Zoku Fudgsicles

I don't think there's a part of the country that hasn't been suffering from the heat these past few weeks.  Personally, having lived in Arizona and in the Southern CA Low Desert, I'm just grateful to have air conditioning and not be looking at brown-outs on 110°F days.  But I have been using my Zoku quite a bit, mostly for simple juice pops.  I'd tried a Zoku-branded recipe for fudgsicles once before and wasn't happy with the results, so I'm pleased to say that this recipe seems to work great.

• 2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2/3 C heavy cream
• 1/4 C whole milk
• 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 Tbsp vanilla

1.  Place the chocolate in a medium-sized glass bowl, and set aside.
2.  In a medium saucepan, combine cream, milk, and cocoa powder over medium-high heat, whisking constantly.  Bring to a simmer.  Remove from heat and pour mixture over chocolate.  Let sit for 2 minutes without stirring.
3.  Whisk together until chocolate is melted, whisk in vanilla.  Refrigerate until cool.
4.  Stir cooled sauce to re-combine.  Insert stick into mold, pour sauce into prepared Zoku, and let stand until frozen, 10-12 minutes.

Yield: 3 Zoku pops

Robyn's notes: the texture of these is exactly what I look for in a fudgsicle.  Remove from Zoku slowly, the soft consistency wants to stick.  It'll be fine if removed gently but will be a disaster if you force it.  I also thought these were great with some banana coins in the mold first.  Does not store well, I had some leftover in the fridge overnight and it had thickened to a point the following day that I had to defrost the Zoku to get the popsicle out (and I'd stirred it a lot before pouring it in the mold).

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of the challenges with reducing baked goods, especially cookie recipes, is that there's only so far you can reduce them before you're dealing with the ridiculousness that is parts of an egg.  There are ways to address this, and I've used them all.  One-and-one-half Tablespoons of beaten egg will often work for half an egg.  Some recipes choose to use just the yolk.  There's always the use of egg substitute (Egg Beaters being the most recognizable brand name).  And I've got a few recipes that call for a quail's egg instead of a chicken egg, as they're much smaller.  All of these options have their drawbacks.  Using part of a beaten egg means either throwing away the rest or whipping up a partial-serving scrambled egg snack, because it won't last long safely in the fridge (2 days max).  Using just the yolk often makes the final dish taste too eggy and means quickly (within 2 days) finding a use for the white or, again, throwing it away.  Egg substitute is another thing to purchase and have on hand (must be used within 7 days of opening the carton), and to be honest I'm not entirely happy about the product.  They are 99% egg white, with beta carotene for colour and vitamins and minerals added back in, but the manufacturers choose not to disclose how that's done.  And as for quail's eggs, yes, they happen to be available in my town, but they certainly aren't available everywhere, they're more expensive, and the shells are more gelatinous, which not only makes them more difficult to crack but can change the consistency of the white. 

The thing is, we love cookie dough and we even occasionally like to bake chocolate chip cookies.  But if I make an entire batch, or even a half batch, of cookie dough, it'll be gone within 2 days.  We don't even notice we're dipping into it until we're looking at an empty bowl.  And more than 2 dozen cookies is far too many for the two of us.  So I wrote this recipe to solve the problem.

• 2 Tbsp butter, softened
• 3 Tbsp vanilla sugar
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 C + 1 Tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

1.  In a medium bowl, cream together butter, vanilla sugar, and brown sugar until combined.  Stir in vanilla and mayonnaise until blended.
2.  Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt, add to butter mixture and stir until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
3.  Refrigerate, covered, for 1 hour.
4.  Preheat oven to 375°F.  Drop dough onto baking sheet in rounded spoonfuls.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are beginning to brown at the edges.  Allow to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet.  Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 8 medium sized cookies (3-inch diameter) or 1 dozen small cookies (2-inch diameter)

Robyn's notes: I'm calling for vanilla sugar instead of regular granulated in order to counteract the slight tang of the mayonnaise.  It is not strictly necessary, I have made the recipe several times with regular sugar.  I did test baked directly on the baking sheet, with parchment paper, and with aluminum foil.  The aluminum foil made for a flatter cookie that I found too crunchy for my taste.  If you like a really crunchy cookie that may be the way to go.  The other two options had no discernible difference, so I'm saving the parchment paper and saying to use just a regular baking sheet.  It was a bit difficult to get all the chocolate chips mixed in, as the dough is not very sticky, so I just forced the stragglers into each ball of dough when I loaded up the baking sheet.  Based on the relative humidity on a given day, the dough may be dry and crumbly (happens about 40% of the time to me), in which case I simply add a very small amount of milk (about 1 tsp is enough) before adding chocolate chips, and mix well.  I find that these cookies have a crispy exterior and soft inside.  There is no trace of mayonnaise flavour, either in the baked cookies or in the dough.  As hard as it is, the cookies are best after 8 hours of resting in a sealed ziploc bag.  I have also made these successfully at high altitude with no changes.   

This recipe has been demonstrated on my YouTube channel!

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Icebox Cookies

This is the base for multiple cookie recipes, read through all notes before beginning.

• 1/4 C butter, at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 7 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp cornstarch
• pinch salt (see notes, below)

1.  Cream and stir butter and sugar together with a fork until light.  Add flour, cornstarch, and salt and mix until just combined.
2.  Add mix-ins to dough, stirring well to combine (see notes, below).  Shape dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Wrap in plastic or waxed paper and refrigerate at least 2 hours before slicing or baking them (or freeze for up to 8 weeks).
3.  Preheat oven to 325.  Line cookie sheet with parchment or silicone liner.
4.  Unwrap log and slice cookie dough into rounds about 1/4 inch thick.  Place rounds on lined cookie sheet and bake until edges of cookies are just slightly browned, 20-25 minutes. 

Robyn's notes: this dough makes very crisp cookies, because of the cornstarch.  For the salt, it should be 1/16 tsp, I used my 1/8 tsp measuring spoon and filled it halfway.  The photo above shows the entire batch, so it's a good recipe for making just a few cookies for two people.  The dough is intended as a base for multiple mix-in options, and I didn't use any of them.  I added 1/2 tsp vanilla to the dough, then flattened it into a 1/4 inch-thick disc, wrapped it in plastic, and refrigerated it for 2 hours.  I then lay it out on the counter and cut out the four stars.  The remaining bits of dough I rolled into balls about an inch thick, and rolled them in sugar that I'd dyed with food colouring.  I placed the balls onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet and flattened them with the back of a metal spatula.  The stars were placed onto the cookie sheet and sprinkled with leftover coloured sugar.  I then baked them for the given time.  The cookies came out only ok, not enough flavour.  We ended up frosting them with leftover frosting from the cupcakes I'd also made, and that was good.  I will try the recipe again with other mix-ins and may increase the star rating depending on how it turns out.  To do the recipe properly, here are suggested mix-ins (use only one):  
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped lemon thyme  OR
1 tsp citrus zest + 1/4 tsp orange flower water OR 
1/2 tsp cinnamon + pinch each of ground cloves & nutmeg + 2 Tbsp toasted chopped walnuts or pecans OR
1/2 tsp vanilla + 1/4 C unsweetened shredded coconut

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Simple Cupcakes to Share (Or Not!)

Since this recipe makes four cupcakes, there's enough to share with company if you're having a couple people over, or to keep all to yourselves and have the other two the next day.

• 1/4 C buttermilk
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• yolk of 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp butter

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  Fit paper liners into 4 cups of standard muffin pan, set aside.
2.  Combine buttermilk and baking soda in small bowl, stirring to mix.  Gently whisk in egg yolk and vanilla.
3.  Place flour, sugar, and salt in medium mixing bowl, stirring to combine.  Add butter and half of buttermilk mixture.  Beat on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened.  Increase to medium speed and beat until mixture is lightened and has slightly increased in volume, about 45 seconds.  Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.  Pour in remaining buttermilk mixture and beat on medium speed until well blended, 20 seconds.
4.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, dividing evenly.  Fill empty muffin cups halfway with water to protect pan.  Bake cupcakes 20-23 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and tops are just beginning to brown.
5.  Remove pan from oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.  Frost as desired.

Robyn's notes: I found these to be a little bit eggy, and not as light as I would have liked, but still quite good.  For frosting, I used store-bought vanilla frosting in a canister because I was very tired.  I split the frosting into thirds, adding red gel food colouring to one bowl, blue gel food colouring to another, and leaving the last white.  I placed a large star tip into a piping bag (I actually had to use two bags, so ended up using a #20 tip and a #35 tip) and then spooned red frosting into one side of the bag, white into the center, and blue to the other side.  It was not easy, as can be seen by my results in the photo above.  The first cupcake I frosted was just getting white and nothing else, until finally the red and blue made their way to the tip.  The second cupcake (front left in photo) came out the best, but after finishing it and adding some colour to the first (back left in photo), I was out of frosting in that bag and had to fill another.  For that bag, the red came out great but the blue was hanging out at the top of the bag, not reaching the piping tip.  I think some practice would be good.  For this situation I'm happy with what I got, and doing it a few more times would help me figure out how best to load the piping bags.


*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Patriotic Fruit Skewers

This probably doesn't need a recipe, just an explanation and closer photo than the one I posted on July 4th.

On each toothpick a raspberry, banana coin, and blueberry, in that order.  As a dipping sauce, Honey Cream Fruit Dip.  Make as many skewers as needed for the appetites of the eaters.

Only gets three stars because I'm not supposed to eat blueberries, they make me somewhat ill, so I'm not able to enjoy it much.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Happy Independence Day!

Recipes on another day, we're busy having our 4th of July celebration!

Honey Cream Fruit Dip

I took the ratios for this from an episode of Alton Brown's Good Eats. It's easy to upsize if necessary, as this makes quite a small amount of dip.  The show used 1 Cup of sour cream, to give a sense of scale. 

• 1/2 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp sour cream
• berries of your choosing

1.  In a custard cup or small glass bowl, heat honey in microwave for 20-25 seconds.  Whisk in sour cream.  Serve with fruit.

Robyn's notes: this was a way to keep from wasting even the tiniest remaining bit of sour cream after having used it in several recipes.  It was good on strawberries, but I think where it really shone was on raspberries. If making a large batch, the honey should be warmed on the stove in a saucepan, but for such a tiny amount as this that would be ridiculous.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Peach Mango Smoothies

About 10 or 12 years ago, I picked up a couple Smoothie cookbooks, with the intention of eating more healthily.  I only ever made 3 or 4 recipes out of both, partly because they called for a lot of specialty ingredients and insisted that I put the items into the blender in a certain order, processing for a certain number of seconds between each addition, and I was lazy and poor and those things didn't work for me.  So eventually I stopped bothering with some of the ingredients in one of the smoothies, and stopped worrying about careful combining.  This is where I ended up, and it's a smoothie I've been making ever since.

• 1 banana, diced
• 1/4 C mango sorbet (store-bought ok)
• 1 C frozen sliced peaches
• 3/4 C frozen diced mangoes
• 1/2 C juice of your choice (see notes below)

1.  Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until combined and smooth, stopping blender as needed to stir and push chunks down.

Yield: approximately 22 fl oz

Robyn's notes: it's ok to use a frozen banana, but if so, the banana needs to be diced into coins before being frozen.  I usually have a couple frozen diced bananas on hand for making smoothies with, they do turn brown in the freezer but as long as they were fresh to start they'll retain their freshness long after they stop looking pretty.  A full-size frozen banana is very hard to process and becomes quite frustrating.  I have used both store-bought frozen fruit and fruit that I've frozen myself for the peaches and mangoes, and it really doesn't make any difference.  I prefer buying fresh and freezing myself; if getting the store-bought make sure to buy fruit that has not got added sugar or syrup, it'll mess with the flavour of the finished smoothie.  It is best to use frozen, not just fresh fruit, however, because of the moisture content.  I use whatever juice I can find or have in the house, with a few guidelines.  My preference is for Orange Peach Mango, it just gives the best and truest flavour for this combination of ingredients.  If I can't find that, I'll go for whatever peach-mango combination I can find.  If there isn't one, I'll go for an orange-banana combination, and if that's not available, straight orange juice.  I prefer not to use "tropical mix" juices or strawberry-banana (even though I love the latter as a juice), because it just doesn't taste as good for this use.  For measuring the mango, I usually use the 1 Cup measure and just don't fill it up, since there's a lot of air between the mango pieces it's hard to get an accurate measurement without using a scale.   

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Mango Sorbet

Without an ice cream maker.

I have to be careful about the kitchen appliances that I choose.  Space and money are both limited, so anything that takes up room and has only one use is something I'm just not going to spend money on.  Ice cream makers fall into that category.  We don't eat ice cream very often, so it's not really a loss, if we had one I'd feel like we needed to justify it, and we'd eat ice cream more than we really want or need to.  However, I do love sorbet, specifically peach or mango sorbet, and in the summer I treat myself to pints of them and eat them straight out of the carton with a spoon.

The problems with that are double.  One is the price.  They tend to run about $4 for a pint, and I consider that to be a lot for a snack or dessert.  The other problem is the ratio of ingredients in store-bought sorbet.  For the mango, for example, there is more water than any other ingredient, sugar being the next highest, then mangoes, followed by juice--from concentrate--of lemon, pumpkin, and carrot.  Add "natural flavours" and pectin, and you've got a $4 cool treat.  I'd really rather not have more water and sugar than fruit in my sorbet.  So here's my alternative.  Be aware that since no ice cream maker is required, you can't just leave it and forget about it, it has to be checked.

• 1/3 C water
• 1/3 C sugar
• 2 ripe mangoes
• 1 Tbsp lime juice

1.  In a small saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil.  Stir until sugar dissolves, remove from heat and cool.
2.  Peel mangoes and remove as much flesh as possible, placing all flesh into blender.  Pour 1/3 C cooled syrup into blender over mango, add lime juice, and puree until smooth.  Transfer mixture to a freezer-safe container with a removable lid.
3.  Stir every hour for the first 2 hours, then every 45 minutes after that, for a total of 6-8 hours.

Yield: see notes below

Robyn's notes: The texture is not quite as smooth as what you would get from an ice cream maker, but for my taste it's perfectly fine.  As I was doing the stirring, I tasted a bit of it from time to time, and really thought I'd have to throw it out and start again.  It was quite sour, and I thought I had my simple syrup ratio off.  In the morning it had all evened out.  It's nowhere near as sweet as the store-bought stuff, and if you want really sweet sorbet you may want to increase the amount of syrup incrementally, but it tastes very mango-ey and I'm happy with it.  I used an old Cool-Whip container, and my yield was 1-1/2 packed Cups or 12.5 oz (this is going to depend on the size of your mangoes and how much flesh you're able to get off of them, but expect to get around this much).  So a bit less than the pint I'd get at the store, but mangoes were on special and I already had the lime so this cost me $1 to make and I feel good about what's in it.  Now, don't go eating it all, one of my next recipes will call for some of it.  I made this a second time, using a light syrup that I had cooked peach halves in for canning.  Came out very well.

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Easy Berry Yogurt Muffins

Note: check yield before starting, this is a full-size recipe, makes 12 muffins

• 1 1/2 C flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar 
• 4 Tbsp melted butter 
• 1 large egg 
• 3/4 C plain yogurt 
• 2 Tbsp milk 
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1 C blackberries, frozen or fresh

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line muffin tin with 12 paper cups.
2.  In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar.  In another bowl, combine the melted butter, egg, yogurt, milk, and vanilla until well mixed.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir.  Add in the blackberries and stir until just combined.
3.  Spoon batter into paper cups and bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden.  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, serving while still warm.

Yield: 12 muffins

Robyn's notes: I may eventually cut this recipe down, but sometimes you just have to make it once at full-size in order to determine the best method for halving the single egg.  These muffins definitely need the paper linings for the tin, they wouldn't have come out of a tin that's just been sprayed or greased.  When combining the wet ingredients, I melted the butter in the microwave, let it sit to cool while I combined the rest of the wet ingredients, then slowly drizzled in the butter while stirring.  If you add melted butter to cold egg, the egg will start to cook in the bowl.  For me, the 20 minute cook time was perfect, it definitely could not have come out any sooner and shouldn't go much longer, but some ovens might need one or two minutes more.  I used fresh berries.  The berries, by the way, are somewhat molten when the muffins first come out of the oven, so be careful.  Would make a good brunch muffin.  

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

 

Singular Rice Krispie Treat

I'm a big fan of Rice Krispie Treats, but the standard recipe makes 24 squares, and I find it challenging to have a pan of them in the house and not return to it over and over until they're all gone in one evening. This recipe makes 3 squares if you cut them the size Kellogg's bases their nutritional analysis on, but it makes one big square to my way of thinking.

• 1/2 Tbsp butter
• 6 large marshmallows
• 1/2 rounded C Rice Krispies cereal

1. Melt butter and marshmallows together in microwave-safe bowl on high for 1 minute, stirring well to combine. Move on to step 2.
OR
1. In saucepan, melt butter and marshmallows together over low heat. Move on to step 2.

2. Stir in cereal until well coated. Place on a square of plastic wrap and fold up, molding the treat into a square. Allow to cool.

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Cookies and Cream Zoku Pop

• 3 chocolate sandwich cookies, twisted apart into halves
  
• 1 recipe vanilla base
• 2 Tbsp crumbled chocolate wafers (see notes, below)

1. Dip the decorative side of half a sandwich cookie in the vanilla base. Using tweezers, apply the dipped cookie to the wall of the pop maker mold. Insert the stick and repeat with remaining molds.
2. Combine vanilla base and crumbled wafers. Immediately pour into prepared molds until you reach the fill line. Let freeze completely.

Robyn's notes: When I twist apart my Oreos (which were Double Stuf because they're the best, but I'd recommend using regular Oreos for this recipe, as the Double Stuf were a bit too big), I always have one plain chocolate cookie side and one side that's chocolate cookie and all the creme. Instead of buying additional wafer cookies for crumbling, I just crumbled the half of the Oreos that didn't have creme on them. These popsicles were really very good.

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Zoku Pop Vanilla Base

• 4oz vanilla pudding (1 individual serving cup)
  
• 1/4 C water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1. Whisk together all ingredients until sugar has dissolved.

Robyn's notes: this makes enough vanilla base to be used with other ingredients for 3 popsicles. No star rating because it's not eaten on its own.

Product Review: Zoku Quick Pop

One of my xmas gifts this year was a Zoku Quick Pop Maker (Amazon link). It had been on my wishlist for quite awhile because one of the most frustrating things about my health problems is how often I have to be on a liquid diet. Liquid diets allow me to eat popsicles, but most popsicles don't have a lot of nutritional value, so I end up eating a Dreyer's Strawberry Fruit Bar once a day and drinking Ensure and juice the rest of the time. After a couple days of this, I am absolutely dying to chew things.

Enter the Zoku.

The point of the Zoku is that it takes ice cream maker technology and rearranges it to work for popsicles. The Zoku sits in the freezer empty (for at least 24 hours before you use it the first time, then just leave it in there between uses), then you remove it from the freezer, pour in the ingredients, and wait. 7 to 9 minutes later, you have 3 popsicles.

Now, I've read all the reviews, I know that the Zoku doesn't work fabulously with anything that has a low sugar content (or is made with artificial sweeteners), but I also know that I can use it to make a popsicle out of fruit juices or yogurt thinned with milk, and these are things that are staples of my diet when I'm not feeling well.

So far I've made four batches of popsicles with the Zoku. All have been edible, but there have been varied levels of success.

Batch one: strawberry Yoplait yogurt thinned with milk. Worked fine. Froze into a popsicle in about 8 minutes, wasn't terribly exciting but, then, strawberry yogurt isn't exactly the most exciting dish when it's in yogurt form.

Batch two: milk chocolate Ensure. I did this with the full expectation that it wouldn't work. Ensure is a nutritional drink (meal replacement), and while "sugar" is high on the ingredients list, the liquid consistency made me question its suitability for Zoku pops. I waited 11 minutes, then tried to remove the first popsicle I'd poured. It absolutely would not come out, which the instruction manual says is a sign that the sugar content is too low or the ingredients were too soft. I left that one alone, waited a 4 or 5 more minutes, then tried to remove the other two popsicles. Both came out fine. Again, they weren't exciting, but again the ingredient was something that isn't great when eaten in its usual form, so it wouldn't make sense to expect a popsicle made out of it to be fabulous. For the popsicle that wasn't to be, I filled the sink with hot water, placed the Quick Pop Maker into it, and the popsicle came out. The Quick Pop Maker had to refreeze for 18 hours or so after that intentional defrost before I could use it again.

Batch three: Naked Juice Power-C Machine. Another that I suspected might not work, because there's no sugar added. Since I love Naked Juices so much and I rarely get them (they're not cheap), I only filled one popsicle form with the juice. That way if it didn't work, I wouldn't have wasted the rest of the juice. Worked fine, froze in about 10 minutes. It was more noticeably tart as a popsicle than as a juice, but was still good.

Batch four: Kern's Strawberry-Banana with banana coins. Here I decided to branch out into the fancier popsicles. I sliced the banana coins very thinly, carefully placed them in the popsicle forms (difficult, because as soon as the banana touches the side of the form it freezes to it), then poured in the juice. It took about 14 minutes to freeze completely, but worked perfectly and tasted wonderful. The photo at the head of this entry is these strawberry-banana popsicles.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the Zoku. My biggest complaint is the need to separately purchase a popsicle storage container. Without that item, I have to either eat all three popsicles or make less than three at a time, because you can't leave the popsicles in the Zoku to eat later. Considering that a single serving of yogurt thinned with about 1/4 C milk (I didn't measure it) made 3 popsicles, it's not as if I'd be gorging myself to eat 3 at a time, but I would like to be able to eat one, then eat the next an hour later. Basically, the product is exactly what it's advertised as: a quick and easy popsicle maker.

No compensation received for this review, product was a gift from a family member and all ingredients were purchased by me. No endorsement by any named company is implied.

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffin Pair

After I made my Chocolate Cupcake Duo, an adaptation of this recipe by How Sweet It Is, I realized that the cupcakes were very similar to the chocolate chocolate chip muffins that we used to get when we had a Costco membership. This recipe is almost exactly the same as my earlier one, just a couple minor changes.

• 1 egg white
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 1/4 heaping tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 2 Tbsp chocolate chips
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 2 liners.
2. In medium bowl, add egg white and sugar and beat until combined. Add vanilla and melted butter and stir until mixed. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in milk, then chocolate chips. Divide batter equally between the 2 cupcake liners.
3. Bake at 350 for 16-18, or until cake is set. Let cool completely.

Robyn's notes: I didn't even check the muffins until they'd baked for 18 minutes.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Quick Angelic Dessert

This recipe takes advantage of some pre-prepared items, and so can be thrown together very quickly.

• 1 Angel Food cupcake (from 4-count package*)
• 2 Tbsp Sugar 'n Spice Fruit Dip
• approximately 15 raspberries
  
• 2 tsp powdered sugar OR whipped cream (optional)

1. Cut cupcake in half horizontally:



2. Spread 1 Tbsp of dip on cut side of each half. Arrange raspberries on top of dip. If desired, dust with powdered sugar or top with spoonful of whipped cream.

Robyn's notes: *Angel Food cupcakes are available in the bakery section of my grocery store. Each cupcake is approximately 4 inches in diameter.
This is a nice way to have a sweet dessert without going overboard if you're counting calories. I can't do an exact nutritional analysis, because there were no nutrition facts on the angel food cake packaging, but each half of this should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 calories.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten-Free

• 1/4 C vegetable shortening (not butter or margarine)
• 1/4 C granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp egg substitute OR 2 Tbsp of beaten egg
• 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 C + 1 1/2 tsp Brown Rice Flour Mix
• 3/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 C chocolate chips (about 3oz)
  

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Combine shortening and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy.
3. Add flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt; mix until well blended. Mix in chocolate chips.
4. Drop heaping teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake in center of oven for 8-10 minutes until light golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Yield: 18 cookies

Robyn's notes: this recipe has been reduced heavily, the original recipe made 70 cookies. The original recipe said to grease the cookie sheet with cooking spray, which I did for the first batch that went into the oven. The cookies came out with a strange spreading:


and though they tasted ok, they were very greasy and the scallopy edge was sharp, crunchy, and not pleasant. I pulled out a fresh cookie sheet for the last few cookies, and did not spray it with cooking spray. The cookies came out without that spread (see photo at top of recipe), but they were very difficult to get off the pan and were still quite greasy (I had to wash my hands after picking one up). Next time I attempt this recipe, I'll try using parchment paper, see if that helps. This recipe does not keep you from ever baking any cookies because you've eaten the raw dough too fast, but the dough is ok. I ate a spoonful of it and it was similar to standard cookie dough, just a little less developed, likely due to the lack of butter. The cookies did not seem at all grainy to me, so in this instance, the use of Bob's Red Mill brand brown rice flour in the flour mix was acceptable.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Vegan Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cupcakes

The original recipe this was based on was Chloe's Vegan Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes, by Chloe Coscarelli. I had never heard of Coscarelli, or her experience winning Food Network's Cupcake Wars...or, for that matter, the show. I learned of both when I recently flipped through an issue of Sunset magazine that included Chloe's recipe. Or did it? The recipe on Coscarelli's site is not the same as the recipe in Sunset magazine. Both are credited as being "the first vegan recipe to win on Food Network!". Regardless, I'm not fussed about which version was actually the filmed recipe, as I've never watched the show. I reduced the Sunset version twice, changed the cupcake size, an ingredient, the cooking time, and the assembly process to come up with what I bring you today.

Cupcakes

• 1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 C water
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  

Frosting & finishing

• 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening
• 2/3 C sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp nondairy milk, such as soy, almond, or rice
• 1 to 2 dozen raspberries, rinsed and drained (See note, below)
  
• 1 tsp additional sifted powdered sugar
  

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 12-cup mini muffin pan.
2. Make cupcakes: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and whisk until just combined.
3. Divide batter among cupcake cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean, 9 to 12 minutes. Let cupcakes cool completely in pan.
4. Make frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat shortening, 2/3 cups powdered sugar, and the vanilla together to mix. Beat in nondairy milk until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
5. Run knife edge gently around cupcakes to loosen and remove from pan. Smooth about 1 Tbsp frosting onto each cupcake and cover with one or two raspberries Put remaining 1 tsp powdered sugar in a fine-mesh strainer and dust cupcakes with sugar.

Yield: 12 mini cupcakes

Robyn's notes: The amount of raspberries is not exact because it depends on your preferences and the size of your raspberries. I put only one raspberry on some, and two on others, large raspberries meant only one would really fit, smaller ones meant I could fit two. I found the cupcake batter to be alarmingly thin, but it baked up well. The cupcakes did not rise practically at all during baking, so filling the pan nearly full is fine. Mini cupcakes bake quickly and can go from "almost ready" to "overcooked" alarmingly fast, so start checking them at 9 minutes and if they're not yet ready check them regularly until they are. Although it may seem a waste of time and cleaning energy to use an electric mixer for such a small amount of frosting, it's worth it because it gets the right amount of air into the frosting. I used regular Crisco shortening because it was what I had on hand, and I checked the local grocery to find that they had exactly two shortening options: Crisco, and Crisco butter-flavoured. Both are hydrogenated. It did not seem to make any difference in the recipe. I used Silk brand soymilk, plain flavour (not vanilla), because it's the type of soymilk I always have in the house. Do not be fooled into thinking that because this is a vegan recipe that makes it healthy. Going off of the nutritional facts provided in Sunset, a single one of my mini cupcakes will be somewhere around 100calories and one is not nearly enough! Assuming that you're not going to eat all 12 in a single sitting, I suggest only frosting the cupcakes you plan to eat, then refrigerating the remaining frosting and raspberries and storing the remaining cupcakes in a sealed container to be frosted and finished when you're ready to eat them.

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Cheddar Cheese Bread

• 1oz Parmesan cheese, shredded on large holes of box grater (about 1/3 C; see note)
• 3/4 C plus 2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch cayenne pepper
• pinch pepper
• 2oz extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4-inch cubes (about 1/2 C)
• 1/4 C whole milk
• 3 Tbsp sour cream
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing pan
• 1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 5-1/2 by 3 inch loaf pan, then sprinkle 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp Parmesan cheese evenly over bottom of pan.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne, and pepper together in medium bowl. Fold in cheddar, breaking up clumps, until it is coated with flour mixture. In separate bowl, whisk milk, sour cream, melted butter, and egg together until smooth. Gently fold milk mixture into flour mixture with rubber spatula until just combined (do not overmix). Batter will be heavy and thick.
3. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Sprinkle remaining 3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese evenly over top of batter. Bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out with few crumbs attached, 30 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.
4. Let bread cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto wire rack and let cool for 1 hour before serving.

Robyn's notes: this is an America's Test Kitchen recipe, which means it's very specific and has several notes. These are theirs: Shredding the Parmesan on the large holes of a box grater and sprinkling it over the top of this bread adds a nice texture and helps prevent the cheese from burning; do not grate it fine or use pre-grated Parmesan. The texture of the bread improves as it cools, so resist the urge to slice the loaf while it is piping hot. The bread can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. These notes are mine: I did grate the Parmesan myself, and I measured both cheeses by weight, not cup measurement. Cutting the cheddar into quarter-inch cubes probably took me about as long as the rest of the preparation. The first loaf I made was cooked through (clean toothpick) after 30 minutes, but the top wasn't at all golden. I took it out and let it cool anyway, so that the inside wouldn't get too dry. It was tasty and moist but a bit dense. I'm making two more mini-loaves as gifts, so I will likely let them cook a bit longer to see how they do. The Parmesan top and bottom was a great touch.

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Sugar 'n Spice Fruit Dip

• 1/2 Tbsp packed brown sugar or honey
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 container (6 oz) Yoplait® Thick & Creamy vanilla yogurt
• 1 C red raspberries
• 1 1/4 C cubed honeydew melon, apple, or pear

1. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in yogurt.
2. Spoon yogurt mixture into small serving bowl. Sprinkle with additional ground cinnamon. Serve with fruit.

Yield: 5 servings (2 tablespoons dip, 3 pieces cubed fruit and 5 raspberries each)

Robyn's notes: this is half of the original recipe, but still makes quite a bit of dip. It will keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for a couple days if necessary.  Watch me demonstrate this recipe on youtube!

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Nutritional Information: 1 Serving (1 Serving) Calories 70 (Calories from Fat 5); Total Fat 1/2g (Saturated Fat 0g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 30mg; Total Carbohydrate 13g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 10g); Protein 2g