vegan cookies and crazy cupcakes.

Last night, Casey, Deanna, Liam, Andrew, and I made vegan chocolate chip cookies. Although, we made a first batch from a different recipe and they were awful. It only tasted like the chocolate chips we put in them. But the second recipe, from Everyday Dish, was great and worked so well. And they were fantastic. Needless to say, they're gone now after 24 hours later.

And now...something from thisiswhyyourefat.com

CUPCAKE KEBABS!
real baking will commence over break for now....finals.

<3

winter break baking #1

These scream me. I will make them!
LOOK AT THESE!
I'm so excited!
<3

A challenge!

Can you really compete with Girl Scouts?
As of now, not really. But one day I will. And I'll win.

A week ago (two weeks ago? I can't keep track of time!), I tried my hand at some homemade thin mints in our crowded kitchen. Look at that! People just don't clean up in communal kitchens and it's so annoying. Okay, so maybe some of that stuff is mine (the blue bowl, measuring cups, chocolate chips, and tin foil, but otherwise the dirty dishes in the background are NOT mine!) but it was so crowded in there. Anyways.

I had time to bake and this cookie recipe took a lot of time. You need to make the dough, roll them into logs and freeze them for an hour or so, and then slice and bake. Pretty simple, but time consuming. I started baking with Danielle and we embarked on the task together.


The batter is interesting. There's no egg and it's very, very dry, but you just have to keep mixing it until it becomes dough. Towards the end, I just ended up sticking my hands in the chocolate mix and kneading it by hand. Worked just as well but it definitely didn't feel like cookie dough. But it tasted alright! Chocolate and peppermint extract...can't go wrong. After the dough was finished, I rolled them into the logs and, well, let's just say Danielle and I couldn't help but laugh.

Seriously. I mean, come on. It's funny looking! You know what we were thinking.

Actually, I could have made them thinner, definitely, since Thin Mints are, well, thin. And they're not soft cookies so biting into a thick homemade thin mint might hurt. After freezing them for an hour, I sliced them and placed them on baking sheets and waited. They're funny little biscuit-cookies. They don't expand and take shape like normal cookies. These guys, they just get a little harder, but not much. After the baking time, we took them out of the oven and let them cool. they looked like little hockey pucks, but luckily were much softer than one.



Of course, Thin Mints have a chocolate coating on top. Before we began dipping the biscuit-cookies in melted chocolate and butter, Danielle and I tried a plain one. Not bad. Although next time, maybe I'd up the peppermint extract and chocolate because I think some of the peppermint was lost in the baking process. After the cookies were cooled, we began dipping, which was probably the most fun. Who doesn't like melted chocolate? We set them on tin foil and carried them to the freezer to set (that required so much teamwork it was crazy). And that was my first foray into thin mints.

You might be wondering how the held up? Well...the feedback I got was basically all the same: good, strange, hard cookies but ultimately, like a thin mint. As for me, I'm not too sure. All that effort for an alright cookie? One day I'll try 'em again and slice the cookies thinner, but they did taste good, especially with a generous chocolate coating over them. People did eat them (although not as much as muffins or other cookies I've baked), so I'm happy. A good experiment and challenge overall.

The recipe was found here, and her thin mints look so much more authentic than mine. Definitely the slicing.

Oh, and look! It's almost Thanksgiving! Can't wait to get home and see friends and family and bake in a real kitchen.

<3

Speed Baking

A few weeks ago I was sent Pumpkin Spice Quick Bread Mix from William-Sonoma in a package of Halloween candy from my mama! And so tonight I finally baked them since I'm running low on granola bars for breakfast and muffins are always great. And I have free time tonight while so of course I'm gonna bake.

I used the recipe they had on the side of the packaging for muffins, a slightly different procedure, and they baked for exactly twenty minutes. And they were good. Really good. Moist and pumpkiny with bits of pecan. Shared some with Casey, Claire, Danielle, Zoe, Josh, and good conversation ensued. That's the thing about baking, especially in dorms: people come together.

And now, mornings are going to be that much nicer with a muffin before class.
Also: floor birthdays mean more treats. Casey and I just got chocolate cupcakes made from the Bon. Oh, the Bon...eh. But it's a cupcake and sweet and tasty nonetheless.

So, what we have here are pumpkin muffins for the beginning of November. It's been sunny here and gorgeous with leaves swirling everywhere. It's felt a little like home, but wetter. And it's really nice.

<3

update: vegan banana muffins

Baked those guys again yesterday afternoon. Used a bit less batter in the muffin tins and got a full dozen this time. They tasted just as fantastic as they did the first time! So it wasn't a fluke :) Had twelve yesterday at 3:00ish, and now there are only four left.

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Mission: Vegan

I know if done right, vegan baked goods can taste incredible. Back home, at my favorite vegetarian/vegan restaurant, they make a really good chocolate cake and vanilla frosting. I have no idea how they do it without milk, eggs, and butter, but they do. And sure, there are hundreds of bakeries with vegan goodies that even a carnivore would eat. However, after eating the vegan baked goods at my school's cafeteria, my faith in vegan baking was waning.

Seriously. The vegan muffins that appear on weekend brunches taste as sickly as they look. (maybe that's an over exaggeration, but they don't taste nearly as good as a normal muffin)

So, after a promise to a vegan friend that one day I would bake treats he could eat, I found a vegan banana muffin recipe and a daunting task: make it edible.

The first time I ever baked something vegan was at Jenny's house way back in high school. She didn't have some non-vegan ingredient in her house, probably eggs, so a bunch of us decided instead of going out to get the ingredient, we would just make a vegan dessert and settled on peanut butter bars. They turned out flaky (in a bad way) and tasteless.



These muffins worried me at first. The batter looked watery and tasted too floury but I followed the recipe so there wasn't much else to do. I popped them in the oven and as they were baking, they rose to HUGE heights! Totally thought I filled the muffin tins too high with batter but after they were finished baking and had cooled, they were perfect. And a little funny looking. I did happen to run out of cupcake liners but the muffins came out of the tin without struggle and with a tan. The tops of the muffins were a pale cream and the sides were a golden brown. Silly looking, but the taste? You wouldn't even know it was vegan. They were moist and banana-y and delicious! It's a recipe I would use over and over again.

And my vegan friend approved. Those muffins barely lasted 48 hours.
Yo, cafeteria. You better step up your game because vegan muffins can taste pretty damn good.

oh so hipster martha stewart.
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And they come with wheels!

I think this article speaks for itself.

Who could resist a cupcake on wheels?!
Insane.

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Cookins!

Oh, look! Cookins!

So, yes, after making delicious Silver Palate cookie dough (it's my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe) and then placing it in muffin tins, all was not lost. Honestly, there's something awfully disappointing about a bad batch of baked goods, but luckily, cookies baked in muffin tins was a success. Like the brownies, you end up getting a denser, bigger portion of the original baked good. They turned out great and tasted just as they should, although a few of the cookins (cookie+muffin = cookin) had tops that were sunken in. But that just got me thinking that they need either a scoop of ice cream on top or some frosting to patch the hole. Or, you know, those are always good test trys. You know: the cookie that doesn't look as nice and neat as the others so it becomes the first one you eat, just to make sure it tastes alright.

A success. Which is good since I'm still too lazy to buy cookie sheets. In time, in time but until then, I will probably continue to bake in that tin.
I also don't have a mixing bowl. That's why the cookie dough was prepared in a pot. A very handy, trusty pot. We filled the tins about halfway full of dough and they baked a bit longer than the normal 8-10 minutes, but not much.
Totally recommend this recipe.

cookie muffins?!

Can you bake cookies in cupcake tins?
Possibly yes.
The answer...in a few moments.

edit: Yes you can! More soon. <3

the first of many !

Yo. I'm starting a baking blog since baking in dorms is crazy enough as it is. It should be documented. And everyone likes pictures of tasty food! Like that one down below! See it?



So it was one of those days where everything seems to go wrong. Just pile after pile of awkward moments and news you don't really want to hear heaping up inching in closer to where you're sitting.

Yeah, wasn't the best day I've had.
And Casey, I don't think it was the best day for her either.

But hey, on the bright side, I had plenty of free time at night and rather than wallow and worry the only logical thing to do...was bake! With Casey! And eventually, we enlisted the help of Paul. Which of course, is the best, baking with friends.

I still don't own baking sheets yet and I wanted to make the Silver Palate cookies I love and always make at home when I want good old chocolate chip cookies. So cookies were sort of out of the question unless I wanted to borrow cookie sheets from Abby again. I was wondering how cookies would bake in cupcake tins but then settling on baking brownies in the tins instead. (This is how my thought process is...definitely repeated the words "cookies" and "baking sheets" way too much).
Anyways.
Brownie bites, of course!
Big brownie bites. Huge. Definitely not bite sized. Cupcake sized.

I'm also low on baking supplies but luckily! thankfully, I had enough for chocolate brownies because if I didn't...it would be another unfortunate moment to fall on top of the pile of my day.
Because the most disappointing thing after baking a bad batch of whatever is when you start to bake and realize you're missing one ingredient. But no! These brownies prevailed.

And tasted delicious.
Look at those satisfied faces.




I rarely make brownies (too boring) but I can't deny the amazingly simple satisfaction of biting into one after a day like that. Always a good idea. Casey dusted them with powdered sugar and they were done. Next time, if I make cupcake sized brownies again, I think serving them with a scoop of ice cream on top or on the side would make a really nice addition. Maybe I'll add coffee to the mix and make mocha brownies.

And the other best part of baking? You know, after a successful batch of treats that taste good?
Sharing.
It's the best part, handing out your hard work to friends who take a bite and smile.
Because maybe their day wasn't all to great, either.

Today has been better. Quiet, but good. And lazy. I did end up eating another brownie-in-the-form-of-cupcake after lunch today. It was a good decision.

Listening to IndieFeed slam poetry, thinking about baking, and not doing homework.
Like I said. A good day.

Entry one: done.
baked before class.