Eggs Baked in a Bread Bowl

For this round of the recipe swap, we are doing a secret recipe style swap, which means that I get to pick any recipe from the blog I receive in the swap. I got to pick something from the blog: Cooking with Crouton by Kelsey. I knew right away from the kitty pictures that I saw on the blog that this would be a good blog for me! I love kitties. My kitties don’t pay too much attention to me while I am in the kitchen, but here’s a picture of our kitty Jazzy anyway.

I didn’t want to pick a cookie recipe or some other sort of dessert. I looked through all the recipes as soon as I saw this one I was very interested in trying it: Eggs Baked in a Bread Bowl. So I ended up picking a baking recipe, but very different in style than what I typically bake. The recipe looked fairly easy and the picture looked so good, so I knew I had made a good choice.

Initially I thought about making my own rolls, but I didn’t do that. I bought small ciabatta rolls which were great for this recipe. I think it would work with any roll that had a good outer structure. Since the hollowed out roll is the baking vessel, you want it to have some fortitude. I used Cheddar cheese and parsley as that is what I had. You could mix this up with different cheeses, seasonings, and I would like to try this with some diced ham. I made these on a weeknight after a long day at work and they were just perfect. I baked mine for just under 20 minutes and the yolks were a tiny bit runny, which I like. I loved this recipe and I can’t wait to make it again. Thanks for the recipe Kelsey!

6 small rolls
6 eggs
6 teaspoons cream
Salt and pepper
6 teaspoons finely shredded Cheddar cheese
Chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have a baking sheet on hand.

Cut off the tops of the dinner rolls and scoop out the bread in the center. Crack an egg into each hollowed-out bowl, and drizzle a teaspoon of cream on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cheese and parsley.

Arrange the rolls on a baking sheet (leave the tops off for now). Cook for about 20 minutes, more or less depending on how runny you like your yolks. Add the tops to toast in the last 2 minutes.

Recipe from Cooking with Crouton

Coconut Sandwich Cookies

I put off making these cookies last week, and I’m sorry that I did because they were so good! This week I rushed home to make them so that I wouldn’t put it off again. They came together quite easily. The only challenge that I had was grinding the coconut in the food processor. My coconut didn’t grind down all that much after quite a bit of time in the processor. I figured that it was good enough, plus my cat Heidi was getting mad at me for running such a loud appliance. She’s not a fan of the food processor!

Heidi was not pleased with the noise I was making!

I did sandwich my cookies together, but I didn’t roll them in the extra coconut. I made the mistake of trying to sandwich some the cookies together when they were still warm, which didn’t really work. I had a couple of abstract sandwiches (but they still tasted good). I took these to work and I don’t know if my coworkers were especially eager due to no cookies last week, but they were gone by lunchtime. I felt so bad for my colleague who worked in the afternoon and missed out. They were so good, nice and soft with a great coconut flavor. The cookies stood on their own, and I think that they would have been fine as single cookies, maybe with a simple vanilla glaze. Any way you look at it, they were great! (Direct coworker quote!)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 ounces shredded coconut
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Creamy Vanilla Filling
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
Milk, if needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Place 1/2 cup coconut into a small bowl; set aside. Place remaining coconut in a food processor; pulse until coarsely ground. Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and ground coconut; mix just until combined.

Drop dough by level teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets, 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. With mixer on medium, beat in powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add vanilla extract and beat until filling is light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Add milk to adjust the spreading consistency if needed.

Sandwich the cookies together in pairs with the vanilla filling. Roll edges in the ½ cup reserved coconut and chill until ready to serve.

Recipe from Erin Cooks, who found the recipe in Everyday Food

Kitties Love Baking Too!

Even our cats enjoy or baking adventures. This is Maddie, who was caught hanging out with The Best of Baking. (Actually, she was upset that there was a book on her chair, but snuggled up to it anyway.) I owned a copy of The Best of Baking before I was married, this is my husband's copy. I guess that happens when you marry someone who loves to bake!