BURGER #1: COCONUT FLAKE HAWAIIAN BURGER

Not sure if anyone remembers, but a few weeks ago I bought two hamburger cookbooks with the intention of making one or two "fancy" burger recipes each month. Tonight was my first attempt -- the coconut-flake hawaiian burger.


If you don't mind a little sweetness in your burgers, then this recipe is for you. Mixed into 2 pounds of ground beef (90 percent lean) is 3 tablespoons of coconut cream (I used coconut milk), 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of coconut flakes and a pinch of salt and pepper.


While the burgers were grillin' I prepared the "coconut macadamia nut glaze" that would be used as a topping. It was essentially 8 ground up macadamia nuts (above), 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of coconut flakes and 3 tablespoons of coconut cream, combined and simmered in a saucepan for about five minutes.


Here's the finished product. Eight ounces of beef served on bed of baby romaine lettuce, topped with the coco-mac nut glaze and one slice of pineapple between a toasted sesame seed kaiser roll. Overall it was great burger. The coco-mac nut glaze was very sweet which was a nice change of pace as far as burgers are concerned. I ate two of these half-pounders, with the other one prepared minus the glaze and pineapple. Even without those two key toppings, the sweetness of the sugar and coconut in the beef was evident, but only subtly.

A full set of pics can be seen here.