Month: December 2015

Vegan chocolate-dipped coconut macarons

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My son is now 3 years old. The other night, he told me he wanted to make some treats with me. Everyday he comes up with a new word and that was the first time I heard him say “treats”. So I asked him to elaborate what kind of treats. He said: “We should make some delicious treats for Christmas”. That was clear. It is not Christmas yet, but this mama will not refuse an invitation to make some goodies to eat.

I recently just bought a boat load of shredded coconut, so I thought we could make coconut macarons. And since chocolate always make things better, we decided that chocolate dipped macarons would make the ideal treat.IMG_2128

I was pleasantly surprised at how this recipe turned out. It is sweet from the maple surup but not excessively and the dark chocolate brings just the right amount of sweetness with a tinge of bitterness.
The hardest part of this recipe is to wait for it to cool down and the chocolate to set before eating it. My son and I may or may have not eaten a few as soon as we dipped them in chocolate, I shall not tell. I’ll just say that this was indeed a treat.

Vegan Chocolate-dipped Coconut Macarons
3 cups of shredded unsweetened coconutIMG_2142
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Heat the oven at 350°F.
Put the shredded coconut in a food processor or a high speed blender. Blend until you get a soft and doughy consistency. Add in the vanilla and maple syrup and blend some more. Transfer it to a bowl for ease of scooping.
Spoon out the coconut into balls onto an oiled baking sheet. I used a half tablespoon measuring spoon to make little bitesizes macarons with the coconut, but if you have a small icecream scoop, it would work as well. gently brush the coconut with melted coconut oil.
Bake for 8-10min until the bottom and edges are light brown. Cool on the baking sheet.
While the macarons are cooling, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 1-1.5min until melted.IMG_2165
Carefully dip the bottom of the cooled macarons in the melted chocolate, they are somewhat fragile and can easily crumble under your fingers. Drizzle some of the melted chocolate on the macarons. Cool on a sheet of parchment paper until the chocolate solidifies again (if you can wait that long). Store in an airtight container.

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Koban-dravina: a taste of nostalgy

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We are starting a new tradition in my house: to have a Thanksgiving dinner with typical dishes from Madagascar. One of the reasons is because I am not a big fan of roasting a big turkey. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat it…when somebody else cooks it. I just don’t like to do it myself, and I have never done it so I would have no idea where to start. But on the other hand, I love Thanksgiving. Well, I am thankful for a lot of things in my life and I love to celebrate that, gathering with your loved ones. But mostly, I love the eating part of Thanksgiving. So, since we are from Madagascar, last year we decided to have a new tradition and cook malagasy food on Thanksgiving.

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I am not going to post the whole dinner here, the dishes were not yet perfected and were just okay. I am sorry our only guest had missed her beloved sweet potatoes pie for that. Let’s say that my Malagasy Thanksgiving dinner is still a work in progress…except for the dessert. When I asked my sister what dessert I should make to be typically malagasy, she suggested to make koba. Koba is typical snack or dessert of the region where I grew up as a kid.  Koban-dravina (from koba= dough, ravina = leaves) is a dough made with rice flower (and sometimes corn flour) with banana, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. It is normally made with peanuts but since we are peanut-free, I substituted with crushed sunflower seeds. Simple and yet delicious.

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Koban-dravina

5 bananas- mashed
1 1/2 cup of rice flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sunflower seeds- coarsely ground
Banana leaves
Rafia (optional)

In a bowl, mash the bananas, and add in the vanilla extract. Separately, mix the flour and sugar, and add to the mashed banana. Mix everything well.

Roughly cut the banana leaves in rectangles about 10cm x 20cm or 4″ x 8″. IMG_2231Spoon 2-3 table spoons of the dough in the middle of the banana leaf, sprinkle with some of the crushed sunflower seeds. Fold along the length of the banana and tie with some rafia, or you can just place it with the fold down so it does not get undone during cooking. Steam for 20-25 min. Enjoy!