Not Built in a Day

When the question is "cake or ...," I choose cake. This week I made a pineapple upside-down cake, with a few modifications from necessity. I used Alton Brown's recipe, which calls for cornmeal - a bit unusual but I think it added an interesting consistency. I don't have a cast-iron skillet, or even a cake pan, so I simply used a square 8x8 glass dish. It worked just fine. The cake came out chewy and sweet and pineapple-y, just what I wanted! And overall, it was very easy to make. I'd give it 5 stars. And even Justin admitted that it was very good, despite having seen how much butter and sugar went into it!

For a party this week I tried - emphasis on tried - to make coconut macaroons. However, we inadverently bought finely grated, untoasted, unsweetened coconut, not the larger shredded sweetened coconut called for in the recipe. So I toasted the coconut myself and added extra sugar, but the end result favored the meringue, meant to hold the cookie together, over the coconut, which nearly disappeared. The cookies were still quite tasty, and I have decided simply to pass this off as an invention: the coconut macaringue. Enjoy!