Double Chocolate Super Fudgy Cookies

Last night, I had an urge to bake cookies. So...I did! I looked through some recipes that I had written down and hadn't tried yet. It was also very important that I had all of the ingredients already on hand as I really didn't feel like going out to the store. So here they are, double chocolate super fudgy cookies! They are super chocolatey, soft and moist. I feel like I really didn't need to add as many chocolate chips as I did, so feel free to modify to what suits you. Also, be sure to use a good quality cocoa powder (I use the one by Cocoa Camino) as a higher quality cocoa will make your cookies taste better!

Now, my oven is quite small and on my first batch of cookies with one tray on top and one on the bottom, the bottom ones burnt. The ones on the top rack turned out great. So, you might want to check on these about 6-8 minutes through cooking to see how they're doing. When I baked the second batch on the top rack, I cooked them for 8 minutes and they cooked perfectly. With that said, I'm sure they would cook great for the time recommended in the recipe (10 minutes) in other ovens.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp + 1 tsp whole flax seeds
1/2 cup soymilk
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Grind flax seeds until they become a powder. Add the soymilk to them and mix with a fork for 30 seconds. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, blend the oil and sugar with a mixer. Add the flax/soy mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla.

Fold in the dry ingredients in batches. When the mixture becomes too stiff to stir, you can use your hands until a stiff dough forms. Add the chocolate chips and mix with your hands.

Roll the dough into 1" balls and flatten into a disk. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, about 1" apart.

Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, and then set on a wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe made about 36 cookies!

A Very Vegan Thanksgiving! Chickpea Cutlets, Mashed Potatoes, Mushroom Gravy, and Roasted Broccoli!

It was Canadian Thanksgiving this past Monday, so we went all out with a hearty traditional meal...vegan-style, of course! Justin and I were in the kitchen for a good while and made this delicious meal together. It was one of those times where all of the pots and burners were used on the stove top and so many dishes piled up in the kitchen sink. But, it was well worth the time (and the mess!). I chose dishes from Isa's holiday recipes over at Post Punk Kitchen because they always turn out so great! We went with Doublebatch Chickpea Cutlets, Fluffy Mashed Potatoes, Savory Mushroom Gravy, Roasted Broccoli & Asparagus, and the Cosmos Apple Pie from the Vegan Pie in the Sky cookbook.

I didn't fully follow the recipe for the broccoli - first of all, we added asparagus, too. Next, we added some fresh and dried herbs and spices as I would typically use for roasted vegetables. We roasted the vegetables in olive oil, along with the herbs, on a baking sheet as per the recipe.

The pie was baked to perfection and was super delicious! For an added amount of yum, I sprinkled some maple sugar on top in place of regular sugar, along with the cinnamon.

And another thing to be thankful for? This was way too much food for only two people! So, we had lots of leftovers to eat. The chickpea cutlets went pretty fast, but we ended up with such a huge amount of mushroom gravy that I'm thinking of making more cutlets and potatoes just to use up the gravy! It is Thursday now and I've still got some leftover potatoes, mushroom gravy, and pie. For the last couple of days, I've had some pretty fantastic lunches at work! Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians, and Early Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!

Speculoos (Cookie Butter) Cookies

For those of you who aren't familiar, Speculoos is a delicious cookie butter spread that is sold at Trader Joe's in the USA. It has the consistency of peanut butter, but it is made of crushed up cookies with a gingerbread taste. Since I'm from Canada, I bought a jar of it one time while in the States and found out that it is absolutely delicious on pancakes! I went to the States a second time and bought a jar of the then-new crunchy Speculoos. Now, I discovered that you can actually take the cookie butter spread, combine it with a few ingredients, and bake it back into cookies. This changes everything. Now, I'm almost out of Speculoos having baked this recipe a couple of times and have to go back to Trader Joe's to buy some more!

The recipe that I used is adapted from the one at Have Cake, Will Travel. I used a little bit less sugar the second time around and found that it tasted better. Feel free to use a full cup of sugar if you're looking for an even sweeter treat. These are really quick to make and you'll have homemade cookies in no time!

This should bake up 20-24 cookies.

2/3 cup Speculoos
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp soy milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the Speculoos, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the flour, baking powder, and soy milk. Put 1 tbsp of dough per cookie on a pan and bake 12-16 minutes.

Apple Cider Mini Muffins

Originally, these were meant to be mini donuts. But, after making the first batch as mini donuts, they tasted much more like muffins to me - most likely due to the use of whole wheat flour. So, the next batches were baked in a mini muffin pan instead and these cutie little muffins were baked (and eaten!).

These muffins are slightly more wholesome than your average ones, using ingredients like whole wheat flour and apple sauce. Maple syrup is used in place of some of the sugar. Another special ingredient that I had to buy was apple cider, but I was able to easily find that at the grocery store. The muffins turned out super moist and had that wonderful apple-cinnamon flavor.

For an added sweetness, these muffins are topped with cinnamon sugar. I actually found a cinnamon sugar grinder at Trader Joe's that worked perfectly! However, you can easily mix together equal parts of cinnamon and sugar and dip each muffin into the mixture.

Ingredients: (Makes 48 mini muffins)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup apple cider
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soymilk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, maple syrup, apple sauce, apple cider, oil, soymilk, and vinegar.
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix but don't overmix.
4. Pour into the mini muffin tin (or mini donut tin, if you'd rather make donuts!). Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
5. Let cool completely in a pan. Mix equal parts of cinnamon and sugar, and dip each muffin top into the mixture.

Vegan S'mores! Yummy Graham Cracker, Marshmallow and Chocolate Mmmm....

Here are some of the Christmas treats that I baked up for the holidays! I went a little less traditional this year and skipped the typical Christmas cookies. While I do love those kinds of cookies, I wanted to challenge myself to something completely new - making S'mores from scratch!

First, I made the graham cookies that make up the base of this treat. I researched a couple of vegan S'mores recipes online, and ended up combining the ones found at Vegan Yum Yum and Manifest Vegan to create my own recipe! If you do need to make them gluten-free, the recipe at Manifest Vegan looked great to use.

To make the graham crackers, you'll need:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup soy milk
1/4 cup agave
1/4 cup molasses

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the Earth Balance and the sugar until smooth. Add the soy milk, vanilla, agave, molasses, and cinnamon. Mix everything together.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until everything is incorporated. A stiff dough should form.
5. Divide the dough into two sections and pat into disks. Chill each disk briefly for about 5 minutes in the freezer, and then roll out between two pieces of parchment paper until it is about 5mm thick.
6. Using a pizza cutter or a knife, cut the dough into squares that are approximately the same size. Using the tip of a chopstick, poke holes into the top of each square.
7. The dough will be flexible and it will be easy to pull off the parchment paper. Place each square on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes until they are firm and a little bit darker around the edges. Let cool completely.
8. Repeat with the remaining dough. I ended up with a TON of graham crackers, but remember that you'll need one for the top and one for the bottom of each s'more!

Now, to make the marshmallow part of the S'mores:

1-oz bag vegan marshmallows (Dandies is the brand I used)
1 tbsp Earth Balance

In a small saucepan, combine the Earth Balance and marshmallows over medium heat. Stir constantly until they melt together. Stir until smooth. Add a little bit more Earth Balance if the mixture starts to stick to the pot.

Put a spoonful of marshmallows between two graham cookies. Warning - this can get a bit messy! I also needed to double the marshmallow recipe to use up all of the graham crackers that I made.

Next, the chocolate topping for the S'mores:

You'll need one bag of non-dairy semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Camino brand). Melt the chocolate over a double broiler, or in the microwave in 30 second increments (stirring between each 30 seconds). Coat each S'more with chocolate.

They're also good without the chocolate for those who don't care for chocolate. I love chocolate so of course I added lots of chocolate on top of each one!

The other sweets that I made for Christmas are two Post Punk Kitchen favourites of mine: Peanut Butter Blondies (pictured above) and Banana Everything Cookies (shown below).

Banana Bread in a Bundt Pan

I had three overly ripe bananas sitting on the kitchen counter and an evening at home...what a great excuse to bake some banana bread! This is very easy and quick to prepare. I found out that I don't own a loaf pan (I will have to remedy this situation very soon!) so I used a bundt pan instead. For the bundt pan, simply make one and a half servings of the recipe below and pour into the bundt pan. The recipe below is the amount you'll need for a standard loaf pan.

Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp ground flax seed 2 tbsp corn meal 1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil) 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup mashed banana 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Stir the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flax and corn meal). Then, in a separate bowl, stir together the oil, sugar, banana, and water. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and then stir in the walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Strawberry Lemon Mini Donuts

Here is another use for the mini donut pan - Vegan Strawberry Lemon mini donuts! I mostly followed the recipe from the Healthy Slow Cooking blog with a couple of substitutions. I didn't have any lemon basil or lemon mint on hand, so I used a tiny bit of fresh pineapple mint in the glaze. I also added a little bit more strawberries and lemon than the recipe called for, so these were definitely more along the lines of "Strawberry Lemon" donuts for me (instead of calling them "Strawberry Basil" as in the original recipe).

I found these to taste quite cakey, like tiny little muffins with holes in the middle. They really aren't all that bad for you, considering they are baked treats.  Whole wheat flour and agave nectar are used in the donut themselves, and they have a light glaze on top made from powdered sugar and lemon juice/zest. I mean, I'm not fooling myself into thinking that they are healthy, but there are a million worse treats out there I think!

So, if you're looking to try a new donut recipe that is something different from the standard vanilla or chocolate one, give these ones a try! You can find the recipe at the Healthy Slow Cooking Blog.

A Vegan Thanksgiving

Roasted Vegetables

I'm Canadian and in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October. This post might seem a little bit strange as Thanksgiving here is long over, but I'm finally getting around to posting about our Thanksgiving dinner this year! It works out for my American friends, as you'll get a sneak preview of some things you might think of making for your Thanksgiving feast!

Let me start out by saying that I've never had a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal in my life! Since I was raised vegetarian, my family never had the typical turkey dinner. In fact, we rarely made any deal out of Thanksgiving and just made our favorite dishes that day, whatever they might have been at the time. This year, Paul and I decided to make a hearty, warm, rustic Thanksgiving dinner that would out-do any meat-eaters' holiday feast!

On the Thanksgiving menu:

• Roasted Vegetables
• Stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes
• Mushroom Gravy
• Cinnamon Apple Crisp with Vanilla Soy Ice Cream for dessert

Roasted veggies are nothing new around our house - we make this one all the time! It seemed to fit perfectly into this meal. If you're interested in the recipe, please check out one of my past blog posts. We probably used some different vegetables at the time, but feel free to use whatever ones you like! This time around, we used: sweet potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, onion, garlic, red and orange pepper, asparagus, and parsnips.

Stuffing

Stuffing - can you believe I'd actually never tried stuffing before? Stuffing screams Thanksgiving and I really enjoyed this new dish in my life! Here is the recipe that we used:

Ingredients:

• 10 cups 1/2" bread cubes from whole wheat bread
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery
• 2 tsp Herbes de Provence (or 1 tsp sage and 1 tsp thyme)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2-3 cups vegetable stock

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil a large shallow casserole dish.
2. Toast the bread cubes on a large baking sheet in the oven until golden brown. Set aside in a large bowl.
3. Turn down the oven to 350 degrees.
4. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Saute the onions, garlic, and celery until soft.
5. Add the spices and the black pepper and stir.
6. Add the vegetable stock and stir until it is all absorbed. Start with 2 cups and add more if needed so the mixture is moist and clumping together, but not soggy.
7. Bake in a covered shallow casserole dish for 25 minutes. 
8. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes to form a crusty top.

Mashed Potatoes and Mushroom Gravy

Mashed Potatoes and Mushroom Gravy - It's difficult to photograph this one. But trust me, it's incredibly delicious. We made the mashed potatoes and poured the mushroom gravy over top of them. Gravy was another thing that I've actually never tried before! The bigger chunks of mushrooms in the gravy made it so, so tasty. Here are the recipes:

Mashed Potatoes Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Russet potatoes (or any potato that you choose)
• 4 tbsp Earth Balance margarine (you can use olive oil instead if you'd like)
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp dill or chives (we used chives as Paul isn't a fan of dill!)

Directions:

Bring the water to a rapid boil in a large pot. Add the potatoes and cook until tender (15-20 minutes). Drain. While still hot, mash the potatoes with the other ingredients, and top with the dill or chives.

Mushroom Gravy Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup white or button mushrooms, chopped
• 1 small yellow or white onion, minced
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence (or 1/2 tsp each of sage, thyme and marjoram)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt the Earth Balance, and then add onion and mushrooms. Saute for a minute or two over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and add vegetable broth and soy sauce. Slowly add flour, stirring well to combine and prevent lumps from forming. Reduce heat and let simmer. Add the spices, salt and pepper, and keep stirring. Allow to cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly until the gravy thickens.

And then....what would Thanksgiving dinner be without dessert?! We made this delicious Cinnamon Apple Crisp!

Fresh out of the oven!

We made this Cinnamon Apple Crisp from Isa's recipe over at Post Punk Kitchen. It was perfect when served warm from the oven and topped with vanilla soy ice cream! Yum!

Apple Crisp with Vanilla Soy Ice Cream

Filling Ingredients:

• 4lbs (about 8) apples - peeled, cored, quartered, and cut into 1/4" slices
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, squeeze lemon juice over sliced apples. Add the arrowroot and spices making sure all of the apples are coated. Move the apple mixture to a 9x13" glass baking dish and drizzle the maple syrup over it. Cover with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the topping: sift the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Fold the wet into the dry mixing with a fork until well coated and crumbly.

When apples are done baking, remove from oven and toss, then flatten them evening with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle the topping over the apple minute and bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, until the top feels crispy. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Vegan Mini Donuts

I am so happy and amazed by how cute this mini donuts turned out! Not only do they look adorable, but they taste fantastic. They are light, fluffy, and flavorful. Plus, they're vegan and baked instead of fried. I'm not under the illusion that these are healthy in any way since they're still baked goods; however, they're donuts that I can actually eat and I'm sure they're slightly healthier considering they aren't fried in oil and don't contain all sorts of animal ingredients.

The flavors that I made were vanilla with sprinkles, cinnamon sugar, and French toast (aka. maple). My favorite was definitely the cinnamon sugar, followed by the sprinkles, and lastly, the maple. I thought I'd like the maple the best, but the maple flavor didn't come through as strong as I would have liked it.


The recipe is from Vegan Yum Yum! I wouldn't change anything about the actual batter recipe as they turned out perfectly. Oh, I should add that you'll need a Mini Donut Pan to make these, available on Amazon or perhaps a specialty bake ware shop.

Here's the recipe (makes 24 donuts):

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp (scant) nutmeg
1 tiny pinch or shake cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
egg replacer for 1 egg
4 tbsp Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 350º F.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients with a whisk to mix thoroughly. Combine wet ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and mix until earth balance is melted. This mixture should NOT get too hot - it should feel slightly warm.

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

Pour the mixture into the mini donut pan, smoothing the batter out with your finger when it's in the pan. Make sure that the mixture fills each place about 3/4 full and doesn't cover the space in the middle (the part that makes the donut hole). Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool before decorating.

To make the vanilla with sprinkles:
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp soymilk

Mix together. Put into a bowl that you can dip the tops of the donuts into. Then, dip the donut into a small bowl of sprinkles.

To make the cinnamon sugar:
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together. Dip the donuts into the vanilla icing first, and then into the cinnamon sugar.

To make the French toast:
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp soy milk
1 tsp maple syrup

Mix together and dip the donuts into the mixture. I found that the maple flavor didn't really come through, so I might try to find maple extract to add to the mix, or maybe increase the amount of maple syrup for next time. They still tasted good, but I just wish they were a little more maple-y.

Cupcakes for Paul's Birthday!

Today is Paul's birthday (Happy Birthday, sweetie!) and I decided to surprise him with some cupcakes! While he was at work yesterday (and before I had to go to work), I tried out a new recipe with flavours that I know he enjoys - vanilla and caramel. I made the cupcake, frosting, and caramel from scratch and it resulted in a sweet ooey-gooey mess of deliciousness. And most importantly, he loves them! When he came home from work last night, there was a whole cupcake stand full of sugary treats waiting for him as an early birthday present.

I originally found this recipe through Pinterest and the image linked to a recipe on the Earth Balance website. This is very fitting as this recipe does tend to use a lot of Earth Balance margarine and shortening for the cake, icing, and caramel sauce.

The recipe also originally called for pink Himalayan sea salt to be sprinkled on the tops of the cupcakes - I know that this is not something Paul would enjoy, so I opted out of that last step. I'll post the original recipe as-is so you can choose to add that last step if you'd like!

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup soy yogurt (I used plain almond milk yogurt)
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance vegetable shortening
• 3 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp soy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 pinch of Pink Himalayan salt (or regular sea salt)

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Combine the margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream with electric beaters.
3. Add the soy yogurt, soy milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla, and continue beating until fluffy.
4. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt and continue mixing until just combined.
5. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners.
6. Using a cupcake scoop or a large spoon, distribute the batter evenly throughout the liners.
7. Bake for 18 minutes or until firm in the center
8. While your cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.
9. Beat together the margarine and shortening with your electric beaters.
10. Gradually add the powdered sugar while mixing.
11. Add the soy milk and vanilla.
12. Continue to beat for 8-10 minutes, or until completely smooth and fluffy.
13. Set aside and prepare the caramel.
14. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and soy milk.
15. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to thicken, 10-12 minutes.
16. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the water, then add to the sugar mixture.
17. Stir constantly until the caramel begins to thicken and bubble, and cook for 2 more minutes.
18. Remove from heat and add the margarine and vanilla, stirring until completely melted and incorporated. Set caramel sauce aside to cool.
19. Frost the cooled cupcakes with either a knife or a pastry bag.
20. When the caramel is cool, drizzle a spoonful over each cupcake. Let set.
21. Sprinkle each cupcake with a bit of pink salt, then serve!

Soft and Fudgy Vegan Brownies

I have to say that these are the best brownies I have ever baked - they are chocolaty, fudgy, gooey, soft and delicious...and they're vegan with no dairy or eggs in sight!

This picture isn't the greatest as I snapped it quickly after eating a couple of them while the brownies were still in the pan. You can find the recipe over at the Cooking Vegan Food Up North blog. The only change I made to the recipe was adding 1/2 tsp vanilla and using regular granulated sugar, as opposed to using vanilla sugar that I didn't have.

You can definitely wow any chocoholics or dairy-loving friends with these brownies! I wouldn't have been able to tell that there weren't any dairy or eggs in these.

Carrot Cupcakes from the Babycakes Cookbook

My friend Sarah and I got together at her house for a cupcake baking day. We decided on two recipes - Carrot Cupcakes from the Babycakes cookbook, and the Chocolate Gluten-Free Cupcakes from the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World cookbook (not pictured). We've made the chocolate ones in the past and since they were such a success, we just had to bake them again. This time, we added some shredded coconut to the batter as we both love coconut! I'm going to focus more on the carrot cupcakes as it was my first time baking anything from the Babycakes cookbook, even though I've had it on my bookshelf for some time now.

All of the cupcakes we baked were both gluten-free and vegan. It was very interesting for me to combine all of these new flours - rice flour, quinoa flour, tapioca flour, and others! Both kinds of cupcake ended up being light and fluffy and tasted very similar to a wheat-based cupcake. I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference unless someone pointed out the cupcakes were gluten-free. In the carrot cupcake recipe, gluten-free all-purpose flour is used, as well as xanthan gum, rice milk, coconut oil and agave nectar. You should be able to find most of these ingredients in the natural section of your local grocery store.

For the frosting, we decided to make a vegan cream cheese frosting using a recipe found in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. It was very easy to whip up and tastes fantastic on these carrot cupcakes! In the cookbook, they recommend making vanilla frosting which could work great, too. These cupcakes taste amazing!

This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

Carrot Cupcakes:
3 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup coconut oil
1 cup agave nectar
1 cup rice milk (we used soy milk instead)
1 T. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
3 cups shredded carrots

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line two 12-cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
Add the oil, agave nectar, milk, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir until a thick batter is formed.  Fold in the carrots with a rubber spatula so they are evenly distributed.
Pour approximately a 1/3 cup of batter into each prepared cup.  Bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes on the center rack, rotating the pans 180 degrees after 14 minutes.  Cupcakes are done baking when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the cupcakes rest in the pans for at least 20 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting: 
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 cup vegan cream cheese , softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar , sifted 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Cream together margarine and cream cheese until just combined. Use a handheld mixer to whip while adding the confectioners' sugar in 1/2 cup batches. Mix until smooth and creamy, then mix in the vanilla. Keep tightly covered and refrigerated until ready to use.

Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips

This is the easiest and quickest recipe that I've made so far for Vegan MoFo! It is Alicia Silverstone's Crispy Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips from her book, The Kind Diet and her website, The Kind Life.  You can find the recipe posted on her site and it only requires a few ingredients - crispy brown rice cereal, brown rice syrup, a pinch of salt, peanut butter, and vegan chocolate chips (optional if you don't want to add 'em, you don't have to!  I love my chocolate.)

• 1 box brown rice crisps cereal
• 1 3/4 cups of brown rice syrup
• 1 pinch of fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup of natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips

1. Pour the rice cereal into a large bowl.
2. Heat the syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat.
3. When the rice syrup liquefies, add the peanut butter and stir until well combined.
4. Pour over the rice cereal and mix well with a wooden spoon.
5. Once thoroughly mixed and cooled to room temperature, stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Make sure the mixture is cool, or you will end up with melted chocolate instead of chocolate chips in your treats.
7. Turn the mixture into an 8"x8" or 9"x13" baking dish.
8. Wet your wooden spoon lightly and press the mixture evenly into the pan.
9. Let cool for 1 hour - if you can - before cutting into squares or bars.

Of course, I didn't realize this until after I had made the treats but I used the wrong kind of cereal!  I had grabbed the "brown rice puffs" at the grocery store instead of "brown rice crisps".  So these aren't quite as crispy as they should be.  In fact, they're a bit soggy.  They still taste fantastic but they don't have that crispiness to them like a rice crispy square does.  So, you might want to make them with the brown rice crisp cereal rather than the puffs.  If for some reason, you can only find the puffed cereal at your grocery store, it will still work. I'll still eat them!

I also used crunchy natural peanut butter because that's what I had and it worked great.

I think I'll be taking this weekend off from blogging and Vegan MoFo.  Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog so far!  I can't believe I have over 1000 hits on my blog now, and I just started writing it a couple of months ago. 

Also, Happy Vegan MoFo Hump Day!!!!  To celebrate, vegan songwriter Leslie Hall has written a song for the occasion!  You can download it here!  And here are the lyrics:

I eat the finest cuisines, in the finest of places  Stuff my mouth full and always say thank you.  But if it's raised in a cage, and it can't even move, if it's hormone filled and in a bad mood.  I'm gonna pass on that.  Reach for something better.  The only milk I'll drink comes from the nipple of a soy bean. Veggies make you live forever, and they seem to taste much better. when they're cooked and grown with love.  So give a chef who knows what's up a hug. Momma just can't seem to get it, Papa he just rolls his eyes. When I tell them I'm much healthier, they just say that it's all lies.  But beans, nuts, fruits and veggies can really fill the belly.  Get you vitamins you need, shiny hair and extra speed.  Don't take that meat-wich any further, I want a marinated, deep fried, hand-tied mushroom burger.  I like it!  We gotta stand strong for our feathered furry sometimes scaly animal friends and their little babies.  'Cuz I wouldn't want to live in a cage in a dark warehouse killed at an early age.  Pumped full of hormones, sleeping in my feces.  Never met my mother, raised by machines.  Never get sunshine never get green, but that's just me.  [That girl loves fruit leather.]  So ask us what we're eating.  Delicious and repeating, fruits and veggies are so nice.  With a slice of tempeh,  yes, I'll have that twice.  Don't forget the legumes!

Vegan White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Since finding the vegan white chocolate chips, I knew that I wanted to make a yummy cookie with them!  I worked until 11:00pm last night, and when I got home, I started baking these cookies!  I know, I am a crazy lady baking at midnight.  These turned out so delicious!  They're so soft but they have a crispiness about them, too.  And the flavor - Paul commented to me today, "Those are vegan!? What!" and even said "These are way better than the ones at Subway."  Success!

Here's the recipe that I put together late last night:

3/4 cup raw sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup Earth Balance
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup applesauce
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
big handful of vegan white chocolate chips
big handful of chopped macadamia nuts
(You can adjust the amount of chocolate and nuts to your liking)

Heat oven to 370 degrees. Mix sugars, margarine, vanilla, and applesauce together in a large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins

I was looking for a recipe to make that wasn't too unhealthy as I've been on a bit of a chocolate and cake kick lately.  I dug out my copy of Veganomicon and found the Banana Wheat Germ Muffin recipe - and I already had all of the ingredients at home!  Success. 

These muffins baked just perfectly. They have a slight crunch to them from the wheat germ, and they are soft and fluffy from the bananas.  Baked with whole wheat flour and wheat germ, you won't feel guilty snacking on these.  The recipe makes 12 muffins.

1 cup plain soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat germ
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Add muffin liners to a muffin tin.
Pour soy milk into a measuring cup and add the vinegar to it.  Set it aside to curdle.
Meanwhile, mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Add the soy milk mixture to the bowl along with the oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Add this to the banana mixture and use a wooden spoon to gently stir the ingredients, until all the dry ingredients are just moistened.
Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full and bake for 22 minutes.  Remove from the oven and, once cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.

I recommend serving them warm - they are just delicious!

Vegan Treats at Panacea in Toronto

Today, I had the entire day to myself - Paul is on overnight shifts and has to sleep during the day and I had this one random Tuesday off work. I decided to hop on a bus and treat myself to a day of walking, enjoying the sunshine, and doing some shopping in downtown Toronto.  While I did manage to get a little bit of Christmas shopping done (this will _not_ be posted on the blog at all as I don't want anyone to accidentally read about their own surprise Xmas presents!), one of my main goals was to finally visit Panacea, a completely Vegan shop near Bloor & Bathurst in Toronto.

Yes, this store is completely Vegan! No label reading is necessary here.  And the focus here, beyond veganism, is eco-friendly, ethical, natural, and organic products. I will happily always shop at places that seek out ethical products and this entire store is full of them! Next time I'm there, I'm going to take a closer look at their bath & body products.  Today, I wanted to find food and snacks that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere in my local grocery stores.

I wanted to post about the desserts and treats that I bought since my Vegan MoFo theme is Vegan Desserts!  I bought those three chocolate bars pictured above made by Go Max Go.  I've seen pictures of these chocolate bars online but hadn't seen them in person until today, so I'm super psyched to try them.  There were about six different kinds in the store, but I bought "Mahalo" (similar to a Bounty or Mounds bar), "Jokerz" (seems similar to Snickers), and "Snap!" (similar to Crunch). I am super pumped to try dairy-free versions of my favorite chocolate bars!  They look amazing!

I don't know when the last time was that I ate a marshmallow. I couldn't resist this variety sampler of Vegan marshmallows by Sweet & Sara.  They look all gooey and yummy.  They come in a variety of flavors:  Vanilla, Toasted Coconut, Strawberry, and Cinnamon Pecan. I think these are gonna get eaten pretty quickly.

I found them!  Vegan White Chocolate Chips!  I've been looking everywhere with no success, other than possibly ordering them online.  Thankfully, Panacea has them on their shelves.  I think my next baking recipe will have to involve these white chocolate chips in some way!

The day was a complete success all in all - I went to a few stores along Queen St., walked through Kensington Market (finally found kelp noodles for sale in an organic grocery store there! yay!), and treated myself to lunch at Fresh.  It was a beautiful and very hot day for October with the sun shining brightly, so it was perfect for enjoying some time outdoors. It might also seem silly to those who live in the city and take public transit everyday, but I also feel rather accomplished for having figured out the Go buses/trains and the subway system on my own for getting around town!

Maple Cupcakes with Rich Maple Frosting

Maple syrup is so sweet and so very Canadian, so what better recipe to write about on Canadian Thanksgiving.  I was inspired by the Rich Maple Frosting recipe on VeganBaking.net to create a maple cupcake with maple frosting.

The recipe for the cupcake itself is the Maple Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Every recipe I have tried so far from this book has produced beautiful, delicious cupcakes of all different flavors!  I took their advice and tried substituting some of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour with great results.

The Rich Maple Frosting recipe is the one that I linked above from VeganBaking.net.  The frosting was a bit tricky to make - I'm not sure if I did it properly since you had to heat the maple syrup and agave nectar over the stove and get it to a certain temperature... and then after refrigerating it for an hour, you had to blend it with margarine/vegetable shortening.  After doing this, the icing was quite runny, which it said may happen, and if it does, to refrigerate it.  No amount of refrigerating seemed to harden the frosting enough!  Not only that, but I found the recipe to be way too sweet for my liking.  It seemed to over-power the flavor of the cupcake and I found myself wiping off most of the icing...and I really didn't put too much frosting on these cupcakes to begin with.

With that said, Paul absolutely loved the cupcakes and wants me to make more!  He said that the Maple Frosting was perfect to his liking.  I have lots of leftover frosting so he may even use it as a topping for pancakes or waffles...or I will just have to make some more cupcakes for the icing.  I guess it is all just personal preference!

Thanksgiving Dinner - Tempeh Onion Curry & Chocolate Cake

I'm deviating slightly from my original Vegan MoFo plans of posting a dessert recipe or baked good every day for the month of October.  On Monday, it is Canadian Thanksgiving and since both Paul and I have to work on the holiday and aren't able to make dinner together, we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  I decided that I would write about our delicious Thanksgiving meal that we just shared!  Originally, we were thinking of going with some roasted vegetables (a little more traditional) but instead decided to try a new dish that I'd been eyeing for a while, Tempeh Do Pyaaza.

I changed up this recipe a little bit from the original, so I will post it below.  This was really fun because Paul and I went out to Whole Foods this afternoon in search of certain spices and ingredients for the meal that we didn't have on hand.  There were some ingredients in the original that we just couldn't find (anardana seeds), and some that we just don't really like (fresh mint in the curry) and some that Paul doesn't care for (fresh cilantro).  I also added some garlic and garam masala to the mix.

Tempeh Do Pyaaza, as originally posted on One Green Planet, is an Indian curry that literally means "double onion" (Do Pyaaza).  The whole "double onion" part of the recipe originally caught my attention - mmmm...onion!  And...double onion, even better!  This is definitely not your traditional Thanksgiving meal by any means, but it was hearty and warm for the holiday, and quite healthy!  We served the tempeh over brown rice.

This was also my first time cooking with fenugreek!  Yay for discovering new spices and ingredients! I was so surprised that the fenugreek had such a sweet smell to it, almost like maple syrup.  I read online that toasting the seeds lightly tends to bring out the aroma, and it was definitely a good idea. 

You'll need:

Olive oil (for frying)

2 hot chili peppers, chopped
2 large sweet yellow onions, cut into strips
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
4 cloves garlic, sliced into rounds
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds, lightly toasted (toast these on their own in a pan lightly)
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp Earth Balance
1 package tempeh cut into cubes
1 cup water

1.  Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan.  Saute one of the onions, one of the hot peppers, and the red bell pepper for 5 minutes.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
2.  Grind the Fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and the cumin seeds.  Saute the other onion, garlic, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and ginger in the same pan with more oil as needed, until the onions are golden.
3.  Remove from heat, and place all items from the pan in a blender with the lemon juice.  Blend the onion mixture to make a thick puree.
4.  In the pan, combine the Earth Balance, agave, salt and onion puree.  Add the tempeh and cook for 10 minutes, until the puree thickens and the tempeh cooks a bit.
5.  Add 1 cup of water, and cook for 5-10 minutes until the sauce is not too watery and has thickened to a desired consistency.

Serve the onion tempeh over rice, and top with the fried onion/red bell pepper mixture! 

I also enjoyed some dessert tonight and took the night off from baking:

It is a slice of chocolate cake from Sweets From The Earth!  Mmmmm....delicious and chocolatey and Vegan!  Keeping with my blog's dessert theme for VeganMoFo, I did enjoy a lovely slice of cake today after all! 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This is the recipe that made me fall in love with Vegan baking from the start - the basic Vanilla Cupcakes from Isa & Terry's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  I'm sure it is a recipe that many people have come across if you're into vegan baking or baking cupcakes as it has been posted in multiple places all over the web.  There are 75 dairy-free cupcake recipes in the book, and it is really cheap to purchase at Amazon or your local bookstore, so I highly recommend that you check it out if you haven't already!

After I initially baked these cupcakes, of course I had to run out and buy the book, and then proceed to bake copious amounts of different cupcakes on my own and with friends.  So, let's get baking, and whip up a batch of super sweet and yummy, light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting!

1 cup soymilk

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 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.  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.

Fill cupcake liners two-thirds of the way and bake for 20 to 22 minutes till done. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting (you may want to half this recipe unless you want twice as much icing! This will frost 24 cupcakes):



1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy 
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer


Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

Pear Crisp Muffins

I baked these Apple Crisp muffins a little while ago, when Paul asked me if I could make Pear Crisp muffins for him. He loves pear and pear crisp so I thought...hey, I could swing that! I made them once before but they tasted very similar to the apple crisp muffins so I made sure to cut the pear pieces into bigger chunks and include a little bit more pear this time around.  They turned out wonderfully and definitely taste of pear this time!  With Canadian Thanksgiving just around the corner (this upcoming Monday!) these muffins would be a delightful addition to a warm Thanksgiving celebration.

As you can see, I left the pears pretty chunky - this muffin that I cut open may not be the greatest example as I think some of the bigger muffins had even more pear filling.  What I love about these muffins is that they are quick and easy to prepare and you can mix everything in the same bowl, so less cleaning up to do!  I only had an hour to spare before work today and I was able to bake the muffins and blog about them, so that's pretty good!  And more importantly, I have a great snack to bring to work with me!

Here's the recipe, as adapted from the one originally posted on Happy Herbivore:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
dash nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup organic applesauce
1 large organic pear, diced into larger chunks
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  Add the applesauce, sugars, maple syrup and stir.  Add the pear chunks.  Pour into a muffin tin and sprinkle more oats and brown sugar on top.  Bake for 18-25 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins.