Chocolate Peanutbutter Crunchy Cookies

Thank you again, Mollie Katzen. Simple, easy and satisfying. These are from Mollie's latest book:

Oooey Gooey Brownie

This brownie is once of The most delicious I have ever had. And it's vegan and raw. Holy cow, I never thought a brownie made with dates would taste this good.

I had some car trouble on the way to work yesterday mornin. Read some "O" magazine while waiting for the repair. Snapped this photo of the intriguing recipe.

Lemon Blueberry muffins from Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen Not too sweet. Delicious. I checked it out from the library so many times, my husband bought me a copy for Christmas.

Nutella Brownie bites

These are so delicious.

Brownies w/ a protein punch

It's been a while. Not much time for baking lately. Something I intend to work on. But, I got a little help from a librarian co-worker recently. Vegan black bean brownies. This really is the easiest recipe ever.

1 box Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix
1 can black beans (w/ juice)

Puree black beans (I used immersion blender at the suggestion of my co-worker & it worked well). Stir and mix in brownie mix. Bake according to instructions on the box. I baked at 325 for about 40 minutes in an 8 X 13 pan. They really are delicious. A wonderful chocolate slate...I'm thinking a peanut butter swirl next time. My co-worker mentioned adding cherries--omitting the black bean juice and including some of the cherry juice. So many possibilities.

By the way, I was warned to be sure to use the Ghiradelli mix. Other brand mixes apparently don't yield quite the same delicious results.

I never even liked brownies before I became a mom. Somehow chocolate has become much greater than it once was. Yum.

Happy Mother's Day

Saint Cupcake, Portland OR

As a wonderful birthday surprise, a friend sent these tasty cupcakes from a company based out of Portland called Saint Cupcake. I was so impressed with the freshness and clever packaging (kitschy and adorable). The cakes themselves came wrapped in compostable plastic. The icing was separately packaged in compostable plastic. The cupcakes can be purchased online and you can build your own gift set. My friend selected 3 cakes: vegan chocolate, vanilla toffee, and pumpkin spice. She also selected 3 different icings and 3 types of sprinkles. I'm always a fan of colored sprinkles, but the toasted coconut was pretty yummy. The set came with instructions, a candle, a "Happy Birthday" cupcake topper and separate wooden spreaders. Building our own cupcakes was so much fun. As cupcake businesses are taking off all over the country, I think Saint has an excellent idea with their shipping options.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

A lovely friend and neighbor recently graduated with her Masters.  When I received her evite for a berry themed party, I was very excited about all the wonderful strawberry possibilities.  We have a respectable number of strawberries coming from our little garden.  I started searching for more ways to enjoy.  

This neighbor never lacks for wonderful food at any of her shindigs, but, one of the best ways I know to show some love is to bake.  The cupcakes ended up fitting right in.  When we entered the house, we were served freshly picked beautiful, locally grown strawberries w/ either champagne or powdered sugar.  Beautiful and delicious.  Doesn't that sound like a fabulous greeting?

I'm a baking blog junkie--my little baking blog is small potatoes compared to the many wonderful options out there...have you ever heard of the Daring Kitchen?  Take a look at all the amazing bakers that participate.  Many of them are oh so inspiring.  I'm not a participant.  Just an admirer.

I like to look at blog after blog and see who some of my favorites follow.  Anyway, I stumbled across a new blog:  Love & Olive Oil, from which this ingenious little recipe came.  Doesn't it just sound delicious.  

I've had a lot of baking firsts this past year -- making the buttercream for this recipe was one of them.  I had always thought making a buttercream was a little out of my league.  It wasn't!  The main mistake I made was using my hand mixer.  It would have been so much easier if I had taken the extra effort to use my stand mixer.  A lot of mixing of the egg whites/butter.  

Check out the recipe linked above.  There's lemon juice and zest in the batter; the recipe also calls for full fat coconut milk.  It's so neat that they don't taste very 'coconutty'--it just results in a decadent, dense, moist cupcake.  Lemon, vanilla, and pureed strawberries go in the butter cream.  Yum.  I want to invest in a larger star-tip.  I'd like more practice piping too.  You'll see the Love & Olive Oil iced cupcaked look a bit more professional than mine.

These cupcakes were delicious.  I think I'm going to have to try this recipe again.  Maybe I'll have enough strawberries from my own garden for another batch.  We'll see.