I would like to admit something to you: I am addicted to chocolate. If presented with a list of desserts, I will find the most chocolaty one and order it with chocolate syrup on the side. I take my love, nay, my obsession, with chocolate so far that most people are repulsed by the amount of it I can consume in a single dessert cup.
But alas, summer is upon us! The hot and muggy weather usually deters most from indulging in rich chocolaty desserts. With summer barbecues and pool parties, you don't find chocolate cake; you find apple pie or strawberry cobbler, except at MY barbecues and pool parties, at which there IS chocolate cake.
Now, an obsession becomes an addiction when it negatively impacts your life in some way, and before, I could find very few, if any, reasons, why chocolate was an addiction rather than a simple obsession for me. But then it hit me (and I'm going to throw some business school jargon your way, so be ready): the way my chocolate obsession was negatively impacting my life was because of the opportunity cost of giving up any other dessert that was devoid of chocolate!
I was missing out on lemon custard! I was missing out on apple pie! I was missing out on cheesecake! I was missing out on poached pears! And I was definitely missing out on cobbler! I couldn't let this happen anymore! I realized that chocolate was limiting my palate, and that I had to take a stand. This cobbler, my friends, is one step towards a recovery, and a tasty step at that! So bring on summer with its fruit-based desserts. I'm ready!
This cobbler is really versatile, too. Almost any fruit can be added! Some suggestions: strawberry rhubarb, blackberry nectarine, raspberry blackberry, or apple cherry.Ingredients:
4 cups fruit (I used 2 cups blueberries and 2 cups loquats)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
1 1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 1/2 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup vegan butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
In a large sauce pan, heat the fruit over medium heat until it starts to release its juices (about 5 minutes). You can crush some of it with a wooden spoon while it's cooking, if you want. Meanwhile, combine sugar and corn starch in a bowl and then pour over fruit. Bring to a boil and let boil for about two minutes. Then remove from heat.
In a food processor, process oats until they form a coarse meal. Pour into a large bowl and set aside.
Again in the food processor, process flour, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and baking soda until mixed together. Then add vegan butter cut into small chunks, and process until the butter chunks are about pea-sized. Add this to the oat meal.
Add the brown sugar and vanilla extract and mix with a wooden spoon until all is well combined. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the mixture and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9x13 pan, line with parchment paper, and grease the parchment paper.
Press the oat and flour mixture (minus the 1 1/2 cups) evenly into the pan to create a base layer. Then spoon fruit mixture evenly over the top. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups oat and flour mixture over the top of the fruit mixture.
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until the top starts to brown and the fruit is bubbly around the edges.
I've been meaning to make vegan cinnamon rolls for a long time, and I finally got around to it when I was invited to a brunch potluck. Now, this being a potluck and me having never made cinnamon rolls of any kind before, I used someone else's recipe just to get a feel for what I was doing. They turned out really amazingly (partly because there's almost a full pound of vegan butter in these!!!) but I don't think I would need to use any other recipe for cinnamon rolls. These were decadent and just the right texture. As a matter of fact, I'm all cinnamon rolled out from these because I ended up eating almost all of them! When I showed up at the potluck, I was the only one there because I had gotten the date wrong. I left a few with the future host, then hurried away, embarrassed at my faux pas, only to be left with almost an entire pan full of cinnamon rolls to split between me and my boyfriend!
We did our best to eat them before they went stale, but one tragically ended up in the trash. I don't think I'll be wanting cinnamon rolls again for a long time!
The picture above is what they look like after letting them sit in the fridge overnight for their second rise. The recipe I used can be found at Vegan Yum Yum, which is a fantastic recipe blog!
I think the best part about filling orders that require an odd amount of end product means you have leftover batter with which to make stuff for yourself! This was the case with these cupcakes. I needed to make 18 mini cupcakes, and ended up with enough batter left over to make six normal sized cupcakes! I could have just cut the recipe in half, but I was anxious to try this flavor out for myself. I could not have made a better choice. These are so delicious! The cake has a spicy, almost gingerbread taste and the icing has a light citrus flavor.
Recipe below!
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp star anise extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 pound confectioners sugar
Zest from one orange
1 Tbsp almond milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, sift dry ingredients together.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add apple cider vinegar and extracts and mix until combined. Add flour mixture and almond milk and stir until a smooth batter is formed.
Pour into well greased muffin tins. Bake approximately 22 minutes, or until fork inserted in middle of each cupcake comes out cleanly.
Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Then transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely.
Meanwhile, beat butter, powdered sugar and almond milk until smooth frosting forms. Stir in orange zest. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
Enjoy!
So I jumped the gun a teensy bit for Thanksgiving. Fall is my favorite season, mostly because it involves pumpkin desserts! As a kid, I reveled in pumpkin pie and got as much of it as I could while it was still in season, and was always heartbroken when the holidays had come to an end and pumpkins were no longer incorporated into every dessert imaginable. 
In this vein, I decided to make pumpkin cupcakes. While I love pie, it is a pain in the ass to make, especially to make photogenically. Besides, there will probably be pie on Thanksgiving, but probably not cupcakes.
These came out wonderfully moist and deliciously spiced. The "cream cheese" frosting is very rich, so use sparingly. (I didn't realize just how rich it was, so in these pictures I loaded it on!)
They were a mouth-watering predecessor to the Thanksgiving feast. Hope you all enjoy and have a good holiday!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 almond milk (or soy milk)
1/2 cup Earth Balance butter at room temperature
8 oz. vegan cream cheese at room temperature
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 pound confectioners sugar
Additional cinnamon for dusting, optional
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together the dry ingredients. (This does not include sugar.) Set aside.
Mix oil and sugar together. Add apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and pumpkin. Mix until incorporated. Mix in flour mixture until a smooth batter forms. Add the almond milk and mix until incorporated.
Pour into greased cupcake tin so that all tins are equally filled. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle of each cupcake comes out clean.
Let cool for about five to ten minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.
While they are cooling, prepare the frosting. Mix butter, cream cheese and maple syrup until smooth. Add confectioners sugar and mix until smooth. If frosting looks too soupy, add more confectioners sugar by the quarter cup until desired consistency is reached.
Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with cinnamon, if using. Devour immediately.
Questions and comments are always appreciated!
