Carrot Cookies

Posted in Food by peppermintsandhoneybees

I actually found this recipe in the little booklet that came with my ninja blender. It looked good (and easy) so I thought I’d give it a try. It looked good and has carrots so its sorta healthy right?

It was super easy and fast to make since I just added all the ingredients and blended them. You definitely don’t need a blender to make these though.

The ingredients are:

3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs of flax eggs
2 cups flour
1 cup grated carrots
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. coconut oil

The last two ingredients I added to the recipe. Just combine everything and drop teaspoon sized amounts onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-12 minutes and that’s it! It was supposed to make 36 but I got about 28. (I made some a little bigger)
These are nice because they aren’t too sweet, although I think they would be good with honey drizzled on them. I was going to take some to work but Ben likes them so much he didn’t what me to! I’ll have to make more. 😉 Anyway, enjoy!

19Aug2014

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes with Peach Frosting

Posted in Food by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’ve been searching for the perfect basic cupcake recipe for a while. I wanted a basic go-to recipe that I could use to base other concoctions I try out. I found one at handletheheat.com that had a good, easy, basic recipe and it showed what happened if you subbed different ingredients out for others. I love trying to make dessert recipes healthier, and I’m not vegan, just vegetarian, but I try to limit my dairy so I wanted to try and make a go-to vegan cupcake recipe. I like to see if I can make desserts still as tasty while switching the ingredients.

I listed the original recipe along with the things I switched out such as almond milk, flax seed for eggs, and coconut oil for butter. The next batch I make, I’ll probably use coconut or rice flour to see if I can make it gluten free too. I have a niece who has Celiac disease and can’t have gluten, so I like to make sure she can still enjoy as many of the same treats as everyone else.

For the icing I wanted to use something I had already and had bought peaches the day before so I decided to try and make some vegan icing with coconut oil and powdered sugar. This one I made up as I go, but the measurements should be pretty close. Just eyeball it! Also make sure to keep these refrigerated so the icing doesn’t melt. 😉

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unrefined virgin coconut oil
1 egg or 1 teaspoon flax seed + 2-3 teaspoons water (enough to make the consistency of an egg)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup of milk (I used almond milk and it turned out fine)

Combine all dry ingredients and then add wet. Mix with a hand mixer and then scoop into lined muffin tin. The batter will be a little thicker than regular cake batter so don’t worry.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Makes 12

Icing:

1/4 cup unrefined virgin coconut oil melted
1 peach blended in a blender, bullet, or food processor
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (again I used almond milk)
1 cup powdered sugar (you may have to add more if it’s too watery)

I also added a little flour to mine to thicken it up. Add all ingredients and blend with a hand mixer. Next let it set in the fridge for about an hour or about 20 minutes in the freezer to thicken up the icing. And again since it’s made with coconut oil you’ll need to keep these refrigerated so the frosting doesn’t melt.

Also I used whole wheat flour in my cupcakes because that’s what I had but for the next time I think I would use either regular flour or coconut flour. The wheat flour gave the cupcakes a kind of muffin taste, which wasn’t bad but if you’re going for a more traditional cupcake taste I’d use something else. Enjoy!

6Apr2014

Tangerine Upsidedown Cakes

Posted in Food, pinterest, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

I don’t cook to many desserts but I was in the mood and wanted to try this recipe I found on pinterest from

http://drizzleanddip.com/2012/09/10/clementine-upside-down-cakes. I used tangerines instead, but whatever! I varied my recipe because I used a cup of Greek yogurt and a cup of water instead of butter and eggs but I will give you the recipe from Drizzle and Dip and if you feel adventurous like I was you can deviate from the recipe.

225g butter – room temp
225g caster sugar
225g flour
2t baking powder
4 large eggs – room temp
finely grated zest of 2 small clementines, or in my case tangerines
about 1/2 – 1 t of brown sugar for each cake
15 slices of peeled clementines (1 slice per cake)

Hot Syrup

1/2 cup of clementine juice
1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 c / 350 F
Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, allowing to fully combine between each addition
Add the clementine zest and mix.
By hand sift the flour and the baking powder over the mix and fold it in to combine
Sprinkle around 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of brown sugar in the the bottom of each cavity of a greased muffin pan.
Add a slice of clementine (cut about 1cm thick) on top of the sugar.
Using an ice-cream scoop, evenly measure out the cake batter and dollop onto each clementine (about 3/4 of the way up the pan).
Bake for 25 – 30 mins, until golden brown. Mine took 30 minutes with the Greek yogurt.
Make the syrup by bringing the juice and sugar to the boil until the sugar has dissolved and it just starts to thicken.
Using a spatula gently loosen the baked cakes from the mold and tip out onto a cooling rack. Pour the warm syrup over the cakes to allow them to absorb.