Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

I absolutely love carrot cake. It is by far my favorite of all cakes. The moist, heartyness of the cake pairs perfectly with the cream cheese frosting. I wanted to make carrot cake for Easter, but because I made the cookies I thought I'd hold off a couple of days. Carrie and I have eaten almost all the cupcakes. They are just so delicious.

The grating of the carrots furthered the evidence that I NEED a food processor. The blender is just not making the cut. I added a bit of cinnamon to the frosting for an added spice. I definitely want to try making this in the cake form, but the cupcakes were definitely a success.



Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking's Carrot Cake

3 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups finely grated peeled carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cupcake tins or use paper cupcake liners.

In a food processor or blender, whip together the ground flaxseed and water until it's thick and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the oil and blend until combined. Transfer them mixture to a large bowl, and add the carrots and walnuts. Stir to combine.



In a separate bowl, thoroughly combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and salt. Add the wet mixture to this dry mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until thoroughly combined, but do not overmix.

Fill the muffin tins evenly with the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cupcakes



Once cool, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting
From The Joy of Vegan Baking

8 ounces non-dairy cream cheese, cold (Tofutti brand is good, but make sure to chose the non-hydrogenated variety!)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Tilly and Me on top of Spencer's Butte!

Spring Awakening!!

To ring in Spring and all its lovelyness, I made sugar cookies and decorated them! Carrie bought the cookie cutters back a couple of weeks ago, and after days of not putting them to use, I finally did on Sunday. And it was Easter to boot!




I was especially excited because I think my puppy, Tilly, looks like a bunny. Her skin is pink and visible through her sweet white fur, so I love to call her my pink bunny. Tilly got her very own pink bunny cookie! She loooooved it! She will be 5 months in a couple weeks.




I used the sugar cookie and buttercream frosting recipes from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I added about 5 frozen strawberries to the buttercream to make it pink, and it also gave it an amazingly yummy strawberry taste! I compensated for the juicyness of the berries by adding a bit more powered sugar.



I had so much fun decorating the cookies! I even made initial cookies for a certain someone... Check back in a couple days for carrot cake cupcakes! Yummm! I love Spring!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

After I got my wisdom teeth out, I realized how lucky I am to have Carrie, my best friend/roommate, and J, a sweet and vivacious love. Carrie drove me to and from the appointment, bought me extra gauze and brought me flowers and a lovely card. J came over the first night, made me soup and kissed my swollen mouth, made me fruit salad and yogurt the second day, drove me to classes and gave me good company.

With all the love surrounding me, I couldn't help but want to give it back...And I thought what better way than cookies!! Especially vegan cookies, which in my opinion are 150 million times better than not. Of course I couldn't sample them before I delivered them to my fabulous friends, but I was assured that they were DELICIOUS. I am happy to report, I am all recovered, and I tried one last nite...They really were DELICIOUS!

Love and light.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
From The Joy of Vegan Baking


1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
Equivalent of 1 egg (I used flax seeds - 1 Tbsp ground flaxseeds with 3 Tbsp water mixed in blender or food processor)
1 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup natural peanut butter, smooth or crunchy (I used creamy)
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy butter (Earth Balance Whipped)
3 Tbsp non-dairy milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup non-dairy semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the over to 375 degrees. Line 3 cookie sheets with wax paper or use 3 non-stick cookie/baking sheets.
In a small bowl, combine the first three ingredients. Set aside. Grind the flaxseed and water in a blender/food processor until thick and creamy (looks almost like gelatin).
In a larger bowl combine all other ingredients except the chocolate chips. Beat at a medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended (I did it by hand...Good for those muscles!). Add the flaxseed/water mixture. Beat just until blended. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips, and mix just until blended.


Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with the tines of a fork.
Back for 10-12 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Do not overbake. Remove from oven, and let the cookies cool on the sheet for 3-5 minutes before removing to let cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon...

....then at Sweet Life with my best girlfriends, Carrie, Lin and Lydia. We decided that it was time for a trip to our favorite sweet spot since we hadn't been all term. Lydia got regular cheesecake (She swears by it, but I really just don't like cheesecake unless it's vegan), Lin got gelato, which I did sample, and although not vegan, was delicious. And of course Carrie and I got the mixed berry vegan cheesecake. A staple in the life of any real sweet tooth. We also got petit fours, which are just so cute we couldn't resist! Mine was pink with a little red heart in honor of St. Valentine, and Carrie's had a white musical note on it in honor of..umm...the sweet melody of life! Chatting with my bestests and eating vegan cheesecake is how I wish to spend every Saturday afternoon. With the beautiful Eugene sunshine casting shadows on our table in the brightly painted patisserie.

Birthday Cakes Galore!

On the 26th of January it was a certain J.’s birthday. 22!! A magic year. And this lucky man got two birthday cakes. One when we were on the coast celebrating with his family, and one when we got back to Eugene.

The first one was the legendary vegan cheesecake from Sweet Life. I was thrilled because I had only ever had one piece placed in front of me, and all of a sudden there was an entire cheesecake. We could eat cheesecake till we die!! It survived the trip to Waldport, but the berry topping got a little displaced along the way. Well, it didn’t matter one bit! The cheesecake was delicious on the night of J.’s birthday and the next day as well!



The second cake, made by moi, was a Raspberry Chocolate Cake. I got the recipe off FatFree Vegan Kitchen. And as always, it did not fail to impress. I was particularly impressed by the chocolate buttercream! It tasted and looked perfect. I decorated it with some left over raspberry preserves and some dark peppermint chocolate. I think, and hope, J. really enjoyed his birthday!

Gramma always made the best pies...now, I try vegan-style!

Growing up my dear Gramma Julie always made me an apple pie every time I came to her house on Cape Cod. Apple pie was the best. I sometimes even ate it a la mode (haha. reference: I just watched Little Miss Sunshine last nite). I decided making a fruit pie vegan style in honor of my lovely Gramma would be an awesome thing to blog about.

On my shopping spree to M.O.C. I bought frozen Wholey Wholesome Organic Spelt pie crusts.



I also bought a bag of frozen blueberries and a bag of frozen marionberries. (I think next time I will attempt strawberry rhubarb!). I adapted the recipe from, yep, you guessed it The Joy of Vegan Baking. Although I'll admit I didn't use cornstarch. I think thats maybe the reason it ended up a bit runny. I layered the mixed berries with the soy butter, sugar mixture and popped it in the over for about 50 minutes.



It was kind of soupy after we cut into it. Does anyone know what could have caused that? But with the muffins from my last post and the delicious warm pie, we were in heaven and ready to pass out during the Motorcycle Diaries. :o) Love and light my friends.

Plantain, carob-chip goodness...mmm!

I went to grab dinner at the Sundance's hot food bar sometime last week, and before I left I checked the damaged food shelf where there is often times perfectly good produce for half price. I found what I thought were 3 very ripe bananas. I did notice that they looked a little oddly shaped, but I was excited to make some banana bread.

Last night I decided it was time to make the banana chocolate chip muffins from the Joy of Vegan Baking. On my M.O.C shopping spree I bought vegan carob chips and brown sugar so I was set to bake. When I defrosted the bananas (I keep them in the freezer once they start getting too brown) and started to peel away the skin my eyes were surprised by the sight of the orangey not-banana flesh. They were plantains!



Well right on baking I went.





I added crushed organic walnuts as well as the carob-chips. I think it adds a nice touch to the muffins. They turned out scrumptious!! We have been eating them non-stop. I heart plantains!

This one's for my brotha, Steve!

The recipe (in The Joy of Vegan Baking) calls these Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies, but I would call them ity bity pieces of divinity, and I think my older brother, Steve, would agree. I made them over winter holiday, and he couldn't stop eating them. I mean neither could I, but it always fills me with joy to see someone I love enjoying something I made.

This time instead of using the flaxseed/water combination in place of the eggs I used Bob's Red Mill Vegetarian Egg Replacer. I love vegan baking because it really made me understand how unnecessary it is to use eggs when baking delicious sweets. The replacements are not only a ethical alternative but they are also a much healthier alternative. Less cholesterol, less fat.

Adding cocoa powder gave the dough a dark chocolate color.



The chips tended to fall out of the dough a little bit, but it was all good. I just pushed them back in or made my balls of dough more compact.



The peppermint extract (although only about 1/2 teaspoon is added) really adds a wonderful flavor to these cookies. They were the perfect pre-Christmas dessert. I know my usually quiet brother loudly agreed!

Yummy, yummy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

As I said in my last post, I got the book The Joy of Vegan Baking over the holiday break (which I spent at home with my lovely family in Connecticut-my homestate!). I was eager to get baking right away!

The first thing I wanted to make were oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My roommate, Carrie, and I are obsessed with the ones from Laughing Planet, so I thought I put myself up to the challenge of trying to recreate those delicious, dream-about-them-at-night cookies. Only there was one problem...There was no such recipe in the book. I did, however, find a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies, so I just decided it would be okay to substitute the chocolate chips.

The recipe calls for a mixture of flaxseeds and water mixed in a blender as a replacement for the eggs. It's amazing that the consistency of the mixture ended up looking a lot like egg whites! I made sure to buy vegan chocolate chips, soy butter and vegan sugar on my trip to Whole Foods, which by the way is like heaven.



The dough was pretty standard. Perhaps a bit drier than normal, but I think that was mainly because of the oatmeal. Needless to say, I was still pretty nervous when putting the cookies onto the cookie sheets. I was planning to send them to a certain someone for the holidays, and I wanted him to eat the cookies and be like "Damn girl!"



The cookies turned out so yummy! They were a hearty treat with the chocolate adding that extra sweetness I know I need in my life. I could definitely taste the nutmeg and the cinnamon too! I don't know if a certain Oregonian was saying "Damn girl," but I think its safe to say, he was probably munchin with a smile on his face!