Lovin' From the Oven

Banana Crumb Muffins

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I had some ripe bananas to get rid of, even after my peanut butter and banana sandwich I made myself last night. In the college life, you learn to try and eat all of your food so that it doesn’t go bad when you go home for the holidays. I always love a streusel/crumb topping on just about everything, so I thought I’d give this recipe a shot. It left my apartment smelling wonderful in the morning 🙂 I also used Earth Balance in replace of the butter to make it vegan. Seriously.. what’s up with all this vegan baking? Oh well.. these did taste amazing.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten (I replaced this with 1/4 cup applesauce)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2.) In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3.) In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4.) Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Good ol’ Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Mmmm… who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies? And you can’t even tell they’re vegan! I’m also learning how to take pictures of food – it’s all about the lighting and angle. Anyways, my vegan friend invited me over for dinner tonight, and I never like to come empty handed. Hence, the vegan chocolate chip cookies. He makes dinner, I bake dessert.. works out nicely. I can never leave a recipe how it is.. I always end up tweaking it just a bit to make it how I like it. The original recipe is from vegweb.com, but here’s my version of these delicious chewy cookies!

Ingredients:
1 cup cold vegan buttery spread
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce (you can sub this for a mashed banana)
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 bag vegan chocolate chips (about 6 ounces)

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) Stir the vegan buttery spread around in a medium sized mixing bowl to soften it up. Add the 1 cup sugar, and stir the two ingredients together very well. It will look creamy.

3.) Add the brown sugar, stir together again. Add the applesauce and vanilla, and (you guessed it!) stir together once more.

4.) Now add all the dry ingredients, excluding the chocolate chips, at once and mix together quickly. Try not to over-mix. Mix in the chocolate chip. Chill the dough for about 15 minutes, this helps from keeping the cookies from thinning out so much while being baked.

5.) Drop spoonful of cookies onto the cookie sheet at least an inch apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes at 375. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet, and then remove and let cool completely on wax paper.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes, Vegan Style.

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Having vegan friends sure does make you step outside your normal comfort of baking. I mean, I would’ve probably never used flax seeds in my entire life if it hadn’t been for vegan recipes. I’ve had a lot of successful recipes from the PPK, and decided it was about time for me to attempt my first recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I topped it off with some melted vegan chocolate chips and dusted them with some powdered sugar. I love how something so simple can make desserts look so elegant. I’d give it 4 out of 4 stars… for being vegan. I just can’t seem to acquire the taste to love vegan desserts as much as I love my normal, full of dairy, desserts. But they definitely tasted a lot better completely cooled and left to sit for a couple hours rather than straight out of the oven. Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Ingredients:
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup natural chunky peanut butter (i used creamy)
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbs dark molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground flaxseed
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2.) Mix soy milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside to curdle.
3.) In a large mixing bowl, cream the peanut butter, oil, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and ground flaxseeds until well combined. Add the soy milk mixture and mix until incorporated.
4.) Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a separate bowl and mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.
5.) Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 23-26 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling racks.

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