Cherry-Almond Muffins

My aunt has been in & out of the hospital recently so I was hoping to contribute a little something to their family. What better to bake Saturday morning than muffins! I decided on Cherry-Almond Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. The recipe calls for soy yogurt, sliced almonds & fresh bing cherries. I only had regular yogurt, whole almonds & the choice between frozen or dried cherries. I still fear the use of fresh fruits in certain baked goods, especially after my pear pie muffins became soggy. With my reservations in mind, I decided on dried cherries. I think frozen chopped cherries would work for this...I would probably remove the cherries from the freezer, quickly coarsely chop them & return them to the freezer. I would then mix them into the batter in their frozen state with as few strokes as possible, to reduce reddish messy batter. They may need another minute or so in the oven, not sure. I may try this later, I can imagine the extra moisture being a nice addition to these muffins. But they may need to be consumed sooner than later. These muffins have a very distinct almond flavor, which pair quite well with cherries. I also used almond milk & vanilla yogurt. The muffins were not at all sweet & the cherries added the extra specs of sweetness surprise.

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Cherry-Almond Muffins
2 cups AP flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup rice/soy milk (half almond/half rice)
1 (6-ounce) container soy yogurt, plain/vanilla (regular yogurt)
2 tsp almond extract

1 cup sliced almonds (chopped almonds)
3/4 cup fresh bing cherries, halved & pitted (dried cherries, chopped)

• Preheat oven 350F.
• Lightly grease a twelve-muffin tin.
• In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients & stir to combine.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.
• Create a well in the center of dry ingredients & add wet ingredients.
• Mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Do not over mix.
• Fold in 1/2 cup almonds & all of cherries.
• Fill muffin cups three-quarters full; top & press in remaining almonds.
• Bake 18 - 22 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.
  

Easy...No Bake! :)

Nostalgic of childhood snacks...these are chewy, simple & addicting! I got the recipe from Simple Treats. Instead of 6 cups of brown rice crispy, I used 5 & substituted the 6th cup with a mix of coconut flakes, sunflower seeds & dried cranberries. The result was a little too sweet for my taste, so an additional 1 to 1/2 cup of brown rice may have been ok. Plus I used about 3 tablespoons of oil, since that was easier. I don't think I cooked my syrup enough since it didn't end up very thick. As a result, it took a little longer for my treats to harden up, but that was easily remedied by placing them in the fridge. The combo of coco oil & brown rice syrup hardened up quickly. Although I didn't really eat rice crispy treats a lot when I was younger, I still enjoyed this simple no bake snack. I can imagine many variations with additional dried fruits, nuts & chocolate, etc.

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Brown Rice Crispy Treats
2 1/2 tblspns oil (coconut oil)
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
2 tblspns maple syrup
2 tblspns malt barley syrup
1/4 tsp salt

6 cups brown rice crispy cereal ( 5 cups brown rice + 1/3 cup flaked coconuts
1/3 cup sunflower seeds (pumpkin seeds)
1/3 cup dried cranberries)

• Oil/butter an 8X8 pan and put aside.
  
• In a medium saucepan, heat up the coconut/vegetable oil.
• Turn the heat to low & add the syrups & salt. Allow syrup to thicken and darken in color. Be careful as this may burn easily & is very hot.
  
• Pour the syrup into a large oiled bowl.
• Mix & combine the cereal + filling till thoroughly incorporated.
• Pour into prepared oiled pan. Press down to compress cereal.
  
• Allow to cool until hardened, 15 minutes - 1 hour. Refrigerate if necessary.
  
• Make 9 large squares.
  

Cranberry-Pecan Cookies

This is a Vegan Wheat Free Chocolate Chip cookie recipe that I think I got from Cookie Madness. It seems that she has removed the recipe from her blog because I can no longer find it. Instead of using chocolate chips, I used dried cranberries & added a touch of lemon extract. Because of the spelt flour, these cookies taste dense & remind me of a shortbread. I prefer chewy cookies, but variety never hurts.

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Cranberry-Pecan Cookies
1 cup whole spelt flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup pecans, chopped
2/3 cup dried cranberries

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine & mix the spelt, salt, powder, soda & sugar.
• In a small bowl, whisk together maple syrup, oil & extracts.
• Add the wet mixture to dry ingredients & stir till combined.
  
• Fold in nuts & dried fruit. If the batter is too dry, add more oil and/or maple syrup.
• The batter will be crumbly & will require pushing together in order to form a ball.
• Lay onto cookie sheet and flatten down with fingers.
• Bake for 11 minutes.
• Makes 11 - 12 cookies.

Pandan Coconut Heaven Cupcakes

While my sister was in town visiting, we wanted to imitate a childhood favorite. This is an asian-inspired variation of VwAV's Coconut Heaven Cupcakes. Instead of dried coconut, we used freshly shredded coconut, which resulted in a slightly moister cupcake. The flavors intensified the following day, which made these so fragrant & delicious! Although simple, these are dense & addicting topped off with whipped up heavy cream.

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Pandan Coconut Cupcakes
1 cup AP flour (1/2 AP, 1/2 whole wheat pastry)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup coconut milk (blended 2 pandan leaves & strained)
2/3 cup sugar (reduced)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp coconut extract

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

• Preheat oven 350F & line 12 muffin tins.
• In a blender, blend up the 1 cup coconut milk with 2 pandan leaves. Blend completely & strain liquid, removing leaves. Set aside.
  
• Sift together & whisk to combine dry ingredients.
• In a large separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.
• Pour the dry into the wet & mix until smooth.
• Fold in 1 cup shredded coconut.
• Fill each tin about two-thirds full.
• Bake for 20 - 22 minutes; cupcakes should be slightly browned around edges & spring back when touched.
• Remove from tin & place on cooling rack.
• Makes 12 cupcakes.

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Heavy Cream Frosting
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp coconut extract

• Whisk heavy cream until slightly thickened.
• Slowly add in powdered sugar to taste.
• Fold in extracts & combine.
• Frost cooled cupcakes.
  

Fruit & Nut Bread

The original recipe calls for dried dates, but I did not have any on hand & prefer prunes or "dried plums" for the added health reasons. This recipe is originally from Simple Treats by Ellen Abraham. The end result was a very mild bread with nuts & plump plums. I may add a little extra maple syrup & oil next time for added sweetness & moisture. Be careful not to over bake, as barley flour turns quite dark & may dry out easily.

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Dried Plum-Walnut Bread
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup soymilk/rice milk, etc
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 tblspns sugar
1 3/4 cups barley flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups dried pitted plums, chopped
2 tblspns walnuts, chopped for topping

• Preheat oven 350F. Oil/butter 8X4 loaf pan & set aside.
• In a small bowl, mix the oil, syrup, milk, vinegar & vanilla extract.
• In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cups of chopped walnuts & sugar. Sift in the flour, soda, powder, cinnamon & salt. Stir around to combine.
• Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
• Do not overwork the batter. Add some milk if the batter is too stiff.
• Fold in chopped dried plums.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts.
• Bake 35 minutes, rotate pan & bake for another 25 - 35 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean.
  
• Let cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
• 12 servings.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

I wanted to use the cream cheese I had leftover from making cream cheese frosting & thought these seemed interesting. I reduced the sugar & the end result wasn't sweet enough, so I think the original amount should be used.
For the filling, if trying to avoid egg whites, give this recipe a try.

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Cream Cheese Filling
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 tblspn soy yogurt/yogurt
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

• Beat cream cheese, sugar & yogurt till smooth.
• Beat in cornstarch and vanilla extract & pinch of salt. Set aside & follow recipe for cake batter.
  

Vegan Coconut Bars

I've been wanting to try these Vegan Coconut Bars for a few weeks now. They look sooo scrumptious in Karina's picture. Instead of chocolate chips, which have caffeine that we try avoid in the evening, we used carob chips, white chocolate chips & added a whole array of dried fruits & nuts. I agree that these tasted yummy chilled. I want to try this recipe again using slightly less tapioca flour.

Chocolate Chip Cookies?!?!?

Anna's brief description of these cookies made them seem very appealing..."crinkly, craggly, dense & soft..These are great". They look yummy too! So I had to whip up a quick batch. What's sort of funny is that my variation of this cookie is a combo of two recipes from her blog. The filling combo I used is from the hazelnut lime-pepper cookies. So I used the Chocolate Chip Cookie base & filled the cookies with white chocolate chips, hazelnut, lime zest & black pepper. The flavor combo has been very popular ever since I first tried it with family, friends, co-workers & myself. For the lime-pepper cookies, I haven't tried the dough batter posted, but I've tried the filling combo multiple times with Cook's Illustrated dough recipe. This recipe never fails to yield a really chewy cookie, which is my personal preferred cookie texture. I was using this recipe as a base for a long time before I decided it was time to graduate & give other recipes a chance.
So instead of chocolate chips & toasted walnuts/pecans, I used:
2 tblspn lime zest (3 -4 limes)
3/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup hazelnuts, skinned & chopped