Sweet Treats for the Tree!

So Amanda over at Bake it Pretty had the best little holiday how-to over making Christmas ornaments. I just thought it was too cute to pass up, and figured I would share on this awesome Christmas Eve!

Supply Goodness:

Styrofoam Balls: 2.5″ size
Heavy-Duty foil cupcake liners
Artificial Snowflakes
Artificial floral berry sprigs
Ribbon if you want it to be an ornament
Wooden skewers, chop-stix work nicely
Elmer's Glue
Foam brush
Hot Glue
Scissors

What to do:

Stick one Styrofoam ball onto a chop-stick for easy handling. Use a foam brush to paint the upper 2/3 of the ball with a good coating of white craft glue.

Roll the ball into the pretty shiny stuff and gently press to cover the ball nicely. It should look like a frosty, snowball.

Place the stick and ball into a mug and allow to dry completely. It sucks waiting for them to dry, but they do look so nice on your desk that you forget that 2 hours have just flown by and you're still staring...or maybe that is just me.

When your cupcake's top is dry, remove the wooden skewers and you are ready to glue them into their liners. Hot glue works the best..stupid Elemer's... Run a circle of glue around the top inside of the liner and place your cupcake ball inside, frosty side up. Cup your hands and press gently around the edges to glue the liner on snugly. Do not push the ball down too far or the bottom will curve and your cupcake will not sit flat, (this is not really a big deal if you’re planning on hanging them.)

Now, for the cherry. Cut one floral berry from the bunch, leaving about 1″ or less of wire stem. Add a small dot of hot glue to the top center of your cupcake. If you are planning to hang your ornament, set a small loop of ribbon or twine into the glue first, then press your cherry firmly on top. You can push the wire right into the Styrofoam ball, or flip it around to make a cherry “stem.” Both styles are super cute!

For a little extra touch, I cut out ribbons and placed people's names on them to make them more individualized (Sorry, Brad yours looked like a sad Buffy "B") And voila! An amazingly super easy way to make personal little gifts all those special someones on your Christmas shopping list. Our tree is already decorated with these, of course only after Jazz Hands made some her own and buried them...jerk face.

Hopefully you guys like em! They are quite addicting to make, and thanks again to Amanda's site. One must check it out!

Bake it Pretty.

Dirty Bingo Time!

Ok, so this is my first Christmas as part of the Luxe family, and I was super stoked to head out to the "office" party, now, there aren't any Michael Scotts, or Dwights, but I think those characters could still come out at some point..and our Christmas card experience was better...

Any hoo.. I was most excited to play me some "dirty bingo" and bake up some eggnoggy infused cupcakes for the affair. After my mini-Martha told me what to do, I decided that again, another Bake and Destroy recipe was going to be put to the test..just with some veganized details.
Ok so whip out your apron and and hair net, and let's get to work!

The goods:

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar (I'm trying a no sugar diet so this kinda sucks, Truvia is good too though!)
  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Earth Balance
  
• 4 Tbsp of Flax Seeds, ground and 12 tbsp of water (mix these two before anything else and let it sit..gets all egg-y like)
  
• 1 cup Soynog
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the nitty-gritty:

Oven set to 325 and two cupcake pans lined with the pretties, start the mixing! With a hand mixer, or stand mixer, mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix the Earth Balance in until it's coated with the flour mixture.

Now the flax seed concoction, Soynog and vanilla need to be swirled together in a large glass measuring cup. Add to dry ingredients gradually until mixed. Don’t over mix!

Fill cups 2/3 full and bake 17-22 minutes. The tops should spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Frosting:

• 2 sticks "butter", room temperature
• 4-6 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup Soynog
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch salt

Mix butter and sugar on medium speed. Add nutmeg and salt. Pour in Soynog gradually until frosting is spreadable. Add Soynog and sugar to taste and to desired texture.

Now make pretty!

Cupcake Crawl!

And yet another reason why NOT living in NYC can sometimes suck....

This Sunday at 11am, there is going to be a "Cupcake Crawl" located at Little Cupcake Bakeshop (30 Prince St.New York, New York) This is a crawl across the city to eat the best cupcakes on the Lower East Side, NoLita and Chinatown.

With the tour is starting at Little Cupcake, it will then head to Sugar Sweet Sunshine, one of the highest rated according to Zagat. Next stop is Baby Cakes! The best little vegan friendly joint out there! And last, but not least a new shop called Everything Frosted in Chinatown.

According to the site, this crawl is to help support the good work of the Food Bank For New York City, a non-profit helping to feed the hungry, they are only asking for a $5.00 donation per person. 100% of donations go to charity.

(info from http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/ and picture from www.babycakesnyc.com/the_bakery.html)

"Is there sugar in syrup?"

Oh sweet snowflakes that cover the ground, how I love thee...it is that time of year again, time to hop into the kitchen and whip out more vegan treats while watching Elf. I don't know how many times I have seen it, but it just gets better every year some how...
So tomorrow the whole store is heading down to the glorious hills of North Carolina to check out some cool furniture and get our inspiration on. For the ride to the airport, I was asked if I would make cupcakes. Always eager to oblige, I said yes and then, wait, what kind of cupcakes would I make that are befitting for a breakfast meal and accompanying a nice OJ beverage? Well, I knew I wouldn't be let down if I checked out to see if Bake and Destroy had anything that I could sink my teeth into. Banana Bread French Toast Cupcakes. Um, hell yeah.
After work I headed back home, ate a tempeh sandwich (thank you Mellow Mushroom) and began the process.



For the cakey goodness:

• 1/2 cup mashed over ripe banana
• 1 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, cooled & chopped

Sift all the dry goods together, and then the liquids and combine...slowly fold in those toasted nuts and bake em! Pour each cupcake liner about 2/3 full, and if you're feeling uber fancy check out Fancy Flours amazing liners. I am a fan of the reindeer. Now, over at 350* for about 20-22 minutes and finally top those suckers off with a good serving of maple frosting and enjoy with that sweet mimosa!

GiGi's Headed North

Okay, so this little bakery has been in town since this summer, but hey, it is better late than never to talk about this sweet shop!

I first learned about it when I saw that there was a posting for "cupcake bakers needed" for a new bakery near the Fashion Mall. I was all about that! Even though I do not have any real baking skills, I still applied and they did give me the time of day! The owners are two couples that are here in town and just thought it would be an awesome little adventure to embark on. I am not sure if they knew what they were really getting in to, but so far their shop and offerings are superb. I first headed over there when they had their grand opening last summer. Figured I would grab a few delicatessens and bring them back to have some of my co-workers try them out. I ended up getting a Miss Princess (for the sweetest girl in the office), a white cake baked with strawberries and topped with a cream cheesy frosting, featuring pink sugar crystals and fondant crown! Any little girls dream!I also got the Lemon Dream Supreme, cause in the summer time, I am all about the citrus. Lemon cake with a lemon filling topped with lemon buttercream frosting and a candied lemon slice. It was also fantastico, however, I didn't get a crown on mine.GiGi's is always having some sort of event or give away it seems if you check them out on Facebook: GiGi's

Just looking at their Fall/Winter Menu Lineup is making me dream at my desk! Listen to this, these are just today's offering (remember they switch it up everyday:
Candied Sweet Potato
Hunka Chunka Banana Love
Midnight Magic
Grasshopper
Top Hats
Peanut Butter Cup
Southern Comfort
Texas Milk Chocolate
Wedding Cake
White Chocolate Macadamia
White Midnight Magic

These things can be evil when one is on a diet. Also, always bring a friend with you to these things, cause unless you are planning to go into hibernation this year and you need to stock up, these babies are intense! but oh so good...

9 months later...

No, no baby, only a Ch'en Ch'en. However, after being married since January,we finally had our wedding reception. After much planning and effort put in from my beautiful Meh, a very Mexican themed fete was had.

It could not have been a more perfect fall day...and according to Mr. Irving, "it was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet..." and the food could not have been more abundant. The courses included homemade black bean burgers, Mexican rice, tofu vegetable dishes, vegetarian tamales, and lots and lots of desserts.


Homemade pies, caramels and blueberry bread from Suzy, and of course four dozen vegan cupcakes, that were provided by Meh's own neighbor, Dreams to Reality.





A cupcake genius she is! We asked her if she would be able to make us a couple of vegan cupcakes for the reception and she happily obliged, even though she was not use to vegan cooking.

Sampling of course was needed in preparation for this, and oh my. I do not know how she did it, but she made the best vegan hazelnut and chocolate cupcakes I have ever tasted. I only wish she had a store front so that I would be able to buy one everyday.

I knew that Sandra (the owner) was good, since she made my Tim Burton meets Lewis Carroll birthday cake.

The soiree was a complete success thanks to some of the most amazing friends and some of the most filling foods a girl could ever hope for.

Mounds in Cupcake Form

I am absolutely in love with coconut. Especially in the summer time. I am a sucker for anything that tastes like it could be found as a prop on the set of LOST or worn as a handy back up if your bra doesn't work out too well for you. In Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, they have an ample amount of recipes that you can chose from to satisfy your nutty needs. This recipe for coconut and chocolate cupcakes did not disappoint. Also, to help with the caffeine addiction, these babies are topped with coffee buttercream frosting. Thanks to my years of dedicated Starbucks servitude, I was able to properly assess the coffee aptitude of these delectable desserts.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Toasted Coconut

Coffee Buttercream Icing

Rainy Days= Perfect Coffee & Donuts Day

As much as I love cupcakes, I must say that I do enjoy eating doughnuts better. Dipping them in coffee, having some soy milk with em, especially the gorgeous little pink ones with sprinkles on top.

So on grey, rainy days, I like to look at things about Seattle, and then I am always taken back to the trip I made with my awesome husband to the west coast a few years back. On our mission to seek out vegan places, we headed over to Mighty-O's, a little cafe that is in an old historic building in Wallingford.



(from Mighty-O.com)

They mix hundreds of pounds of ingredients at a time, all organic. Also all of their glazes and frostings are made by hand and with love in the back of their shop. There are no preservatives or added yuckiness to the recipes. No animal products, no artificial colors or flavors, and therefor no cholesterol! (mine has gone down over50 points since incorporating a more veg friendly diet into my life!)


These sweet round pastries with centers missing come in all the basic flavors of course, but then they add in the funness, ranging from French Toast (which is what I ordered) to Cuckoo for Coconuts, Chocolate Raspberry, Grasshopper, Pumpkin, Cocoloco and even a Strawberry Shortcake.


You won't be coughing on any dryness here, each one is moist and tastes like it just came out of the fryer, which it most likely did. Organic coffee with Stevia and agave are the sweeteners and some almond or soy milk also don't hurt to help "wash" these puppies down.

I'm ordering my plane ticket now.

Karyn's Cooked

The other "weekend", Meh and I decided that it was time to head back up to Chicago for some high quality shopping, and some good vegan treats.

We took the train in so there were some limitations as to how far we could go around and how long we could stay around.

Seeing all the nice sights downtown, hitting up the Argo Tea, being greedy over a nice LeSport Sac, and getting pampered at Lush, it was time for some refueling.

At 738 N. Wells Street is this wonderful little gem of a place called Karyn's Cooked. The owner, Karyn, has a couple of little businesses lined up, so you might see her name around town. She also has a Raw Cafe, and a beauty line out. However, this restaurant has all the wonderfulness of a good home cooked meal.

Whether you are looking for Sloppy Joes or Meatloaf, this place has it.

To start out the meal we ordered an appetizer of Thai Skewers: at 4 bucks you get a nice plate of grilled tofu/seitan meat with choice of peanut or barbecue sauce. The peanut sauce is by far the best! About a minute later we were ready for the main act.

I opted for the Jerk Wrap (you gotta love the name..) It's Jerk Tofu (available on whole wheat roll or tomato tortilla) Spicy grilled tofu with a creamy garlic and jerk sauce topped with lettuce and tomato on a toasted whole wheat bunwhich. The wrap came with two huge potato wedges in barbecue sauce, and a side of vegan coleslaw. Holy crap though! Beware that this will make your mouth bleed fire! I am all about sweating while eating hot goodness, but this was ridiculous! I wasn't able to finish it while I was there, and in between every bite I would have to down some water and eat some slaw (which didn't have much flavor) to counteract the burning in my throat.

I have had this sandwich before and thought it was awesome, never has it tasted like this. I am just wondering if someone didn't twist on the top of the cayenne pepper well enough before using.

Meh's was a little more manageable. She went for Ron's Salad. It was a huge serving of mixed greens with grilled tofu, avocado, carrots, red pepper, tomatoes, olives and hemp seeds. House Dressing on the side. When she ordered it, the waiter let us know that Ron was sitting outside eating his salad, which was kinda neat since when we were walking in she saw this man eating an amazing looking salad and that's why she ordered it.

To keep us happy on the train, we decided to take some dessert with us. The most non-utensil friendly thing in the case were huge cookies the size of one's head. One peanut butter, and one chocolate chip please. The cookies went wonderfully with our Pike's Place Roast from Starbucks. Chocolate can always be a good pairing with anything though..

Lula's Sweet Apothecary

"This is what heaven is all about! All around amazing place, you have to try it!
Divine treats and incredible comfortable atmosphere..."

With reviews like that from the wonderful world of Yelp, (4.5 stars outta 5, with 179 reviews) how can one say "no" to trying this all vegan, all homemade, all superb place?!

Down at 516 East 6th Street, in the heart of the East Village, Lula's Apothecary offers a variety of homemade ice cream, entirely vegan, along with several soft serve options. Hold up my dear friend, the fun does not stop there! They also have a slew of freshly baked goodies to adorn your scoops. Whether it is a vegan brownie, coconut whip cream, various candied nuts, or just a cherry to sweeten the deal. There is something for everyone.




Thanks to Abs, we tried every flavor that they had. From Lemon, Vanilla, Rocky Road, Coffee, Cookies N Cream, Mint Chip, Caramel Ginger Cookie, Toffee Crunch, to a Peanut Butter and Jelly flavored one! The couple behind the counter was ridiculously nice to us, along with the fellow patrons. This is a tiny, tiny store, so only about 6 people can stand comfortably inside. However, we all managed to eat our treats in pure blissful comfort.

The whole atmosphere of the place was so neat, again, being in NYC it seems all the walls inside places are exposed brick, but it was lined with shelves of vegan candies and little trinkets. The wall behind the ice cream display has rows of little antique styled black drawers, each labeled for their toppings. So it was neat to see them actually using all of the old equipment and storage that they would have 70 years ago.

I would gladly sell everything I own and move to NYC just so I could work here or at least visit them on a daily, or even hourly basis.



Everyone ordered something different, for me, I had to go all out and get the Sundae. A dish with a warm vegan brownie in the bottom, topped with a serving of cake batter soft serve, and a scoop of peanut butter and jelly, then doused with coconut whip cream, smothered in vegan hot fudge, candied pecans and oreos, and a nice cherry to round it all out. Dear God! this was amazing, even with it being 50 degrees and rainy, it was still perfect. B got a chocolate malt, in the old fashioned glass and metal straw (?!), the girls got baby sundaes with lemon and pb & J and Michael went for a cone of strawberry.






I am sure the pictures can speak for themselves though...

Show Me What You Got Shawty...

Part of the awesomeness of NYC is the fact that you never know what you are going to get when it comes to the other riders on the subway...

Luckily for us, we were sweetly serenaded to by a maybe, slightly inebriated passenger. With the nicely wrapped bottle in a beautiful brown paper bag, she belted out to us the lyrical masterpiece of Jay-Z.."show me what you got lil mama, show me what you got pretty lady, show me what you got shawty..."and so it was repeated for the entirety of our subway voyage. Unfortunately for Absola, she was not able to control her uncomfortable laughter. I don't think the artist was disturbed by her hysteria though.


After our free musical performance we needed some food, and there was a vegan joint just around the corner from Washington Park that we decided to opt for. "We at Red Bamboo are dedicated to your health through our commitment to excellent vegetarian cuisine. Red Bamboo focuses on creating unique and authentic vegan and vegetarian meals using the finest soy, gluten, fruit and vegetable products available. Our foods, ranging from Caribbean spiced seitan to Creole Soul Chicken to Thai Summer Rice Rolls, reflect the wisdom of diverse culinary traditions..."

Down a few steps in a long narrow old building, is the home of Red Bamboo. It is a good place for some soul food type lovin' in the belly. Everything is pretty much fried and delicious. Since the restaurant is so small, we had to wait a little while before being seated, luckily there was a nice Priscilla-esq store near by. We were called about 10 minutes later and got to grab a seat in the dark red ambiance lighting, with all exposed brick and bench style seating. The service was great, the food even better and the prices terrific.

B and I split the Almond Coconut "Chicken": Crispy golden soy chicken encrusted with toasted almonds and shaved coconut. Served with a sweet chili dipping sauce…

Also we went for some more chicken ( I love faux chicken) with the Soul Chicken Sandwich:
It was panko breaded soy chicken nuggets with romaine lettuce, tomato, vegan mayo and vidalia dressing served on a roll with your choice of fries or salad…

Abby tried the Asian Dumpling appetizer which consisted of plump steamed spinach dumplings filled with shredded soy protein, carrots, cabbage served over a mixed greens salad and soy-ginger dressing…and Michael went for a Four Cheese Ravioli. Ricotta, romano, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese ravioli smothered in a roasted garlic marinara sauce served with a side of garlic toast…he only ate about half and took the rest back to the hostel..which he then forgot about until the day we left. Not going to chance looking inside that take-out box...

Red Bamboo was a nice unplanned dinner, very filling and you'll definitely not want to eat anything for the entire day before heading here, but worth every deep fried, all vegan bite.

You Really Gotta Hold on Me...BabyCakes

"In a city dominated by cupcakes overflowing with sugar, flour and butter cream, it’s easy for those with persnickety diets to feel left out. BabyCakes offers all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs. Rest assured, all sweeteners have been chosen responsibly and used sparingly. White sugar will never be found in our bakery, nor will we ever use toxic chemical sweeteners. Instead, most products are sweetened with agave nectar—a natural syrup from a cactus which is low on the glycemia index and often a safe alternative to most non-insulin dependant diabetics. Occasionally, unprocessed and unrefined sugar is used in certain goods, although sparingly. Erin McKenna
Founder,
BabyCakes NYC™"

To continue on with our first day of NY, we left Time Square and hopped on the subway to get down to the East Village (oh yeah, and there was also some Nintendo World and random shops thrown in there too). It was a really cold, and rainy day, so being down under was always nice. However, back on land we popped out at Houston street and headed down to 248 Broome Street.

There we were greeted with an old-school "Bakery" sign, cute little store front, and a tiled cupcake in the step leading into the bakeshop. Erin had this place totally themed in a cute little Susie's Easy Bake Oven meets Zooey Deschanel's closet kinda way ( just noticed too that we like the same facial expressions...). I loved it! She & Him were playing loudly over the stereo, the girl behind the counter had on the pink little apron dress with thick Buddy Holly glasses and the chunky bangs. The people working the store were super nice and put up with our giddiness of the cupcakes and excessive photo taking.

For myself I had the chocolate cupcake, made with spelt.

.

It was agave sweetened and:- dairy-free, egg-free, and soy-free! The cupcake was with creamy chocolate frosting (spelt or gluten-free)

B had the cookie sandwich, which I had heard got amazing reviews, and at 5 bucks a pop, it better be good! Again, it was gluten, dairy, egg, and soy free, also this one was refined sugar free, which I thought was pretty fancy. It was 2 chocolate chip cookies with vanilla filling. I wish I had gotten this one!

If you are ever in that part of town or coast or world, make sure to go to this little bakery! I also heard that they had the best donuts too, but they were sold out when we got there...oh well, just another excuse to go back soon!