Coconut-Cornflake Cookies

This is one Jeff found on allrecipes.com this afternoon and decided to give it a try. I'm so very glad he did! These are very yummy, chewy, crispy, sweet, and all-around good cookies. They're a refreshing departure from the basics like peanut butter, sugar, and chocolate chip (though, don't get me wrong, I love those too!).

Coconut-Cornflake Cookies
3 egg whites
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups cornflakes cereal

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Beat egg whites until stiff (the egg whites not your arm). Stir in sugar, salt and vanilla. Blend coconut and cornflakes and add to egg white mixture.

Drop on ungreased parchment paper (based on the reviews for this recipe, the parchment really is necessary to keep the cookies from sticking. When people tried this on greased baking sheets, the cookies stuck pretty badly. We had no problems with the parchment). Bake for 15-18 minutes. Makes 3 dozen.

This recipe can also be made with Splenda, to reduce the sugar content and calories. As it is, 2 cookies = 114 calories (actually, we made them twice as big, so one serving was only one cookie, but that's okay).

I chose to make these my entry for this month's Master Baker challenge. The ingredient this month is vanilla.

Easter-y Red Velvet Cake Balls

Red Velvet Cake Balls, from Bakerella, were the inspiration and basis for this recipe. I've been wanting to try this recipe ever since I discovered her blog. All I had to do was figure out how to add some Easter candy to the recipe so I could use this as my entry for the Master Baker baking challenge. I think what I came up with is pretty yummy! My additions to Bakerella's cake ball recipe are in italics.

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
1 package Mini Robin Eggs
wax paper
1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into 1-2 inch balls, enclosing 1 Mini Robin Egg into each ball. This can be pretty messy to do, but I say the messier, the funner!
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.) Store in refrigerater - this is optional but I think they're much better cold.
I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It's easier to work with when it's hot.

Master Baker Blog Event

I recently discovered something called a blog event. I'm not sure how to describe it, it's basically a challenge-type thing that bloggers participate in together. Master Baker is one that was just started last month, and looks like a lot of fun. Basically, the author of the Master Baker blog selects one ingredient each month, and everyone who wants to participate bakes something with that ingredient. March's ingredient is Easter Candy. So I will be heading to the store within the next few days to check out the Easter candy stash and get my creative juices flowing. I will post whatever I come up with here once I've come up with it.