Holiday Cookies - Peppermint Snowballs, Monster Marshmallow Choco, Fudgy Flourless Choco, MATCHA Snowball Cookies

Polly's Photo Journal of 2020 Holiday Cooky Galore.

Peppermint Snowballs

Monster Marshmallow Chocolate Cookies with Peppermint and Pecans

MATCHA Snowball Cookies

Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Cookies

without Pecans

with Pecans

Homemade Fresh Shredded Coconut - Shredding with Food Processor vs Manual Shredder Bar (with bench)

It's nice to have some kitchen tools to help in making fresh shredded coconuts.  The ones being sold in the store is loaded with sugar and I just don't like it's texture in the desserts.  It's feels like bunch of fine wood barks dropped in.  But the fresh ones you make at your home will melt in your mouth, and they are just delicious.  In S. Viet-Nam, they use a manual shredder bar to shred, which I managed to own one and had successfully produced finely shredded flavorful coconut.  I wondered if I can do the same using the Cuisine Art Food Processor.  So I tried.  The disadvantage of the food processor is that it couldn't shred all the coconut meat, and it doesn't have the fine shred setting.  So between the food processor and manual metal bar shredder, the winner is the metal bar shredder.

The food processor could not shred the coconut meat.  It left chunks of coconut meat that slipped away by the fast spinning blade.

Spread on dehydrator tray and dry for few hours.

Food Processor vs Manual Coconut Shredder Blade

Older the coconut, thicker and firmer the coconut meat.  If specifically purchasing the coconut to crop the meat, then, buy the mature coconut with browned husk.

from previous post - https://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/2013/12/how-to-make-home-made-coconuts-cream.html

The blade can shred coconut into tender soft threads

Sprinkle some sugar on if desired, toss, then, spread onto a parchment lined sheet pan and heat in the oven to dry at 100-125'F.  Becareful not to cook it.  The flavor in the cakes are wonderful.

Making Delicious Lime Flavored Dehydrated Persimmons - HOSHI KAKI

 After trying a several different ingredients to bring out home grown persimmons' flavor making them into this and that, adding lime juice or lemon juice with a bit of sugar bring out the best taste of KAKI.

Squeeze 2 lemons, Dissolve 1 Tbsp Sugar.  Sprinkle some Fruit Fresh.

Toss them well.

Optional:  Add ground Cayenne Pepper or dried chili pepper

Prepare Dehydrator.

For 20 - 25 persimmons, I use 8 dehydrator trays.  Have two fruit roll up trays handy for the extra soft KAKI.

Core and peel KAKI that started to give in a bit.  I keep the crispy one to be eaten fresh.

Cut into halves and remove the seeds.

Place on each tray and dry until they are dry, chewy, but not crispy. 

After removing the copy, peel the skin, Slice into halves and remove seeds.  

Toss in the bowl with Lime juice mixed with sugar and sprinkle a bit with Fruit Fresh powder.

Slicing a KAKI into 4 slices produced 'bark' feel KAKI.  Slicing into halves is more satisfying.

For me without the gallbladder, KAKI helps me regulates "control" digestive system.

Between lemon and lime, I prefer Lime.  The added sugar helps the lime or lemon juice to stick to the KAKI better during dehydration.

Slicing the KAKI into halves result in better chewy dried KAKI then 4 slice KAKI that would result in somewhat like a bark.

Store in sanitized Mason Jars.