A Southern Gallimaufry
Sift 3 cups flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder. Mix in 2 cups light brown sugar (it doesn’t have to be packed, for Pete’s sake) and work in a cup of cold butter. Stir in 2 well-beaten eggs with a teaspoon each vanilla and almond extract. Add 2 cups grated coconut, and mix well; you’ll get a better form if you chill the dough. Drop by spoonfuls onto a lightly oiled sheet pan, and bake at 350 until tops are toasted and bottoms browned.
Since the 2006 release of the film V for Vendetta, Guy Fawkes, the best-known member of he best-known member of the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to blow up the House of Lords in London on 5 November 1605, has been redeemed, and instead of being burned in effigy as a symbol of disorder and insurrection, Fawkes has become a rallying persona for protest groups of many stripes.
Guy Fawkes Night is still celebrated on Nov 5 in Britain and the Commonwealth ostensibly to celebrate the king’s escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, setting off fireworks, and putting out a table, but nowadays instead of Fawkes, effigies of whoever happens to be the current target of public derision are set ablaze. Dishes similar to this are made throughout the West Indies as well as Bermuda, where it’s traditionally served on Guy Fawkes Night by evil heathen royalists as well as those noble democratic souls who like good food. The texture is fudge-like, very dense and intensely flavorful. The toasted coconut flakes seen here as a topping can be added to the pudding mix, but do not use raw grated coconut or it will get gummy.
Mix 1 1/2 pounds cooked pureed sweet potato with 2 cups cream of coconut, 1 stick melted butter, juice of 1 lime and 1 cup brown sugar until smooth. Blend in by spoonfuls 1 cup flour; add 1 cup raisins (optional), a tablespoon each of vanilla and lime juice, and a teaspoon each ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A generous slosh of dark rum is a nice touch. Pour batter into a well-oiled 8-inch cake pan and bake at 350 for about an hour until firm then cool. Best served chilled; this recipe easily provides a dozen servings.
Soften a stick of butter and eight ounces of cream cheese (don’t use the low-fat), mix with a tablespoon pure vanilla extract, four cups confectioner’s sugar, and a cup of grated coconut. Chill mixture for about an hour or until very firm. Dust your hands with powdered sugar and form into irregularly-shaped balls. Roll in or dust with cocoa (nothing’s keeping you from using paprika), stud the surface with pecan pieces. Freeze before serving.
