Golden Birthday Cupcakes With Banana Rum Frosting and a Chocolate Chip Center

Made these babies for my brothers 19th birthday. The recipe is from the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook, but the frosting is all mine...


1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract or some more vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk the soy milk and the vinegar together and let sit a few minutes until curdled.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix.

In a separate large bowl,use a handheld mixer at medium speed to cream the margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy, but don't beat past 2 minutes.

Beat in the vanilla and other extract, if using, alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and the dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl a few times.

Put equal amounts of batter into the cupcake pan liners and stuff 5-10 chips in the middle of each cupcake, pushing it under the batter.

Cook for about 25 minutes.

Frost it with my Banana Rum Frosting and top it with some banana slices or what floats your fancy.

GFDF Banana Bread

What would you do on mother's day if you had the choice? Me, I'd bake. Funny that my daughter also baked....pineapple upside down cake. It's the best way to spend a cold Winter's day, even if it is May (the temperature was in the twenties.)

Since I've been on a gluten free and dairy free diet, I have made some horrid recipes. What I've learned is this; use your old favorites and adapt them, so you know they were good before and they can be good again. I didn't get to the apple tart that I also wanted to make, but the banana bread was awesome. The thing about GF flours is they are very light in taste, so your flavors are more dramatic. You definitely got the taste of banana and coconut with a hint of vanilla.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil

2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup soured almond milk*
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups of brown rice flour mix**
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp of salt
3/4 tsp of xanthan gum

1 cup of chopped pecans

Makes 12 muffins and 2 mini loafs. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 mini loaf pans and place muffin papers in your muffin tin.

Cream sugar and coconut oil. Add eggs, soured almond milk, bananas and vanilla. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Add nuts. Spoon into muffin tins and greased loaf pans. Bake until lightly golden on top and tooth pick comes out clean. The muffins will cook quicker than the bread. I did not time it, so I am not sure about the time. So, cook until done!

* To sour milk, add a tsp or so of vinegar to your 1/2 cup and fill the rest with your almond milk. Let sit for 10 minutes so it curdles.

** Brown flour mix-- Taken from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts
2 parts brown rice flour
2/3 parts potato starch (not potato flour)
1/3 part tapioca flour

Banana Bread with Currants and toasted Cashews and a Secret Ingredient (exposed)

I made a super ad-hoc loaf of banana bread this morning.
Here we go...


-4 super ripe bananas (small side)
-1/4 cup oil (I used olive)
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 Tbs maple syrup (molasses would be good too)
-3 Tbs Seedless Blackberry Jelly (its the secret ingredient)

-2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
-3/4 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp nutmeg

-currants about 1/2 cup
-cashews on top

Heat oven to 350 F and grease one loaf pan.

Smoosh the bananas real nice in a medium sized bowl. Then add the oil, sugar, syrup, and jelly and mix until well integrated.

Sift in the flour, baking soda, and spices and then mix until integrated. Add currants and mix 'em in.

Pour into pan and then sprinkle with nuts (I like cashews) and throw it in the oven for 60-75 minutes. Super fine!

Breakfast in Bed... I wish!!!

OOOOOhhhhhh VEGan crepes with NANNERS and Maple syrup! so good, I had them in bed with a cup of coffee on a TUESDAY!

right????


Here's the recipe!

Crepes:

• 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup melted margerine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
• 1 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• touch of nutmeg
• touch of cardamon
  

Mix all ingredients together, all at once!!! Then let it sit for hours!!! (like 2 or overnight then add some soymilk to make it a little thinner, but not as thin as non vegan crepes, you'd be surprised... I made a 1/2 batch that made four crepes, that's good enough for two, for sure!

So then heat a non-stick pan up with the least amount of grease/oil that you can manage, the littler the better. I have used a cast iron pan and I am not sure if I didn't let it sit long enough or if it just didn't work in that pan... but it was a disaster so definitely mind the sit time.

Put whatever you want in them , I just happened to have a bunch of ripening bananas so I used them.
Try: other yummy fruits prepared any way but maybe not citrus but it could work, nuts any way, dried fuits, preserves, ADD PEANUTBUTTER!!!!!!!!!!!! (other nut butter), sweet delicious things....

Vegan crepes are hard. This is the only way I have seen them done without egg substitutes or using other baking tricks. I like these the best, though they are sweet and not ideal for savory crepes, they are the best ones I have come up with!

Enjoy!!!

Peanut Butter & Co.

All of my life I have dreamed of finding a place, a community, a Co. dedicated to the delights of peanut butter and all of its many combination and good-ness-es! Today my dreams came true!



My friend Pricilla ordered an Elvis Sandwich* (Peanut Butter & co.'s creamy peanut butter, banana slices, and bacon) which came with a cute little Peanut Butter & Co. bag-o-chips and carrot slices.



I love this sign...my favorite food, crackers and peanut butter....



I got this smoothie. It was the only vegan thing on the menu besides coffee drinks and soda and whatnot. It was soooo good! Peanut butter, banana, honey, ice and rice milk!

Vegan AVOCADO CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!!

Hello!!!????? Why haven't I thought of this before?!

I discovered this recipe from the JoytheBaker Blog this morning. As my mother pulled out a pie crust that she made a day ago and mentioned her famous apple pie was on tonight's menu, I decided to bake too! I was craving something chocolate, but eying those avocados, hoping I could use them before they got too soft and brown. This was right after I came home with my pops from the Restore where we picked up a beautiful 8"x8"x8.5' hand-hewn beam to hold up our kitchen ceiling!

So without any further hesitation I made this delicious and moist Vegan Avocado Chocolate Cake
and I was a little bit skeptical of green Avocado Frosting so I concocted a Coconut Mocha (Vegan)Butter Cream Frosting:

YUUUUUMMMMMMM.

The CAKE:

3 cups all-purpose flour

6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (or 3 oz Baker's Vegan Baker's Chocolate Melted)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 medium avocado mushed

2 cups water

2 Tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch rounds. Set aside. Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar. Set that aside too. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the super mushed avocado. Add sugar (and melted chocolate if you used the Baker's chocolate) into the wet mix and stir. Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat until smooth. Pour batter into a greased cake tins. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.

The FROSTING:

3 cups confectionery sugar

1/3 cup margerine

4 TBS espresso

4-8 TBS Coconut milk

2-4 TBS Cocoa Powder

Whip it.

I want to add another variation for a fucking bomb ass frosting:

lets see....
3-4 cups of confectionery sugar, 1 stick vegan margarine, some vanilla, some BANANA RUM and a touch or so of non-dairy milk (I always try and use almond milk, its the best)

Whip it!!!!!

Frost and cut long thin slices of banana to place with frosting between layers and on the top of the cake.

This will get you a cheers with a fork in the air for sure!