Yummy Treats That I Didn't Screw Up

The other day I was looking for something to do with Miss.A. It was a rainy, cold, I-don't-want-to-go-anywhere kind of day. I had been lurking around on the Internet, as I often do, and came across an amazing looking recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies. It happened to be a vegan recipe that used an egg replacer instead of eggs. Which was great because I only had one egg in the house. They looked super yummy and there wasn't a whole lot of calories in them. Which is good, because I'd probably end up eating twelve of them.  After a whole day of fiddling with it, I came to the conclusion I was using the wrong egg replacer (well I think I was), and gave up for the day. However I'm not defeated, I'll eat you at some point my pretties.

Instead I found a recipe that used most of the ingredients I already had out. At Cooks.comI found a recipe for Paula's Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies. I'm not a big fan of chocolate cookie but these turned out really well! I think it was the mint that really made them. Miss. A had no trouble helping me make them and it didn't take very long to do. We were enjoying cookies for dessert fresh out of the oven. The best way to eat them, and my Dad had the same idea, was with a big cold glass of milk. The mint and the cold milk together just made the whole experience. Baby K now knows how to say "cookie" with very little problem!
Here is the recipe from the site:

Paula's Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies

1 1/2 sticks of butter or 3/4 cups
1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspon peppermint
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Cream butter, sugars, beat in eggs and spices. Add dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F on a greased cookie sheet

ream butter, sugars, beat in eggs and spices. Add dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees on greased cookie sheet.



The next morning I found that we pretty much had NO food in the house. I had no idea what we were going to eat. No milk. No bread. No eggs. No fruit. We also had to eat quickly because we had places to be that day. I thought I would see if we could make muffins, maybe add some frozen berries in or something. I looked through a cook book...wait let me stop and explain. A "cook book" is a book that people used to look up recipes and how to cook them before the Internet. If you're still not sure what I'm talking about just Google it. Anywho, I found a recipe in The Joy of Cooking that I thought might work. "Basic Reduced-Fat Muffins" didn't use milk but yogurt instead. I just happened to have some non-fat strawberry yogurt left so I threw caution to the wind and gave it a try. The turned out really well! Two recipes in a row? What were the chances? And apparently each have only 4 grams of fat! Though I'm sure you were supposed to use plain yogurt, the strawberry added a nice subtle flavor to the muffins. It also had big chucks of berry throughout which baked in nicely. Usually when I add berries  the muffin around it doesn't cook evenly. This time no problems at all. It was a very quick and easy recipe. You could easily buy different flavors of yogurt to use depending on your taste. They were very moist as well and perfect for a quick bite for breakfast. I'll probably make them again. Here is the recipe from the Joy of Cooking I used:

Basic Reduced-Fat Muffins

Position rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the over to 400 degrees F. Grease or line a standard 12-muffin pan with paper cups.

Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl:

2cups of flour

1/2 to 2/3 cup of sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda if using yogurt instead of milk

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional. I didn't use it)

Whisk together in another bowl:

1 large egg

3 tablespoons vegetable oil or 3 1/2 tablespoons warm melted unsalted butter (I used butter)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 cup of non-fat milk or 1 cup of non-fat yogurt (Obviously I used yogurt)

Add flour mixture and mix together with a few light strokes just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix; the batter will be light but fairly stiff and will not be smooth. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with:

Cinnamon and sugar (optional. I didn't but I think it would be really good)

Bake until a toothpick inserted in 1 or 2 of the muffins comes out clean, about 12 minutes. (or longer for variations with fruit.) Let cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, let cool on the rack. Serve as soon as possible, preferably within a few hours of baking.

Holy Cookies Batman!

This is the first year I attempted to do some real Christmas baking. Usually I intend to do a little something, but I get busy and lazy and it never happens. However, two years ago I decided to bake cookies for all my neighbours. I had five tins of chocolate dipped shortbread cookies that never left our house. In fact, by the end of the week I had devoured them all. FIVE TINS! There was so much butter in those cookies they should have come with a health warning. In the end I did those poor people a favor by taking that bullet. Sure, I gained six pounds and it probably took a couple of years off my life, but it's Christmas! It's no time to be selfish.

This year I baked like I was making up for lost time. In five days I made egg-nog cookies, sugar cinnamon cookies, chocolate dipped shortbread (ah, we meet again...), rice crispy squares in festive shapes, and brownies so chocolaty that they're obscene. I still have a couple of more things to make. Rum balls, because what is Christmas if you're not at least attempting to get blitzed on rum balls? Lastly, what has sadly become a favorite tradition at my house, Christmas Pooh. I feel this needs an explanation. When I first made these they were called Snowy Chocolate Crescents. When I shaped mine they didn't exactly look crescent shaped. They had a distinctly un-crescent shape look about them. Well, if you can't beat them join them, right? I gave in and just coiled them up! Yum! I've actually brought them to people's homes! They look mortified and confused when I hand them the box. Don't drink and bake people! It's a dangerous combination.

As of yet, I haven't eaten everything. I gave a good amount of it away. The rest I've stored in cookies tins. These tins are sitting amongst a sea of empty cookie tins. I guess it's kind of like Schroeder's Cookies. I don't know which tins have cookies in them and which don't without opening the tins. So they simultaneously are all full and empty of cookies; as long as I don't look anyways. Hmmm....I wonder if I do eat them if I am and am not six pounds heavier as long as I don't look at the scale. That sounds like pretty sound logic to me. Gosh, am I the first person to realize this?

Vegan Cupcakes; It's What's for Dessert. Shhhh!

I'm not that great a cook. OK, I'm a pretty bad cook. My husband is fantastic though. He just seems to have a intuitive ability to combine tastes and flavors in just the right way. More often than not he doesn't follow a recipe, but just sort of wings it. His ribs are famous! They're different every time because he never writes anything down. A pinch of this, a dash of that, and voila! Even the presentation is good. This man should be a chief, really. He's that good. I'm so glad too. If it were left in my hands we would probably starve or be food poisoned. For some reason when I cook everything turns out orange.

Since I lack this intuitive, instinctual ability to cook anything remotely interesting, I find that baking is much better suited to be. It's like chemistry. Exact amounts of specific ingredients combined a precise way. This keeps me in line. Don't deviate from the path and things will go just fine. In fact I quite like the nature of baking. I'm a very precise person. I make lists. I organize. I budget out my time so I'm never late. (OK, I'm sometimes late. I have kids, it can't be helped) I time things exactly. At work I would listen to the radio, and at precisely one o'clock it would chime. I would sync my watch and clock. Every Day. Baking and I get along very well.

For reasons of peer association (re: my husband has a friend that is over from time to time) I have found the need to make the occasional vegan recipe. I know what you're thinking. Whatever you make isn't going to be as good as it could be. You know, if I had snuck and egg or some butter in. Which of course I would never do. This means getting, OMG, creative a bit! Jeez! We're all going to be poisoned! Not to fear though. There are many great vegan recipes out there that I have followed precisely, and therefore no one has died yet. In fact, to be honest, they are probably some of the very best things I've ever baked. Even my three year old LOVES them, and she is a super picky eater. So here's one that I know you'll love.

Dark Chocolate Almond Cupcakes

These cupcakes are the first vegan thing I ever made and they are amazing! They are the yummy creation of It Ain't Meat, Babe who is obviously a talented person in the kitchen.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond meal
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup vegan margarine
1 cup unrefined cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 6 tbsp water
1 cup unsweetened almond milk soured with 1 tsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tins (or fill with paper liners). Sift flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Add flax and water mixture and both extracts. Alternately add dry ingredients and soured almond milk to margarine mixture, stirring until smooth. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one cupcake comes out clean. Makes a dozen large cupcakes.

Chocolate Almond Frosting

1/4 cup vegan margarine
1/4 cup vegan shortening
1 3/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp almond milk
approximately 1/4 cup sifted cocoa powder

Preferably with an electric mixer, combine the margarine and shortening, then add all other ingredients.Top with toasted almonds.

Enjoy!