Wheat Free Vegan Blueberry Muffins

These are the muffins I keep in the freezer when I have to eat breakfast on the go. I just defrost them and nibble at the streusel top while locking the door and then impatiently wait to devour the rest when I next have a quiet moment. They are quite moist and intensely blue-berry flavored so they don't need any jam or butter. When muffins for breakfast became a bit of a trend, nutritionists reacted by pointing out their horrifically high calorie numbers and that most of them were essentially cupcakes without (usually) icing. Fortunately, bagels became the next big coffee shop breakfast item and we could all stop reading articles in the morning paper about exactly how many servings of sodium we were digesting while we tried to enjoy a breakfast muffin. I don't know how much sodium are in these, but I am willing to argue not much. 

I am sure that any homemade muffin is bound to be much better for you than something you purchase at a cafe in the subway, which is where I previously got my muffin fix. So, maybe not an everyday affair, but certainly okay for any morning where what you really feel like is a cupcake, but know you shouldn't, if only to feel a bit better when you read the paper. 

Makes 12 muffins. 

MUFFIN INGREDIENTS:

2 cups wheat free flour

1 cup brown sugar + 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegan margarine

2/3 cup apple sauce

1/4 melted coconut oil

1/4 soy milk  mixed with 1 tbs lemon juice (or whichever type of milk you like)

2 eggs replace 

dash of vanilla

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup wheat free oatmeal

5-6 tbs canola oil

2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup dried blueberries

MUFFIN DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, combine the dried blueberries, oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and canola oil. Using your hands, work the mixture together to form a crumb. You may need a little less or a little more oil. Set this aside

Place the blueberries in a sieve and gently coat in a few tablespoons of flour. This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom.  In a large bowl stir together the milk, apple sauce, margarine, coconut oil, 1 cup sugar, egg replacement, and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and xantham gum. When thoroughly whisked, sift the dry mixture into the wet and stir with a spoon until just combined. Carefully add the blueberries. Don't stir too much or your batter might turn blue!

Line your muffin tin and grease the top of the pan for any batter that might stick on the top. Place a heaping tablespoon of batter in each liner and then place a teaspoon of crumb on each pat of batter. Add additional batter until muffin liners are three quarters full and then place a little crumb on top, patting it down to make sure it stays while the muffins bake. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. 

Summer Cake

This cake was actually a charming accident, made from a failed icing recipe and an excessive harvest of strawberries. The result is a combination of as close as I can recall to an ice cream flavored icing and an extremely moist banana cake. I made it for a birthday party and didn't tell anyone that it was 'everything-free' until they had all had a bite. They all swore they couldn't tell the difference! It was quite exciting! The only piece of advice that I can give you, other than to never try the recipes these first came from, is to assemble it all on the same day. Otherwise, the icing and cake can be made the day before. 

The icing recipe makes enough to generously ice the top and middle layer but might be a bit tight if you wanted to go around the whole thing. 

Makes 1 two layer cake. 

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

3 large bananas, very ripe, and mashed 

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 tbs prune puree

1 tbs molasses

1/3 c cup canola oil

splash vanilla

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 cups wheat free flour 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp xantham gum

2 eggs/egg replacer

CAKE INSTRUCTIONS:

Grease and line two 8 inch cake pans. In a large bowl, blend the banana, molasses, canola oil, vanilla, sugar, and prune puree. While this is whirring away, in a separate bowl whisk together thoroughly the flour, baking soda, powder, and xantham gum. Sift this mixture into the wet mixture. Add the egg replacement (as per package instructions) last. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for twenty minutes, rotating half way through. Allow to cool in pans, as these cakes are so moist a cooling rack might leave horrible scars across the pretty, spongy top. If not using the same day, wrap in plastic wrap and place in tupperware containers (separately, so that one does not get crushed). 

ICING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup soy milk or other milk

1 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs dried soy milk powder

vanilla seeds from one vanilla pod

2 cups icing sugar (aprox.)

squirt of lemon juice

dash of vanilla extract

1/2 cup melted coconut oil, melted and room temperature-ish

In the mixer, whir together the milk and coconut oil. Add the milk powder, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Whir until combined. Add the icing sugar slowly until the mixture is the consistency of frosting. You may need more or less icing sugar for this. Add the vanilla seeds and stir to combine. Place the frosting in the fridge until ready to use. 

To assemble the cake, place one layer on cake plate and spread 1/2 cup frosting on top. Place cut strawberry on icing and then spread another 1/2 cup of icing on top. Place second cake layer on top of icing and use the remaining frosting for the top. Any left over frosting will last in the fridge for about a month. Keep cake in the fridge until ready to serve. Dot any excess strawberries around the side of the cake plate. 

 

Wheat Free Vegan Cherry, Pistachio, and Chocolate Icebox Cookies

These cookies are so tasty, I wish I could think of a better name for them. Even though icebox cookies are supposed to be easy and simple to make, this recipe does take a little time: but it is worth it. The idea for the recipe came from a package of Pistachio Almond Paste that I had bought at Dean & Deluca last weekend on our trip to nyc (along with many other tasty looking ingredients). I wanted to make something fancy enough to use marzipan, but that was super tasty and retained some of the lovely, nutty texture of marzipan. The cookies are soft and moist from the cherries and the almond's oil and the chocolate cookie is an even textured match. The sugar in the marzipan adds an amazing caramel flavor to the cookies. 

Although all the freezing time may look like alot, it really isn't; because there are several steps most of the time the dough is chilling, you can be getting the next level ready or tidying up a bit. 

The white chocolate was added because the first time I made these, they fell apart a little and I really wanted to eat them not as scraps, but as the dainty cookie I had imagined. After some slight recipe adjustments, the cookies hold together on their own, but I liked the addition so much I've included it here. 

Also, I've used a cherry jam because they are in season, but strawberry would also be good and if you were making these at Christmas cranberry would be appropriate. To let people know what they are getting into, shopped pistachios sprinkled on the white chocolate could provide a tasty hint.

Using regular marzipan with ground pistachios processed I imagine will produce a similar result, though a different texture.

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:

1 cup pistachio marzipan

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1 egg substitute

4 tbs. brown sugar

1 1/4 all purpose flour substitute + 1/2 cup 

1/2 tsp xantham gum

6 tbs cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup vegan cherry jam

1/2 tbs corn starch whisked into 1 tbs of water

1/2 cup vegan white chocolate, chopped

COOKIE INSTRUCTIONS:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the marzipan, sugar, coconut oil and egg substitute. Beat until completely combined. Add the baking soda, xantham gum, and flour substitute. Remove 1/3 of the dough and add an additional 1/2 cup of four substitute using a wooden spoon. Pat into a large, thin rectangle between two layers of plastic wrap. Place in the freezer. To the remaining dough, add the cocoa powder and beat to combine. Pat the chocolate dough into a larger, thin rectangle between two pieces of plastic wrap and freeze. 

While the dough is firming up, combine the dried cherries and jam in the food processor until uniformly mixed. Heat this mixture until boiling. Remove from heat and add corn starch and water mixture, stirring to thicken. Allow mixture to cool. 

Take one patty of dough out of the freezer and, with a rolling pin, roll the dough out as large as you can. I find this much easier with the pistachio dough than the chocolate one. Place the first dough back in the freezer and roll the second. 

When the dough is hard again and the cherry jam is cool. Cut a piece of chocolate dough about 7 inches long and 1 1/2 wide. Spread a tablespoon of jam mixture on top and then top with an equal sized piece of pistachio dough. Repeat and finish with chocolate. No worries if your pieces are not quite the same size, you can always trip these before you slice them. You should be able to create two 7 inch long stacks. Wrap the stacks in plastic wrap and return to the freezer. When they are quite firm (about 1/2 hour) slice into 1/4 inch slice and place on a greased cookie sheet. If there are any globs of cherry poking out of your slices, remove them at this point. Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. 

When the cookies have cooled, in a microwave or double boiler, melt the white chocolate. Carefully dip each cookie in and allow the chocolate to harden up. Help the chocolate along with a knife, as it tends to be thicker than regular chocolate.