into some kind of delicate and frothy delightful dessert.

By having a special third bowl to hover over while you're doing the separating, you're much less likely to end up contaminating your whites with yolk. I mean, if you're separating 5 or 6 eggs and on the last one you end up with yolk in the whites bowl... you're going to have to make a lot of bread pudding (sweet or savoury) to use all that egg.

So, 3 bowls: one for whites, one for yolks, and one to separate over. Best threesome ever.