Coconut Castles Food

SOFT AND CHEWY COCONUT PYRAMIDS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 170/fan150/325/gas 3.
• Mix all four ingredients together in a bowl. Divide into 6 portions, and mould each portion with your hands into a pyramid shape.
• Place each one onto a greased baking sheet.Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the tops are dark golden brown, and the sides have also take on some colour.
• Let cool on the tray then simply pick up and eat/store! Initally they'll very soft, but they'll harden as they cool.
• Once completely cool, they can be stored in an air-tight tub for up to 4 days.

COCONUT CASTLES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream the shortening and brown sugar (I often cut the sugar down by 20% or so). Add salt, vanilla and the beaten eggs.
• Crush the cornflakes. I always do this by measuring out twice as much uncrushed Corn Flakes and crushing them down to the correct amount. For this large recipe, I have two big four cup measures full of uncrushed Corn Flakes, and then crush them by hand down to two cups each.
• (You can make this recipe gluten free by using gluten free corn flakes -- they take a little more force to crush but make the cookies even crunchier and cut down on the sugar).
• Add cornflakes, coconut and nuts to the egg and shortening mixture and mix well.
• Measure by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, either well-greased or, better yet, covered with baking parchment.
• Cook until golden brown, about 10 to 14 minutes, depending on your oven.
• Let the cookies cool on the pan until they firm up.

COCONUT MACAROONS

Steps:

• Whisk together the egg whites and caster sugar in a large bowl for 2-3 mins until light and frothy, and the sugar has dissolved. Add the coconut, a pinch of salt and the vanilla, then stir until combined. Leave to stand for 10 mins.
• Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3½. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Scoop teaspoonfuls of the mixture and roll into compact balls, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 mins until golden.
• Leave on the baking sheet to cool completely. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water, or in short 20-second bursts in the microwave. Tip the melted chocolate into a small bowl, then dip the bottom of each cooled macaroon into the chocolate and wipe off any excess. Arrange on a sheet of baking parchment, chocolate-side up, then put in the fridge for 20 mins, or until set. You can use any remaining melted chocolate to pipe in zigzags over the top, if you like, then leave to set.

COCONUT CASHEW BRITTLE

Steps:

• Butter two 15x10x1-in. pans with 1 tablespoon butter each; set aside., Combine cashews and coconut on a third 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. , In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and 1/2 cup water. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Add remaining butter; cook and stir until butter is melted. Continue cooking, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 300° (hard-crack stage)., Meanwhile, combine the vanilla, baking soda and remaining water. Remove saucepan from the heat; add cashews and coconut. Add baking soda mixture; stir until light and foamy. Quickly pour onto prepared baking sheets. Spread with a buttered metal spatula to 1/4-in. thickness. Cool before breaking into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

ANGEL MACAROONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, water and extract on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape bowl; beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Fold in the coconut. , Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto a parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. Remove paper with cookies to wire racks to cool.