BDZ: Baking Disaster Zone

This one had potential.



I was supposed to spend the day brainstorming for my thesis. But starting a thesis from a blank slate feels like the most aimless, directionless, floating form of productivity...ever. So when my friends Ben and Daniel invited me over for dinner before they leave for an adventure to Togo, my day suddenly filled with purpose. I asked what I could bring, and they mentioned I could bring over a dessert. Thrilled to have a momentary distraction from thesis'ing, I stumbled upon this gem. An entire blog filled with coconut dessert recipes. Amazing! (Side note: all the links on the site also direct you to coconut "diet" oil.)

I chose Coconut Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake bars, namely because I had most of the ingredients on hand and only would have to pick up a few things.


Everything went pretty smoothly. Nothing exploded, nothing spilled, nothing burned. My entire studio apartment filled with the heavenly smell of molten butter and sugar.

I honestly don't know where the fudge I went wrong.

I hurried home after a few hours at the library and pulled the pan out of the fridge, eager to see how my little baby turned out. It looked great. I decided to cut one out of the middle-side. My knife only went in about 1/2 an inch. My butter knife actually BENT when it hit the crust. No. No no no no no! How did this happen?!!

In all honesty, I sensed something was amiss when I was making the crust. It was crumbly, but not quite crumbly enough. More like dust-crumbles. The flour/butter-adherent ratio was a little off. I also substituted 2 tbsp of buckwheat flour for coconut flour, because I did a little research and 1) coconut flour has no taste; 2) buckwheat and coconut flours have similar levels of fiber; and 3) there was no way I was buying a pound of coconut flour for $7 in order to use 2 tbsp.

I think this is where I might have gone wrong? It turned my crust into CE-ment.

The good news is the top portion (cream cheesiness and crumbly topping) is absolutely delicious. The good news is also that these are good friends, and no one I have to worry about impressing. They know I have other redeeming qualities other than baking.

Sigh.