OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a wimp. For all my willingness to try new things, I have to draw the line sometimes. Shredded coconut is just not my friend. I can’t stand it. Neither can my husband Howard. Nor my good friend Laury. My usual tasters. I’m too frugal to make something, and then have to search out willing tasters. So, when Coconut Friands was picked this week for French Fridays with Dorie, I knew I was in trouble.

Lucky for me, my sisters share my love of cooking. My middle (and coconut-loving) sister Jane volunteered for the challenge, and she’ll substitute for me this week to tell you how it went. (You can also see an earlier post by Jane on some delicious holiday desserts here.)

We don’t post the recipes, but you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. You can see how the other bloggers thought of the coconut friands here.

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What an honor to be a guest blogger again! And my family was thrilled to be the guinea pigs for the coconut friands recipe. I don’t know what a “friand” actually is but this recipe was a winner in my household. I’d call it a cupcake. The recipe was simple and quick and the results turned out sweet but not oversweet, moist and delicious.

I would recommend this dessert to go with coffee even for a brunch or luncheon. It mixed up all in one bowl so it will be easy cleanup for you. But not so for me as I thought it would be a great opportunity to use my latest gadget purchase – a batter dispenser that I’d used only for pancake batter. The dispenser has a handle that dispenses as much batter as you want simply. It’s a dream for pancakes and muffins. Unfortunately, the friand batter was too thick to dispense this way so I ended up with a second bowl to wash anyway.

Next time I would top the friand with a raspberry as Dorie recommended or maybe with a dried cherry because the color of the friand was so pale that they didn’t look nearly as good as they tasted. I think if I had left them in the oven a little longer, the browner toasted top would be a sacrifice in exchange for my moist cupcakes. I’m interested to hear about other bloggers’ final results to see how else I might combat this issue. The recipe made nearly 2 dozen mini cupcakes and I kept them in my refrigerator for about a week. I warmed them for about 30 seconds in the microwave and they were still tasty a week later!

Everyone in my picky family enjoyed this recipe. Thanks to Aunt Betsy for having a coconut adverse household! See you next time.

–Betsy’s Sister Jane

My Sisters and Me. left to right, Jennifer (youngest), Betsy (oldest), Jane (middle)