Coconut. Chocolate. Drizzle. Those three words of sweet promise grabbed you by the tastebuds and pulled you in – right? They did for me as I’ve had my eye on this recipe culled from Bon Appetit’s January ’10 issue since the end of December and I’m not interested in protracting the temptation one moment longer.

A neighborhood ladies brunch today and I know exactly what I’m bringing. I took this buttery single-cake recipe – a batter first enriched with thick coconut milk, then further embellished with fragrant orange zest and studly chunks of dark bittersweet chocolate – and baked it into twelve individual treats, in a muffin tin because it was a first-time effort and wanted to have at least a bite to be assured of the cake’s promised deliciousness. This way I was able to sample the moist cake – finished with crispy toasted shreds of coconut and the promised sweet “drizzle”- without anyone being the wiser. One was shared with my daughter, who was instantly enamored with the golden beauty and confidently deemed the cake  brunch, or  anytime- worthy. To my delight, despite the sugary moniker, the finished result does not fall into the too sweet category.

Ladies, I hope the coffee is brewing because I’ll be over with Coconut Cakes with Chocolate Chunks and Coconut Drizzle in just a short while – I hope no one notices there will only be eleven – shhh.

Recipe for one 9″ Coconut Cake with Chocolate Chunks and Coconut Drizzle, HERE

To adapt this recipe to yield 12 individual cakes, distribute cake batter evenly between the cups of a well-buttered non-stick 12 portioned muffin pan. Evenly distribute shredded coconut over tops. Reduce baking time to 25-30 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the middle of a center cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool on rack, turn out and drizzle with glaze.

This gently sweetened, dense and moist quick bread was a perfect vehicle for the cultured butter I made last week. Inspired by a recipe for Date and Walnut Bread found in Patricia Well’s book Vegetable Harvest, I used what was in my cupboard swapping  plump prunes for  the dates. Giving the prunes a  pre-soak in earthy Rishi pu erh-ginger tea and Vya sweet vermouth (with its prunish tones) boosted the flavor and moisture quotient. Swapping out the all-purpose flour for white whole wheat gives a healthy fiber boost to the toothsome loaf. Dark honey adds depth. Aside from oiling the pan, this loaf contains no additional fat which makes a slice primed to receive a shmear of fresh butter, fromage blanc or a soft, spreadable goat cheese.

Gearing up for a long Memorial weekend of friends and farms, cooking and cornhole, picnics, music, yoga, jubilance and hijinx. Wishing everyone a happy, safe and mostly delicious weekend!

Black Tea Prune and Walnut Bread

Yield:  One loaf

Walnut or neutral flavored oil for greasing pan

2 cups moist pitted prunes, halved

1 cup walnut halves, crumbled into coarse pieces

3/4 cup hot double strength brewed black flavorful tea

1/4 cup best-quality sweet vermouth or port

1/2 cup dark honey

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Pinch ground cloves

1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and 8 x 4 non-stick loaf pan with the oil.

Place the prunes in a bowl, pour over the hot tea and vermouth and let soak while readying the remaining ingredients.

Strain the soaking liquid from the prunes into a large bowl. Add the honey and whisk to combine well. Add the prunes, walnuts, baking soda, salt and pinch cloves; stir to blend. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir to combine. Slowly add in the flour stirring to thoroughly combine.

Pour batter into the greased pan, smoothing the top. Place on center rack of oven and bake 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few clinging crumbs – err on the side of under rather than over baking.

Remove pan from oven and let cool on rack 5 minutes. Turn out loaf onto rack and allow to cool completely before slicing. Stores well wrapped room temperature 3-5 days.

Continually on a quest to move away from refined and nutritionally empty foods, I’ve been directing my cooking and baking towards using alternative flours and grains that contain a healthier nutritional profile.

Spelt flour charmed me with its lightly sweet, malted and nutty flavor and with the added benefits of being low in gluten and having more nutrition than all-purpose white or bread flours. I suspected correctly that spelt would be the ideal candidate with which to interpret my favorite style of bagel,the Montreal bagel. The Montreal bagel is unique. The bagels are wood-fired and not as plumply raised as a stateside bagel, and a bite through the heavily seeded outer crust (usually sesame or poppy) reveals a mildly sweet interior of cake-like crumb which transcends from good to sublime when toasted. A trip to Montreal’s justly famed St. Viateur bakery held me captive while I hungrily watched bagel after flame-licked bagel emerge from the depths of blazing wood-fired ovens. After the first delicious warm bite, I knew that I had found “my” bagel.

Marcy Goldman’s A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking has a recipe for Montreal Bagels that I’ve been using in conjunction with my own modifications for years. That recipe combined with some research on the baking properties of spelt led me to develop this version of a Montreal-style bagel using white unbleached, unbromated spelt flour. I am proud to say that my resulting bagels are a similarly delicious replication (albeit a wee bit flatter) of the original version with the bonus of being nutritionally superior and infinitely easier on digestion.

Spelt Flour Montreal-Style Bagels
Yield: 12 bagels

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
5 tbs. unrefined cane sugar
1 1/2 tbs. canola oil
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 tbs. beaten egg (I suspect you can use Ener-g egg substitute for a vegan bagel)
1 tbs. barley malt syrup
5-6 cups unbleached, unbromated organic white spelt flour
1 tsp. fine sea salt
1 cup raw sesame seeds, flax or poppyseeds
6 qts. water
1/3 cup barley malt or honey

In a large bowl stir together 3/4 cup warm water, sugar, oil, yeast, egg and malt until yeast dissolves. Stir in salt and slowly stir in 2 1/2 cups flour to make a soft batter. Do not overwork. Cover and let proof in a warm spot for 6-8 hours.

The sponge should now look puffed and bubbly. Gently whisk in the remaining 3/4 cup warm water, and slowly fold in the remaining 2 1/2 cups flour. Turn out and knead dough on a floured board, adding more spelt flour as necessary until dough is smooth and firmly supple. Try not to overwork or knead more than 4 minutes. Cover dough with an inverted bowl and allow to rest 10 minutes.

Line 2 baking sheets with well-floured parchment or un-floured silpats (my first choice). Divide dough into 12 pieces. Roll each into 10″ ropes. Curve each rope around your hand, pressing together to make a round bagel shape. Use a few drops of water to moisten and seal the ends if necessary. (Note: these should have a fairly large hole in the middle). Let bagels rise on the prepared baking sheets, around 30-40 minutes.

Bring the 6 qts. of water and barley malt or honey to a boil in large pot. Preheat the oven to 425. Place the sesame, flax or poppy seeds in a shallow dish or pie plate. Have a large kitchen towel spread out near the pot.

Boil the bagels, three at a time for 2 minutes, delicately turning once with a wide skimmer, to form a skin on each side. Remove bagels as they finish with the skimmer and let drain a moment on kitchen towels. Turn each bagel in the seeds and place on baking sheets.

Place bagels in the oven and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes, flipping each after 10 minutes. Allow to cool before eating.

Note: I like this style of bagel best served (carefully!) sliced in half and toasted, spread just with good butter and a preserve. The toasting coaxes out the best of the sweet nutty flavor and texture. If any bagels are left after two days, keep stored in the freezer and thaw before slicing and toasting.

Please feel free to share any and all tips on baking with spelt flour as I am always looking to learn something new!