Chocolate Chip Cookies

No matter how hard I try, I have not mastered the chocolate chip cookie. It always seems to be lacking butter…. Well, I am not giving up! I will continue to experiment with my nondairy options. Here is my latest attempt:

1 ½ cup unbleached white flour
1 ½ cup oat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup Earth Balance margarine
½ cup Earth Balance or Spectrum shortening
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together flours, salt, and baking soda.
Cream together shortening, margarine, and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 – 4 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 13 – 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Cool slightly on cookies sheet, then transfer to cooling rack.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes. I really can’t get enough of them. After several recipes and numerous family reviews (we are all members of a gym, now), this recipe came out on top. The key is to always use the best ingredients possible, especially chocolate. I used Valrhona cocoa in this recipe, but Scharffen Berger works well, too.

Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Cupcake

1 cup cocoa powder, not Dutch-process
½ cup boiling water
1 cup vanilla almond milk with lemon juice, at room temperature
1 ¾ cups unbleached white flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
¼  teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup safflower oil
1 1/3 – 1 ½ cup organic sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350° and position 2 racks in the lower and middle third of the oven. Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners.

Put the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in the almond milk mixture until combined. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using an electric mixer, add the sugar and oil to the cocoa and almond milk. Beat in eggs. Add the dry ingredients and mix. With an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the lined muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost.

Frosting

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine, melted

Mix until smooth.

Pumpkin Muffins

Happy Pumpkin Day!

In celebration of Pumpkin Day I made some pumpkin muffins. And because there never seems to be enough chocolate in my life, I added chocolate chips to half the batter. I hope you enjoy these moist, flavorful muffins as much as I do.

pumpkin muffin

Pumpkin Muffins

2 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup turbinado and 1 cup white sugar)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 (16-ounce) can pumpkin
1 bag Sunspire Bittersweet chocolate chips

Note: I used 1 cup of homemade apple butter instead of the applesauce and spices, and it turned out wonderfully.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl.
Combine eggs, sugar, applesauce, and pumpkin.
Add to dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Bake 18 – 22 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool on rack.

Chocolate Chip Scones

Moist chocolate chip scones

Did you know that most chocolate chips have some milkfat in them? Well, I didn’t. I assumed that milk chocolate meant, well, milk chocolate, and semi-sweet chocolate was milk-free. I mean it doesn’t say, “semi-sweet milk chocolate” now, does it? No, it doesn’t. My label-reading lapse has provided me with too many bags of chocolate chips that are unacceptable. What could be worse than that? Finding out that Nestle’s mini-morsels has vanillin! Yuk! That said, I had already used them in my scones so the pictures have Nestle’s chips in them, but next time I am using Sunspire or Enjoy Life chocolate chips.

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Rumford baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold Earth Balance margarine
1 large egg
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla rice milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Stir together the dry ingredients.
Cut margarine into the flour mixture until crumbly.
Beat the egg and rice milk together.
Pour into dry ingredients, stir until moistened.
Add the chocolate chips and stir.
Scoop a heaping tablespoon onto parchment-lined baking sheet.
In a small bowl, beat egg yolk with 2 tablespoons cold water. Using a pastry brush, glaze each scone with egg yolk mixture. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Bake 23 to 27 minutes.

Makes 10 – 12