yo gabba gabba birthday cookies

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRENT!!!

rich, chocolately and vegan chocolate cupcakes

These chocolate cupcakes are rich in flavor, super chocolately and VEGAN to boot!!!

Now I didn't say that they were gluten-free (but I'm going to try that next) nor are they sugar free. But the secret ingredient in this creamy chocolatey frosting will make you think that eating a chocolate cupcake CAN be kinda healthy. Kinda.....

So the secret ingredient to the frosting is avocado. Yep. Avocado. No butter. Just some good Omega fats and some naughty powdered sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder. I know what you're thinking. Avocado and cocoa powder AND powdered sugar? Yuck, right? Nope, it's just the opposite, yummy. Someone tried to turn me onto this ages ago and I too poo-pood the thought of it until I actually tried it. Now I'm convinced that chocolate guacamole is delicious!!! :)

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vegan Chocolate Frosting

vegan chocolate cake recipe adapted from the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World 

vegan chocolate frosting adapted from babble

makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

for the chocolate cupcakes

1 cup soy milk ***Coconut milk would be great too!!!***

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar ***Or white vinegar***

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil ***You can also substitute canola or coconut oil*** 

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

In a small bowl whisk together soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside a few minutes so that the soy milk curdles.

In a large bowl sift together flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together oil and sugar. Mix in curdle soy milk and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Whisk to combine. Batter will be VERY runny.

Fill your cupcake liners approximately 3/4 full. I use a scoop so that the batter is distributed equally. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. 

for the frosting

2 ripe avocados

1/2 cup or to taste unsweetened cocoa powder - sifted

1/2 - 3/4 cup or to taste powdered sugar - sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

In a bowl of a food processor, blitz your avocados until smooth and creamy. Add 1/4 - 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/4 - 1/3 cup powdered sugar. Blitz until combined. Taste and add more cocoa and powdered sugar to your liking. If your avocados are avocado-y you might want to add more powdered sugar. Continue processing until the frosting is fluffy and creamy.

Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before eating.

For major chocolatey frosting swirls double the recipe...... 

french buttermilk breakfast puffs

Where have these been all my life???

You'll ask yourself the same question after making and eating these french breakfast puffs. They're a cross between a muffin and a cinnamon-sugar cake doughnut. And most importantly, delicious!!!

I've made these twice. The first time, I followed the original recipe from Betty Crocker. BC's recipe called for vegetable shortening in the batter. I went with it because when I'm making recipes for the first time, I try and not to stray too far off of the original recipe. Today when I woke up at my Dad's house, I had the urge to make them again. This time I used butter instead of vegetable shortening and buttermilk instead of whole milk. Both recipes were successful and produced something yummy.

Get these on your table for Christmas morning or sooner. You'll thank Betty Crocker and me for bringing this recipe to your attention.

French Buttermilk Breakfast Puffs
adapted from Betty Crocker & the blog Spoonful
makes 9

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg ***Try and grate the fresh stuff from a whole nutmeg seed.***
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter - melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CINNAMON-SUGAR TOPPING
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter - melted

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter the bottoms of a standard muffin tin. Set aside.

Melt 6 tablespoons butter. Set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, kosher salt and nutmeg. In small bowl, whisk the egg until it's foamy and light. Mix the buttermilk with the cooled melted butter. Add the whisked egg and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Pour your wet ingredients into the flour well and with a spatula fold the ingredients together.

With a 2-ounce cookie scoop, equally scoop batter into your prepared muffin tin.

***This recipe yields 9 and 1/2.....for the cook. :) ***

I always drop an ice cube in my muffin tins if all of them are not filled with batter. This keeps the tin evenly heated.

Bake your muffins for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes rotate your pan and bake for 5 - 7 minutes more. Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes. 

In the meantime, melt the butter for the topping and mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Once the muffins have cooled enough to handle, dip the tops of the muffins in the melted butter and then roll the tops, sides and bottoms in the cinnamon sugar.

These breakfast puffs are best served warm. 

You'll aslo find yourself eating them at room temperature too!!! AND IF you have any leftover, they could be frozen in a ziplock bag. But that's doubtful.....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

panettone scones

Panettone was one of my Mom's favorite Christmas holiday treats. She used to like it for breakfast, toasted, and with butter. 

After graduating from pastry school I used to bake her panettone every Christmas. I'm sure that she would have loved my panettone scones but I bet they have a pastry chef in heaven that can make them for her.

I adore the taste of candied citron in panettone. And strangely I also like the currants and golden raisins too which normally are not my fave in baked goods. Citron is an ingredient that I don't have regularly in my pantry. Luckily I had it and felt inspired by memories of my Mom so instead of waiting for panettone bread, I whipped up panettone scones.

Before we get started with the recipe, this is citron. It's candied. It's Italian. And it's delicious. My husband bought me this gorgeous sweet thing from Di Palo's here in NYC's Little Italy, but you can probably find it online or maybe your city's Italian specialty food store. In a pinch, you could use candied orange and lemon peel.

Panettone Scones
original recipe of Dreamy Cream Scones taken from America's Test Kitchen Cookbook tweaked with my very own adaptations

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/4 cup roughly chopped citron or candied orange and lemon peel
2 tablespoons currants
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon Fior di Sicilia extract or vanilla extract

1 egg - beaten for egg wash
powdered sugar for dusting - optional

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In your food processor combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. A few pulses. Or in a large bowl, whisk together. In a measuring cup, mix together heavy cream and Fior di Sicilia or vanilla extract (if using) and set aside.

Add in your butter cubes and with short pulses, cut in butter until it resembles a coarse meal. If doing this by hand, use two knives or a pastry cutter/blender and cut in your butter.
Add your citron, currants, golden raisins and lemon zest. Pulse a couple of times or stir in. Transfer mixture into a large bowl.

With a rubber spatula, stir in your heavy cream and extract until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

Transfer dough and all floury bits onto a clean work surface and gently knead dough until it comes together into a rough, sticky ball, 5 - 10 seconds. Lightly flour your work surface and gently press out dough until it's 3/4 inch thick. With a 2-1/2 inch round cutter, cut out scones. 

Place them 2 inches apart on your parchment lined sheet. Brush tops with egg wash and bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. 

Serve warm or at room temperature dusted with powdered sugar.

caramel apple fruit roll-ups

I'm baking my way through a list of nostalgic foods that I loved eating as a kid. Last week it was iced oatmeal cookies and this week it's fruit roll-ups.

My first attempt for making fruit roll-ups was a few weeks ago when we were visiting my husband's family in NoCal. There was a quince tree on their property bearing fruit and it was just begging to be made into something. So fruit roll-ups were made. Making homemade fruit roll-ups are incredibly easy and tasty, it's just another recipe that you have to have a little patience.

A baking note: Don't plan on baking anything in your oven for the next 6 - 8 hours.

Caramel Apple Fruit Roll-Ups
makes 2 baking sheets 

3 - 4 large Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup water/apple juice/apple cider
1 - 3 tablespoons brown sugar (or to taste)
pinch of cinnamon
generous pinch of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
squeeze of lemon

You'll also need two rimmed baking sheets and 2 Silpat mats if you have them.

You can also use parchment paper instead of Silpats, but I haven't tried that yet.

Wash and peel your apples.

If your apples are organic and you want a little texture in your roll-ups, leave the skin on.


***Since this was technically my second attempt for making roll-ups, I didn't use organic apples. Ssshhhhh. Don't tell anyone.***

Roughly chop your peeled or unpeeled apples into 1/2 cubes.

Place them into a pot and over medium heat. Add your liquid - water/apple juice/apple cider. Cover and cook until the fruit is soft - about 5 - 7 minutes. You'll know when the fruit is done because it will look like apple sauce. Add your brown sugar and cook a few seconds more to melt the sugar. Remove from heat and stir in your cinnamon, kosher salt, vanilla and lemon. Set aside and cool slightly before blending.

After your mixture has cooled slightly, pour it into a blender or food processor. Blend/blitz until smooth.

Line two rimmed baking sheets with Silpat mats or parchment paper. Using an offset spatula, spread your puree evenly into a thin layer.

Place two racks in your oven evenly spaced (upper and lower thirds) and set to the lowest setting. My lowest setting for my oven was 170°F. 

Place your raw roll-ups into your oven and basically forget about them for the next 4 - 6 hours. Every two hours, rotate your pans for even drying. 

After 6 hours, test your roll-ups by lightly touching the surface. It should be sticky but not raw. Continue baking if needed.

Remove from oven to let cool completely.

Once cooled, place a piece of parchment on top and flip the Silpat mat over. Gently peel mat off of fruit leather. 

At this point it's ready for giving or storing. Roll up your fruit leather and tie with bakers string. Tie several pieces of string on the roll and cut into desired pieces with kitchen scissors.

iced oatmeal cookies

These are not Mother's Iced Oatmeal Cookies , but they look and taste pretty darn close.....

I've been feeling a little nostalgic due to last week's news of Hostess closing their doors forever. I debated whether to make something Hostess-like this weekend, but I didn't have all of the ingredients to make anything. So sad...

I'm not gonna lie. I've indulged on Hostess products over the years like Raspberry Zingers, Ding-Dongs, Twinkies, various Fruit Pies, Chocolate Pies, Chocolate Cup Cakes and my all time favorite, the Orange Cup Cake. And since these childhood treats are soon to be gone forever I'll just try making my own and better tasting versions. 

Enter the iced oatmeal cookie.

Growing up my parents always had some sort of cookie in the cupboard. Sometimes they were homemade and sometimes store bought. I remember these iced oatmeal cookies distinctively because I loved licking off the icing leaving a soggy naked oatmeal cookie. I had the ingredients on hand to try and replicate these cookies and searched for the perfect recipe. I found many recipes on the inter-webs with similar ingredients but I liked the recipe from fancyfoodfancy. Fancyfoodfancy's recipe called for a mixture of multigrain flour but I just used plain old all-purpose flour. So here it goes.....

Iced Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from the blog fancyfoodfancy
makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies 

2 cups whole rolled oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
generous pinch of cloves & allspice
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter - melted and slightly cooled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven. Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly.

In a food processor, pulse rolled oats, 10 - 20 times. Oats should look broken up but not powdery. In a large bowl, whisk together the processed oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt and spices. 

In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and eggs. Add both of the sugars and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold to combine.

With a 1-ounce cookie scoop (1 1/2 inch diameter) scoop out cookies leaving 3 inches between them because they will spread during baking.

Bake for 16 - 20 minutes rotating the sheets halfway through baking.

Cookies should look golden brown all over.

Remove from oven and cool on wire racks completely.

For the Icing

2 tablespoons meringue powder

1/4 cup water plus more if needed

***One egg white can also be substituted for the meringue powder.***

2 cups powdered sugar

small squeeze of lemon

In a small bowl, whisk together meringue powder and water until frothy. Whisk in powdered sugar. The icing can be thick so add a little water at a time until it's a consistency of thick cream. Squeeze in a little lemon juice. Whisk thoroughly.

With a small offset spatula or butter knife, drizzle a little icing over the cookie. 

Lift the knife up and down, touching the peaks of the cookie with icing. The icing shouldn't look like it's spread on but drizzled. Kinda. 

Place the iced cookies back onto parchment lined baking sheets and let them dry completely. Store your cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

"all it takes is heart" and a happy birthday

It's been a couple of weeks since hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the east coast and there's still A LOT to be done getting the communities and their lives back to normal. Or maybe the "new" normal......

My dear friends, Chris and Sarah Romulo from Rockaway Beach and of CROM Martial Training suffered great loss post Sandy which I blogged about here.

These two incredible people have THE biggest hearts and even though their lives, home and business seem like they've been shaken up in a snow globe, I wanted to bring them a little sweet happiness and I surprised Chris with a cake for his birthday. CROM MT's motto is, "All It Takes Is Heart," and it speaks volumes to what kind of people he and his wife are and the community unit of Rockaway.

Chris is by no means mean spirited. Don't let this growling face fool you!!!

I have made cakes for this family in the past getting inspiration from their logo or profession. You see, Chris is a Muay Thai fighter and has hung up his fighting gloves professionally but continues to educate and train others.

I was able to go out to Rockaway this week and volunteer in the relief efforts and took a shot of what was left in their gym.....

Chris, Sarah, CROM MT and Rockaway are going to come back bigger and better because ALL IT TAKES IS HEART!!!!!











HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
CHRIS!!!! 

***Don't judge my piping skills here. It was the day the Nor'easter hit and I was pressed for time to get it done.***