Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Cupcakes

I made ½ of this recipe from Fran Costigan’s upcoming e-booklet to test.

Alterations to the recipe:  I used olive oil instead of canola oil.  I also reduced the chocolate chips to 25 grams.  I used rice milk in the recipe.

Result – these are the first cupcakes that I’ve made with granulated sweetener that had really good flavour.  Texture – fluffy, light crumb.  The chocolate chips all stayed on the top during baking  – in future, I will mix a few throughout the batter as well as sprinkling on top.   I got 4 cupcakes out of the batter. YUM!!

Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Cupcakes

Pumpkin Pecan Bread

I made the full amount of this recipe from Fran Costigan’s ‘More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally’.  This yielded a 2lb loaf.

The recipe was quick and easy to prepare.  I needed to bake it for 50 minutes though which was longer than the recipe suggested.  The recipe advises cooling completely and then wrapping in cling film for several hours to allow the flavours to develop- this is SO worth it!

Result – DELICIOUS, moist, flavoursome loaf.  The spices in this recipe were so Autumnal  – cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger! YUM!  I will definitely make this again!

Pumpkin Pecan Bread

Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mousse Filling and Frosting

I made 24 mini cupcakes using a half amount of Fran Costigan’s vanilla cupcake recipe from ‘More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally’ and her White Chocolate Mousse recipe from her upcoming e-booklet.

This is my go-to recipe for vanilla cupcakes and I have adapted it to make orange, lemon and coffee flavoured ones too.  I love the fluffy texture and delicious flavour and I get consistent results every time.   I filled the cupcake on this occasion with a rich, decadent white chocolate mousse- my testers couldn’t believe this was vegan!   I made 1/2 of the recipe as still had some left over after filling and frosting 24 mini cupcakes.  I have frozen and defrosted the mousse and the texture and flavour remained fine.   These cupcakes were a great success with my testers! I decorated the top with white chocolate shavings.

Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mousse Filling and Frosting

Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mousse Filling and Frosting

Cocoa-Raspberry Muffins

Made full amount of this recipe from ‘Vegan Brunch’ by Isa Chandra Moskowitz to test.  This yielded 12 large muffins and extra that I used to fill a panettone liner.

I made the following small alterations to the recipe:

• Hazelnut-almond milk used
• Rapadura used instead of white sugar and also reduced by 2Tbs.
• Frozen raspberries used- added to the batter at the last second.

Batter was quite thick. I used cookie scoop to put batter into muffin liners. The recipe suggested an optional addition of chocolate chips to the recipe- I omitted them on this occasion.

Result – I should not have omitted the 2Tbs of sugar!  The frozen raspberries were a bit bitter. The muffins had a nice fluffy texture and were moist also due to the raspberries.  The next time I will try adding the chocolate chips in.  While these were nice enough, I much prefer the other muffin recipes in this cookbook.

Cocoa-Raspberry Muffins

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

I made half of this recipe from ‘Vegan Cupcakes take over the World’ by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero to test. This yielded 6 cupcakes.

Modifications I made to the recipe:

• 1/4 wholemeal flour used
• Rapadura instead of sugar and reduced to 55g instead of 75g
• Chocolate extract as I have no coconut extract

I personally do not like how baked goods turn out when coconut oil is used- I only use it for making ‘BabycakesNYC’ frosting as it is a white margarine-free frosting.  The recipe listed coconut oil, coconut milk and toasted coconut so I used them to test – if you like coconut this is the recipe for you!!

Verdict – strong coconut flavour.  The cupcakes were fluffy out of the oven but when they cooled the texture became hard and dry and the colour was even lighter- this always happens when I bake with coconut oil.    I personally prefer to use it raw only.  I decorated most cupcakes with ‘Babycakes NYC’ vanilla frosting, toasted dessicated coconut and a chocolate-dipped coffee bean!   I also attempted to stencil cocoa powder on top of another as you will see below!  I will definitely make this recipe again but with sunflower oil and soy milk.

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins

I made ½ of this recipe from ‘More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally’ by Fran Costigan.  This yielded 6 muffins.

Recipe – very easy to prepare.  I used a tin of pumpkin purée that someone very kind brought me from USA – we can’t get that here and can only get pumpkins in October! I baked the muffins for 14 minutes – I would probaby add an extra minute or two in future.

Result – tasty, spicy, moist muffins!  I like the tartness of the cranberries but some of my testers didn’t.  It was also delicious toasted with tart lemon spread also from Fran’s book. These also froze and defrosted really well.

Pumpkin- Cranberry muffins

Graham Crackers

I made ¼ of this recipe from Fran Costigan’s upcoming e-booklet to test which yielded 5 rectangular crackers.

Fran has a great trick to get the authentic graham cracker flavour which is revealed in the recipe!  I found the dough came together best when I used my hands as it was a little crumbly. I baked the crackers for 8 minutes.  I used a fork to make little holes in the top.

Verdict – The crackers had a nice golden appearance.  I had never heard of graham crackers but after tasting them I think we call our version of these digestive biscuits!  These are a lovely cracker with a nice mix of sweet and savoury with a slight crunch. Yum!

Graham Crackers

Apricot Whole-Wheat Mini Muffins

I made ½ of this recipe from ‘The Vegan Table’ by Colleen Patrick Goudreau to test.  This yielded 17 mini muffins.

I made the following alterations to the recipe:

• Palm sugar instead of white sugar- I also reduced this to just 30g.
• I used coarsely chopped almonds and I added a drop of almond extract to the batter.

I always cut up dried apricots with a scissors- find it much easier and faster than chopping them.  I sprinkled the top of the mini muffins with light cane sugar and them for 12 minutes.  On this occasion I choose the grease the tin instead of using liners.

Result – the muffins rose very well.  Texture – slightly dense muffins due to the wholewheat flour.  The combination of moist apricots and crunchy almonds was delicious.  Flavour- just the right amount of sweetness for me.  There was only 30ml(1/8C) of oil between 17 mini muffins which is great.  These healthy muffins would be perfect for breakfast, or an on-the-run snack.    This recipe could be easily adapted for any fruit and nut combination. Yum!

Apricot Whole-Wheat Mini Muffins

Orange Pudding Cupcakes

I made ½ of this recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s ‘Vegan Cupcakes take over the World’.  This amount yielded 6 cupcakes.

There are three parts to making the cupcakes:

Orange pudding filling- the recipe suggested using tapioca, cornflour or arrowroot to thicken- I used cornflour.  I found this tasted a bit starchy.

Cupcakes – found the texture a bit spongy and I prefer a fluffy cupcake.

Topping – orange marmalade and chocolate ganache- good combo!  I have put these on top of plain vanilla cookies- LOVE this!

Result -   I would make this recipe again using a plain vanilla cupcake and try a different starch for the pudding fillingas I like the idea of   jaffa cake cupcakes!  Overall – nice combination of flavours.

Orange Pudding Cupcakes

Orange Pudding Cupcakes

Multiseed Wholemeal Scones

I made the full amount of this recipe from the ‘Pure Dairyfree’ website which yielded 8 scones.

I made the following alterations to the recipe:

• I used 3/4 wholemeal flour and 1/4 plain white flour instead of self-raising flour.  I didn’t increase the baking powder as I thought there was plenty in the recipe already – 1Tbs.
• Combination of toasted sesame, sunflower, pumpkin seeds and pine nuts
• Added a pinch of salt

This is a really fast and easy recipe to make.   This recipe can be easily adapted to make sultana scones etc.  They are made and baked in 20 minutes!  Delicious and healthy too.  We had these scones with bowls of homemade soup YUM!

Multiseed Wholemeal Scones