Bake and Destroy

I have recently had the opportunity to taste some recipes from this little gem....the verdict? Let's just say after I tasted the Black Metal Forest Brownies I rushed to Amazon and got a copy of it delivered to me quicker than the plate of brownies disappeared...ok so maybe not that fast...It's all vegan and from what I have tasted, downright yummy! It has a little bit of everything in it.

Now, my theory on cookbooks is you can NEVER have too many...D, not so much.  He protested this purchase just a tiny bit stating I have 5,000 cookbooks and we are running out of room and I especially didn't need another vegan cookbook.  His opinion on my purchase changed after he bit into a Chai Berry Muffin (I may or may not have chosen this one to wow him based on my knowledge of his love for chai tea), and he "couldn't believe it was vegan". Sheesh, I tell ya! Some people hear the words vegetarian or vegan and run the other way...give it a chance, I promise...with the right chef/baker, vegan can be tasty.  I swear people think I eat bland "weird" food all the time.  Granted, some vegans do eat boring meals, but so do some omnivores! :) 

Anyhoo, my first recipe I've made from this was the Chai Berry Muffins, I just used blueberries instead of mixed berries.  I've made these twice now, the first time I followed the recipe to a "T" the second time I made modifications (see parentheses).  They were good both ways, if I had to choose, I'd say keep them accordingly, or at least don't sub agave for sugar.

You must try these! 

3/4 cup soy or rice milk (if adding agave instead of sugar, after you boil and steep the tea bags in the 3/4 cup only use 1/2 cup or else there will be too much moisture. It typically evaporates upon boiling/steeping but just in case)

2 black tea bags

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I subbed 1 cup whole wheat)

2/3 cup sugar (2/3 cup agave MINUS 2 tablespoons)

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of ground white pepper

2 1/2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

3 tablespoons water

1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil (1/3 cup applesauce)

Preheat oven to 400 (375 if you use agave).  

Heat the sou milk on the stove or in a microwave until almost boiling, add the tea bags and steep for 3-4 minutes.  Remove the tea bags and let cool.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, salt, and pepper.  Stir in the frozen berries.  In a small bow, whisk the ground flaxseeds and water together.  Add this, the tea mixture and the oil to the dry flour mixture.  Stir just until mixed; the batter will be lumpy.  Scoop the batter into the muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes (check after 15 if using agave), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cool for 1 minute before removing from the pan.  Makes 12 muffins.  These are SO yummy.

Another favorite I have made from the book so far is the Black Metal Forest Brownies.  If you like brownies, or chocolate for that matter, you MUST try these.  I'd say you must try these BEFORE the Chai Berry Muffins.  Yes. They are that good.  I don't like cherry pie and this recipe includes cherry pie filling and my oh my you don't even know it's there. I have NOT modified this recipe yet.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds

2 cups sugar (YIKES!)

1/2 cup canola oil

2/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I recommend the ghirardelli dark chocolate chips for this recipe)

1/3 cup cherry pie filling (trust me on this)

extra chocolate chips to sprinkle on top.

Prehead oven to 350.  Line a 9x9-inch pan with parchment paper or grease lightly.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a small bow.  Stir in the ground flaxseeds.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, water and vanilla.  Stir the dry ingredients ingot he wet; the batter will be thick.  Fold in the chocolate chips and scoop into the prepared pan.  Drop the cherry pie filling by the tablespoonful on top of the batter and use a knife to swirl it in. sprinkle a few more chocolate chips on top. 

bake until the sides are set up- the middle will look kind of wet and crackled- about 35 minutes.

Enjoy!

It's a good thing I am VERY generous when I bake.  I give about 90% of it away and keep very little. I made these brownies, ate one, then took the rest to work and didn't eat another one.  I make cookies, and mail them to friends or deliver them to friends around here and send them to work with D.  

Lastly, these aren't from the book, but I thought I'd share a little secret with you for the most AMAZING chocolate chip cookies in the entire world.  Follow the recipe on the back of the nestle tollhouse bag except use 4 bags, yes FOUR WHOLE BAGS, of chocolate chips to one recipe.  I promise you, you won't regret it and your tastebuds will be in heaven.  I learned this trick from a friend.  I have always loved her chocolate chip cookies and could never replicate them.  Apparently my 2 bags of chocolate chips wasn't enough. Four is the magic number here.  By the way, this literally made me a million cookies.  I like to bake a couple then roll the rest into balls, line them up closely, but not touching, on a baking sheet and stick them in the freezer until frozen solid.  Then stick them in a bag, voila! Fresh cookie dough whenever you'd like a couple! :) 

ENJOY! 

You'd think I'm going to come back to California at least 20lbs heavier, but as I mentioned, I'm quite generous, I don't eat a decent amount of what I bake :) 

White chocolate fruit tart

This fruit tart was made for our class by a parent of one of the kids who left. I love fruit tarts. But this one was by far the best one I had ever had. Every teacher agreed! I had to email her for the recipe! And I made it on the 4th of July and everyone loved it!


White chocolate fruit tart

Crust:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup flour

Heat oven to 300 F. Beat butter and powdered sugar until smooth; blend in flour. Press mixture into the bottom and up side of a greased tart pan. Bake 20-25 min until lightly browned. Cool completely.

Filling:
1 2/3 cup white chocolate chips (~10 oz)
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 package (8 oz) softened cream cheese

In microwave safe bowl, place white chocolate chips and whipping cream. Microwave on high 1-1.5 min until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred vigorously. Beat in cream cheese. Pour into crust.

Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Fruit of your choice

In a small saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch; stir in juices. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thickened. Cool.
Arrange fruit on top of white chocolate filling. Carefully pour glaze over fruit topping. Chill completely. Tart is best served cold.

Apple pie filled spice cake cupcakes.

These cupcakes are inspired by a cupcake I had a while back at one of my favorite little vegan places in Sacramento called Sugar Plum Vegan.  I remember the day I had purchased it after lunch with Crystal I was driving home and decided to break off a little piece, I had no clue there was apple pie filling in the middle and I was so impressed at how delicious it was! I was never a huge fan of pie because I couldn't take the texture of the filling, it has grown on me a lot now but that's more recent. These cupcakes are delicious! The apple pie filling is a nice little surprise to people as well! Danny doesn't like cake really but he tried these because spice cake is a cake that he sort of likes and he loved them! If a person who doesn't even like cake loved them they have to be good! Enjoy!


*Spice cake cupcakes*

• 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
3. Cream Butter in a mixing bowl; add brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs one at a time mixing after each, and vanilla. Scrape bowl often.
4. Add 1/3 sifted dry ingredients and mix, then 1/3 buttermilk and mix, then dry, then milk, then dry, then milk, mixing after each addition at lowest speed until smooth.
5. Fill prepared cake cups (Not to high because when you pull them out to add the apple pie filling they will spill over if they are too full. I actually accidently bought jumbo cake cups that said they work in regular sized cupcake tins and for the first batch I cut them to be the size of regular cupcake holders and a couple spilled over so for the second batch I left them at their jumbo size and put 1/4 cup of batter into each and then they didn't overflow when I added the apple pie filling, after they cooled I trimmed the paper around them. OR you can just make jumbo ones which I think I am going to do next time)
6. Bake for 10 minutes, remove and place 1 tablespoon of apple pie filling in the center. Return to oven and bake for an additional 12-15 mins or until done.

*You must use cake flour for this recipe, there is a difference between cake flour and all purpose flour. I have made the mistake the first time making a cake from scratch and it called for cake flour and I used all purpose and the cake was so dense and just not right. I specifically chose this recipe because it uses cake flour. There is a conversion and I believe it's 1 cup of cake flour = 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 3 tablespoons but you should definitely double check that and just use cake flour! :) 

*Apple pie filling*

• 4 golden apples
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 4 tbs apple juice (I just got a single serving sized bottle of apple juice so I didn't waste a whole bottle)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 stick butter, diced into cubes

1. Pell your apples and dice them into small cubes
2. In a medium microwave-safe bowl combine your apple juice, flour, sugar, and cinnamon
3. Cube your butter and add it to the mixture in the bowl
4. Add your apple chunks and mix well
5. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 10 minutes - stiring halfway through
6. Place in the fridge to cool

 *Vanilla buttercream frosting* (This is the one I chose)

• 1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon half and half
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. In a bowl cream butter and salt. Gradually add sugar mixing after each addition.
2. Add the half and half and vanilla and cream 3 to 5 minutes until smooth and creamy.

*Cinnamon brown sugar frosting* (this one came with the apple pie filling recipe)

• 1 stick of unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 stick of salted butter (softened)
• 4 cups powered sugar (sifted)
• 3 tbs of half and half
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 2 tbs cinnamon
• 2 tbs light brown sugar

1. Cream the butter and brown sugar on medium high until it turns white and fluffy (about 5 minutes)
2. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time - mixing on medium speed
3. Add the half and half and vanilla - mix well for 2 minutes or until well combined
4. Add the cinnamon and mix well.  Add more if the flavor is not as strong as you prefer
5. If you want a thicker buttercream - add more powdered sugar.