Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour (or other flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts

To Make the Muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Pour the cider vinegar into the soy milk and let sit to curdle.
3. Grease muffin tin or use muffin cups.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the peanut butter, molasses, canola oil, sugar, and one of the bananas until smooth, set aside.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.
7. Chop the 2nd banana up in tiny pieces and mix it in to the batter.
8. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter.
9. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Beware: This is what happens to you when you eat these muffins:

I wanted to make something speical for my friend Mel’s birthday, but we were going to be traveling in a car, so a traditional cake wouldn’t survive. I thought of regular drop cookies because they are oh-so-tasty, but they aren’t screaming “Happy Birthday!” in that festive way that cakes do.

Then, as I was about to go to sleep one night,  it came to me: large sandwich cookies with “Happy Birthday Mel” carved into the tops! Perfect! I based it on a scrumptious-looking ginger lemon recipe from Elinor Kilivan’s book “Big Fat Cookies.”

The cookies turned out tasting great- the almonds and spices make it hearty and flavorful- but they were a little bit messy. The lemon curd filling I made had fantastic lemon flavor, but oozed out the sides of the cookies, even after refrigeration! So, I am including Elinor’s powdered sugar-based filling in the recipe here. Although I haven’t tried it, I am confident it will come out better than what I used!

I used the extra dough and filling to make sandwich cookies with holes in them, as pictured here. This recipe makes 10 large cookies.

For the Cookies:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup almonds

For the Filling:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

To Make the Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Blanch the almonds by placing them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Remove them and slide skins off with your fingers.
3. Place the blanched almonds on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until toasted.
4. Grind the almonds in a food processor until they resemble fine crumbs, set aside.
5. Whisk the flour, salt, ginger and cinnamon in a medium size bowl, set aside.
6. Beat the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
7. Mix in the lemon zest, vanilla and ground almonds on low speed.
8. Mix in the flour mixture on low speed just until all ingredients are incorporated.
9. Divide the dough in half and form two small round disks.
10. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
11. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
12. Unwrap one piece of dough and roll out on floured countertop to 1/4 inch thick.
13. Use a round cookie cutter to cut 3 1/2 inch size circles out of the dough.
14. Use another cookie cutter (or carve whatever you like with a knife) to remove part of the inside of half of the cookies.
15. Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes or until the tops are firm.
16. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To Make the Filling:

1. Beat the butter, powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a stand mixer on medium speed until smooth.
2. Spread about 2 tablespoons of filling over the bottoms of each of the un-holed cookies.
3. Sandwich the cookies with holes in them on top of the frosted cookies.

But then I moved into a house with a blackberry bush growing on the outside of my fence in the backyard, into the alley. No need to fight this one! I have let it grow and grow and grow and the blackberries are just starting to get ripe. There are so many of them that I think I’ll be eating blackberries all summer and fall! Blackberries have become my friend.

I was very excited to pick my first batch of berries, but soon after I filled the bowl, I was unsure of what do with them. They were a little too tart (for my liking) to eat raw, but I couldn’t think of something yummy to bake them into. So I posted an inquiry to my Facebook friends, asking for their help. I had many suggestions come my way… cereal, syrup, jam, raw… but Katy got me salivating at the suggestion of PIE. Pie! Perfect use of the first of the blackberries!

I was going to a picnic the next day, so I decided to make individual pies instead of one big one. They turned out adorable and delicious! The crust was amazingly flaky and the filling was a perfect combination of sweet and tart. I based these recipes on ones I found in the “Joy of Cooking.” This recipe makes 4 mini pies, but can be modified to make one regular size pie. Also, this pie could very easily be made vegan by substituting non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening for the butter in the crust!

P.S. Pretty darn good with lime ice cream!

For the Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter
• 1/3-1/2 cup ice cold water
• 4 mini pie tins
• Cookie cutters (optional)

To Make the Crusts:

1. Stir the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl, set aside.
2. Cut the butter into small chunks and add to to the bowl of dry ingredients.
3. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two knives until it resembles crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces of butter still remaining.
4. Slowly add up to 1/3 of the water while stirring vigorously.
5. If the dough has not come together into a ball, continue adding water, a tablespoon at a time, until it does.
6. Form the dough into a ball and separate into two equal halves.
7. Wrap the dough halves in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
8. Remove one half of the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out onto a floured counter top.
9. Cut the dough into four rounds, using one of the pie tins to gauge the appropriate size.
10. Fit the dough rounds into each pie tin with only a small lip around the edge.
11. Place dough filled tins in the refrigerator.
12. Remove the other half of the dough and roll out onto floured counter top.
13. Cut rounds just as you did for the other half.
14. Place rounds on a cookie sheet or cutting board and put in refrigerator.
15. If you want to cut out shapes for decoration, form remaining dough scraps into a ball and roll out.
16. Cut desired shapes with a knife or cookie cutter, set aside.

For the Filling:

• 3 cups blackberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

To Make the Filling:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Stir the sugar, cornstarch, lime juice and salt together in a medium bowl.
3. Stir in the blackberries until well coated by the mixture.
4. Let stand for 15 minutes.
5. Fill the bottom crusts with equal portions of the berry filling.
6. Brush the rim of the crust with cold water.
7. Place the top crusts over the pies and seal the edges of the two crusts together by pinching them.
8. Cut 5 slits in the top of each crust.
9. Adhere crust cut-outs (if used) to the top of the pies with cold water.
10. Place the pies on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
11. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes, or until the juices start bubbling out the top of the pies.
12. Cool on a rack for at least 1 hour.

Fortunately those organic California strawberries make their way up to Oregon, but with a bigger price tag. I probably won’t be making as many strawberry treats this summer as I once did, but I will still allow myself to indulge in recipes that I can resist! This recipe fell into that category of totally irresistable. I followed a link to My Baking Addiction’s blog and only about 3 seconds passed between looking at the picture and reading the words ‘fresh,’ strawberry,’ and ‘cupcake’ in one sentence before I decided that I HAD to make these. And RIGHT AWAY! So, on my way home from work, I picked up the necessary ingredients and started baking away. Around 10pm I scarfed down a DEEELICIOUS cupcake and then had another…

The texture and flavor of these cupcakes is some of the best I have ever had. The recipe is based on one by Martha Stewart called ‘Sprinkles Cupcakes’ that was modified by My Baking Addiction. I made the following changes based on my personal tastes and My Baking Addiction’s reflections: She mentioned that the cake was a little dry, so I upped the amount of strawberry puree in the cake batter and replaced milk with sour cream. I also decreased the baking time and took them out of the oven when they were ‘just done.’ She mentioned that the frosting was a little on the soft side, so I decreased the amount of strawberry puree added. This however made the strawberry flavor in the frosting somewhat subtle, so I added strawberry puree to the top to pack in more strawberriness. I also put the frosting in the fridge for a bit to help it firm up. 

I honestly can’t think of any way to make these better, but if you do, let me know!  This recipe makes 18 cupcakes.

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 cup fresh strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 up unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 2 egg whites, at room temperature

For the Frosting:

• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 18-22 ounces powdered sugar
• 18 small fresh strawberries

To Make the Cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line 2 muffin tins with 18 (total) cupcake liners, set aside.
3. Puree the strawberries in a blender and transfer to a small bowl.
4. Whisk in the sour cream and vanilla, set aside.
5. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl, set aside.
6. Cream the butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
7. Gradually add the sugar while mixing on medium-high speed.
8. Reduce the speed to medium and add in the egg whites and then the whole egg.
9. Reduce the speed to low and mix in half the strawberry puree mixture.
10. Add half the flour mixture, then the rest of the strawberry puree, followed by the rest of the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
11. Scoop batter into muffin tins, filling each cup half-way.
12. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
13. Cool cupcakes in tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To Make the Frosting:

1. Puree the strawberries in a blender, set aside.
2. Whip the butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until well incorporated.
3. Gradually add the powdered sugar until desired consistency and sweetness is achieved.
4. Beat in three teaspoons of the strawberry puree and the vanilla extract.
5. Place frosting in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or longer to firm up.
6. Transfer frosting to a piping bag with a star tip.
7. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.
8. Create a small indentation in the top of the frosting and spoon 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry puree into it.
9. Slice tops off of small strawberries and place one upside down on each cupcake on top of the puree.

But when my friend Wendy introduced me to a recipe on Epicurious, I only had to modify it slightly to create something sinfully delicious. This pie actually tastes lighter that it sounds and is easier to make than it looks. And with fruit and nuts in it, what a great way to get your daily vitamins and protein! (That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway.) This recipe easily serves 10 people.

For the Crust:

• 6 ounces vanilla wafer cookies
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar

For the Vanilla Layer:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

For the Banana Layers:

• 3 bananas
• juice of 1 orange
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
• cinnamon

For the Peanut Butter Layer:

• 3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup whipping cream

To Make the Crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Blend cookies, butter, and sugar in a food processor until mixture resembles moist crumbs.
3. Press mixture evenly into a 9 inch pie dish.
4. Bake crust for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To Make the Vanilla Layer:

1. In a large saucepan, whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt until no lumps remain.
2. Graduallly whisk in cream and milk.
3. Whisk in egg yolks and vanilla.
4. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until pudding boils and thickens, about 6 minutes. Turn off heat.
5. Add butter and stir until melted.
6. Spread warm pudding in cooled crust.
7. Chill until filling is cool, at least 1 hour.

To Make the Peanut Butter Layer:

1. Beat cream in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. Transfer to anothe bowl, set aside.
2. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
3. Beat in vanilla and then peanut butter.
4. Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture, a third at a time, set aside.

To Make the Banana Layers:

1. Thinly slice the bananas.
2. Combine bananas and orange juice in a small bowl and toss to coat.
3. Arrange a layer of banana slices over the vanilla layer.
4. Spread the peanut butter layer over the first banana layer.
5. Arrange a second layer of banan slices over the peanut butter layer.
6. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top of the pie.

The cake didn’t have the look I was going for (it is really hard to cut pineapple in rings) and the cherries, while gross, would have added a bit of color to the bland looking cake. However, it tasted quite delicious, confirming that using the fresh pineapple was indeed a good idea. I served it up with vanilla ice cream (John mentioned coconut ice cream would be good too) because everything is better with ice cream.

This recipe serves 6-8 people and is based on a recipe by Alton Brown in ”I’m Just Here for More Food.”

For the Cake:

• 1 medium pineapple
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup sugar

To Make the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Remove the skin from the pineapple and chop into 1 inch pieces, set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
4. Add the dark brown sugar and stir until it dissolves.
5. Remove from the heat and cover the bottom of the pan with the pineapple, set aside.
6. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside.
7. In a small bowl whisk the eggs, milk and sugar together.
8. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.
9. Pour the batter over the pineapple in the pan and even out with a spatula.
10. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
11. Remove the skillet from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
12. After 10 minutes, place a plate on top of the skillet and then turn upsidedown to invert the cake onto the plate.
13. Allow the cake to cool completely.

This cake is quite big and will serve a couple of bowling teams at least! The recipes are from the Magnolia Cookbook.

I’ll tell you my method for decorating this cake, but leave your process up to you because I’m sure you’ll have some awesome ideas! I started this recipe out with a simple chocolate cake and plain buttercream frosting. After frosting the cake, I added chocolate to the remaining buttercream for decorating purposes. I chose gumballs for bowling balls because they are colorful and perfectly round. I played with the idea of drilling tiny holes in each one, but decided against that for safety reasons, and opted to just make dots on them with piped frosting. The closest thing I could find that remotely resembled  bowling pins were candy covered almonds (yuck!). My friend andy has been known to carve pins out of jack cheese and make the stripes with red bell pepper- perhaps I will use that method next time! I used chocolate jimmies to make the arrows on the lane, but I think chocolate chips or just piped frosting would work as well. i literally carved out the gutters in the lane with a knife and piped them full of chocolate frosting- above ground frosting gutters would have probably been less messy. The ball return carriages were made from leftover scraps of cake, frosted with the chocolate buttercream frosting. (It was pointed out to me after the cake was finished that the ball return carriages should have been placed toward the outsides of the lane, so as to leave room for the bowler- good tip for next time!)

Okie dokie, enough chit chat… here’s the recipe.

For the Cake:

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspooons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs, seperated
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

For the Frosting:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Decorations:

• 10 ‘bowling pin’ candies (I used candy covered almonds)
• 6 ’bowling ball’ candies (I used gumballs)
• Chocolate jimmies or chocolate chips for lane arrows
• Whatever else you can dream up!

To Make the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease two 13 x 9 inch rectangular cake pans.
3. In a double boiler, or bowl over a pot of boiling water, stirl the chocolate with the water until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together, set aside.
5. Beat the butter and sugars until smooth in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
6. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition.
7. Beat in the chocolate mixture and vanilla extract.
8. Add the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the buttermilk until well combined.
9. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until soft peaks form.
10. Fold the egg whites into the batter.
11. Divide the batter evenly into the pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.
12. Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes and then on a rack until cool to the touch.

To Make the Frosting:

1. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or bowl over a pot of bowling water, set aside.
2. Beat the butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar and then the milk and the vanilla extract, beating until smooth.
4. Gradually add the remaining sugar, one cup at a time until the frosting is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency (you may not need to add all of the sugar).
5. Transfer 1/4 of the frosting to a separate bowl.
6. Stir the melted chocolate into the smaller portion of frosting.
7. Use right away or cover until ready to use.

To Decorate the Cake:

1. Line the cakes up on their short ends to form one long cake (I couldn’t find a platter long enough, so I covered a piece of plywood in aluminum foil).
2. Trim the sides of the cakes to create the angle of a bowling lane (I didn’t cut off much to accomplish this). Set aside the extra pieces of cake to use for the ball return carriages.
3. Frost the entire cake with the white buttercream frosting.
4. Dig out the gutters with a knife (or just use frosting to create above ground gutters).
5. Fill a pastry bag or plastic bag with a hole in the corner with the chocolate buttercream frosting. Pipe decorations onto the cake, including gutters, lines, etc.
6. Use chocolate chips, jimmies, or frosting to make the arrows on the lane.
7. Cut two ball carriage returns from the scraps of cake and frost with the chocolate frosting. Place on the cake and line the balls up on top of the carriage returns.
8. Line the pins up at the end of the lane.
9. Decorate until you can’t decorate anymore and then EAT IT!

You will need a larger-than-usual pie pan to make this dessert as it calls for a 12 inch pie pan (regular pie pans are usually only 9 inches). I imagine you could substitute another type of pan if needed, just make sure it is big enough so the filling doesn’t spill over the sides! This cheesecake will easily serve 10 people. The recipe is based on one by Dave Lieberman.

For the Crust:

• 10 ounces shortbread cookies
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the Cheesecake:

• 24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• grated zest of one lemon
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

To Make the Crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grind the cookies in a food processor until they resemble crumbs.
3. Pour the crumbs into the pie pan. Add the brown sugar and butter and stir with a fork.
4. Press the crust evenly into the pan.
5. Bake for 15 minutes.

To Make the Cheesecake:

1. Heat the blueberries in a pan until boiling, set aside.
2. Beat the cream cheese in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until fluffy.
3. Beat in the sour cream until combined.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
5. Beat in the sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest until smooth.
6. Spread the filling evenly into the pre-baked crust.
7. Remove the blueberries from the pan with a slotted spoon (leaving the juice behind).
8. Swirl the blueberries into the filling.
9. Bake for one hour, or until the sides are lightly browned. The center will still be a bit wiggly. (The surface will probably crack due to the amount of moisture.)
10. Cool completely on a wire rack.
11. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 3 hours.

The flavor of sourdough bread is created by a wild yeast starter, used instead of regular baking yeast. You can purchase sourdough starter from some bakeries, or you can MAKE YOUR OWN! Making your own starter is quite a labor of love, but it makes for a very rewarding pet! It took about 5 weeks for my starter to fully develop and be ready to use for bread making, but during that time I really got to learn what the starter is all about. I even went as far as naming him Grover.  I got everything I ever wanted to know about sourdough starter (and more)  from: http://www.sourdoughhome.com/startingastarter.html. The best part about having your own starter is that once it is fully thriving, it can live forever as long as you feed it every once in a while. You can also give some to your friends so they can grow their own. I’ve had great success in using my extra starter in pancakes and pizza crust. Both very YUM!

This bread is great as a baguette or a sandwhich loaf- it makes two medium sized loaves. It is a good standard sourdough recipe that I got from the “Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart. It actually isn’t as much work as it appears, but it does take some time for all that delicious wild yeast to ferment. So, make sure to read the recipe ahead of time and allow yourself a couple of days at least for the process. You can do it!

For the Starter:

• lots of organice whole wheat or rye flour
• water

To Make the Starter:

1. Mix 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup flour in a small bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
2. Place the bowl somewhere relatively warm (65-85 degrees).
3. Every 12 hours (about twice a day) discard 1/2 of the starter. (Until it is fully mature, you need to throw the discarded starter away. Once it is mature, you can save the discard and use it to make things like pizza dough and pancakes.) After you’ve discarded half, feed the starter another 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour. Stir and cover with plastic wrap.
4. Once your starter is doubling in size between feedings, it is fully mature and ready to bake with. If it doesn’t double, your bread won’t rise! This could only take one week to occur, but in my case it took several, so be patient. Also, it may double in size and fall again before you check on it, so check the sides for indication that the starter has risen.
5. Once your starter is mature, you can move it to the fridge and discard/feed it once a week. When you want to bake with it again, you’ll need to take it out of the fridge a couple of days in advance and feed it every 12 hours to revive it and make enough starter as needed for your recipe.

For the Sponge:

• 2/3 cup starter
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup water

To Make the Sponge:

1. Remove the started from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before making the sponge.
2. Mix the starter, flour, and 1/8 cup water in a small bowl with a wooden spoon, adding more water if needed to form a small ball of dough.
3. Transfer the sponge to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel.
4. Allow the sponge to ferment at room temperature for 4 hours or until it has doubled in size.
5. Put the covered sponge in the refrigerator overnight.

For the Bread:

• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2-1 3/4 lukewarm water
• semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

To Make the Bread:

1. Remove the sponge from the refrigerator one hour before making the dough.
2. Cut the sponge into 10 small pieces, set aside.
3. Mix the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
4. Stir on low speed with the paddle attachment, adding the pieces of sponge and as much water as needed to form a ball.
5. Mix with the dough hook on medium-low speed for 4 minutes. Adjust the water and flour as needed- the dough should be firm, but tacky.
6. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel.
7. Allow the dough to ferment at room temperature for 4 hours or until it has doubled in size.
8. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and sprinkle with semolina flour or cornmeal.
9. Gently remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 2 equal pieces.
10. Shape the pieces into loaves and place on the sheet pan.
11. Cover with loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2-3 hours or overnight in the refrigerator (if rising overnight, remove from the fridge about 4 hours before baking).
12. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
13. Place the pan in the oven and spray the loaves and the walls of the oven with water in a spray bottle.
14. Spray the loaves and oven walls twice more in 30 second intervals.
15. After the final spray, reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake for 10 minutes.
16. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake for another 10-20 minutes or until the loaves are a rich golden brown color and sound hollow when tapped.
17. Remove from oven and place loaves on a wire cooling rack for at least 45 minutes before gobbling up!

I made these cupcakes for my bowling team’s Big Lebowski party. While I don’t think the Dude ate peanut butter chocolate cupcakes in the movie, I definitely think he would abide. And, they go splendidly with a White Russian. As a side note, after eating these cupcakes, our team went on to win our first game the following week- go cupcake power!

No one can tell that these cupcakes are vegan… they are so moist, rich, and chocolately! I am not a big fan of piping forsting letters onto cupcakes and I despise those store bought letters/icings, so I got a little inventive. I pressed upside-down mini chocolate chips into the frosting to spell out our team’s name. Yes, this did take a while, but it was a fun and mind-soothing activity.

This recipe is based on the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes from the book “Vegan Cupakes Take Over the World” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 cup soymilk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Frosting:

• 1/3 cup vegan margarine, softened
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons soymilk
• 150 mini chocolate chips

To Make the Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
3. Whisk together the vinegar and soymilk in a small bowl, set aside.
4. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.
5. Whisk the sugar, oil and vanilla extract together in a large bowl.
6. Whisk in the soymilk mixture.
7. Whisk the dry mixture into the wet mixture in 3 batches, beating until smooth with each addition.
8. Pour batter into cupcake liners, 2/3 full.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Cool on a wire rack.

To Make the Frosting:

1. Beat the margarine in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the peanut butter, molasses, and vanilla until very smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Gradually beat in the sugar.
4. While the mixer is on, slowly add as much soymilk as needed, until frosting is pale tan and fluffy.
5. Spread or pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.
6. Press the mini chocolate chips into the frosted cupcakes, creating words or designs.