Praline Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Whipped Cream

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I bring you an iced double-decker vegan praline pumpkin cake.  Say that three times fast!  😉

I made this cake a few weeks back to take to a friend’s house, and it was a hit!  At the end of the night, we only had two slices left…whether it was because there were that many people eating cake or because it was that good…you’re guess is as good as mine! 😉 Either way, we were the lucky ones and brought the extra cake home!

Originally, I was going to just make pumpkin cake with the icing, but that seemed a little boring.  I’ve been snacking on praline almonds, so my wheels started turning.  Praline almonds?  Not for this cake.  Praline pecans?  Perfect!  There’s something about butter, brown sugar, and pecans that just seems oh so right.

While pulling out spices for making the cake batter, I remembered that I had just received a shipment of new oils in the mail.  I got a little excited and pulled out some of my new “spicy” essential oils, using a combo of cinnamon bark, clove, and ginger.  The smells—oh the smells!  This is my absolute favorite time of year to whip up fall scented treats, and this cake did not disappoint.  And let’s not forget about the icing—pumpkin whipped cream?  Absolutely!

 

• Difficulty: medium
• Print

For the Praline:
½ cup Earth Balance Butter
¼ cup almond milk
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup chopped pecans

For the cake:
4 cups flour
3 ½ TBSP baking powder
1 ¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ cup brown sugar
¾ cup cane sugar
1 ¾ cup canned pumpkin
1 cup almond milk
1 cup water
1 ½ TBSP vegetable oil
3 ¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 ½ tsp caramel extract
6 drops Young Living Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil
3 drops Young Living Nutmeg Essential Oil
2 drop Young Living Ginger Essential Oil
1 drop Young Living Clove Essential Oil
2 TBSP Ener-G Egg Replacer plus 3 TBSP water to fold into the batter

For the icing:
2 cans full fat coconut milk (chilled in the fridge overnight)
8 oz pumpkin puree
¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice
2-3 droppers vanilla stevia drops
Pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Cut two round pieces of parchment paper to fit into two ungreased 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper (this will make it easier for the cakes to come out of the pans).
2. In a heavy saucepan, combine the Earth Balance butter, almond milk, and brown sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until the butter is melted.  Pour evenly into the two round cake pans.  Sprinkle evenly with pecans.
3. Combine the dry cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Toss well.
4. Combine the wet ingredients, except the Ener-G egg replacer, and fold into the dry ingredients.
5. Fold the Ener-G egg replacer into the cake ingredients.
6. Spread the batter into the two prepared cake pans, smoothing out the top. The batter is a bit thick, so be sure to smooth it out.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.
8. Cool the cakes completely before turning out on racks or cake plate.
9. Prepare the Pumpkin Whipped Cream: Without shaking or disturbing, remove the chilled cans of coconut milk from the fridge.  Using a small can opener (the “old school” kind that is a pointed triangle) to puncture a drainage hole in the bottom of the can.  Do this over a separate bowl!  Allow the coconut water to drain out of the bottom of the can.  Once all of the water is drained, flip the can over, open and scoop out the thick coconut cream to a large bowl.  Repeat with the second can.
10. Whip the coconut cream until it starts to firm up. Add the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, sweetener, and salt.  Whip until you have soft fluffy peaks.
11. If you haven’t already, place one cake round onto your cake plate. Layer half of your pumpkin whipped cream on top of the first cake round, and then place the second cake round on top of the cream.

We loved this cake so much that I’ll be making it to bring to Thanksgiving this year!  We do have some allergies in the family, so I’m working on a nut-free cinnamon swirl version…spoiler alert family members!  🙂

What are you making for dessert?

Chocolate Pumpkin Mummy Cookies

In the spirit of Halloween on Friday, the kids and I thought that we’d whip up some mummy cookies!  I don’t get into the scary side of Halloween—I’m more of a pumpkin and Casper the Friendly Ghost sorta gal.  So, when I say mummy cookies, I mean “mummy” cookies…mummy pumpkins…mummy ghosts…mummy bears…and even mummy bunnies…two kinds of mummy bunnies.  We couldn’t help ourselves with the bunnies… 🙂

As we mixed all of our ingredients together, the kids kept asking what party we were going to or who was coming over.  Lucky for them, the cookies weren’t going anywhere or for anyone—other than them!  They were so excited and immediately began to dig through our giant box of cookie cutters, picking out the shapes that we would use.  I did have to put the kibosh on the Christmas cookie cutters (one holiday at time folks!).  After we mixed all of our ingredients and had a giant ball of dough, we had to work hard to roll the dough out.  Helping five little people take turns to roll out dough is no small feat.

“Roll the dough to 1/4” thickness guys!”

Blank stares.

“Okay, roll the dough out until it’s this thick!” (showing the thickness with my fingers)

Blank stares.

Sigh…”Okay, just roll out your dough so you can use the cookie cutter…”

Action!

We had rolling, pressing, and smashing.

We had thin cookies and we had thick cookies.

We had broken cookies and we had whole cookies.

But in the end, they all taste the same!  And in my world, mommy gets some of the thicker cookies, and the thicker cookies need more icing. 😉

***Disclaimer on my pictures–I know that the lighting isn’t great and that the pictures are a bit fuzzy.  I had to take my pictures in the kitchen, at night after dinner–while battling off 10 greedy little hands!!!  So, don’t judge!!!  🙂

Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

• Difficulty: Medium
• Print

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 cup Earth Balance butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 2 TBSP water
• 1 tsp caramel extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup melted and cooled 60% chocolate
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 ¾ cups flour
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Icing Ingredients:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 5-6 TBSP almond milk
• 1 tsp clear vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl or mug.

3. In mixer with bowl, beat butter and sugar

4. To the butter/sugar mixture, add the cornstarch mixture, caramel extract, vanilla extract, melted and cooled chocolate, cocoa and pumpkin spice, mix well.

5. Add in flour, wheat germ, baking powder, salt and blend until all combined.

6. Roll out cookies in between wax paper or lightly floured work surface to ¼ inch thick and cut with cookie cutter.

7. Place cookies onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 7-9 minutes or until edges are firm.

8. Remove cookies from baking sheets when they are cooled.

9. Once all of your cookies are cooled, prepare the icing. You don’t want to prepare this until you are ready to ice all of the cookies because the icing firms up over time.

10. Combine the powdered sugar, almond milk, and vanilla in a bowl. Mix well with a fork.  If the icing is too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar, and if it is too thick, add more almond milk, a teaspoon at a time.

11. To do the mummy lines, you can either drizzle the icing with a fork or put your icing in a piping bag with the tip of your choosing. Ice back and forth to create the mummy lines.

What scrumptious treats do you want to mummify?!?!?! 🙂

Funfetti Sugar Cookie Pie

Are you looking for a super fun and scrumptious treat for you and the kids? Notice that I said you and the kids…I think I single-handedly ate about four slices of this pie. Too bad kids…too bad. 😉

We only allow the kids to have dessert on the weekends, and they usually just grab something sweet out of the pantry—maybe a handful of chocolate chips or a few pieces of Dad’s taffy (he loves the taffy!). Instead of those small little treats, I got an itch for something big, soft, chewy, sweet, and fun, so we made this cookie pie as an extra-special treat. And extra-special it was!

Zachary, who doesn’t often like “traditional” desserts (I mean the boy ate a bottle of sprinkles for crying out loud—a whole stinking bottle 🙂 ) LOVED this cookie pie! He ate two slices and then asked for another!

So—the sprinkles—I’m sure you’re wondering?!?! I have two storage medium totes full of various types of sprinkles (don’t judge). I’ve got different colors, different sizes, different themes—you name it, I’ve probably got it! It’s fun having all of these sprinkles, but where does one store two medium totes of sprinkles? Well, I found a spot in the basement. We’ve got a corner of our basement that I made into a small office, so I’ve been storing the totes in there. When I went down to grab something, my top tote was sitting askew, the lid ajar, and there was a trail of sprinkles across the carpet. Yep…a trail. After some searching (albeit not a very long search), I found an empty container and a little boy with a bright red tongue and an upset tummy! Lesson learned buddy. Lesson learned.

Alright—back to the cookie pie! Like I said, Z loved it (maybe because of the sprinkles? 😉 ), and the other kids inhaled it too! It was super warm out when I took the pictures, so my frosting got a little melty, but it didn’t affect the scrumptiousness!  I really think that the whole thing lasted about 15 minutes…tops…maybe it was the sprinkles or maybe it was just that good.

What’s your favorite use for sprinkles?

 

 

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 flax eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2/3 cup (120g) white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup (80g) rainbow sprinkles (not nonpareils)*

Vanilla Frosting:

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 and 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 Tablespoons almond milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• salt, to taste
• extra sprinkles for decorating on top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9-inch pie dish or cake pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

With a mixer, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed. Once it is smooth, add the sugar on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Beat in flax eggs and vanilla. Scrape down the sides as needed.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different parts. The dough will be quite thick. Once combined, gently fold in the white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup sprinkles using a rubber spatula (or by mixing on low speed).

Press the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until very lightly browned on top. You want to slightly underbake the cookie so that it is extra soft in the center. Allow the cookie to cool completely on a wire rack at room temperature before frosting. The center will slightly sink – that’s normal.

For the frosting: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, almond milk, and vanilla with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin or more almond milk if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.

Frost the cookie around the edges and a bit in the middle. Store cookie in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days and in the refrigerator up to 5.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies–Mmmm…Mmmm!

I know this post is about cookies, but first I have to say that I hate mosquitos—like really, really hate mosquitos.

We took the kids camping for the first time, thinking a few nights in the wilderness would be super fun. We drove up into the mountains, found a beautiful site. We were right on the river, in a little forested area, with a big rock wall/hill behind us. The kids thought it was great exploring, hiking, playing in the water, and seeing all of the wildlife (we even had a new pet for a bit—Nutty—a super cute and super brave chipmunk).

And then there were the mosquitos. Those merciless, ruthless, blood thirsty mosquitos. I mean, seriously?!?! I swear that these were no ordinary mosquitos—we went through a whole bottle of our homemade bug repellent and then almost a whole bottle of the “other stuff”. My legs look like someone took a bingo dopper to them! I’m pretty sure that Aaron thought I was being a bit melodramatic when I announced that we would be cutting our two-night trip into a one-nighter.

Once we made it home and had washed off the outdoors, he looked at my legs and said, “Ohhh…that’s why you were so miserable.” This, coming from the guy who doesn’t have a single bite on him.

So, as Aaron has been sitting around with his non-itchy self, I decided to console myself with something scrumptiously soft and sweet. And who knows, maybe the distraction of being in the kitchen would get my mind off the incessant itching?

These cookies are pretty much perfect! I found the recipe here and knew it would be super fun and easy to use some oils to reach the perfect lemonyness. I’ve actually made them several times now, and the cookies are sweet, soft, and leave you wanting another (self-control—who needs it?).

What super scrumptious recipes leave you with no self-control? 😉

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

• Servings: 2 dozen
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Adapted from The Sweet Life

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
zest of 1 large lemon
1/2 cup Earth Balance butter
1/4 cup apple sauce
10 drops Young Living Lemon Essential Oil*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

With the paddle attachment on your mixer, beat together sugar, lemon zest, and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add apple sauce, Lemon Essential Oil, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides as necessary. Mix until fully combined. Turn down the speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients. Once all flour is added, turn up to medium speed and mix until just combined, being careful not to overmix. Taste the dough, and if it’s not quite lemony enough, add a few more Essential Oil drops.

Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Take about 1 rounded tablespoon of dough and shape it into a ball. Toss it in powdered sugar, thoroughly (and almost excessively) coating the dough ball and place on baking sheet. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes until edges are firm. (The cookies will be light in color and should look a bit underdone.)

*If you’d like to learn more about Young Living Essential Oils and why I like them for all things, including cooking, click here.  If you don’t have any Young Living Essential Oil, you can click here to sign up to buy some. Otherwise, you can substitute with 2 TBSP of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Chocolate Plantain Brownies

Plan-what? Last week, a friend handed over a bag of produce because she was going to head out of town in a few days, and she wanted to make sure that her goods went to good use. Inside the bag was some kale, some celery, bananas, and a bunch of plantains. Kale, celery, and bananas–we can make short work of that in our house.  Plantains?  Now, I like to think that I’m fairly well-versed in the world of produce, and I do know what a plantain is, but admittedly, I’ve never had a plantain.

Such began Erika’s research mode. Pancakes, cookies, truffles, bread, tortillas, chips……who knew that there are so many recipes involving plantains out there! Given that I was super hungry during my “research” and that chocolate was seeming to call my name, I settled on brownies.   I don’t know why—maybe because it was way past my bedtime—but the fact that these brownies have no flour of any kind seemed so amazing to me! In my amazement, though, I was skeptical. Could they really turn out cakey like a brownie? Could you really cut them into squares? Could they really taste like a brownie? Well, there’s only one way to find out—you gotta dive right in and try!

First, though, I am going to let you in on a little secret—posting recipes is hard work. I had no idea when I started on this little blogging adventure just how hard! 🙂 I love to bake, I love to share, so what’s the problem? Well—I have a tendency to guesstameasure. Guessta-what? I often find myself putting in a little of this, a little of that, and then palm measuring a good deal. Palm measuring—according to the dictionary of Erika means pouring the ingredients into your palm and guess measuring that it’s the right amount. I know that I’m not the only one to do this ;-), but when you try to write the recipe out for others to duplicate, it makes it a bit more challenging. Sometimes, I find myself going back and redoing the recipe just so I know how much of what I put in–much to our “dismay” when it’s a good recipe! So, what does this little tanget have to do with plantain brownies? Well, when it came to the coconut oil, my ability to actually measure was drained—enter the guesstameasure, and I’m pretty sure that since my brownies were a bit on the oily side (but still oh-so-delicious), I guessed high! So, this would be my only caution with these brownies—don’t use too much oil! 🙂

Okay—off tanget now and back to the main topic at hand—these truly scrumptious brownies. They are rich, not too sweet, and I couldn’t tell that there was no flour. Add in that you’re making the batter in a food processor, and you’re golden! 🙂 It’s so simple and ingenious—throw everything in the food processor and turn it on. No mixing ingredients in separate bowls and combining later. No individual beaters to have to wash. A-ma-zing!

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Adapted from Preparing it Paleo

2 peeled plantains
2 flax eggs (2 TBSP ground flax meal and 6 TBSP water)*
¼ cup melted coconut oil
¼ cup honey
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Peel the plantains and cut each into four sections. Toss plantains and everything but the chocolate chips into a food processor. Blend until you have a smooth batter. Now pulse in the chocolate chips. Pour into an 8-inch square baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

*Make the flax eggs first. After combining the ground flax meal and the water, stick your combo into the refrigerator while you get the rest of your ingredients out. I find that this helps the flax eggs to “gel” up a bit more.

So, if you’re in the mood for something chocolaty and rich that’s also super easy to make, you’ve found it! Or, if you’re just wanting to experiment with plantains, you’ve found it too!

Do you have any favorite recipes with plantains?

Peppermint Cream Brownies and Young Living

It all started with a snoring hubby. Several months ago, I talked about not sleeping well because of the hubsters snoring, and a friend recommended that we try using some essential oils on his big toes at night. We (I) were at the point where we (I) were willing to try just about anything, so we gave it a try and purchased our first bottle of Valor essential oil. I don’t know who was more excited to open that little box…me or the hubs (okay…okay…I’m sure it was me! 😉 )

Two drops on each big toe…three nights later…no snoring! We couldn’t believe it! So, me being me, I got to thinking…what else is out there? I started researching and looking into essential oils, and I really found so much great information about Young Living Essential Oils—they are therapeutic grade and are only made from chemical free plant material—umm—yes please! I’ve had some oils before, but as I compare them, there is a definite difference in quality, smell, and effect.

So, for my birthday I talked to the hubster about really getting more involved with Young Living Oils and in expanding my collection beyond the Valor. We got the premium started kit, and we haven’t looked back since! I use the peppermint oil (one of my faves) for headaches/migraines—gone within minutes and I haven’t had to take migraine medicine in months—lavender for scrapes and bites on the kids—redness and swelling goes down/is gone within minutes—and the kids will ask for either some Joy or some Peace and Calming depending on their moods! It’s so great to have this be a family affair!

Now, you may wonder why I’m going on and on about these oils when this is supposed to be a blog about what I bake? Well…I bake with my oils too! Remember my Lemon Blueberry Glaze Donuts? The lemon part of the donuts comes from my Lemon Essential Oil. This time I wanted something a bit different, so, using Peppermint Essential Oil, I whipped up a batch of Peppermint Cream Brownies! O….M….G!!!!

I thought I made them for other people (ummm…I think I ate four), my mom intended to eat ¼ of one (first of all…who does that…second of all…she had two), and my aunts took some home for later! I think that they were a hit! The brownie is moist and chewy, and the peppermint cream? Oh…the peppermint cream! It just melts in your mouth and leaves you wanting more….and more…

I’ll be honest—I wasn’t entirely sure about the brownie part as it was baking up. It was a little bubbly and I was convinced it was never going to bake all of the way through. I gave it extra time and then hoped for the best…and I was not disappointed! The brownie came out slightly fudgy and chewy—the best kind of brownie if you ask me!

Peppermint Cream Brownies

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Adapted from the Sweet Vegan cookbook

Brownie Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups evaporated cane juice sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp vanilla

Peppermint Cream Ingredients:
½ cup Earth Balance butter at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
8-10 drops Young Living Peppermint Essential Oil
2-4 TBSP almond milk

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:
1 cup chocolate chips
6 TBSP Earth Balance butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
2. Using a stand mixer combine the flour, cane juice, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the water, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Blend on medium speed for 1 minute or until well combined. Pour into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, then cool in the pan on a wire rack for one hour.
3. Once the brownies are cool, make the peppermint cream. Using a stand mixer, whip the Earth Balance butter until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the powdered sugar and the Peppermint Essential Oil and blend for 1 minute. Slowly add the almond milk, one tablespoon at a time until you get your cream to a nice, spreadable consistency. Once you get the peppermint cream nice and creamy, spread it evenly on the top of the cooled brownie.
4. To make the chocolate Ganache, melt the chocolate chips and the Earth Balance in a microwave safe bowl for one minute in the microwave. Stir the mixture until it is completely melted and pour it over the top of the peppermint cream. Spread the Ganache evenly over the peppermint cream (this is best done with an offset spatula).
5. Cover the brownies with plastic wrap and immediately place in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
6. Cut the chilled brownies into squares with a sharp knife. When cutting the brownies, it is easier to warm the knife under hot water, wipe it dry, and cut the brownies. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

If you’re interested in more information about Young Living and the positive impact essential oils can have on you and your family, then click here for more information or simply contact me below.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!

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Pecan Pie Cookies

It happened—I knew it would at some point—I missed a week! My goal has been to post twice a week while being okay with the once a week posts that typically happen. Last week came and went with no post, and I feel so guilty…probably to no one but myself…but guilty nonetheless! In my defense, I was home with the kids for a week, so we tried to jam the days with fun activities and games. We made an outdoor waterbed, PVC bows and arrows, and sidewalk chalk paint. At the end of the week, we were even able to make a trip out of town!

My family has a cabin down in southern Colorado, and we try to make it down at least once a year. We so love going down there and being totally disconnected from the “real” world (another reason I haven’t posted—excuses, excuses). While we’re there, we have no TV, no phone, and no internet. I love that we have to create our own fun, and it’s fun with no interruptions—we go hiking, read books, play darts, practice “fishing” (it’s not really fishing when you’ve got five kids, two working poles, and no bait :-)), and play a ton of board games. The best part is that we always come back feeling recharged and reenergized as a family unit. Sometimes we just need a bit of that!

One of the other super fun things about going out of town is that it means there’s one more excuse for yummy treats (because clearly…I look for excuses for yummy treats). The hubs loves pecan pie, but the poor guy only gets it twice a year—Thanksgiving and Christmas. What a fun surprise I thought that it would be for him to get a taste of pecan pie in the summer—but in a cookie format. Yep. That’s our kind of fun.

For the “pie” crust of the cookie, I opted for a sugar cookie molded into a mini-pie shape and then filled them with gooey yumminess! I’ve seen the posts on Pinterest where someone much more clever than me put cookie dough on the outside of the muffin tins to make little cookie cups for ice cream, and I’ve wanted to try it for ages. Instead of using a cookie cutter (because who can find one when they need it?) I placed different cups on the outside of the muffin tins to find the cup that would give me the right size for my tin—just fitting over the tin. It took a bit of trial and error getting the height of the sides of the cookies right, but I figured, who really cares if a cookie is high on one side and low on another if it tastes good all around? We certainly don’t!

The filling for the cookies is super easy to make, takes just a few minutes, and settles into the cookie cups beautifully. The stage of the filling that was the most work was chopping the pecans (I recommend buying chopped pecans…that’s what happens when you send the hubsters to the store with an order for pecans), but after that, it’s smooth sailing. I, of course, had to taste-test a few right away…and a little later for quality control. Let me just say that the quality stayed the same from beginning to end to the next day.

• Servings: 36
• Print

For the cookie cups:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
2 TBSP water
1 cup Earth Balance butter

For the filling:

6 TBSP Earth Balance butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
3 cups chopped pecans
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Flip your muffin tins upside down and place your muffin tin liners on the outside of the muffin tins.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. Blend the sugars and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and blend until pale and fluffy. Mix in water. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture.
4. With your hands, divide the dough into two mounds. Lightly flour your countertop or other flat surface and roll dough out to ¼ inch thick. Dip the rim of your cup or cookie cutter into a bit of water, and cut out cookie circles. Center cookie rounds on top of the outside of muffin tins, and using your fingers, gently fold the dough over the edges and up the sides as needed. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the muffin tins.
5. While the cookie cups are cooling, prepare your filling. Place the butter, light brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn on medium heat and boil for 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat, stir in pecans and vanilla.
7. Place 2 heaping tablespoons of pecan filling into each deep dish cookie.
Allow filling to cool and set up before serving.

These babies didn’t last long, so grab a tall glass of milk, sit back, and enjoy!

Have you made cookie cups before? I may be hooked and looking for inspiration 😉 So, what did you fill yours with?

**If you have left over cookie cups, freeze them for later, fill them with ice cream, but just don’t throw them away! I froze mine for a treat later on! 😉

Strawberry “Cream” Cookies

Babies, babies, babies! We’ve got new babies all around us! Our dear friends had a brand new baby girl a few weeks ago, and my sister had her baby girl this past week! We’ve been swimming in a sea of pink lately! The kids have been craft creating machines, drawing and painting pictures, making cards, and making books—all baby girl related!

With all of this pink on the brain, I needed an outlet—so I had my own little creation! Welcome to my Strawberry “Cream” Cookies! With all of the busi-ness I opted for something that would be…hopefully…quick and easy to make while still offering up something scrumptious, so the base of my cookie is actually a cake mix! Quick and easy these cookies are! (uhh…hello Yoda?)

Once you make up the cookie mix and bake them for a bit, you pop them out of the oven to top them with a half of a marshmallow—I used vegan marshmallows (for the first time). After you pop the marshmallow on top, put those babies back in the oven for a few more minutes to bake. The vegan marshmallows taste good but they don’t melt and spread out like I had hoped that they would. After all of the baking is done, you let the cookies cool and then frost to your heart’s content!

It’s really fun to just give people a cookie, thinking it’s just a regular ol’ strawberry cookie, and then watching the surprised delight as they bite into it and discover the hidden gem inside! 🙂

• Servings: 24
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Cookie Ingredients:
1 Strawberry Cake Mix
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 Ener-G Egg Replacer Eggs
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 TSP Vanilla
12 vegan marshmallows, cut in half (spray your kitchen shears with cooking spray to easily cut)

Frosting Ingredients:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 TBSP Earth Balance butter
2 TBSP strawberry syrup
5-7 TBSP almond milk
¾ tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a Baking Sheet with Parchment Paper
2. In a small bowl whisk together the Ener-G eggs and set aside for a few minutes. Add the oil and vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl mix together the cake mix and baking powder.
4. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture and stir all together until all the dry cake mix lumps disappear.
5. Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and drop round (about 1 Tablespoon) balls onto baking sheet. You will want your balls to be taller and less wide. Bake for 8 minutes.
6. Remove the cookies from the oven and place half of a marshmallow on top of each cookie. Return to the oven and bake for 2 more minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool and then transfer to a wire rack.
8. While the cookies are cooling make your frosting. Put the confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl. Melt the butter on the stove over low heat and add the strawberry syrup. Do not allow to boil.
9. Add the butter mixture to the confectioners’ sugar. Whisk in the almond milk and vanilla.
10. Spread about a tablespoon of frosting on each cookie to cover the marshmallow and let stand for 10 minutes to allow the frosting to set.

I hope you enjoy my pink creation–and they don’t have to be used just for new baby girls!  They’re great for any occassion, especially as we enter into summer and want something scrumptious and fruity!!

What’s your favorite “pink” recipe?

Raspberry Lemon Coconut Cake

Happy Mother’s Day! Normally, the whole family comes over, we sit on the back patio with our drinks and appetizers, and the kids (and adult kids) kick the soccer ball around and throw the Frisbee. The men are all responsible for meal prep, serving, and clean-up…with one exception…dessert—usually something rich and chocolaty. I just can’t seem to give up control over dessert! 😉

This year, however, went a bit different. The whole family still came over, kids and adults still played, the men still did the meal, and I still did dessert. The two exceptions this time? First was the snow!!! I know, right?!?!? Snow on Mother’s Day—who knew? The second was the rich chocolate. This year I thought I’d try to usher in a bit more of the warm weather with a sweeter/lighter flavored dessert.

I actually made this cake a few weeks ago for one of my best friend’s birthday party, and it was a huge hit. It was so scrumptious, and we all liked it so much that I knew I had to have it again—soon! The lemon, raspberry, and coconut are such a great compliment to one another, and they scream warmer weather to me!

The original recipe for the cake is truly not vegan, and I had a bit of a time making the changes—the original pictures show the cake as a four layer cake. My cakes didn’t rise near enough to slice into layers, so I stuck with a simple two layer cake…but they’re a great two layers! When the cakes come out of the oven, they look a bit airy (I don’t know another way to describe it), but given time to cool, they hold up nicely. If you want to shoot for a true multi-layer cake, I’d suggest my vegan vanilla cake.

When you make your layers, and you spread the preserves on the bottom layer, pipe some frosting around the edge of your cake and then over the top of the preserves. After spreading the preserves on the cake, you won’t be able to spread the frosting without it sliding all around. Once you put your second layer on, frost away! Don’t worry about making it all smooth and pretty—you’re coating the cake with toasted coconut! I started out trying to make sure my frosting was smooth on top and all around…until I realized that it was going to be covered! 🙂

 

Truly Scrumptious Raspberry Lemon Coconut Cake for Mother’s Day!

• Servings: 12
• Print

adapted from Not So Humble Pie

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup almond milk, room temperature
1 tablespoon vinegar
½ cup applesauce
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest of two lemons
1 stick Earth Balance butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Lemon Buttercream
6-8 cups powdered sugar
4 sticks Earth Balance butter at room temperature
½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup raspberry preserves (strained for seeds, if desired)
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 350°F. Coat two 8″ or 9″ pans with butter or nonstick spray and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a second small bowl, combine the almond milk and vinegar and set aside. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add in the applesauce. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sugar and lemon zest and mix for a minute on medium speed until fragrant. Add the butter and cream together on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon extract and then grab your bowl of flour and almond milk/applesauce. Reduce the mixer’s speed to slow and add 1/3rd of the flour. Once moistened, increase the speed to medium and mix until incorporated. Then add 1/2 the almond milk mixture and beat until the mixture is uniform. Repeat with the remaining flour and almond milk, alternating until you’ve finished with the last 1/3rd of the flour. Mix the batter for a further 2 minutes to ensure it is lump free and well aerated. Divide the batter evenly between your baking pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Place the cakes on wire racks to cool. After a five minutes, run a knife around the outside of the pan to release the cake and remove from the pans. Allow to cool right side up until room temperature.

To make the buttercream:

Place the butter in the bowl of your mixer and mix for several minutes on medium speed. Decrease the speed, and slowly begin adding powdered sugar, one cup at a time. As the butter and powdered sugar begins to thicken, slowly pour in some of the lemon juice, ¼-1/2 cup. Beat for 3 minutes, adding more powdered sugar to stiffen the frosting or more lemon juice to thin.

 To assemble the cake:

Place the bottom layer onto a cake plate and tuck strips of parchment paper under the cake to protect the plate while frosting. Spread the raspberry preserves onto the bottom layer of the cake and then a layer of buttercream. The trick to layering buttercream on top of a slippery layer of preserves is to put your buttercream into a disposable piping bag (or ziplock bag) and cut off a 1/3″ diameter opening. Starting in the center of the layer, pipe a coil of buttercream. Continue to coil tightly, round and round until you have an even layer of icing on top. No need to spread the frosting with a spatula using this method. Top with the second layer of cake and then crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of icing. Chill the cake until the icing is firm and then frost the cake with the remaining butter cream. Smooth the remaining buttercream over the cake with an offset spatula until it is level and smooth. Sprinkle the coconut over the top of the cake and coat the sides by gently pouring the coconut between your hand and the cake. The cake is best eaten the day it is made. If you need to store it, refrigerate it covered for up to two days, allowing plenty of time to bring it back to room temperature before serving.

 

In all truth, I had wanted to share this recipe before Mother’s Day so that others could enjoy the scrumptiousness too…but…you know how life goes? Sometimes things just don’t work in your favor!

So do you have a special treat that you whipped up for Mother’s Day? I’m always looking for something new! 😉

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

 

We survived—the birthday weekend that is! It was a fun-filled weekend with family, friends, and lots of laughter. The kids made out like bandits with a family birthday party one night and a friends party another day. In an attempt to keep stress levels down, we went super low-key this year—no theme…no crazy decorations…heck…we didn’t even have games! We lived on the wild side—and wild it was! I may actually be traumatized by the whole event.

All of the girls were so sweet, asking to be excused from the table after eating and saying that lunch looked “delightful” (yes—a 7 year old girl said it looked delightful—she was delightful—I could have put her in my pocket, but well, you know—I’m sure her mom would have been a bit upset come pick up time). The boys…well…the boys. Trauma. That’s all I can say about that.

To help celebrate and keep with the low keyness, I opted out of making crazy individual cakes, but I’m no animal…we had cupcakes instead! There’s something so satisfying about swirling the scrumptious frosting on top of the springy, moist cupcakes and then sprinkling some sparkly colored sugar on top.

Since I’ve had lemon on my mind lately, and we were in party mode, I opted for some pink lemonade cupcakes with pink lemonade frosting. Even though they were all pink, no one seemed to mind…

The cupcakes are moist and the frosting is just sweet enough…with a teeny bit of tang. It may have been the two glasses of wine, but my mom was pretty adamant that these cupcakes are her new favorite!  (Insert picture of mom with a glass of wine and a BIIIIIG smile on her face 🙂 –opted for you to use your imagination–didn’t think she’d appreciate that much!)

While it may have been the wine talking with my mom, these cupcakes really were good! The cupcakes themselves were actually made from a recipe I adapted from a cake recipe and they were moist, springy, and can definitely support the weight of that frosting swirl. In the cupcake I used lemonade concentrate, while I used pink lemonade concentrate in the frosting. Next time I might try using the pink lemonade in both, but I had both concentrates defrosted, so I thought, “What the heck?”

• Servings: 24
• Print

Cupcake Ingredients

• 1 cup Earth Balance vegan butter
• 1 cup applesauce
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• Red food coloring—I only wanted a pink color so I just put a small bit in
• 1 1/3 cups almond milk
• 1/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Pink Lemonade Buttercream

• 3 sticks Earth Balance vegan butter, at room temperature
• 4 ounces vegan cream cheese at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons pink lemonade concentrate, from frozen concentrate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• Almond milk, as needed

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins with muffin/cupcake liners.
2. In medium bowl stir together 3-1/3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat butter with mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium until well combined. Scrape sides of bowl; beat 2 minutes more. Add a few drops of red food coloring; beat to combine. Add applesauce ¼ cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In another bowl stir together almond milk, lemonade concentrate, and extract (mixture will look curdled). Alternately add flour mixture and almond milk mixture to butter mixture, beating on low after each addition just until combined.
5. Bake about 20-25 minutes, until tops spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack. Cool completely, and while cooling, prepare Pink Lemonade Butter Frosting.

For buttercream:

1. Place butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.
2. Reduce the speed to low and add the pink lemonade concentrate, vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat on lowest speed until all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, then increase to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-4 more minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. If the icing is too thick add a bit of almond milk, if too thin add a bit more powdered sugar

So, really, if you’re in the mood for something not too sweet, with the perfect amount of tang, these cupcakes are your thing. You could totally leave out the red food coloring in order to “man them up” a bit if you needed, but we’re all secure around here! 😉

Now, I’m working on the finishing touches on what just may be my new favorite cake that we’ll be making for mother’s day! If I get done in time, I’ll be sure to post it well before so you can make it too…or do you have your own favorite cake to share for the upcoming holiday?