Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

There is this lovely bakery in Indianapolis, Indiana called Rene's. Albert, the owner, is a great guy with some amazing desserts. I fell in love with his fruit tarts a few years ago and he gifted a few hundred of them to us for our wedding reception! They were perfect little treats tucked in between the large cupcake and orchid centerpieces....mmmmm. Well once I moved past the fruit tarts, I found that just about everything he makes is as delicious as the fruit tarts. But by far my favorite item in his kitchen are the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. I have never asked him for the recipe, but here is my own attempt.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup vegan cane sugar
1/4 cup organic canola oil
2 free range eggs
1 cup canned organic pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 - 1 tsp ground ginger
1 -2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 - 1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
( I didn't have clove, but that might be a great addition 1/2 -1 tsp of ground clove)


Preheat the oven to 350. Grease large muffin tin. Whisk sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl whisk together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture to dry mixture (like you would when making Chocolate Chip Cookies). Do not over mix. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill large muffin cups 3/4 full with batter (should yeild 6 muffins). Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes. Let cook for 15-20 minutes. Turn out and eat!

Bejeezus 11 Tease

Hey hey, so here are a couple of pictures of the recipes that will be featured in Bejeezus 11. I've decided not to post the recipes because you need to buy Bejeezus 11 (and by buy, I mean purchase...not get a copy from a friend who works on the zine)! Trying to keep a zine going in this weird world can be quite daunting so it would be awesome if you could just support some hardworking, enthusiastic people with your five dollar bill. Keep the dream alive!


Cold Watermelon Soup:



Zucchini Banana Loaf:


I'm pretty psyched about these two because they accidentally feed alternative lifestyle eaters. This is the Zucchini Banana Loaf I've been making for years and it happens to be vegan. And it's not vegan because I use some alternative butter or egg supplement, it's vegan because it needs nothing of the sort. No butter, no dairy and no eggs. Bananas are magical and can do terrific things when called on. And I just realized that the Cold Watermelon Soup is not only vegan, but raw. Yep, absolutely no cooking was done in this process. Simply a lot of chopping and mixing. Bejeezus 11 should be out by the end of the summer. The issue is themed Second Hand. I'll let you know when its off the press.

Erin's Birthday Cake, It's Vegan

As you dedicated readers can tell, spring and summer are my busy birthday cake seasons. I've been slinging cakes from the oven to the open mouths since March. But this cake was superass special. It was my first attempt at making a full size vegan cake. And it was remarkable.




Ever since my friend Erin decided to take the Vegan plunge, I've wanted nothing more than to feed her. I think it's some weird mothering, nurturing thing I have. Don't get me wrong, I love to feed everyone! But feeding a Vegan is a little more satisfying. Especially because this vegan has a developed palette and knows when she's being duped. (Side note: I also like to feed other challenged eaters - deprived, allergic to Earth, Brynne and such).


Hungry Erin:


Well, if you ever click on my links to the right, you'll notice that I link to a few vegan sites. Kittee, the woman responsible for Cake Maker to the Stars blog posted the recipe for her own personal birthday cake a while back. I thought that using a vegan baker's personal birthday cake recipe would be a great direction to bake in. So, I baked her Birthday Banana Cake with Vegan Cream Cheeze Icing. I highly reccomend trying to bake this cake if you ever desire a vegan cake. It was rather fool proof, except for that I added the seedless preserves to the cake rather than as a filling for the cake. But that was a mistake I will latch onto because it yeilded perfect results.

Cake Before Oven:


Icing Before On Cake:

Sam's Baking Success: Banana Cake

So, my friend Sam Whitaker has recently been inspired to bake (maybe I'm rubbing off on her...hehe). Past baking experiences had left her with a bad taste in her mouth, literally, but her will is strong. The woman can cook you some vegetarian soul food that'll really stick to your bones. She is an amazing cook (you've never had mashed potatoes until you've had hers), but was an intimidated baker. Well, today was a triumphant success in the Whitaker Kitchen! Just Look:



She made the Decadent Banana Cake inspired by Southern Living: Our Best-Ever Cakes & Pies. Although she did not follow the recipe step by step, the result was one tasty banana loaf and one tasty banana short cake (not shortcake, but a short cake).

Recipe:
2 1/2 cups plus 5 1/2 tbsp cake flour
1 tbsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
4-5 large, very ripe (like stinky brown) bananas
2/3 cup buttermilk


Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour, baking soda and salt (this is an unecessary step, you can simply wisk it. Most flours come pre-sifted these days). Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium until smooth. Add sugars and mix on medium until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating mixture until blended after each egg. Add bananas and mix on low speed. Add 1/3 flour mixture and 1/3 buttermilk, mix on med-low until just blended (do not over mix). Add another 1/3 of flour mixture and 1/3 of buttermilk, mix on med-low until just blended (do not over mix). Add the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk and mix on med-low until just blended (do not over mix). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool for about an hour. Ice (or not) and eat.



Brooke Hint: Every time you add another ingredient, stop your mixer. And when a recipe says not to "over mix" or to "mix until just blended", this means that you mix the ingredients just barely. If you over mix a cake or a loaf, they will be dense and a little hard. If you want the cake/loaf to be moist and soft, you want to have little flour balls in your dough. These flour balls are your friends, they create air pockets and fluff!

For this cake, Sam used a standard Butter Cream icing. I don't feel like icing is necessary with this cake, the flavors are wonderful without the sugar additive. In fact, they would make delicious morning muffins. However, the Cream Cheese frosting on the Carrot Cake below would be a good match.

P.S. Other things Sam makes well...babies!

Andy and Alicia's Birthday Carrot Cake

As it turns out, I was supposed to make this cake three times in the past three months: One for Ryan's 30th, One for Heather's 30th, and one to share for Alicia's 25th and Andy's 27th. Ryan's cake was trumped by a dinner at St. Elmo's. Heather's cake was replaced with half a Dairy Queen frozen cake since our Florida trips did not overlap. And after losing my beloved recipe to a drawer in Florida, I thought Andy and Alica were shit out of luck. But Deidra came through with her Grandma's Carrot Cake Recipe and (with a few alterations) it was a tasty delight.



Recipe:
2 cups Unbleached, Organic All Purpose Flour
2 cups Vegan Cane Sugar
1 tsp granulated salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups canola oil
4 large cage free, organic eggs
2 1/2 cups grated carrots
8 oz. can crushed pineapples
1 cup coconut flakes
3/4 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
(I added a banana and 1/2 cup raisins)

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. butter, softened
1 1/4 lbs. powdered sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Heat oven to 350. Line two 9 inch baking pans with parchment circles. On parchment paper, sift together flour, sugar, salt, soda and powder. In large mixer with paddle attachment mix oil, eggs, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add carrot, pineapple, coconut and nuts. Mix well. Slowly add the sifted ingredients in 3 batches. Do not over mix. Divide into 2 prepared pans and cook for 25-35 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean). Remove cake from pans after 10 minutes and place on cooling rack.

For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix well with the whisk attachment.

Assemble cake after cake has completely cooled. Eat it.

Will's Birthday Cake

Well, I made our buddy Will Russell a birthday cake this past weekend for his 32nd! The chocolate cake was perfect but I totally got the consistency of the Coffee Butter Cream Icing wrong. It was too thick and wouldn't spread with any kind of flow. They, as in Will and Hillary, assured me it was tasty. But I'm still throwing out an IOU to them. I can do better and they deserve better!



On a side note, Will did tell me that Ace of Cakes is doing a cake for his Lebowski Fest this year. Unfortunately the Louisville Lebowski Fest is on July 11th and I'm expecting to have a little baby by then. But I'm sure there'll be lots of pictures and maybe they'll do an episode of Ace of Cakes devoted to this cake. We'll see? How exciting!

The Strawberry Cake Incident

So I called a few friends to let them know to expect some delicious treats later Wednesday evening. I had bought the ingredients to make my Grandmother's Strawberry Cake recipe. My Dad had made a birthday request for the cake so I decided to make some extra cupcakes to share with friends. I made the cake, success. I made the cupcakes and the events following led to some disappointed friends and no company to play scrabble with! I swear, I can't keep my word even when I actually try....we are destined to be flakes.

The cupcakes were cooling on the porch railing.




And then they were on the cement. So I went to grab our camera so I could blog about this. And while backing up to take a picture...




My barefoot stepped on this poor dead bird.

Blueberry Nectarine Muffins, Finally!

Recipe:
2 sticks organic, unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
1 cup organic, unbleached granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp organic, pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (i use kosher)
1 pint of organic blueberries
2 cups organic, unbleached flour (whole wheat flour is even better)
1/2 cup soy milk or dairy milk (i use vanilla soy b/c that is what we always have in the fridge)
1 nectarine, cubed into 1/4 cubes
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar in the raw

Preheat oven to 375. In a mixer with a paddle attachment (or handmixer) cream the butter until smooth. Add sugar and mix. Add eggs, vanilla, baking powder, salt and mix just until blended. Smoosh 1/2 the blueberries with in your fists and add to the batter. With mixer running at a low speed add half the flour and half the milk, and mix until just blended. Don't overmix or your muffins will be dense like a loaf...and that's no fun. Repeat with the remaining milk and flour. Add the remaining blueberries and the nectarine. Mix by hand with wooden spoon or spatula.




Butter your muffin pan or line the pan with muffin liners. I prefer to use a pan that makes a larger than traditional muffin, but it only makes 6 muffins. Spoon the batter to fill the cups 3/4 full. Mix the cinnamon with the sugar in the raw and sprinkle over the batter in the cups. Bake about 25-30 minutes. Check them first after 20 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for atleast 30 minutes before turning them out.

C is for Cookie

Hillary,
I totally lied. Those delicious chocolate chips were from Lotsa Pasta. They are like $4.00 a half pint so I only use them for special occasions (like every other batch...hehe). I forgot that I used those when you asked, oops! But, if you are not too biased, lookie lookie what I have here.

Vegan Zucchini Banana Muffins

Part of the reason I have yet to go totally vegan is the unnaturalness of all of it. Tofu doesn't grow on trees. Where the hell does fake butter come from, a chemist? Egg replacer wtf! I just have more of a hard time justifying eating a synthetic rather than milking a cow and creaming it to butter, you know? So, I read that bananas can substitute for eggs in some baked goods and that made me happy. And then created these delicious muffins that will now be a breakfast staple at the Vaughn-Pierce household. J loves them with his hot black coffee in the morning.

Recipe:
2 zucchini (shredded chunky with a cheese shredder)
2 ripe and squishy bananas
3 unbleached, organic cups flour
1 1/2 cups organic canola oil
2 cups vegan sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bk. soda
1/2 tsp bk. pwdr
1 tsp cinnamon (i think i used more, but not sure)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
lemon zest (just do it until you are bored)
chopped walnuts (maybe a 1/2 cup)

whisk flour, soda, powder and spices in one bowl. mix sugar, oil, banana, zucchini, vanilla and zest in another bowl. mix them 'chocolate chip cookie style' in a mixer. add walnuts by hand and i put in a handful of chocolate chips last minute. grease your pan.

for a loaf 350 for 45-60
for big ass muffins (like a 6 pan, never tried a 12) 350 for 25min or so

let them cool for 20 minutes before you dump 'em out and eat 'em.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Well, I used Earth Balance for a butter substitute as reccomended by my favorite beautiful vegan Erin for the batch in the photo. But I simply think the muffins taste marvelous with organic, unslated butter. They rise better with butter and are less gooey. J ate them just the same so maybe it's all in my head.

Recipe:
2 sticks organic, unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
1 cup organic, unbleached granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp organic, pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (i use kosher)
2 1/2 cups rinsed, organic cranberries
2 cups organic, unbleached flour
1/2 cup soy milk or dairy milk (i use vanilla soy b/c that is what we always have in the fridge)
Zest of one orange
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar in the raw

Preheat oven to 375. In a mixer with a paddle attachment (or handmixer) cream the butter until smooth. Add sugar and mix. Add eggs, vanilla, baking powder, salt and mix just until blended. With mixer running at a low speed add half the flour and half the milk, and mix until just blended. Don't overmix or your Cranberry Muffins will be dense like a Cranberry Loaf...and that's no fun. Repeat with the remaining milk and flour. Add the remaining cranberries and the orange zest. Mix by hand with wooden spoon or spatula.

Butter your muffin pan or line the pan with muffin liners. I prefer to use a pan that makes a larger than traditional muffin, but it only makes 6 muffins. Spoon the batter to fill the cups 3/4 full. Mix the cinnamon with the sugar in the raw and sprinkle over the batter in the cups. Bake about 25-30 minutes. Check them first after 20 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for atleast 30 minutes before turning them out.