Mostly-Authentic Vegan Whoopie Pies

First of all, let's get one thing straight.  I'm not vegan.  I mean, bacon cheeseburgers are sort of the base layer of my food pyramid, if you know what I mean, and I do really believe that Everything is Better With Butter.  However, I have friends who are vegan, and one of them has become a regular guest at our weekly The Wire Night.  I've had to start stretching my baking muscles, lest she feel left out of our weekly snack food indulgences.

Whoopie pies are also a big part of my food pyramid, some weeks (usually of the PMS variety.)  This week, I wanted to whip up some whoopie pies for my guests, but since they are full of butter and milk (that must be the whoopie part) I had to make a few alterations.

As you can see, they ended up a bit taller and smaller in diameter than the Authentic Whoopie Pies that were my starting off point, but other than that, they are a pretty close approximation of the original.  Hopefully my guests will all like them.

Vegan Whoopie Pies
(makes 13-14 assembled pies, allowing for ample sampling of batter and filling)

For the cakey part:

• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp milk substitute (soy, almond, etc.  I used Coconut milk beverage from So Nice)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Blend that together and then add:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 5 tbsp cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Drop by tablespoonful onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 375 F for 8 min.  Test for doneness with a toothpick (it should come out clean.)  Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Cream Filling:

• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (the real stuff in a can)

Beat this in a stand mixer for a looong time - about 5 to 10 min.  This will start out looking like a sludgy mess and you will think you did something wrong (or that veganizing this recipe didn't work worth beans) but if you are patient, eventually it will turn into an amazing fluffy creamy filling.

After the cakey bits are cooled, you can assemble the whoopie pies by sandwiching (lots and lots of) filling between two cakey bits.  You are meant to have to lick it from the sides when you take a bite, so don't be afraid to really pack it in there.

They store just fine at room temperature, and are great out of the fridge.  The conventional ones freeze really well and I don't see why these ones wouldn't too, but I haven't tried it yet, and frankly, I doubt I'll have enough left over tonight to bother.

Superb Soda Bread

The other day on foodgawker, I discovered a recipe for Irish soda bread inspired by Everything Bagels. Like the blogger who developed the recipe, I too love Everything bagels, and also feel guilty about them, since I know they aren't exactly healthy. Her recipe for Everything Bagel Soda Bread is healthy and filling and so delicious.


I made one yesterday and could barely wait until it was out of the oven before cutting into the fragrant loaf. The bread itself is dense and moist and hearty, like a bowl of oatmeal. The toppings are dried onion and garlic, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and rolled oats -- savory and yummy. A real stick-to-your-ribs sort of bread, which I am loving.

The recipe itself gives weights for the main ingredients, which necessitated me getting the kitchen scale down from the closet, but with a bit of fuss, it worked well. I kept track of volume measurements after I weighed them (cheating) so I might try it that way, next time I make it. Also, she begins with rolled oats and uses the food processor to grind them into flour, which allowed me to use another new toy of ours. I have to admit, though, that I'll probably just buy oat flour at the health food store and skip that step next time, too.

Great recipe, overall. I will definitely revisit it again.

Baking Whoopie

Suddenly today I had a craving for whoopie pies. They've been all over blogland for ages, but today they got in my head and wouldn't go away. I did some internet searching to find a recipe that I liked, and I found this one at the Omnomicon which is apparently an old family recipe. A bonus of being a bakerly type person is that I have all that stuff in my apartment, at the ready, and nothing keeping me from combining them into some fluffy little treasures.


In no time flat, I had made some perfect little round cakey cookies and a bowl of creamy sweet filling and sandwiched them all together. I might have eaten one before the rest were all assembled. Just what the doctor ordered. I mean, if the doctor was PMS. Which it is.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The weather today was sorta cool, sorta warm, sorta cloudy, sorta rainy. In other words, a perfect day for some roast chicken. Having recently watched a great video for a recipe on skillet-cooked chicken with a lovely herb sauce, I decided that today was the day to try it out.

Verdict: easy & delicious.

Oh Baby

This week, I had an epiphany. I was talking with my coworkers about these cupcakes that my mom used to make -- they were chocolate cupcakes with a delectable cream cheese filling. Someone mentioned carrot cake and the next thing I knew: light bulb. Why not make a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese hidden inside? And why not use a baby-food-carrot cake recipe, so it will be a lovely smooth texture? Funny thing: last time I made a carrot cake with baby food, I wanted to keep the texture, so I added some shredded carrot. This time I am all about the smooth velvety cake, so I didn't.


Basically I bastardized one baby-food-carrot-cake recipe and one cream-cheese-filled-cupcake recipe into one glorious mutation of the two. Yum.

Oh Baby Cupcakes

Carrot Cake batter:
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sunflower oil
3 4oz jars carrot baby food

Filling:
8oz brick cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar

Ok, so you make the batter and the filling (surely you don't need instruction on that) and put about a tablespoon of batter into your cupcake cup, followed by a nice dollop (a teaspoon or so) of filling and then another tablespoon of batter to cover it up. Bake those little lovelies at 350 degrees for 15-20 min (until the top is no longer moist and looks cooked) and then let them cool. They are spectacular out of the fridge and will freeze well, too. This recipe is enough for about 24 cupcakes (with a bit of batter and filling left over for you to enjoy -- don't pretend like you won't) so you can take some to your coworkers and make them ooh and ahh.


What's that? Knitting? Oh yes, I've been doing some of that, too. I have gotten started on the second sock in both pairs that I am plugging away on, and even finished all the pieces of my cardi. There they are, blocked and waiting patiently for me to seam them together and knit the buttonbands. I even found the perfect buttons. Stay tuned.

Welcome to the Nut House

I have finished the yoke sweater, and it looks great, but my photographer and I are on different schedules, so the big reveal will have to wait. In lieu of that, here is a picture of some nuts.


There are a lot of cool blogs on green living out there, and the Simple Green Frugal Co-op is a great place to find a lot of information, in a very organized format. Just scroll down and check out the list of topics on the sidebar on the right hand side of the website. There are even a few posts about cheese making (which I am so excited to try.)

Somehow I stumbled upon this post on making Candied Nuts, and I had to try it. I couldn't locate my cardamom (could I possibly have used it all up? Yes.) so I used cinnamon and a bit of cloves, this time around, and coated a nice sized bowl of fresh raw walnuts. So good. (I know a lot of you out there don't like walnuts, but if you've only had the cruddy rancid ones you buy at conventional grocery stores, you really haven't experienced the beauty of a lovely raw walnut bought out of a refrigerated bulk bin. Glorious.)

They turned out pretty nice, although I have to admit that roasting the walnuts took away some of that nice raw flavour that I love. I should also note that they are just barely sweet, and that if you are used to a more sugary-coated nut, you would probably want to take their suggestion to increase the sugar in the recipe.

Verdict: yum.

The Perfect London Fog

So since Starbucks has introduced the London Fog into their line of drinks, I've been drinking them constantly. Not buying them, mind you, at $5 a pop -- once I knew the basic recipe, I've been cranking them out at home every day. Wanna play along?

• Start with a cup or so of milk in a small kettle (Creamy milk is better for this, but if you're working on a New Year's Resolution, make it half milk, half water, or use *shudder* skim milk.)
• Add some sugar -- you be the judge of how much you will need for a pleasantly sweet tea.
• Throw in a couple of Earl Grey teabags. I like the Double Bergamot ones from Stash, but any fragrant Earl Grey will do. Extra points if you use loose tea instead of teabags and strain it at the end.
• Heat as slowly as you can stand it, stirring it often, if not constantly. We are looking for wisps of steam to begin rising from the surface.
• In the meantime, put a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract into your mug. If you're still constantly stirring, you'd better be ambidextrous. Extra points if you use vanilla extract you made yourself from a recipe in Craft magazine ages ago. Double the points if you used tequila for the recipe instead of rum. Mmm. Yeah, that's good vanilla.
  
• Pour milky sweet tea into mug over vanilla. Inhale deeply. Drink in ecstasy. Repeat often.

I am dark delicious vanilla extract.

And I only get better with age.