Baby Cake Vegan Brownie -- Baby Cake #1

Vegan Brownie

When you read this recipe, as I mentioned, you will see similarities between this and my first posted recipe for Chocolate Muffins. However, I shall simply post the recipe in entirety with the changes, and you can do with it what you wish. I know you must be shaking your head in disbelieving awe. Could something so good for you actually taste this good? The answer is: damn, I hope so. 

My son had one after dinner last night. His opinion was: "This tastes real good." He repeated this sentence about 15 times whist gazing at his chocolate delight. I know, I know. You're casting my words back at me. You're thinking: "That's the kid who ate a cigarette butt. What does he know?" When I asked my husband what he thought of the brownie, he merely stuffed another one in his mouth and grunted. So, kindly and gentle reader, it comes down to you. Vegan Brownie -- yea or nay?

ingredients:

1 3/4 cup filtered water, warmed

1 cup pitted honey dates

1/4 cup clear agave

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

2 tsp egg replacer + 4 tbsp filtered water

1 tsp sea salt

1 or 2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup raw cacao (or cocoa powder)

1/2 cup pecan meal

1 cup almond meal (blanched)

1 cup kamut pastry flour (whole grain)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup Callebaut chocolate morsels

extra Callebaut morsels to decorate the top

directions:

preheat oven to 345

1. soak dates in water for 10 minutes, and then puree dates in the water. (It's a good idea to check each date to make sure the pit has indeed been removed. Just give it a squeeze)

2. add rest of 'wet' ingredients and puree again

3. stir in dry ingredients one by one. Add the chocolate morsels after everything else has been well combined. I often find it easier to add the baking soda before the kamut flour to ensure even distribution.

4. scoop batter into prepared muffin tins. I use silicone cups placed on a baking sheet. They need to be oiled the first couple of times you use them, but after that are amazingly non-stick, and wonderfully non-wasteful. Decorate the top of the brownies with a few chocolate morsels. This is optional. Not really. Just do it.

5. bake for 30 minutes in the center of the oven

6. remove from oven when the top feels slightly springy to your touch

7. remove brownies from muffin tins or silicone cups a few minutes after removing from oven.

8. Hide them quickly.

makes 24  brownies


(If you can correctly identify where the quote below comes from, you win a vegan brownie!)

yum

yum

extra yum

Chocolate Banana Cakes

One of these things is not like the other ... wait a minute. Scratch that. Neither of them are like the other. In one small way. Okay, I'll admit it. They are almost identical. :)

They are both delectable chocolate banana cakes made with a couple of over ripe bananas just begging for a chance at fate. They both have everyone's favourite superfood -- raw cacao. They both contain very little sweetner and a decent amount of protein. In fact, they are identical in every respect except for one naughty little detail. The bottom cake contains an addition of a few decadent morsels of Callebaut dark chocolate ...

Now, I have to confess I'm not much of a chocolate eater, and I tend to turn up my nose at banana. (Cooked is okay, but raw? Erk.) However, I live with a couple of true chocolate lovers and banana eaters. My little son's first experience with chocolate was raw cacao nibs, which taste to me exactly like dirt. However, to him they are wonderful. I guess I don't  need to bring up the cigarette butt eating incident again, but ...

These little cakes were very popular in our house. We did half the batch with Callebaut morsels, and half sans. The raw cacao make them taste gratifyingly chocolately even without the punch of the chocolate. However, my husband will attest that they certainly aren't harmed in any way by the addition. ;)

ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup clear agave

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 over ripe bananas (about 1 cup)

1 cup pecan meal

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

dash of freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1/4 cup raw cacao powder (or cocoa if you must ;))

1 cup kamut flour (finely milled, pastry flour texture, whole grain, please)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 to 1/2 cup of high quality chocolate morsels

directions:

preheat oven to 345 and prepare 24 muffin cups (or use a rectangular pan if you prefer)

1. lightly warm the milk and oil together to melt the oil (coconut oil is a solid below 24 degrees)

2. add agave, and eggs, and stir briskly to combine

3. add vanilla

4. lightly mash the bananas (don't puree), and stir into the wet ingredients

5. stir in the pecan meal, sea salt, cinnamon, and black pepper

6. stir in the raw cacao and baking soda

7. add the kamut flour and mix thoroughly

8. if you are not adding chocolate morsels, spoon the batter into 24 muffin cups

9. if you are using chocolate morsels, add 1/2 cup chocolate morsels to the batter, and spoon the batter into 24 muffin cups

10. if you are adding chocolate to half the recipe as we did, spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups, then add 1/4 cup chocolate to the remaining batter, and spoon the remaining batter into 12 more muffin cups.

11. bake at 345 for 22-24 minutes in the upper half of the oven, or until the tops spring back when pressed lightly with a brave finger.

12. use them to bribe your husband to clean up his room.

Chocolate Muffins -- And Now For Something Completely Different ...

CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

Well, it has been a few years since I've posted. I've done a lot of cooking in the past few years, although I haven't documented it. And it's only gotten smarter and sexier. (I, on the other hand, am a different matter.) And I've hatched a mini-me (actually, a mini-he), so my cooking has also become kid-friendlier.

As my harried mom-friends continue to clamour for easy and nutritious recipes to feed their kids, I thought I would stop being so lazy, and at least try to post once in a while. If I can remember how to write :).

Here is a recipe for decadent-tasting chocolate muffins that are guilt free for you and nutritious for your kids. They aren't the end-all and be-all of nutritious, but they are up there on the good for you scale. They actually do qualify as food, as opposed to falling in the nebulous category of food-like substances. My husband wolfed down a couple and then started to pass them out to the guys who are renovating the house next-door. He likes to get people to take a bite and then tell them after that it's good for them, just to watch the surprise register on their faces.

Here's the recipe. Questions? Let me know and I'll do my best to clarify my convolutions and explain my quirks.

1 1/4 cup filtered water, warmed

1 cup pitted honey dates

1/4 cup clear agave

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

2 tsp egg replacer + 4 tbsp filtered water

1 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup pecan meal

1 cup almond meal (blanched)

1/2 cup kamut pastry flour (whole grain)

1/2 tsp baking soda

preheat oven to 345

1. soak dates in water for 10 minutes, and then puree dates and water together

2. add rest of 'wet' ingredients and puree again

3. stir in dry ingredients one by one

4. scoop batter into prepared muffin tins. I use silicone cups placed on a baking sheet. They need to be oiled the first couple times you use them, but after that are amazingly non-stick, and wonderfully non-wasteful.

5. bake for 30 minutes in the center of the oven

6. remove from oven when the top feels springy to your touch

7. remove muffins from muffin tins or silicone cups a few minutes after removing from oven.

makes 24 (small) muffins

enjoy ... :)