Rogue Pudding

When I think of pudding, I think of that boring, gelatinous goo in plastic cups that gets thrown into kids' lunch boxes.  Yuck.  I haven't had pudding in years because of this.

But this past week I went to a cooking class at Cooks of Crocus Hill with Robin Asbell.  She did a vegan desserts class with some really tasty treats, including a napoleon filled with chocolate pudding and topped with raspberries.  After tasting that rich chocolate pudding (she made hers with coconut milk and soy creamer, I believe), I knew I had to give pudding another chance.

So today I paired one of my favorite chocolates, Rogue Chocolatier's Rio Caribe, with your basic cooked pudding recipe.  Rogue Chocolate is unique chocolate- It's made on a very small scale in Minneapolis.  The owner does basically everything except harvest the cacao beans himself.  Pretty amazing and ridiculously delicious.  The bars are not cheap and you get what you pay for.

Here's my version:

Rogue Pudding
1 1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla paste
1 tsp. hazelnut extract
pinch salt
5 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup almond milk
1 bar of Rio Caribe Rogue Chocolate (or other pure, barely sweetened eating chocolate), chopped

Heat 1 1/2 cup almond milk and sugar in a saucepan.  Whisk until sugar is dissolved and milk is almost simmering.  Add vanilla paste, hazelnut extract and salt.  In a little cup, whisk together the cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold almond milk until smooth.  Add cornstarch slurry to the simmering almond milk and whisk continually until very thick.  Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate.  Whisk until melted.  Pour pudding into little cups or glasses and refrigerate until set.

***Edited to add: This makes a very firm pudding.  If you like more of a soft-set, reduce the cornstarch to 4 Tbsp. and add an extra 1/2 cup of milk or creamer.

I can't wait for dessert!

Lazy Desserts

Being the baker of the family has its perks.  

I always get the birthday cake I want.  When it's midnight and I want peanut butter cookies, it's not a problem.    And when there's only one muffin left in the basket- I feel no shame in snagging it because I baked it.  

But when I'm tired or sick or just plain lazy, there's no one to bake me cookies or ask me what flavor cupcakes I'd prefer.  I'm sure Mike could bake if he tried- but we count on him for the amazing meals whipped up in 15 minutes, not scones.

So when I'm craving something sweet and don't have the energy to bake something, I have a few treats that require almost no preparation that I depend on.

Banana chunks with peanut butter and chocolate chips  (I'm not alone on this one!)

Peanut Butter Pudding: Plain yogurt with peanut butter and maple syrup stirred in 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels: Equal parts peanut butter and chocolate chips, melted in a pyrex bowl in the toaster oven.  Dip the pretzels in and eat them!

Cinnamon Apple Dip: Plain yogurt mixed with cinnamon and maple syrup.  Dip the apple slices in and eat them!

Totally Decadent Hot Chocolate: Non-dairy milk with cocoa, maple syrup, a dab of vanilla paste, and a little bit of chocolate chips melted in.  Whisk together and sip it.

Hmmm... Looks like most of my quick desserts involve chocolate or peanut butter or both.  That sounds about right.  

Birthday Cheesecake

About 6, maybe 8, months ago I was testing cheesecake recipes for a wedding and my boys were really bummed that they couldn't eat the cheesecake.  I would have been upset, too. 

A peanut butter cheesecake with a pretzel crust?  It's like heaven.  So they made me promise that for their 9th birthday I'd make them a peanut buttter cheesecake.  And I totally forgot.

So last week when I asked what kind of cake they wanted for their birthday, they both immediately responded that they wanted "that different kind of cake that has peanut butter that they didn't get to eat last time I made it".  My suggestion: let's add a layer of chocolate!

Of course, promptly after suggesting this idea I realized that it was not a new one- Lori from Quirky Cupcake make a cheesecake like this just last month that looked incredible.  It must have been lurking in the back of my mind.  But this one will be vegan and I'm pretty partial to my recipe.

First the crust:

2 cups of pretzel crumbs (if you can find gluten free pretzels, then everyone can eat it!)

1/2 tsp salt (reduce if PB is salted)

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. canola oil

3 Tbsp. peanut butter

I usually start with a clean food processor and make the pretzel crumbs by whizzing the pretzels in there for a while.  Then I add the remaining crust ingredients right in there and pulse until it starts to clump together slightly.  The little bit of PB with the pretzels tastes like a Butterfinger bar.  Don't leave it out!

Press the crust into the bottom of a springform or tart pan.  Mine is a 10" size and this is plenty of crust.  
Then make the chocolate layer:

In a double boiler-type set up, melt 1 cup of chocolate chips and 3 Tbsp non-dairy milk together, stirring frequently.  Then pour over crust and smooth evenly.
For the cheesecake:

12 oz. silken tofu

2 x 8 oz packages non-dairy cream cheese

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 250F.  You'll need to clean out that food processor for this part.  Whiz together the tofu and cream cheese until completely smooth.  Really, don't settle for ANY lumps!  Add sugar, vanilla, and peanut butter and process until fully incorporated.  I think this is plenty sweet, but feel free to add a little more sugar if you want.

Pour cheesecake batter over the chocolate-covered crust and smooth with a spatula.  I like to place my cheesecake pan on a baking sheet to make it easier to handle.  Then put the pans in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.  The cheesecake should be moderately firm when it is done.  It will still juggle slightly if you shake it, but it should be definitely solid.  Chill completely before serving.  Really.  Like overnight.

And now I'm not even going to post the inside shot becaust it turned out really blurry and bad.  But you can imagine it, right?  And, yeah, it's as good as you imagine.

Ginger Honeycrisp Sorbet

Katie at Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk is hosting a Vegan MoFo Iron Chef Challenge!  The "secret ingredients" are apples and ginger.  

I should be modest and say that this sorbet is nice or good, but really- It's totally freakin' amazing!  Some credit should go to the Hoch Orchard apple cider and the super fresh Honeycrisp apples from the same orchard (in La Crescent, MN).  The ginger gives a nice bite to the cut the sweetness and the whiskey keeps the texture just right.  I like some actual fruit in my sorbet, but if you want it really smooth, you can leave out the apples and simmer the cider with ginger, chill, and then make the sorbet.

Ginger Honeycrisp Sorbet

Makes 3 cups of sorbet

2 honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored, and diced

4 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

2.5 cups apple cider

1 cup evaporated cane juice

1 Tbsp. whiskey

In a small saucepan, combine apples, lemon juice, and ginger.  Simmer on low heat until apples are tender enough to be smashed with a spoon (6-8 minutes).  Then put apple-ginger mixture in a food processor or blender with 1 cup of the apple cider.  Puree until smooth.  Then add the remaining cider, 1/2 cup of the evaporated cane juice, and whiskey.  Process for about 20 seconds.  Taste the sorbet and see if it needs more sugar.  Add sugar as needed and process until dissolved.  Then add to your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.  

This would go perfect with Michelle's Apple Ginger Donuts!

If you can wait...

Vegan MoFo Post #3

I tried Celine's Butterscotch Bars last night.  I was pretty darn sure they'd be good, so I made a double recipe.  They are now gone.  Is it excessive that I ate at least 3 full bars today, starting with breakfast?  Gosh, I hope not.  Because I wanted even more.

Check out the link above for the original recipe.  If you want to make them gluten-free, then look below:

Butterscotch Pecan Bars, Version 2.1 (Slightly modified from the original)

preheat oven to 350F, coat 8×4 inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

in a small saucepan, melt:

1/3 cup vegan margarine

remove from heat. stir in:

scant 3/4 cups brown sugar

set aside and let cool a little.
in a large bowl, sift together:

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup oat flour (or more rice flour if you can't do oats)

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1/2 t baking powder

1/8 t baking soda
1/2 t fine sea salt

stir in:

1/3 cup pecan bits
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

place margarine prep in the bowl of your stand mixer, add:

1/4 cup vanilla soy yogurt
1 t pure vanilla extract

and stir until well blended.
add flour mixture, scraping sides once to make sure nothing gets ignored.

bake for 23 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan.
let cool in pan on top of a cooling rack.

While it is very tempting to eat these while they are hot, it's best for the texture to let them cool.  And really, the texture of most gluten free baked goods seems to improve after resting for a day.  I know it's ridiculous to ask you to not eat them for 12 hours, but after sitting the grains absorb more of the moisture and you get a softer crumb.  

Good things really do come to those that wait.

Best Breakfast Ever

Over piles of pizza on Tuesday night, some friends asked if I had made cinnamon rolls before.  Al had great luck with the "Better than Cinnabon" recipe.  I've been drooling over all the cinnamon roll food porn on the PPK and various blogs, but haven't attempted anything myself.  I just couldn't bring myself to make a batch of hot, gooey cinnamon rolls that my wheat-free partner wouldn't be able to eat.  (Also, because then I'd eat the entire batch myself).

But today is a day off of work.  The sun is shining and the animals woke me up at 8:30am.  It is a perfect day for gluten-free cinnamon rolls!

I started with the recipe here.  I subbed some ingredients to make them vegan and then switched out the flour to make them a bit more...something.  Baking with only starches (corn, potato, tapioca) makes me feel like I'm baking with a cloud or something.  It's just not sturdy enough.  So I used some millet flour in the mix.  See recipe below:

Gluten-Free Vegan Cinnamon Rolls!  

(From The Gluten Free Kitchen by Roben Ryberg, with modifications from Jenn and from me)

INGREDIENTS 

2 Tablespoons Earth Balance

1/4 Cup Sugar 

2/3 Cup of non-dairy milk @ room temperature 

It should be warm enough to help activate the yeast! 

1 Packet Yeast (about 1 Tablespoon) 

1 Egg replacer egg (1.5 tsp. replacer with 2 Tbsp. water)

1/4 Cup Canola Oil 

1/2 cup millet flour

1 cup tapioca starch 

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda 

2 1/2 Teaspoons Xantham Gum 

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 

1/2 Teaspoon Salt 

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Flavoring 

FOR FILLING 

2 Tbps. Earth Balance, softened

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed 

1 1/4 Teaspoons Cinnamon 

DIRECTIONS 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In medium bowl, combine Earth Balance and sugar. Mix well. Measure warm milk and and add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve. Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture. In another bowl, combine the flour, starch, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum.  Add this flour mixture to all the remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be quite soft. (I beat this in my mixer)

Take a piece of Plastic Wrap and lay it out so it covers a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square.  Lay ball of dough on top of that. 

You can either use a wet spatula or wet hands to smooth the dough into a flat square or use the following method:

Pull out another sheet of wrap and gently lay over the dough. 

Pat the dough down into a rough squarish pancake. Lift the top wrap up and relay it down. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in between the two layers of wrap. Note that occasionally you'll have to lift and reposition the wrap because it gets "stuck" under the edges. I also occasionally flip the whole thing over. Make sure that when you're done you've got about a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square of dough. Remove top piece of wrap.  

Smear the softened Earth Balance over the dough's surface.  Combine sugar and cinnamon. Spread evenly across dough's surface, leaving about 1 inch along one edge free of sugar.

Use the bottom piece of wrap to lift the edge of the dough and start to roll it up forming a long cylinder. (Start with the sugary edge, which will be the center of your roll and roll toward the sugarless edge) 

Cut off or trim up the irregular ends of your "log".

Then cut into 9 slices of similar size, about 1 1/2" wide. Place rolls into a greased round glass pie pan or baking dish.

Bake approximately 20 minutes, until tops are lightly browned. 

Combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla flavoring to make glaze. Stir until all lumps are dissolved. Drizzle over warm rolls if desired.   (I used leftover Creamy Maple Frosting from VCTotW)

Makes 9 modestly sized rolls. Serves 9...or 2, just depending on the people.

Cake and Brownies

Here's that wedding cake I wrote about yesterday:
The bottom layer was only about 3 (maybe 4?) inches in diameter and the top layer about 2 inches. So it was little and super cute! The cake is a vanilla-citrus flavor (lime, lemon, and orange) and the frosting is a cream cheese buttercream. The mini Gerber daisies from Artemisia will go on top. Perhaps the sister of the bride would send me a picture from the wedding (?)

And because I just didn't have enough sweets in the house, I decided to bake brownies tonight.



But these aren't just any old brownies...These are gluten-free, vegan, Fair Trade brownies!
They include not one, not two, but SIX Fair trade ingredients: chocolate, cocoa, brown sugar, vanilla, coffee, and bananas.

Now, I know you're wondering why the heck I'm baking with all these imported ingredients during the Eat Local Challenge. The truth is we're looking ahead to Fair Trade month in October at the co-op. It's a bit like Target putting out Christmas decorations in October, but we have to plan in advance! So Fair Trade is on my mind and I couldn't resist trying to pack as many Fair Trade ingredients as I could into one brownie.

Plus, when buying imported products I always like to make sure the farmers/producers were safe and paid a fair wage for their labor. Historically coffee, cacao, banana, (and other) farmers have received a minuscule fraction of the price that we pay in grocery stores. Most of the money goes to the importers and processors rather than the folks actually doing the growing. When I buy fair trade I know that I might pay a little more, but the money is going to farmers and communities who really deserve the compensation. Plus, most of the fair trade products I see are organic and co-operatively owned to boot!

I had to make these brownies gluten-free so that my sweetie could enjoy warm brownies after his adventures protesting the RNC today. He had the joy of getting tear gassed and having percussion grenades thrown at him (and hundreds of others) by cops, ATF, and National Guard officers while marching from the Capital to the RNC. So he NEEDED brownies.

You need brownies, too, though, so here's the recipe:

Fair Trade Brownies
(heavily adapted from King Arthur Whole Grain Baking)

1 cup of Earth Balance margarine
2 cups packed Fair Trade brown sugar (Wholesome Sweetners)
2 very ripe Fair Trade bananas (Oke)
1 Tbsp. Fair Trade vanilla extract (Frontier)
2 Tbsp. finely ground Fair Trade coffee (Peace Coffee)
3/4 cup Fair Trade cocoa (Equal Exchange)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 cups chopped Fair Trade chocolate bar (Divine)

Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease a 9 x 11 inch baking pan. In a small pan, melt Earth Balance over medium-low heat. Stir in brown sugar until fully dissolved, then remove pan from the heat. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Add banana and vanilla mixture and coffee grounds to the Earth Balance and sugar and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa, baking powder, salt, rice flour, tapioca, & xanthan gum. Add the liquid mixture to the sifted ingredients and stir until combined. Then fold in the chocolate chunks. Spread batter in the baking dish and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the brownies comes out clean. Let brownies cool before cutting them...if you can resist!

A few cupcakes

I'll have to get some pictures of the wedding cake tomorrow in the morning light, but for now I've got pictures of the Maple Walnut cupcakes:
The Pumpkin Cream Cheese cupcakes:
And the S'mores cupcakes (sans graham crackers on top):

I feel sick from frosting overload!

My second wedding...

I'm super excited to be doing the desserts for another vegan wedding!
This one is in September, so Fall flavors will be featured.

Flavors will be: S'Mores, Maple Walnut, Lime Margarita, and Pumpkin Cream Cheese.


The bride and groom will have a two tiered mini citrus cake covered in cream cheese frosting and lime zest. Aren't these flowers beautiful? Who can guess what kind they are? (No cheating, Erin & Holly!)


After a long hard day of sleeping out on the deck chairs, it was all I could do to whip up a quick salad for dinner. This one is with nappa cabbage, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeños, and green onions. I dressed it with sesame oil, tamari, and rice vinegar. A bit monochromatic, but delicious nonetheless.

A Strawberry-Rhubarb Cornmeal Tart

With all the strawberries ripening at once and the rhubarb going out of control, it was imperative that I make a strawberry-rhubarb something-or-other this weekend. But my standby pie crust recipe uses wheat flour and I want the whole family to be able to enjoy the fruits of our garden.

So when I was perusing the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, the Cornmeal Dough pie crust caught my eye. All it took was some flour substitutions to make this one a gluten-free crust and a butter substitution to make it vegan. Plus, our cornmeal and rice flour is locally milled.

The Cornmeal Crust (adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe)
1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp. xanthan gum
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup frozen Earth Balance, cut into chunks
1/4 cup ice water

Combine rice flour, xanthan gum, cornmeal, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse until thoroughly mixed. Add Earth Balance and process until the mixture forms pea-sized bits. With machine running, add ice water slowly just the dough begins to hold together. Press dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate about an hour. Then preheat the oven to 375 and lightly grease a tart pan. Press the cornmeal dough into the pan, making sure to keep the sides thick enough to be sturdy. Prick holes in the bottom with a fork and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate another 20 minutes. Then cover the crust in foil or parchment paper and fill with dry beans. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is firmed up and no longer shiny. Remove beans and foil and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.

Meanwhile...

The Rhubarb Jam

2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
1/4 cup maple syrup (I like grade B)
1/4 tsp. agar powder

Combine rhubarb and maple syrup in a small saucepan bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 13-15 minutes or until the rhubarb is the consistency of applesauce. Stir in the agar powder and refrigerate until chilled.

The Sweet Cream

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese frosting
1/4 cup vegan sour cream

I apologize for using leftovers in a recipe, but I had some leftover frosting in the fridge and hope you do, too. (I believe I used the recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World). Whisk together the two until combined.


To assemble: Spread the rhubarb jam over the crust, all the way to the edges. Then pour the sweet cream over the jam, leaving a border of jam visible. Top with sliced or whole strawberries, depending on their size. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until serving.

Wedding Bells

(Nope, not for me) My friends Erin and Tony got married this weekend and I got to bake their desserts! This was really fun, really stressful, and really rewarding. Here's the making of the cheezecakes:

One got a crust of crushed pretzels, a touch of oil, peanut butter, and a little extra salt. The other got crushed chocolate cookies, sugar, and oil.


I pressed the crust into my mini-cheesecake pans with the back of my measuring cups. It worked great!
Then I poured in the filling: Vanilla cheesecake for the chocolate crust and peanut butter cheesecake for the pretzel crust (this was really just the vanilla batter with peanut butter stirred in).
Then they went into my (dirty and temperamental) oven for about 45 minutes total. {You'll notice an extra cheesecake in here, I'm sure. My recipe makes enough for 3 minis and I wanted a back-up cheesecake in case something terrible happened to one of them.
Here's the finished products: The chocolate crust/vanilla cheesecake got homemade caramel sauce, chocolate ganache drizzles, and pecans. The pretzel crust/peanut butter cheesecake got peanut butter caramel and white chocolate shavings.

I also baked about 200 cupcakes, but somehow missed taking a picture of them at my house. There were about 6 or 7 large bakery boxes full on my kitchen table. My house smelled AMAZING! I had to use my cake carrier turned upside down as a bowl to mix the batter.

Flavors were almost all from VCTOTW: Chocolate Raspberry (chocolate cupcakes filled with raspberry buttercream and topped with chocolate ganache), Spice with Cream Cheese frosting, Lime Margarita, and Mexican Hot Chocolate.
There were these beautiful hydrangeas, ferns, and lilacs waiting for me to use around the desserts when I arrived at the reception hall. I think they looked so beautiful- and everyone I talked to said they loved them. I even saw a couple of women having their pictures taken while taking huge bites out of cupcakes! Erin and Tony were so sweet and introduced me to everyone as their baker- so perhaps I'll get some more jobs out of this!

I was REALLY nervous about how this was going to turn out. Along the way I learned that I can't bake cupcakes on the bottom rack in my oven. Even if I lower the heat and take them out early, the bottoms will be blackened. I learned this after ruining about 48 cupcakes.

I also learned that Earth Balance now makes 1/2 butter, 1/2 margarine sticks. I learned this after buying 4 pounds of it and almost dumping it into my mixer for the frostings. Close call! Luckily I had a stockpile of REAL Earth Balance already in the fridge, so I was able to use that.

So what do you do when life gives you burned cupcakes?

You cut off the tops and make Margarita DingDongs! This are firming up in the freezer right now.

My week

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. This past week included volunteering at a food bank, Mike's birthday, big news at work, and a 3 day yoga workshop. I haven't been this busy since I was in school!

Tuesday night I went with co-op folks to volunteer at Second Harvest Food Bank. We took the labels off of cans of organic tomatoes and relabeled them with stickers bearing the correct ingredient lists. I think the original labels incorrectly identified the oregano and basil as being organic, so the company donated the cans to the food bank (selling them with incorrect labels = hefty fines). It was great to see the food shelves getting organic tomatoes! Although the work was a bit tedious and (I hate to say it- I hope the organic inspectors aren't reading this) pointless, I felt simultaneously relaxed and productive when I was done.

On Wednesday we found out that when our co-op's lease (at the Randolph store) is up in Dec 2009, we'll be expanding to a new location on W. 7th. It's a relief to finally have a location secured. Even if I don't usually work at that location, Mike does and I do almost all my grocery shopping at that store. I'm thrilled that next year I'll be able to walk 6 blocks to the store!
At the same time, I know lots of folks are really sad that the store won't be in exactly the same neighborhood so I can't help but empathize. Co-op members take a lot of pride and ownership in our stores (we are owners after all) so when anything changes (from moving the canned beans to moving the store) it can be pretty traumatic. Now comes the fun part of planning a new store!

On Thursday it was Mike's birthday and he chose a (gluten-free) vanilla cake with caramel filling and chocolate frosting. This was my first time making an actual cake gluten-free instead of just cupcakes, but it turned out pretty good.

Saturday morning I made breakfast and we ate outside on the deck because it was so beautiful outside. I think it got up to 60! We had yogurt-herb potatoes that were somewhere between mashed potatoes and potato salad. They had a soyogurt, green onion, and parsley dressing but were kinda mashed, so I don't know what to call them. But they were really good and tasty cold the next day as well. The tofu scramble was a bit plain because we had no veggies in the house except 2 tomatoes and an onion. But it went really well with the potatoes and gave me plenty of protein to keep up with my yoga workshop that day.
I'm on the Board for the Iyengar Yoga Association of Minnesota and on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we sponsored a workshop with Neeta Datta. She has a great way of teaching- somehow she could say things that I've heard before and it just clicked with me more. The classes were strenuous, but very focused on going within your own body and keeping your mind and eyes soft. Right now my muscles aren't feeling so soft- they're feeling more sore. But it was a great weekend! On Saturday night we held a dinner for anyone attending the workshop and I made Isa's Vanilla Yogurt Pound Cake from Veganomicon with a soft ganache topping and California strawberries. Yum! I have an entire cake leftover, though, because we weren't sure how many people to expect. I know I should freeze it for a rainy day...


But today IS a rainy day!

Rice CrispyCakes

I know I already posted a picture of this cupcake, but I really needed to work on the recipe before posting that up. But after sampling about 3 more tonight, I think I'm ready.

I really tried to preserve the texture of a rice crispy treat in this cupcake, but found that it's nearly impossible to keep rice crisp cereal crisp when encapsulated in cupcake batter. So I've settled for ooey gooey melted rice crispy treat centers inside of gluten free cupcakes. If you call that settling.



Unlike most cupcake baking, you have to make the frosting first, as it serves double duty.

Ricemellow Frosting

1 cup Ricemellow Creme
2 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine
2 Tbsp vegan shortening (I like Earth Balance's)
2 cups of sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
dash of ground cinnamon

Cream together the Earth Balance and shortening in a mixer. Then add the Ricemellow Creme and mix until well combined (it will be gooey). Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix slowly at first, then on med-high speed to fully combine. Last, mix in the vanilla and beat until smooth. Keep this frosting at room temperature until ready to frost the cupcakes.

Rice Crisp Centers

1 tsp oil (for greasing muffin tin)
1/2 cup of Ricemellow Frosting
1-1/2 cups of brown rice crisp cereal ( I like Erewhon's Organic)

Grease a mini-muffin tin. Fold rice crisp cereal into the frosting until it forms a sticky ball. Press rounded tablespoons full of the mixture into the mini muffin tin and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours is fine). Now these are fabulous just as they are, but they make great centers for cupcakes, too.

Rice CrispyCakes

1 1/3 cups rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch (or cornstarch)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup soymilk
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Combine dry ingredients (flour through xanthan gum) in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl or jar, combine soymilk, oil, vanilla, and flaxseeds. Stir this really well to activate the gumminess of the flax. Then add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir until thoroughly combined. Spoon about a tablespoon of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then place one mini rice crispy treat on the batter. Then fill the liners with the remaining batter. This should make 12 cupcakes. Immediately place these in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes*. Let cool almost completely before frosting. This is one case where the cupcakes should be ever-so-slightly warm when frosting because the gooey Ricemellow Frosting looks really pretty when slightly melted. And it gets really thick, so it doesn't hurt it to melt a bit.

*Note: It is tough to tell if they are done because the crispy treat will block a toothpick inserted into the cake. So you might want to do one cupcake without the treat inside, just to serve as a "doneness tester". Or you could just live dangerously. I can tell you from experience that children (and adults) will still love these even if they are undercooked- and there's no eggs to worry about!

This is my official Cupcake Hero entry for the month. I always seem to wait until really close to the deadline to enter, even though I knew my entry idea the moment I read the theme ingredient of marshmallows. Hmm... What does that say about me?

Unfortunately, I seem to have just missed the deadline for "Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free". But I might just send it in anyways for kicks.

Everyday Foods

I have few random food pictures from the last week...I tried to think of a theme for them all, but I don't think there is one. Except maybe everyday foods for us. Okay. That will work.
So here they are:

This was a snack plate I put together for the kids and I last week. It includes carrots, celery, apples, blood oranges (amazing right now!), and pecans. The dip was just a mix of tahini, garlic red pepper miso, soy yogurt, and tamari. It's amazing how a great dip can make a couple of 8 year olds devour a plate of veggies!
This is just one reason why I love my sweetie so much. It takes a lot of love and an amazing amount of restraint to save the last one of these to bring home to me. Mike made these for his coworkers last week- Hot and toasty Lifestream gluten free waffles with melted peanut butter, melted chocolate chips, and a scoop of Rice Divine vanilla ice cream on top! Wow! It was hot and cold and chocolatey and so peanut buttery that my whole mouth stuck together.

This stir-fry broke all expectations with its deliciousness. I don't aim high when cooking on Monday and Tuesday nights. These are our busiest night when the kids have extra homework. So I didn't expect much and was pleasantly surprised. I marinated some tofu with tamari, garlic, and sesame oil and baked it for about 20 minutes. Then I stir fried broccoli, carrots, and green beans and mixed up a sauce of all the leftover marinade, orange juice, ginger and cornstarch. This one is a keeper.

This was my dinner tonight. I made a ratatouille out of some zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes that were about to go bad. This really hit the spot served over top of some pasta with some Parma- and it only took about 20 minutes.
Now the ratatouille would have been delicious with some Spicy Italian Sausage added to it. But I figure that if I've already eaten 2 entire sausages dipped in dijon mustard for lunch, I should probably not eat any more today! I tried taking about 6 pictures of this sausage and Trouble kept jumping up and getting in all the pictures. So they are all blurry and serve as evidence that kittens like vegan sausage almost as much as I do.

Tonight was my "Shopping Co-op on a Budget" class at the co-op. It went really well- we had a full house and some folks even stayed afterward to say how much they appreciated it. I think this one is a keeper (plus, it's free and you can't argue with that). With prices of grains and soy going up, I'm starting to think about expanding my garden this year. (As if I needed an excuse to do that).

Cookin' with Jack

I agonized over this month's Cupcake Hero Contest. The theme ingredient is liquor, which we generally avoid in our house. But I really wanted to do an Apple-tini Cupcake with Caramel drizzle on top. I visited a couple of liquor stores to find an apple flavored liquor, but they all had scary artificial colors added to them and required buying a huge $16 bottle of booze that I'd never drink. Then I had to go out of town on Thursday, so I just gave up on this month's contest.
I was ecstatic to learn when I returned that the deadline was extended until today. I searched the liquor stores for some other ideas, but returned empty handed and uninspired. With only hours remaining I remembered the Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie from "How it all Vegan" by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. I bought a small bottle of Jack Daniels to make this pie about 3 years ago...and still had the leftover whiskey in the cabinet. Surely this heavenly combination of whiskey, pecans, and chocolate could make a winning cupcake...


Butter Pecan Cupcakes with Whiskey Buttercream and Chocolate Drizzle

1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1.5 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. Jack Daniels
1/4 tsp molasses
3/4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground flax seeds

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, potato starch, xanthan, bkg powder, bkg soda, salt, pecans). In a separate bowl, mix together melted Earth Balance, vanilla, JD, molasses, sugar, and flax seeds. Then whisk together dry and wet ingredients and distribute in cupcake liners. I filled them pretty full and got 9 cupcakes, but I like a puffy rounded top to my cupcakes. It would make 12 smaller cupcakes.
Cool completely before frosting.

Whiskey Buttercream
This doesn't make a ton of frosting because it's super rich and pretty potent-tasting. If you want a thick frosting, just double the recipe.

1/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
1 tsp whiskey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Cream together Earth Balance, whiskey and vanilla. Add 1/2 the powdered sugar and mix until no lumps remain. Add remaining sugar and mix until smooth.

Chocolate Drizzle
3 Tbsp non-dairy milk
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Over a VERY low heat, heat milk until steaming. Then remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until completely melted and smooth. Refrigerate until thickened slightly, but still drizzle-able.



***I know that making my entry gluten free will greatly reduce my chances of winning and of many people making these cupcakes. But I figure that if I keep posting these recipes, eventually folks will realize that although gluten-free baking seems incredibly intimidating, it can be done (especially with a good recipe)! Plus, this is a Cupcake Hero contest and anyone who is gluten free will tell you you're a hero if you bake these.

Serious Sugar Rush

Don't read this post if you are trying to lose weight, have diabetes, or are trying to eat healthy. This post will do nothing but make you want to eat cupcakes and cheesecake all day long.
Today I hosted a wedding dessert tasting for my friends/clients who are getting married.
Here's what we sampled:

Margarita Cupcakes
Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
Orange Pudding Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream, Chocolate Ganache, or both
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Raspberry CupcakesThe inside shot: Filled with Raspberry Cream and topped with Chocolate Ganache

After all those cupcakes, we still had to find room for dessert...


Here are the His and Hers Cheesecakes:Peanut Butter Cheesecake with a Salty Pretzel Crust, Peanut Butter Caramel and White Chocolate Shavings

Turtle Cheesecake with a Chocolate Cookie Crust
It was tough, but they narrowed it down to their favorites! Don't you wish you were invited to this wedding?