Raspberry Popsicles

Time between my blog posts keeps getting longer. I haven't stopped making sweets, but all my words have somehow slipped away, and so this little blog has gotten a little neglected in the last few months. When I first started blogging almost eight months ago things were so different. I was working on my phD and sitting in front of a computer several days a week. Now I am baking full time and rarely have time to read all the posts from people I follow with Google Reader. For the first few months the bakery was open, it only stimulated my desire to make new things. While it is exciting to work for people who want me to create organic and fair trade vegan sweets, I also found it a little limiting creatively. There were still so many things that I wanted to experiment with that I couldn't do in the bakeshop. I wanted to make things with the vegan M&Ms I finally got a hold of, and I have trouble holding back from anything that I can cover in sprinkles.
However, in the last few weeks the full reality of running a bakery has hit me. I have hired 4 assistants in the last eight weeks, three of whom have already had quit or had to be let go for various reasons. My fourth assistant started a few weeks ago as full time, but recently switched to part time. So I now only have twenty five-ish hours of help a week. The rest of the time it's basically my sole responsibility to do all the ordering, the tweaking of the recipes, the majority of the baking, developing new products, sourcing packaging for those products, scheduling deliveries of the baked goods, and all sorts of other little things that get slipped into the everyday flow of things.
There have been many thirteen hour days. There has also been a lot of sweat and even tears. When I allow myself to stop thinking about everything I still need to do and realize how much has been done since the doors opened in May, it's pretty amazing.
Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and let yourself enjoy something simple like these popsicles. Something you didn't have to spend hours making and that feels refreshing. The raspberries also are tart enough to counteract the sugar. Because no matter how badly I want to tell people that I have not overdosed on sugar, there are definitely days where I don't want to test another cupcake or cookie or cinnamon bun for a very long time.


Raspberry Popsicles
adapted from Family Kitchen


1.5 cup frozen raspberries
1 cup coconut water
1 cup apple juice
2 tablespoons agave nectar

Combine all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Freeze for at least 2 hours before snacking. Quantity will vary based on the size of your popsicle molds, but this made 8 for me.

Strawberry Biscuits

It has been such an intense week already, and it's not even Wednesday night yet. When I got home from work Monday, I was set on having the most relaxing night every. I ordered sesame tofu from a takeout place down the street, put on my PJs by 6PM, and spent a few hours catching up on a back log of blog posts I had been meaning to read and reading Game of Thrones. The relaxation took its toll, and I went to bed really early. Out of pure exhaustion I did something I never do and left my laptop and bag downstairs in the living room, because I could only carry myself and my blanket up the stairs. I woke up early Tuesday morning to go to work, after showering and heading downstairs to grab my lunch, I realized that someone had dumped all the contents of my bag on the couch and the canvas bag was missing. I went into the kitchen to grab another canvas bag and noticed that the rest were missing too. In my still waking up haze I thought someone had needed all the bags to grocery shopping and started to head towards the door. As I was unlocking the front door, I realized that my bike was missing. Some friends had been playing a late night game of kickball the night before and I assumed that someone had borrowed my bike to make it home. I also thought that maybe my housemates were playing a joke on me for going to bed so early yet again. It wasn't until I got in my car and went to grab gas money out of my wallet that I realized something was horribly wrong. My wallet was open, and all the money I had gotten from the ATM the night before was missing. I bolted from the car, went back inside, and realized the house had been pulled apart. Sofa cushions were overturned, shelves had things knocked off and pulled out. I went upstairs to wake up my other housemates. We started tallying up all the things that were missing. Among them were a few bikes, my laptop, an Xbox and several games, the money from my wallet, an ipod, a few bottles of alcohol, and a few other random things like running shoes and canvas shopping bags. We waited around for a few hours while we answered the police's questions and watched them dust for fingerprints.
It seems like they broke in through a window and unlocked the back door. They probably had a car in the alley behind the house. We eventually figured out that we had been robbed sometime been midnight and 2am when another housemate came home from the kickball game. He probably scared them off, which is why they left several things that they had moved but not managed to get out of the house. I spent most of the day thinking about how terrifying it is to have people in your house, while you and your friends/family are sound asleep. How easy it would have been to hurt any of us. How violated I felt. I spent most of the afternoon reading and trying to distract myself, I warned the few neighbors that I saw on the streets to check their locks and windows and texted a few friends who live in the same neighborhood as us.
I slept at my partner's house last night because I knew it would make me feel a little safer. This morning I came home, intent on cleaning up the house and baking something comforting. I had settled on strawberry biscuits and just finished chopping the strawberries. I realized that my flour jar was empty and started to look through some shelves near the back door for an unopened sack. I spotted a canvas grocery bag and grabbed it. There wasn't flour inside, but I had found my laptop! After a minute of staring at it in disbelief, I set it down and found the flour too.

These strawberry biscuits are really comforting and likely to make you feel like your day is getting better, but probably not as good as mine. I was too excited to take the time to cut the biscuits and re-roll the dough, so I just sliced them as one would scones. It worked for me.



Vegan Strawberry Biscuits
recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen


2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 cup chopped strawberries
1 cup full fat canned coconut milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in Earth Balance with two knives or a pastry cutter. Toss strawberries in flour mixture until evenly coated. Pour coconut milk over the dry and slowly fold until just mixed. It's important to not overwork the dough. On a lightly floured surface, press out the dough to less an inch thick. Either cut with a bench scraped into wedges or with a cookie cutter to make round biscuits. Brush tops with additional coconut milk and sprinkle with Turbinado. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown.

These are not the sweetest biscuits. The Earth Balance makes them taste quite savory. I also added a half teaspoon of salt to cut the sweetness even further, but I am not sure that I would do that again. If you like sweet breads, I would definitely play with the sugar ratio a bit more. I've had a lot of success at making cream scones with just coconut milk, so that might be another option to take. It will also make the process a few minutes faster since you won't have to cut the Earth Balance into the flour. If you want to attempt that I would add an extra quarter cup of coconut milk to the dough.
I hope that no one else is having the sort of week that I am. But it's a good reminder that we can all be a little more careful. I'm going to finally get renter's insurance and back up my hard drive for once. Last night we installed a new heavy duty lock on the gate to the alley and took a few minutes to check the locks on all the windows. Stay safe and if you are having a rough day, maybe these biscuits will help turn it around for you too.

Peaches & Cream Popsicles

It's been so hot lately. With the temperature reaching ninety plus degrees a few days in a row, I finally understand the phrase "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." The sun shining in the bakery's glass windows acts like a green house, and when combined with the heat from the ovens, it's impossible for the air conditioning to have much of an effect. So when I get home from a long day of heat, the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven and bask in it's warmth. Instead, I break out the blender and make popsicles!
I bought my first set of popsicle molds last summer but never really put them to use. I remember making popsicles from some juice I had squeezed but didn't want to drink all of immediately. Over the winter I created an ever-lengthening list of flavors that I plan on making throughout the summer. The first was peaches & cream. It's really so easy, that you don't need a recipe, but I will give you the guidelines that I followed. The nice thing about popsicles is that unlike most baked goods, it's pretty hard to screw them up!

Peaches & Cream Popsicles
makes ~6 popsicles, varies by size of molds

10 oz frozen peaches
6 oz yogurt (I used Whole Soy peach yogurt)
1/4 cup milk of choice (I used vanilla almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine peaches, milk, and 4 oz of the yogurt in a blender. Mix until desired consistency is achieved. I blended mine until it was smooth, but feel free to leave small chunks of peaches if that consistency is desired. In a small bowl, whisk vanilla extract into remaining yogurt. Spoon the peach mixture into the molds until they are half full, then add a few teaspoons of vanilla, then top off with peach. Using a chopstick or skewer, slightly swirl the layers into each other.
Let freeze 3 hours before attempting to remove from molds. Run each popsicle under warm water before attempting to pull them out. Alternately, if you don't have popsicle molds use small paper cups and cut them off once frozen.


What's your favorite popsicle flavor? Do you prefer your popsicles really fruity and simple or do you like creamy flavors?

Chai Shortbread Tea Bag Cookies

I have a serious obsession with cookies lately. All I want to do is make incredibly intricate cookies full of swirls and patterns or shaped by hand or with my a few neat cookie cutters. I have seen pictures of these tea bag cookies floating all around the blogosphere for a few months now. They have been on my to do list since I originally saw them, but I was waiting for the right occasion. One of my friends moved away last month. As someone who likes tea a lot, she likes it even more than I do.
So I broke out the chai spices, the black tea, and got to work with my bench scraper. The recipe that I used for my cookies was decent, but not the best. The cookies didn't have near as much flavor as I was hoping for, even though I added extra spices, vanilla bean, and a few teaspoons of ground tea leaves to the dough. I only chilled the dough for an hour because I was pressed for time, so if I were to try it again I would definitely let it sit for 24 hours to help the flavors develop more. I also suggest melting the Earth Balance, steeping chai tea in it, and then allowing it to cool & resolidify before making the shortbread dough.


After your dough is chilled, you roll it out like any other cut out cookie dough. You have a few options of the cutting process. You could either trace a tea bag on a bit of parchment and cut it out to use as a template or free hand the process. I went for the latter option. You can use a knife, but I found a bench scraper to be the easiest tool to work with. After cutting each tea bag, I poked a hole in the top with a Wilton #5 round tip. I did this largely because I was worried that the cookies would swell a bit after baking and my string would not fit through the holes. If you have thin baker's twine, than you can easily get away with a #3 or #4 if you want them to look a bit daintier.
After baking, I dipped the cookies in dark chocolate thinned with a teaspoon of coconut oil. I threaded my string through the holes and made tags with a bit of fancy paper I had left over from some other craft project.


Overall I definitely think these cookies were a success. They didn't taste exactly like I wanted them too, but their cute factor was an overwhelming win at her going away party. Do you like getting really crafty in the kitchen or do you prefer straight forward baking? Have you seen any other adorable baked goods lately?

Confetti Birthday Cake

Last week was my 24th birthday. I decided that this year I was going to break out one of my fancy aprons and make myself a really ridiculous birthday cake. I didn't have any intention of eating it, because I am a little overwhelmed with sweets lately. But I knew if I made it took enticing enough, it would slowly disappear from the kitchen.
I have somewhat of a problem with hoarding sprinkles. I looked into my giant tupperware bin full of sprinkles and pulled out several types that I had never opened. If I won't use them on my own birthday cake, then what good are they? It's like filling cabinets full of china that never gets used. Beautiful, but a waste.
I also filled the cake with a tart cherry filling. This was only my 3rd time making a layered cake at home, and my first time filling one. I was a little too nervous about the cherry juices leaking out and piped my rim too far into the center of the cake. Be reckless and just do a thick line around the edge of the cake. That way you can pack in more cherries per bite!
I wanted a colorful, shiny, sprinkle encrusted cake. Coating the top is easy peasy. The sides are where it gets a little tricky. I set my cake on the edge of my kitchen sink and tilted it slightly and basically tossed handfuls of sprinkles onto it. This is not incredibly effective. I sort of had to push the sprinkles into the cake. I wasted tons of sprinkles and eventually got frustrated and stopped attempting it. I was fine with the patchiness on the sides. I was also really pleased that when I washed all the sprinkles into the food disposal and turned it on that a burst of colored water shot out!




Confetti Birthday Cakee
Three 9"cakes, each approximately 1.5" thick

2.25 cup almond milk
2 tbsp white vinegar
4.5 tsp ENER-G mixed with 1/3 cup water
2.5 tbsp vanilla extract
2.25 cup sugar
0.75 cup oil
4.5 cup flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1.25 cup sprinkles

Curdle the milk with the vinegar. Make ENER-G eggs and allow to thicken for several minutes. Add vanilla, sugar, oil, and egg replacer to the milk. Sift dry ingredients into mixer. Add wet to dry and stir until just mixed. Add sprinkles, and mix until distributed evenly.
Pour batter into three oiled 9"cake pans. It is also recommended to cut parchment circles for the bottom of each pan, as the sprinkles tend to stick to the pan. Bake at 350 for 40-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool fully before icing.



Tart Cherry Filling

48oz tart cherries
2 cup cherry juice
0.5 cup sugar
0.5 cup cornstarch

In a small bowl combine 0.5 cup of cherry juice and cornstarch, set aside. Combine tart cherries, 1.5 cup of juice, and sugar in medium sized sauce pan. Allow mixture to come to a boil, stirring frequently. Once rapidly boiling, add the cornstarch slurry to the pan. Whisk until smooth. Allow mixture to boil several minutes until the juice reduces to a thicker syrup like consistency. The mixture will thicken as it cools.


I iced the cake with a triple batch of the vanilla buttercream from VCTOTW. I am not an icing fan, so this was just enough for the rims inside the layers, a thin layer all around the exterior of the cake. If you are wanting to pipe borders or want a thicker layer of frosting, you will definitely need a larger batch of frosting.
You are also probably going to have cherry filling left over. That's not a problem. Throw it in your fridge and use it to top some waffles the next morning. Get wild and add some coconut whipped cream and maybe another handful of sprinkles, it's still your birth week after all.
Have you ever made yourself a birthday cake? Or bought yourself a really extravagant birthday gift? I think those are my favorite things to do. Each year I buy myself a few small things that are a little silly, but that I want. This year I bought a pack of mint striped paper straws, a mouse cookie cutter, and a tooth cookie cutter.

M&M cookies

I have been searching for vegan M&M's for quite a while now. For a while the only option was Whizzer's chocolate beans, but they were not ideal. The chocolate was a little bitter, and while it's nice that they were dyed naturally, the colors were a little boring.
I finally heard about Vermont Nut Free Chocolates a few weeks ago and immediately ordered three 16oz bags of their dark chocolate skippers**. After the cost of shipping, it was $25 well spent! They not only look identical to M&Ms but taste exactly the same. I think someone would be hard pressed to tell the difference between them.
I have used most of the first bag making M&M cookies. I have a lot of plans for the remaining candy, but it might end up with me just eating them on the couch while I watch movies.


Vegan M&M Cookies
recipe adapted from Ghiradelli

1 tbl Ener-G powder
1/4 cup water
1 cup Earth Balance
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Vermont Nut Free dark chocolate skippers

Preheat oven to 350. Combine Ener-G and water and allow to thicken. Cream Earth Balance and sugars. Add egg replacer & vanilla. Slowly mix in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in dark chocolate skippers slowly, being careful not to crush the candy shells. Scoop onto silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Slightly flatten the tops of cookies and bake 10-12 minutes, until edges of the cookies are slightly browned.

These cookies remind me of being a little kid. They are so bright and colorful and satisfying. I think my birthday approaching has me feeling a little nostalgic. I've been watching a lot of children's movies like Hook & Willy Wonka. It's a nice little escape from everyday stress. What's your favorite childhood film?

**A few people have been confused by the Vermont Nut Free Chocolate website. If you read carefully, the ingredients for the dark chocolate skipper are listed immediately after the milk chocolate skipper. You will see that they don't contain any sort of dairy product. There isn't any verification on the sugar (whether it is bone char processed or not), but they are vegan enough for me.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

I'm warning you now that as summer approaches this blog might devolve from a baking blog into a blog devoted to frozen desserts. Maybe a few raw treats too, but I know I'm not going to want to turn on my oven. Baking in the summer heat is like going to bikram yoga without feeling better about your health after! I went to a few bikram yoga classes last summer and was not the biggest fan. But then again I think it's definitely one of those practices that many people hate while doing it, but love it after they have left. I just can't get over with overwhelming sweaty-ness. Yoga poses that I could do in my sleep become something completely challenging because there are ounces of salt water dripping into my eyes and causing my feet to slip across my mat. No thanks! I will stick to antigravity yoga. Still a bit of the shock factor, but I find it much more rewarding. Hanging upside down for a few minutes at a time stretches out my spine and limbs in ways that I crave.


Speaking of craving, I have been daydreaming about all sorts of ice cream and sorbet and popsicle flavor combinations. I'm feeling really inspired by The Vegan Scoop. I've made several recipes now, and all of them have exceeded my expectations. This peanut butter ice cream was no different. Chock full of peanut butter, it tasted just like the inside of a frozen Reese's cup. To keep up with the frozen Reese's cup taste, I sandwiched a scoop of ice cream between two chocolate chocolate chip cookies. It was a mess. I was far too impatient to wait for the ice cream to harden enough to cut it with a cookie cutter, so I just scooped a mostly frozen blob of ice cream on the cookies and devoured it. Be thankful that I spared you from the pictures. It was gluttonous and magical and sinfully sweet.
If you are a fan of nut or seed butters, then this recipe is something you should definitely try out. I'm sure it would be just as wonderful with almond butter or sunflower butter!
Are you a yoga fan? Or do you have another favorite type of exercise? My gym hours have been on a resurgence with all the recipe testing I have had to do for work lately. I do a one hour antigravity class once a week, and then mostly stick to the elliptical and a few weight machines the other days. I use to be a huge fan of zumba and spin, but our the classes at my gym are so packed that it's difficult to make it in. I've done a few kickboxing classes, but none are offered at my current gym. I'm interested in trying a few other things. Do you go to a gym or workout at home? Do you have a favorite workout video?