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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Going Baking Crazy!

Since I have been in my new apartment, I have been baking. A lot. Like kind of going crazy with it. But there have been so many occasions to which I feel compelled to bring baked goods...it's like I have no choice!

First, for a friend's birthday this past weekend, I made cupcakes! Who doesn't love cupcakes?! I made Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting!! Best combo ever! I veganized my Grandma Poe's banana cake with peanut butter frosting recipe, then made them into shareable cupcake form! They were DELICIOUS and a huge hit! hooray!
Next, for another friend's birthday a few weeks ago...Vegan Oatmeal Creme Pies!! I really wonder why they call them pies, but whatever. Little Debbie has nothing on these bad boys! I have been working on an oatmeal cookie recipe that would work perfectly in a creme pie, and I think I've done it!

Here they are, toppless. So creamy.Topped with yet another yummy cookie, begging to be savored with a tall glass of soymilk....

Vegan Oatmeal Creme Pies (makes about 12 pies)

Soft Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup vegan margarine, like Earth Balance

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup sugar

Egg Replacer for 2 eggs ( I used Ener-G brand, cuz it's my jam.)

1/4 cup barley malt syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 Tbs baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup rolled oats

splash of soymilk

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets. In a large bowl, cream together the oil, applesauce, and sugar. Add the egg replacer, vanilla, almond, and barley malt and mix well. Sift in the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour in the splash of soymilk and raisins, and gently fold until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Roll dough into 2" balls (or about what will give you 24 cookies.) and flatten to about 3 inches across. They will not spread much in baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until browned on edges and spring back to the touch. Allow to cool on cooling rack while you make the creme filling.

Vanilla Creme Filling

3/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening

1/4 cup vegan margarine

2 cups organic powdered sugar

2 Tbs soymilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and margarine with a hand mixer or fork and elbow grease until smooth and well combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, adding 1 Tbs soymilk after each cup. Whip powdered sugar with cream mixture after each cup. Mix until creamy. Stir in vanilla extract until combined and smooth. Refrigerate frosting until ready to use.

To assemble: Flip 12 of the cookies over so the bottoms are the tops. Dollop filling on the center of each cookie, and use all the filling so the cookies will be nice and creamy! Top the filling with another cookie and smush down a little bit to push the filling to the edges. EAT!!!

Then, for my friends' band, Capybara (check them out on myspace!) CD release party, I busted out some of Isa's famous Chocolate Chip Cookies and added Hazelnuts! ZOMG!! Chocolate and hazelnuts were made for each other! Note: Nutella/Chocoreale/these cookies. Drooling and scarfing ensued. The music was just secondary....ok maybe that's a stretch.
Now for some product reviews! I have branched out and tried a few new things lately!

I'll start with the best...Purely Decadent Cherry Nirvana Soy Ice Cream!! It's still summer which means it's still ice cream season. And I couldn't believe I hadn't tried this flavor yet when I saw it on SALE at Wild Oats! Totally reminds me of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream! If you like cherry, and better yet, cherry plus chocolate, Cherry Nirvana is for you! Super duper creamy, with nice texture variations in the crunchy chocolate flakes and chewy whole cherries. I made it into a little sundae and topped it with sliced almonds! mmmm....

Then, for the just ok: So Delicious Coconut Milk, unsweetened. I couldn't resist trying this after seeing it on the shelves for a while! It was pricey, so that has kind of turned me off when I eye it. The flavor really wasn't that great. It didn't taste bad, of course, but it was kind of bland. The coconut flavor came through a little, but it was overall kinda tasteless. I liked it well enough to put on cereal, but not really well enough to drink straight up with my pb& j. I would rather drink soy or almond milk any day...especially for the price! And if I am really looking to splurge, it will be Living Harvest Hemp Milk for me! Maybe I'll try the coconut milk in vanilla next time...



Whew! I am getting a sugar buzz after just writing this post!!

9 comments:

Bianca said...

Yummy post! Especially those cookies...I love Chocoreale and I bet these cookies are sooooo delicious.

I made PB & Banana cuppies too! For the cookbook...but I'm still working on perfecting them. The cake texture is not quite where I want it yet.

I actually really loved that coconut milk, but I never buy it cause it is so darn expensive. Boo. I like how it seemed thicker than my other soymilks. And I haven't tried the Cherry Nirvana yet...I remember not liking Cherry Garcia all that much, but that was years ago and I hated cherries (not sure why I bought it when I hated cherries). I should give cherry/chocolate ice cream a second chance.

Anonymous said...

You can't rave about grandma's veganized banana cupcakes with pb frosting and then not share the recipe! They sound divine!

Courtney

Laura said...

oh yeah, i forgot to put that recipe up! ha! silly me....i guess i was too busy thinking about my oatmeal creme pie recipe! i'll put it up soon :)

EDIT TO POST!! I forgot to type the salt for the cookie recipe!!

** ADD 1 TSP SALT TO COOKIE DOUGH WHEN YOU ADD THE BAKING POWDER, ETC. SORRY!! ***

veggievixen said...

om nom nom.

you are a crazy baking fool.

everything looks soooo good. i wish my diet could look like this without any negative consequences. but -- both the banana/pb and chocolate/hazelnut combos sound amazing!

Lele said...

Mmmm I want to make those oatmeal cream pies really soon. There's something about a hearty oatmeal cookie and just that little bit of indulgent icing... it's an amazing combo.

Laura said...

i mean, i believe everyone should have dessert everyday. so these were pretty spread out. nothing negative can come of something so yum! i only use whole wheat flour for goodness' sake :) trust me...i am a dietitian after all! haha

nora said...

Wow, you're the best! I used to love love love Cherry Garcia, so maybe I need to try that...

Anonymous said...

Wow, you've been baking up a storm. Everything you made looks great! The oatmeal cream pies sound really good, I haven't eaten one of those since I was a little kid. (And they were the packaged ones, bleh)

I never tried the Purely Decadent cherry ice cream, but it sounds just like the Cherry Chip one from Trader Joe's. That stuff is SO good.

krystilla said...

Laura, You are so awesome. I love your blog