Tough Week, Eat A Treat

The silence around these parts has been next to unbearable. Just between us, I needed a little bit of time to myself. With the new year, comes new resolutions, and a brand new inspiring to-do list. 2015 is going to be the year of change, I feel it in my bones.

So far, January isn't treating me all too well. It's been rough. I started it sick as a dog, hacking up a lung and struggling to get out of bed in the mornings. When the cold left, a new sweeping illness stormed in, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't messing with my head.

Honestly, I'm sad. This week, if not the last eighteen days, meaning this year, has been a tough one. I have been dragging myself through them, not really participating. Under the weariness and nausea, I feel as though I've lost track of who I am, which is rather unfortunate because it took a good solid year of being alone to figure that out. For some reason, I feel as though I have been compromising myself a lot lately. It's left me unsettled.

So, this journey is beginning again. The one where I find my soul again. Goodness, it sounds so tedious, I simply don't have the energy to do this all over again. This morning I took the first step, though. A walk in the rain with the hounds. Then, I baked something. I created something. A treat.

Treats help cope with the things we cannot change today.

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites (Vegan, of course)

Makes 20

Preheat oven 350°

Ingredients:

Crust:

5 Tbsp - Earth Balance Margarine

1/4 Cup - Walnuts

1/2 Cup - Flour

1/2 Cup - Brown Sugar

Filling: 

4 Ounces - Faux Cream Cheese (I used Tofutti)

1/2 Cup - Plain Coconut Yogourt

1/2 Cup - Sugar

2 Tbsp - Pineapple Juice

1 Tsp - Vanilla

6 - Fresh Strawberries

3 Tbsp - Minute Tapioca 

2 Tsp - Egg Replacer (just the powder, not mixed with water) 

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a 8X8 pan with parchment paper. In a food processor, blend Earth Balance, walnuts, brown sugar and flour. Once it is course, press down into your prepared pan. 

2. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. 

3. While the crust is baking, mix cream cheese, yogourt and sugar in the food processor. Ensure to use a spatula to press down the sides. 

4. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend all together. 

5. Take the crust out, put the filling in and bake for another 25 minutes. 

6. Remove from oven and chill in refrigerator for 1-2 hours, until it has set. 

Now, these are delicious, but certainly not good for you. You also have to keep them refrigerator afterwards, or at least that's what I am doing. 

They are divine, though. 

In My Oven

One of the best parts of Christmas time and winter is the baking. The cooking. Feasting and filling the tummies of the people you love. I love to bake, as you might know. In fact, I call myself the Master Baker, mostly because it sounds dirty. The Vegan Master Baker, of course. Out of all the seasonal goodies I make, my most favourite is the Cranberry Upside-Down cake. It's simple and divine. Honestly, you won't ever taste anything quite so good.

Here is the recipe:

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake (Vegan, duh)
Ingredients:

1/2 Cup - Earth Balance Butter
1 Cup - Sugar (I use unrefined)
1 Tsp - Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp - Nutmeg
2 Cups - Fresh Cranberries
1 Faux Egg - either a flax egg or egg replacer works, either or. I've used both.
1.5 Tsp - Vanilla
1 and 1/4 Cups - Flour
1.5 Tsp - Baking Powder
1.4 Tsp - Salt
1/2 Cup - Coconut Milk (or non-dairy milk of your desire)

Preheat oven 350

1. Grease bottom of an 8 inch cake pan with 2 tablespoons of the Earth Balance.

2. Mix 1/2 cup of sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle over the bottom of the greased pan, then line pan with the cranberries, spreading as evenly as possible. 

3. Make the cake. Cream the rest of the butter (6 tablespoons) and sugar (1/2 a cup) together. Add the vanilla and faux egg. In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt). 

4. Mix with the beater the flour and butter together, alternating the dry with the coconut milk. Once well combined, pour batter over the cranberries. 

5. Bake the cake for about 20-25 minutes, but keep an eye on it. When a toothpick comes out clean it is done! Also, this cake might spill over to place some foil under the pan on the rack. I tip this over onto a place right from the oven because whenever I tried to let it cook the bottom of the cake would stick to the pan and it wouldn't come out nicely. An easy tip is to keep your oven mitts on, put a plate on top of the cake, then tip upside down. Hit bottom of the pan to be sure it comes out. You can also run a knife along the edges to loosen a bit before tipping it over. 

Eat it all up! 

Zestful Cranberry Muffins

On the tenth day of October, I shall pause the horror-festing, to bring you my latest recipe. These sweet, tangy, deliciously refreshing muffins will test your resolve when you say you'll only have one. They are still fresh from the oven and, as I type this, the Sidekick is on his third. For the record, his stomach and lack of willpower always amazes me. Not that he needs to worry. The man has a metabolism that would rival that of a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (which reportedly eat 1.5 to 3 times their weight in nectar and insects a day). I am jealous. My metabolism is akin to a blue whale's, as you can tell by these thighs of mine.

As you know, everything I bake is vegan. I am under the impression most any baking can be just as delicious without animal products. It's kind of a life mission for me to prove vegan doesn't mean dry, dense and disgusting. These muffins are moist, fluffy and delectable. Trust me. I have no reason to lie to you. Now, I shall make with the recipe.

Zestful Cranberry Muffins 

Makes 12

Preheat oven 375

Ingredients:

2 Cups - Flour

3/4 Cup - Sugar (I used unrefined)

2 Tsp - Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp - Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp - Salt

1/2 Cup - Coconut Oil (melted, of course)

1/2 Cup - Orange Juice

1/2 Cup - Coconut Beverage

1 Tsp - Vanilla (or more) 

1/4 Tsp - Almond Extract 

Zest of 1 Clementine 

1 Cup - Cranberries

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. 

2. In saucepan, heat orange juice and coconut beverage until just a bit warm. This will prevent the coconut oil from hardening when you add the cold liquids to it, which is exactly what I did. It created clumps in my batter. Rookie mistake, right? Well, I learned from it, because I ended up having to heat up my batter to melt the clumps before I could bake the freaking muffins! 

3. Combine liquids to dry ingredients, then add in vanilla, almond extract and zest of the clementine. Mix until smooth. I actually thought I over mixed and the muffins weren't going to turn out, but I was wrong. They are beautiful. 

4. Fold in cranberries - you can chop them, or leave them whole. I did half and half. 

5. Scoop into lightly greased muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with sugar. 

Now, be forewarned, the sugar sprinkling kind of backfired for me. I thought the granules would be intact on top and be like pretty gems. This wasn't the case. In fact, they sunk into the batter and crystallized, which kind of make the muffins look a bit odd, like ripply, but turned out to be wondrous on the taste buds. So, do it. 

6. Bake in over for 20-25 minutes, until they are lightly browned on top. Then scoop them out with a spoon and place on a cooling rack. Don't let them cool. Eat them. Eat them all! 

Here are some pictures of these most delicious muffins. 

Wordy Wednesday - And A Recipe

Rough days can only be resolved by something delicious. I bake to relieve stress. Not to excellent for the waistline, but it keeps the Sidekick happy ... ish. Before I've even had a chance to type this post he's already downed three of my new creation.

The word: Heavenly

This could even apply to the band (the British one, of course) and their twee-pop-alicious melodies. But alas, I am actually talking about the delectable recipe I crafted this evening. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. No, not quite like Reese's. Some might even say they are better. Some being me, and the Sidekick. He has to agree with me or else the deliciousness will stop.

The word 'heavenly' is enjoyable to me, especially when describing things I love, like hot baths, cool beds, and edibles that make my thighs bigger.

Because I am a sharer, here is the recipe for these (vegan) treats.

Heavenly Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Makes 12

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup - Melted margarine (Earth Balance for the win!)

1 Cup - Sugar (white)

1 Tsp - Vanilla

1 - Flax Egg (1 Tbsp ground flax to 2 Tbsp warm water)

1/2 Cup - Peanut Butter (creamy or crunchy, it doesn't matter)

1 1/2 Cups - Flour

1/2 Tsp - Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp - Salt 

3/4 Cup - Chocolate Chips 

1. Before you start, spray down a muffin tin with cooking spray. Melt margarine, then combine with peanut butter, flax egg, vanilla and sugar. Here's where I always dip my finger in to taste. It never disappoints. 

2. Add salt, baking soda and flour. Combine, but don't over mix. Over mixing is bad. Not sure why, but that's what I've gathered from all these years of baking. 

3. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Divide the dough evenly and put into the muffin pans and pat down.

5. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Watch them, though. Ovens are finicky creatures and if yours bakes faster you might burn them. Take them out. Cool them for ten minutes, then remove from the pan. If you are having troubles getting them out, just slide a knife around the cup and dump it upside down on a cooling wrack. 

Here's a secret that I haven't shared before. Put all baking into a container right away and put the lid on. It will prevent them from getting too hard. It's a little trick I always find helps in the quality of my baking. 

Now eat them. Tell me they aren't heavenly. I dare you. 

Divine Mookies

Last night the Sidekick was feeling peckish, so I adapted a recipe to make him something divine. Peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal mookies. We are calling them mookies because I don't actually have a baking sheet and I baked the cookies in a muffin tin. Turned out perfect.

Here is the recipe!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Mookies

Makes 18

Preheat oven 425
Ingredients

1/3 Cup - Smooth Peanut Butter
1 Cup - Sugar (white)

1/3 Cup - Coconut Milk (Or other non milky milk, like almond)
2 Tbsp - Canola Oil

1 Tsp - Vanilla Extract

1/8 Tsp - Almond Extract  

1 1/4 Cup - Flour 

3 Tbsp - Golden Flax (ground up)
1 Tsp - Baking Soda
1 Tsp - Salt
1/4 Cup - Chocolate chips 

1 Cup - Oats

1. Mix peanut butter, sugar, coconut milk, oil and extracts together until well combined.

2. Add baking soda, flax, salt, and flour and mix well. 

3. Fold in oats and chocolate chips. If there is too much liquid add a bit more flax.  

4. Lightly grease muffin tins and put a tablespoon of batter in each one, press down a bit. Do not fill past a 1/4 of the tin. 

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the tops have a itsy bitsy bit of browning. 

Take out and transfer to a cooling rack. 

Simply delicious. 

My Tiny Loaves

It's been over fourteen years since I turned vegan. One of the best parts of eating this way is experimenting with food and trying to create amazing things to put in my mouth. You really have to appreciate food and cooking to love being vegan. One of my passions is baking. I always wanted to open a tiny vegan bakery or cafe of sorts and show the world vegan food is amazing. Even baked good.

Don't get me wrong, it's totally hit and miss. The other day I bought a vegan, gluten free cinnamon bun from a local spot and it was terrible. I have dabbled in gluten free baking and it can definitely be denser, but this was a cinnamon bun, most of which is yeasty awesomeness. I think the main problem was that it was frozen and they heated it up for me. I had a bite and actually threw the rest of it out, and we all know how I hate wasting food.

Anyhow, because of this horribly disappointing cinnamon bun, I decided to try my hand at making cinnamon swirl bread, something I'd never tried before. Bread can be intimidating. Mostly because it's time consuming. There's something terrible about not having your loaf rise when all you want if fluffy bread to stuff in your mouth.

After combining and altering three different recipes, I had success. And it wasn't even all that hard. Yes, it was time consuming, as all bread recipes are, but it had very few ingredients and turned out beautiful. And also delicious.

What's better than a loaf of bread? Eight loaves of bread. This recipe will make one big loaf, I imagine, and eight small loaves, like the ones I made in the pictures below. If you don't have a mini loaf pan, go get one. Seriously, they are the cutest things ever and you will use it all the time.

The recipe: Voluptuous Vegan Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients:
1 Cup very warm water (not hot or you'll kill your yeast)
2.5 Tsp yeast (not instant, regular old yeasty poo)
2.5 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs oil (I used canola)
1 Tsp vanilla
1/2 Tsp salt
3 cups of flour (I used all purpose organic)
2 Tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar (brown, white or both - I used white)

First, like all recipes, you proof your yeast in a big bowl. Combine water and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Once dissolved, add the yeast, but don't stir. Let it froth, foam and become fabulous. After about 7.5 minutes, add in the oil and vanilla and give a little stir. Now you add the salt and flour. You will need to knead. If it is too tacky/sticky, make sure you add a bit more flour until the dough is elastic-like and not too wet, you don't want it sticking to the counter.

Now you coat a large bowl with oil or margarine and  let it rise for an hour in a warm spot. I put it in the windowsill on a sunny day. If you aren't blessed with nice weather, inside the over with the light on will do. (Not the oven. Do not turn the oven on for rising. I feel stupid telling you that, like you should know better, but what if you don't?) Oh, I also cover my dough, mostly because I have dogs and don't want hair or dust getting in it, but also because I believe it traps the heat so it rises better.

Once it has risen, divide into eight equal blobs. Flatten these blobs out on the counter making them about four inches wide and eight inches long. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl, then sprinkle this mixture over the dough. Carefully roll the dough up and place in a greased loaf pan. (You only have to do this once if you are making one loaf, but the measurements will be different.)  Once the are all done, set them back in a warm place for half an hour or so, until you are happy with how they look.

Back at 350 degrees for about fifteen minutes. You will know they are done when the tops are brown and they sound hollow when you knock on them. In order to make sure they aren't too hard, brush them with margarine to soften the tops. Then eat all the mini loaves because they are amazing.

Aren't they cute? 

 See, palm sized!

My Tiny Loaves.