Global Recipe Project

Samoa is a little island in the Pacific Ocean about 3,200 kilometers north of New Zealand. Lonely Planet calls it the place where "emerald shores meet azure waters." Sounds pretty much like every other island in the Pacific. We chose to make Masi Samoa which are coconut cookies. Please do not confuse these with the Girl Scout "Samoa" cookie. They are not  the same thing. At all.  The best part of this recipe is the way your house smells while the cookies are baking. The 4 year old walked into the kitchen just as the cookies were finishing up in the oven and proclaimed, " Hmmmm ça sent très bon !!" (It smells very good!).  Apparently these cookies come in neatly piled stacks tied with ribbon on the streets of Samoa. Whenever we make our way there I will gladly pick them up and devour them as fast as possible.  They're a cross between a shortbread cookie and a scone. Although delicious as they were, we found that slathering them with nutella ...

My best friend has been perfecting donut recipes this summer so it seemed appropriate to make Tanzanian Mandazi. Mandazi are donuts traditionally eaten for breakfast and are spicier and less sweet than their American counterpart. We enjoyed them with coconut vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries.  Although I wouldn't necessarily repeat the recipe for my personal use, they were fun and I would welcome finding them on the streets of Tanzania when we make our way there one day.  I found the recipe slightly unusual in that coconut milk was added to the warm water and sugar prior to adding the yeast. I felt that this meant that the yeast did not fully develop before kneading, resulting in a very dense donut.  This is the recipe I followed.  A's rating: 3  H's rating: 5