Chocolate Chip Cookies for Every Occasion

We make chocolate chip cookies a lot. Everybody likes them, they're quick to make and you can endlessly vary the additions. For our holiday party I used dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries and walnuts.

Sometimes I substitute half the flour with hazelnut flour. Or I mix dark, milk and white chips. I think they need nuts to balance out the sweetness of the chocolate, but it's entirely up to you!!

The one thing that stays consistent is the texture, which is cakey with a little crunch around the edges.

Go crazy! Throw together a batch and enjoy...with tea, with coffee, for breakfast, as a midnight snack, as a way of telling your best friend you love her, to ease into telling your partner that, yes, you needed those $200 jeans, after your workout, before your workout, instead of a workout....seriously, they are perfect for every occasion!

Every Occasion Chocolate Chip Cookie

1 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread (or other shortening)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

a pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 12oz. bag chocolate chips of your choice (or mix and match different kinds)

at least 1 cup toasted nuts of your choice

at least one cup dried cherries or cranberries (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cream the Earth Balance with the two kinds of sugar and the vanilla. Whisk in one egg at a time.

Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the chocolate chips and whatever other additions you are using.

Scoop teaspoon-sized mounds of batter onto your sheet pans. Space them well apart, because they will expand. 

Refrigerate each sheet pan for 10 minutes before baking. This will prevent them spreading out too thin in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes or until they start to turn golden around the edges.

They will keep in an airtight container for several days!

Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

These are soft and very lemony. Very easy to eat! I think they make a nice balance to all the spice and fruit and chocolate cookies that we love to eat during the holidays. We served them at our Christmas party last weekend and they were the first to go...before the chocolate chip and the palmiers and the German cinnamon-almond cookies.
They would be good any time of year of course. I could see a summer picnic in Central Park, a little champagne smuggled to the great lawn in a thermos, a few lemon cookies...perfect lazy Sunday!
This is another adaptation of a German recipe, so the measurements are metric. The electronic kitchen scale that you absolutely need from Santa will take care of this!

Lemon Olive Oil Cookies
3 lemons
100g sugar
150g all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
a pinch of salt
75ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tblsp. soy milk (or other non-dairy milk of your choice)
sugar for rolling


Wash and dry the lemons. Grate the zest of all 3. Juice one of the lemons and set the juice aside.


Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.


In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and lemon zest with 75g of the sugar. Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, blend in the olive oil, lemon juice and soy milk. Don't overmix. 


Pour the rest of the sugar into a bowl. Roll little balls with the dough and then roll each ball in the sugar.


Line a baking sheet with parchment. Space out the cookies so they have room to expand in the oven (about 1 1/2" between them).


Gently use your thumb to press down the center of each cookie.

Bake about 12 minutes, or until the bottoms start to brown. Remove from baking sheet and spread out on a cooling rack.




Glaze
50g powdered sugar
1 tblsp. lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon


Mix the lemon juice into the powdered sugar with a spoon. You want the glaze to be smooth but not too runny. Put a little dollop of glaze into the center of each cookie. If you want to be fancy, use a knife to coax the glaze down the sides of the cookie (see picture). Sprinkle a little lemon zest on the glaze. Let it set (this may take a couple of hours). 
Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Marzipan-Pignoli Cookies (and a truffle experiment)

We had friends over for dinner again last night, and I wanted to have some bite-size cookies around to serve with coffee and tea. These are a cross between Italian pignoli cookies and German Bethmaennchen (almond Christmas cookies). They're quite chewy and have a delightlful almond fragrance. If you want the pine nuts to feature more prominently you can cover the entire cookie in them. Or omit them entirely and replace with blanched almonds.

On a side note, after I made these, I went to Eataly in Manhattan to buy my first fresh white truffle. It was like having a little golden nugget in my pocket! 

I just wanted to unwrap it on the subway and sit there and sniff it. But that would have been pretty creepy. 

I made a light pasta with asparagus, and we shaved it over the top. Unfortunately it didn't have much flavor at all. Either we didn't have enough, or it wasn't as fresh as it could have been. Probably both. So I'm a little disappointed, but I'm still eager to try again with a black truffle. 

Marzipan Pignoli Cookies

1 can marzipan (300g)

150g powdered sugar

150g ground almonds (I used Bob's Red Mill)

a shot of dark rum

2 egg whites

2 tblsp. honey

1/2 cup (or more) pine nuts

In a bowl, using your hands, knead together the marzipan, powdered sugar, ground almonds, 1 egg white, rum and salt.

Keeping your hands slightly damp, roll the dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Flatten slightly with you thumb. Brush each cookie lightly with egg white and press the pine nuts into it.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden and browning slightly on the bottom.

Let cool before removing from sheet pan.
Store in an airtight container, or eat immediately.

No Mascarpone Tiramisu

In Ghana, where I grew up, there was no mascarpone. So I am not a traditionalist when it comes to tiramisu. In fact, I think my mother's no-mascarpone tiramisu is the best I've ever had. The consistency is a a little denser, and even creamier than what you typically get in restaurants. I make this rarely because it is, hands down, my favorite dessert, and I will eat ALL the leftovers on the day that I make it. Had some for lunch (to make sure it was good), had mine and half of V's portion at our dinner party, then got caught in the kitchen around 1am, spooning the remainder out of the bowl. And then I lay in bed the next morning, bemoaning the fact that there was none left over for breakfast. "What's wrong with that?" you say (unless you're my husband, then you say "all that cream an sugar is terrible for you." He doesn't have a sweet tooth. He doesn't get it!). What's wrong is that I strongly believe in moderation. I think it makes us happier in the long run. However, this thought never occurs to me when there's tiramisu in the fridge. So I don't make it very often.

Store-bought ladyfingers work perfectly well, but I couldn't find them, so I made some. It's really quick. Don't worry about it if your local grocery store doesn't have them either. They don't even have to come out looking pretty, because you will soak them in coffee.

I had forgotten that the recipe calls for raw eggs and I had a moment of trepidation, so I called my mother. She said "oh please! You ate raw eggs throughout your childhood. Just make sure they're fresh."

This recipe makes about 10 servings (or 1 or 2 if you're like me)

No Mascarpone Tiramisu

Brew 2 cups of very strong coffee and let them cool. Maybe add a splash of liquor (I've used rum and Cointreau, but I'm sure anything that would be good in coffee would be good here).

For the Cream:

1 lb cream cheese (reduced fat is fine, though it'll hardly make this any lighter. But we can pretend.)

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 pint heavy cream

zest of 1/2 lemon

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Whip the cream and keep in the refrigerator. In a mixer, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until soft. Fold in the whipped cream, vanilla and lemon. 

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. You can add the cream of tartar when the eggs get to a very frothy stage.

Using a slotted spoon or a spatula, fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the cream mixture. The gently fold in the rest, making sure everything is well blended. Taste it and add more lemon zest if necessary.

Ladyfingers

4 eggs, separated

2/3 cup granulated sugar

7/8 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. If you have a convection oven you will want to stick the corners down with a bit of batter before baking.

Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. While the mixer is on, slowly add the sugar. Your egg whites should be stiff and glossy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, until they are pale and thick.

Sift together the flour and baking powder.

Fold half of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the flour. Fold in the remaining egg whites.

Transfer the mixture into a large piping bag with a large round tip. Alternatively, use a large zip lock bag with a hole cut in the corner.

Pipe 3" strips of batter onto the parchment, leaving at least 1" of room between them. Bake about 8 minutes, or until they turn golden.

Assembly

You can make these in individual bowls, ramekins or glasses. Or you can use one large bowl.

Start with a layer of cream on the bottom. Soak each ladyfinger in coffee, and then spread them out in a layer on the cream. Add another layer of cream. Then another layer of coffee-soaked biscuits. Keep going until the bowl is full or you run out. 

Just before serving, dust with cocoa powder.

Pear Bourbon Rosemary Sorbet

We had a friend coming to dinner who, for medical reasons, can't have any fat at all for a few weeks. The entree portion of the meal took me a little while to figure out (and I'll tell you about it one of these days), but dessert was easy. For some reason I have been thinking about a pear bourbon cocktail, but we don't generally sit around sipping cocktails at home, so I thought I would turn the idea into a sorbet.
It tastes like biting into a very ripe, frozen pear. Very pear-y. With a little spike! It's definitely going to be a recurring fall dessert for us.


Pear Bourbon Rosemary Sorbet


10 ripe yellow bartlett pears
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup maple syrup
2 sprigs rosemary
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup bourbon (this is an estimate. you have to taste it as you go and decide how much you like in there)


Peel, core and cut the pears into pieces. Heat in a medium saucepan, with the rosemary, until they become soft. Remove the rosemary and discard. Stir in the maple syrup. Let it cool.
Puree everything in the food processor. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight.
Freeze in your ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions. 
The alcohol prevents ice crystals from forming, so you get a smooth, almost creamy sorbet.

Autumn Trifle!

My friend Mardi and I often have a Friday brunch date at Cafe Cluny in the West Village. Their food is outstanding, and they're always more than happy to accomodate us vegetarians. But what really makes it the place that we always return to, is their caramelized banana trifle. If you're in New York, you should drop whatever you're doing right now and run over there and get some!! If you're not, put it on your bucket list!

Or you could get inspired and make trifle at home (it will not taste like Cluny's but it will make you feel accomplished, and it might be just as good.....in its own way). I put mine in individual ramekins, but you could just as well put it in a large bowl for people to serve themselves.

This is very much a special occasion dessert because it's very involved. It also works better for a larger party (rather than a romantic dinner for two), because you have to bake the cake and make pastry cream, and you'll have lots of both.

The recipe is my variation of one I found on epicurious.com. 

The cake, syrup, pastry cream and caramel sauce can be made a day ahead.

The caramel decoration is soooooo easy and it makes it look so fancy!

Autumn Trifle : A Recipe in 7 Parts

Spice Cake

1 cup very strong brewed chai

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. orange extract

3/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 tblsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. allspice

3 cups all-purpose flour

Line a half baking sheet with parchment.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour with the spices and the baking soda.

Cream the butter with both sugars. Add eggs, vanilla and orange extract. In 3 additions, alternately mix in the dry ingredients and the tea, until just combined.

Bake for approx. 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Set aside and let cool.

Simple Syrup

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

A splash of liquor of your choice, optional

Cook water and sugar together until all the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool. Add the liquor.

Cinnamon Pastry Cream

6 egg yolks

2 cups milk (whole or soy)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cake flour

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tblsp. butter

Whisk together the yolks and 1/2 cup of milk. Whisk in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and flour.

Bring the remaining milk to a boil. Slowly whisk the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. Return everything to the same saucepan. Whisk constantly, while cooking on medium heat. The custard will thicken (this may take a few minutes so be patient and keep whisking). Transfer to a bowl and stir in the butter until it melts. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and refrigerate until cold (at least 2 hours).

Pumpkin Caramel Sauce

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook, stirring constantly) until it has a very dark amber color (you don't want to burn it, but you also don't want to take it off the heat too soon, because it won't have enough flavor). Reduce the heat to low and stir in the cream. It will bubble fiercely. Keep stirring until all caramel bits dissolve. Stir in the pumpkin. Cool or refrigerate until ready to use.

Sauteed Apples and Pears

3 large apples, peeled and chopped small

3 large pears, peeled and chopped small

2 tblsp. butter

2 tbslp. lemon juice

Toss the apples and pears with the lemon. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the fruit and cook until it softens and starts to caramelize. Set aside.

2 Cups Heavy cream, whipped and chilled

Caramel Decorations

4 oz. water

8 oz. sugar

pinch of salt

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silpat.

In the smallest saucepan you have, cook the 3 ingredients until dark brown. Do not walk away while you do this, because once it starts to brown it will darken quickly. Also remember that your caramel will keep cooking after you take it off the heat, so remove it when it's still a little lighter than you want it. 

Dip a teaspoon into the caramel and make little circular decorations on your parchment. They will set almost immediately. Store them in a dry place or use immediately.

Please be careful! Caramel is so hot, and can cause burns you will never forget!!

To Assemble:

Spread a layer of pastry cream in the bottom of your ramekins or glasses, or whatever you are using to hold your trifle.

Using a cookie cutter that is slightly smaller than the ramekin, cut out rounds of spice cake. Brush with the simple syrup.

Add another layer of pastry cream.

Then a layer of apples, generously drizzled with pumpkin caramel sauce.

Another layer of pastry cream.

Fit a large piping bag with a star tip. Fill with whipped cream and pipe a rosette onto each trifle. Refrigerate if not serving right away. Just before serving, add your caramel decoration.

German Apple Oat Cake

My parents live on the outskirts of Hamburg, Germany, and there are many apple orchards in their vicinity. One of the apple farmers from the area wrote a cookbook entirely devoted to apple recipes, which is where this cake comes from. It's one of our favorites because it really features the apples, and the oats and almonds give it a hearty balance. It's quick to make for a party, but it's also worth just making for yourself with a cup of tea. I have not converted the recipe from its metric state. I hope this doesn't cause anyone confusion!

German Apple Oat Cake

Batter:

150g butter

125g sugar

1 tblsp. vanilla extract

3 eggs
150g rolled oats (not quick cooking)
50g all-purpose flour
1 tsp. lemon peel
a pinch of salt


Filling:
5 large apples
juice of 1/2 lemon
75g sliced almonds
2 tblsp. brown sugar
40g butter


Grease a 9" springform pan.
In a bowl, mix the oats, flour, baking powder, lemon peel and salt. Set aside.
Peel and chop the apples into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with the lemon juice to prevent browning.
Pre-heat oven to 370 degrees.
Whisk the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, then the eggs, one at a time.
Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined.
Pour 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan and level it out with a spatula. Spread the apples out evenly on the batter. Sprinkle almonds evenly across the top. Cut little flakes of butter and spread them evenly over the apples as well.
Using a teaspoon, place little mounds of remaining batter all over the cake. 
Bake about 45 minutes, or until the top is a gorgeous golden-brown.

Plum Cake Take 2!

It's plum cake season again (yay!). Actually, I made prune cake, but that doesn't sound nearly as tempting. This was a really easy cake to whip up before going to a dinner party at a friend's house. The whole wheat flour adds a nuttiness that I like for the fall, and the oil makes it nice and moist. My prunes were way too sour to eat raw, but the baking brought out all the juices, and with a little extra brown sugar sprinkled on top, they were sweet as can be. You could serve it with a side of whipped cream or cinnamon ice cream, but it doesn't need it.

The recipe was inspired by Guilty Kitchen, but I altered it quite a bit (more plums!)...

Plum Cake

At least 30 fresh prunes, cut in half and pitted

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup coconut oil, or other vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup buttermilk (I used soymilk, mixed with 1 tblsp of white vinegar)

vanilla

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

a pinch of nutmeg

2 cups slivered almonds, lightly toasted

apricot preserves

Grease the cake pan of your choice (I used a 9" springform pan, but had enough batter left over to fill a little 5" pan as well).

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar with the butter and oil. When light and fluffy, gradually whisk in the eggs.

Alternately mix in flours and buttermilk, in four additions. Stop mixing when just combined.

Pour the batter into the cake pan. Arrange the prunes as close together as you can (the more the juicier). Sprinkle with 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar, and maybe a handful of slivered almonds.

Bake for one hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan. 

Once unmoulded, brush the sides of the cake with apricot preserves and press the almonds into it to cover the sides.

Hands down, the moistest vanilla cake!

Although I love my usual vanilla cake recipe, I decided I needed to finally try the "Magnificent Moist Golden Cake" from Shirley O. Corriher's book "Bakewise." All the recipes in the book are diligently researched by someone who understands the science of baking, and so I have so far found them all to be completely failsafe.

This is the moistest cake you will ever make! There are a few more steps (as well as a few more eggs) involved than in your average cake, but it is so worth the effort.

I filled with blueberry jam and frosted with vanilla buttercream.

I doubled the recipe below, because I wanted a taller cake. As is, it makes one 9" pan. 

Here's what I did:

Moistest Vanilla Cake

4 tblsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 cup canola oil

3 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups cake flour (all-purpose will not work)

1 3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup buttermilk 

1/2 cup heavy cream

Whip the heavy cream. Cover and refrigerate.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the shelf in the lower third of the oven.

Grease your cake pan and line the bottom with parchment.

In a mixer, cream the butter at medium speed until it is light in color. Add the sugar and cream until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl at least once. Blend in the vanilla and the oil.

Blend in the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing until just combined. Repeat with the whole eggs.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

On the lowest speed, blend half the flour into the batter. Blend in half the buttermilk. Mix in the remaining flour, then the remaining buttermilk.

Fold a quarter of the whipped cream into the batter to lighten it. Then fold in the rest of it.

Pour your batter into the pan and bake for approx. 40 mins. or until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool before unmoulding.

Off to Hamburg for a Berliner

Whenever I'm in Hamburg I have to eat as many jelly doughnuts as I can find. They are traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve. You buy a whole bunch, and one of them is filled with mustard, bringing good luck to the person who finds it....I guess the idea being that if you're unlucky enough to start the year with a mustard doughnut, things can only go uphill from there.
Luckily, the non-mustard variety is available all year, with lots of delicious fillings, like raspberry, strawberry or plum jam, or even applesauce. Some bakeries are offering non-traditional fillings like chocolate or eggnog custard, but I haven't had the urge to try either! When it comes to pastry, I'm sort of a traditionalist (see my post about chocolate puff pastry)!

This one came from one of the chain bakeries (which most of them are, nowadays) but it was still fabulous. As long as they were made fresh that day (some bakeries sell them for 2 days, so it pays to ask), they are always moist and soft. And the jam is always full of fruit. Not like the gelatinous goop you get at American doughnut chains.
Berliners come either in this granulated sugar variety, or with powdered sugar, or icing sugar. I should have bought all three to photograph for you, but I only thought of that now (you know, as I'm back in New York and not distracted by doughnuts i need to eat), so I'll leave it to your imagination.

Excellent Strawberry Sorbet

Really good homemade, non-dairy ice cream has thus far eluded me. It either gets too hard, or has a funny aftertaste. Or I've made it with coconut milk and then it's coconut-y. Which is great, unless that's not what you're going for, which sometimes it just isn't.
So I got very excited when I found this recipe for non-dairy strawberry ice cream on David Lebovitz's blog. It's made with rice milk, so there's no weird aftertaste. On the other hand, it's not very creamy, so it's really more like a sorbet. Despite what he says it's also not vegan because of the honey. No matter. It was a big hit because the strawberry flavor is very intense. I found V. in the kitchen last night, after all of our guests left, eating the leftovers right out of the ice cream maker.

Here is the recipe!

Blueberry Tart with Walnuts

3 weeks ago, the farmer at the market told me that these were the last of the season's blueberries from New Jersey, so I cried a little and bought 3 pints for snacking and to make a tart.
When we were on vacation in Sweden last week I was hoping to pick some, but up there they weren't even ripe yet! Either that, or they were just dismal puny little things this year. Either way, this tart was the last of the blueberries we've had. The recipe is from Carol Walter's "Great Pies and Tarts" and the title does not lie.

Pate Brisee


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 - 1/2 cup cold water


In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and sugar. Add the butter and pulse until you get a coarse meal. Turn machine on and pour water in slowly. Do not overmix. Only add enough water so the dough holds together. 
Shape dough into a ball, flatten, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate at least an hour (I've cheated on this and used it right away. If the kitchen is not too hot, it usually works out fine).
Line an 11" tart pan, add pie weights or dried beans, and pre-bake for 20 minutes. Remove pie weights and set aside.




Blueberry Walnut Tart


4 cups fresh blueberries, washed and dried
1 cup sugar
2 tblsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tblsp. fresh lemon juice
zest of one orange
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tblsp. unsalted butter
2 cups  walnuts, coarsely chopped


Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.


Chop 2 cups of the blueberries and set the remainder aside.
In a saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and orange juice. Add the chopped blueberries and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for another couple of minutes, stirring.
Remove from heat and blend in the lemon juice, orange zest, vanilla and butter. Fold in the whole blueberries.
Pour the mixture into the partially pre-baked tart shell and smooth out the surface. Sprinkle the walnuts evenly across the top.
Bake 30-35 minutes, until the nuts start to brown and the tart filling gently bubbles.
Remove from heat and cool.

Chocolate Birthday Cake

It was V's mom's birthday at the end of April. We celebrated by visiting V's sister and playing with her dog's puppies:

And then we ate some chocolate cake. That's right! Birthday, puppies and chocolate...sickening, really!! ;)

This chocolate cake recipe is the one that I can barely read anymore because I've made it so often that the page is spattered with grease and batter. It's incredibly easy to make and it always comes out moist and delicious! And it's vegan, which is an added perk, but no non-vegan will ever know!!

Vegan Chocolate Cake


3 cups all-purpose flour
6 tblsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
a pinch of salt


2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup of your favorite vegetable oil (not olive! But canola, safflower or grapeseed work well)
2 tblsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
In one bowl, combine all dry ingredients except for the sugar. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients  and sugar. Pour the dry ingredients over the wet and whisk together until all lumps disappear.
Pour evenly into both pans and bake 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean!


After they cool, level the tops of the cakes with a bread knife. Fill with whatever frosting you fancy (such as this delicious buttercream)!

Vegan Chocolate Mousse (with a little coconut love)

I spent the day at home alone, and it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to make myself a nice, decadent chocolate dessert! :)

It's completely rich and creamy, with a subtle coconut flavor. It keeps for several days, if you can stay away!

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

1 1/2 cups soy or any other kind of non-dairy milk

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

vanilla

1 cup organic, extra virgin coconut oil

12 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (or you could add unsweetened chocolate and mix some maple syrup into the mousse)

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or over a water bath. (When melting chocolate in the microwave I always run it for 30 seconds, then stir, then another 30 seconds, because it's easy to burn chocolate). Place all ingredients, except for the chocolate in a food processor and blend well. While the machine is running, add the chocolate. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Enjoy!!

Baby Elephant Cupcakes

My friend Jenny and I are exchanging baked goods for personal training sessions! :) Baked goods are a great bartering tool!! She has a baby shower to go to today, so I made cupcakes for her to bring. They're vanilla (same recipe as always, which makes about 26 cupcakes), with fresh blueberry buttercream (recipe here. I cooked down blueberries to make a thick syrup, then strained out the skins and added to the cream). The flavor is sort of subtle but I wanted that blueish grey color.
Here's the invitation they were based on:

Homemade Marshmallows

My daughter Tiegan was definitely born with a sweet tooth. I swear she has a sixth sense, and can smell a box of chocolates hidden a mile away. So I find we end up eating more 'junk' food than I'd like, and although I haven't managed to cut sugar completely out of our diet, I'm always trying to find ways to reduce it and also to cut out a lot of the dyes and chemicals. So when I heard about a blogging friend making homemade marshmallows, I knew I had to give it a go. We are serious s'more makers in the summer, and hot chocolate drinkers in the winter, so I could see making a few batches of these throughout the year, they were declared yummy by all. Most importantly, by Tiegan!

Homemade Marshmallows

2 tbsp Gelatin (I'm sure there's a vegan alternative, I'm just not sure it would be the same amount?)
1/2 cup Cold Water
1 cup Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Water
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 Vanilla Bean
Butter and Icing Sugar for preparing dish

Butter baking dish very well and then dust evenly with icing sugar to prevent the marshmallows from sticking.

Pour gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water into large mixing bowl. Let sit 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour maple syrup, 1/4 cup water and sugar into saucepan. Split vanilla bean, scrape seeds into syrup mixture and then add vanilla bean pod.

Cook syrup mixture over medium low heat. When mixture begins to boil, set timer for 11 minutes and continue to cook without stirring. After 11 minutes, remove syrup mixture from heat and discard vanilla bean pod.

With a hand mixer or stand mixer, gently mix gelatin to break up for about 3 seconds. Then with mixer running on low, slowly add hot syrup. Mix on low for 1 minute, then increase to high and beat 10 minutes more.

Pour mixture into the prepared dish. I used a spatula to spread mixture evenly in dish, or you can also wet your hands and use those.

Lightly sprinkle powdered sugar on top of marshmallows and let sit for four hours or more. Once they are set, use a knife to cut them into squares, or use a cookie cutter to make shapes. We did some squares, but also made mini hearts for gifts - they're the perfect size to slip into a hot chocolate!





I'd still like to seek out a recipe using real marshmallow root to try on our next batch, and I also imagine it would be fun to flavour the marshmallows with peppermint extract, or a favourite liqueur.

Finally, a post from Erica, as in the 'Anja and Erica' Erica!

Anja and I decided to set up this blog AGES ago due to our shared passions of food and healthy living and photo taking and writing. And I was so excited at the thought, but then life got crazy and we built a house in the woods and lived for many months without phone or internet, and blogging seemed to take a back burner as it were. BUT, this is a new year, and I now happily have four walls around me, a solid roof over my head and a deliciously fast internet connection and so I thought I would start holding up my end of the bargain and post some of my favourite recipes alongside Anja!

So hello (wave)! I'm Erica and I live in Ontario with my husband Jamie and three kidlets - Kea (10 1/2), Tiegan (7 1/2) and Ryland (4 at the end of this month, gah!!!!) And although I will be including photos of food for future posts, I did not get a chance to photograph this first dish before it was INHALED by my family, so you'll all just have to suffer through a few photos of the kids instead:-)

This past week has brought snowy blizzards and vicious viruses to our neck of the woods, and thus I have spent much time inside and in my kitchen. However, we like to make sure everyone gets outside for at least a little while every day, so on this day we bundled everyone up against their wills and tried to convince them it would be fun to play in the crazy cold weather.

Kea put on her skis because we were originally going to go for a ski, but that quickly dissolved into tears by half the camp so we opted to stay closer to home.

Tiegan had a blast creating caves and snow mountains and holes, and amused herself in a snow hill forever.

And Ryland was plain old miserable. He was pretty sick with a brutal cold at this point, and pretty much everything was setting him off. But when he played with his bulldozer for about 2 seconds and broke into his 3rd round of tears in 10 minutes, we decided that this torture was enough.

Fresh air might be good for the health, but going inside and baking with mom is healthy for the soul. So that's what we did, and there weren't tears for at least an hour after that!


Black Bean Brownies (hand written on the back of an envelope by my good friend Lori in Vancouver - passed on to her by another friend)

1/2 can black beans
1/2 cup ground hazelnut (we ran out and used almonds instead, still yummy!)
1/2 cup coconut oil (I sit the jar in hot water for a bit, and pour melted oil in)
3 eggs
3 Tbl sunflower oil
4 Tbl cocoa (I like Camino's dark cocoa)
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar (I used brown sugar, but I'm sure many others would work too)

Mix ingredients together in a blender to puree.

Pour into a 8by8 pan

Add any nuts or other bits you like in your brownies, we tend to leave them plain and eat with fruit after they're baked.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.