Gingerbread, Gingerbread, Gingerbread Rocks!

I spent all day Saturday in the kitchen getting ready for my Tia's Tamale Party. She makes so much food for everyone, there is no way I expect her to make something special for a small group of vegans. I usually bring a snack or a dessert but this year I wanted to do both. I made Jackfruit Carnitas from The Vegan Girl's Guide To Life and the Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I also had two pots of frijoles cooking, but didn't have time to refry them in time for them to make it to the party. I really tried to fit too much into a day so I had to pack up the icing and ginger pieces to decorate the cupcakes at the party. Nobody minded since they were delicious, but I will remember to pare down the menu if I don't have enough time. I can't believe I thought I could make two desserts, but the strawberry cupcakes I planned for Saturday are in the oven right now and they smell yummy. Cookies are going in next.

There's not much to say about these cupcakes except that they are amazing. Until about a year ago I hardly ate anything with ginger in it. Now I can't get enough of it. The lemon is the perfect compliment, which I would never have figured out on my own, luckily I have Isa and Terry to teach me everything! If you don't already own VCTOTW, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy (or make someone buy it for you!). There are 75 recipes and I've only tried 8 in the three years I've owned the book. I've got a lot of catching up to do, but you can enjoy this book, and the cupcake goodness for many years. I only made two dozen of this recipe, so I might make some again for Christmas if I have time. I would eat these any time of the year, but that's just how I do. Enjoy!

Vegan Mofo V Day 22 : Time for Treats

We're having our Friday "Dinner and a Movie" tonight since last night was too hectic. Since my sister is cooking dinner, I decided I would make dessert. We won't have any of the kids next weekend so this is kind of our last Halloween hurrah.

I did chocolate cupcakes with orange-ish buttercream on top, both recipes from VCTOTW of course. Then I put chocolate sprinkles on top of that. I don't have a proper cupcake carrier (yet) so they don't look very pretty in the makeshift rig I've got going right now. I didn't want to do the sprinkles on the table and make a bigger mess than I already had.

When I told my sister the cupcake idea she wasn't too thrilled. I took it the wrong way and got upset for a minute until she reminded me that we had chocolate cupcakes a few weeks ago and again a few days ago from the bakery. It was a good point, but not as good as the argument that you can never really have too many cupcakes of any kind. She suggested cookie sammiches, but I wasn't really in the mood for those. I wanted to practice my piping, which still needs practice (see pics).

Luckily I was able to find a solution. I would do my cupcakes and the cookies, just not cookie sammiches. I made my favorite chocolate chip cookies, probably the only one I will ever use until forever. It's from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I am going to bring six cupcakes and a dozen cookies, so each of us will get one cupcake and two cookies. I'm probably going to bring my own almond milk along too. It's been a while since I switched from soy to almond milk but the other day I had my first sip of vanilla Silk in ages. It was so sweet I couldn't believe it. I love my o.g. almond breeze but am going to try the unsweetened one since it's probably just as good, if not a million times better. What is your go to beverage for washing down desserts?

Vegan Mofo V Day 5- Fix My Brain!*

When I heard my soon-to-be-nephew's birthday was coming up I knew I wanted to make a special treat for him. My sister told me he liked  zombies. I saw a brain cupcake kit at World Market and I knew I had to try and make them. I didn't buy the kit because I already have recipes for amazing cupcakes and icing thanks to VCTOTW. I looked at the directions for making the brains and it didn't look too complicated, so the only thing I was missing were the cupcake aprons.I didn't even know what a cupcake apron was until I saw these, but you could probably make your own easily. I'm too lazy and he's only going to be three so I don't think he'll mind.

I lucked out and found a cupcake decorating set at TJ Maxx, so I was even more excited for this project. I've never piped icing with proper bags and tips so I was really looking forward to learning that. I cruised the internet for ideas and found lots of great ones, my favorite one involved red velvet cupcakes. I didn't even think of that. I was just going to color vanilla ones, but if you're going to break out the food coloring, you better make red velvet (Crimson Velveteen!) , right?

My practice cupcakes were chocolate with  Vegan Fluffy Buttercream from VCTOTW. I am going to color the icing for the real ones. These were more about piping practice than anything else. I now know I should leave the icing in the fridge for a while before I start playing with it. A few cupcakes into it my squiggles were not as well defined and were starting to spread. I also thought I could get away with halving the recipe but I was wrong. I'm so glad I had the presence of mind to do a dry run or I would have had a disaster on my hands. I'm going to try to make the official cupcakes look more like these. I want to make ganache filled ones another time, they look so good!


*I love the Marked Men, don't you?

Happy Ssert-Day To Me!

Today is my birthday. I had planned on going out tomorrow night but no one seemed interested so I scrapped that a week ago. Then I decided I would rather do something constructive and go for a hike tomorrow morning. I haven't hit the trail in over a month since my partner is out of commission, and I know my sister would love it. I thought this was going to be my "no one showed up to Il Cantinori for my dinner and I had to buy my own cake birthday", but I double checked and that isn't until CB's 35th birthday and I plan on it being much different for KG's 35th. I have a whole year to plan it!

Anyway, I decided I wanted a variety of desserts so I spent most of yesterday and today working toward that goal. I should have had someone else do it for me, but I like to bake and I have a ton of time on my hands these days. Plus it is fun to pretend that I burned a small fraction of the calories I would consume in advance. I mixed two cupcake batters, three icings, and another cookie type mix today. I lost count of how many dishes were washed and how many hours I was standing. I do know I finished a disc of "Arrested Development" .

I made Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes, stuffed them with Fluffy Vegan Buttercream and frosted them with Cream Cheese Frosting, all from VCTOTW. I also made the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes from VWAV, stuffed them with buttercream and topped with icing and chocolate drizzle. I also attempted a vegan version of these s'mores cookie bars. Mine didn't look too much like the photo but they are a gooey sticky delicious mess, so I am okay with it.

I'm enjoy the rest of my day by relaxing, reading and enjoying the gorgeous roses my sister and niece surprised me with this morning. This is going to be my last year of "rounding down" so I have to make the most of it, starting tomorrow.

Truffle Shuffle

As a single gal, I am a reliable, and yet slightly boring Valentine. Every year I buy my sister and niece the same box of Sjaak's truffles. I buy one for myself too, because I love me, and I might as well get the most out of the shipping charges. We had our traditional V-day dinner last night and ate way too much food. I wasn't even going to break out the purchased treats, since we have homemade ones that will expire much sooner.

By request, or rather, pushy demand, I made cookie sammiches. These have been a favorite since the first time I made them. They're also the reason I load up on EB sticks and shortening whenever we make a run to the "nearest" veg friendly store. I hope to be able to remove the quotation marks one day but I think we'll move closer to a major area  
before they bring any goodness out our way.
For a surprise, I decided to finally make the Oreo Truffles I printed out ages ago. I feel bad I do not remember where I got it from and can't link to it or give credit. I know it is all over the internets though, so seek and ye shall find. I'm still trying to figure out if my food processor sucks because it is too small or because it shares a motor with a blender, or because I just put too much stuff in it at once. I seriously thought I killed it when I added in the cream cheese but I pushed a few other buttons and it worked just fine. I will read the instructions before I use it again, don't worry.

The rest of it was easy, kill time while the "filling" refrigerates, melt chocolate in your makeshift double boiler and dunk the little balls of yum into the melted chocolate. Of the two of us, my sister is the one who makes chocolate covered sweets so I was not as adept at fishing the truffles out and nicely laying them on the wax paper. I know if we were racing side by side she would have totally kicked my butt because I take way too long, trying to make sure each one is sufficiently coated. Meanwhile the chocolate starts to solidify and there is not nearly enough left to finish since I don't get it right until halfway through the process. Luckily I had more chocolate to melt and learned to be less picky about how they turned out. They're incredibly rich and remind me of brownies, which is fine by me since I love brownies but have yet to make them just right.

Next year I'll remember to either make or buy treats but not to do both. It's far too much of a good thing. If I really get a good thing going maybe someone will be treating me by then.

Fillin' Good

Last week when we were at Babycakes I was the only one stupid/nice enough to let everyone else have a taste of my dessert. I wanted to get more treats to try later but since they would have to sit in the car during the Sparks' game as well as the drive home, it wasn't a good idea. I did not get a bite of the cookie sandwich my niece chose, but I heard it was delicious.

Today I made cookie sandwiches of my own (sort of). I did all the work but I used the recipes my favorite bakers to do so. The cookies were from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. She is a genius and I cannot believe I have only made four recipes from it so far. These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. I slacked a bit on the uniform sizes so I yielded eighteen instead of a dozen, and they were still on the larger side. Actually there was a nineteenth cookie that no one is supposed to know about so shhhhhhh.

After I had the excellent cookies, it was time for the amazing icing. I already knew I would use the "Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Icing" from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World (my vegan she-roes, Isa and Terry!). It was my first time making half the recipe so I had to get down with some fractions before I started. I was good until I needed 1/8 cup of soymilk. I had to look that one up. For everyone else who didn't know, 1/8 cup= 2 TBSP. I penciled it in for next time (and there will be a next time). The icing turned out just as lovely as when you make the full recipe and it was the perfect amount to fill the cookie sammiches.

We each had one full sammich, half before dinner and half after. The ones we had after dinner were even better because they were nice and cold from the fridge. Just in time for summer!

p.s. I'll have to try the original Babycakes recipe to see how these compare. I already had everything I needed to make them this way.

rosas y 'ritas

Most people know that Cinco de Mayo is not the real Mexican Independence Day (¡16 de Septiembre!), even yo, la más pocha, have known that for years. However it is definitely not the first or last historical/cultural event to be turned into a reason to party. 4 de Julio anyone? Who am I to say no to a party, in any language. That would just be rude.

Porque somos pochas, the only Independence day we normally celebrate is 4th of July. Twilight zone marathon, barbecue, fireworks (still allowed in our city!), beer and cocktails= good times. This year we decided to have a special dinner for Cinco De Mayo for no particularly good reason other than the 5-letter word that has finally made vegan enchiladas possible: d-a-i-y-a. We first made them for my sister's birthday in March and have been waiting for an excuse to do it again.Last time my mom helped me and we were able to fit more enchiladas into a 13" x 9" pan. I forgot that when left to myself I will put so much filling that you can barely roll them. It's great when you are eating them, but not so good when you realize you are going to have to make three pans instead of one. The plus is that they are easier to fit in the fridge now.

For dessert we had "Mucho Margarita Cupcakes" from VCTOTW. I think this is only my 5th attempt of the 75 recipes in the book, slacker! I will definitely try them again since it was one of the quicker cupcakes to make, even with all of the lime squeezing. We have some older pans that still bake great but since they're old they leave marks on the paper liners y no me gusta. About a year ago, I bought a new pan but I think it is too light or something else is wrong with it. These and the "Pineapple Right Side Up" are the only ones I have made in that pan and they stuck to the liners so you only get about half a cupcake when you eat them. I baked three smaller ones in foil heart cups and those turned out fine so I'm thinking its the pan. The cupcakes I did get were still quite delicious and the frosting también. I do need some practice with the sprinkles, maybe next time I will follow directions and roll them in the sugar.

I also made flores de papel crepé. for the ladies That was the one thing I actually got right today. The first one I made was huge so I did next two large and medium sized. The extra large one was definitely my favorite. I love to wear flowers in my hair, especially when they are almost as big as my hair (still not sure if I should chop it before the wedding or leave it fro-tastic). My sister was having a bad day and didn't want to wear hers. My niece had taken hers off and couldn't be bothered to put it back on. Luckily my mom is a good sport and I pinned one on her as soon as she got home.

served all day

We had bitchin' breakfast burritos for dinner tonight, so very delicious. Thanks to the skinny bitches, cholula and tortilla land tortillas, we had a lovely meal. Luckily we still had room for some cookies & cream cupcakes from VCTOTW. I admit, it was my second one of the day. I had to have one for me and one for ms. esme since it is her birthday today (despierta esme, despierta esme!). Do I need an excuse to eat another cupcake? Not really but it helps me sleep at night, and by "sleep", I mean sugar coma.

toothache

I made the best cupcakes ever this week, no joke! My niece had her end-of-year program Wednesday night and I wanted to surprise her with some amazing cupcakes. I only got about halfway when I realized I had to get cleaned up and ready to go since I was running late. I'm a lot messier when I bake than when I cook so I had batter splatter on my tank top and so on. The cakes were baked but the icing would have to wait.

Her performance was spot on. They did a dance to "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire, totally decked out in bracelets, earrings and those sashes you wear for belly dancing. She was the best one out there, and I'm not just saying that as an auntie, girl can move! After the show we went to dinner and just got home too late to start making a kitchen mess again.

Thursday, I got home from work, grabbed the hand mixer and got going. The vegan butter cream was the bomb. It got more out of control when I added in the crushed cookies. It was my first attempt at piping icing so I just used a sammich bag and cut one of the corners off. It turned out pretty good for the first time. Everyone loved them except for my mom but she always has a comment about vegan food tasting weird or having an aftertaste, whatevs! She is a cauliflower convert after I made "simple cauliflower" from 101cookbooks. So maybe you do win some after all.

baking blitz (vegan mofo day 29)

after talking myself out of being totally lazy and still a bit sad, i was hellbent on doing some holiday baking. tonight i made susan v's double layer pumpkin cheesecake but since i only needed one cup of pumpkin and the can holds two, i also made isa and terry's pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes. there's no sense in being wasteful, right?

i was afraid i might not be able to pull off the double duty but i checked my ingredients and had everything at the ready, except for cupcake liners. i was short by about 8. i remembered i had a package in my room "somewhere". digging ensued and after a short while i did find the liners as well as the marine research cd i have been missing for months. i'm going to change my playlist and get through the rest of the week with some poppy and rockin' goodness. i've been shamefully unmotivated this week so i really need the boost. as soon as i got over my cold it was lady time!

cheesecake time will have to wait until tomorrow night. it will be tough, but i want to have a surprise treat for my niece. i wouldn't be a very good aunt if i offered her a slice from a half eaten pie. it's my first time with the recipe, but the few fingerfuls i scooped off of the food processor tasted great. not soon enough we will know for sure. since there is no cutting involved with cupcakes, i give them a bit longer to cool and i know i will claim at least two of them. sweet dreams!