Yet another vegan blog. Obsessed with cookies. Addicted to peanut butter. Fighting for the vegan revolution!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Jelly Donut Cuppers

This morning, my office had a breakfast potluck. We really welcome any excuse to throw a party, and Halloween served as that excuse. There was non-vegan food as far as the eye could see. I live in the south, where there is meat in everything and the more butter the better. I have one friend/co-worker who is sympathetic to my opinions and food choices. In fact, she welcomes new foods and is quite vegetarian friendly. She shares a love of vegan Gimme Lean "sausage" with me, and made biscuits (with rice milk) and "sausage" for me, and even made the waffles with Bisquick and rice milk so I could have some. She's awesome. The omnis had no idea what they were eating, and they weren't complaining. Amidst the sausage/egg casserole, blueberry muffins, cinnamon bites, bagels and pumpkin bread were the jelly donut Cupcakes/Muffins that I brought. Obviously they are from the current greatest vegan cookbook out there, Veganomicon. Instead of making them in a regular cupcake tin, I used mini fluted silicone baking cups, to give them a donut look:



I was true to the recipe, and I got 12 beautiful little "donuts." Yeah, I know that there are only 11, but one broke apart as I was removing the silicone. So I had to eat it. That's the rule. The only problem I had was that the grape jelly didn't sink down as it should. That was probably an error on my part. They came out quite bubbly, but no less purdy. See?

They were very much like donuts. Not too sweet and crumbly like cupcakes. Leaving them out all night definitely helped firm them up.

Jeez, can't a donut get some privacy?!

I feel like such a perv.


Okay, so I like these cuppers. Can you blame me? They are perfect in their imperfectness.

Monday, October 29, 2007

"Finger" Cookies...Part Deux

In true, and more timely, Halloween fashion I made bloody finger cookies again this weekend. The only difference being that they are a slightly more festive green color.

After about 14 fingers I got impatient, so I took the rest of the dough and made a giant hand; a "Herman Munster" hand. Man, do I love The Munsters.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

My name is Lauren...and I am a choco-holic.

So it seems lately that I have begun collecting chocolate bars. I have heard about so many fabulous brands that I cannot find around here, so when I see one I have to buy it...in triplicate. No, it's not that bad. Yet. Yesterday I called in sick to work. I mean "sick." I did a little Christmas shopping with my free time. I drove 30 miles to the closet city to this mudpuddle and went to Target. Oh, the chocolate. Oh, the variety. First off:


Chocolove. I haven't tried it yet, as I am afraid I will combust with delight. There were so many more flavors to chose from, but this one called to me. My love of ginger in all forms brought me to the decision to buy this one. I will not be disappointed. I promise.


I am pretty sure that Ritter Sport bars are my new favs. I had two, but one didn't make it home. It barely made it to the car. It was the Marzipan bar, and everything that dreams are made of. I loved how smooth that the dark chocolate was, as I have always had a hard time adapting to dark chocolates. I would normally eat dark chocolate in moderation because too much makes me ill, but the Marzipan bar was gone in a flash - very much like a dream. Sigh. Above is the extra dark bar that I have yet to devour.


The Endangered Species bar. I have had my fair share of these, but had to grab some of these since they were on sale. This is the smooth organic dark chocolate, but my heart lies with the Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint.

I also got some new cooling racks. My old ones weren't getting the job done since they don't hold much. So now I have these:

The Wilton website has a much better photo. They're stackable, obvs. Also non-stick.


Another shot, for good measure.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Coooooooookies

Cookie orgy! These are some amazing chocolate chip cookies. Seriously. Thin and chewy. See recipe here. Ch-ch-check it out.





These cookies are not shy. See that up close and personal pornolicious shot? Mmmm, melty...


On a non-baking, yet still food related note, I snapped this pic at a local grocery store the other day:

Truth in advertising? I don't know if anyone else even noticed. Certainly not the person stocking the candy.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

My First 'Veganomicon' Conquest!


It was only natural that the first thing I went for when receiving Veganomicon was the breads/muffins. Above is the Orange Cranberry Bread in muffin-top form. I halved the recipe and followed it to the letter other than using applesauce for the oil. They rose very nicely and are just the right texture. They aren't too sweet either, so they are perfect for breakfast. I have plenty of cranberries left, so my next target is the Pumpkin Cranberry Scones. I have always been a faithful Barnes & Noble shopper, so I got my book a little earlier than my Amazon peeps. There will be plenty to come from this book. I have been carrying it around like it holds the secret to life. There are post-it notes stuck everywhere. Tomorrow I will have lots more to share. I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of time in the kitchen tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

No Muffins...?

Yes, there are no muffins. Not this week anyways. There will be cake and many kinds of cookies in the future. Trust me. I have a birthday cake to make and two different shindigs at work to make for, not to mention I was asked by a friend to make some pecan sandies for her - because who needs Keebler's? I love the holidays.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Orange Coconut Muffins


These tropical goodies are courtesy of Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe riiiiiiiight here. I only made one tiny substitution: I didn't have any wheat bran (I was lucky to have wheat germ), so I threw in some oatmeal - why not? Oh, wait. I forgot. I also used apple juice instead of orange juice because I couldn't get enough juice out of my orange. So sue me. They were mighty tasty nonetheless. I halved the recipe and made them in my nifty silicone baking cups. That last tidbit has nothing to do with anything, I just like to talk about my silicone cups (...huh?). I'm tired and I feel silly tonight, so I should probably stop for now. I leave you with an inside shot:


Mmmmmm, muffin-y.