That Time We Went to Hawaii Plus An Easy Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream Recipe

With Summer right around the corner,  I thought it was a great opportunity to share one of my favorite recipes again with everyone!

A few months ago The Mr. and I received an incredible opportunity to take a quick jaunt over to Maui. We had to keep this all on the DL for a while but I've recently received the all-clear to share!

We experienced some of the most breathtaking sites as you can see in the photos below and enjoyed amazing meals such as Kalua Pork, Garlic Nori Fries and of course, Shave Ice.

Kaula Pork Wrapped in a Banana Leaf, Paella with Jumbo Prawns, Linguica and Calamari, Garlic Nori Fries

It ain't a trip to Hawaii unless you get authentic Shave Ice! Half Pineapple, Half Tiger's Blood for me!
Clearly the sugar made us silly! 

Chocolate Coconut Clusters for Spring!

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It’s officially Spring, which means it’s time to break out the bright colors, the flirty dresses and of course, the super cute sweets!

I find it funny that the winter holidays are the only ones taking a bad rap for being the time to indulge, but when you think about it, there are plenty of occasions year-round where we encounter sweet sabotage.

There are the bunny rabbit cupcakes, beach ball cookies, and endless backyard barbeques that can leave you wondering where all these calories are coming from.

I decided to put a healthy spin on a classic Springtime treat from my childhood. My mom would always make little bird’s nest candies with Chow Mein noodles, peanut butter chips, and the adorable mini eggs. As cute as they are, they're loaded with empty calories… I mean, it’s candy after all. So I thought, what if I swap out some of those non-nutritional ingredients for something that packs a little more of a punch. I started with semi-sweet chocolate base and added in some Kelapo Coconut Oil to give it that nutty taste with the added benefit of healthy fats! Next up, I traded out the old school Chow Mein Noodles for Fiber-rich cereal such as Kashi GO Lean. The shape of this cereal was exactly what I needed to maintain the nest like shape.

After adding some toasted coconut, these treats were just about done. Don’t get me wrong, you can stop here and serve them year-round, but given the time of year, I decided to jazz them up with some Springtime candies.

Cranberry Apple Hand Pies

Impress your pals with these adorable little hand pies. Go on, have two! We won’t tell.

Mini Key Lime Pies with Coconut Crust

A few weeks ago while I was in Florida visiting my husband's family, I had stumbled across a bottle of fresh Floridian Key Lime juice. Having a strong love for anything Key Lime and a fresh boost of confidence thanks to what I learned at the FBF Conference I decided that this little green bottle was coming back to California with me. 

Now, many of you know... I'm not much of a baker, I'm more of a faker. Meaning I can fake-bake my way into a delicious dessert whenever needed but it's not my strong point. With that in mind, I sought out for some inspiration via Pinterest and ended up finding a straight forward Key Lime Pie recipe that I knew I could doctor up to make it my own! 

Pretty Little Peanut Butter Bars

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This is a no-brainer dessert for parties, girl's night, or your next adventure. I mean, you can grab a bar before darting off after a mysterious figure in a black hoodie, you can comfortably eat one while locked in a confined space, and you can even mow down a whole batch after your find out you're heading to the slammer and you have no clue why. No big deal. 

Ingredients:

1 c peanut butter (chunky will give it a good crunch!)

1 c butter

¼ brown sugar

1 ¾ c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 sleeve of graham crackers

1 ½ c chocolate chips

1 tsp vegetable oil

pinch of salt

The Grey Stuff Recipe: Cookies N' Cream Mousse

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As promised in an earlier post, I’ll be continuing to recap my trip to Walt Disney World and Food Blog Forum a few more times. This post was inspired by my highly anticipated dining experience at Be Our Guest located in the New Fantasyland inside Magic Kingdom. As I’m sure you know by now, not only am I a “Disneyaholic” but I also share the name of a beloved character from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast… Mrs. Potts. That’s why it was only fitting that I find a way to eat at the new magical restaurant. Now mind you, Be Our Guest is the hardest restaurant to get a reservation at in WDW. It books up 180 days in advance! That’s why when I heard that they were doing a special walk-in lunch service, I had to try it out.

On our last day in Disney, The Mr. and I decided to try our luck and went over to Be Our Guest to put our name on the waiting list for lunch. To our surprise, the host told us that there was no list, just about a 15 minute wait if we wanted to do the quick service option. Um, YES! Within 15 minutes we had ordered our lunch and found a table in the grand ballroom and our French Dip sandwiches were brought over to us about 5 minutes later! I’ll say that for “quick service” Disney food, this sandwich was wonderful!

One thing that Be Our Guest has become known for is serving “The Grey Stuff”. Unfortunately, that is something they only serve at dinner… but fortunately for you, it inspired the following recipe!

Simple Sugar Cookies for Santa

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As some of you might have seen via Instagram, I've partnered up with Treat Street to create a few fun holiday recipes featuring their super cute treat toppers. The toppers can be found in stores coast to coast including Michaels, Target, Kroger and Walmart. 

@kaseys_kitchen

I'm honored that Walmart asked to use one of my recipes on their in-store display and website, too! If you happen to be in your local Walmart store and see it, snap a picture and use #KKRecipeFound and you just might win a prize!! 

Here's the recipe for you to try for yourself - 

Peppermint Frozen Hot Chocolate Recipe

There's something a little awkward about drinking hot chocolate at the holidays when it's still 80 degrees in Los Angeles. So why not take those flavors and turn them into an icy treat!

This recipe is for one glass of chocolatey goodness!

Ingredients
1 1/2 c of whole milk
1 package of hot chocolate mix
1 peppermint candy
3 cups of ice
whipped cream (canned or fresh)

Preparation
Heat 1/2 c of milk in a saucepan. Add in hot chocolate mix and peppermint candy. Don't worry if the candy doesn't fully dissolve.

Transfer hot chocolate to a blender and add in the additional cup of milk and the ice. Blend baby blend.

Pour into a tall glass or goblet and top with whipped cream!

Garnish with shaved chocolate, crushed peppermint or fun candy toppers!

Cinnamon Cupcake Monsters!

Only a few weeks away from every "Boos and Ghouls" favorite holiday! Why not whip up some simple cinnamon cupcakes and top it off with these adorable gummy eyes from Treat Street!

See below for decorating tips and how to build in a spooky surprise! 

Quickie Recipe: Simple Caramelized Peaches

The other night I was suffering from a killer sweet tooth but didn't want to totally ruin the hour of yoga I had done earlier that day. (#thestruggle) I remembered that I had a gorgeous white peach from the farmers market in my fridge that was about to go bad. I got a little creative and whipped up this insanely easy and addictive dessert... here's what you do:

Ingredients

1 large peach

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp brown sugar

dash of cinnamon

1 tbsp agave

vanilla frozen yogurt (or go for broke with ice cream)

Preparation

Cut peach into thin sections. 

Heat coconut oil in saute pan on med/low heat. Add peaches and begin to simmer. Add in brown sugar, cinnamon, and agave. Cook until peaches are tender. 

Serve in a shallow bowl with a dollop of vanilla yogurt! 

If You Were Stuck on a Dessert Island...

No, you're not reading a typo in that title. We've all been asked, if you were stuck on a desert island and you could only have three items with you, what would you bring? Well, the Kasey's Kitchen team would like to ask: If you were on a dessert island, what decadent sweets would you like to be stuck with?

In honor of National Ice Cream Month this July, here are some options of the classic frozen treat with a twist for you to choose from. These unique creations can be found throughout L.A. and definitely have us screaming for ice cream!

RESTAURANT: Gusto
CHEF: Vic Casanova
ICE CREAM DISH: Coconut Gelato Pie

RESTAURANT: The Rockefeller
ICE CREAM DISH: Hot Chocolate Chip Cookie

RESTAURANT: The Eveleigh
CHEF: Jared Levy
ICE CREAM DISH: Hot Fudge Sundae (with all ingredients made in-house - and KK contributor Jen's choice!)

Sweet Secrets from Chef Barb

A few weeks ago I was invited into the B Sweet kitchen to sit down with Chef Barb Batiste and talk about all things tasty! As you may have seen on my Instagram posts, the treats from B Sweet are straight up OUT OF THIS WORLD. We're talking a chocolate chip cookie the size of a pie... donut ice cream sandwiches... oh yeah and lots of bread pudding! Check out the video below for all the scoop and then scroll on down for some drool-worthy photos!

A Red, A White, and A Blue Dessert For 4th Of July!

When trying to come up with the perfect "Red, White, and Blue" recipe, I kept falling back on some of my old favorites. Thanks to the freedom given to us by our forefathers, it's my blog and I can do whatever I want. Therefore... you're getting 3 different recipes! A "red" one, thanks to the fresh strawberries in the recipe... a "white" one made with yummy coconut chips... and a BLUEberry one!



Here is one of my favorite summertime recipes. It brings together the freshness of strawberries and the induglence of cheesecake without the drama of all those calories. Bonus, it whips up in minutes, so you won't miss that valuable time in the sun!

Start Your Easter Egg Hunt at Panera

Start your Easter egg hunt early at Panera Bread with the festive Easter Egg Cookie. It’s a yummy shortbread treat caked with yellow icing, decorated with white string icing and topped with pastel colored chocolate candies.

This cookie will be available every day until Easter, April 20. Perfect for Easter Sunday, work, school, church celebrations…or just because. 

A special thanks to Panera for providing these stunning images and giving me the chance to try out these adorable cookies for myself. 

Be sure to call your local Panera cafe ahead of time as these treats are selling out faster than Peter Cottontail on the Bunny Trail! ;-)

Photos for this piece were provided by Panera Bread. All opinions are my own. 

Throwback Thursday: Super Simple Coconut Bark

I was recently introduced to Whole Kernel Coconut Oil... it's straight up AMAZING! I've found myself eating spoonfuls of this stuff our of the jar with a few chocolate chips and I thought to myself, "This is just silly, it's time to make something!"
Here's what I came up with!

Ingredients:
2 c shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1 c coconut oil
1/4 c honey
1 c chocolate chips
pinch of sea salt

Rethink Your Tofu Timing: Tofu For Dessert

When I think of tofu my brain always goes right to stir-frys. It's pretty much everyone's go-to when they try tackling tofu for the first time but there are many different ways to play with this amazing ingredient such as incorporating it into an unexpected course, dessert!

I decided to create a tasty dessert that was packed with protein because who doesn't want a dessert you can feel less guilty about??

Recipes That Are Easy As Pi!

As we prepare for Pi Day (March 14th....3/14...duh!) I wanted to share with you some of my favorite recipes for what else, PIE! Above you'll find my board from Foodie.com filled with delicious (and easy) pie recipes from fellow bloggers around the country! Check it out and get inspired!

Now for me, when I first think of the classic dessert I think of good ol' American Apple Pie or maybe a savory slice of Shepard's Pie, but as you can see from the board above, the options span far outside of the crust! Here are 3 of my faves from Kasey's Kitchen:

Chocolate Lava Cake Fake-Outs

So The Mr.'s favorite dessert is Chocolate Lava Cake, and let's be honest, who can blame him! It's sweet, warm, delicious...he obviously has the same preference in desserts as he does in women ;-)

Since I don't have the patience to make the real deal ( as some of you may know, I don't boast my baking abilities... because they are pretty nil ) I tried a simpler concoction. My experiment was a smashing success! Here's the recipe for you to try!

Ingredients:

1 box of Devil's Food cake mix

1 c Chocolate Chips

1 c Caramel Dip

1 tsp Sea Salt (I used Hepp's Pink Sea Salt)

Cooking Spray

Cupcake Pan

See quick video instructions here - http://vine.co/v/brvO65iFezl

Make Magnolia Bakery's Treats at Home This Valentine's Day

For those of you who may not have a Magnolia Bakery in your neighborhood or just simply don't have the funds to have a batch of these babies delivered to your beloved (if you do, click here) you can actually make these heavenly confections at home thanks to their signature buttercream recipe, which I just happen to have the recipe for! ;-)

This is one of my favorite frosting recipes because it's not too gritty or heavy. The vanilla buttercream they use at Magnolia Bakery is technically not a buttercream but actually an old-fashioned confectioners' sugar and butter frosting. Be sure to beat the icing for the amount of time called for in the recipe to achieve the desired creamy texture.

Ingredients: 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

This recipe is enough for 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 (9-inch) layer cake.

Chocolate Cookie Truffles

These little chocolate treats have become a staple in my Holiday repertoire. I first made them with my cousin when I was in high school. They are relatively simple but can become a bit time consuming. I think after 10 years of making these I may have finally mastered the process and I'm ready to share it with you!