Spring is here and I am just excited about a new season coming. I love spring, except for the allergies due to pollen. Hopefully this year will be mild allergy season.

One of the simple things that make me happy in life is eating coconut ice cream. Since I have no coconut ice cream, I would be just happy eating anything “coconuty” today. Since I have a lot of ingredients made out of coconut in my kitchen, I thought to make something simple, yet light and delicious.

I like the fact that this cake doesn’t need anything special in the making process such as dividing the whites from the yolks and beating them separately, etc… all ingredients are mixed together and that’s it.

For those with some gluten intolerance, I made those gluten free, otherwise you can make those with regular flour, it can be with whole wheat flour, or any other flour you prefer. I don’t have any problem with gluten but I was out of whole wheat flour so I used gluten free flour. I was gluten free for about eight months, I wanted to see if I would feel any different, since everybody is telling you, you have to remove the evil gluten from your diet. I my case, there was absolutely no change in the way I felt, weight, health, or anything else, so I decided to go back to gluten.

These cakes are so light that after eating one of those, it feels like you didn’t eat anything.

You would think that for a coconut cake, the result would be a snow white cake. I love snow white cakes, but you just have to use white sugar. In this case, the raw coconut sugar being brown like a brown sugar, you end up having a brownish cake. Oh well “tant pis“, they’re delicious, so the color doesn’t really matter in the end.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 5.3 oz (or 150 g)  raw coconut sugar
• 4.5 oz (or 130 g) raw coconut oil
• half can coconut milk (I used the light one)
• 5.3 oz (or 150 g) shredded coconut (I used the reduced fat kind)
• 4.2 oz (or 120 g) gluten free flour
• 1tsp baking powder

Preparation

Pre heat oven at 375F. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Divide the batter in eight paper cups (or regular greased molds) – Cook in a preheated for about 35 minutes. You can enjoy slightly warm or cold.

I still have brick sheets that I brought back from France last May and need to use them, the expiration date is coming close, so here is a delightful fruity dessert that lightened up my Sunday. I treat myself as often as I can and today was one of those days.

Peaches in my opinion are a perfect match with apricots and mangoes. I remember my favorite chewing gum flavor when I was a child was “pêche-abricot“, since then they remained my favorite fruits.

I served this warm fruity brick with coconut ice cream, it’s a non dairy ice cream made with just coconut milk and no added sugar that is absolutely delicious, it’s low in calories and is a lovely addition to any fruit based dessert. Usually, I do not advertise for any brand, but this time, I decided to mention it, since I haven’t found anything similar in terms of flavor/calories ratio. I poured some coconut milk with rum, on top with toasted coconut chips and that made twice my day. I am not a calorie counting freak, but I like to keep dishes light without “killing” the flavor, which is a tough task, because everyone knows that fat is a flavor enhancer.

When I find my ice cream maker, I will make coconut ice cream until then, I will gladly eat this one. A warm crunchy brick filled with fruits and combined with a little cup of coconut ice cream is a real treat.

Ingredients for 4

For the bricks

• 8 brick sheets
• 1 mango, peeled, and sliced
• 2 peaches, peeled and sliced
• zest of one Meyer lemon
• 2 tsp coconut sugar
• a few pinches of lavender
• olive oil or melted butter for brushing

For the ice cream cup

• 4 scoops of coconut ice cream
• 1/2 pint light coconut milk
• stevia (to taste)
• 1-2 tsp rum (to taste)
• toasted coconut chips
• raw pistachios

Preparation

For the bricks

Mix cut mango and peaches together in a bowl. Add coconut milk, lemon zest and lavender. Let infuse for 15 min in the refrigerator.

In a large wooden board, lay flat one brick and place about 2-3 tbs of fruit mixture in the middle. Then fold over the sides as if you are wrapping a present. Proceed the same way using a second brick sheet but this time, doing it on the other side (turning the brick on the other side with the folded sides being underneath). Brush bricks with butter or oil (to your preference)

Proceed the same way with the other sheets until all mixture is used.

Preheat oven at 390F and place in a non stick tray brick. When top is golden brown, turn bricks the other side until golden and crunchy.

Serve warm.

For the ice cream cup

Mix coconut milk with rum and stevia.

Place one scoop of ice cream in a small cup. Pour some coconut milk on top. Sprinkle with pistachios and toasted coconut chips.

When summer comes again, I just need to find new light and fresh desserts to use peaches, my favorite fruit. If you are like me, cannot get enough of them, here is another a cool recipe to try.

This recipe is quite versatile, you can also saute the peaches in a pan with a little butter and sugar. Personally I love to grill them, I think the flavor stands out more. Also, you can see the rice cream at the bottom of the dish to be a little dark, it’s just because I used coconut sugar which is naturally amber color. You can use regular sugar to get a snow white cream which I think is prettier in the plate. This dessert is also vegan which can be interesting for those who are lactose intolerant but can also be made using regular milk as well. For coconut milk, I used the light one which has 45 calories per servings and that comes in a large paper box, not the one in a can.

For the ice cream, I used a vanilla ice cream made with coconut milk that is delicious (usually I don’t like to advertise brands on this blog, but this one is really , on top of it, it has no added sugar, so if you are like me and that you don’t have a sweet tooth and no taste for sugar, this ice cream is perfect.

Ingredients for 2 people

For the rice cream

• 70 g white round rice
• coconut milk, one pint or more (depending on the rice absorption)
• 2 tbs coconut sugar (or more to taste)
• 1 vanilla bean, cut in half and scarped

For the peaches

• 2 large peaches, cut in 6 quarters
• 2 tbs raw unsalted pistachios
• vanilla ice cream made with coconut milk
• agave nectar or honey for drizzling

Preparation

Start by cooking the rice. In a pot, add vanilla bean to milk and bring the mixture to a to a boil at medium temperature. Add rice and sugar and let cook the rice until tender at low temperature. Add milk if necessary and adjust sugar. stir once in a while ensuring the rice does not stick to the pot. When the rice is cooked, let it cool and mix in a blender to obtain a smooth cream. Place in the refrigerator.

In the meantime, grill peaches in a skillet or grill pan. Grill on both sides.

In a plate, place 3 tbs rice cream, top it with grilled peaches. Spoon ice cream in the middle, sprinkle with pistachios and agave nectar.

Here is a refreshing pudding for the summer, filled with fruits and exotic flavors. My lovely neighbor Rui gave me this mango pudding a couple of months ago and I fell in love with it. This is an Asian dessert, served in many Chinese or Indonesian restaurants. It’s usually topped with condensed milk. Of course, there are many recipes, some of them use condensed milk, some others coconut milk, some add mango pieces inside the pudding…so there are a lot of variations to this dessert. The last time I had one of those mango puddings was at a Chinese restaurant, and it was topped with condensed milk. What a delight!

This pudding is creamy in the inside, so if you like it more gelatinous and hard, add more agar-agar (or gelatin). Instead of condensed milk I poured coconut milk that I sweetened with a tiny touch of sugar. So for those who like coconut, please try it, it’s such a wonderful combination. I ran into so many people who don’t like coconut lately, how is that possible? I thought coconut was like chocolate, one of those things that is universally loved. I was wrong.

If you want to make this dessert vegan, instead of condensed milk, use coconut milk and agar agar instead of gelatin, it will work perfectly fine.

I am due for my bi-yearly trip to France visiting my parents. I will try to post something before I leave on June 8, if not then I will post new recipes while I am there. I am so excited to get all the new summer fruits, and hopefully get lots of fruity recipes.

Ingredients for 6-7

• 2 large and well ripe mangoes, peeled and cut in pieces
• 1 2/3 cups evaporated milk
• 3 packs of gelatin powder (or the equivalent of agar agar) dissolved in water
• 1/3 cups agave nectar
• 1 cup coconut milk (for topping) + sugar to taste
• 1 cup fresh raspberries

Preparation

Puree mangoes with a condensed blender and place in a large container. Mix condensed milk with agave nectar, and heat it up but do not boil. Dissolve gelatin powder in 4 tbs warm water. Add gelatin to the milk mixture. Mix well. Pour milk into the mango recipient. Mix well. If you want to add fresh mango pieces, add them at this stage.

Divide the mango mixture to small glass containers. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Un-mold pudding in plates, pour some sweetened coconut milk on top, and decorate with fresh raspberries.