chocolate coconut cupcakes

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

1 pkg Betty Crocker Chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup butter, at room temp

3 eggs

1 1/3 cups water

Place all in medium mixing bowl. Mix on low for 30 seconds, then on medium for 2 minutes.

Portion out into a lined muffin pan using a 2TB cookie scoop, 2 scoops in each one. Bake at 350 for 17 minutes. Let cool.

Coconut Filling

1/2 cup butter

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

1 TB vanilla

1 cup coconut

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar, mix well. Add vanilla. Stir in coconut.

Chocolate Frosting

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup melted butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1 TB vanilla

1/3 cup milk

Add the cocoa to the melted butter and mix well. Alternatley add the sugar and milk, beating well after each addition, ending with the milk. Beat in vanilla.

Putting them together:

After cupcakes have cooled, scoop out the middle of each cupcake. I like to use an apple corer, it's easy to get a perfect cylinder of the middle of each cupcake without destroying it. Be careful not to go all the way down to the wrapper.

Pipe filling into each cupcake, about 2 TB in each one.

Pipe frosting on top of the cupcakes. I used a star tip, and just made a few stars around the filling.

Then I topped them off with a Ferrero Rocher Garden Coconut bon bon. Fancy, right? Well, I found them on sale somewhere, so I grabbed a few boxes. They are hard to find unless there is a candy holiday going on. (christmas, easter, valentines)

(vegan) cinnamon rolls

I used to make these gooey treats with my friend Nathan. We found a regular roll recipe and adapted it for cinnamon rolls. They are delicious!

Cinnamon Rolls

2 cups soy or rice milk
1 cup water

4 TB dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB salt
3/4 cup margarine
2 tsp liquid lecithin, or vegetable oil

8 cups flour, divided plus more for dusting

Filling:
2 TB cinnamon
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 stick margarine, melted


Pre-heat oven to 400. Microwave milk and water for 3 1/2 minutes, set aside. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix 2nd group of ingredients together on low. Add milk, and slowly mix for about a minute. Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Add 4 cups flour, mix until smooth. Add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time. Turn out on floured surface and knead well, or until it's no longer sticky. Place in a medium bowl, place that into a large bowl filled with hot water, and cover with a towel. Let raise for 15 minutes. Punch down, and divide dough in half, then cover one of the halves with a towel.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle. Brush half the butter onto the dough, leaving about a half an inch border all around. Mix the sugar and the cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle half the filling onto the dough, then press it in. Tightly roll the dough to form a tube. Using a serrated knife, cut off the end, then cut the tube into 1 1/2 inch slices. Place cut side down on a greased cookie pan, leaving room for them to rise. Cover, and let raise for 15-20 more minutes.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Makes a little over a dozen rolls.



Frosting: (optional)

1 oz pkg Tofutti cream cheese, at room temp
1 stick margarine, at room temp
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream together the margarine and cream cheese. Add the sugar, and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Smear onto cooled rolls.

Store rolls in the fridge.

(vegan) sugar cookies & buttercream frosting

Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer
2 TB lukewarm water
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
1 tsp vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 375. In a ramekin, mix together the egg replacer and the water. Cream together margarine and sugar. Add egg. Mix in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, ending with the milk. Beat in the vanilla. Roll out onto floured working surface, and cutout with cookie cutters. For crispy cookies, roll the dough out thin. For soft cookies, roll the dough out so it's almost 1/4 inch thick.



Space the cookies out so that they won't expand into each other while baking. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Don't let the tops of the cookies brown, they are done when the bottoms are lightly browned. Let them cool for about 7 minutes before attempting to move them- you don't want your shapes to break. Let them cool on a wire rack completely before frosting them- you don't want melted frosting!

"Buttercream" Frosting

1 cup margarine

6 cups powdered sugar

6-8 TB soy or rice milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp almond extract

Beat margarine in a medium mixing bowl until softened. Add 3 cups of the sugar, mix well. Blend in 4 TB of the milk, then add the rest of the sugar. Beat in the extracts. If frosting is too thick, add more milk.

You can add food coloring at this point. Since margarine is not as stable as butter, it's best that you only make pastel colors with this frosting. It also will "melt" a lot faster- so it's best to store the frosted cookies in the fridge until ready to serve.



These cookies are amazing! They taste like the "real" thing!

Enjoy!

(vegan) fresh apple cookies

Fresh Apple Cookies

1 cup butter, at room temp (margarine)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 large apples, peeled and grated

Cream butter and sugars, add vanilla and apple, then dry ingredients.

In a shallow bowl, mix together:

8 TB sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Roll cookies in cinnamon sugar mix. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, or until light brown on the bottom.

I love to drizzle caramel ice cream topping on top of these cookies. Not vegan friendly though...

(vegan) chocolate chip cookies

(photo credit)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup margarine, at room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs ( 3 tsp egg replacer, 4 TB water)

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 TB vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips- (semi-sweet or carob, if you like it)

Cream sugars and butter on low until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients. Beat in the vanilla. Add the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.

If you have any left over, store in a ziplock bag.

(vegan) cheesecake

Many years ago, I was Vegan. It wasn't a "hard" way to live, but I really missed dessert. So I started adapting my Mom's recipes so that I could still eat sweets. Because honestly, all the Vegan "desserts" at the time had ingredients like whole wheat flour and carob. Not really my idea of sweets!

It took 6 months for my mom and I to perfect this recipe. It's really simple, and it's been thoroughly tested and approved by many!

Shortbread Crust

1 stick margarine

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Cream margarine and sugar together. Add flour. Beat in vanilla. Press into greased pie pan or springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes- do not brown. Let cool.

Basic Cheesecake

3 pkg Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese, at room temp

3/4 cup sugar

4 1/2 tsp egg replacer

6 TB water, at room temp

1 TB vanilla extract

Combine the egg replacer and the water. Set aside. Beat the cream cheese and the sugar on low until smooth. Slowly add the "eggs", then the vanilla. Pour into crust. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the middle wiggles like pudding.

Let cool completely. Cover and let chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

A Favorite Variation:

The most requested and popular cheesecake that I have made is Lemon.

Add 1/4-1/2 cup of lemon juice to cheesecake mixture after the vanilla. Top with Lemon Sauce.

Lemon Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

2 TB cornstarch

3/4 cup water

2 TB margarine

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 TB lemon zest

Combine the sugar and the cornstarch in a small dry saucepan. Add water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Simmer for about 2 minutes, or until thickened. Take off of heat. Add lemon juice, zest, and margarine. Stir to combine. Tops one cheesecake. You can also add fresh blueberries to the mix after it has cooled- an amazing summer dessert!

(photo credit)

retro jessica makes an appearance

Years ago, when I was vegan, I started baking. I adapted a lot of my Mom's recipes, so that I could still have dessert. (So today, while having an artistic block in a project that I am working on, I decided to dust off my recipe box and start typing.)

These are the recipes that started it all- I made these over and over again, sharing with friends and family. My love for baking has expanded since then- and so have my skills.

There was a point when I wanted to write a vegan recipe book. It was an ambitious idea, one that was too large for me- I didn't want a year or 2 of my life taken up by it.

So over the next few weeks, I will be posting some of my "old school" recipes. All of them can be made vegan, or in the usual ways. Both of which are (almost) equally delicious.