Chocolate, banana, oat pancakes

These are so delicious, and healthy!
I've made these a couple of times before (and posted them on my tumblr blog here), but they were just banana oat, this time I added cacao!
They are pretty dense and moist pancakes, sort of like banana bread. So if you wanted a more cakey texture, try just using 1 banana and increasing the flour to 3/4 cup.

1 1/4 cup oats

1/2 cup flour (I used spelt flour)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder or raw cacao powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup non-dairy milk

1/4 cup maple syrup or agave 

1 tablespoon oil (I used peanut)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 medium ripe bananas

Blend all the ingredients in a blender for a few seconds, except the bananas. Then add the bananas and blend until smooth (about 10 seconds).

(If you don’t have a blender you can mash the bananas well with a fork and then whisk everything together).

Cook over a medium heat, and serve with maple syrup, banana and/or berries!

Earl grey shortbread cookies

These shortbread cookies were inspired by the Earl Grey Cupcake from Mister Nice Guy Cupcakes! They're not too strong, so even if you're not a fan of earl grey tea, you might still like these!

They just have a subtle earl grey flavour that comes out when you bake them, and a hint of lemon.

I used this recipe from Martha Stewart, and just replaced/added a couple of ingredients.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons finely ground Earl Grey tea leaves (from about 4 bags)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegan margarine 

1/2 cup coconut oil (or shortening), softened, but not fully melted

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 180˚C (350˚F).

Whisk together flour, tea, and salt in a small bowl.

Put margarine, coconut oil, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat for a few minutes until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a log, 3 - 5cm in diameter, on baking paper or glad wrap. Put the logs in the freezer for half an hour till they are firm.

Cut logs into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets.

Bake cookies for 12 – 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden. Let cool completely on wire racks.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (gluten free)

Whoopie Pies are an American baked dessert that is kind of like a cookie and cake combined.
I'm leaving for the USA in 10 weeks, so I made them to get into the American spirit!

This recipe is from Babycakes Covers the Classics, but I changed it a bit to make them spiced pumpkin whoopie pies (for an autumn-y flavour) instead of chocolate, and filled them with cream cheese frosting.

The actual cookies are gluten free and sugar free, so to make them 100% sugar free you could use a different filling such as the Babycakes vanilla frosting.

It was a really dark and rainy day when I made them, so it wasn't a good day for photo lighting!
But a great day to stay inside with a cup of tea and a whoopie pie :)

Ingredients

2 cups Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour (or you could use spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour & xanthan gum)

1/4 cup arrowroot

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup canola oil

2/3 cup agave  nectar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 160˚C (325˚F). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, arrowroot, baking soda, xanthan gum, spices & salt.
In another bowl whisk together the oil, agave, pumpkin puree and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until it forms a smooth dough.
Drop teaspoons of the dough onto the baking trays 2 - 3cm apart, and flatten them to help the cookies spread.


Bake for 7 minutes, rotate, and bake for another 5 minutes until the cookies are firm to touch and golden. Let them cool for 15 minutes.


To make the frosting: Beat together the margarine and cream cheese, then gradually beat in the powdered sugar, then vanilla, and beat until smooth.


Spoon a tablespoon of frosting onto the flat side of one cookie, and sandwich with another cookie.


[Makes 12]

I found this great autumn leaf plate in an op shop. I thought it matched the pumpkin whoopie pies well :)

DONUTS!

Baked donuts (or doughnuts... however you want to spell it) seem to be the latest craze right now, so I was really excited to try them out! Especially after my copy of Babycakes Covers the Classics arrived in the mail! :)

[ If you don't know about Babycakes NYC look it up, it's amazing! I will finally be able to visit the bakery this year because I'M GOING TO NEW YORK! YAY! ]

Anyway...
I rushed out to buy a donut pan and got baking!
I used the Babycakes gluten free recipe and they were delicious!
I mixed up the toppings from chocolate icing to vanilla glaze, coconut, sprinkles and cinnamon sugar, just to try it all out.

What I love most about baked donuts is they look so fancy, but are secretly really easy to make!
Here's how they turned out...

Sweet potato muffins with brazil nut crunch

These muffins were inspired by the sweet potato pie in Vegan Pie in the Sky! I made it for dessert on Christmas, and I loved the brazil nut topping on the pie and thought it would be great on top of a muffin!

The first batch of muffins I made the nut topping burnt a bit, so I tried turning down the oven temperature, and they worked out great.

Pecans or walnuts would also be yum for the nut topping!

[ Makes 12 small muffins or 6 - 7 large muffins ]

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour


1 cup sugar


1 tablespoon baking powder


1/4 teaspoon salt


1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


1/2 teaspoon nutmeg


1/2 teaspoon ground ginger


1 cup pureed sweet potato


1/2 cup coconut milk (or other non dairy milk)


1/2 cup vegetable oil


2 tablespoons molasses

Brazil nut crunch

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons vegan margarine


1 cup brazil nuts, roughly chopped


pinch of salt

To make the brazil nut topping, mash together the sugar and margarine then mix in the brazil nuts and salt.

For the muffins, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In another bowl, whisk together sweet potato, milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined.

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle over about a tablespoon of the brazil nuts on each muffin, and push into the batter slightly.

Bake at 170°C for 20 minutes or until a toothpick poked in comes out clean.

Buckwheat Crepes

I've been making crepes for a while, ever since I bought a good crepe pan, so I though I'd try out something other than regular crepes! I adapted this recipe from Vegan Yum Yum to make buckwheat crepes :)

[ Makes about 15 crepes ]


1 cup soy milk
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup melted margarine
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup spelt flour (or all-purpose flour)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbls maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla
A few tablespoons of water to thin out

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl, except margarine, until combined. Then fold through the margarine. Refrigerate for at least an hour, or preferably overnight.

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter (or Nutella)

I was really excited to try out Chocolate Covered Katie's recipe for nutella.

It turned out really well, except I added some extra agave syrup because I like things extra sweet :)

And I could have blended the hazelnuts for a bit longer to make it smoother, but it was still delicious.

I had mine on crepes! This is the best crepe recipe I've tried! I think the trick with these crepes is the longer you leave them in the fridge the better they work. But they still turn out well with only 30 minutes in the fridge. And it helps a lot if you invest in a good crepe pan, or non stick pan.

YUM!