Vegan white cupcakes with Pistachio Cardamom frosting

Okay, I'll admit it - I'm a terrible blogger.  Jeez, it's been over a month since a post.  I super fail.  Well, since that last post, I've gone full-fledged vegan, so recipes will be a bit different.  I've had a lot of success and learned a lot by reading other vegan blogs, so maybe I can contribute in some small, barely-noticeable way.

I ran out of cupcake cups, so used measuring cups for a few.  This all stems from the fact that I've lost my muffin tin.

This cupcake recipe comes from a regular customer at the restaurant I work at who has provided us with a lot of vegan recipes.  I'm trying to work through all of the recent batch she gave us, serving as sort of a test kitchen before we serve them at work.  This will be the 3rd time I've made these cupcakes myself and we now serve them at work.  A good, simple recipe that can be modified with various frostings and flavorings.

For a dozen cupcakes, you'll need:

• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ C almond milk (my only modification from the original recipe [orig. soy]. I recommend using the sweetened vanilla flavor for these, but if you just have plain, add more vanilla and sprinkle cakes with sugar on top)
• 2 ⅛ c flour
• 2t baking powder
• 1/2t soda
• 1/2t salt
• 1 ⅛ c sugar
• 1/2c vegetable oil
• 1 ½t pure vanilla
• 1/2t coconut extract

The steps:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine almond milk & cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside
• Combine all the dry ingredients.
• Add oil, extracts, & milk mixture and combine
• Dish into a muffin tin and bake for 15-20min

For the frosting, you'll need:

• 1/2C pistachio nuts, shelled
• 1/4C water
• 1/4-1/2C almond milk
• 1/2t vanilla
• 1t Cardamom
• a few cups of powdered sugar

The steps:

• In your food processor (YES! I got one! Finally!), blend nuts and water until it forms a green liquid with tiny pieces of nuts left. Dish this out into a large bowl.
• Add almond milk, vanilla, and cardamom
• Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, fully incorporating it into the mixture until the frosting has reached desired consistency
• Frost your cupcakes when they cool.

Awesome, enjoy these. I am really really going to try to post more. I hibernated there for awhile when my heat was broken. That's my (lame) excuse.

Recipes to come (after cooking dinner for friends tomorrow): 

• black bean soup 
• carrot & jicama salad 
• guacamole

Raspberry Brownies

Just another recipe to use fresh raspberries.  And I wanted to make something deliciously chocolatey.  Most recipes online use raspberry preserves or mash up and juice their berries.  I wanted something strongly and tartly raspberry, so using whole, fresh berries.

For the brownie batter, you'll need:

• 1 box of fresh raspberries (washed and dried)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter (softened nearly to melted)
• 1 16oz can of chocolate syrup

The steps

• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Beat the eggs then combine all ingredients but raspberries
• Pour this batter into a grease 9x13 pan.
• Take about 2/3 of your box of raspberries and sprinkle them evenly over the batter in the pan.  Press the raspberries down until they are completely or mostly submerged in the brownie batter.
• Bake for 35-45 minutes, until it doesn't jiggle.
• Let cool in the pan.  Avoid the temptation to eat it all.

For the frosting, you'll need:

• one 8oz brick of cream cheese (softened)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon almond extract.  (If you don't have almond extract, add some vanilla).

The steps:

• Combine all ingredients until smooth.  You may want more or less sugar depending upon your taste in cream cheese frosting.  I personally like it not so sweet.  
• Wait until your brownies cool then spread over the top.  This recipe will yield enough for a thin layer.
• Use the remaining raspberries as a garnish on top of the frosting.
• Reward yourself by licking your spatula.

Cowboy Cookies #3

Sorry, no picture.  I ate 'em :)

I am always on the quest to make delicious cookies and to try not to repeat recipes over and over again (aside from standby chocolate chip, which everyone loves).  I've recently grown to love oatmeal cookies especially, modifying them by adding lots and lots of goodies.  These are baked in a muffin tin, making thick, moist cookies.  If cooked on a cookie sheet, these cookies will spread out very thin and be difficult to handle.  

You'll need (for about 3 doz):

• two small boxes fresh raspberries
• 1/2-1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine (I prefer butter!)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup regular sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (yes, the real stuff is twice as expensive, but it's one of those things that's worth the extra cash)
• 1 3/4 cups old fashioned oats (not the quick kind, though, in a bind, those will work also, but the texture may be weird, or you may need to adjust other quantities

The steps:

• Just like any other cookie recipe.  Preheat your oven to 375
• Combine softened (not melted) butter & sugars.  You can do all this mixing with a stand mixer if you have one, but be careful not to over mix.  Mix until just combined.  I don't have a mixer, so I just use my handy silicone spatula.
• Add eggs and vanilla to this mixture
• Gradually add in flour, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice
• Once that is all combined, add the oats and coconut.  You can adjust the amount of coconut depending upon how much you like it.  I like a lot, so would probably do 1 cup for this much, but some people don't like it as much.
• Add chocolate chips
• Raspberries are the last to add and should be folded in very gently to avoid too much mashing.  It's somewhat unavoidable to squish a few, but try to be calm, cool, and collected when folding them in.
• Drop by heaping spoonfuls into a greased muffin tin being careful not to over-fill or get dough all over the place.
• Bake for about 12 minutes.
• After cookies have cooled, place them in some sort of container be it tupperware or plastic baggies and place in the freezer.  Trust me.  In a few hours, you'll have amazing, cool, chewy cookies.  They're pretty much impossible to eat at room temperature because they're so soft and crumbly, but frozen, it's decadent (and perfect for these 95degree days we've been having).

Modifications

• You can add other things to these like nuts or not use coconut, whatever you want.  I've made a ton of oatmeal "cowboy cookies" with many different combinations, and this one is definitely my favorite (so far)

Bake away and impress your friends!