Living a in a co-op has meant some pretty good meals so far this year including: bison steaks, filet mignon, smoked salmon, the list goes on. For college kids, we may eat too well. But the most amazing meal came from our special dinner. It's a dinner that on campus houses have once a quarter. Most houses have a chef and he or she will cook up amazing food like steak, lobster, tuna steaks, duck etc. It's really quite absurd. But since we're a co-op and cook everything ourselves. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. But people really outdid themselves. Our dinner consisted of but was not limited to smoked salmon, ribs, fig and mushroom galette, risotto, two kinds of fresh bread, potato salad, hummus, tomato, mozzarella and basil, steak, prosciutto wrapped melon, tacos de lengua and al pastor, fresh bread topped with cheese and caramelized onions, salad with homemade crutons, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something else. I, of course, volunteered to make dessert. Wanting to make something fun, somewhat gourmet, and not too complicated I finally decided on making Ina Garten's (aka The Barefoot Contessa) Coconut Cupcakes. My godmother made them for the first time a few years ago and they've been in a hit in our family ever since. So I figured, why not? And in fact, they turned out pretty well. I was concerned about doubling the recipe, whether I had enough time to make them in the two hours I had before dinner (I'm now even more in awe of the people who are able to make 1000 cupcakes and put them on a stand on Cupcake Wars in just 2 hours, I think) and whether or not I would produce enough cupcakes since we were supposed to scale for 80 people instead of 40 as we do for a regular meal. But, shockingly, I ended up with 70 cupcakes which was more than plenty for the number of people at dinner who still had room for dessert after dinner and chose my cupcakes over the delicious berry-rum trifle and strawberry shortcake. They were also fun to make and I got to use a pastry bag to pipe the frosting out onto the cupcakes which made them look (I hope) pretty classy.
Coconut Cupcakes (by The Barefoot Contessa)
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut
Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.
3) In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut. (A bit less could be used)
4) Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. (I would suggest filling just 2/3 of the way full, you get more cupcakes and if you fill them to the top they'll overflow) Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.
Frosting
Ingredients
1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted
Directions
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.
On a rimmed baking sheet, evenly spread the remaining coconut and toast, in the oven, until lightly golden. Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the toasted coconut.
