Vegan Coconut Cupcakes With Key Lime Frosting

Another day another baby shower, or so the saying goes. For my friend's baby shower today, I knew lime frosting was the way to go. And of course along with lime comes you know what-coconut. I planned to scour the internet for the best coconut cupcake recipe, but once I came across this Sweetest Vegan, I was sold. Her personality is so infectious, and I love how she showed the texture after taking a bite. Most importantly though, the cupcakes received rave reviews in the comments section. Seriously, this girl needs her own show.

I doubled the recipe to make exactly 24 cupcakes. I also used half coconut oil and half shortening with great results.

The frosting is Isa Chandra's Lime Buttercream Frosting from her Coconut Lime Cupcakes, not doubled.

We loved these and will make them again!

Butterscotch Pudding Choco-Chip Bars~Ooey Goey Style

I know I do this a lot (bake chocolate chip cookies/bars) but can you blame me? I'm getting more into raw foods these days, but something about baking keeps calling me back. I had a few packages of Dr. Oetker's pudding mix, so I figured why not make one of those pudding cookie recipes? I used the excuse that I was doing it for Ava, who has been doing a great job with her potty training. I let her choose the flavor of pudding, and she chose butterscotch. Here is the recipe I easily veganized.

I used Spectrum Organic Shortening for butter, but I'm sure coconut oil or any butter will do. For the eggs, 2 Tb flax plus 6 Tb water blended in the Magic Bullet. Of course, I only use organic sugar and whole wheat flour. Try it with chocolate pudding for a double chocolate treat!

Oh, and I pressed it into my special brownie pan which is 7x11in. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes.

Brown Rice Crispy Bites All Dressed Up

I know this is my third sweet post in a row, but I swear this is not just a dessert blog! I made these for a party and saved these for myself. They are a version of my other brown rice crispy treats, "dressed up" with a top layer of chocolate. Before I get into the recipe, I'd like to thank all 28 of you for following my blog. My transition to a vegan diet was a transition in my heart, mind, and soul. I find that I am happiest while sharing my new vegan heart with others through good food, hence, the reason for this blog. I want to help newbies, vets, the veg curious, and those who just want a meatless monday. So thank you again for your readership; it means the world to me. Oh, and I will post more savory foods in the future! Here's the recipe for my Brown Rice Crispy Bites.

Ingredients:

8 cups brown rice cereal

1 1/2 cups unsalted almond butter

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup organic brown sugar

1 cup agave nectar

2 ts vanilla

1/2 ts salt

2 cups dairy free chocolate chips 

1/4 cup non dairy milk

1 ts vanilla

1/4 ts salt

Directions:

1. Line a 9x13 in brownie pan with tin foil.
2. Combine almond butter, coconut oil, brown sugar, agave, 2 ts vanilla, and 1/2 ts salt in a large pot on medium heat. Use a whisk to stir frequently.
3. When mixture begins to bubble, continue stirring for another two minutes.
4. Turn off heat and incorporate the cereal.
5. Pour mixture into the lined brownie pan and press surface down with a rubber spatula.
6. Melt chocolate chips, non dairy milk, vanilla, and 1/4 ts salt together in a double boiler. (Mine is a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water)
7. Spread evenly over the rice crispy mixture and allow to cool for 1 hour. Speed the process up by putting it in the fridge.
8. Turn it out onto a cutting board and remove tin foil. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Back To Basics: The Chocolate Chip Cookie

Happy New Year everyone! Yesterday I had a blast reviewing all the recipes I've saved since going vegan about two years ago. Its kind of like reminiscing with your spouse about when you first met. I remember the first thing I learned while exploring a plant based diet was, "wow, deserts are so easy!" They are no different from egg and dairy deserts, and often better. Vegan cookies don't have to taste like breakfast bars either. These Chocolate Chip Cookies from Post Punk Kitchen have an outer crunch reminiscent of Famous Amous, and a melt in your mouth center. Put them side by side with standard non-vegan cookies, and you will wonder why eggs and dairy were ever put on such a pedestal. I've made these several times, and always use whole wheat or spelt flour instead of all purpose. Don't be afraid of using whole grain flours in baked goods. They still come out delicious! The recipe calls for a Tb of tapioca starch, which I actually had today, but I've used arrowroot powder in the past with great results. Cornstarch should work fine too, according to the reviews on her website. Oh, and you won't be needing any Earth Balance Butter to make these cookies.

When it comes to sugar, I always use organic, natural cane sugar. Its just like regular sugar, but its a slightly brown hue, and slightly less processed than the typical white stuff. I love Florida Crystals brand because the packaging is eco friendly, and its sold at a very affordable price at Smart&Final. Today, I found that I did not have anymore cane sugar, but had a bag of Florida Crystals Demerara Sugar. It was a great substitute. Its a rich, golden sugar with a hint of molasses.

Isa Chandra, the creator of Post Punk Kitchen, is the author of many famous vegan cookbooks, and is a great resource when it comes to vegan baking. If anyone out there is considering a more plant strong life for their New Years resolution, rest assured that cookies are NOT off the table. Just follow the link above for the recipe!

Better Than Puppy Love Cake

Years ago, my Auntie Bea introduced me to a cake made with a German chocolate cake mix, a can of sweetened condensed milk, a jar of butterscotch ice cream topping, and a tub of Cool Whip. She pokes holes in the cake and pours the condensed milk and butterscotch all over it. It seems like a lot but it soaks right in. Then she tops the whole thing with the Cool Whip. I had started to become very passionate about cooking, baking, and general eating at the time, so I remember repeatedly asking her how to make it. Even then I was a stickler about funny ingredients, so I made a chocolate cake from scratch and home made whipped cream. I liked the cake so much that I even researched it, and found that the official name for it is "Better Than Sex Cake." Since I plan on becoming a teacher and my future students might read this one day, I gave it a more PG name=). Since going vegan, I've thought a lot about that cake. I knew I could easily make a version just as good with different ingredients.

What inspired me was learning about making a caramel sauce out of coconut milk. It works just like heavy cream and doesn't taste any different. The recipe I use is inspired by this one from Comfy Belly. I use 1 can of full fat coconut milk, which comes out to 1 1/2 cups, so I use 1 1/2 cups of agave (an obvious honey replacement). A lot of recipes for "Better Than Sex Cake" call for chocolate fudge instead of caramel, so I thought it would be fun to add chocolate chips to the caramel sauce. The result is what I like to call "Fudgy Salted Cocomel Sauce." I even want to make jars of it and give them away as gifts, but I digress. Needless to say, its very good.

The topping doesn't look like the classic, snowy white Cool Whip, but I couldn't resist adding just a touch of chocolate and a bit of peanut butter. I call it "Chocolate Peanut Butter Whip." The chocolate cake is Isa Chandra's "Just Chocolate Cake" from Post Punk Kitchen. Just double it and use a 9x13 in pan. I made this for Thanksgiving with my family this year. I hope you like it!

Just Chocolate Cake
2 cups almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup canola oil (I use safflower or coconut oil)
2 teaspoon2 vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (I just use more vanilla, a total of 1 Tb)
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat with great results)
2/3 cup cocoa powder (look for fair trade)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

• Preheat oven to 350?F.
• Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix well. 
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK). 
• Lightly grease an 9x13 in baking pan. Pour in the batter and bake for 32 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean. 
• When cake has cooled, use the back of a wooden spoon to poke many many holes into the cake. Now you can make your cocomel sauce.

Fudgy Salted Cocomel Sauce
1 14 oz can full fat coconut milk
1 1/2 cups light agave nectar
3/4 ts salt
3/4 cups dairy free chocolate chips

• Combine coconut milk, agave and salt in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. 
• Continue stirring for about 15 minutes from start to finish. It should be reduced to half, so 1 1/2 cups. I just pour it in a pyrex and if its not reduced to half yet, I pour it back in the pan and continue to cook and stir. 
• Once it is reduced, turn off the heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until incorporated.
• Pour this mixture all over the cake, seeing that it seeps into the holes. Now make the Chocolate Peanut Butter Whip.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whip

3 12.3 oz packages Extra Firm Silken Tofu

3/4 cups dairy free chocolate chips

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (mine was salted)

3 Tb light agave nectar

1 Tb butterscotch schnaps or non-dairy milk of choice (I use the schnaps)

1 ts vanilla

1/8 ts salt 

• Using a double boiler or glass bowl over a pot of boiling water, melt chocolate chips together with peanut butter, agave, butterscotch schnaps, vanilla and salt. 
• Put melted chocolate mixture and silken tofu into a food processor and process until smooth and silky. 
• Spread onto cooled cake.

Alicia Silverstone's Peanut Butter Cups That Stay Firm at Room Temperature

These are my version of Alicia Silverstone's famous Peanut Butter Cups. Just one bite will make you forget about Reese's like Romeo forgot about Rosaline. When I first made the original recipe in my early vegan days, I realized that the peanut butter part doesn't stay firm at room temperature. This is problematic if you want to leave them out at a party, or better yet, give them out as a gift. My solution is agar-agar powder. I'm not sure why they named it twice, but agar-agar is a natural stabilizer derived from a sea weed.

The original recipe calls for Earth Balance Butter, but now that I know about the destruction of the rain forests from palm oil production, I use Spectrum Shortening, which uses organic palm oil. It has no transfats and the only ingredient is palm oil. Instead of maple sugar, I've used unrefined cane sugar, but I recently decided to take a chance with maple syrup and it worked great. I'm sure agave or brown rice syrup would work great too. For the graham cracker crumbs, I've used crushed up Annie's Chocolate Chip Bunny Grahams, because they are honey free, but I've recently discovered something even better, which is Barbaras Oatmeal Snackimals. They are whole grain and wheat free for anyone who is intolerant, although they are made in a wheat processing facility.

I made these for Halloween and decided they are now my official Halloween tradition. Same goes for Easter. They are highly addictive though. Jason took most of them with him to work because he knew I would eat them all! I was able to make 21 mini cups. Enjoy!

3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
3/4 cups crushed Barbara's Oatmeal Snackimals
1/2 cup Spectrum Shortening
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 ts agar-agar powder
1 cup dairy free chocolate chips
1/4 cup soy, almond, or rice milk

• Line a 24 cup mini muffin pan with paper liners
• Prepare your crumbs by putting cookies in a food processor and process until fine. I think about 1 1/2 cups of cookies makes 3/4 cups. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
• Combine peanut butter, shortening, maple syrup and agar-agar in a small pot over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to boil. Continue to cook and stir for another 1-2 minutes. Turn off heat and add the crumbs. 
• Spoon 1 Tb peanut butter mixture into each paper liner. Allow to firm up in the fridge.
• Combine chocolate and milk in a double boiler, or like me, you can use a glass bowl above a pot of boiling water. Stir until melted and smooth. 
• Spoon a 1/2 Tb of chocolate into each cup. If you have a little left over chocolate, do not hesitate to use every bit of it to top off the peanut butter cups. Allow to firm up in the fridge.

Brown Rice Crispy Treats

I made these on a whim, my own personal recipe. Well, I've read a lot of different ones, like the one here, here, and here. I guess this is a combo of them all. I'm actually obsessed with brown rice syrup. I've always been a huge caramel fan, pronounced car-a-mel, for all you car-mel people! Seriously though, pronounce it however you like, and if you like caramel, you will love brown rice syrup. Your blood sugar will thank you for eating it too, cuz it won't spike like it does with the refined stuff. Upon biting into these I thought they weren't very sweet, but then I got used to it and it became a good thing. That way you could also eat these for breakfast and not feel like a sugar junky!

You need:

4 cups brown rice cereal

3/4 cups salted peanut butter

1/4 cup peanut oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

1 ts vanilla

9x9 brownie pan

• Line a 9x9 brownie pan with saran wrap
• Combine all ingredients except cereal in a large pot on medium heat
• Use a whisk to stir occasionally 
• When it comes to a bubble, continue stirring for another two minutes
• Turn off heat and pour in the cereal
• Incorporate all ingredients using a rubber spatula
• Pour into saran wrap lined brownie pan
• Press surface down with rubber spatula
• Allow to cool for 1 hour before cutting into squares (Lift it out with the saran wrap and remove the saran wrap first, duh!)
• Enjoy!

Sneaky Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you seen those chocolate disks they have at Trader Joe's? They look like little UFO's. The funny thing is, I don't really know how the package got home with me! I remember looking at it while shopping, but swore I put it back on the shelf! Perhaps it was meant to be. I knew right away I'd use them to make a stuffed cookie. They are "sneaky" because you can't see the chocolate until you bite into it! I had the audacity to ask my two year old daughter to stay steady for this picture. She did a great job I think! By the way, the chocolate disks are called Semi Sweet Chocolate Callets. I use the chocolate chip cookie recipe from Post Punk Kitchen and omit the chocolate chips. Of course, I also use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour and unrefined sugar instead of white sugar. Isa Chandra Moskowits is a well known cook book author and my go to lady for vegan baking. Here's the step by step process. Don't forget the caramelization part first!

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup unrefined sugar

2/3 cup canola oil (I bet safflower or coconut oil would work well too)

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)

1 tablespoon tapioca flour (I use arrowroot and it works great! I hear you can also use cornstarch.)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

32 Semi Sweet Chocolate Callets


Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease one large light metal baking sheet.

Mix together sugars, oil, milk and tapioca flour, arrowroot, or cornstarch in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla. (For me it only take about 1 minute for it to caramelize)

Add the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated.

Use a tablespoon to scoop out 16 balls on a large baking sheet. Take two disks and put them together so that the top and bottom are concave. Press into each cookie, like you would do a Hershey's kiss. Make 16 more balls to top each one. Pinch the edges together to cover the chocolate, now they are totally sneaky! Bake for 18-20 minutes, until they are just a little browned around the edges.

Variations: You could put a teaspoon of peanut butter between each disk to make the cookies extra sinful! Or, you could stuff them with an Oreo type cookie instead (Newman's Own), which I got from Chronicles of a Dairyland Vegan. I haven't tried it, but I believe her when she says cookies will never be the same again! 

PS. Did you know baked goods make awesome gifts? My girlfriends and I stopped buying birthday gifts for each other a while ago, but they can't stop me from baking! Cut out the Happy Birthday part from an old card and tape it to a container with a clear lid. As you can see, I couldn't find a birthday card, but this works! 

A quick note about chocolate: I'm into more people friendly chocolate these days, meaning no slave labor in Africa was used to produce it. Ever seen the movie Blood Diamond? Well its the same concept. I'm not sure about Trader Joe's brand of chocolate, but you could use Dagoba brand chocolate bars and just divide them into squares in place of the disks. Read more about free trade chocolate here. If you are looking for chocolate chips, there is an inexpensive brand called Guittard that is sold right next to the Ghiradelli ones in the grocery store. They are not organic, but are free trade according to the chart.