Vegan Ginger Cookies

So my newest endeavor is trying to cut back gluten in my diet. Which is totally ridiculous for someone who has a baking blog. Today I ate a slice of gluten free bread and then told my rommate that it seriously tasted like I was eating crumbs. CRUMBS.
I also tried signing up for weight watchers this week and was denied.
I think I've gone off the deep end.
I feel myself already becoming that crazed middle aged woman that is on some weird new LA diet every week and wears those shoes that are supposed to make your ass tighter. (I may or may not have already thought about buying those -no bigs).
But in my defense I have noticed since I cut back that I have more energy and feel less bloated. We'll see how long this lasts.
Anyways - here is a recipe I made a couple days ago for work. They are slightly crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside and pretty damn good and so simple to make.

Vegan Ginger Cookies
from Vegan with a Vengence

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons turbinado or demerra sugar (regular sugar will work as well but coarse is best)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup soy milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets. Place the turbinado sugar in a small bowl.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a separate large mixing bowl, mix together the oil, molasses, soy milk, sugar, and vanilla. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and combine well. Roll into 1-inch balls, flatten into a 1 1/2-inch diameter disk, press the cookie tops into the turbinado sugar and place 1 inch apart sugar side up on a prepared cookie sheet.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes (don't overbake!), let cool on cookie sheets for 3 to 5 minutes, and transfer to a cooling rack.

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

I'm finally back! Sorry it has been so long, my camera has been out of commission but it's time now to jump back on the horse and get to posting. I'll start with these EASY cinnamon rolls - not a yeast dough! And they taste great! I made them for my roommates and they loved them. They're perfect for a sunday morning brunch or even for dessert. Try them!

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

2 cups flour (450 g)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons earth balance
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons melted margarine
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Icing:
1 teaspoon margarine, softened
1 cup vegan powdered sugar
soy milk

Mix dry ingredients first, then cut in margarine.

Mix in soy milk until dough is soft (you may need slightly more or less to get the dough to a workable consistency). Do not over mix!

Roll dough to 0.25 inch thickness (0.5 cm) in a long rectangle -- about 8 inch by 16 inch (16cm x 32 cm). Using a pastry brush, coat the rectangle of dough with the melted margarine. Then spread the Sucanat and cinnamon over it.

Roll from the long end, forming a tight roll. Cut rolls about 1 inch (2 cm) thick. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 15 mins or until golden.

While rolls are baking, make icing by mixing margarine and powdered sugar. Slowly add soy milk to reach desired consistency. spread on rolls while they are still warm.

recipe found here

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

*introducing sabina rocke as set designer

I made these to bring to school to give to my friends and we all agreed on one small issue. They were a bit dry. The flavor was good and I even used a bit of melted butter on the top then sprinkled cinnamon sugar to attempt to make them a little more moist, which helped but only for the top half of the muffin. I would suggest adding applesauce, yogurt or agave to the recipe and I think I will do that next time I make these. The recipe is from The Cookie and Biscuit Bible, my friend Jenni gave it to my for my birthday. I've been flipping through the pages and it seems as if a lot of the cookies, muffins, scones, etc. look really dry or crisp in the pictures. If anyone has this cookbook and have made recipes from it please let me know your results. There are a lot of good recipes in here though so I think I will just modify if I want a more chewy cookie or moist scone.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 large very ripe bananas

1 egg

1/4 brown sugar

1/4 vegetable oil

Semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 and line a 12 muffin tin.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. With a hand mixer or stand mixer with the beater attachment mash bananas at medium speed.

4. Beat the egg, sugar, and oil into the mashed bananas.

5. Add the dry ingredients and beat in gradually on low speed. Mix until just blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon the mixture into the lined muffin tin until they are 2/3 full.

6. Bake 20-25 minutes until a knife or toothpick can come out of the muffin clean.

Milano Cookies

Life has been crazy lately so I haven't updated in a while. Here is a recipe that I made a couple weeks ago. I liked them, my roommates and boyfriend liked them but there are a few things I will do differently next time:

1. Bake the cookies longer so they are more crisp.

2.Use less orange zest in the chocolate, I thought it overpowered the taste of the chocolate.

3. I would also use less lemon extract, using 1 tablespoon or trying fresh squeezed lemon juice or zest to give the cookies more natural flavor.

Milano Cookies

12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon extract
1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Chewy Coconut Chocolate Chip Blondies

I made these for a friends house warming gift, and to be honest I'm not the biggest fan of coconut but these were amazing! The blondies turned out chewy and dense and the drizzled chocolate and coconut added a great touch. Try 'em!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Blondies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

For drizzle and garnish: (optional)
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 tsp. butter or shortening
Sweetened shredded coconut

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8- by 8-inch square baking dish. In a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt; set aside. In another mixing bowl combine the melted butter and brown sugar and beat until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg, and mix until incorporated. Mix in the vanilla and coconut extracts until well blended. Add in the dry ingredients and mix just until they have been incorporated.

Add the shredded coconut and chocolate chunks to the bowl, and fold in with a rubber spatula until evenly distributed. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish and spread evenly with a spatula.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until set in the center but still soft. Do not over bake. Let the bars cool slightly before drizzling.

To make the drizzle, combine the chocolate chunks and butter or shortening in a small, heatproof bowl. Microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted and smooth. Transfer the melted chocolate to a plastic bag with a very tiny piece of the corner cut off and drizzle over the bars. Sprinkle with additional shredded coconut before the chocolate sets, if desired. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

Source: adapted from About.com

Peanut Butter Cookies With a Tiny New Twist

My mom has been making this recipe for at least 20 years and it was one of my favorites growing up. She usually sticks a Hershey's kiss in the middle for peanut blossoms, which are great but I think sometimes the amount of milk chocolate overwhelms the peanut butter cookie and it's just too sweet for me. Soooo, I got to thinking about a different way to make these. Instead of the kiss in the middle and I melted some semi-sweet chocolate and dipped the bottom of the cookies in it. I really loved the combination and so did my roommates & neighbors. The cookies are soft and have just the right amount of sweetness with a hard chocolate bottom.

Mom's Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

For the cookie dough:

1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

3/4 c peanut butter

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 c bisquick

sugar for rolling

semi-sweet chocolate chips

*Combine sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in a large bowl

*Beat in the egg and vanilla

*Beat in Bisquick in 1/2 cup amounts

*Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight. (I made the dough in the morning before work and baked them when I came home)

* Roll dough into balls and cover in sugar. Place on cookie sheet and flatten with a fork.

* Bake cookies 8-10 min and cool on cookie sheets for 2-3 min then transfer to cooling racks.

*Once cookies have cooled melt chocolate chips in a double boiler ( I used a shallow bowl) and dip bottoms into chocolate or use a spoon to spread chocolate onto bottoms of cookies.

*Place on wax paper and put into refrigerator to allow chocolate to set. ( I kept the cookies in there because I like the way the chocolate makes a shell when refrigerated.)

Vanilla & Red Velvet Vegan Cupakes

My first real post. To introduce myself, I'm 20years of age and I consider myself a beginning baker. It's something I've recently picked up and am attempting to run with? This blog is to share recipes, photographs, and tips I've picked up along the way. I think I will be making a list soon of things that I hope to be tackling.

Moving on...

It was my roomates 21st birthday on the 4th and I whipped up ( if you can describe it as that it took me a good couple hours ) two types of vegan cupcakes: vanilla cupcakes with a chocolate ganache & red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. I also made peanut butter cookies but those are just a standard recipe. I thought I would just share the recipe for the red velvet cupcakes since those seemed to be the favorite of the day.

I found both recipes out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which is a great cookbook! There are a lot of staple recipes that you can build off of or there are also the author's concoctions like apricot almond glazed cupcakes ( gotta remind myself to add those to my list they sound AMAZING!!) plus beautiful photographs for only $15! I was really pleased with both cupcakes they were moist ( I've found that vegan cupcakes tend to be more moist and soft than ones baked with eggs and butter) and full of flavor. The red velvets went so fast that I caught someone hiding the last one.

Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes :

1 c soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/4 c all purpose flour

1 c granulated sugar

2 tbs cocoa powder -dutch processed or regular

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 c canola oil

2 tbs red food coloring

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 tsp chocolate extract

For the frosting:

1/4 c earth balance - softened

1/4 c tofutti - softened

2 c confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pans with liners.

* Wisk together the soy milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.

* Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and mix.

* Add the oil, food coloring, chocolate, vanilla and almond extracts to the soy milk mixture. Whisk well to combine. Gently fold wet ingredients into dry mixing until large lumps disappear.

*Fill cupcake liners about two-thirds of the way full. Bake 18-20 min.

To make the frosting:

*Cream together the cream cheese and earth balance.

*Add the sugar in 1/2 cup batches and mix until smooth and creamy.

* Add the vanilla

* Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to use.

Tip: Frost cupcakes in fairly thick amounts so the cupcakes don't crumble when frosting with a knife or spatula.