Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes & Day of Action

 Another cupcake recipe coming your way! It's the first day of summer, so of course we have a tropical coconut recipe in today's lineup. I've become slightly obsessed with making cupcakes lately if you haven't noticed. They are so good and there are so many ways to experiment with different combinations. I haven't even posted all of the ones I've done yet (maybe someday?).

This tasty treat was inspired by my sister in law - she sent me a great recipe for Pina Colada cupcakes and they sounded so amazing I had to make them. I made some tweaks to a similar recipe I found online since I didn't have many items in her recipe. These are SUPER moist and fun for the summer!


Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes 
Adapted from The Pastry Affair
Cupcakes

Ingredients:
20 oz can crushed pineapple (you'll use the pineapple juice too)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup unsweetened shredded baker's coconut

Directions:
 Drain the 20 oz can of crushed pineapple into a small bowl and set aside 1 cup of the drained pineapple (you'll use the remainder in the cupcakes and a little bit shredded for the icing).

In a small bowl, whisk together the pineapple juice, milk and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, craem together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the milk and flour mixture alternatively until incorporated. Fold in the drained pineapple and shredded coconut.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full (they won't rise much). Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops bounce back when touched. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then cool on wire racks completely before adding icing.

Icing

Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 stick (8 tbs) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/4 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Yellow food coloring to achieve desired color

Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the powdered sugar, butter, milk, vanilla and salt and beat on low until combined, about 1 minute. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy or desired consistency is achieved. 

At this point, I added in about 1 tbs leftover pineapple pieces, minced, added some shredded coconut, about 2 tbs pineapple juice, food coloring and shredded coconut. I blended this in the mixer and added more powdered sugar until I reached my desired consistency (spreadable).I added the icing after my cupcakes cooled and topped them with more coconut flakes.


 I had to use my coconut candle as a prop for these tropical treats








Can you see how moist these are? The pineapple pieces and juice keep these super moist!



Other options with these are: 
  • Adding 1/3 cup coconut rum in place of 1/3 of the pineapple juice
  • Adding 3/4 cup coconut milk rather than regular milk (I want to try this next time!)
  • Adding coconut extract in place of the vanilla extract
  • The sky is the limit with other ideas - have fun with it! 
Yum! I'm excited to try another version with more coconut and make it more of a pina colada flavor. 

* * * * *
In other news, since I've started taking two doses of Neurontin each day, I'm starting to feel the pain lifting from my knee, shoulder, neck, and upper back most hours of the day! It's very weird really to move my body around and realize I'm not feeling pain in those common places. Headaches are still there for now, as well as pain in a few other places, but I'm curious to see how I feel when I start taking my recommended 3 doses each day this weekend. We're praying it helps!


United Way Day of Action 2011

Today, many of my co-workers went to a school in Fort Worth for United Way's Day of Action held today (more about that nationally celebrated day here). I also participated and had SUCH a great time! I mostly painted the continents and inspiring quotes on the walls in the hallways. Here are some photos of my accomplishments...




Isn't this an awesome message for kids? I can only hope and pray our efforts make a difference in some of their lives.


I just had to share this painting, drawn freehandedly, by one of my (amazingly) talented co-workers. This painting, along with many others went up in the "continent hallway" to display areas of the world. 

Work in the school was also done in the cafeteria, auditorium, I believe a few other areas, not to mention a jaw-dropping makeover with amazing furniture and decor for the teacher's lounge. I hope they all feel so appreciated and loved. It was so much fun and even painting in the same position all day, my body feels pretty darn good! Back to regular work tomorrow :)

2 comments:

Janice L said...

So glad to hear you are feeling better, Marissa! Those cupcakes look wonderful. I just wish you had called them pineapple muffins so I could justify eating them for breakfast. :)

Marissa said...

Thank you, I appreciate it :) Well, my co-workers and I decided that if cupcakes have fruit in them, they're perfectly acceptable for breakfast. ;)

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