Combine coconut, walnuts, vanilla, milk, and honey in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.

Lightly grease a jellyroll pan. Layer 10 sheets of phyllo, brushing each sheet with the melted butter before adding the next. Sprinkle the entire coconut mixture over the dough. Layer the remaining 10 sheets, brushing each sheet with butter before adding the next.

Cut the baklava. You can cut the baklava into a diamond pattern, like I did, or squares. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven and let completely cool.

In the meantime, prepare the syrup. Combine water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil; lower heat to a simmer, and continue to cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Pour the hot syrup over the completely cooled baklava. Let stand, uncovered, for 6 hours or overnight.

Bring water and butter to a rolling boil in a heavy saucepan. Then stir in flour over low heat, stirring until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Stir in eggs, one at a time, beating until dough is a smooth ball.

Using a tablespoon, drop dough into the muffin tins. This doesn’t have to be an exact measurement, but depending on how big you want your shells to be, we use generous tablespoons.

Bake shells in the 400 F oven for 25 to 35 minutes or until puffed, golden brown and dry. It’s important that the puffs are dry or they may collapse. Remove from oven and cool completely. The shells can be prepared the day before. Just cover with foil when completely cooled.

Cook’s note: You can just bake the shells on a baking sheet about three inches apart, but my smart aunt decided the muffin tins make a nice shape to hold the cream. Either method works, but the baking sheet method will produce a little flatter shaped shell.

For the custard cream filling:
Beat the eggs in a medium sized heat safe bowl. Set aside.

Mix sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan. Stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute only. Remove pan from heat. Stir about half of the mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Then blend the egg mixture back into the remaining hot mixture in the saucepan. Bring just to a boil. Add vanilla and stir until combined. Remove from heat. Set aside.

For the whipped cream:
Whip your cream using electric beaters and add a dash or two of sugar and vanilla to your liking.

For the assembly:
Cut off the shell tops and fill puffs 2/3 full with the custard filling. Top generously with sweetened whipped cream. Replace top of puff and cover with sifted confectioners’ sugar.

Delicious!

This recipe is adapted from a recipe in a local newspaper from the 1960′s called Ingrid’s Austrian Cream Puffs.

Add 1 tablespoon sugar and sprinkle with yeast. Stir gently and set aside for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, your yeast mixture should have grown and become frothy. If it has not grown, your yeast is dead and you must start over with either a new batch of yeast or perhaps your milk temperature was too hot and it accidentally killed the yeast.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter with remaining 4 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup) granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Add salt.

Switch your attachment to the dough hook. Alternating between the flour and yeast mixture, add them both to the bowl, starting and ending with flour. Mix well after each addition. Mix with the dough hook for several minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If (only if) dough does not pull away from the sides, add additional 1/4 cup of flour.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl. Turn your oven on and let the oven begin to heat up for 3 or 4 minutes then turn the heat off. Warming the oven this way will give your dough excellent conditions for rising. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and place in the preheated oven. Do not turn the oven back on. Insert a wooden spoon or similar object in the oven door to prevent it from closing all the way. This will allow a small amount of the heat to escape. You don’t want to cook the dough yet, just warm it enough for it to rise. Let the dough rise for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.

Transfer the dough to a well floured surface and roll the dough to 1/2″ thickness. Use a donut cutter to cut the donuts and donut holes. If you don’t have a donut cutter, you can use 2 different sizes of circle shapes like a drinking glass and bottle top to make your donuts and holes. You will have 20-24 doughnuts and doughnut holes.

Transfer donuts and donut holes to a parchment-lined cookie sheet, cover with a towel, and place back in the oven to rise for an additional 30 minutes.

Pour oil into a medium-sized, high sided pot. For safety’s sake, you do not want your oil to be more than 2″ deep, and definitely not more than halfway up the side of the pot. Heat oil to 375ºF. A candy thermometer comes in handy here, but if you don’t have one, heat the oil on medium-high heat for about 5–7 minutes. Test your oil temperature with one of the doughnut holes. If it browns too quickly, turn the heat down to medium and wait a minute or two to start frying.

Carefully remove the doughnuts from the cookie sheet and drop one or two at a time into the hot oil. Cook for 45 seconds to 1 minute, or until browned, and carefully turn over using a slotted spoon, tongs, or two chopsticks also works very well. Cook on the other side for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the oil and place the doughnuts on a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain.

Let the doughnuts cool slightly before coating with cinnamon sugar mixture or glaze. Once coated with sugar or glaze, let the doughnuts sit on a wire cooling rack over parchment paper or a baking sheet, to catch the dripping glaze, until they are dry.

For the cinnamon sugar coating:
Mix sugar and cinnamon well and dip both sides of the doughnuts into cinnamon sugar mixture until well coated.

For the glaze coating:
In a medium bowl, whisk all ingredients until smooth. For a thicker glaze, use 1/4 cup of milk; for a thinner glaze, use 1/2 cup of milk. (Pictured with a thinner glaze.)

Recipe adapted from The Barmy Baker.

Preheat oven to 375 F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large pot over medium heat, combine water, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Turn burner down to low. Add flour into the pot and stir until just combined. Return to stove and continue to stir over low heat until a dough ball is formed. Then remove from heat.

Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer (a handheld mixer will work too on a low speed). Add eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the sides of the bowl upon adding each egg. Batter should be smooth and glossy. Once combined, set bowl aside.

Allow mixture to cool. Meanwhile trace eight 2 1/2 inch circles on the underside of the parchment paper. You’ll use these as a guide when piping the spirals.

When mixture has cooled a bit, add it into a pastry bag. Beginning in the center of each traced circle, start spiraling out to fill the circle, then go around the outside of the circles to build up the outer wall. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

For the filling:
In a saucepan, whisk together milk and egg yolks. Set the pan over medium heat and whisk in sugar and cornstarch. Whisk constantly until boiling, then whisk vigorously for another minute. Remove from heat, add orange zest, rum and vanilla.

Transfer into a bowl, cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap to avoid a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

When the shells and the custard have cooled, whip the whipping cream until thick peaks are formed then fold into custard. Add creme mixture into a pastry bag.

Slice the shells in half horizontally. Pipe a ring of creme inside the bottom half of each shell, then put the top on. Then pipe a small ring of creme atop each filled shell. Top with a cherry.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cover leftovers with plastic wrap to avoid the creme from drying out.

Buon appetito!

Recipe adapted from, keyingredient.com

Wash and thoroughly dry your fruit, then fold it into the cream mixture. Dollop the mixture into small ramekins or oven proof bowls.

Sprinkle a generous amount of the raw sugar over the tops of each bowl. Using a propane kitchen torch, scorch the sugar, trying to avoid getting too much of the whipped cream. It helps if there are pockets of sugar, rather than a light sprinkling. Do not under any circumstances put the dishes in the oven. It will melt the whipping cream and not be pretty, or tasty. Once complete, put the dishes in the refrigerator to allow the sugar to harden.

You may prepare the dessert one day ahead of serving it but no longer.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Recipe adapted from Saveur.

For the macarons:
In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites. When they start turning into a white foam, add the sugar and cream of tartar slowly while still beating. Stop beating when soft peaks form. Mix in a few drops of yellow food coloring as desired, then set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together the almond powder, powdered sugar and salt. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold about a third of that into the meringue. Then continue with the additional thirds until you have combined it all. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag with a large round tip.

Prepare a sheet pan by covering it with parchment paper. Pipe 1-1/2 inch circles onto the paper, leaving at least an inch of space between each macaron. Let them dry for about an hour until you can touch them and they don’t stick.

Preheat the oven to 300 F then bake the macarons for 13 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. Once baked, you can immediately slide macarons (still on the parchment paper) onto a cooling rack and let them cool.

While they are cooling, make the cream. First pour the cream and puree into a mixing bowl. While beating those together, slowly pour in the gelatin, cornstarch and sugar. Beat until peaks form.

Pipe about half a teaspoon of filling onto the bottom of half of the macarons, then top that with another macaron to make sandwiches.

Remove and scrape with a fork until fluffy. Scoop into serving bowls and garnish with grapes. Serve.

Adapted from: Food 52 and Peanut Butter Fingers.

When they are done remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool until you are able to handle them. Crumble up the brownies into a large bowl. Roll the crumbs into balls (about 1-1/2 tablespoons each). Place balls on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze about 1 hour until firm.

Prepare another cookie sheet or two with wax paper. Melt a package of candy coating as the package directs. Put the candy coating in a microwaveable dish (I like to use my Pyrex measuring cup). Remove about 4-5 balls from the freezer at a time; they defrost quickly and you will want them to stay firm as you dip them in the candy coating. Take a metal skewer, stick it into the top of the ball, dip into the candy coating. Lightly tap the skewer on the side of the dish slowly rotating the skewer. Do this to allow excess candy coating drip off.

Set it on the wax paper and, using another skewer to hold the ball down, gently pull the skewer out of the top then dip the tip of the skewer in the candy coating and carefully fill in over the hole from the skewer. Before moving on to the next ball, sprinkle with pink sugar sprinkles (optional). Repeat with the rest of the balls and chocolate.

In a saucepan, combine milk, cream, sugar and vanilla extract over medium heat until hot, but not boiling.

Add the eggs into a large heat proof bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of the hot cream into the eggs in a slow drizzle and stir vigorously to temper the egg yolks. Whisk until smooth then add the remaining cream, and continue to whisk until smooth. Add the dark chocolate and mix well.

Strain the custard into a bowl through a fine mesh strainer and pour into four ramekins (about 6-8 ounce ramekins). Set the ramekins in a 9×13 inch baking pan and place in the oven. Pour hot water into the 9×13 pan, about half way up the side of the ramekins.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes (the custard should jiggle like Jello when done). Carefully remove the pan from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Remove the ramekins from the 9×13 inch pan.

Get ready to make the whipped cream by placing your mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer fo 15 to 20 minutes.

Pour the cream into the cold bowl and whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar and continue until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Preheat broiler. In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix well and sprinkle custards with the vanilla sugar. Put the ramekins into the oven and broil 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.