Blueberry Muffins

Know what makes them awesome? My homemade blueberry liquor. Yeah, I did that. Yeah, it makes them tasty. 

The recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. But... veganized and tweaked as usual. 

I used frozen blueberries and thawed them and drained them. I saved the liquid to add to the batter, but the process helps the blueberries hold up a bit better. They do not really need the extra blueberry juice, and I would leave it out next time. 

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup soy milk with 2 tablespoons flax seed (egg substitute) well whisked together
3/4 cup soy milk or other milk sub.
1/3 canola oil
(I also added 2 tablespoon of blueberry liquor. I will post the recipe in a later post). 
1 teaspoon or so finely grated lemon peel. 
1 cup well drained blueberries (thawed or fresh)

Oven at 400 degrees

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Combine wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients until just moist. Add blueberries. Fill greased or lined muffin pans 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 25 minutes.

If you wanted... just before baking you could add a bit of jelly or jam to the top of the batter.

Coffee Cake Muffins

I haven't been baking much since we decided to move. And here we are... in the new house for two months and I suddenly want to make all the things. 

So I pulled out the big old BHaG cookbook. We all know the one. In it is a bunch of great muffin recipes but not so much with the vegan. That is quite alright. I can fix that.

Coffee Cake Muffins made vegan:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup shortening
1/3 cup soy milk and 2 tablespoons ground flax seed (this will be the egg sub.)
1/2 cup soy milk

************

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped nuts ( I used almonds as that is about all anyone in my house will eat)
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon melted earth balance or other vegan margarine

Sift the 1 1/2 cup flour, sugar and baking powder into mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. At the flax mix and the milk and mix until just moist.

Combine the brown sugar, nuts, 1 tablespoon flour, cinnamon and melted EB.

Place half the batter into muffin tins (greased or lined with muffin cups), sprinkle nut mixture over, then top with the remaining batter, filling half full. Then bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

They did take a bit longer for me, I think my oven is running cool. But they seem to be a big hit. I would even top them with a light vanilla icing.

A new project

I have this amazing old cookie cookbook that has been around my house so long I don't even remember where i got it. It was written in '66 (it is the Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies). I have decided to try and veganize as many of the recipes as I can. This could get interesting as many of the recipes call for evaporated milk and pudding mixes and so on and so on. I think this will be a fun adventure and I started today.

Coconut Diamonds: (I will present my notes and changes at the end)
6 tablespoons Earth Balance Margarine
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons ground flax seed mixed with 4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flaked coconut

Grease an 8x8 pan ( at the least grease the sides!)
Cream together butter, sugar, and salt. Stir in flour(1 cup amount). Pat onto bottom of 8x8 pan. Bake at 350degress for 15 minutes or till lightly browned.

Meanwhile, beat flax seed and water, add vanilla. Gradually add brown sugar, beating until just blended. Add flour and salt. Stir in coconut. Spread over baked layer. Bake about 20 minutes longer or until toothpick comes out clean. Sprinkle more coconut over the top, reduce oven to 200 degrees and bake another 5 minutes, until the top coconut is lightly browned. Cool, cut into diamonds (although really squares are pretty cool too).

Notes: The flax seed replaces 2 eggs. The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of walnuts, but my family hates walnuts. And the recipe doesn't need them. It would be lovely with some orange zest and extract. I mean lovely!

A little spice

Vypati has a blog. But you know that already. What you may not know is that he has been getting his food out into the interwebs. He has quite a few regular readers and is promoting his blog through other websites. This includes several "food porn" sites.


This photo is of the jalapeno poppers that were filled with his home made cheese sauce. These are totally vegan and totally amazingly delicious. For those who wonder what vegans eat, check out Vyapti's blog!

I was doing so well,

And then I just wore out. The end of the school year does that to me. We try to squeeze too much into too small a time frame.

I haven't been doing a lot other than reading. Lots of new books since my birthday. I have made a few cards, but have not done much more than that. Sometimes the down time is critical for recharging the batteries.

The in-laws are visiting this week. Naturally, this means lots of good, vegan food. Everyday, really means lots of good vegan food. Cooking is my husbands hobby (go HERE for some awesome recipes). When company comes, though we up the ante. In our fridge right now are chick pea burgers, Moroccan soup, and seitain. This week we are feeding omnivore folk stromboli.

I have no idea what to bake for them. The girls are voting for lavender cupcakes. But I was hoping for inspiration for something new. So any ideas are welcome.

The picture in this post is from my friend who owns boundinbeauty.com. Need something custom, ask her. Her work is amazing!

That is all for now.
K

Lavender Sugar Cookies, The Vegan way

Ever since getting a bottle of lavender coffee syrup for my birthday, I have been trying to find creative ways to use it in my baking. Aside from the lavender cupcakes, I have made lavender lemondade.

This yummy little cookie is the first incarnation of a lavender sugar cookie. The basic recipe is from the standard Better Homes and Garden cookbook. But I veganized it by using EnerG egg replacer, and vanilla soy instead of milk and eggs. I then added some of my lavender essential oil, and some of the syrup. I am pretty pleased, but think that next time I will try flax seed instead, for the egg.

Enjoy
K

What an interesting morning

I came home from work early this morning, feeling pretty dizzy and "spinny". I might have a sinus infection. That said, I came home from work feeling pretty terrible. So inamagine my suprise to get the message from my hubby that a photo I took was on vegan.com
I was pretty proud of that photo when I took it. And by the way, it tasted just as good as it looked! Check out the recipe at my hubby's blog.
Peace
K

Green Tea you can Eat

Something a little different today. Last night my dear friends came over for dinner and some work on astrology charts. I have to say, I learned a lot. We printed up charts for all of my family and I will be spending the evening (after folding laundry of course) learning more.

Tuesday is Rachel's birthday. Knowing this, we had to have little mini cakes for after dinner. Plus I had been dying to try out the recipe from my "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" for Green Tea Cupcakes. Easiest thing in the world to make. Divinely Delicious and, I argue, good for you because they are vegan. I used finely chopped candied ginger on the top, rather then the pretty little flowers. But the ginger added a wonderful little bite.

So I am off to spend the rest of my night folding laundry and looking at star charts. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday night.
Peace
K