Friday, April 16, 2010

Vegan Raspberry Scones anyone?


So I'm not entirely sure that they are vegan but I got the recipe from the cookbook 'Babycakes', from the vegan bakery in New York so I assume they are. I, on the other hand, am not vegan but I like to try out new things. And they are fabulous. I had to run to the grocery store with my son to find spelt flour, coconut oil and agave nectar, for which I didn't have in my pantry, and that was interesting. I had never heard of agave nectar before and therefor had no clue what I was looking for. I searched the jam isle, baking isle, juice isle and finally gave up and went back to the health food section to look around and then I found it right where I started! So at 10:30pm I started making these scones because I wanted to send some out to my brother in Calgary(my mom was flying out the next morning), so I wanted them ready for take off. I doubled the recipe because they only made 8 and I wanted enough to give to the rest of my family. they said to bake for 14 minutes, rotating half way, but I found that they were still too soft in the middle so I left them in for another couple of minutes. Next times I might leave them in a bit longer because they were still a bit soft but otherwise delicious!

I'm not sure if giving out the recipe would be some sort of copy write issue so for the time being I won't. But so far, the scones are the first recipe I try, this book is very good. Here's a link to their website if anyone is interested.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Buttercream icing

This past Wednesday the people in my college program put on a bake sale and I decided to make one-bowl chocolate cupcakes but then realized I didn't have enough cocoa powder so I had to take a look in my cupboards and take inventory of what I had. I had lots of peanut butter. So peanut butter cupcakes it was. And OH MY GOD they were awesome. They came out crispy on the outside and moist and tender inside. Soooo good. And to top those off I thought; "What goes best with peanut butter? CHOCOLATE!"

I made a chocolate buttercream from another cupcake recipe book I had and it turned out a perfect match. The buttercream was very light and fluffy but lots of butter. Like a heart attack in a bite.

And so they were a hit with the public AND my family. Although one of my nephews is not a cake person (what kind of one year old doesn't like cake?) and he refused it. You don't know what you're missing kid.

-F