Strawberry-Orange Muffin

What better way to celebrate Spring (and to use some need-to-be-eaten-soon Strawberries)?

Ingredients

• 1 1/4  cups halved strawberries
• 
  
• 3  tablespoons margarine, melted
• 
  
• 2  teaspoons grated orange rind
• 
  
• 2  large eggs
• 
  
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 
  
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• Cooking spray
• 
  
• 2  teaspoons sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.


2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a blender, and process just until blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

3. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pan immediately.

Enjoy!


(recipe founded googling Strawberry Muffin)

***

Lately, my friends are loving me more and more since most of my bakery creations go directly into their tummies. Living alone, it's not safe for me stay at home with the company of twelve freshly baked muffins, ah ah!

Brownies

Quick brownies recipe adapted from Cooking Light


I also tried to make a vegan version of it but it was a huge FAIL, since they didn't cook well and were way too ooey gooey. I really appreciate if you could suggest me a good vegan brownies recipe!

Fudgy Brownies

Ingredients

1 cup Whole-Wheat Flour 

1/2 cup unsweetened Cocoa

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/3 cup Butter

2 ounces dark Chocolate, chopped

(I used Chocolate-chips)

1 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup low-fat Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 large Egg Yolks

1 large Egg

Cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, and

salt in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk.

3. Place butter and chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at high for 45

seconds, stirring every 15 seconds. Stir until smooth, and set aside. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup sugar,

milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, egg yolks, and egg; stir with a whisk to combine. Add butter mixture

to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. 

4. Pour batter into an 8-inch square metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. 

Enjoy! I surely did =)

They were even better the day after...

***

If you have a yummy vegan recipe for brownies, I'd love to try to make this!

Brown Irish Soda Bread

I wanted to do something irish for St. Patrick's day this year (besides drinking waay too much cider, since I can't stomach bier). The recipe is easy, but since I replaced some ingredients (I couldn't find buttermilk anywhere here!), it came out a little too doughy, nothing too bad that a good splash of almond butter can't resolve, though! 

It's also quite fast and I literally made it while getting ready for going to a photography exposition. I photograph it in the morning though, to avoid that horrible yellow light; I know, I could have use my lightbox but I was running late =)

Brown Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour 
• 
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 
  
• 1/2  cup  steel-cut oats (I used rolled oats)
• 
  
• 2  tablespoons  brown sugar
• 
  
• 1  tablespoon  wheat germ
• 
  
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 
  
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 
  
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 
  
• 2  cups  low-fat buttermilk (I used soy milk, since I only had that)
• 
  
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Coat a 9 x 5–inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with parchment paper, and coat with cooking spray.

3. Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and next 6 ingredients (through salt). Combine buttermilk and egg; add to flour mixture. Stir just until combined.

4. Spoon the mixture into prepared pan. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Invert bread onto a wire rack; cool completely. 

Enjoy!

***

Theoretically in Italy no one celebrate St Patrcik's day, especially this year that coincided with the 150 anniversary of the unification of Italy. But...

• One of my best friend is half-irish
• I couldn't care less about the anniversary

(recipe from cooking light)

Whole wheat Apple Cake

Studying or baking? That is the problem!


Monday evening I clearly chose the second option and baked a cinnamon-smelling Apple Cake (I absolutely love when my home smells like cakes and cookies, that's not so difficult since my home is very tiny =)


I also believe that baking is the perfect complement of a movie that you're not so interested in (I was watching The Queen that night)

Whole Wheat Apple Cake

Ingredients

2 big Apples, sliced

2 tbsp Raisin

175 gr whole wheat flour

125 ml Soy Milk

100 gr Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 tbsp Pine Nuts

1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice

16 gr Baking Powder

Cinnamon to taste 

Directions

1. Soak the raisin in warm water to soften it.

2. In a large bowl, beat the egg and the sugar and then add the milk. Gradually add the flour and when well mixed add the pine nuts, the lemon juice, cinnamon and the drained raisin.

3. Mix the baking powder to the batter and, as last thing, add the apples.

4. Pour the batter in a baking tin (24-26 cm), lightly oiled and floured. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 grades for 35 minutes.

Serve and enjoy! It's amazing the day after as breakfast with warm milk.

This recipe could be easily made vegan, just replace the egg with an egg replacer (no pun intended!), as 1 tbsp of grounded flax seeds with warm water.

(Vegan!) Chocolate-chip Cookies

For direct request of my brother, I made Chocolate-chip Cookies (sshhh, don't tell him they are vegan!)


The recipe is adapted from Oh she glows, I omitted the nuts since I'm allergic (damn!) and made some other adjustments since I were out of some ingredients and I was too lazy to walk all the way to the grocery store =)

(Vegan!) Chocolate-chip Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup Margarine, at room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)

1/2 tbsp grounded Flax + 3 tbsp warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract (I did not have it)

1 and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2-3/4 cup dark chocolate chips 

Directions

1. In a small bowl whisk together grounded flax with water and set aside for several minutes.

2. In a large bowl, beat the Margarine for about 60 seconds until smooth. Now add in the brown sugar (making sure there are no clumps). Beat for 4 minutes.

3. Place vanilla extract into the egg replacer mixture and stir well (I obviously did not do this!). Now add this mixture to the Margarine and Sugar mixture and beat for another 3-4 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula every minute or so. 

4. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt). Now gradually add this mixture to the wet mixture and mix until just combined. Add in your chocolate chips beat for a few more seconds until combined.

5. Now place the dough into a ball and cover in plastic wrap, making sure to cover all sides. Refrigerate dough overnight or for 8-12 hours. Remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature for about 60 minutes. 

6. Roll into balls about 1.5 tbsp large and slightly flatten each ball with your hand. The more you flatten it, the bigger the cookie will spread. Place the cookies about 1.5-2 inches apart on the sheet.  Allow cookies to come to warm room temperature for an additional 5-10 minutes. 

7. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F until slightly golden around the edges with a pale centre. Let sit on the sheet for 5-10 minutes before removing from pan. The cookies will firm up quite a bit so not to worry if they are initially soft. (I would totally  freak out if I wouldn't have read this part, since my cookies were soooo soft!)

8. Personal note: eat three Cookies for breakfast

What is your favorite flavor of Cookies? 

(Vegan!) Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Succeeding in vegan baking is so satisfactory. Because is challenging, because I've never use a egg replacer before, because my whole house smelled delicious for the entire afternoon (ok, that also with non-vegan baking!).

The original recipe comes from here, I made some substitutions and halved the recipe for lack of confidence in the result, I basically didn't want to have to eat a whole batch of meeeh cookies (in any case I always have my brother who could eat anything)

Vegan Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

1 Cup vegan margarine, softened

1 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Egg replacer for 2 eggs

1 1/4 Cups whole-wheat Flour

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

3 Cups Oats (rolled)

1 1/2 Cups Raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a large mixing bowl, beat margarine, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add egg replacer eggs and beat until well blended.

2. In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

3. Gradually add to margarine mixture until well blended. Stir in oats, raisins.

4. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or a nonstick cookie sheet) drop the dough by 1/4 cupfuls and pat down slightly. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Let stand for 3 minutes before removing from baking sheet.

(Makes 2 dozen giant cookies)

It's a really simple and fast recipe IF you live in the civilized world and you can find flax seeds already grounded for make the egg replacer. Since I don't, I had to do this before:



Not funny. At all!

***

Now I'm off to watch Gossip Girl eating a giant cookie, great way to reward my hard wok =)

Banana Bread

When bananas are more brown than yellow, make banana bread!

Ingredients

2  cups  whole wheat flour
3/4  teaspoon  baking soda
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1  cup brown sugar
1/4  cup  butter, softened
2  large eggs
1 1/2  cups  mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3  cup  plain low-fat yogurt
1  teaspoon  vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.



2. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.



3. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Walnut-Chocolate Cake

Grandma recipe of my dad's favorite cake (I couldn't taste it since it has walnuts and I'm allergic, damn!)

Ingredients

500 gr Walnuts

100 gr Butter

200 gr Sugar

250 gr Flour

3 large fresh Eggs

Baking Powder

powdered Sugar

100 gr Dark Chocolate

Directions

1. Mix together butter and sugar to obtain a smooth cream (or something similar)



2. Grease the baking tin with butter and cover it with walnuts (choose the better looking ones!)



3. Process the remaining walnuts and after the chocolate (if you use chocolate chips this won't be necessary)



4. Add one egg at time, chocolate, flour, baking powder and walnuts



5. Mix well (if the batter will be too dry, add some milk)



6. Pour the batter into the tin, trying not to move the walnut base



7. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Make a nice decoration with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!



Legend says that days after is even more good!

Snow White's Apple Pie

Once upon a time a little girl fell in love with an Apple Pie, made by the only Disney princess with dark hair (it was quite a problem not being able to identify myself with other princess since they were blonde). Almost 15 years later, the dreams comes true: I made my first Apple Pie (I'm still a brunette, though)!

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

6-7 tablespoons ice water

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons margarine

Filling:

about 6 thinly sliced peeled Red Delicious apples

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2/3 cup  brown sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

Remaining ingredients:

margarine for the Pie plate

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°. To prepare crust, lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1/2 cup flour, ice water, and vinegar, stirring with a whisk until well blended to form a slurry. Combine remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, powdered sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; cut in margarine with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add slurry; toss with a fork until flour mixture is moist.

2. Divide dough in half. Gently press each half into a 4-inch circle on 2 sheets of overlapping heavyduty plastic wrap; cover with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll 1 dough half, still covered, into a 12-inch circle. Roll other dough half, still covered, into an 11-inch circle. Chill dough 10 minutes or until plastic wrap can be easily removed.

3. To prepare filling, combine the apples and lemon juice in a large bowl. Combine 2/3 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples; toss well to coat.

4. Remove top 2 sheets of plastic wrap from 12-inch dough circle; fit dough, plastic wrap side up, into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate coated with margarine, allowing dough to extend over edge. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Spoon filling into dough; brush edges of dough lightly with water.

5. Remove top 2 sheets of plastic wrap from 11-inch dough circle; place, plastic wrap side up, overfilling. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Press edges of dough together. Fold edges under, and flute. Cut 4 (1-inch) slits into top of pastry using a sharp knife. Brush top and edges of pie with egg white; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.

6. Place pie on a baking sheet; bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove pie from oven), and bake an additional 40 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Whole living