tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81253933687847316972024-03-13T16:18:26.794-07:00Alabama Strawberry Massacrejacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-83635653299489127112013-05-31T12:02:00.000-07:002013-05-31T12:02:50.145-07:00Fish Tacos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I haven't eaten meat in 18 years and I've never had vegan fish...until recently. I always knew of the existence of Sophie's frozen vegan seafoods, but had never actually seen them sold anywhere. Until we got some of the <a href="http://sophieskitchen.net/html/products/fish.html">breaded fish patties</a> in at work the other day. When I saw them, I cursed that I had not brought my Caribbean cookbook I checked out from the library because too many of the recipes were fish based.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8StLe3w6dmA/UajrsmGB5CI/AAAAAAAAAvY/bl6ba88bIzw/s1600/SophiesBreadedFishFilletsXL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8StLe3w6dmA/UajrsmGB5CI/AAAAAAAAAvY/bl6ba88bIzw/s320/SophiesBreadedFishFilletsXL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So I went out on a whim and decided to make something I have never made or eaten in vegan or omni form before...fish tacos. Fish tacos always just seemed weird to me and I had never wanted to try them as a child.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UsY7vMc646I/Uajse3B5WNI/AAAAAAAAAvg/FG9w1we4w9E/s1600/IMG_1860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UsY7vMc646I/Uajse3B5WNI/AAAAAAAAAvg/FG9w1we4w9E/s400/IMG_1860.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I tried the fish patties and thought they were interesting, but needed to be a little fishier. And they definitely needed some sauce. So I found <a href="http://sweetorangestudio.blogspot.com/2011/02/fish-and-chips.html">this recipe for tartar sauce (at the bottom of the page) from Sweet Orangerie</a> and it was fantastic..just what the patties needed. I also added some toasted nori with the fillings for extra fishiness. I used Annie Chung's seaweeds snacks. You can use Seasnax, Sea's Gift or whatever you have. (If you haven't tried seaweed snacks before..check them out! They're a satisfying and salty. I believe Trader Joe's has their own brand too.)<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6chXtcAHUUg/Uajuhmtt6hI/AAAAAAAAAvw/MAe-GjZ96i4/s1600/IMG_1864.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6chXtcAHUUg/Uajuhmtt6hI/AAAAAAAAAvw/MAe-GjZ96i4/s400/IMG_1864.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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My tacos had red peppers, cubanelles, corn, radishes, cilantro and guacamole on the side. (Don't leave out the radishes..They're great taco fare!)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EEx6eczClf8/UajzGtdNLVI/AAAAAAAAAwI/l43Z4fwnjv4/s1600/3f185e2d3f41d3ba6c2fdb4afd5c4a70.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EEx6eczClf8/UajzGtdNLVI/AAAAAAAAAwI/l43Z4fwnjv4/s640/3f185e2d3f41d3ba6c2fdb4afd5c4a70.jpg" width="454" /></a></div>
jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-65085330690065714292013-03-11T18:23:00.000-07:002013-03-11T18:23:18.862-07:00Banana Cake with Almond Butter Frosting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My friend hinted to me the other day that her birthday was coming up, so my scripted response was, "What kind of cake do you want?" She said she needed some ideas, so I sent her my cake page on Pinterest with about 2000 cakes and she happened to pick the one that I made for my birthday last year. Weird. But not so weird because it's a <a href="http://thetolerantvegan.com/2011/03/banana-cake-with-coconut-cream-cheese-frosting/">delicious cake from the tolerant vegan</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">yes, the letters are like that on purpose..</td></tr>
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I love that the recipe calls for 3 whole cups of banana. I think that came out to about 6 large bananas for me. Any banana baked good should use a whole bunch of bananas for optimum nanna-i-ness, in my opinion. And because I'm a banana fanatic, I add a box of banana flavored pudding. (It won't taste artificial, only give a little extra oomph to the natural banana flavor. My mom scoffed at this artificial addition when I first dumped the box in, but said she could only taste fresh banana in the finished product and thought the cake was great.) Pudding mix is also cornstarch based, and cornstarch is a great egg-replacer. Not that you need it here..especially with all the banana. But it will make for a better texture. Using pudding mixes is one of my favorite easy ways to flavor cakes. Just cut down the sugar in the recipe a bit and add it with the dry ingredients. If you're like my mom and hate the idea of a processed pudding mix going into homemade food, then you can leave it out. It also tastes just fine and banana-y without it.<br />
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I made the cake at work a few days before because we happened to have 80000000 overripe bananas. I had always planned on using my <a href="http://alabamastrawberrymassacre.blogspot.com/2013/02/mardi-gras-mayo-cupcakes.html">mayo frosting</a>, since I think it's similar to, yet better than cream cheese frosting. And then I used the last of the vanilla in the cake.. and the mayo frosting pretty much needs vanilla so you won't guess you're actually eating mayonnaise on top of a cake. The only other extract we had was almond..and we had plenty of almond butter...</div>
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Hmmm... </div>
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Yes, of course...almond butter frosting.</div>
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And it was fabulous. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one has more Vegenaise/almond butter and less powdered sugar in the frosting than the birthday one.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one has more powdered sugar in the frosting. I could pretty much mold this frosting with my hands. It was almost fondant texture.</td></tr>
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So here is my banana cake (only slightly modified from the tolerant vegan) with almond butter frosting.</div>
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<u>Banana Cake with Almond Butter Frosting</u></div>
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3 cups flour</div>
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1 1/4 cups sugar</div>
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2 teaspoons baking powder</div>
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1 teaspoon baking soda</div>
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1/2 teaspoon sea salt</div>
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1 box banana flavor pudding mix <a href="http://www.petakids.com/accvegan.asp">(Jell-o banana creme is accidentally vegan.)</a></div>
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1 cup melted Earth Balance</div>
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3 cups pureed banana</div>
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1/2 cup almond milk</div>
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3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar</div>
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1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla</div>
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Preheat oven to 350 and grease 2 8 or 9 inch cake pans. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. I prefer pureeing my bananas, to make it less banana bread-like, so pour your almond milk into the blender and add a few bananas at a time until your blender bowl says 3 1/2 cups. I think that's actually easier than mashing and measuring out 3 cups anyway. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the blender and puree until smooth. (I also like emulsifying the fat too.) Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined. Bake 25-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. </div>
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Make the frosting.</div>
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Now here I didn't measure out any ingredients and I came out with different textures each time I did it. Basically you want to use the regular <a href="http://alabamastrawberrymassacre.blogspot.com/2013/02/mardi-gras-mayo-cupcakes.html">mayo frosting recipe</a> with the higher sugar amount, but use almond extract (but much less almond because it's so strong) instead of vanilla and add almond butter. This is what I estimate my amounts to be. If you want it stiffer, add more sugar, softer, add more Vegenaise and almond butter. See the pictures above for different consistencies.</div>
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1/2 cup grapeseed Vegenaise</div>
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1 lb powdered sugar</div>
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1/4 teaspoon almond extract</div>
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2-3 tablespoons almond butter</div>
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You don't even need an electric mixer for this. It whips up smooth with just a hand whisk.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To add chocolate decorations, melt some chocolate chips, put them in a zipper bag, cut off the corner and pipe designs onto parchment paper. Transfer the paper to the fridge for 5-10 minutes and then peel off your decorations!<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YroZbRcsNS4/UT6DSOYFe1I/AAAAAAAAAu8/P6IHey4sVfo/s1600/salamander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YroZbRcsNS4/UT6DSOYFe1I/AAAAAAAAAu8/P6IHey4sVfo/s640/salamander.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="331" /></a></span></td></tr>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-81200116434645671982013-03-04T18:34:00.000-08:002013-03-04T18:34:29.429-08:00Bean Baked Goods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All of these went into baked goods!</td></tr>
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Black bean brownie recipes have been around forever thanks to diet books, but have gained some positive popularity in the past few years. I heard people say you can't taste the beans. But I was suspicious..and curious so I finally decided to try a few bean recipes.<br />
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The first one was the <a href="http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/05/31/deep-dish-cookie-pie/">Deep Dish Cookie Pie from Chocolate Covered Katie</a> and it got me hooked. I believe I picked this one to try when I was out of flour. It uses oatmeal and beans as the base. I made it 3 times as specified with different kinds of white beans in each. I tried chickpea and navy, lima and cannellini, and great northern..and all worked great! I have to admit I added extra vanilla because I was paranoid about the bean taste..but I gave these to several groups of people who were all fans and no one guessed there were beans in them. As a bonus, these are gluten-free if you use gf oats.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bI3rzdGvEhE/UTVMaCFiGKI/AAAAAAAAAss/4lFA0w5tbz4/s1600/IMG_0632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bI3rzdGvEhE/UTVMaCFiGKI/AAAAAAAAAss/4lFA0w5tbz4/s400/IMG_0632.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next I tried a recipe from Robin Robertson because the <a href="http://robinrobertson.com/chocolate-surprise-brownies-2/">picture with the recipe looks fantastic!</a>.. Unfortunately I was not a huge fan of these. As often with baked goods containing banana, I could taste the banana and was not a fan. I served them warm and people liked them, but cold they were not up to par. These were also very cake-like, which I don't like in brownies. (Why not just eat cake, yo?) </div>
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I then decided to try my hand at my own recipe. I liked CCK's idea of using ground oatmeal instead of flour and I like being able to dump everything in the food processor to mix. </div>
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And I like peanut butter..so...</div>
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<u>Peanut Butter Black Bean Brownies</u></div>
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1 can black beans, rinsed and drained</div>
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1/2 cup quick oats</div>
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1/2 cup agave</div>
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1/4 cup cocoa powder</div>
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1/2 cup peanut butter, separated</div>
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1 teaspoon instant coffee powder</div>
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1 tablespoon vanilla</div>
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1/2 teaspoon salt</div>
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1/2 teaspoon baking powder</div>
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3/4 cup chocolate chips</div>
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Preheat oven to 350 fahrenheit and grease an 8x8" pan. Add all ingredients, except chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of the peanut butter to a food processor and process until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips and pour batter into pan. Heat remaining 1/4 cup of peanut butter in microwave or on stovetop and pour over batter and swirl. Bake for 20 minutes.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">superfudgey!</td></tr>
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While not necessarily "healthy" with all those chocolate chips, these do count as high fiber and high protein for a baked good. And they taste great too.</div>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-76586867724880932802013-02-09T08:27:00.001-08:002013-02-09T08:27:30.350-08:00Mardi Gras Mayo Cupcakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I ended up with about a quart of Vegenaise the other day..the bottom of a foodservice jar froze slightly at work and was going to be thrown away..and rather than let it go to waste, I figured I'd take it home and do something with it...despite the fact that I don't like mayo. (I find purple cap Vegenaise to taste better than traditional mayo, but that won't change that I'm still not a mayo person.)<div>
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My mom suggested mayo cake, and me being the sweet-tooth monster that I am had already been thinking about that from the moment this large sum of mayo came into my possession. But I wanted to make Mardi Gras cupcakes and make them colored...and mayo cake is chocolate. So they had to be vanilla.</div>
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So why is vanilla mayo cake not a thing? (Seriously, google it! They're all chocolate!) Sometimes there just don't seem to be good reasons for things. Why was there no peanut butter tunnel cake either? I just don't know. So I found one internet recipe for vanilla mayo cake and tweaked it a bit...AND IT'S FANTASTIC! These cupcakes rise really high, are very springy, and of course, in the tradition of mayo cake...supermoist!</div>
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And since I have all that mayo, I thought I might as well try frosting too...why is there no mayo frosting?? Would it be nasty? Well, I thought I'd find out..and whadda ya know.. IT'S GREAT TOO! It's like cream cheese frosting, but I actually think it's a little better. It even pipes and holds it's shape. No Tofutti or Earth Balance? Try some Vegenaise next time. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v4Wa_v8cOQk/URZssnamTlI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/jpC0e41mkNE/s1600/IMG_0700.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v4Wa_v8cOQk/URZssnamTlI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/jpC0e41mkNE/s400/IMG_0700.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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<u>Mardi Gras Mayo Cupcakes</u></div>
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makes 12 full size cupcakes (plus 2 slightly-less-than-full-size)</div>
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1 cup grapeseed Vegenaise</div>
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1 cup cold almond milk</div>
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1 tsp vanilla extract</div>
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1/4 tsp almond extract</div>
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1/4 tsp lemon extract</div>
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1 cup sugar</div>
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2 cups flour</div>
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1 1/2 tsp baking powder</div>
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1 1/2 tsp baking soda</div>
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1 T cornstarch</div>
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food colors (optional)</div>
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Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tin with paper liners. Beat together mayo and almond milk until smooth. Beat in extracts. Beat in sugar. Beat in dry ingredients. If desired, separate batter into 3 bowls and dye green, purple and gold. Spoon colored batter into liners gently. There's nothing fancy you have to do to get the look in the picture. Spoon in some purple. Gently spoon in gold, then green. Or do them willy-nilly. Bake for 16-19 minutes.</div>
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<u>Mayo Frosting</u></div>
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This makes enough to pipe about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons on each cupcake. Double if you want to completely cover each cupcake with a mountain of frosting.</div>
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1/2 cup grapeseed Vegenaise</div>
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1 tsp vanilla extract</div>
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2-4 cups powdered sugar</div>
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food colors (optional)</div>
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Beat vanilla into mayo. Beat in powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. (Less sugar if you don't need it to hold it's shape or be piped) Add colors if desired.</div>
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Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and top with colored sugar. (Rub some food color into a bowl of sugar with your fingers for DIY colored sugar.)</div>
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Some notes: The lemon and almond extracts compliment the tang of the mayo, but you'd probably be ok leaving them out if you don't have them. I'm not sure how other mayos will work in this recipe. I've never had blue cap (original) Vegenaise, but the consensus seems to be that purple cap (grapeseed) Vegenaise tastes much better. In the cupcakes, it might not matter, but it could possibly make a difference in the frosting if your mayo does not taste great on it's own. (Uh, so don't use that jar of nasty-brand vegan mayo that a well-meaning family member accidentally bought you 3 years ago.)</div>
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These pictures were taken a day after the cupcakes were made and had been stored unrefrigerated (there's no room in my fridge!) in a plastic container. The color of the frosting changed just slightly (This actually happened within an hour of them being made) and the enclosed moisture made the cupcakes glossy.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_adhsnrT-w/URZthPSYSDI/AAAAAAAAAqY/TsM1WBF8Rh8/s1600/IMG_0695.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_adhsnrT-w/URZthPSYSDI/AAAAAAAAAqY/TsM1WBF8Rh8/s400/IMG_0695.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">accidentally smooshed the forsting on this one in the storage container</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LDjCKGuX_bA/URZsRCsptdI/AAAAAAAAAqI/BEUVkG5o3W4/s1600/IMG_0699.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LDjCKGuX_bA/URZsRCsptdI/AAAAAAAAAqI/BEUVkG5o3W4/s400/IMG_0699.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The unfrosted ones here are not as big as the others, because they were the last<br />bits of batter I was trying to stretch. And they're all Jackson Pollock because of that.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T_RJuHnlln4/URZt6L0xSxI/AAAAAAAAAqg/tDY0fC3Lwxs/s1600/IMG_0691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T_RJuHnlln4/URZt6L0xSxI/AAAAAAAAAqg/tDY0fC3Lwxs/s400/IMG_0691.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k74_Rx7eWko/URZ1kKOrnyI/AAAAAAAAArA/ZT0ahBWTpjQ/s1600/mardi-gras_trash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k74_Rx7eWko/URZ1kKOrnyI/AAAAAAAAArA/ZT0ahBWTpjQ/s400/mardi-gras_trash.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Mardi Gras!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d-ER-ncjIMY/URZ4cUPmacI/AAAAAAAAArM/_63nCio4j4s/s1600/Honeycreeper,+Yellow-legged+female+BW2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d-ER-ncjIMY/URZ4cUPmacI/AAAAAAAAArM/_63nCio4j4s/s400/Honeycreeper,+Yellow-legged+female+BW2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mardi Gras-colored bird, juvenile Honeycreeper</td></tr>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-1433889079790561142013-01-21T16:08:00.000-08:002013-01-21T16:08:10.501-08:00So I guess I should mention that I won in the cake category for the Earth Balance Bake-off...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://madejustright.com/blog/post/chocolate-peanut-butter-tunnel-cake">Why yes, I did...</a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-76Zv-JhdS5Q/UP3R92_8EuI/AAAAAAAAAoU/sd2KapMlk5U/s1600/ebWin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-76Zv-JhdS5Q/UP3R92_8EuI/AAAAAAAAAoU/sd2KapMlk5U/s400/ebWin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I was waiting to post about my cake until the contest was over, cause I didn't want to somehow jinx my chance of winning. It was hard, because I spent so much time concocting this thing and went through many cakes trying to perfect the recipe and I was so excited when I unmolded and bit into the last one to find that I had gotten it just right...I just wanted to share with everyone!<br />
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So how did the peanut butter tunnel cake come about? Well, I've always been intrigued by the tunnel of fudge cake that won the original Pillsbury Bake-off and launched the bundt pan to stardom in the 60s. Looking at it simply, a tunnel cake is just an undercooked bundt cake..but when you make the filling something different than the rest of the cake, that's more of a challenge. (More challenge=more reward.) So I thought..I've never seen a peanut butter tunnel in a chocolate bundt, and for good reason...seriously, google it. They don't exist. But I thought they should..and they should be vegan too.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L44XsAIa680/UP3SnBm-yaI/AAAAAAAAAoc/j_b51Bwwz2M/s1600/tunnel-of-fudge-pamphlet-b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L44XsAIa680/UP3SnBm-yaI/AAAAAAAAAoc/j_b51Bwwz2M/s400/tunnel-of-fudge-pamphlet-b.jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">classic 60s recipe: 800million eggs and a frosting box mix</td></tr>
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I won't go through the process I spent trying to perfect this thing, cause that would be a novel. I'll just give you the recipe <a href="http://madejustright.com/recipes/view/3284941/chocolate-peanut-butter-tunnel-cake">which is on the Earth Balance website too</a>, but hey it's my recipe, so it's gotta go on my blog (particularly since I'm so proud of it.)<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6HZs8QsQ7rU/UP3V91AaIgI/AAAAAAAAAo8/6b4H9-IGy9s/s1600/IMG_0116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6HZs8QsQ7rU/UP3V91AaIgI/AAAAAAAAAo8/6b4H9-IGy9s/s400/IMG_0116.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<u>Chocolate Peanut Butter Tunnel Cake</u><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Peanut Butter Filling</span></u></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">3/4 cup Earth Balance Creamy Peanut Butter</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">3 tablespoons Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1 1/2 teaspoons molasses</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">2 teaspoons vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1/4 cup Earth Balance Unsweetened Soymilk</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1 1/4 cups vegan powdered sugar</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1 tablespoon all purpose flour</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1/2 tablespoon corn starch</span></div>
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<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Chocolate Cake </span></u></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">2 cups Earth Balance Unsweetened Soymilk (one or both cups cold)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1 teaspoon instant coffee crystals</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1 tablespoon vanilla</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">3/4 cup Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">2 cups + 2 tablespoons vegan granulated sugar</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">2 3/4 cups all purpose flour</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">2 teaspoons baking soda</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1/2 teaspoon salt</span></div>
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<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Optional ganache and peanut butter </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">glaze toppings</span></u></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1 cup vegan chocolate chips</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1/2 cup Earth Balance Unsweetened Soymilk</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1/4 cup Earth Balance Creamy Peanut Butter</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1-2 tablespoons Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1 tablespoon agave nectar</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">superoptional: extra chocolate chips</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">First make the chocolate slurry for the cake so it can be cooling while you make the rest of the recipe. In a small saucepan, whisk 1 cup Earth Balance Unsweetened soymilk (save the cold cup for later) with cocoa powder and instant coffee crystals until smooth. Turn on the heat to medium and whisk occasionally until mixture begins to boil, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool while you make the peanut butter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> filling.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For filling: In a medium bowl, cream together Earth Balance Creamy Peanut Butter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> and Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread until smooth. Beat in molasses, vanilla and Earth Balance Unsweetened Soymilk until well incorporated. Beat in powdered sugar, flour and cornstarch until smooth and creamy. Spoon filling into a large zipper bag. Set aside.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and generously grease and flour a heavy duty fluted tube cake pan. (To grease a fluted tube pan, rub 1 tablespoon Earth Balance shortening all over inside of pan, taking care to apply well to the crevices in the design. Mix together 1/2 tablespoon each of cocoa powder and flour and dust all greased surfaces. Using just flour will leave white marks on the outside of your cake.) </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Continue making the cake: In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">To the chocolate slurry, add the cold cup of soymilk, vinegar and vanilla and whisk to combine. Set aside.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In a large bowl, cream the Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar. Alternate beating in the dry mix and the wet mixture a little at a time. Reserve 1 cup of batter and pour the rest into the prepared pan. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Snip a corner off of the zipper bag (about an inch) and pipe filling in a circle on top of the batter. Gently cover filling with reserved cup of batter. Bake for 50 minutes. Cool in pan for 2 hours. Gently run a small thin spatula or knife around all edges of the pan. Shake the pan from side to side so you can feel that the cake has loosened from the pan. Invert a plate or platter on the pan and quickly flip over to unmold cake. If the pan was well greased and floured, the cake should unmold perfectly. If not, the toppings can cover imperfections.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For optional ganache topping: Heat Earth Balance Unsweetened Soymilk over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips. Set aside to make peanut butter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> glaze.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For peanut butter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> glaze: Heat Earth Balance Creamy Peanut Butter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, Earth Balance Original Buttery Spread, agave nectar and agave nectar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth and melted. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Spoon toppings over cake. Let toppings cool. Slice into cake for a tunnel of gooey peanut butter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> goodness! Enjoy!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6rNs7As-77w/UP3XMGgGPSI/AAAAAAAAApc/aJ_Hjj9mSZA/s1600/giraffe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="363" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6rNs7As-77w/UP3XMGgGPSI/AAAAAAAAApc/aJ_Hjj9mSZA/s400/giraffe.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<br />jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-77347493395988047192012-12-28T14:52:00.000-08:002012-12-28T14:52:08.455-08:00Double Chocolate Chipotle Cookies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C6lj-JQwjY8/UN4Xo5tAQuI/AAAAAAAAAmY/nHadd4TFt2k/s1600/IMG_0418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C6lj-JQwjY8/UN4Xo5tAQuI/AAAAAAAAAmY/nHadd4TFt2k/s400/IMG_0418.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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Chocolate and chipotle aren't just for putting into chili and adobo sauce! They make fabulous cookies too! I've made a few batches of <a href="http://www.theppk.com/2011/08/punk-rock-cookie-jar-mixes/">These double chocolate cookies</a> lately since most of my outgoing holiday gifts this year were those jar mixes...I just couldn't help but mix up a few complete batches as well. And today I had the idea of adding chipotle! And what a great idea it was! I don't think I'll ever make them without chipotle again. (And if you still have some belated gifts to give, those mixes are a great idea. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of my kitchen table full of all my jars. It was epic!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GyIO0xNGvqk/UN4dQ06hdNI/AAAAAAAAAm8/h-Sbrd1MawA/s1600/IMG_0429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GyIO0xNGvqk/UN4dQ06hdNI/AAAAAAAAAm8/h-Sbrd1MawA/s400/IMG_0429.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">gotta love Costco's ginormous bag of choc chips!</td></tr>
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So here I present this easy recipe, which is basically the PPK recipe with spices added.<br />
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<u>Double Chocolate Chipotle Cookies</u></div>
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1 cup flour (I used half AP, half white whole wheat without the texture suffering any)</div>
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1/3 cup natural cocoa</div>
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2 tsp flaxseed meal</div>
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1/2 tsp baking soda</div>
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1/4 tsp sea salt</div>
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1/4 tsp cinnamon (Penzey's Vietnamese, as always!)</div>
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3/4 tsp chipotle powder</div>
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3/4 cup sugar</div>
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1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans or walnuts (I used walnuts this time)</div>
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3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips</div>
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1/4 cup non-dairy milk or water (tried it both ways, I cannot tell the difference)</div>
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1/3 cup veg oil</div>
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1 tsp vanilla extract</div>
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Preheat oven to 350f. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Mix it all together. Form into balls and flatten slightly into discs. (Isa gets 20 cookies rolling 1 inch balls and I get 16-17 rolling slightly larger balls.) Bake for 10 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on cookie sheet and transfer to cooling rack.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u7oVlaplfO8/UN4etw9T8UI/AAAAAAAAAnY/Z26fjVHdfhg/s1600/IMG_0423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u7oVlaplfO8/UN4etw9T8UI/AAAAAAAAAnY/Z26fjVHdfhg/s400/IMG_0423.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">rich, hot and smokey!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uHVpP6E-pNA/UN4cns85dOI/AAAAAAAAAm0/8-2FkUCbaQs/s1600/IMG_0415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uHVpP6E-pNA/UN4cns85dOI/AAAAAAAAAm0/8-2FkUCbaQs/s400/IMG_0415.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YjupgGB8WVQ/UN4g6WY2DeI/AAAAAAAAAn0/1aey6ac3gY4/s1600/vermillionflycatcher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YjupgGB8WVQ/UN4g6WY2DeI/AAAAAAAAAn0/1aey6ac3gY4/s400/vermillionflycatcher.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vermillion Flycatcher, a bird native to Mexico from <a href="http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/vermilion-flycatcher-pyrocephalus-rubinus/close">The Internet Bird Collection</a></td></tr>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-24565674068660235922012-12-24T08:54:00.000-08:002012-12-24T08:57:42.991-08:00Easy Gluten Free Baked Goods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IHx8tJlxteE/UNiHcuSPNJI/AAAAAAAAAl8/JCi3eJ_KnP4/s1600/cupcakegfmeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IHx8tJlxteE/UNiHcuSPNJI/AAAAAAAAAl8/JCi3eJ_KnP4/s320/cupcakegfmeme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I got a taste the other day of what it must feel like to be a beginning vegan baker...because the other day I started my journey as a beginning gluten-free baker. It was a bit confusing and I had some questions, but everything ended up turning out mostly ok.<br />
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I have been curious about the gluten-free fad for a while, but have always been intimidated by expensive flours of which you need 2 or 3 or 4 of for each recipe, the superexpensive and seemingly necessary xanthan gum, and that a lot of gluten-free recipes make up for the sticky proteiny-ness of gluten with loads of eggs.<br />
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I'm no celiac, but if I eat a lot of seitan, I feel like there's a brick sitting in my stomach. My cousin, however, is a celiac and gets insufferably sick when he gets "gutened", as he says. So my cousin's baked good-less holiday and my curiosity for different and challenging things brought me to the next three recipes.<br />
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I had a few gf flours in the pantry, mainly cheap things like white rice, potato and tapioca that I get at the Asian market. And I had no intention of buying an $8-$12 bag of anything, including xanthan gum, so I searched and searched to find recipes that didn't use those and were beginner friendly. I decided on <a href="http://good.net.nz/blog/miyuki-mcguffie/the-vegan-baker-gluten-free-dark-chocolate-brownies">"brownies"</a>, <a href="http://realsustenance.com/flourless-choc-chip-peanut-butter-cookies-gf-vegan/">flourless peanut butter cookies</a>, and the <a href="http://vanillabrite.wordpress.com/gluten-free-recipes/vanilla-gluten-freedom-cupcakes-vegan-cupcake-take-over-the-world/">vanilla gluten freedom cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPFhwQqw5n8/UNhhQL2NpGI/AAAAAAAAAio/yRvtkEDCF64/s1600/IMG_0309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPFhwQqw5n8/UNhhQL2NpGI/AAAAAAAAAio/yRvtkEDCF64/s400/IMG_0309.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The brownies were the most baffling. I chose them because they only required rice flour and seemed pretty straightforward. I'm not entirely sure the <a href="http://good.net.nz/blog/miyuki-mcguffie/the-vegan-baker-gluten-free-dark-chocolate-brownies">recipe</a> is correct, because it was modified from another...and I think there is too much liquid, but I didn't want to deviate from it with this being my first attempt at a new kind of baking. The original recipe calls for sweet rice flour, so perhaps that makes a difference. Other than upping the sugar, as mentioned, I changed nothing. My rice/water mixture wasn't paste-like, so perhaps I didn't cook it long enough. When the oven timer went off, I checked to find a pan of bubbly boiling chocolate syrup.. There was a little brownie skin in the middle of the pan, but the edges were boiling liquid...So I ended up keeping them in the oven for about and hour and a half until I finally gave up. When I pulled them out, they were still bubbly liquid, but as they cooled, they congealed and turned into something like fudge. And they were actually really good! I just wouldn't call them brownies, and I would use a foil lined or disposable pan next time. And be sure to cut them before they cool completely, or they will be near impossible to remove from the pan. (There was so much baked on stuff, I'm not sure I will ever get the pan clean.) But I would definitely make these fudgethingies again! Maybe I would reduce the water to see if they turn out more brownie-like.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Tpaaz_ILT0/UNhlKPFVrgI/AAAAAAAAAjE/N-lugo5lFdc/s1600/IMG_0301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Tpaaz_ILT0/UNhlKPFVrgI/AAAAAAAAAjE/N-lugo5lFdc/s400/IMG_0301.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pan of dishwasher doom</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JGadmtyuxCk/UNhls-zV_bI/AAAAAAAAAjM/A8Q1YXKR_d8/s1600/IMG_0302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JGadmtyuxCk/UNhls-zV_bI/AAAAAAAAAjM/A8Q1YXKR_d8/s400/IMG_0302.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">squares of gooey fudgey deliciousness</td></tr>
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Now the peanut butter cookies are a bit of a cheat because they don't use any gluten-free flours...They don't use any flour at all! Flourless, eggless cookies...hmm...sounds too good to be true, but I had seen several variations of this <a href="http://realsustenance.com/flourless-choc-chip-peanut-butter-cookies-gf-vegan/">recipe</a>, which is basically peanut butter, sugar and egg replacer. This recipe uses powdered egg replacer and applesauce. I made the recipe as directed, but using <a href="http://fatfreevegan.com/blog/2010/08/11/egg-replacer/">DIY egg replacer</a> instead of Ener-G. You could probably use ground flax with the same (or better?) results. I halved the recipe and got 12 substantial cookies. They are a bit crumbly and super peanut buttery (duh), but amazingly simple. I used the harder solids and some oil from the bottom of a jar of natural peanut butter..I bet the texture would be different (more chewy?) with stir-able peanut butter. Here are some other variations on the recipe.<br />
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<a href="http://havecakewilltravel.com/2010/10/10/neutrality-is-key-lets-just-call-these-biskies/">with arrowroot for egg replacer</a></div>
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<a href="http://havecakewilltravel.com/2010/10/10/neutrality-is-key-lets-just-call-these-biskies/"></a><a href="http://colorwheelmeals.com/tag/chia-seeds-as-egg-replacer/">with sunflower seed butter and chia seeds</a></div>
<a href="http://madcapcupcake.com/2011/07/27/flourlesscashew-cookies/">with cashew butter and tofu</a><br />
<a href="http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/12/11/secret-peanut-butter-cookies/">these use applesauce and a few tablespoons of flour</a><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X_L6CTij4wY/UNhv7xypecI/AAAAAAAAAjo/eoyt2Pqz3uw/s1600/IMG_0303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X_L6CTij4wY/UNhv7xypecI/AAAAAAAAAjo/eoyt2Pqz3uw/s400/IMG_0303.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I wasn't planning on the cupcakes because they call for quinoa flour which is $8 for a 1 lb box, but when I found cheap millet flour at the Asian market, I figured millet flour would be very similar and would work. The VCTOTW recipe does use four flours (tapioca, corn or almond, white rice and quinoa), which has always intimidated me a bit, but quinoa was the only one I was missing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mh0NkTWrYvE/UNhf_DBI7oI/AAAAAAAAAiM/gQLaOkZxEjo/s1600/milletflour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mh0NkTWrYvE/UNhf_DBI7oI/AAAAAAAAAiM/gQLaOkZxEjo/s400/milletflour.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">not $9!</td></tr>
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I chose corn instead of almond to help use up my bag of corn flour that I rarely find uses for, and it definitely left a distinct taste on the cupcakes. Unfrosted, the cupcakes tasted a little like sweet corn muffins. Almond would definitely replicate the gluten free cupcakes from my favorite <a href="http://terrinyc.com/">NYC sandwich shop</a>. In fact, now that I've made the gluten freedom cupcakes, I'm nearly certain that's the recipe they use with almond flour instead of corn.<br />
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I decided to half the recipe and make minis, because I didn't want so much to go to waste if I messed it up (although I should know by now, Isa and Terry rarely lead astray with their recipes.) If you didn't know, a cupcake success secret is that minis are a lot more fool-proof than regular sized cupcakes. I figured this out when I had a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nostalgia-Electrics-BSM-300-Bakery-Express/dp/B005QSI4B8">mini cupcake machine</a> in an oven-less boat I lived in, and was able to sloppily throw together batter with unmeasured ingredients and have the cupcakes still turn out great.<br />
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I got 18 minis from the half recipe. I frosted the cupcakes with a buttercream with a tiny bit of cocoa powder for a light chocolatey frosting and rolled them in red sugar. I would definitely make these again for myself..They have a nice texture that isn't pure fluff like white flour cupcakes. I'll try the almond version next, but I am satisfied with the corn one.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xd7UUKhIXac/UNh3EMAAVwI/AAAAAAAAAkE/pIUBmnybRns/s1600/IMG_0280.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xd7UUKhIXac/UNh3EMAAVwI/AAAAAAAAAkE/pIUBmnybRns/s400/IMG_0280.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hfYQcJvJ-Y8/UNh31PKsZDI/AAAAAAAAAkM/YL3NxT6V0NI/s1600/IMG_0323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hfYQcJvJ-Y8/UNh31PKsZDI/AAAAAAAAAkM/YL3NxT6V0NI/s400/IMG_0323.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">look at that beautiful crumb!</td></tr>
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So my first gluten-free baking experiences did not make me want to pull my hair out. And I didn't have to buy xanthan gum or multiple $8 bags of flour. And everything didn't fall flat or turn to bricks. It makes my cousin insanely happy to be able to eat homebaked goods, and I enjoy trying new things, so there will likely be more gluten free recipes to come.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KUARPC13HDg/UNh8rcMuVQI/AAAAAAAAAlE/VNveEO5BiUA/s1600/rooster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KUARPC13HDg/UNh8rcMuVQI/AAAAAAAAAlE/VNveEO5BiUA/s400/rooster.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-69631081289800416002012-12-20T21:12:00.001-08:002012-12-20T21:15:14.751-08:00Holiday Cookies: Gingerbread and Bourbon Spice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1Y8-TMT7Zx0/UNPmo5QKgNI/AAAAAAAAAgU/Pjb8kRtmr7U/s1600/IMG_0262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1Y8-TMT7Zx0/UNPmo5QKgNI/AAAAAAAAAgU/Pjb8kRtmr7U/s400/IMG_0262.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I've been making cookies like mad lately...It's one of the few things I like about the holidays this time of year...I get to make tons of cookies and pawn them off on people. Yesterday I sent a friend some <a href="http://alabamastrawberrymassacre.blogspot.com/2012/10/cinnamon-roll-cookies.html">Cinnamon Roll Cookies</a> and today I sent my grandma some gingerbread and bourbon spice cookies. And I still have many more batches to make! I took both varieties to work today and was (unfortunately jokingly) told that I was the new favorite and I will get paid double. And then before I could respond, someone said, "Why doesn't jac make chocolate chip cookies?" and another person said "Cause she's vegan" and yet another person jumped in with "Chocolate isn't meat, stupid." And I actually ended up saying nothing and just laughing to myself. (So next time I will obviously be bringing chocolate chip cookies.)<br />
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The gingerbread cookies are <a href="http://madejustright.com/recipes/view/3345374/chewy-ginger-molasses-cookies">Chloe Coscarelli's Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies</a> which actually look nothing like her picture, but are still delicious and chewy nonetheless. My dough seems to have turned out more moist than hers and therefore my cookies are flat and not dome shaped as hers appear to be. Also, my sugar coating was pretty much invisible. But this recipe was supereasy and quick to make. I would suggest only baking six at a time though, as 12 spread into each other in my first batch.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hjKMAKkxoEc/UNPoGbcJL_I/AAAAAAAAAgw/Hldnbw00f6k/s1600/IMG_0254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hjKMAKkxoEc/UNPoGbcJL_I/AAAAAAAAAgw/Hldnbw00f6k/s400/IMG_0254.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The bourbon spice cookies have a few more steps, but are worth it. You could probably call these eggnog cookies, as they have eggnog spices and bourbon, but "Bourbon Spice" is a little more pompous and alluring to me. And people seem to get excited about anything containing alcohol..<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hx_og6ZWnrY/UNPpyemltgI/AAAAAAAAAhM/TbHkp1XifOg/s1600/IMG_0259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hx_og6ZWnrY/UNPpyemltgI/AAAAAAAAAhM/TbHkp1XifOg/s400/IMG_0259.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<u>Bourbon Spice Cookies</u></div>
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3/4 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread</div>
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2 1/2 cups all purpose flour</div>
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1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda</div>
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1/4 teaspoon cinnamon</div>
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1/4 teaspoon nutmeg</div>
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1/4 teaspoon allspice</div>
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1 cup brown sugar</div>
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1/2 cup granulated sugar</div>
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1/2 teaspoon molasses</div>
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2 teaspoons powdered egg replacer + 3 tablespoons water</div>
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1 tablespoon vanilla extract.</div>
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2 tablespoons bourbon or American whisky</div>
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Place Earth Balance in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Whisk often for 5 minutes or until margarine reduces and begins to darken. Remove from heat and let cool. (I did this step while making the gingerbread cookies so the margarine would have time to cool.)</div>
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Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and prepare a baking sheet. (I usually use parchment paper, but if you notice in the pictures, today I used foil and had no qualms about it.)</div>
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Mix flour, baking soda and spices together in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat together the margarine and sugars. Beat in molasses, egg replacer+water, vanilla and bourbon. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just incorporated. </div>
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Let dough rest for 15 minutes. It should firm up some. Scoop heaping tablespoon sized balls of dough and place several inches apart on prepared baking sheet. (I got 6 to a sheet) Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies barely look done on the edges. They will be puffy, crackled and gooey looking when you take them out of the oven. Let cool 5 minutes on pan and gently slide parchment or foil to cooling rack or counter to continue cooling.</div>
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Enjoy!<br />
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<br />jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-79457019302645987602012-12-13T09:17:00.002-08:002012-12-13T09:17:59.167-08:00Eating Out Vegan- Great Wraps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I hope to make this a series to show it's not so difficult to be vegan in a world of seemingly unvegan restaurant establishments.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fwQFwcC8mxI/UMjRLXcUFkI/AAAAAAAAAds/Zr43Qfd9aRo/s1600/IMG_9609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fwQFwcC8mxI/UMjRLXcUFkI/AAAAAAAAAds/Zr43Qfd9aRo/s400/IMG_9609.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div>
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Maybe Great Wraps is somewhat obscure to begin with, but Great Wraps is a restaurant pretty much only found in malls, and malls are mass consumerism hubs that don't normally scream "vegan options!" as far as food goes. (Cheap synthetic shoes, on the other hand...vegan options aplenty!) And since many of you might be spending more time than you'd like in malls this time of year, I decided to begin with Great Wraps. Here's where you can find them.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fSbFQgoeMAg/UMjdvhdA6OI/AAAAAAAAAeI/IHUQ2UK8pro/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+1.39.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fSbFQgoeMAg/UMjdvhdA6OI/AAAAAAAAAeI/IHUQ2UK8pro/s400/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+1.39.43+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://www.greatwraps.com/locations<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--OxWPqwX9OY/UMoGyl0EKaI/AAAAAAAAAfc/fcVPX-CiFL0/s1600/IMG_9626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--OxWPqwX9OY/UMoGyl0EKaI/AAAAAAAAAfc/fcVPX-CiFL0/s400/IMG_9626.JPG" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And here's the malleria where the Alabama one is located. (On a weeknight in November, so not as insane as it probably is right this second.)</td></tr>
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There are three vegan wraps, veggie, hummus, and falafel. I love this place because they have some really amazing falafel for a mall chain place, and the falafel wrap is always what I get. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_NLrtvbUOLU/UMjf7reZI5I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/KtCfbk3H_ew/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+1.48.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_NLrtvbUOLU/UMjf7reZI5I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/KtCfbk3H_ew/s400/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+1.48.43+PM.png" width="378" /></a></div>
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They deep fry it when you order so it always takes a few extra minutes. You get to choose from several types of tortillas, spinach, tomato, wheat or white and the toppings are unique too.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TfoQVLX6yCE/UMjgggIKqEI/AAAAAAAAAeY/r5ZZKX_oYMg/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+1.51.41+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="304" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TfoQVLX6yCE/UMjgggIKqEI/AAAAAAAAAeY/r5ZZKX_oYMg/s640/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+1.51.41+PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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There are your average subway-ey toppings, but look there on the bottom left! Roasted red peppers! (Whatwhat!) and a little to the right...sprouts! and cilantro too! And then they press the folded wrap in one of those hot press thingies that holds it together and makes a crunchy impression on the outside.</div>
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Seriously, falafel, hummus, and roasted red pepper. That's a pretty freakin awesome meal to have while sitting in front of Forever 21 and listening to screaming children and teenage gabbers. </div>
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And if that wasn't enough, they have curly fries!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w5ecOpanEWM/UMjpvV7G2iI/AAAAAAAAAe0/mfvSKAz2Swc/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+2.30.54+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w5ecOpanEWM/UMjpvV7G2iI/AAAAAAAAAe0/mfvSKAz2Swc/s400/Screen+shot+2012-12-12+at+2.30.54+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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There is nutritional info on their site and the falafel wrap info is pretty impressive. It has more fiber (14g!) and more iron (70% DV) than any other wrap! It's one of the lower calorie warps (580), the lowest in fat and packs 26 grams of protein. And like everything vegan, zero cholesterol. I'm not one to worry about these things, since I know a varied vegan diet provides plenty of nutrients, but if you're stuck at the mall with someone who might question your food choices, there's some more info for you to share. <a href="http://greatwraps.com/GreatWrapsOfficialMallMenu.pdf">Source.</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rHwbxYaKpME/UMjr8WhLPjI/AAAAAAAAAe8/AqYhDEF2NEM/s1600/IMG_9623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rHwbxYaKpME/UMjr8WhLPjI/AAAAAAAAAe8/AqYhDEF2NEM/s400/IMG_9623.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mall zombies! (I have resisted the urge to put a Dawn of the Dead clip here. You're welcome?)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-szVL9hr2Szo/UMoLS1LifVI/AAAAAAAAAf4/Gicc2JKDvwQ/s1600/turkey-goat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-szVL9hr2Szo/UMoLS1LifVI/AAAAAAAAAf4/Gicc2JKDvwQ/s400/turkey-goat.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture from <a href="http://luminousvegans.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/never-forget/">Luminous Vegans from respectinganimals.org</a></td></tr>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-51132252442868713402012-12-02T17:01:00.000-08:002012-12-02T17:04:38.237-08:00Supathin Supachewy Chocolate Chip Cookies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So everybody has their preference on chocolate chip cookies..and everyone seems to have a recipe to swear by. Crispy, chewy, soft, crunchy, thick or thin are some of the words people might use to describe their favorites. Well I don't claim to understand people who like crunchy cookies, and to me a crunchy chocolate chip cookie would be a failure, but to each his own. My favorites are thin and chewy and if those are the two adjectives you'd use to describe your ideal CCC, then this recipe might become your favorite too.</span><br />
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<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Supathin Supachewy Chocolate Chip Cookies</span></u></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">makes 24 large thin cookies</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 1/2 cups</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> all-purpose flour (bleached actually works better, but I know you probably only buy unbleached. It's ok..the ones in the picture were made with unbleached. Bleached results in a less oily cookie though.)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 teaspoon salt</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3/4 teaspoon baking soda</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine, softened</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup granulated sugar</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/3 cup light brown sugar (or more granulated sugar with a teeeeny bit of molasses)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 tablespoons light corn syrup</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tablespoons almond milk</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tablespoon vanilla extract</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup chocolate chips (Mini ones work really well if you'd rather have chips that are proportional to the height of the cookies. I used regular for the ones in the picture. I can't decide which I like better.)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Preheat oven to 375F. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a separate bowl, cream the Earth Balance and sugars together until light and fluffy. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beat in corn syrup, almond milk and vanilla.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On low speed, gradually add the reserved dry ingredients and mix on low until combined. Add chocolate chips and mix on low for 5 seconds. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. (Greasing makes them excessively oily. They already have a very high fat content.) Drop slightly heaping tablespoons of batter about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet (I can get 8 per sheet without them running together). Bake for 7-8 minutes or until edges just begin to turn golden. They will look a little undercooked in the middle, but not totally raw. Remove cookie sheet from oven and wait 3 minutes before gently sliding the whole parchment sheet to a rack or counter to cool completely. You can reuse the parchment sheet for the next group, but wipe it off first. These cookies sweat out a lot of oil.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I love how big the chips are in relation to the cookie. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These cookies are very upfront about the number of chips they contain.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So thin you can see through!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And bend with your mind.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I also have some pie pictures to share..some Thanksgiving and after Thanksgiving pies. I also believe I have a new favorite.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--r1TM3ByaOU/ULvyN7RBTvI/AAAAAAAAAcU/lNNfMcI4y0k/s1600/IMG_9801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--r1TM3ByaOU/ULvyN7RBTvI/AAAAAAAAAcU/lNNfMcI4y0k/s400/IMG_9801.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br />In the front is the </span><a href="http://www.theppk.com/2011/11/pumpkin-cheesecake-with-pecan-crunch-topping/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pumpkin Cheesecake from Vegan Pie in the Sky</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and in the back, also from </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vegan Pie in the Sky</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is my new favorite pie...banoffee! (Seriously, banoffee! requires an exclamation point following it.) Both were made with a gluten free crust to accommodate my celiac cousin. The crusts were a mix of pecans, sugar, brown rice flour and Earth Balance. I liked the crusts, but damn that many nuts is expensive.<br /><br />The pumpkin cheesecake is one of those recipes that everyone talks so highly of, so I had to make it. I think I am the only one in the world that doesn't really care for it though. My family thought it was great. On the other hand, I am in love with banoffee!, where as it did not receive the rave reviews of the pumpkin. Maybe bananas were just not tradition-friendly for this occasion. It's ok, banoffee!, I will make and eat enough of you to make up for everyone who doesn't think bananas belong at a Thanksgiving table.<br /><br />After Thanksgiving when the price of a 3 lb bag of cranberries went from $5.50 to $3 (Ah, the magic of supply and demand), I made the cranberry custard pie from </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Vegan Desserts</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jSdREQTnQyw/ULv1sBLOGRI/AAAAAAAAAc0/lT_-l0F4H3g/s1600/IMG_9968.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jSdREQTnQyw/ULv1sBLOGRI/AAAAAAAAAc0/lT_-l0F4H3g/s400/IMG_9968.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></span></a></span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I liked this one because I like pretty much everything with loads of cranberries. I find the whipped topping unnecessary, but interesting and I do recommend halving the topping recipe if you make it. I was lazy and just slapped it on top instead of piping it, so it wasn't pretty enough to be in the photo. I also used a premade graham crust. (Lay-zaaaay piemaker that I am.) I could totally eat the batter for this one with a spoon.. I almost posted a picture of the batter but it rather resembled a particular uniquely colored indigestion medicine. (As beautiful as that color may be..)</span></span></div>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-16367543882032054672012-11-20T20:46:00.000-08:002012-11-20T20:50:10.854-08:00Thanksgiving eats, green beans, collards, cranberry and pumpkin!So I've been making Thanksgiving dishes this week, trying to figure out which ones I want to do for Thursday.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It always bothers me that a lot of Thanksgiving plates consist only of brown blobs..I try not to make all my food brown and mushy.</td></tr>
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First I made <a href="http://www.theppk.com/2012/10/roasted-butternut-alfredo/">PPK Butternut Alfredo!</a>, substituting canned pumpkin for butternut squash. This was excellent and superduper easy to make. Beside the soaking time for the cashews, the dish came together in less than 30 minutes. I also upped the sage and used fresh, since we have some in the garden. Try it with soba noodles if you have them. They are my favorite and take less time to cook.<br />
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I had also been wanting to try the <a href="http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=5147&catId=11">Herbed Cream Collards from Vegnews</a>. I've been getting ginormous bunches of collards at the farmer's market for $2 and while they usually go to a big pot of hoppin john, I thought these should be tried in something new. </div>
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This recipe is pure fatty mcfatt goodness. These are incredibly rich with a can of coconut milk and a cup of almond meal (You don't need to buy almond meal..Just grind almonds in the food processor.) and a little goes a long way. When I tried them fresh out of the pan, I could taste the coconut, but when I heated some up the next day, I could not. So depending when you eat them, they're appropriate for coconut lovers and haters alike. (I used a whole can of coconut milk, but used olive oil instead of coconut oil, as called for.) Also got to use more fresh sage and some rosemary from the garden for this one. I think I will be doing these on Thursday.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They don't get creamier than this!</td></tr>
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I wanted to try a quick green bean recipe last night and found <a href="http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/green-bean-shiraae/">Green Bean Shiraae</a> which intrigued me based on it's uniqueness. It's basically green beans with a crumbled tofu/miso/sesame mixture. It's interesting, but not something I would recommend for a traditional Thanksgiving table. I left out the sugar and added a bit more soy sauce (I used Nama Shoyu, which isn't as salty as regular soy sauce. And speaking Nama Shoyu, I laugh every time I think of the name. An old coworker of mine, and <a href="https://twitter.com/BubonicClegg">my favorite person in the whole world</a> used to say "NAMA SHO-YU!" in a sassy ghetto voice like it was supposed to be "Nah, I'm gonna show YOU!"..OK maybe you just had to be there...)</div>
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But I did discover a new favorite tofu while making this recipe. I used my first package of Wildwood Sproutofu with this recipe and found this tofu has this really creamy texture different from the Nasoya or 365 brands I usually get. The texture was great for sticking to the green beans and I can see using the Sproutofu in a future cheezecake (even though I don't think they make silken) for an extra creamy texture. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sooooo creamy!</td></tr>
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The cranberry blob on my plate is a prototype for a veganized version of my mom's jelloicious cranberry salad. I tried it with just homemade cranberry sauce as the gelling agent (since cranberries have a high amount of pectin-the compound in fruit that gels jellies) but it did not hold together as I would have hoped. I'm still working on it and will probably incorporate some agar.</div>
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Hopefully I can get the recipe right tomorrow and post it.</div>
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And of course for the dessert, I used more of my fresh cranberries to make an adaptation of Cranberry Streusel Bars from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Desserts-Sumptuous-Sweets-Season/dp/1616082208">Vegan Desserts</a>.</div>
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<u>Cranberry Streusel Bars</u></div>
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3 - 3 1/2 cups fresh cranberries</div>
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1 cup granulated sugar</div>
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1 1/4 cups water</div>
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pinch of salt</div>
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3/4 teaspoon cinnamon</div>
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1 1/4 cups brown sugar</div>
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1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or you can use all white flour)</div>
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1/2 cup all purpose flour</div>
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1/2 teaspoon baking soda</div>
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1/2 teaspoon salt</div>
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1 teaspoon cinnamon</div>
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1/4 cup almond milk</div>
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1/2 cup canola oil</div>
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1 1/2 cups rolled oats</div>
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1/2 cup pecans, very finely diced or pulsed several times in food processor and toasted</div>
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(To toast diced pecans, lay them out on a sheet of aluminum foil and bake for 5 minutes at 375.)</div>
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Combine the cranberries, sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the berries pop and the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and stir in salt and cinnamon. Set aside. (Congratulations. You have just made homemade cranberry sauce.)</div>
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish.</div>
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In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the soymilk and oil and mix well with a fork. Add oats and pecans and mix well.</div>
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Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the greased baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately spread cranberry mixture over the bottom layer. Sprinkle the remaining streuel mixture over the cranberry layer. Bake for 24-26 more minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely and slice into bars.</div>
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<a href="http://www.farmsanctuary.org/giving/adopt-a-turkey/">Think about adopting a turkey for Thanksgiving from Farm Sanctuary. </a></div>
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Happy Thanksliving!</div>
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<br />jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-64949905114880120592012-11-14T16:26:00.001-08:002012-11-19T18:05:30.276-08:00Pumpkin Pie ChallengeAre you fretting over which vegan pumpkin pie to make for Thanksgiving??!?! Tofu based? Corn starch? Agar? Soymilk? Which one will impress the skeptical omnivorous killjoys in your extended family?? Surely there must be only one perfect pumpkin pie recipe!<br />
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I know everyone freaks out at Thanksgiving because they want everything to be perfect and this certainly includes vegans. We try to go above and beyond to challenge the unfair stereotype of gross food that so many people unfairly carry around. And our freaked-out-ness tends to manifest itself in pumpkin pie. There are so many recipes out there! Which to choose? Will people really not notice there is tofu in there? How does it compare to the old evaporated milk recipe most people are used to?<br />
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I've made several recipes over the years and I don't really remember which ones...but I do remember none of those recipes have ever been met with sad tastebuds or disappointment. I know I have made the <a href="http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/vegan-pumpkin-pie/">Vegetarian Times recipe</a> because I have a printout in one of my cookbooks. I believe I have also made the <a href="http://www.veganconnection.com/recipes/pumpkin_pie.htm">Bryanna Clark Grogan recipe</a> before. I know I've done a tofu-based one, and once I did a pumpkin/pecan hybrid.<br />
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But this year I decided to test 2 side by side..the two most popular (purely my conclusion of looking online) <a href="http://www.veganconnection.com/recipes/pumpkin_pie.htm">Bryanna's</a> and the <a href="http://www.theppk.com/2012/11/vegan-pumpkin-pie/">Tweaked Voluptuous Vegan recipe from Vegan Pie in the Sky</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">VV/VPITS in the front and Bryanna in the back</td></tr>
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And guess what! They both tasted almost exactly the same. The only noticeable differences were the nuances in spices. Now I did deviate from the VV/VPITS recipe a bit, so maybe it invalidated my results, but I don't ever buy maple syrup because it's so expensive..so I used agave and some maple flavor instead of the syrup called for in the recipe.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh maple extract, you are about $17 cheaper that your authentic cousin.</td></tr>
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I also used store-bought graham crusts for both of the pies..cause I'm lazy about some stuff.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bama brand pie crust..from Oklahoma..</td></tr>
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I also had three different brands of pumpkin and I thought the differences were interesting.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V0U_AzGwG80/UKQoLTYvQwI/AAAAAAAAAW0/AXrO7pFoQjI/s1600/IMG_8999.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V0U_AzGwG80/UKQoLTYvQwI/AAAAAAAAAW0/AXrO7pFoQjI/s400/IMG_8999.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These two came from the dollar store. The one on the left is from China and was thicker and grainier than the other.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b-4tCz3-Pj0/UKQos0muSrI/AAAAAAAAAW8/zm_Bb3yoIR8/s1600/IMG_9008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b-4tCz3-Pj0/UKQos0muSrI/AAAAAAAAAW8/zm_Bb3yoIR8/s400/IMG_9008.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the left is the dollar store brands mixed and on the right is Libby's.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Did you know that a lot of canned pumpkin is actually various squashes? I think that definitely accounts for the differences in texture between the brands. They still all made great pie though.<br />
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I'm going to recommend Bryanna's recipe because it's easy, cheap and pantry-friendly. You probably have everything you need in the pantry right now! As the recipe states, make it in advance! I found that when made in the morning, it was a good slicing consistency by night, but next day is ideal.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">potato weight</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d8EbiMzpT0I/UKQwXuC0FbI/AAAAAAAAAX4/faCMiLj6SdM/s1600/cookedpumpPIES.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d8EbiMzpT0I/UKQwXuC0FbI/AAAAAAAAAX4/faCMiLj6SdM/s400/cookedpumpPIES.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are both Bryanna pies from a few days later. </td></tr>
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Here's the list of recipes that I chose from. I'm not trying to confuse you or overwhelm you with options, but you can see that a lot of them are very similar. It can also be helpful to read about other's experiences. But seriously, don't freak out! It will be OK!<br />
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<a href="http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/10/and-answer-is.html">"Impossible" (crustless) pumpkin pie. Gluten-free</a></div>
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<a href="http://healthfreax.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/best-pumpkin-pie-evar/">This one has avocado and cashews.</a><br />
<a href="http://inmyveganlife.blogspot.com/2010/11/veganmofo-dads-pumpkin-pie.html">Dad's pumpkin pie, veganized</a><br />
<a href="http://plantpoweredkitchen.com/vegan-chocolate-pumpkin-pie-festive-chickpea-tart-cranberry-sauce/">Dreena Burton's chocolate pumpkin pie</a><br />
<a href="https://phoenixdreaming.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/mofo-post-6-pumpkin-loves-speculoos/">Pumpkin pie with Speculoos crust</a><br />
<a href="http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=1155&catId=11">Pumpkin pie served at Millennium's Thanksgiving dinner</a><br />
<a href="http://cookbookaficionado.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/vegan-mofo-pumpkin-pie/">Adapted Bryanna recipe using coconut milk</a><br />
<a href="http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/11/cream-swirled-pumpkin-pie-for-vegan.html">Sour cream swirl pumpkin pie</a><br />
<a href="http://rinutritionhousecalls.com/?p=728">No-bake healthy pumpkin pie</a><br />
<a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/gluten-free-tuesday-dairy-free-egg-free-cocon.html">6 ingredient (plus crust) pumpkin pie</a><br />
<a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-pumpkin-pie-68432">Tofu-based</a><br />
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<a href="http://vegweb.com/recipes/tofu-pumpkin-pie">Another tofu-based one</a></div>
<a href="http://vegetarian.about.com/od/desertrecipes/r/tofupumpkinpie.htm">Tofu-based pumpkin pie #3</a><br />
<a href="http://seitansaiddance.blogspot.com/2007/11/tis-season.html">Tofu-based #4</a><br />
<a href="http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2010/09/5-ingredient-vegan-pumpkin-pie.html">This one has vegan cream cheese in it and a cute cashew border.</a><br />
<a href="http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/11/21/no-bake-chocolate-pumpkin-pie/">No-bake chocolate-pumpkin pie</a><br />
<a href="http://www.livinggwg.com/recipes/super-easy-vegan-pumpkin-pie-let-the-thoughtful-feasting-begin/">Tofu #5</a><br />
<a href="http://www.namelymarly.com/2010/11/pumpkin-pie-with-a-twist/">Gluten-free pumpkin praline pie with LOTS of ingredients</a><br />
<a href="http://veganbar.tumblr.com/post/13362873282/vegan-thanksgiving-pumpkin-pie-i-always-find-the">This one is interesting. It has persimmons in it.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.veganmeals.com/recipes/vegan-pumpkin-pie/">Tofu #6 very simple</a><br />
<a href="http://www.theppk.com/2011/11/pumpkin-cheesecake-with-pecan-crunch-topping/">Pumpkin cheesecake from Vegan Pie in the Sky</a><br />
<a href="http://learningvegan.blogspot.com/2010/11/pumpkin-cheesecake-vegan.html">Layered pumpkin cheesecake that uses Tofutti...</a><br />
<a href="http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/11/double-layer-pumpkin-cheesecake.html">...which is an adaptation of the fatfreevegan one (not actually fat free)</a><br />
<a href="http://vegspinz.blogspot.com/2010/11/vegan-pumpkin-cheesecake-pie.html">Another pumpkin cheesecake...This one is so pretty!</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/884">Pumpkin pecan pie</a><br />
<a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Vegan-Pumpkin-Pie/step1/Ingredients/">There's even an Instructables for Bryanna's recipe.</a><br />
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And maybe it's overkill, but vegan overkill is the best kind of overkill. Make some pumpkin ice cream to go with your desserts this year. <a href="http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/thoroughly-chilled/">This easy pumpkin ice cream has been well-received at my Thanksgiving table more than once.</a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i0rPvAk8RGE/UKQrWOJfbAI/AAAAAAAAAXM/ggAWdEjfj4U/s1600/elephant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i0rPvAk8RGE/UKQrWOJfbAI/AAAAAAAAAXM/ggAWdEjfj4U/s400/elephant.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">best way to eat pumpkin! </td></tr>
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More Thanksgiving posts coming soon!<br />
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-89262070815860183912012-11-06T13:14:00.001-08:002012-11-06T13:14:53.450-08:00Apples! cake and sconesI made two apple baked goods this past week. Apple rosemary scones from Vegan Brunch and a veganized apple cake from an old spiral bound cookbook.<br />
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First the scones...<br />
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I hate scones..I do not understand the scone. It's like a biscuit that wants to be a cookie...and ends up combining the worst aspects of both. They're hard and only a little sweet, and they're tea party fare. But tea party fare is what I needed for...a tea party. So I broke out Vegan Brunch and decided to try the most interesting flavor variation listed...apple rosemary. I'm also going to mention I don't particularly like rosemary.<br />
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But I was still intrigued by this combination. I had some gala apples and we have endless amounts of rosemary in the yard, so this seemed like the thing to do.</div>
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The batter was really tasty. And I loved the flavor of the apple and rosemary with cinnamon and nutmeg.</div>
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But my opinion was not changed on the finished scones. Still not for me. </div>
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But what is for me is cake! </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HkqNdpctd1A/UJlszX-BE-I/AAAAAAAAATM/lSUOXej7rzU/s1600/IMG_9539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HkqNdpctd1A/UJlszX-BE-I/AAAAAAAAATM/lSUOXej7rzU/s400/IMG_9539.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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...and for Mimi too. (She said this was her favorite of all my desserts she's had..This cake is certainly good, but somehow I think she forgot about the <a href="http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/07/vegan-pumpkin-spice-cinnamon-bun-cake.html">Kblog pumpkin cinnamon bun cake</a> that I made last year.)</div>
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So some granny smith apples and a little veganizing later and we have a delicious fall dessert. The batter for apple cakes is interesting because you make it and think you've done something wrong because the batter will have the consistency of drop cookie dough. The large amount of chopped apple pieces added will release the moisture necessary to turn the batter into a cake and not a giant dense cookie.</div>
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<u><b>Vegan Apple Cake</b></u></div>
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1 cup canola oil</div>
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2 cups sugar</div>
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1/3 cup flaxseed meal</div>
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1/2 cup water</div>
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2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour</div>
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1 teaspoon baking soda</div>
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1 teaspoon salt</div>
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2 teaspoons baking powder</div>
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1 teaspoon cinnamon (recommended: Penzey's Vietnamese)</div>
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1 teaspoon nutmeg</div>
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2 teaspoons vanilla extract</div>
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4 cups chopped peeled apples (your choice of apple..I used granny smith)</div>
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1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted</div>
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<u>Brown Sugar Glaze</u> </div>
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adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking</div>
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1 cup packed brown sugar</div>
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1/2 cup almond milk</div>
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1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine</div>
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract</div>
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 2-piece angel food pan (or if you must, a springform pan. A removable bottomed pan is necessary.) Combine flax meal and water in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the oil and sugar until well incorporated. Beat in the flax mixture and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients and beat into the wet mixture. The dough will be stiff and cookie dough-like. Fold in apples and nuts. Press batter into pan and bake one hour or until a knife comes out mostly clean. There will be a hard crust on top of the cake. Cool.</div>
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While the cake is cooling, make the glaze. </div>
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In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, almond milk and Earth Balance. Bring to a full boil and boil for three minutes. Reduce to a simmer and cook 10-15 minutes, stirring until thickened. Remove from heat and add vanilla. It should thicken up a little bit as it sits.</div>
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Remove the tube and cake from the outer pan and place on a cake platter. (This cake stays on the tube base so we can keep the crust on top.) Spoon glaze over the top.</div>
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The crust on the top is phenomenal. Once the glaze soaks into it, it is amazing in indescribable ways! </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T_5uza8TUg0/UJl1JRMTldI/AAAAAAAAAUA/jMoyZxG4Dlg/s1600/IMG_9549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T_5uza8TUg0/UJl1JRMTldI/AAAAAAAAAUA/jMoyZxG4Dlg/s400/IMG_9549.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KoFqMaR-hj8/UJl8LyjmsEI/AAAAAAAAAUc/BhOcVRQcras/s1600/squirrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KoFqMaR-hj8/UJl8LyjmsEI/AAAAAAAAAUc/BhOcVRQcras/s400/squirrel.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squirrel apple by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29403747@N08/2897951899">FloArmengaud </a></td></tr>
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<br />jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-66524848166783933002012-10-28T09:09:00.000-07:002012-12-08T09:19:58.649-08:00Cinnamon Roll Cookies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Is it bad that I get excited about going to a party just so I can bake something? I was being particularly lazy yesterday and debating between going to my neighbor's Halloween party or sitting on my ass and watching The House of the Devil on repeat for about the 8th time yesterday. As much as I adore THOTD, 8 times was a little excessive..and there would be lots of kids at the party and old people, which might make a lot of people go for a 9th viewing of THOTD, but I enjoy handing out glow sticks to the kids and watching them go batshit insane over them. (Seriously guys, hand out glow sticks for Halloween, not candy.) and I always enjoy listening to old people talk..I've always found it much more substantial than the talk of many people my age.<br />
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So what to bake?<br />
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Since I just replenished my supply of <a href="http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysvietnamesecinnamon.html">THE BEST CINNAMON IN THE WORLD</a>, I was kinda excited to bake something where cinnamon was the star. I will gab about this cinnamon for a minute because I love it so much and I think everyone should have some in their pantry. You know how Red Hots have that intense cinnamon-y flavor that's like cinnamon x 10 but without the woody bark taste? So imagine if that was a natural flavor instead of one created in a lab, minus the heat..and that's what this cinnamon tastes like. It's so intense and cinnamon-y..It's almost laughable when I compare it side by side to my 99 cent jar of cheapo cinnamon. You open the bag and you'd swear there is a batch of warm cinnamon rolls hiding somewhere in the bottom.<br />
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So cinnamon roll cookies it must be! I have been wanting to try these for a while. I believe there is a recipe in The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur, but my copy is buried deep somewhere in the basement, and well...spiders. Which kinda reminds me of one of those tongue-in-cheek e-cards I saw on Pinterest.<br />
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Perhaps I should have counted my blessings and foraged the depths of the basement. I will have to do it at some point. But I like my recipe a lot.</div>
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<u><b>Cinnamon roll cookies</b></u></div>
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1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine</div>
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1 1/3 cups sugar</div>
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1 1/2 teaspoons molasses</div>
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1 egg replacer (I used <a href="http://fatfreevegan.com/blog/2010/08/11/egg-replacer/">powdered</a>, but use whatever you want.)</div>
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2 teaspoons vanilla extract</div>
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2 tablespoons almond milk</div>
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2 1/2 cups all purpose flour</div>
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1/2 teaspoon baking soda</div>
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1/2 teaspoon salt</div>
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<u>Filling</u></div>
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1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine</div>
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1/4 cup sugar</div>
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1 tablespoon agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)</div>
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2 teaspoons Penzey's Vietnamese cinnamon (or 3 teaspoons regular cinnamon)</div>
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<u>Icing</u></div>
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powdered sugar</div>
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water or non-dairy milk</div>
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teeny bit of vanilla extract</div>
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Cream the Earth Balance, sugar and molasses together. Add in vanilla, egg replacer and almond milk. Sift in the flour, soda and salt and mix till incorporated. If dough is crumbly, add almond milk by the teaspoon until it becomes manageable. Divide the dough into 2 balls and roll each out in between 2 sheets of parchment paper into a 10-12 inch square. You will probably have to trim the edges to make it square or at least rectangular. I refrigerated the dough for 30 minutes after this, but I do not think it necessary.</div>
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Mash the filling ingredients together in a bowl to form a paste and spread on each of the dough squares. (I dyed my dough orange and yellow for Halloween.)</div>
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Using the parchment paper, gently roll up each square into a log and freeze at least one hour, preferably until completely frozen. I only froze the first log for an hour and it crumbled a little bit in the next step.</div>
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.</div>
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Slice the logs into 1/4-1/3 inch slices. I got 15 slices from each log. The photo above is the first log that crumbled a tiny bit at the bottom when sliced because it wasn't completely frozen. I just pressed each slice back together with my hands and it was fine.</div>
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Arrange the slices on a baking sheet lined with the parchment paper and bake 8-10 minutes. They will spread out a lot and should look like this when done. They will be very soft.</div>
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Cool on the pan for 5 minutes then carefully slide the parchment paper and cookies onto the counter or cooling rack and let the cookies continue to cool, at least 10 minutes.</div>
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Prepare the glaze by mixing a little bit of water with some powdered sugar. Start with only a few teaspoons of water and add more as needed. Mix in vanilla. I added orange food color for Halloween. (I don't ever measure my glaze ingredients, but I am guessing them to be about 1 cup of powdered sugar, one tablespoon of water and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla.)</div>
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Drizzle on glaze. Enjoy!</div>
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These were a big hit and I ended up trading the few leftover cookies on my platter to a vegan-curious woman for a big bowl of guacamole. (Guacamole and cookies for breakfast instead of just cookies! Yay!)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">watching The House of the Devil for the 8th time...<br />
photo by Johnny Kruger</td></tr>
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Happy Halloween!<br />
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-86262111494316274192012-10-26T09:45:00.000-07:002012-10-26T09:45:42.554-07:00Chocolate & graham cracker cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I was all excited to go see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre last night at the </span><a href="http://www.alabamatheatre.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alabama Theatre</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> since TCM is my favorite movie (or at least tied with Taxi Driver) and The Alabama is an amazing place. The Alabama is one of the few remaining picture palaces from the 1920s. I saw A Nightmare on Elm Street there on Wednesday night, but was most excited about TCM on Thursday night.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9CvpCeLmNCY/UIqf4y1ACtI/AAAAAAAAANw/YAbH_FpOSfA/s1600/leatherface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9CvpCeLmNCY/UIqf4y1ACtI/AAAAAAAAANw/YAbH_FpOSfA/s320/leatherface.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And then my cousin called and asked me to come to her last dinner before she moves out of state..<br /><br />OK Leatherface, you and I will just have to stick to DVD. Someday we will meet in an old theater with your face lit up at 30 feet wide and I can listen to your brother talk about headcheese and how bludgeoning cows provides jobs for people. (TCM is a rather vegan-inducing movie if you haven't seen it.)</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xkzljaHfYg/UIqk2d_SmjI/AAAAAAAAAOE/ApWNJo-Q3OE/s1600/tcmMeatHook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5xkzljaHfYg/UIqk2d_SmjI/AAAAAAAAAOE/ApWNJo-Q3OE/s400/tcmMeatHook.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />So what should I make in about an hour and a half to take for <s>dinner</s> dessert? I wanted to do a recipe I hadn't done before and since vegan graham crackers were BOGO at the store this week, I went with the S'mores cupcake recipe from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569242739/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1569242739&linkCode=as2&tag=alabastrawmas-20">Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World</a> but in cake form. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There's a high liquid to dry ingredient ratio and the batter ended up being superthin. This worried me a bit, but I didn't have time to do make anything else, so I just went with it. The cake took about 35 minutes and still wasn't 100% done in the middle, but I didn't have time to leave it in longer. And underdone cake actually turns out to be a good thing in many cases..that gooey center that slides out as your fork presses into the cake!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I also discovered I only had 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.. So I whipped out one of my favorite chocolate icing recipes from one of those old corporate recipe booklets.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><u>Fudge frosting</u></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1 cup granulated sugar</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1/2 cup cocoa powder</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used lite coconut this time)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1/4 cup Earth Balance</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2 tablespoons corn syrup</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mix granulated sugar, cocoa, coconut milk, Earth Balance and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Boil 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I added a thin layer of icing to the bottom cake layer, covered it with graham crackers and then another layer of icing.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I did the same for the top layer and topped with graham cracker crumbs and chocolate chips. (The cake was still warm so the chocolate chips got soft and melty..it was awesome.) For a true s'mores cake, a tub of Ricemellow Creme would add in well (or Dandies melted with some Earth Balance), but the cake is very rich as is...and I didn't feel like stopping by Whole Foods on the way to dinner. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The undone center mixed with the icing to make a supergooey rich treat that everyone loved. I recommend serving warm.</span></div>
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photo by <a href="http://500px.com/photo/10120451">Marina Cano</a></div>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-67439334503843947772012-10-23T15:30:00.000-07:002012-10-23T15:52:33.807-07:00Vampire teeth cupcakes with dripping blood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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These are kinda funny. Usually I like to use spider rings if I do plastic toppers for Halloween cupcakes, but these red vampire teeth just seemed so fun. </div>
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Here are some mini cupcakes I made with the spider rings last year. I swirled chocolate buttercream with orange tinted Biscoff spread for the frosting.</div>
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They were a big hit, but I was getting tired of doing spider rings. Originally I wanted to do chocolate buttercream, but then I realized they would look like mouth-full-of-poop cupcakes, so I went with orange buttercream. Only I didn't have any oranges or orange extract...but I did have..orange Kool-Aid! </div>
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I added a little bit with some food color to the VCTOTW buttercream recipe to get some surprisingly tangy icing.</div>
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And what are vampire teeth without fake blood?? So I made some classic movie blood (corn syrup + food color) and added a pinch of cherry Kool-Aid. (A little goes a long way! Add sparingly a tiny bit at a time.)</div>
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I didn't have an icing tip with a large opening so I was lazy and just snipped off the corner of a zipper bag and iced that way. The swirls are a little haphazard, but it just adds to their general weirdness. After topping with the blood, they were covered with plastic wrap for the next day. The blood soaked in a little bit, so these are probably best decorated right before being eaten to keep their cool blood effect. </div>
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I made two batches, one using <a href="http://chefchloe.com/sweets/chocolate-beer-cupcakes-with-irish-whiskey-buttercream.html">Chloe Coscarelli's chocolate beer cupcakes</a> (Did you know Chloe's dad is <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0181741/">Don Coscarelli</a>, the guy who made <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079714/">Phantasm</a>? If you haven't seen Phantasm, it's a great cult horror movie with a kickass theme song.)</div>
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and the other batch using <a href="http://aricooks.com/tag/vegan-cupcakes-take-over-the-world-chocolate-stout-cupcakes/">the chocolate stout cupcake recipe</a> from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569242739/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1569242739&linkCode=as2&tag=alabastrawmas-20">Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=alabastrawmas-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1569242739" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
. I actually didn't use stout at all, but some light beer that had been left from a party a few weeks back. Honestly I picked those recipes just to get rid of the beer. Chloe's recipe was lighter and very cake mix cake-like, but I slightly preferred the VCTOTW recipe. Not a huge difference between the two though. Chloe's recipe filled one cupcake pan with enough left for about 9-10 mini cupcakes.</div>
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I decorated the minis with some skull and bones candies I found at the dollar store.</div>
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Listen to the Phantasm theme as you make these guys. It always reminds me of Halloween and scary movies.</div>
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Bat photo from <a href="http://baturday.tumblr.com/">baturday</a></div>
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Happy Halloween!</div>
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<br />jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-22116878126375635892012-10-22T17:58:00.000-07:002012-10-22T18:04:40.931-07:00Halloween nanaimo bars with Nerds!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I've never made nanaimo bars before, but I've always been intrigued by their decadence. The middle layer typically has custard powder which I had none of in my pantry so I searched for a recipe without custard powder.<br />
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I found <a href="http://www.everydaydish.tv/recipe/sarah-kramers-nanaimo-bars">Sarah Kramer's recipe</a> which uses cornstarch instead of custard powder. I made a few mods from her recipe based on what I had.<br />
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Since vegan graham crackers are hard to find for me, I like to use these graham pie crusts I buy at the dollar store. I used the whole crust which had a little more than the 1 1/4 cup of crumbs called for. I also didn't have any unsweetened chocolate for the top layer so I used chocolate chips. And of course to make them Halloween themed, I dyed the middle layer orange and topped them with Spooky Nerds.</div>
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I picked up the Nerds at Target along with this awesome shirt! I knew instantly when I saw the Nerds that they were destined to be sprinkles. (All of the Halloween sprinkles had confectioner's glaze. Boooo!) </div>
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My friend sent me a pic of a glow-in-the-dark kid's shirt he saw at Wal-Mart which I was bummed that I could never find.</div>
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Luckily I found the Little Miss shirt and I like it even more! Even though it doesn't glow in the dark..It definitely fits better than a kid's shirt would.</div>
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Anyways, back to the nanaimo bars...</div>
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These didn't take long to prepare. I think I chilled for an hour and let them sit on the counter for a bit before I cut them. In retrospect, I would chill them for an hour, slice them, and put them back in the fridge for a few hours. They kinda melt if left on the counter for several hours since the middle layer is basically buttercream. I also could have done without the almond milk in the middle layer to perhaps make them a tiny bit less squishy. Very yummy! </div>
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Happy Halloween!</div>
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Up next: vampie teeth cupcakes!</div>
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jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8125393368784731697.post-83403072179042828252012-10-21T12:21:00.000-07:002012-10-21T12:59:21.936-07:00Halloween slutty brownies Have you heard about slutty brownies? If you're on Pinterest, there's small chance that you haven't. For the rest of you, these brownies are an incredibly decadent and somewhat ridiculous dessert. The slutty brownie consists of three layers. A chocolate chip cookie dough layer, a layer of Oreos and a brownie layer all baked together into one undeniably rich and inescapable little square. In other words, there is no saying no to these. I brought these to work last week and people are still talking about them.<br />
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Searching online for vegan slutty brownies brought me to this picture from <a href="http://wordvomitwednesday.com/vegan-slutty-brownies/">Word Vomit Wednesday</a> that perfectly sums up the feeling you get from these brownies.<br />
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Yep, that's about the response I got from everyone who ate these. And then there's always the wonderfully guilty pleasure we vegans have of informing people the incredibly decadent mouthgasm they just had was vegan! (And then you get to explain, yes, Oreos are vegan.) I've noticed lately this isn't such a surprise anymore for a lot of people, but that's a topic for another day.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since it's October and since I've always had a slight obsession with Halloween Oreos, these are Halloween slutty brownies. It's the only appropriate way to use Halloween and slutty in the same sentence. (We'll save the tirade about degrading costume options for women and girls for another time. Or maybe tomorrow.) These can also be palm oil-free if you use the Whole Foods 365 brand chocolate sandwich cookies instead of Oreos. Last time I checked, the filling was made with canola oil instead of palm. Also, these delicious treats use no Earth Balance and are pantry friendly!</span></div>
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<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Vegan slutty brownies</span></u></div>
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Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 baking dish.</div>
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Make one recipe of <a href="http://www.theppk.com/2008/11/chocolate-chip-cookies/">Isa's chocolate chip cookies</a> and plop the dough into your pan. I dyed half of my dough orange, but it ended up not being too visible. If you don't have tapioca flour, I think it would be ok to use cornstarch in this recipe.</div>
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Spread it out and add a layer of Oreos. I didn't have quite enough for an even layer because I ate a few. (Oops.) 24 should have been enough for my 9x13 pan. Feel free to break the Oreos in half to fit though. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ6CCGUG0Es/UIQ8NxXtAcI/AAAAAAAAAGs/qkcpfRWDL_M/s1600/IMG_8972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ6CCGUG0Es/UIQ8NxXtAcI/AAAAAAAAAGs/qkcpfRWDL_M/s400/IMG_8972.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next make the brownie layer. This recipe is based on the Sweet Pea Bakery brownie recipe published in VegNews a few years back. (FYI, this is the only brownie recipe I ever use and it is simply THE best. Double it if you are just making brownies.)</div>
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<u>Brownie layer</u></div>
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1 cup all purpose flour</div>
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1 1/4 cups sugar</div>
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1/2 cup cocoa powder</div>
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1/4 teaspoon baking powder</div>
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1/2 teaspoon salt</div>
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1/2 cup brewed coffee (I just use instant coffee crystals mixed in water since I don't ever make coffee.)</div>
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1 tablespoon flax seed meal</div>
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2 tablespoons water</div>
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1/2 cup canola oil</div>
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1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract</div>
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1/4 cup chocolate chips</div>
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Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt together. Add coffee, flax, water, oil and vanilla and mix. Stir in chocolate chips. (If you think the chocolate chips will be a little over the top, you can leave them out and I won't hold it against you.)</div>
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Pour over Oreo layer.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cn-c41jLs1k/UIRABMTYXvI/AAAAAAAAAHA/odTYWSi87E0/s1600/IMG_8978.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cn-c41jLs1k/UIRABMTYXvI/AAAAAAAAAHA/odTYWSi87E0/s400/IMG_8978.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Smooth it out so all of the Oreos are covered.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rp34h80-Ba4/UIRApb3rHRI/AAAAAAAAAHI/UAj9ce323oM/s1600/IMG_8989.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rp34h80-Ba4/UIRApb3rHRI/AAAAAAAAAHI/UAj9ce323oM/s400/IMG_8989.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Peekaboo!</div>
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Bake your slutty brownies for 25-35 minutes. It's ok if they're slightly underdone...it will just add to the gooey sexiness, but I baked mine for a full 35 minutes, until the top had that signature brownie crust and they were still soft (and perfect) in the middle. Cool for at least 2 hours. (I know! Torture!) Slice into squares as small or as large as you dare. I'm rarely a small slicer, but these are so incredibly rich, I do recommend little pieces! </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GSnt4Gx0zoE/UIRTKrxg7ZI/AAAAAAAAAIE/YaCqeMTYSag/s1600/sluttybrownie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GSnt4Gx0zoE/UIRTKrxg7ZI/AAAAAAAAAIE/YaCqeMTYSag/s320/sluttybrownie.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Too big!</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sFoVT6P6YJU/UIRB8f6DqxI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/-b0RhSM-hGk/s1600/IMG_8993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sFoVT6P6YJU/UIRB8f6DqxI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/-b0RhSM-hGk/s320/IMG_8993.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just right!</span></td></tr>
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I am also going to end each post with a picture that reminds me why I'm vegan.</div>
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Happy Halloween! </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Utl6uCccBgE/UIRG_ZWeGGI/AAAAAAAAAHg/3cEdwWRYhoM/s1600/pigs-in-pumpkins1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Utl6uCccBgE/UIRG_ZWeGGI/AAAAAAAAAHg/3cEdwWRYhoM/s400/pigs-in-pumpkins1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Up next: Halloween nanaimo bars</div>
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<br />jacbladeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761065852944076580noreply@blogger.com3