I've got the fever!

Spring Fever! I smell it in the air, feel it in my sinuses...it's there. It has caused me to bake in a "theme".

Last week I set about making a box o' happiness for a friend, just because I haven't mailed her anything in a while and she and her family are my biggest (baked good) fans. The real stand-out for me were these:

Citrus. Citrus fruits just scream "spring" to me.

They are Orange Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies, a variation on the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies in Veganomicon. I halved the recipe, getting a perfect 18, and used orange extract in place of the almond. I also chopped up a Chocolove Dark Chocolate with Orange Peel bar in place of chocolate chips. The orange flavor remained subtle and not over powering. They were so fudgey. Basically they tasted like orange flavored Tootsie Rolls, from what I remember anyways.

Up close, and wonderful:

The next recipe was necessitated by an omen. I happened to have, precisely, the exact amount of Oreos to make the Cookies and Cream Pound Cake from My Sweet Vegan. Fourteen Oreos. That was a sign. They also happened to be the yellow creme "spring" Oreos, so there is little flecks of yellow in the cake.

It's the only picture I took, and it is blurry and does it no justice. I forgot to take another after I removed it from the pan. I was nervous about sending it. I tasted the batter, which was awesome, but I didn't get to test the finished product. There was no need for worry. Two days later when my friend received it, it was nice and moist and perfect. Okay, she said it was orgasmic, and that she had already devoured half of it before she even called me. There was moaning involved. Anywho, the only change I made was to use Toffutti Better Than Sour Cream in place of soy yogurt because I never have soy yogurt in my house. There was a broad range for the baking time, anywhere from 40-50 minutes. Mine took about 45 minutes.

Lastly, I turned to My Sweet Vegan again to make Coffee Break Shortbread. I don't drink coffee, but I love coffee-flavored things. Now I know why I don't need to develop a coffee habit: one of these cookies gave me a buzz. A serious buzz. I am a caffeine addict. I drink energy drinks everyday and they do nothing for me. And then one little cookie lights me up. That being said, these are good.

Ducks, bunnies and turtles! So "spring-ish"! I guess I got about 15. Towards the end of rolling and cutting I got tired of it and just rolled the rest of the dough into balls and flattened them. I also used Swiss Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee. If you look closer, one of the bunnies had an accident...

and he lost his head. Poor bunny.

Look! A fully intact bunny! Happy ending!

Here's some pictures of what snow looks like at 4 am.

Dear Mr. Winter, can you let up a little bit? This is Tennessee. Last time I checked this was the south. The flowers and the trees say that it is Spring, maybe you should get together with them and talk this through. Thanks! Love, Lauren