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Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on May 29, 2012| 2 Comments »

My Memorial Day weekend consisted off:

– Tudors marathon on BBC America (seriously, Natalie Dormer made the best Anne Boleyn! All the other wives were so dull. And Henry Cavill…yes please!)

– Doing ALL my laundry, which took forever

– Celebrating a belated Mother’s Day. I baked Mom some Strawberry Margaritas Cupcakes. Dad made us some yummy grilled veggies and pasta. It was the only grilled food I had this weekend. Bummer! I’m remedying that tonight though

– Working

– Watching the new Underworld. What’s this? Underworld 5? Bring it!

– Cooking and baking…a lot! I made almond joy cake balls for Melinda’s birthday (she’s been telling me she wanted these for her birthday since I made them the first time- I’m not exaggerating). And I made these yummy cupcakes!

I know they are a bit of a cop-out because I’ve made the chocolate cupcakes before BUT the mint frosting and chocolate glaze are so yummy! I had to share them with you.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

cupcake:
My Perfect Chocolate Cupcake recipe found here

Mint cream:
from easybaked.net

  • 2.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 tsp peppermint extract
  • 1/4 c. melted butter
  • water
  • green food coloring (optional)

Chocolate Glaze:

  • 6 oz vegan chocolate
  • 2 TBSP butter

Prepare the cupcakes according to the recipe. Allow to cool completely.

For the mint cream, mix the confectioners sugar, butter and peppermint extract together. If the mixture is not coming together, or is too dry, add a little water until it is a spreadable consistency. Add food color if you want. Spread on the cupcakes and put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes- 1 hour until the mint cream has hardened.

For the chocolate glaze, melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler (or a microwave). Once melted, spoon the chocolate on the cupcake.

Tonight, I party it up with Melinda and crew. We’re hanging out, grilling, eating and going out drinking- all the things that make a good party! Pictures (and recipes, or course!) to come.

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Fruit and Chocolate Dessert Pizza

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , on April 10, 2012| 6 Comments »

This is my answer to the chocolate overdose I was suffering from last week. After making those cookie dough peanut butter cups (which I’m dying to make again with different flavors!) AND a vegan version of Reeses Peanut Butter eggs (which were ok,  but not great, which is why I didn’t post them here), I was so over chocolate. That’s apparently what happens when you make excuses to have peanut butter eggs for breakfast (I’ll just have a peanut butter egg instead of peanut butter on my toast. Same thing!). Infact, the thought of making something heavy for Easter dessert made me want to cry. But backing out of making a dessert wasn’t optional. If I didn’t bring anything then I wouldn’t have a vegan dessert and a holiday isn’t a holiday without a dessert…or five!

So I decided a light, fruity dessert would be perfect. It would be a nice change from heavy cakes, cheesecakes and chocolate that usually show up for our holiday parties. The one I made had a thin, chewy snickerdoodle cookie crust, a layer of creamy chocolate pudding (pudding technically isn’t a chocolate. It’s way too light for that!), and a layer of fresh fruit. Yes, please!

 

Snickerdoodle Cookie Crust
from Wicked Vegan

  • 1/2 cup vegan butter, at room temperature ( used Earth Balance)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 Ener-G “egg”
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons milk replacer (I used unsweetened soy milk)

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream vegan butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add “egg” and vanilla, mixing well until combine, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until dough comes together. Dough will most likely be crumbly at this point. Add in milk 1 TBS at a time until the dough comes together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, spread dough onto a round pizza pan. The dough will be thin. Cook between 10-15 minutes. Mine took about 12 1/2 minutes.

Let cookie cool 100%. Melt about 2 TBSP of vegan chocolate with  1/2 tsp of vegan shortening in the microwave. Spread a very thin layer of the chocolate onto the cooled cookie and let dry. This will prevent the pudding from making the cookie soggy.

Vegan Chocolate Pudding
 from epicdialogue.com

  • 1box (1.4oz) jell-o instant chocolate pudding mix*
  • 1 package (12.3oz) silken tofu, chilled
  • 1/2-3/4cup almond milk (I used 3/4 cup)

In a food processor, puree the tofu with the almond milk until smooth. Add the pudding mix and blend to a creamy texture. Put in fridge to set for about an hour. Spread on the cookie. I had about half the mixture left over.

*jell-o instant pudding is dairy-free but it has a few chemicals and weird ingredients that I wasn’t thrilled with but I couldn’t find an organic, more healthful instant pudding. I found the cook and serve kind but not instant. I wasn’t sure how the cook and serve would work so I opted for jell-o. If anyone finds a better instant pudding product or tries the cook and serve in this recipe, let me know how it turns out!

Toppings

  • strawberries
  • kiwi
  • banana
  • blueberries
  • raspberries

Slice up your fruit and layer as desired. Really, you could use any fruit you wanted, including mandarin oranges, apples or pineapple. Or you could use shredded coconut, slivered or sliced almonds or other nuts. I haven’t tried those but I bet they’d be great!

mmm…I want some of this right now. After all, if I can justify a knock-off Reeses egg for breakfast,  I should have no problem doing that with a fruit covered cookie!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on April 4, 2012| 2 Comments »

It’s Easter in less than a week. Let’s face it, Easter is a sad sort of holiday. The candy isn’t as good as halloween, the food isn’t as good as Thanksgiving and the Easter baskets aren’t as cool as presents under the trees. It’s a sad fourth on the list of major holidays.

This does not mean that it isn’t as big of a consumer holiday though. When I went to Target the other day in search of a cookie cutter, I stumbled into the holiday area and nearly died of shock when I saw how much candy they were selling. There was an entire aisle of jelly beans! Who even likes jelly beans?! I’ve never met a single person that lists jelly beans as their favorite candy. This didn’t stop me from having an urge to buy up every. single. Reeses product under the sun…but I managed to resist!

Anyway, when I left (with no cookie cutter, thanksfornothingtarget), I couldn’t get all that candy out of my head. I wanted chocolate peanut butter in the worst way! So many of the chocolates and candies have milk or gelatin in them, though, that I couldn’t resist the challenge to make my own.

Of course, I had planned to make one and then I looked down and found I was making two recipes at the same time. How did that happpen?!

So here is the first recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups
from How Sweet Eats 

2 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I would recommend Earth Balance or Teddy’s)(I used chunky because it’s what I had and it tasted great)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I couldn’t find vegan mini chip so I just ran a knife though some regular chips once and it worked fine)

In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Whisk in brown sugar until dissolved, then let it bubble for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter. The mixture will be liquidly. Whisk in vanilla. Let sit and cool completely, about 20 minutes but not longer. If it sits too long (like while your making a batch of other candies…it will solidify and you have to start all over)

Line a mini muffin with with liners. Melt 1 1/4 cups of chocolate chips (I do mine in the microwave, heating on full power for 20 seconds, stir, 30 seconds again, and stir until melted). Drop 1/2-1 teaspoon of chocolate into each liner, then use a pastry brush to brush chocolate up the sides of the liner. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes. By this point the butter + sugar mix should be cool. Whisk in powdered sugar, salt and flour, until combine and few lumps remain. Fold in mini chocolate chips (if the dough isn’t completely cool, your chips will melt and you will be left will swirled dough…so don’t do that…). The dough will be wet, but pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden.

Remove muffin tin and cookie dough, then place 1 teaspoon of cookie dough (I somewhat rolled mine) into the chocolate cups. Place back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Melt the remaining chocolate chips, then cover each cookie dough top with chocolate, smoothing with a spoon. Freeze again for 15-20 minutes. These are fine out in room temperature for a few hours (they may soften a bit) but I like them best stored in the fridge.

This was the second candy recipe I had no intention of making. I had extra chocolate from my other candies and they were in the freezer chilling. All of a sudden I look down and I’ve lined mini muffin liners with chocolate. What?! well…ok…I might as well continue…

These were great. I love the fillings texture. They are also dangerous in the mini-size so my recommendation is eat like 4 in one night until you feel sick because they are so rich and chocolaty and then you will want to die and will give them all to your roommates…or spouse…or something…I imagine.

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Homemade Irish Cream

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , on March 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

As I mentioned last week, I was feeling kind of sick and in a bit of a cooking funk after my two messed up recipes. As a result, I avoided the kitchen. I was eating raw carrots, cucumbers and avocados (I told you I’m obsessed!) with hummus for lunch, heating up left overs for dinner and overall, not doing a lot of things that make for good Wicked Vegan posts.

But this weekend, oh…this weekend was different. Why? Because St. Patty’s Day is this week! Sometimes you just need a little inspiration to get you back in the kitchen and that is exactly what St. Patrick’s Day has done for me. I was a cooking fool this weekend and as a result, I have a week full of yummy Ireland inspired meals for you!

First, let’s start with homemade Bailey’s Irish Cream. What better way to start my week of Irish inspired food than by starting with an Irish drink, which you can drink straight up on the rocks or use in a myriad of recipes. When my family and I went to Ireland in 2007, I had a nightcap of Bailey’s almost every evening I was there. It’s had a special place in my heart since then.

Homemade Vegan Irish Cream Original Flavor
inspired by cupcakeproject.com (I’m sorry I’m not linking to that page but every time I try to check out this recipe, it allows me to scroll for 5 seconds and then it freezes on me. It took me several times, strategiclly scrolling in those 5 seconds, to get the non-vegan recipe for me to convert.)

1 C soy cream

14 oz sweetened condensed milk (I used vanilla almond milk)*

1 C- 1 2/3 C Irish whiskey (I used Jameson’s)**

1 t instant coffee

2 T melted vegan chocolate (the original recipe called for Hersey’s syrup but I wasn’t feeling the chemicals in Hersey’s syrup so I just melted some vegan chocolate chip with a little vegetable shortening to thin it out)

1 t vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds.

Bottle in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. Shake before using.

* I used almond milk for my condensed milk, which I had never done before. The result was a very strong almond after taste, which you can pick up in the finished Irish Cream. This isn’t bad, and the original recipe even called for 1 tsp of almond extract, but it definitely is a difference between the vegan version and the original Bailey’s. As you read this, I have soy milk condensing in my slow cooker and if you check back tomorrow, I will let you know how that comes out.

** Um, sooo…the original recipe on cupcakeproject.com recommended 1 2/3 C of whiskey but, um, well… I’m a huge lightweight. There! I said it! I’m part irish and I’m a lightweight. *sigh* it’s not something I’m proud of people. But, because of this, I only put 1 C of whiskey into my irish cream, and not the full 1 2/3 C. You can use your own discretion when adding the booze. Also, in case you were curious, Jameson is vegan friendly. That website is great for any alcohol/vegan questions you may have.

Now, seeing as I have been DYING to make this recipe for about 2 months, when I finally had a chance, I couldn’t resist making 2 batches. I became obsessed with Chocolate Mint Bailey’s in December when my friend, Melinda, bought me a bottle as a Thank You gift. I think I had a glass every evening, which was the perfect way to end some seriously stressful work days. I knew that I had to attempt the Chocolate Mint version, as well as the original.

 Homemade Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Irish Cream 

inspired by cupcakeproject.com 

1 C soy cream

14 oz sweetened condensed chocolate milk (I used half chocolate almond milk and half dark chocolate almond milk)

1 C- 1 2/3 C Irish whiskey (I used Jameson’s)

1 t instant coffee

3 T melted vegan chocolate (the original recipe called for Hersey’s syrup but I wasn’t feeling the chemicals in Hersey’s syrup so I just melted some vegan chocolate chip with a little vegetable shortening to thin it out)

1 t peppermint extrant

Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds. The notes above regarding the almond milk and whiskey, obviously apply here too

Aww, perfect way to start off our week long celebration of Ireland. Cheers!

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I Heart You…so have some Heart Donuts!!

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on February 14, 2012| 3 Comments »

HAPPY VALETINE’S DAY!

I made you doughnuts!!! =D

I don’t know why I’m so excited about this. I’ve made you doughnuts before. In fact, it was the first thing I ever made you.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been dying to make doughnuts for about a week. But I couldn’t make them for myself because, uh, hello? I just made a whole batch of beer fries for myself and my roommates!

Drippy batter. See my note below.

Or maybe it’s because it would allow me to play with these new pans which Target forced me to buy. I went looking for another mini doughnut pan because I only have one and really? Is there anything more annoying then only having one baking pan? But of course, Target didn’t have mini doughnut pans. They only had full size heart doughnut pans. So you know, I had to buy 2, because really? Is there anything more annoying then only having one baking pan?

Either way though, I made you doughnuts!!! Yeah!

Naked!

Strawberry Glazed Baked Doughnuts

Doughnuts
from VeganYumYum

Dry Ingredients:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp  Nutmeg
1 tiny pinch or shake Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Soymilk
1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Egg Replacer for 1 Egg
4 Tbs Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 350º F

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients thoroughly. Combine wet ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and mix until earth balance is melted. Heat it until about a minute or so after the butter is melted. You want the mixture warm, not hot.

Add wet to dry and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough*

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out dough into your ungreased nonstick donut pan. Smooth out the top of the dough with your fingers, this will make for more even, prettier donuts, but isn’t crucial.

Bake for 12 minutes. They should not be browned on top, but a tester will come out clean. Invert hot pan over a cutting board or cooling rack to release donuts. Allow to cool completely before decorating

*my dough did not look like dough. It looked more like cake batter. The resulting doughnut was delicious though. Very light and fluffy, and so, so tasty.

Strawberry Glaze
from Heather Christo Cooks

2/3 cup strawberries, pureed
½ cup butter
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 Tbs or extract
¼ cup hot water

Puree strawberries. In a small saucepan, heat butter until it has melted add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Add the strawberries and stir until it is starting to melt. Add the water (if needed!) to thin the glaze, and whisk it until smooth. Dip your doughnuts in the glaze. YUM!

NOTE: Because the doughnut is so fluffy and spongy, it super absorbs the glaze. I made these the night before for work and they definitely tasted best right after it was glazed as opposed to the next morning. They weren’t super soggy, the glaze sort of just becomes the doughnut. It wasn’t like Krispy Kremes, were the glaze rests on top of the fried dough. Make sense? Good.

I also made chocolate glazed ones with the leftover Nutella mess up frosting…

Those sprinkles…oh man! They came in a container with blue and  lime green sprinkles-not heart sprinkles, just sprinkles. Clearly, I had to pick them out because, clearly, they were ugly and not festive!

….I have issues.

Anyway, I hope you have a great Valentine’s Day!!!

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The Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on February 6, 2012| 5 Comments »

This weekend was busy but fun…minus that unfortunate game last night but we’re just going to pretend that didn’t happen.

Renee, me and Rachel. Happy Birthday, Renee!

On Friday night, I went over to my friend Rachel’s to celebrate our friend, Renee’s, birthday. We had lots of yummy food (including this black bean salsa) and I brought these cupcakes with me. They were a big hit. I won’t tell you how many Renee ate but let us just say she really enjoyed them…and probably didn’t have any grounds for yelling at her boyfriend for over doing it with the frosting on his cupcake.

Then Sunday, we had our Super Bowl party. After Rent-a-Center told me it would cost me $500 to rent a TV (seriously?!), we stuck with our little inherited TV. We had a ton of food for only 9 people, all of it delicious and most of it vegan (someone brought boneless wings but that was the only non-vegan item). Bonnie made a super yummy avocado tomato bruschetta and a chipotle hummus I may share with you later in the week. I made my black bean salsa, again, and these cupcakes, again, which got thumbs up all around. Melinda made the artichoke spinach dip I shared with you last week. It was kind of a delicious spread!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
from Brown Eyed Baker 

  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 1 avocado, pitted and peeled
  • 1 cup pure maple syrup
  • ¾ cup plain almond milk
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Purée avocado in food processor until smooth. Add maple syrup, almond milk, oil, and vanilla, and blend until creamy. Whisk avocado mixture into flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared cupcake cups. Bake 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with some crumbs attached. Cool.

These cupcakes are so perfect because the avocado and maple syrup make them super moist and rich but not too sweet. They are just so darn good! No worries though, you can’t taste the avocado in the cupcake. It’s too mild of a flavor. The chocolate and vanilla easily mask it.

Sooo…I sort of don’t have a frosting recipe for you. For Renee’s birthday, I attempted to make vegan nutella frosting. It was a big fail…or so I thought. I was running late and instead of a fluffy frosting of amazingness to present to her, I had liquid goop.

So I bought a can of rainbow chip frosting on my way to her house…45 minutes late. Darn you nutella frosting!! I was the only vegan there though so no one cared that the rainbow chip frosting had dairy and oodles of chemicals in it. Cheers to birthday cupcakes anyway!! (Rachel, in the gray shirt, is ‘cheering’ with my cupcake and hers so I could take a picture. That isn’t my hairy arm in the foreground- promise. Sorry, Ryan…)

Then Sunday, after working all day, I had some perfectly baked cupcakes ready for thefootballgamethatshallnotbementioned and I couldn’t bring myself to make the Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate frosting from a box. Yes- it’s vegan. Yes-it’s free of chemicals. and yes- I will make it for you eventually and review it but I just couldn’t bring myself to use it on my perfect chocolate cupcakes. Nothing makes homemade cupcakes go to the dogs quicker then store bought frosting. So I dug out the massive bowl of should-have-been vegan nutella frosting from the fridge and to my delight… it was solid and spreadable. Granted, more like a icing then a frosting, but I’d take it!!

Then I piped confectioners sugar mixed with a little water for the stitching. I just used a sandwich bag and cut a tin hole in one of the corners. Super easy. Aren’t they cute? That 83 in the heart was made for my dad for his man, Welker, obviously!

My roommate, Bonnie, rocking some serious Pat's attitude. Hmm...Maybe we'll just put those Pat's jersey's away for a while...

I have the day off so I’m going to go wash all our dirty dishes from last night and maybe try to be productive. Now that the Super Bowl is over I guess I should start brainstorming some Valentines desserts for you guys? Or maybe, like that awful game last night, I’ll just pretend it isn’t happening…

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Funfetti Cake Balls

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2012| 9 Comments »

 

 

PATS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!

I’m so excited! I can’t say it’s because of their stellar performance, though. Where the hell were their heads during that game? We have to give a special kudos to the Ravens’ kicker, Cundiff. Without him, who knows if we would have made it to the superbowl! And of course, my Dad’s man, Welker. Definitely caught a good portion of those catches. And he was all smiley the entire time. Love him!

I’m sorry…I know not everyone is a football fan but we’re going to the super bowl!

So in preparation for the game, I’m hoping that this week and next week I will be able to give you some recipes you can serve when you have all of your closest friends over for the game! Last week, I posted a BBQ chili recipe, which would be great if you are hosting. Its yummy enough for all your vegan and non-vegan friends a like.

Today, I’m giving you funfetti cake balls. I was hoping to show you these last Friday but, er, I had some issues making them. For instance, I cooked the sprinkles into the cake my first time around and well, the cake balls turned out a lovely gray color.

yeah…that doesn’t work for me. I want color in my cake!

Funfetti Cake Balls

cake
adapted from How Sweet Eats

  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 Ener-G eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add “eggs” and vanilla and beat until combined.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients.

Bake in 9″ round pan for 30-35 minutes.

Allow to cool completely.

Cake Balls

  • 1 batch of the above cake (or any vegan yellow/white cake)
  • 1/8 c. vegan condensed milk (I followed the steps I used to make the almond joy cake balls, except I used vanilla Silk soy milk this time and it was so yummy! You don’t have to use soy milk but definitely used vanilla flavored non-dairy milk)
  • Place the 1/8c. of condensed milk into a 1/2 c and fill the rest with Vanilla Soy milk. (This recipe is halved from the almond joy cake balls so the liquid ingredients are kind of wonky).
  • 1/3 cup of colorful sprinkles
  • 1/2 bag of vegan chocolate chips
  • 1-2 TBSP of vegetable shortening

Crumble the cooled cake into a large bowl. Add the vanilla soy milk and the condensed soy milk to the bowl. With your hands, mix the ingredients in the bowl together until they are well combined. Add the sprinkles in last and mix them well into the dough. Roll into balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 1 hour.

Melt the chocolate and vegetable shortening in a double boiler on the stove.* Roll the chilled cake balls in melted chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Return to the fridge until read to serve.

*I used a decent amount of shortening in the chocolate because I really wanted to thin it out. The first batch I made, when the cake turned out gray, also had too much chocolate. The dark chocolate overwhelmed the cake so I wanted to just put a very thin coating on it. If you have vegan white chocolate, I would definitely advise using that. I haven’t been able to find any so I just used the semi-sweet.

I love how these are all black and white and then you bite into them and its all…WHAHBAM hello color! Ok…these picture don’t do them complete justice. But I certainly couldn’t bite into all of my cake balls until I found a good picture-worthly one! Trust me, they’re awesome…

So you could make these into balls like I did above or, if you want to get super fancy for the superbowl, you can make them into footballs!

Aren’t they so cute?! ok…I know…these aren’t the best footballs. I actually got this idea as I was rolling the cake calls out so there wasn’t a whole lot of preplanning involved, like 5 seconds of preplanning. If I did them again, I would probably pipe the stitching on so it looked cleaner but I worked with what I had at the time!

If you aren’t trying to make these vegan, you could also use the Wilton’s colored chocolate discs they sell at Michaels and dunk these in Red or Blue for the Pats. If you use those, you won’t need the vegetable shortening. OR, if you could find red and blue sprinkles, you could do the sprinkles in Pats colors. That would actually be really cute while still staying vegan!

I had too much fun with taking these pictures…

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My December Addictions- Therapy and Mint Chocolate

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on December 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 

As you may have noticed, I bit off a little more than I could chew this holiday season. In September, when my regular job was slow, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to get a second job and use all that money to boost my pathetic savings account. So, in October, I optimistically entered the retail world! All was going well until about mid-november when the shit hit the fan- the intensity level of both my jobs got cranked to 11 (spinal tap reference anyone? Anyone? Bueller?)

Anyways, as a way to cope with this over-worked craziness that I got myself into, I began to turn to therapy…retail therapy that is. I would distract myself by buying pretty sparkly lights for my christmas tree or an awesomely grouchy mug. It makes me happy! The fact that I work in a book store definitely fuels this therapy. So far, I have used the following items to distract me from work:

– Gray Toms (I’ve worn them almost every day. So comfy)
– A fake tree with purple lights (I already posted a pic of this, which I’m sure you are still marveling at)
– My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler (I haven’t read it yet so don’t even ask me what I think of it. As if I have time to read!)
– The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ( I already read it but I didn’t actually own it. You’ve read it right? It’s awesome! Buy it tonight if you haven’t!!)
– A new large teddy bear (Best. Purchase. Ever. He’s so cuddly and warm!)
– A black mug that says ‘Bah Humbug!’ (so appropriate)
– More lip products then I will probably use in my life (Tokyomilk- Let Them Eat Cake lip balm, which the seller sent me the wrong product for; CO Bigelow’s Rose Salve- obsessed; CO Bigelow’s Mentha Lip Shine- love; CO Bigelow Coconut lip butter- also love; CO Bigelow Sparkling Apple Cider- so gross…can you tell Bath and Body Works was having a sale? Plus I got 20% off everything! PLUS I got the apple cider one for free…so you know, I saved A LOT of money!)
-A moleskin journal for my food journaling.

oh yeah…and then I bought some presents for people, you know, those family people =)

You will notice that there is no food on there. Yeah… I haven’t had a huge appetite the past week or so. I think my body is boycotting my craziness and is holding out for more sleep. I’ve eaten a lot of brothy soup, kale and, weirdly enough, anything with mint and chocolate, which just happens to be my second addiction. I’m obsessed! I don’t know why. Until two weeks ago, I would have chosen almost anything over mint chocolate, especially peanut butter and chocolate. Now, I can’t be bothered with anything that doesn’t have some chocolate mint combo. I blame this on Melinda and her mint chocolate bailey hot chocolate that she simply forces down my throat each night (that’s a lie). It started me on my addiction. Which is what prompted this recipe. I thought, how could I possibly make mint chocolate baileys and hot chocolate any better? Umm…how about making it into an ice cream shake…obviously.

Now, before you start griping about how Bailey’s isn’t vegan, let me just say this: I know. Melinda bought it, I think, as a sort of ‘thank you for letting me crash at your pad’ offering. So this has been my one shot of dairy I have all day. You can replace this with Silk Chocolate mint soy milk and a little bit of whiskey, which is apparently the ‘spirit’ in Bailey’s.

Chocolate Mint Ice cream Shakes
servings: 2-4

2 cups (1 container) So Delicious Dairy-Free Chocolate Obsession Ice cream
2 shots of Mint chocolate Bailey’s (or 1.5 shots of Silk Mint Chocolate and .5 shot of whiskey/ vegan irish cream)
Whipped ‘Cream’ (I used Soyatoo Rice Whip, review below)

Add Ice cream and liquid of choice to blender. Blend until smooth. Top with whip cream.

This is the world’s most pathetic blog, ever. So to redeem myself, I’m going to include a review of Rice Whip:

I know that you can make homemade whip cream from Soy creamer but I found this Soyatoo Rice Whip on a quick trip to Whole Foods last week. I had shown up approximately 5 minutes before they closed (I was one of those people) and I was determined not to be one of those selfish people who hang around after a store is closed because they feel like they are entitled to shop for as long as they feel like it. So I grabbed the chocolate ice cream and raced to the dairy section to see if I could find a whip cream substitute. When I saw the rice whip, I thought I’d give it a try.

I should have saved my money. It’s so weird! It has the exact same texture as whipped cream except it tastes exactly like white rice. It’s the most bizarre sensation! The general consensus between Melinda and I was that it would have been significantly better if it was a bit sweeter. There didn’t seem to be any sweeteners or flavors, like vanilla extract, or anything. It was just foamed white rice. So weird! I didn’t love it. I think I would have preferred to just make whipped cream from scratch. BUT I got to review a new vegan product for you so, yeah!

 

 

I’m going to try to make those chocolate mint cookies vegan for you. Tune in on Friday!

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Peanut Butter Cups… and an absurd amount of Holiday Pictures

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2011| 1 Comment »

When I was growing up, Reeses were my favorite candy. I was obsessed. At Halloween, I always traded out other candy to get Reeses, Reeses pieces or Reeses Nutrageouses. Then, to eat them, I would push the peanut butter middle out, roll it into a ball, eat the chocolate outside then eat the rolled peanut butter. It was disgusting.

At Friendlys, the only sundae I ever order is the Reeses peanut butter cup sundae, no hot fudge, extra peanut butter. Since I was like…10 or something. Even my mom’s friends know this is my order.

Guess what? Much like my favorite beer, Shipyard, Reeses aren’t vegan. Obviously. So when I need a fix of my favorite treat, I turn to this recipe. It’s delicious! I like to make a batch and then keep them in the freezer so if I have an urge for a vegan friendly reeses sundae (So Delicious Vanilla Icecream, melted Earth Balance Peanut butter with a little earth balance butter in it, topped with one of these…mmmm…..), I have  stash ready available. Or, if I want to use them for baking, like chocolate cookies with crushed up peanut butter cups, I don’t have to make these first and wait until they’re chilled.

Or, you can just make a whole batch, sit in front of the TV with them watching The Notebook and switch between blowing your nose from your uncontrollable sobbing and absently shoveling one of these in your mouth.

Whatever floats your boat, I won’t judge. But you should definitely make these!

I know this looks like an ad for Earth Balance but, unfortunately, they didn’t pay me to give them props.

Peanut Butter Cups
from Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (It’s also on the back of every carton of Earth Balance Soy Milk)
Makes 12 in a regular cupcake tin, or 24 mini cupcakes. (I like the mini cupcakes because I feel less guilty when I walk past the freezer 8 times and steal one…8 times…)

INGREDIENTS
1⁄2 cup Earth Balance butter
3⁄4 cup crunchy peanut butter
(preferably unsweetened and unsalted)
3⁄4 cup graham cracker crumbs or 10 graham cracker squares
1⁄4 cup maple sugar or other granulated sweetener*
1 cup grain-sweetened, nondairy chocolate or carob chips
1⁄4 cup soy, rice, or nut milk
1⁄4 cup chopped pecans, almonds, or peanuts

*you will see in the picture above Maple Syrup instead of Maple Sugar. yeah…I read that wrong the first time and made it with maple syrup. It was actually declicious, just a little softer. You would definitely have to keep them in the fridge or freezer if you want to go that route.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin (or a mini muffin time) with paper liners.*Set aside.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and maple sugar and mix well. Remove the mixture from the heat.
Evenly divide the mixture, approximately 2 tablespoons per cup (a little less then 1 TBS when going the mini muffin tin route. I felt 1 TBS didn’t allow enough room for the chocolate), among the muffin cups.
Combine the chocolate and milk in another pan.
Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted.
Spoon the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture.
Top with chopped nuts.
Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours before serving.

*I would recommend the aluminum foil liners as opposed to paper. You are dealing with melted butter, melted peanut butter and melted chocolate. They hold up better!

These would be great as christmas gifts. You could make them in the mini muffin pan with cute paper and then package them nicely in themed boxes from Michaels. No one would even know they’re vegan.

So now that you hate me for filling your head with the idea of a Friendlys Reeses Sundae on a Monday when  you are stuck at work, I’ll help distract you.

LOOK AT MY CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

I know, you are all like ‘You showed us a christmas tree last week’. That was my apartments christmas tree, which has appropiate christmas lights and ornaments. This is my christmas tree, which has purple lights, a purple sparkly star on top, a teal tree skirt and teal star garland, and ornaments like Jack Skellington and Rainbow Brite! I took 4 hours out of my Saturday evening to clean my room and set this up. My weekend was awful so I needed the distraction. Isn’t it super awesome?!

We’re going to pretend this tree isn’t completely flat on one side because I set it up at 1 am and I didn’t care that the branches were perfect…thank you…

Jack, Cupcakes and Rainbow Brite! I have the coolest ornaments. My Grandma gets me one every year and I thinks its the best tradition ever!

I also have purple lights for my bed and around my closet. I’m so weird…

My adorable new friend. Isn’t he cute??

Ok…I’m done wasting your time. Weds we’ll resume our regularly scheduled programming and I won’t bombard you with my holiday pictures. Happy Monday!

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The Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies that Weren’t

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on October 17, 2011| 3 Comments »

 

Ever have one of those mornings were its chilly outside but nice and warm in your bed; your pillows are perfectly squished and arranged for optimum comfort; your comforter is feeling especially fluffy and cuddly; and overall, you are just too stickin’ comfortable to think of getting out of bed??

Today was one of those mornings. I would have sacrificed a small, annoying child to be able to stay in bed all day.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any small, annoying children. Also,  I had 2.5 dozen of these cookies in my kitchen and if I did not bring them to work this morning, I would get up later in the morning just long enough to bring at least one bag of these back into bed with me where I would curl up and eat them all.

And I could not have that! So, here I am…

This is another Howsweeteats.com recipe. She posted it last week and I was intrigued by the idea of a flat, chewy pumpkin cookie as opposed to the soft cake-like version I had made last year.  Well, mine were not flat or chewy. My cookies were definitely more cake-like.

Howsweeteats.com

wickedvegan.com

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When we look at the side-by-side comparison here that I have conveniently provided for you, we can clearly see mine are way too soft and pillowy (much like my pillows were this morning *Sigh*).  I suspect the egg substitute had something to do with that. Maybe next time, I’ll try replacing the eggs with applesauce instead and see if that works. They still tasted amazing, though!
 

Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Pumpkin Butter

[adapted from the howsweeteats.com]

makes about 24-30 cookies

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) vegan butter, melted and cooled (I used Earth Balance)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg replacer + 1 egg yolk replacer (conversions are on the Ener-G egg replacer box)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup pumpkin butter

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 1/4 cups vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted vegan butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg replacer, egg yolk replacer, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin butter until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold chocolate chips and chunks.

Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golfball-sized balls. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are crisp and slightly golden on the edges, then let cool completely.

So, these cookies are definitely delicious (my roomies were raving about them!) but I have to be honest- Pumpkin Butter was about $7 for 3/4 of a cup. Not terrible if you are making one batch of these. If you are crazy though, and decide to tackle 2.5 batches of these on a Sunday night, I would suggest going the pumpkin puree route.  It’s cheaper and the pumpkin butter didn’t make a huge difference when you make the cookies vegan.

On a more exciting and completely different note, look what I found in Whole Foods.  Sticks of Earth Balance! I’m so excited!! No more measuring TBS of Earth Balance out of the tubs!!! It’s the little things in life…

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