Crazy for coconuts

First you have to find a good coconut.  This is harder than you think. Choose one that is not wet, no green signs of mold on any of the eyes, and no cracks.  shake it, you should hear coconut water!

At home, find the third eye that will allow you to poke it with a cork screw.

work the cork screw intil you have nice hole wide as a pencil.

Drain the coconut water,

now, the fun part.  take the coconut outside, place it on a hard surface. Garage floor works wonders.  grab your hammer and hit the middle of the coconut, the widest part. turn, and repeat down the center until you have the fault line cracked.   and tap it a few more times til it breaks apart.

Smell it. look at it.  it should smell like wonderful fresh coconuts.  look between the hard shell and the meat, should be clean, no green mold.  no pink spots.  touch the inside, should be hard, not slimey. if thumbs up, you are lucky!  sometimes we go through 5 coconuts before a fresh one!
Bring it in, and score the meat into sections, like cutting a pizza. his is for easier release.

almost done....  now drive that cheese knife between the hard shell and meat to pop up your reward!

I love that cheese knife, its a hard worker!  so you should have a mound of odd pieces.  you can just eat it as they are with the brown covers on, or you can peel them off with a sharp knife.  If baking, peel them, its just looks prettier.  Clean them up.  I chose to peel, I have to bake something....
micro plane #one is larger, makes for great toasted coconuts, micro plane #2 is smaller, makes billowy, fluffy mounds of goodness for baking.

lets toast the large shavings for later. meanwhile, take a break and enjoy the coconut water, its so good and good for you. THEY SAY.

OH THEY CAME OUT PERFECT.  so I have enough coconut to make some almond joy, a cake and some muffins.  wow just gained 3 pounds thinking about this stuff.

that will go into the freezer, to be covered later with DARK chocolate (come on, is there any other kind?) The cake is from Blogger Technicolor Kitchen, recipe http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/coconut-orange-tea-cake-and-things-that.html

And the frosting is a simple cream cheese frosting with orange zest. piped on the cupcakes, with the coconut shavings, voila! finaly time to eat!