Page 85: Vanilla Cupcakes

As you may have noticed, I've slowed down on the posting a bit. This is partly because nightly baking is just not sustainable in any person's schedule, but also because my friend Kim and I started a bootcamp. In more ways than one, baking is not so compatible with bootcamp. First, because getting up a 4am requires going to bed at 9pm, and second, because an hour of burning calories with drill-sargent-like workouts every morning makes me more selective about the calories I consume.

However, before this week's "absolutely zero sugar" diet mandated by my bootcamp instructor (not kidding... sniff), I whipped up some BabyCakes vanilla cupcakes last weekend (just in the nick of time - there are severe penalties for cheating this week which include sprints, planks, and some tortuous move called burpees I don't even want to know about).

As I stood at my kitchen counter flipping through the BabyCakes book on Saturday, I looked longingly at the pictures of the Chocolate Cupcakes. However, according to Erin McKenna, Vanilla Cupcakes is "the recipe that started it all." How could I argue with that? I figured if it was the recipe that started it all, it should at least be the recipe that started my trek through the cupcakes chapter.

In keeping with the spirit of BabyCakes, these cupcakes are gluten free... and baking them was the first time I got to use the garbanzo-fava bean flour and potato starch I had stocked in my pantry. After one batch of dry ingredients wherein I mistakenly added 1/2 cup of xanthan gum instead of arrowroot (gotta get around to labeling those containers soon), I started over and got busy filling muffin tins.

Let's just jump to the finished product, shall we? Because that, after all, is really the point.

Notice how they do not look like cupcakes? Yeah, me too.

At this point I really just wanted to call up Ms. McKenna and say "ummm... was this the plan?" Now, they were still delicious. But more in a pound cake or muffin kind of way rather than a cupcake kind of way. You kind of expect cupcakes to be more spongy and light and smooth on top. Because I didn't try the cupcakes at the BabyCakes store (I know... what was I thinking?), I do not know if this is is the way they were supposed to be. I did a bit of googling and noticed several people commented on the "dense" texture of BabyCakes cupcakes so maybe I did do it right. I mean the things are delicious, dairy free, and gluten free - perhaps we can give a little leniency to the texture?

Moving on...

Frosting! The frosting for the cupcakes was the same frosting as the filling for the reigning champion chocolate chip cookie sandwiches. But this being batch two I discovered that my blender was just not cutting it and switched to mixing it up in the food processor. Much better! I struggled with the texture before - it was so soft if not frozen. This time, when chilled, it was a perfectly frostable spread.

Not so light, but the perfect amount of sweet and just a bit lemony. I enjoyed them and so did the co-workers and my girls at girls' night!

I think this is another recipe which needs another go around in an effort to improve and become worthy of the BabyCakes name. Unfortunately, I have a whole book ahead of me but we'll see what I can do! This weekend I'll be baking for our Memorial Day get-together so look forward to a review of brownie bites and *da da dum* more chocolate chip cookie sandwiches! It's official - they are every one's favorite so far and we can't get enough of them. Particularly when I ate almost all of them on my own and saved too few for my friends...

Page 68: Chocolate Chip Cookies/Cookie Sandwiches

Okay, this one is going to be a doozie. Trust me... I laughed... I cried... I shrieked. It was an experience. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for the ride.

If you recall, I made frosting last week with the intention of using it for the better-than-creamy filling between some yet-unbaked chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate chip cookie sandwich was one of the goodies I tried (and LOVED) from the BabyCakes shop in NYC, so these darlings have been topping my "to bake" list for weeks.

Step One: Make frosting
Check. See below.

Step Two: Make cookies

It just so happens that it was a cloudy, rainy weekend in paradise so it was a perfect weekend for baking. After the Saturday morning muffins with still no sign of sunshine, I started mixing up the dough. It definitely passed the cookie dough test. YUM.

Next up was baking the cookies. As previously discussed in the double chocolate chip cookie post, I like chubby cookies. But I knew I needed flatter cookies for these sandwiches... and so started the drama.

I loaded up the cookie sheet, put the first batch in the oven, and obediently went to turn the sheet 180 degrees at the nine minute mark. But as I opened the oven - and this is where the shriek came in - THIS is what I saw:

Yep, not pretty. Visions of sheet after sheet of unicookies (which are completely useless for sandwich making) flashed through my brain. I feared all hope of recreating these magical sandwiches might be lost.

So I took the next sheet - already neatly lined with perfect little dough balls - and started over. I dumped all the little dough balls back into the bowl and started lining the cookie sheet with slightly smaller little dough balls.

The result... a bit better... but still... not there yet. So this time I tried even a bit smaller, and also didn't flatten them down quite as much before baking.

Better. We were getting there. And this process is how I ended up with at least three different sizes of cookies. Not ideal when attempting to pair up cookies for sandwiches.

I have not perfected the cookies yet, but you have my word that I will diligently practice until perfection is achieved. Sometimes these things take time.

Step Three: Pair up cookies
I was like the eHarmony of chocolate chip cookies. Taking the various sizes of cookies - small, medium, and large - and finding each cookie's perfect mate.

Step Four: Assemble sandwiches
Here comes the fun part. Despite my less than perfect cookies, they made DELICIOUS sandwiches!

With the chilled frosting I was pleased - pleased enough to eat more than I should have during the assembly process. But then I stuck them in the freezer to set and when we went back for dessert on Sunday... OH MY WORD. The frosting resembled my favorite coconut milk ice cream and the cookies - even straight out of the freezer - were perfectly chewy! And now they are tucked safely in the back of my freezer. That's right - you have to know the secret code word to gain access. They are that good.

Although I fell far short of the prefect BabyCakes chocolate chip cookie sandwich here, these are definitely my favorite BabyCakes treat to date and I will be making them again. Maybe not anytime soon - I mean I still have a whole book minus four recipes to go - but definitely again.

*** Also - big props to my sister, Amy, for the new look.  Isn't it cute?!  Thanks, Amy! ***

Page 33: Blueberry Muffins

This morning I gave the hubby several breakfast choices, including cereal (boring), oatmeal (I like oatmeal enough but come on, it's Saturday), pancakes (okay, I do love pancakes), and blueberry scones.  But he was incredibly indecisive, so I cracked the BabyCakes book and thought, "why yes, I love scones but I do have an entire book to bake my way through and I also love blueberry muffins". So... guess what we had for breakfast??

BabyCakes Blueberry Muffins are made with coconut oil, spelt flour and lots of other goodness, but the surprise ingredient was lemon extract! It wasn't enough that I would lobby to change the name to "blueberry lemon muffins", but it was enough to add a little hint of buttermilk-like tanginess. I bet that's what Erin McKenna was going for. She's so smart like that.

Mixing up the goodness:

Before:

After:

They were yummy - but I do think I like the scones better. It might be the spelt flour but they had more of a corn muffin texture than a cupcake texture. These babies also have no white sugar - just agave nectar - so they weren't super sweet. Which, as I think I've established, is how I prefer things but the hubby was not as impressed as usual. After the first one, we had the brilliant idea to pull some of the vanilla frosting out of the fridge...

Even better! I think we really might have to keep frosting in the fridge all the time now. Apparently, it goes with everything. Who knew?!


POST PUBLISHING EDIT:
I have now learned my lesson and in the future will wait until the muffins have cooled before I blog about them. My apologies. They were even better the next day! Moist and delicious and the lemon was just... perfect. I'm a believer. These muffins are yumminess personified - no frosting necessary (but always allowed). 

Page 91: Vanilla Frosting

Yep. Just the frosting. Granted, the intention here is to make the frosting now, chill it, and slap it between two yet-unbaked chocolate chip cookies later this weekend. But now that I have a bowl of BabyCakes vanilla frosting in my fridge, I know why they sell frosting shots in the store. It's that good.

The whole batch only contains 1/4 cup of agave nectar, so the frosting is not overly sweet. My mother can attest to the fact I'm not a fan of sweet frosting... I was the weirdo who used to ask her for a piece of the cake before she frosted it. But this stuff is really mellow and between the coconut flour and the lemon juice, you would swear that a little bit of cream cheese snuck its way in there somehow.

My frosting factory, including the infamous powdered soy milk...

And the vat of frosting that resulted. Chilled it's stiff like frosting, but at room temperature is spreads like soft, sweet butter.

After sampling (I definitely licked the spoon), I also realized that THIS concoction must be what they put on the biscuit I purchased in the BabyCakes shop. It was a biscuit with what I assumed was some sort of vegan clotted cream (refer to the scones post - this was a day of vegan euphoria for me) and jam. So, I threw some on one of my blackberry scones from earlier in the week, just to make sure my memory wasn't fooling me. Since I was storing them in the freezer and do not own a microwave, I had an excruciatingly long wait while it thawed.

So delish! This scrumptious stuff is definitely going to be a staple in my house. Perhaps I'll just keep a bucket of frosting in the fridge at all times now. I can only imagine how yummy this is going to be between two chocolate chip cookies! Stand by...

Page 42: Raspberry Scones

I love scones. I love them at tea with clotted cream and jam. I love the blueberry scones at Starbucks - particularly the ones at Starbucks' Chicago locations (they are different, I promise). I love the cute little mini scones that you buy in the plastic tubs at Whole Foods. I love scones.

However, most scones are full of butter and white sugar and eggs. Sigh. Therefore,  scones have become something I either pass on these days or indulge in with subsequent regrets. No more, my friends. Scones have returned to my life.

BabyCakes scones are made with whole spelt flour (one of many new ingredients filling my pantry these days), coconut oil, and agave nectar, among a few other things. This means there is no white flour, no white sugar, and... drumroll please... no butter! But you'd never know it. Even the picky hubby had seconds!

I did not have raspberries on hand so I used organic frozen blackberries instead (I know, you'd think that a person who spent weeks gathering such specific ingredients as coconut flour and potato starch could at least pick up some raspberries). However, fresh, tangy raspberries would probably make these even better. I also plan a blueberry edition in the near future. And maybe eventually a cinnamon version. YUM.

As a reformed Starbucks scone consumer, I also cut the scones into triangular shapes before baking, rather than drop them as round biscuit type creations as shown in the book and directed in the recipe. I did think twice about risking a different shape; the rule-follower in me feared being struck by lightning or burnt scones, but all for naught. They were perfect!

I whipped these up Sunday morning and the hubby and I enjoyed them warm. Then I wrapped the leftovers up individually and threw them in the freezer for safekeeping (sorry officemates, it only makes eight!).

So Monday morning, I enjoyed my coffee and scone for half the calories and none of the usual guilt. And I didn't even have to stop at Starbucks on my way to work! What a happy Monday.

Page 71: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

So - just gonna put this out there - I think I might have trumped the creator on my first shot out of the gate.

This is one of the treats I was able to sample while at BabyCakes NYC and I sure thought they were delish. However, I'm more of a chubby/chewy/hearty cookie person and BabyCakes makes them more flat. This probably assists them in making their delectable cookie sandwiches, which I have not yet attempted and at which my chubby little cookies might miserably fail. But on their own, I think mine won. I'm just sayin.

That said, I may have been a little too ambitious for the first shot as well. The book suggests throwing mint in these little guys to create a healthier, vegan competitor to Girl Scout Thin Mints. As a lover of Thin Mints but a hater of the guilt that comes with consuming an entire sleeve (or two) of the discs in one sitting, I was all about that idea. So I threw in some minced fresh mint leaves while mixing the dough. It wasn't necessarily bad, but apparently I completely underestimated the amount of mint this would take as you couldn't really taste the mint at all in the finished product.

Despite the unmintyness of it all, I found them yummy. A totally delectable and rich chewy chocolateness - just about perfect! (Spell check is telling me two of the words in that paragraph aren't really words... how dare they?)

The flaxseed meal adds a rich nuttiness, but it also looks like you ground a little bit of alfalfa into an otherwise perfect cookie. Don't mind the little hayseed looking specs. I swear, they were delicious!

Next time... no mint. Or at least extract instead of minced leaves. And maybe a frosting of some kind. Oh, the possibilities!

Also, I will try to get better at photos. I'm generally too lazy to get out a real camera when my wonder-working iPhone is just so handy. But the quality is somewhat lacking so I'll work on it. It's just hard to worry about photography when samples are waiting!

And so it begins...

Hello, all!

A couple months ago, my dear friend Jess bought me the BabyCakes NYC bakery cookbook (by Erin McKenna) as a birthday gift. Since I currently live a few thousand miles away from NYC, I had no knowledge of this amazing little gem on Manhattan's Lower East Side. But Jess knows I love baking up (and more importantly partaking of) vegan goodness, and this little book was chock-full of vegan goodness. I happened to be in New York a mere few weeks later, before I had the chance to whip up any of the recipes, so I braved the crowded little shop to experience BabyCakes for myself.

It was amaaaaaazing! From the first brownie bite to the last chocolate chip cookie sandwich I was in a state of wonder. This woman is a genius... and the best part was... I already owned her secret recipes! Which, by the way, required no illegal action on my part. Whew.

So... here I go.  I've purchased a truckload of formerly unheard of ingredients (is it just me or does "Garbanozo-fava bean flour" sound entirely too healthy to be in something called triple-chocolate fat pants cake?), stocked up on chocolate chips, and paid almost $20 for the only can of powdered soy milk I could find on the island. There is no turning back.

So, feel free to follow me along as I bake my way through the BabyCakes book. You're welcome to watch, listen, and if you're lucky enough to live near me, sample! Though some of the recipes are out there already (google them if you must), I won't be posting the recipes as I go. I know, and I'm sorry. But it's obvious this woman has spent hundreds of hours perfecting these works of art, and her efforts should be rewarded. So, if you're enticed enough to bake along with me - buy a copy and join in the goodness. Or else just stop by next time you're in the neighborhood!

But be forewarned... these treats don't last long around here.

P.S. - Yes, triple-chocolate fat pants cake is real... better start digging out the proper attire now.