Let's get baked.

I have never really into baking, even as a vegetarian. Besides baking with my mom growing up, I guess I had never really gave it a try. I do not have a huge sweet tooth, but after becoming vegan I found myself missing desserts. Kind of the “you want what you can’t have” thing, or in my case “choose not to have”. And I found that most restaurants and gatherings that I’d go to really don’t offer any sweets for vegans. So I jumped on my computer for recipes and went to the cupboard to take an inventory of any baking ingredients that I had accumulated. I ended up having to go to the grocery store and stock up on some basic needs. I have been on a roller coaster ride with vegan baking this year. I have a slight rebellious side and don’t follow all recipes exact. With cooking you can mess around with other ingredients, but baking, especially vegan baking require a few staples. And that brings me to the dreaded (maybe only I dread this)…Egg Replacer. Turns out there are actually a few different egg relpacers that work for different kinds of baked goods. The best solutions I’ve found are on one of my fave vegan blogs, Post Punk Kitchen. (Here is the link to the egg replacer options: http://www.theppk.com/vegan-baking-the-post-punk-kitchen-shows-you-how). In my most recent baking experiment I used an egg replacer that was: 2 Teaspoons baking powder, 1 Tablespoon oil and 2 Tablespoons water.
I call these babies Chocolate Chip Biscuts (they were supposed to be regular cookies, haha)

The source of this recipe said it would be good for binding in cookies. They turned out huge and biscut like! I am not sure if it was from the egg replacer or the fact that I also added the baking powder that was in the cookie recipe that caused this Hulk like product. They were still good dipped in a big glass or almond milk. For future baking I am going to make sure to stock up on several other ingredients for egg replacers and decide which ones I feel turn out best. Stay tuned. I also recently had a baking experiment that worked out great! A non-vegan friend of mine was having a house warming party. She provided a hummus and pita dish as a vegan option for me (my friends seriously rock). I decided I wanted to bring a dessert that I would be able to enjoy as well as share with the party. I found a recipe for Chocolate Chai Cupcakes on vegweb. (Here is the link of the recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=26038.0) I made a few modifications to this recipe:
I used 3 chai tea bags
Added almond milk to make batter smoother
Added 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon (the chai tea flavor didn't really come out, other spices may be good too)
And I used my Mini Cupcake Maker!!! I love this thing :-)

The cupcakes were a big hit! I coated the tops with an amazing chocolate ganache. I found a simple recipe on Post Punk Kitchen. Here is the link: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/vanilla-bean-cupcakes-with-chocolate-ganache/. They made my cupcakes look like doughnut holes and tasted great nice and chilled.

I look forward to more baking experiments. Fall is in the air here in Denver. Hands down my favorite season. I have been collecting lots of pumpkin recipes...I love all things pumpkin!
Peace, love and veggies,
Kali