Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream (Take Two!)

This weekend I took another stab at the salted caramel pretzel ice cream that I told you about earlier in the month. Last time I tried to follow Chloe Coscarelli's recipe but forgot the sugar, which is pretty crucial in ice cream. This weekend I tried out some new things. I instead opted for the vanilla recipe from The Vegan Scoop. I got the book over the holidays was pretty excited to finally put it to use. The grocery store near my work doesn't carry Silk soy creamer, so I bought two pints of the vegan brand they did have. While the label was pretty misleading and showed white creamer being poured into a steaming cup of coffee, the creamer itself looked like chocolate milk! I'm not sure if that is only true for their french vanilla flavor, which maybe has additional vanilla extract tinting it? The ice cream tasted delicious, but it did look like it should be chocolate or coffee flavored rather than vanilla.
I also went a different route for the mix-ins. Rather than add the chocolate covered pretzels to the ice cream, I allowed everyone to throw a few on top of their scoop to accommodate for different tastes or potential gluten allergies. The caramel recipe that I used was a recipe I had bookmarked years ago from Dog Hill Kitchen, but hadn't made yet because I only recently bought a candy thermometer. It was perfect! I made a quarter batch and cooked it to 230 degrees F, like suggest for a sauce. I threw in 1/4 tsp sea salt with the vanilla after taking it off the burner. The warm caramel hardened as it hit the cold ice cream, which was really magical for me. I can't wait to make individually wrapped caramels from this recipe.


I yet again apologize for the quality of the picture! This was taken with a phone while friends were quickly devouring the ice cream in the dark. I promise to document things better soon.
I have been thinking about ice cream quite a bit lately. There are several flavors I plan on making soon. At least it's been unseasonably warm while I experiment with more frozen treats. Do you have any favorite ice cream recipes or flavors?

*I'd also like to thank everyone who has been reading my blog posts! Today I reached 10,000 page views which is so exciting. I'm also happy to hear feedback from so many people lately!

Red Wine Lollipops

One of my friends is moving away from DC, and I knew I needed to make her something special. She loves glitter, hearts, and wine, so when I saw these lollipops posted on Sprinkles Bakes, I knew they were perfect.
However I do not know the first thing about wine. I went to two grocery stores and a small corner liquor store searching for port whine and could not find a single bottle. I asked my housemate with a little more assistance what sweet red wine he though would make good candy and so sangria flavored pops it was.
I don't recommend making these if you have had a bad experience with wine in the past. While I was making the reduction the vapors were making me feel physically ill and bringing back recollections of a college night & a bottle of plum wine that I would rather not remember.
However, the recipe was very easy to follow. My candy thermometer was not fully submerged during my first attempt, and so the temperature was actually quite a bit higher than what was registering on the gauge. I didn't realize until the candy had turned brown and it was too late. So I used the rest of the bottle, and had a better attempt. The candy started to brown a bit before the temperature fully reached 310 degrees, but I knew it was close enough to harden so I poured the lollipops anyways. After letting them cool for a few hours I popped them out of the molds and used a paint brush to apply silver luster dust. A few of them I dipped in the water as Heather suggested, but a few I didn't. The ones that I dipped were quite a bit stickier and therefore harding to gift, so keep that in mind if you were planning on packaging the candy. The general consensus was that the sangria flavor could definitely be stronger, but that they were still delicious.



Also, the pictures are a little too dark for you to fully appreciate how beautiful the lollipops were. I had to take then early in the morning while it was barely light and a torrential downpour, but it's better than no pictures at all I suppose.
Do you make candy? I have lots of molds but they definitely don't get enough use.

Nutella Swirled Blondies

I have been lusting after a vegan nutella-like spread for a while. Last week I decided to make my own, bought a giant bag of hazelnuts, and immediately after found a jar of accidentally vegan nutella in a Marshalls. I scoured the store searching for another jar of the same brand, but couldn't find one. Soon I will attempt to make my own, but this jar should serve for a few baking trials.
I decided to make nutella swirled blondies. I hadn't ever actually eaten a blondie before, but it seemed the nutella was enough to make it something I would enjoy. I used a recipe from the Allergic Kid. While the taste was perfect, my batch turned out a little drier than I expected. The batter was also way too thick and sticky to actually swirl the nutella in with a knife like I had envisioned. Instead I took a few tablespoons, melted it in the microwave for about 20 seconds, and drizzled it on top prior to baking.


I think they were pretty spectacular. These are something I would definitely make again. I might play around with another blondie recipe. Even though there is tofu in the blondie recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, I might give it a chance.
Do you like blondies? They seemed so inferior to brownies that I had never given them a chance, but I see their potential now.

Chocolate Pistachio Cream Whoopie Pies

Whoopie pies are some combination of cake and sandwich cookie that intrigues me. I definitely prefer them to cake, but they rank a little lower on my scale of my favorite sweets than an ice cream sandwich cookie. I haven’t made whoopie pies many times. In fact I can only remember having made two batches that were both pumpkin and cream cheese. I saw the recipe for these on Bake and Destroy. Natalie’s vegan recipes have never failed me.
I followed the recipe pretty closely. I used a mixture of regular and dark cocoa powders, and vanilla soy yogurt rather than tofu. I haven’t gotten over my fear of tofu in sweets yet. I have made two cream pies, a chocolate and a coconut, that were successful at hiding the soybean flavor. In most cases, I can still taste the soybean and so I tend to avoid using it.
My chocolate cake looks a little different than hers. I’m not sure if I overmixed the dough accidentally. My little mounds had lots of cracks, and while those look great on a muffin, I want my whoopie pies to be smooth.


The pistachio cream is spot on! It was salty and sweet and had just the right amount of texture. I made the cream and went out for a few hours. When I came back, it tasted exponentially different. So I highly recommend making these a few hours early and letting the pistachio flavor develop. I might play with the filling a bit in the future. Natalie suggested adding some cardamom, and I think that's a great idea. Also, if you aren’t using pre-roasted and salted pistachios, I would suggest adding a bit of sea salt to your frosting.
Overall, I really liked this recipe. These were a hit with several friends. However, they were very rich so I would probably make them a little smaller next time. I was feeling a little lazy, so I just plopped down 1/4 cup dough on the cookie sheets, which made about nine ~3" whoopie pies. I also suggest using a cookie scoop if you want really uniformly shaped treats, that are more photogenic than mine!
I also really want to bake more with pistachios. I've made a few pistachio-rose and pistachio-cardamom things, but not recently. Are there any other flavors you think work well with pistachio?

Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream

Ever since I laid eyes on my beautiful pistachio standing mixer, I knew that I would get an ice cream attachment. Last week I decided it was high time to purchase it already, and two days later the box was on my doorstep! I am not sure why I want to start experimenting with frozen treats in the winter, but maybe I will have a head start on all the best recipes once the summer heat sets in!
The first ice cream I wanted to try was a salted caramel pretzel recipe I saw on Chloe Coscarelli's website. After waiting for the freezer bowl to chill for 16 hours, I was so impatient! I couldn't figure out how to make the machine work, because I didn't realize there was an adapter ring attached that I didn't need for my specific standing mixer. Somehow in all the confusion and anxiousness, I forgot to add the agave nectar! I didn't taste the ice cream until after it was already frozen and too late to add the sugar. It was so disappointing. I haven't ever done that before, and I really hope to not leave sugar out of a dessert again.
I didn't love the intense coconut flavor of the ice cream or the texture (which was pretty icy). I'm not sure how much adding the agave nectar would have diluted the flavor or made the ice cream smoother. While I will give the recipe a fair chance sometime in the future, it might be with a few modifications. I didn't love the caramel sauce, and might try using a different one. I also wouldn't throw the chocolate covered pretzels in the ice cream unless you are planning on serving it immediately. By the next morning they had turned into a soggy goo that was totally unappealing.
At least with such a dreadful start, there is a lot of room for improvement. Next time I will stay calm and collected while adding ALL of the ingredients! How often do kitchen errors like these happen to you? I feel like most of the time I catch them before it is too late, but sometimes you need a mistake to remind you to slow down a little and think about what you are doing.

Shirley Temple Cupcakes

I have always loved Shirley Temples. They were not only something I looked forward to when our family went out to dinner as a child, but something I still get excited about. I don’t drink alcohol, so these are my standby drink when I somehow end up at a bar. I had seen a picture of a Shirley Temple cupcake a few months ago on a baking blog and desperately wanted to veganize it. As you can see, they are pretty darn cute.


Shirley Temple Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from My Sweet Vegan’s RootBeer Float Cupcakes

3/4 Cup Lemon Lime Soda

1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 Cup Maraschino Cherry Juice
3/4 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Canola Oil

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 1/3 Cups Flour

3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt
Red dye (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the soda and vinegar. Add the cherry juice, sugar and oil. The mixture will be a little frothy. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing gently. If you want the cupcake to have a look reminiscent of the drink, add 1/4 to 1/3 of the batter to a small bowl and dye with a no-taste red dye. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of this mixture into the cupcake liners. Gently add un-dyed batter, until liners are 3/4 full. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes.

Cherry Buttercream

1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup Earth Balance
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons cherry juice

Cream shortening and butter. Add 1 cup powdered sugar. Beat until incorporated. Add 2 tablespoons cherry juice and remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Add additional juice or sugar until desired consistency.
This is a half batch of frosting, which was just enough to pipe small mounds on a dozen cupcakes. If you like large amounts of frosting, I suggest doubling the recipe.


These cupcakes sold faster than anything I have ever made at a bake sale before, which really boosted my self esteem. I think this will become a frequently made recipe in my kitchen. The cherry flavor is very subtle, so if you want more bang I suggest adding a bit of a natural cherry extract. I have seen a few recipes also use Cherry 7-up, which might additional flavor too.
Do you have a favorite drink that you think should be turned into a dessert? If you haven't picked up on it already, I really like taking sweets and turning them into a different dessert medium. Prime examples are the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes and speculoos snickerdoodles!

These are also headed to Sweets for a Saturday. There aren't many vegan things on the list, but tons of great ideas for things you can veganize!

Philadelphia

This past weekend I spent some time in Philadelphia. It's definitely one of my favorite cities, especially if you are solely considering the vegan food around.
I ate twice at Blackbird and twice at Grindcore House. While I have had the pizza at Blackbird before, this time I went for sandwiches. While the chickpea parm was delicious, it pales in comparison to the smoked tofu cubano. I also got a peanut butter cup brownie from Vegan Treats while I was there. Grindcore House has tons of great cream cheeses. I got a scallion cream cheese on my whole wheat everything bagel. I also got TWO Vegan Treats cannolis. Their cannolis are amazing. I have made cannolis a few times, but nothing that compares to what they have produced. I normally make the filling used an almond cream, which is really heavy. Vegan Treats' filling seems so much lighter. I also can't figure out what type of base they are using. It's driving my crazy!


Another fun place in Philadelphia is Fante's Kitchen Shop! It was so terrific. I got a new spatula, a bottle of chocolate extract, reusable bread bags, 200 cupcake liners, and a small bottle of red dye. All of that was less than $20! The shelves are lined with so many wonderful things. I almost hyperventilated. There were several beautiful pizelle makers for around $50 each. They also had all of the KitchenAid standing mixer attachments for less than you can get them from KitchenAid's website. The amount of cookie cutters, various cake pans, and selection of extracts is worth the trip to their store if you are ever in the area.
Do you have any favorite places in Philly? I know there are tons of great restaurants I am missing out on.

Banana Split Cupcakes

These were the most fun-flavored cupcakes I could think of earlier this week while I was prepping for a bake sale. It's also nice to have an option besides banana bread when you have rapidly browning fruit sitting around too! There is a banana split cupcake in VCTOTW. While I used their banana cake base, I have never made the full recipe. Maybe it's just a different preference in my banana split toppings, but I would NEVER include pineapple preserves. I prefer to keep my banana split simple: dipped in a coconut oil-chocolate ganache, topped with a tiny dollop of vanilla bean frosting, a handful of sprinkles, and a cherry.
I have made my variation of the cupcakes a few times now. While I always want to rim the cupcakes in nonpareils, it is too tedious for me to complete a whole dozen recently. There is some stage between the ganache being too soft & falling off into the bowl of nonpareils and the ganache being just firm enough to still stick to the sprinkles that I have not yet mastered. Maybe some day. So instead, for the large majority of these cupcakes I just tossed a handful of sprinkles on top of the vanilla frosting and called it a day.


If you are going to top your cupcakes with cherries, I not only suggest using cherries with stems (solely for the visual appeal) but also letting them dry out on a napkin or towel for a few minutes first. Maraschino cherry juice is delicious, but it will ooze into your frosting and discolor it.
I have heard lots of other great topping ideas. The fun of these cupcakes is customizing them. Always hated vanilla ice cream in your splits? Then use strawberry frosting, squiggles of chocolate ganaches, and throw on a handful of crushed peanuts. Make them your own! Have you ever made banana split or sundae cupcakes? Do you have any other toppings that you think I should have mentioned?

These are headed to Sweets for a Saturday.

Chai Latte Cupcakes

You might be tired of seeing recipes from VCTOTW by now, but I can't promise you that you are going to read anything different in this post. The chai latte cupcakes are simply delicious. I like that they are fairly low in fat and aren't super sweet. While I love drinking black tea, I decided to instead steep four bags of chai tea in the almond milk to really pump up the flavor of the cupcakes. I piped the vanilla bean frosting with my favorite Wilton 1M tip again. For Christmas, my mom got me a cinnamon grinder that I finally put to good use! It's pretty neat. While I have seen tons of pepper and salt mills, I hadn't seen one with cinnamon in it before.



I can't promise that you aren't going to see more cupcakes this week. It's like my cookie phase dissipated as soon as New Years hit and was replaced by the urge to bake cake. Maybe in a few weeks I will be on to something more exciting like pie?! Do you get into baking phases too?
I am currently experiencing another phase, buying tons of random dishes from thrift and discount stores. Note the plate above. I am sure my housemates would be happy if that phase subsided quickly as well, seeing as I already take up so much kitchen space!

A Whole Lotta Cookies in the Cookie Jar

Today I have a guest post over at Great Sage's blog. I discuss my favorite (and least favorite) recipes from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. If you don't live in the Maryland-DC area, you might not have heard of Great Sage. They are a terrific, all vegan restaurant located in Clarksville, MD. If you have the opportunity to stop by, I highly recommend their ceasar salad and their adult mac-n-cheese!

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cupcakes

I don't think that I can do an adequate job describing these cupcakes. I generally am not a fan of cake. I think it's often too sweet, and though I like piping beautiful mounds of frosting, it isn't something I generally desire to eat. These cupcakes changed that for me. The first time I tasted this flavor combination was over the summer, when my friend Sheena made a batch for a friend's birthday. I knew I had to recreate them. Using the basic chocolate cake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, I made the batter with chocolate extract and a mixture of dark cocoa and Valhrona cocoa powders.
The almond butter frosting is what takes these to the next level however. I used a raw almond butter with a smooth texture. I am not sure how much the consistency of almond butter varies among brand, but mine was very, very thick. If yours is thin, you might need to add quite a bit more powdered sugar to achieve the desired texture. Also, these were piped with a Wilton 2D tip. If you look closely, you might be able to tell that even the smooth almond butter had enough almond pieces in it to clog the tip.


Almond Butter Frosting
(adapted from VCTOTW peanut buttercream frosting)

1/4 cup Earth Balance
2 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
1 cup powered sugar

Cream butter and shortening. Add almond butter and vanilla bean paste. Mix until blended. Slowly add powdered sugar. If not the desired consistency, either thicken with additional powered sugar or thin with almond milk.


Have you ever tried a nut butter frosting? Peanut is pretty common, but I love the almond version. It's not very sweet, and I even used the leftover frosting to flavor my oatmeal the next morning. I have used cashews to make creams, but I wonder what a cashew frosting would be like? Or hazelnut? A chocolate hazelnut cupcake might be like eating nutella?!

Funfetti & Rainbow Cupcakes

In the winter everything feels so whitewashed and pale, which might be why I have had the urge to make everything around me bright colors. It certainly is true for these cupcakes. I have seen lots of homemade made funfetti cake recipes across the blogosphere in the past and felt like it was time to make use of my giant stock of sprinkles. Typically, boxed confetti cake mixes are not vegan as they use a “white cake” that generally contains egg whites. But making your own is as simple as adding 1/4-1/3 cup of sprinkles to your cake batter. I added 1/3 cup to a batch of batter that made 16 cupcakes. If you think there are too many color splotches in mine, simply add your sprinkles in tablespoon increments until you see the amount of speckling you desire. Also, the larger sprinkles work better than nonpareils. I used rainbow sprinkles, and if I were going to make these again I might go through and pick out all the white sprinkles next time. To me they look like little pockets of unmixed flour or baking soda. Also, if you wanted to make your cake a little paler, you could also try using a colorless extract.

For the frosting I mixed together Wilton blue and green color gels until I got to the desired shade. I was given a box of gel colors, which I generally add using toothpicks or the tip of a reusable chopstick. The dyes with squirt tops are something that I envy, and would buy if I ever make it through the set that I have. These were piped with a Wilton 1M tip.
If you wanted to make a funfetti frosting to match the cake, you could either use nonpareils or maybe chop the larger sprinkles a little if you are planning on piping. Otherwise you will clog your tip!
While you have your dyes out, you might also want to try making some tye dye cupcakes! You basically just separate your batter into four or five small bowls and dye each. Then add them to your cupcake liners in varying amounts and patterns and bake. They are so simple, and yet really cute.


I know that dyes aren’t something I want to be a part of my everyday diet, but I think they are worth breaking out every now and then. Do you have any other recommendations for simple, colorful cakes?

Baked Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Donuts

As I told you over the weekend, I got a lot of use out of my thrifted donut pans. The recipe that I have been using the most of one from Vegan Yum Yum. However, I add an extra teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and only add the tiniest shake of cinnamon to the batter. For a chocolate cake donut, I simply replaced ¼ cup of flour with cocoa powder. I made one batch of chocolate and two batches of vanilla bean. Each batch made about 10-12 donuts for me.


I played a lot with different toppings, to try and allow for a lot of various flavors. I made a simple glaze from powdered sugar and water to dip the chocolate donuts in. For the vanilla bean donuts, I dipped a few in a pink sugar glaze and threw on some sprinkles to create a ‘Homer Simpson’ donut. I also made a lemon glaze, and threw a handful of coconut on top of those. I made a chocolate glaze using Valhrona cocoa powder and almond milk (Valhrona cocoa powder is much richer than normal baking cocoa, and I highly recommend giving it a chance. It’s worth the price for the extra flavor). I threw sprinkles on part of the chocolate dipped donuts, and crushed Chick-O-Sticks on the remaining. The Chick-O-Stick flavor didn’t come through as much as I would have liked, so if I play around with them again in donuts, I might add a handful of ground candy to the batter.


I also learned an important lesson. If you are baking several dozen donuts the night before you serve them, you might not want to wrap them in an aluminum pan with plastic wrap. Mine got a little too wet, even though they had all fully cooled before I wrapped them. They were fine after a few hours of sitting unwrapped again, but I think it would have been better to just let them sit in an open container overnight.
I equally love cake and yeast donuts, but I need to attempt making yeast donuts again soon. I would also like to work on a blueberry and raspberry cake donut! Do you have any favorite donut recipes? My friend Jenna made a resolution to make a batch of donuts every other week this year. I am excited to see her progress and all the flavor combinations she comes up with!

Cardamom Spice Gluten Free Donuts

I have had a mini donut pan for a few months now, but earlier this week I found a pair of regular sized donut pans at a thrift store for less than five dollars! Today I spent most of the afternoon baking donuts while watching Stranger Than Fiction. Maggie Gyllenhaal's character has my dream life. And her partner brings her flours! I swoon.
A friend had asked me when I started this blog if I would work on gluten free donuts, and I was happy to attempt. I started with a recipe from Jeanette's Healthy Living because it sounded the most appealing and I happened to have all the necessary ingredients at hand. When I first mixed the batter I felt like it was way too thing to possibly bake properly, and so I added more of the flour mixture until it seemed to be a workable consistency. I would guess that I used 200-250 grams of the total 400 grams I made. These donuts also became cardamom spice, I dumped tons in when I failed to realize the plastic cap was missing from the spice jar. Baking blunders, you gotta love 'em. Thankfully I was able to remove quite a bit of it, and the flavor wasn't too overwhelming.


This batch made 7 donuts for me. If you aren't familiar with using a donut pan, it takes a little practice to gauge the correct amount of batter. I highly suggest attempting to make one donut first to have an idea. You might feel like there is no way the tiny amount of batter you place in the tray will expand so much, but trust me it will. These donuts were also really fragile. One crumbled in the cinnamon sugar mixture, even though I was turning it very carefully. If I were to make this recipe again, I would probably add a bit of xanthan gum to help hold it together. Also, I couldn't taste the pumpkin in the batter (even before I dumped in too much cardamom), so I wouldn't make it hoping for a very pumpkiny flavor.
I feel like this was a solid first attempt at gluten free donuts for me. I think I might also try BabyCake's recipe in the future and play with various toppings.
I have more donuts that there wasn't daylight to photograph! So I will share those with you soon. Do you have a favorite donut? I have had some pretty amazing donuts from Mighty-O in Seattle. But I haven't had the chance to try Dun Well yet in New York. I hear they have a root beer donut?!

Faux-Butterfinger Milkshake

It has been so long since I have turned on my oven! For a week I was in Tennessee, and then I spent a 4-day weekend in the Midwest. Despite it being the coldest week yet this winter, the only things I can think about are ice cream and milkshakes. While I was in Chicago I drank the two best milkshakes of my life. One was the chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter milkshake from the Chicago Diner and the other was a strawberry milkshake from Pick Me Up Café.
While I was in Tennessee I also finally found Chick-O-Sticks again! Chick-O-Sticks are a delicious gluten free candy made from coconut and peanut butter. They are the closest thing to a vegan Butterfinger that I have ever found. Toy Joy in Austin makes a Chick-O-Stick milkshake that I had the pleasure of trying last fall. Ever since I have tried it, I knew I wanted to create my own version. There’s was a little thing because it is made from soft serve ice cream and lacks the hint of chocolate that really brings out the ‘Butterfinger’ness I desired.


Chick-O-Stick Milkshakes
Makes 2 large glasses

1 pint vanilla ice cream
1/3-1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
2 large Chick-O-Sticks or 20 individually wrapped bite size pieces
4 tsps chocolate syrup

Pour chocolate syrup in glass and set aside. Grind candy to a fine powder. Add to ice cream and milk and blend until desired consistency. Serve immediately.


I used Tempt ice cream because I had never tried a hemp-based ice cream before, but I was not a fan. If I were going to try this again, I would have used coconut or almond. Normally when I am making a chocolate syrup to drizzle, I melt chocolate with coconut oil. Unless you want a crunch, I would recommend using shortening, as coconut oil will produce a ‘magic shell’ like gets poured on top of sundaes. You don’t have to worry about that if you happen to have a store bought chocolate syrup around. Alternatively, you could also just throw a handful of chocolate chips in the blender with the milkshake. If you washed your glass right before you decided to make the milkshake, I also suggest making sure it is very dry because any remaining water will mix with the chocolate. Note the discoloration of the chocolate at the bottom of my glass (whoops!).
What’s your favorite flavor for a milkshake? I highly suggest checking out the restaurants/cafes mentioned above if you are in those areas!

*If you live in the DC area and like vegan snacks and punk music, you should check out Venomous Fest this Saturday. My friend Sheena and I will be having a vegan bake sale. There will be tons of cupcakes, cookies, donuts, rice krispie treats, and even a few savory snacks.