Samoa Bars

I want to go on record by stating that Girl Scout Samoas are a thing of beauty and I would never say these are better than the original, but I will say that they are pretty damn good. You have a flaky shortbread crust, mountains of toasted coconut smothered in caramel, all drizzled with a little semisweet chocolate. This makes a 9x13 pan, so it's plenty to share (or not share; I won't tell you how to live your life).

For the Shortbread:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 c granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract if you don't have it)

3/4 tsp salt

2 c all purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare 9x13 pan with parchment paper and non-stick spray. 

2. Cream together butter and sugar. Add in vanilla bean paste and salt. 

3. Slowly incorporate flour. The mixture will be sandy, but you should be able to push it together in your hand and have it clump. Press dough firmly into prepared pan. 

4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. 

5. Allow to partially cool before adding the coconut layer.

For the Coconut Layer:

2 c sweetened shredded coconut 

11 oz bag of caramel bits

3 tbsp heavy cream

1/2 tsp salt 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

4 oz semi sweet chocolate chips. 

1. While the shortbread is baking, put 2 c sweetened shredded coconut into a pan to toast. Make sure to stir frequently. When it gets slightly toasted and fragrant, remove to a bowl for later. 

2. Once the shortbread has come out of the oven, you can combine caramel bits, heavy cream, salt, and vanilla into a heat-safe bowl and microwave for 30 second intervals. It will look like it's not going to come together, but it totally will. 

3. Toss in the shredded coconut and mix to coat. 

4. Spread out evenly onto the shortbread crust. 

5. In a small heat-safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips in 15 second intervals until smooth. Put into a piping bag (or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off), and pipe lines onto the top of the bars. 

6. Allow to cool completely before cutting. *If you wanted to, you could dip the bottoms of the bars into chocolate as well once they're cut- this will be more reminiscent of the real deal, but it will also be a hot mess, so you do you, boo. 

Angel Food Cake

My husband bought an angel food cake pan about a year ago because he wanted to try making some.... Fast forward to a year later, and I have finally broken the seal on our angel food dreams. I went down the rabbit hole for angel food because people were scaring me about fucking it up. It's MUCH easier than I had thought it would be and way more delicious than store-bought. So what I'm saying is, don't be afraid! Come into the light, Carol Anne. I will say that there are some key tips to help you be successful, so it's not about the ingredients as much as it is the technique. You WILL want a food scale for this. I think that's really the only way to go. The ratios for an angel food cake are 3:3:1 by weight- 3 parts egg whites, 3 parts sugar, and 1 part cake flour (and you do want to go cake flour on this one because it is much lighter). Without a way to measure these weights, it's a difficult cake to do correctly.   

For the Cake:

407 g egg whites (this was 11 eggs for me- that's what I had; for a full sized angel food cake, you're looking at 10-12 egg whites)

407 g granulated sugar

136 g cake flour, sifted *You know I wouldn't say sift if I didn't mean it

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract if you don't have it)

zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1/2 a lemon 

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Do NOT grease your angel food pan. It needs the sides to be able to climb up and get height. It can't do that if you slick down the walls. 

2. Put egg whites into a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Start to whip up egg whites. *I only put it at max a 6 on a Kitchenaid because that's what I do for macarons and it always works. Does it matter here? No idea. If you're brave, you can crank it up faster if you want and see if it works. Report back please. 

3. Once egg whites start to get foamy, add in the cream of tartar. Then slowly stream in the granulated sugar. 

4. Continue to beat until at about a medium peak. You don't want it to be a stiff peak, but it needs to have some body. Like it can stand up on itself in the bowl for a bit, but it's not super excited about it.  

5. Add in the salt, vanilla bean paste, zest, and lemon juice. Incorporate. 

6. Turn off the mixer and gently fold in the cake flour until just incorporated. 

7. Fill up the angel food pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes. The internet told me not to put in a tooth pick because it can be deceptive for angel food, so I did the finger press- if you touch it gently with a finger and it starts to spring back, it should be done. It will also be golden in color. 

8. When it is out, immediately flip it over so that it cools upside down, preventing it from collapsing. I flipped it over onto a small bowl. 

9. When it is cooled, turn out onto cake stand. Serve with berries and whipped cream if you like. Or do like I did, and just rip off chunks of it throughout the day like a heathen.