Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I am so happy that school has started again and we are back to a more regular schedule. Kay started at a new school this year and it starts much earlier than her last one so that has been a bit of a shock to our systems. I think we are all finally starting to adjust though.

During the summer, I work in the office two days a week and my parents spend the day with Kay. On their second to last day, which also happened to be my dad's birthday, they took Kay and two friends bowling, out to lunch and to a ceramic painting store. Then for dinner we made one of my dad's favorite meals (upcoming post) with these cupcakes for dessert. They were a huge success. My parents liked them so much, my mom made them again a couple weeks later.

They are very peanut buttery. We may have even eaten them for breakfast. The recipe is out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (fantastic book!). I reduced the sugar quite a bit, omitted the salt, and used rice milk just because we prefer that in baked goods. Normally I would have substituted part of the all-purpose flour with some spelt or white whole wheat but this time I left it alone (it was for a birthday after all!) We used natural, organic, crunchy peanut butter.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

3/4 cups rice milk

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons ground flaxseed

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Mix the milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle (this creates non-dairy buttermilk).

In a large mixing bowl, cream the peanut butter, oil, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and flaxseeds until well combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full (we use an ice cream scoop). Bake 23-26 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling racks.

Top with ganache and chopped peanuts. Place in refrigerator to set the ganache.

Quick Melty Ganache

3 tablespoons soy milk

1/3 cups chocolate chips

Heat the soy milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until just about to simmer. Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Kay: comments to come after school.

Mom (Dana): When I was typing this, I kept putting Peanut Butter Pancakes instead of Cupcakes which has given me a whole new idea!!

Chocolate Mousse

You know, ever since my job decided that they were going to monitor our internet access, my quality of life has decreased significantly!! Basically, I can't check my e-mails at work so they build up to a ridiculous amount and by the time I am done checking them, I don't have time to post on the blog. I'm just going to have to start scheduling the time to do it because post ideas keep piling up!

I was going to post what we did with all the bananas but then the weeks flew by. We ate several of them and made smoothies but we also made this really good mousse. It comes from Go Dairy Free which is a really good book for dairy-free snack ideas.

We actually had this over a week ago. All my time last week was taken up planning our weekend out of town. Bill had a bike race in Burlington, Iowa (he got 11th out of about 30). It was called Snake Alley because part of the course looks like this:

We stayed in Galesburg, Illinois for the weekend. Besides the race, we went to a train museum, ate at a creperie, looked at the Mississippi River, and saw Star Trek. It was a nice weekend but we were really tired from all the driving and the heat so it was nice to get home.

Chocolate Mousse

12.3 oz package of firm silken tofu

2 medium bananas, ripe

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the tofu and bananas in your blender and process until smooth. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate into the blender along with the vanilla and blend until it is smooth and creamy. Divide the mousse between 4 bowls, cover with wax paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Kay: I wish it had less banana flavor to it but it was really good besides that.

Mom (Dana): I've tried a lot of pudding-type recipes that use tofu but they always tasted a little funny. This mousse didn't have that weird tofu taste at all.

Creamy Hot Chocolate

I just noticed I haven't posted a non-sweet recipe since November! Oh well, why stop now!

Today it was -17.5 degrees F when we woke up. I've lived here all my life but this weather is insane! We got out from under our blankets long enough tonight to make this hot chocolate though. This is my and Kay's favorite. I know butternut squash seems like a weird ingredient for hot chocolate but it is absolutely essential for the creaminess. We promise, you don't taste it at all. This recipe makes exactly 2 mugs. Perfect! (Bill won't even try it - he is very stubborn like that!)

Creamy Hot Chocolate

1 1/4 cups milk (we prefer almond milk)

1/2 cup pureed butternut squash (sweet potato also works)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Big spoonful of marshmallow fluff

Blend the milk, squash, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a blender until smooth and well blended. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan. Add the chocolate chips and heat over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Pour into mugs and top with marshmallow fluff.

Kay: It is AWESOME and you don't even taste the butternut squash. I could drink this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Mom (Dana): Most of the sweetness comes from the fluff so if you decide not to use it, you'll need to add some other form of sweetener. Out of desperation, we've used caramel ice cream topping and that actually worked fine but it thickened it.

To make the puree, steam the butternut squash (or sweet potatoes) until very soft and then puree in a food processor or blender. Extra can be used in these honey puff pancakes!

Chocolate Truffles

We were able to enjoy our holiday get-togethers with family in spite of the weather's attempts to ruin it! We've had terribly cold temperatures, severe wind storms, and inches of ice covering everything. Our neighbors across the street lost power last weekend and again yesterday (they still don't have power) but we have been lucky to keep ours. On Christmas Eve, my family walked on about 2 inches of solid ice to get to our door.

Yesterday, the temperatures rose into the 60's which melted all the ice but the warm weather came with terrible winds. Today it is back to being cold again but at least the roads are clear.

We celebrate Christmas Eve with my family and always have various dips and salads instead of a formal sit-down meal.

Kay and I went through all our recipes for the day but decided that our favorite was the chocolate truffles so that is the one we are sharing! The picture at the beginning of this post shows two kinds of truffles. The chocolate covered ones had a clementine filling and were also good but Kay prefers the others, so that is the one we are posting.

Chocolate Truffles

200 grams dark chocolate (we used half 70% and half 85%)

100 grams coconut milk

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

toppings of choice such as cocoa powder, ground nuts, coconut, crushed graham crackers, sprinkles, etc.

Chop the chocolate. Heat the coconut milk until just beginning to bubble. Pour the coconut milk over the chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted. Stir in the vanilla.

Allow to cool several hours in the refrigerator.

Roll the chocolate into balls and then in the topping of your choice.

Kay: These are so good. I really liked the sprinkle ones we made. I couldn't even tell there was coconut milk in them. I didn't like the clementine truffles.

Mom (Dana): Instead of the vanilla extract, you could change the flavor by adding any other extract that appeals to you. I think mint would be really good although I haven't tried it.

Ginger Cookies

At 3:30 on Saturday, I was fine. At 3:31 I came down with a horrendous cold. It really did happen that fast. Bill and Kay have been battling colds since September but I've somehow managed to avoid catching them - until now. I knew it was too good to last!

Kay is at school right now but I really wanted to record what she did last night. As I was dieing on the couch, she asked me if ginger was good for colds. I think I said yes.

An hour later, she had made these cookies AND cleaned up the kitchen! These cookies are the delicious result of teaching her to follow a recipe!!!

She used the recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance (have I mentioned how fantastic every single dessert is in this book?) but she rolled them in cinnamon sugar instead of demerrara sugar. I can tell they are very good even with my cold-ravaged taste buds.

Ginger Cookies

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup soy milk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

cinnamon sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and spices. In a separate large bowl, mix together the oil, molasses, soy milk, sugar and vanilla. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and combine well. Roll into 1 inch balls, flatten into a 1 1/2 inch diameter disk, press the cookie tops into the cinnamon sugar and place 1 inch apart, sugar side up, on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 10 -12 minutes. Let cool slightly and transfer to a cooling rack.

The recipe says it makes 24 cookies but Kay got 55 out of this recipe.

Brazilian Coffee Cookies

I made these cookies for the first time several years ago. Kay was playing in the snow with the little boy next door (he isn't little anymore!) and I took a plate of cookies out for them. Kay came in a few minutes later and said "Johnny really loves those cookies!" I always think about him when I make these. For some reason, these have become one of our traditional Christmas cookies.


The recipe comes out of this book (copyright 1963):

After years of hinting, I finally got this book from my mom including all the cut out dessert recipes she had stuck between the pages. It was my favorite book growing up mainly because it has pictures of the various cookies along the bottom of the pages like this:

I remember searching through it and deciding on the most fantastic cookie only to have my mom say "those look too hard, find something else"! At the time I thought she was so unfair but when I got the book I found myself saying the same thing to Kay.


This is a nice easy cookie though. Any instant coffee works well in this. Those coffees in the little cans called International Coffee or something like that work really well because you can get different flavors. Sometimes I add mini chocolate chips to make them extra special. I was just thinking tonight that chopped up chocolate covered coffee beans would probably be unbelievable!

I had to take this picture for Ms. Mac. Look at my poor daughter ruining her health with one of these coffee cookies! Kay loves the taste of coffee but it makes her bounce off the walls so her intake is severally restricted!

Brazilian Coffee Cookies

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/12 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon milk

2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons powdered instant coffee

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix shortening, sugars, egg, vanilla, and milk until fluffy. Stir dry ingredients together. Add to sugar mixture and mix thoroughly. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten to 1/8 inch thickness with greased bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake for 8 minutes.

Kay: I love these. I really like the coffee from Gloria Jean's. I go crazy even when my grandma gets me the low caffeine.

Mom (Dana): These would also make really good sandwich cookies with chocolate in between. (I must really have a sweet tooth going tonight!).

Paper Chef - Apple Pie

Edited to add: the round up has been posted - http://paperchef.blogspot.com/2008/10/paper-chef-33-roundup.html. I'm always overwhelmed by how creative everyone is!



Kay and I had a lot of fun coming up with a recipe the first time we did Paper Chef and really wanted to do it again. We tried one other time with disastrous results. The other months we were either too busy or the ingredients did not suit us. When I saw the ingredients this time, I felt like we had to participate because there were no animal products!



For anyone not familiar with Paper Chef, each month 4 ingredients are selected from a list and everyone is asked to come up with a recipe using those ingredients. This month's ingredients are beets, ginger, rice, and apples. My first thought was a main dish which we did make. It looked like this:



We really liked how it looked but weren't happy with the taste. Luckily we had a second recipe planned as well. I have to thank my mom and my friend Claire for this idea. Claire had suggested doing some kind of layered dish. I came up with a couple ideas and asked my mom's opinion. She is the one that actually said that I should base it off an apple pie. That is when I decided to go ahead and make just that - apple pie!



I used the beets mostly just for coloring. I always think that apple pie should be red instead of a boring beige and the beets worked perfect for that.



For the rice portion, I used rice milk and rice flour.



Bill immediately noticed the ginger in the filling which was surprising because I thought it was too subdued and that we should have added more.



Kay helped make both recipes and also had the very important job of writing everything down as we did it.



Really Red Apple Pie Crisp



Crust:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup margarine
3-4 tablespoons rice milk



Filling:

2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and sliced
2 gala apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and sliced
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons grated ginger
1 beet, boiled, peeled, and pureed



Topping:

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons margarine


To make the crust, combine the flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the margarine with a pastry cutter or two knives. Add in just enough milk to bring the dough together. Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate until you're ready to use it.



Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl.



Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Press the crust into the bottom of a pie pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Fill the pan with the filling. Cover with foil and place in oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 30 minutes.



Combine all topping ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined but still chunky.



After 30 minutes, remove the foil from the pie and spread topping evenly over the apple filling. Return the pie to the oven and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Kay: I don't really care for cooked fruits but this was actually good. I think regular crust on the bottom would have been better but I liked the top crust. This tasted like regular pie or apple crisp, not like beets at all.

Mom(Dana): Bill refuses to let me tell him what is in this pie! We all really liked this. If you need proof, here is all that is left after 24 hours!

Phyllo bar dessert

Wow. When I said we all got sick on 4th of July, I had no idea what we were in for. We got much, much worse before getting better, including several days of fever. After two weeks we are all finally starting to get back to normal again although we still aren't completely well. We've also gone through every kind of cold related medicine and crazy amounts of Kleenex!

We did feel well enough through all this to make a dessert though! I had opened a package of phyllo dough to make something else and the rest of it was just sitting around the fridge so I decided to experiment. Kay and I thought it was fantastic and had trouble not eating it all in one sitting!

We used dark chocolate covered edamame which my sister-in-law gets me from Trader Joe's. I usually hoard them and refuse to share since I only have a limited supply but my illness obviously confused me and next thing I knew, a whole handful of them wound up in this dessert! If you don't have a super nice sister-in-law who brings you dark chocolate covered edamame a couple times a year, then you can use any chocolate covered nuts or even chocolate chips and chopped nuts mixed together.

Phyllo Bar Dessert

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 cup chocolate covered nuts, chopped

2 tablespoons melted margarine

6 sheets phyllo dough

1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on the pan. Brush melted margarine over the sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Top with another phyllo dough and repeat. On top of the third phyllo dough, brush on margarine and spread all the chopped chocolate nuts over the surface. Top with another phyllo dough sheet. Again, brush with margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Repeat. On top phyllo dough, brush with margarine.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove and pour agave nectar over the top. Let sit 10 minutes. Cut into squares (preferably with a pizza cutter).

Makes: 2 servings

Just kidding - you'll get about 15 decent sized squares.

Kay: These were awesome!

Mom (Dana): These are gooey and sticky and delicious!! If you use honey instead of agave nectar, you may want to warm it first so that it pours better. Plus honey is a little sweeter so don't use as much.

Snickerdoodle Cake by Kay

This is my dad's favorite cake. The night before he was looking for a snack but we didn't have anything. Everyday, he left at 7:30AM to go to work and on some days wouldn't come home until 9:00PM. He's really tried from work so I thought that I would made something special just for him. He really likes Snickerdoodle Cookies. I got the recipe from The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn. She makes cakes that are easy to deal with by putting cake mixes in them..

Snickerdoodle Cake

1 package plain white cake mix

1 cup milk (we used vanilla soy)

8 tablespoons butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9 inch round cake pans and dust them with flour.

Place the cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer for one minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.

Divide the batter between the pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.

Bake the cakes until they are golden brown, about 27-29 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack. Allow them to cool completely, about 30 minutes more.

Frosting

8 tablespoons butter at room temperature

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3-4 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the remaining ingredients. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy. Blend in additional milk if the frosting seems too thick.

Mom (Dana): Personally, I love chocolate anything but Bill is the real cake lover in this family and this is his absolute favorite. I'm not sure what he did to deserve it though!

Mint Chocolate Cake

Our weather has been super fantastic this week. If only our whole summer could be like this. It is unbelievable to me as I sit here with every window in the house wide open that this weekend it is going to turn cold again and they are actually calling for snow flurries Sunday night. Yes, snow. It has been in the 70's all week. Luckily we know enough about our weather to know you have to enjoy the nice weather while it is here because it never lasts very long. Therefore instead of cooking, we've done more walking.

Last night we decided it was time to bake something. Kay went through all my cookbooks and came up with this cake recipe from here. It tastes just like a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie! The book listed a glaze but the cake is so moist, we ate it plain.

Mint Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray a bundt pan.

Sift together the following:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar

Stir together the following:
1 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon peppermint extract

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Pour into the bundt pan and bake 50-60 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

Kay: This cake was really good. Before it even came out of the oven you could really smell the mint. It was also very easy to make but it took a long time to cook.

Mom (Dana): This may look like just a regular chocolate cake but it isn't. You've got to try it!

Chocolate Candy

I have experimented quite a bit with Stevia, but I haven't had good luck at all. Unlike other sugar substitutes, it is much sweeter so when you would normally use a cup of sugar, you might only use a spoonful of stevia. Every time I've tried to use it, I get a bitter after taste. Until this time! These were fantastic.

The funny thing about this recipe is that Kay claims to not like coconut so, obviously, I didn't tell her there was coconut in these. You definitely can taste it but she never said one word and absolutely devoured these! So when adding her comments today, hopefully she won't look up and see the ingredients!

I wasn't able to get a good picture of these. They basically look like a piece of chocolate. I did get a picture of Kay eating one though!

This recipe is based off one from the show The Sweet Truth.

Chocolates

1 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup peanut butter

4 tablespoons agave nectar

2 teaspoons powdered stevia

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup almond meal (or ground almonds)

1/4 cup coconut (unsweetened)

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Grind the pumpkin seeds, coconut, and almonds (if using whole) in a food processor until finely ground.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Line 3 mini-muffin tins. Fill each completely full.

Place in freezer for 20 minutes.

Kay: I thought these tasted really good. I thought they might taste funny because they have different things in them like pumpkin seeds but I liked them a lot.

Mom (Dana): We thought these tasted best if kept in the refrigerator. They got a little too soft at room temperature.

Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

The movie is filming here through Wednesday but I don't know if we'll be back there since Kay and I both woke up with terrible colds this morning and it was snowing on my way to work! We might bundle ourselves up one more time though.

In the meantime, we are posting a recipe!! I happened to stumble across a show called "Zonya's Healthy Bites" last weekend and she made these cookies. They already had half the sugar and most of the fat removed so I didn't even have to adjust the recipe for once!

Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 4-serving pack of instant vanilla pudding mix

4 egg whites

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pudding mix in a large bowl.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites, applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool and cut in squares.

Kay: I really liked this. We were watching a movie and I waited for mine to cool because then it tastes better. I had about three already.

Mom (Dana): These tasted best after sitting for a day, probably because the oats begin to soften. We made them a few days ago and they are holding up well.

Jelly Donut Cupcakes

How embarrassing! December seems to have flown past us somehow. Kayleigh and I managed to get dreadful colds once again this year. Bill thought he was going to miss out but with a little help from my niece at Christmas, he got to enjoy all the sneezing, fever, sore throat fun, too!



We decided that we had to post one more thing before the year ends so we have picked another recipe out of Veganomicon. I've made about 10 recipes from this book now and there was only one we didn't like and several that we loved!



Hope everyone has fun tonight! Kay and I will be partying alone since Bill is working. We have plenty of desserts to get us through the night (or at least until midnight!) so we're happy. Bill, not so much!

Jelly Donut Cupcake

1 cup milk (we used soy)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons corn starch

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 cup canola oil (we used vegetable)

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

about 1/3 cup jam, jelly or preserves

powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the milk, vinegar and corn starch into a measuring cup and set aside (to get curdled-looking). Line a muffin pan with liners.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. Create a well in the center to pour your wet ingredients into.

Stir the milk mixture with a fork to dissolve the corn starch and then pour it into the flour mixture. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter. Place a heaping teaspoonful of jam on the center of each cupcake. It will sink in during the baking.

Bake 21 - 24 minutes until the tops are firm.

Let cool completely on wire racks. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Try not to eat all of them in one sitting!

Here is Kay stealing the cupcake that I was trying so hard to photograph!

Kay: These are really good. I think they taste much better than jelly donuts from Dunkin Donuts.

Mom (Dana): In the book, she says to use the cheapest, most generic jelly you have. We had little bits of several jellies and jams left in the refrigerator so we used the last of those.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Thanksgiving by Kay

On Thanksgiving, I spent the afternoon at my Grandma Mary's house. We had a big feast for lunch/dinner. At the beginning, we were just waiting for people to come. We played games and I played with my youngest cousin, Courtney. She is one year old. I'm sorry about the bad picture. This isn't from yesterday, it is from November 4th.

I ate ham, turkey, scalloped potatoes that I hated, broccoli, and best of all, amazing pudding! My Aunt Mary Jean brings it every year and Larry, my uncle, and I eat it all up! Yesterday, I asked her if I could put the recipe on the blog. Here's the famous pudding.

Aunt MJ's Amazing Pudding

-Jello vanilla pudding

-milk

-vanilla wafer cookies

-cool whip

In a big bowl, place a layer of cookies.

Make pudding according to directions.

Pour a portion of pudding over cookies.

Make several layers of cookies and pudding.

Top with cool whip.

Crumble a couple of cookies on top.

She didn't put this but I think she put it in the refrigerator until the cookies get mushy.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was growing up, there was always a health-consciousness in our family. That doesn't mean we always ate healthy (hot dogs were my favorite food!) but the idea of eating healthy was always there. We would go to health food stores, we took vitamins, and my dad exercised a lot. When I was 20, I came home from college and announced that I was becoming a vegetarian. My dad had just found out he had high cholesterol so he thought it was a great idea.

Since then, I've researched all different kinds of diets and have tried out several different healthier options. Right now I'm on a whole grain kick. I figure if I can take the white flour out of our desserts, then we can still have them without me feeling so guilty, right?

Last night, Kay and I made these cookies out of the King Arthur Flour cookbook and we were thrilled with the results. Most of the recipes I've come across substitute part of the white flour with whole wheat but this used all whole wheat. We are big "lick the bowl" kind of people when it comes to desserts and I knew when this dough passed the raw taste test that the cookies were going to be a success!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 oz margarine

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp espresso powder (you can omit if you don't have any)

1/8 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 oz light corn syrup

1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 egg

4 1/2 oz whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a saucepan, melt the margarine. Stir in the brown sugar. Heat until it is starting to bubble. Remove from heat and transfer it to a large bowl and allow to cool about 5 minutes.

Stir in the vanilla, baking soda, espresso powder, baking powder, corn syrup, and vinegar. Add the egg and beat well. Stir in the flour and then the chips. Cover the bowl and refrigerate 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.

3 dozen cookies.

Kay: These tasted just like regular chocolate chip cookies. I told my mom, "I hope some of these are left on Wednesday so I can take them when I go ice skating with my school." We had to tell my dad not to eat all of them!

Mom (Dana): I loved these. I didn't expect them to be so good but I actually think these might be my favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Bunches of recipes

Last week I realized that my poor bloglines was overflowing with recipes that I had saved but never made. We went through and picked several to make during the week. I had planned to only post the ones that were good but it turned out they were all good so here is a recap of all of them. I'm going to post links to the original posts instead of retyping all the recipes since we made very few changes.

First was Monkey Bread from Dine and Dish. I picked this to make first to really get Kay in the mood of new recipes and it worked! Who could resist a pile of cinnamon rolls!

As you can see, we had a few issues with ours. It did not come out of the pan very well and the very center was still a little raw. We ate it anyway! It was really good. I think we might try spreading them out on a cookie sheet next time instead of using the bundt pan.

Kay: The outside of this was kind of hard and the middle wasn't cooked but the parts that were cooked right tasted really good. I want to make this again but I want to cook them separately on a cookie sheet.

Next we made this cucumber salad from Absolutely Green. The blog is in French but if you scroll to the end of the post, the recipe is translated into English.

I took this to my parent's house for a get together. We all went to the pumpkin patch but our buffet looked more like it was meant for 4th of July. It was 90 degrees that day! Kay didn't try this (there was a ton of food) but I heard good things from other people about it. I liked it but I expected the coconut milk flavor to come through a little more.

Then I made a broccoli and chickpea pasta dish from Words to Eat By. The date of this blog post will give you an idea of why my bloglines is so full! I didn't take a picture of this because it looked very similar to several other broccoli and pasta dishes that I've already posted. It didn't taste the same though. After two bites, Kay looked at me and said "this is really good!". We all really liked this and it was a nice change from all our other broccoli recipes.

Kay: This was my favorite recipe of the week. I don't like chickpeas much but the broccoli tasted really good.

The next day, we had a meal made up of several side dishes, two of which were new. First was gingered carrots which was from two different blogs, Vanessa Cuisine (which is in French) and La Tartine Gourmande (in English). They were slightly different and so I took ideas from both of them.

Kay isn't a big fan of carrots but she did eat some of them. We eat roasted carrots often with just salt, pepper, and olive oil. This was a nice change.

Kay: I don't like carrots!

That same night, we had Indian spiced cauliflower and potatoes from Smitten Kitchen.

I really liked this and it was a great excuse for using the new pan my mom bought me! One warning though. This does not smell so great when warmed up and I got several complaints at work the next day. Oops!

Kay: The cauliflower and the potatoes were ok but I don't think I like the spices that are on these.

Now for my favorite out of all the recipes this week. Carrot Spice Muffins from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen.

I have some kind of crazy metabolism that keeps me hungry and eating pretty much all day long. I thought this would be a nice healthy snack that I could eat at work between breakfast and lunch. These were way better than I ever dreamed! Days later they were still really moist. Plus they are so healthy I didn't even feel guilty drizzling some glaze on them! I didn't have agave nectar and so I substituted honey instead.

Kay: I liked the glaze but I don't like carrots, even in muffins.

And now for the final recipe of the week, apple and chocolate tart from La Popotte de Manue. I'm always a little nervous when I have to translate recipes from French just because the ingredients may not translate so well. This one worked fine though so I guess I got it pretty close!

Here is my translation of this recipe.

Combine one egg and 2 tablespoons of milk (I used vanilla almond milk) in a stand mixer at high speed until well combined and light. Reduce the spead to low and add 250 grams of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. Mix well. Add 50 grams of melted butter and mix on high until it forms a ball (mine never did so I formed it into a ball with my hands once it was well mixed). Cover the bowl and let sit 30 minutes.

Line a 9 inch square pan with parchment paper. Spread the pastry dough on the bottom of the pan (I pressed it down with damp hands). Chop 100 grams of chocolate (we used chocolate chips). Spread half the chocolate over the pastry. Quarter and core 3 apples and then slice them. Arrange the slices standing up around the edges of the pan and then circling in until the entire top of the pastry is covered. Mix the remaining chocolate with 2 tablespoons of sugar and sprinkle over the top of the apples.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Manue suggests topping it with apricot presserves but we didn't.

It was really nice to have apples with something other than cinnamon and nutmeg. Plus, in my opinion, chocolate make everything taste better!

Kay: I don't know what is up with the apples I always eat lately but they always taste too sour when they are cooked. I liked this more than the apple crisp my mom makes though because it had chocolate on it.

All of these recipes have now been printed and added to my permanent recipe file and so now my bloglines is at least a little lighter!

Apple Crisp

I'm hating our weather right now. Seriously, who wants 90 degrees and humid in September? We had a couple nice days just to tease us and then right back into this dreadful stuff again. If I wanted this, I'd move to Arizona or Texas or one of those other crazy hot places!

When we have normal fall weather, it is my favorite times of year and I have 4000 apple dessert recipes to prove it. This is our favorite though. I think it was originally from Vegetarian Times magazine but I've been making it for over 10 years so I'm not sure how much it resembles the original recipe. We've already had it twice thanks to a big bag of apples my parents brought us from our local apple orchard (the formerly charming and quaint local place that is now an overpriced commercial place).

Kay never likes this as much as we do but, to her credit, she tries it again every year just to make sure!

Apple Crisp

4 large apples cut in chunks

1 cup nuts, chopped (any combination)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

4 tablespoons chilled margarine cut in pieces

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Put the apples in a 9 inch round baking dish. Dust with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

In a food processor chop the nuts. Add the flour and sugar and process until combined. Add the margarine and pulse 8 to 10 times.

Sprinkle the topping over the apples and bake 30 minutes more. Serve warm.

Kay: I like the taste of the topping but I think the apples are too soft.

Dana (Mom): I use all different kinds of nuts in this but it is always at least half walnuts. Usually the other half is pecans but this year I've been using almonds and we are really liking it. I've used all walnuts before as well and that works fine.

The smell in your house is heavenly! It is almost worth making just for that!

The most unbelievable chocolate dessert ever!!

Seriously, this dessert is amazing! I love chocolate. It is definitely my favorite food. I could have passed out on on the spot, this tasted so good!

We were watching "Nigella Feasts" tonight during dinner and I have never seen her make anything that I would want to recreate. Then this dessert came on and I thought, "well, it is chocolate and I have all those ingredients". This is so chocolaty and rich and gooey and amazing!!

I've mentioned before that Bill doesn't really like chocolate very much. As soon as I tasted this (and regained the ability to speak) I turned to Kay and said, "Daddy will not like this." Much to our shock, he came out and asked if he could have the extra one (it made 4 and there are only 3 of us). We were shocked. I wasn't even able to finish it! Here is my bowl. I was very sad to leave any but it was just too overwhelming!


It is kind of like a brownie stuffed with pudding type thing. Try to eat it when it is straight out of the oven. It might burn your mouth but it is worth it!

Yum yum yum!

Butter 4 ramekins and place them on a cookie sheet. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a double boiler, melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) and 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Allow the mixture to cool about 5 minutes.

In bowl, whisk two eggs. Add 3/4 cup sugar and then 3 tablespoons flour. Fold the chocolate mixture into this.

Pour the mixture into the ramekins and bake 20 minutes.

Kay: These were fun and easy to make. They were really hot though. Usually my dad thinks things are too chocolaty but this time I did!

Mom (Dana): I know you have all these ingredients on hand. Go make them now!! (I promise we aren't eating only desserts right now. The "real" food just hasn't been able to compete with the desserts!)

Meringue

Before being baked.

This is not the recipe we had planned to post. Yesterday for dinner, Kay and I made a Rachael Ray recipe. I know, I know. I've never made any of her recipes and had them turn out good. But this one had broccoli (and you know how often we eat that!), noodles, and emmentaler cheese (one of Kay's favorites) so I figured it couldn't be too bad. Well it was. We were able to eat it but it was completely bland and used just about every pot and pan I own. Hopefully now I've learned my lesson! Here are some funny pictures of Kay eating it that I didn't want to waste.

So to make up for our dinner, we decided to make meringues (we also made and ate vanilla crepes with nutella and caramel apples but that is really beside the point!). I've been promising Kay we would make these for months now but it has always been too humid or we didn't have time. Finally we had the chance. They turned out perfect and were even cooled in time to have one before bed. They were a great ending to our nine million dessert courses for the night.

We combined several recipes in order to get to this one. Next time we might try reducing the sugar a little bit.

A half eaten meringue.

Meringues

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites for about 4 minutes until you start to get soft peaks. With the mixer on medium-high, slowly spoon in the sugar and the cornstarch. Then add the vinegar and vanilla. Increase the mixer to high and whip about 3 more minutes until it is glossy.

On a parchment lined cookie sheet, drop meringue by large spoonfuls. Smooth out any peaks so that they won't burn.

Bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until the outside is dry and they are starting to turn a very light golden color. Turn off the oven and leave them in there for 1 hour. Remove the pan from the oven and allow them to complete cool before storing them.

They should have a nice crunchy outside that crumbles when you bite into it and a soft, marshmallowy inside.

Makes 6-8 depending on the size.

Kay today after soccer.

Kay: These taste really good but eat them all together. Don't break the top off and eat that first because the inside doesn't taste as good without the outside. It was very cool watching the eggs whip up. I've never seen our mixer on that high of a speed before.

Mom (Dana): I don't really have any comments. I'm still a little comatose from all those desserts last night!!

Walnut Cookies

After a crazy Friday including Kay's school orientation, soccer practice and a slumber party, Saturday was perfectly non-eventful! We basically sat around watching TV and just relaxed. Our weather is also temporarily cool so it made it even more enjoyable. By the mid-afternoon, I was getting a little bored though, and when I get bored, I cook. It was too early to start dinner so I went looking for a dessert and found these cookies. Perfect!

Maple Walnut Cookies

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons maple extract

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup soy milk

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

3 dozen walnut halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the oil, maple syrup, molasses, vanilla and maple extracts, and sugar in a mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Add the milk and cornstarch and mix until the cornstarch is dissolved.

Add the flour and baking soda. Mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Drop by tablespoonful about 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet. Press a walnut half into the center of each cookie. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Kay: I like walnuts a lot but I didn't like the walnuts on top. There's enough walnuts inside the cookie. My dad just said that there should be more walnut on top, though!

Mom (Dana): These are really sticky, chewy kind of cookies - my favorite kind! I had a lot of trouble getting the cornstarch to dissolve and ended up using my hands. Other than that, these were pretty easy and didn't require me to drag out my Kitchen Aid.