Dairy Free Black Bottom Muffins

My big brother was coming into town for a visit and he wanted me to make him some Black Bottom Muffins. I've never made them before. The cafeteria where we used to go to college had them and they were his hands down favourite. The problem I faced in making these muffins is that there is a plop of cream cheese on the top of them. After searching around and asking a friend, I found a decent recipe that uses imitation cream cheese. I was a little doubtful in the idea of using the fake cream cheese BUT they are mouth-watering. I took them over to a family supper and everyone enjoyed them. My brother, who loved those real-cream cheese ones, ate three muffins after supper. Needless to say, you're going to enjoy these, even without dairy. I did modify the original recipe a bit. I also used a real egg instead of a vegan egg substitute.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Cream Cheese Topping ingredients
8 ounces vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
1 egg (when I make these again, I'll only used egg whites)
2 tablespoons water (I think next time I do these I'll replace the water with almond milk)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
half a bag of vegan semi sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips. (Definitely use more chocolate chips if you want to!)

Chocolate Cake Recipe
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water (or substitute in almond milk)
5 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla


Directions:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Make the cream cheese mixture first. Beat the egg (or egg whites) with the water (or almond milk) until frothy. Add in the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt).

4. In a large bowl beat together the water (or almond milk), oil, vinegar and vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients until just blended.

5. Line muffin tin with paper cups. Fill each cup about 1/2 full with cake batter. Plop in a spoon or two of the cream cheese mixture. Honestly, I just filled the cups up to the top of the paper liner.

6. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min or until top springs back when gently pressed. Makes 12-18 cupcakes.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

These cupcakes may not be the most beautiful things you ever seen, but you have been warned they are entirely delicious.

Happy Baking, 

Bree

Dairy Free Black Bottom Muffins 

Pineapple Honey Oat Cupcakes

These scrumcious cupcakes are DAIRY-FREE and because of the natural sugars used they can be safe for DIABETICS as well (in moderation of course). Makes 12 cupcakes.

Today, like most days, felt like a cupcake day. I really wanted to make cupcakes that had fruit in them. Berries (blue or straw) weren't really doing it for me and the bananas weren't ripe enough. Then I found a can of pineapple rings in the cupboard and inspiration hit. I LOVE pineapple, best fruit ever if you as me. So, I kind of made up this recipe. However, I was inspired by the Pear & Oat Cupcakes recipe in Wild about Cupcakes (which is THE recipe book for gourmet cupcakes, it's my go to for my recipes).

1 can pineapple rings in pineapple juice
2 Tbsp of honey
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flax meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup low-fat non-dairy spread (I used vegan margarine)
3/4 cup brown sugar (dark or light. I used dark)
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp of sliced almonds (optional)

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2. Drain pineapple juice from the can and into a medium saucepan. Add honey and mix. Then add the rolled oats. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. Be careful, it will burn easily and start simmering pretty quick. You don't want to burn this, once it starts to simmer stir it, let it simmer a bit more and remove. Let cool for 15 minutes or so.

Simmering oat/pineapple/honey mixture

3. I thought it would be best to slice the pineapples a bit thinner then they are in the can. I halved each slice to make nice and thin pineapple rings. These rings will be used at the end right before the cupcakes go into the oven for an added sweetness. I didn't actually use all the rings that were in the can, there three left over. (I used Dole pineapple rings).

4. In a small combine both flours, the flax meal, baking soda, baking powder and ginger. You don't HAVE to use the flax meal. I just didn't have enough whole wheat flour to make a full cup so I improvised. The flax adds omega-3s and nice texture!

Dry ingredients

Pale and Creamy!

5. Beat the non-dairy spread, brown sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time into the mixture at low speed. Making sure to fully mix in each egg before adding the next. The batter is probably kind of soupy now, don't worry!

6. With the mixer on low speed (or if you have a stand up mixer like me, use the stir setting), slowly add the oat mixture and the flour mixture to the batter. Stir until just mixed. Too much mixing will activate the baking soda/powder too much and it won't work its magic in the oven.

7. Using an 1.5 inch ice cream scoop spoon the batter into the paper cups. I only got eleven cupcakes, hopefully you will get 12. Place a bit of the thinly sliced pineapple ring on top and sprinkle on the sliced almonds.

8. Bake 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch. Transfer the entire muffin tin (don't remove the cupcakes) onto a wire rack and allow to completely cool.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. I was a little scared because like I said earlier I was making it up! I was hoping the pineapples could substitute and they did! If you like pineapple you'll LOVE these cupcakes. I would like to add that the pineapple and honey are not overwhelmingly expressed in these cupcakes. They create a delicate and sweet flavour that is irresistible. 

These cupcakes are perfect for a summer gathering or a tropical themed party. I think instead of icing these it would be best to serve fresh pineapple with them. However, if you feel very inclined to put icing on them, chocolate would be best. Try to get dark chocolate, or make it yourself with melted dark chocolate, otherwise you're loosing the dairy-free aspect of these cupcakes! I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.

The sliced almonds at a bit of decoration and texture too

Ready to eat Pineapple Honey Oat Cupcakes. ENJOY!

Happy Baking,
Bree

Incredibly Easy and Delicious Granola Bars

My very first post!

A staple food in my lunch is granola bars. However, I have a couple of issues with store bought granola bars. Have you ever looked at the sugar content? Yikes! Another is that I've recently figured out that I have a dairy allergy and I'm also allergic to coconut. Avoiding dairy in store bought granola bars is like avoiding fatty foods on the holidays, damn near impossible. Its not as easy as picking out the granola bars without chocolate. Companies love to use fillers, such as whey, which is just dairy in disguise. Coconut is another filler in many granola bar brands as well.

So, instead of spending mass quantities of cash on those organic bars that lack my allergens, I decided to take make my own and save tonnes of money.
.

Wholesome, organic, dairy-free granola bars

.
Here's the recipe I used (which is a modified version of this recipe)

2 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (light is fine too)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (or wheat germ; or ground almonds)
1/4 cup ground flax (I used flax meal)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup pastry flour (or all-purpose flour; or more whole wheat flour)
1/2 to 3/4 cup dried cranberries (or your favourite dried fruit)
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped raw or roasted almonds
1/2 to 3/4 cup raw or roasted sunflower seeds
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 to 3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup of canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
.
.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. Glass is best as you'll have to cut these bars in the pan after they are cooked and you don't want to be using a sharp knife on your non-stick bakeware (Like I did, oops!)
2. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients (oats through to salt) with a wooden spoon until throughly mixed.
3. In a separate smaller bowl, beat the egg then add the remaining wet ingredients and stir slightly. A trick to prevent the honey from sticking to the measuring cup, is to first use that cup for the oil. 
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix with the wooden spoon until everything is nicely coated. Plop the mixture into the baking pan and spread it out trying to make the top as flat/even as possible. Bake 25-30 minutes. The longer the baking time the crispier everything will get. The last thing you want to do is burn these delicious bars.
5. Wait 5 minutes after you remove from oven then cut into bars. If you wait until they are fully cooled they will be too hard to cut.

I baked these for 28 minutes and the edges got a little crispy but I don't like gooey food so its perfect for me. When I made these I used whole almonds but when I make these again I'll use chopped almonds since cutting through the almonds afterwards wasn't really happening. I don't think you'd have to restrict yourself to almonds and sunflower seeds. I think a mixture of whatever nuts you like would be great! Cashews, peanuts, and pecans would all be great substitutes.

Happy Baking,
Bree