Carrot Cupcakes

I saw my first urban rabbit munching on a fresh dandelion today, a sure sign of spring! In an attempt not to do everything myself, this is my first spring in 11 years that I'm not planting a vegetable garden, sniff. I've outsourced that work to a local CSA, which should be a fun adventure anyway! Somehow, I just can't let the garden and my rainbow carrots go...so here's a little garden swan song from my kitchen.

These carrot cupcakes are otherwise known as "Morning Glory" muffins around here. They freeze really well, thanks to the eye-popping amount of oil, I just close my eyes and dump it in. My kid is barely clinging to the 3rd percentile in weight, so I'm good with oil. You can try easing back if the amount freaks you out, and let me know what happens.

The dairy-free cream cheese frosting was a nice surprise. After sampling the Tofutti cream cheese straight, I was very doubtful the frosting would be palatable. Sugar does wonders, and the frosting is pretty close to the real thing. The carrots are shaped Starburst candies with some chocolate cookie crumb dirt. A few seconds in the microwave makes the Starburst easier to shape. Happy Spring!

Egg-Free and Dairy-Free Carrot Cupcakes

or Morning Glory Muffins if you're not in a Frosting Mood!

2 cups grated carrots
1 apple, cored and grated
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup golden raisins (or regular)
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil
2 egg replacers, I use Ener-G (or 1/4 cup orange juice works fine too!)
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt


1.) Preheat the oven to 350.
2.) Dump the top set of wet ingredients into a medium bowl and mix well.
3.) Measure the flour, soda, cinnamon and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
4.) Dump the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together carefully, until just blended.
5.) Scoop the batter into paper-lined muffin tins, about 3/4 full.
6.) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set on top and they start to smell good.
7.) Remove from muffin pan and cool on a rack before frosting.
8.) Makes about 18.


Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 tub Tofutti cream cheese (4 ounces, or 1/4 cup), softened
1/2 stick dairy-free margarine, softened( I use Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)
1 t. vanilla extract
2-2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1.) Cream the Tofutti and margarine together with a hand mixer.
2.) Add the vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make the frosting as thick as you want.
3.) This makes enough to frost generously with a knife, if you're planning to pipe on piles of frosting, you might need to make a bit more frosting.

Note: These cupcakes will freeze and thaw at room temp or in the fridge beautifully, frosting and all.

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Thin Mints

I actually didn't start out trying to make homemade Thin Mints, but was really on a borderline obsessive quest for the perfect egg-free and dairy-free chocolate wafer cookie to decorate a cake I want to try later this month. My quest took me through many recipes...Martha, King Arthur, Thomas Keller, Heidi Swanson, Alice Medrich...and finally, in desperation, after a pile of failed trials, I just gave up and tried my own recipe...and doggone if it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

The problem I kept running into with all those recipes was that without the eggs and butter...the cookies were greasy cocoa-flavored tooth-breakers, not the crisp-tender cookie I was looking for. The final solution was in the type of sugar and flour. After all those failures, I was out of all-purpose flour and granulated sugar, but I did have just enough cake flour and powdered sugar left to try one last batch. And they are perfect. I don't know what took me so long. This makes quite a few, they freeze really well, but feel free to cut the recipe in half.

Egg-Free and Dairy-Free Thin Mint Cookies

Makes about 100 1-inch cookies

1 1/2 cups cake flour (I used Swan's Down, be careful...Pillsbury Softasilk has egg and dairy.)3/4 cup cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 sticks (14T) dairy-free margarine, room temp ( I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)

2 cups of safe chocolate chips for dipping ( I used Divvies)
2 T. shortening
Peppermint extract to taste

1.) I found these to be pretty fussy as far as measuring goes. For the flour, cocoa and powdered sugar, I first fluffed up the item to be measured with a spoon or my measuring cup and then scooped with the measuring cup and leveled off with a knife.
2.) Place everything except the margarine into a food processor and pulse a few times to mix.
3.) Slice the margarine into the food processor bowl.
4.) Pulse about 8-10 times until the margarine is well blended, the mixture is still crumbly and hasn't come together into a ball yet.
5.) Dump the crumbly mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a flat disk.
6.) Refrigerate for at least an hour.
7.) Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1 inch rounds or hearts. I have a really cool set of nesting fluted round cutters that I got from Amazon, which I use all the time, the smallest size is perfect.
8.) Place the cookies on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer.
9.) Preheat the oven to 350 while the cookies freeze.
10.) Bake for 10-12 minutes. They should puff up, then flatten out. When they start smelling good, they're probably ready.
11.) Let them rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack, they're pretty fragile when hot.
12.) When cool, you can dip them! Melt the chocolate chips and the shortening in a microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring well until they are completely melted. Mix in the peppermint extract. I used about 1/4 teaspoon per cup of chocolate chips, you may want to use more or less. Dip the cookies quickly and place on a Silpat or waxed paper. Make sure to tilt and shake the cookies so the chocolate coat is thin and not really overwhelmingly thick. Once you're done, put all the cookies in the freezer. Once the chocolate is dry, you can transfer all the cookies to a freezer-safe container for safe-keeping! Enjoy!

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Hot Cross Buns

Good Friday is still a few days away, but we went a little rogue today and made Hot Cross Buns on Palm Sunday.  I couldn't find consensus on what makes the traditional bun, so I didn't feel too badly about making my own tweaks.  This recipe goes light on the spices, using just a touch of cinnamon and cardamom.  I also passed on the citron (blech), and used currants and maraschino cherries instead.  A little juice from the cherries gives the dough a light pink color, which always goes over well around here!  Happy Easter! 

Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,

One a penny,

Two a penny,

Hot cross buns.

If you have no daughters,

If you have no daughters,

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons, (unless you're in our house, and he's still wheat-allergic)

If you have none of these, 

You must eat them all yourselves.

Egg-Free and Dairy-Free Hot Cross Buns

Makes 18

4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup potato flakes (instant potatoes)
1 T. yeast
2 t. salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
3T maraschino cherry juice (or so) plus enough warm water to equal 1 3/4 cups liquid
6 T. dairy-free margarine at room temp (I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)
1/4 cup currants
1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries

Glaze
1/4 cup jam (peach, apricot or orange marmalade) warmed and strained

Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 -3T. fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 t. orange zest (finely grated)

1.) In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle blade, add the flour, sugar, potato flakes, yeast, salt, cinnamon and cardamom. Give it a few turns with the paddle blade to get the dry ingredients blended, and then add the cherry-water. Mix on low until the dough just starts to come together, and then switch to the dough hook. (You could just use your dough hook, but starting with the paddle blade helps the dough come together quicker and is less strain on your mixer.) Knead on low until a nice little dough develops, about 3-4 minutes.

2.) Add the margarine in chunks and knead until it all comes together again. You may need to adjust the dough in the bowl a few times because it likes to slip around and avoid getting kneaded.

3.) When the margarine is almost incorporated, add in the currants and cherries. Keep kneading for a few more minutes until the dough is soft and well blended.

4.) Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rise in a warm spot for 2 hours.

5.) Gently deflate the dough, pinch off little balls of dough and shape into rolls. Mine were a little bigger than a golf ball, and weighed about 3 ounces each. I shape them by pulling the tops smooth and tight, pinching down on the bottom. To the best of your ability, try to keep too many currents from being exposed, either pick them off the tops or push them into the dough, or they'll burn in the oven and become quite bitter.

6.) Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, just barely touching. Cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

7.) Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until they are golden brown.

8.) While the rolls are still piping hot, brush with the warmed jam.

8.) Set the rolls, parchment and all, on rack to cool.

9.) While the rolls cool, make the icing. Whisk the powdered sugar, orange zest and orange juice together. Go easy on the juice, you want this to be pretty thick, because it melts on the warm buns. Put icing in a pastry bag, or a ziplock with the corner snipped off.

10.) When the rolls are pretty much cooled, pipe the crosses on the buns and enjoy!

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Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Spring just doesn't seem to be coming in a consistent fashion around here. It's a bit presumptuous to be baking light springy cookies when the snow and gray keep lingering.  So today we made some soothing warm oatmeal raisin cookies.  At first the girls were grumping, "but we only like chocolate chips".  I soon won them over.  As long as you don't overbake these, they will be soft and chewy.  These are up for adaptations, try some golden raisins or dried cherries and see what happens!

Dairy and Egg-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

(sure to please the most die-hard chocolate chip kid)

2 sticks dairy-free margarine or shortening (I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg replacer ( I used Ener-G)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 cup raisins

1.) Preheat oven to 325.
2.) Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the margarine and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add the maple syrup, egg replacer and vanilla extract and blend well.
3.) In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, soda, salt and coconut together.
4.) Add flour mixture to the margarine mixture and blend carefully on low speed.
5.) Add the oats and raisins and blend carefully.
6.) Drop in balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet, flatten slightly and bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove when they are very slightly browned and the center looks set. Let them rest for a minute on the pan before moving to a cooling rack.

This makes 48 cookies if you use 2 tablespoons of dough, or 32 if you make 3 tablespoon sized balls of dough. You can form the dough into balls and freeze on a baking sheet, transfer into a freezer bag once they are solid. When you want some cookies, just put the frozen balls on a baking sheet, flatten slightly and bake as usual.

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