Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

I'm in the midst of my last week in the Chef's Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute.

Emotionally, I am not ready for this. Before the program, I thought that taking a bus at 7:20 in the morning to begin a day in which I dedicate over 3 hours commuting was going to be miserable. But when I see the 801 turn my corner, I am so excited and grateful that I am on my way to my dream school. I am going to miss my fellow CTP 198 students and all of the great chefs and faculty, especially because I am going to be on the other side of the country! I will be interning at The Millennium Restaurant at The Hotel California in San Francisco. I have never eaten there but I've read their cookbook and am madly in love.


We had a final written exam today, and so I spent Sunday studying. Well, baking cupcakes totally counts, right? My friend, the girl at ilaughalittletooloud.blogspot.com, hadn't had the best week, especially when it came to transportation. She had a few flights canceled, plus had to say goodbye to her totaled new-to-her car Mr. Grover. Determined to make this a better week for her, I surprised her with these Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting.

The frosting is peanut butter based, and considering how delicious AND healthy it was, it was unbelievable.
She and my nonvegan family loved them!

Banana Cupcakes
Yields 12

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 tablespoons soy or almond milk
1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting and chopped peanuts for topping

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare cupcake tin with paper liners.

Mix oil, sugar, applesauce, and banana in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Sift and whisk dry ingredients together; add wet ingredients into dry. Whisk to combine soy milk, vinegar, and vanilla; add mixture to batter.

Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full. Bake for about 15 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
Yields about 1 1/2 cups, enough for a dozen cupcakes

1 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably unsweetened
6 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
6 tablespoons liquid sweetener (agave nectar or honey  works best)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup soy or almond milk (enough until desired consistency is reached).

Blend with hand mixer until smooth. Pipe through pastry bag for best results.

The present and future

Hello all! I know it has been some time since I have updated, but I am certainly busy as a student in the Natural Gourmet Institute's Chef Training Program! This means that in less than half a year I will be a accredited certified natural foods chef. I won't forget you when I'm famous :P

Plus, I don't have my own computer to organize food photography. As soon as I get myself settled, I will have pictures from my culinary education to share with you! (The food we make is GOOD.)

I think the biggest thing keeping me from supplying you with desserts is that I've completely given up white sugar and am using agave as rarely as necessary. As contradictory as it may sound, I've been experimenting with unsweetened/self-sweetened baking and desserts. This direction may not appeal for holidays and impressing nonvegan acquaintances, but if you are anything like me and consume "treats" once or twice a week, the less-is-more sugar approach maybe the best way to enjoy yourself without the sugar mood-swings.

Garlic Knots

My dad was sick last week with the flu. He's not the best eater, being true Italian, living on pasta, bread, and cheese. Our family's attempts to get him to eat healthy are pretty futile. But thankfully, he likes garlic, so not all hope was lost. I'm sure you already know all about the healing properties of garlic: killing bacteria, lowering cholesterol, boosts immunity, and helps prevent cancer. And it happens to be the most delicious food/herb in the world. Really, what more can we ask from this world?

The aroma of these garlic knots will convince you that you are in a top-notch Italian restaurant. Having fresh garlic knots right from the oven is the kind of lavish life that I support 100%.

Worth the time investment, I promise you.

I followed this accidently-vegan recipe for Garlic Knots:
- I used half whole wheat flour, half all purpose flour (only because I did not have enough whole wheat for the entire recipe)
- I replaced the sugar with agave nectar, and, of course, used almond milk in place of fatfree milk.
- When kneading the dough for the first time, I had to add a LOT more flour to get rid of the stickiness.
- I used a bit less than 1/3 c oil, about 1/4 cup, and had plenty left over to use as a salad dressing (and for extra dipping of the knots)

It was pretty time consuming, but there's a lot of downtime, waiting for the yeast to rise twice (before shaping into knots, and after).

For the best detailed description with images, for how to knot the dough, head here. I didn't cut them into strips, but just ripped out a piece and rolled it.

Carrot Sunflower Oat Cookies

It's hard enough to say no to a cookie. When I bake, I do everything possible to make it so you have no reason to pass. I'm sorry, but that whole "eat to taste" thing just doesn't cut it for me. I don't eat sweets as a rebellion, or to test my willpower. I'm here to help destroy their bad rep. These are packed with fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals, and taste. Not to mention the warming power of ginger! I swear my widget read 1 degree F this morning! I need all the warmth I can get.

This is adapted from these Carrot Oatmeal Cookies. I used sunflower seeds instead of walnuts to give them a more sunny glow, swapped the coconut oil for applesauce to give a crunchy outside, gooey inside. One more thing, I didn't grate the ginger too thin, I like the powerful burst in the unsuspecting bite.

I secretly call these Yes U Can Have Cookies.

Carrot Sunflower Oatmeal Cookies

Yields about 2 dozen

1 c whole wheat flour
1 c rolled oats
1 t baking powder
scant 1/2 t sea salt
1 c shredded carrot (I processed 1 and 1/2 large carrots)
2/3 c raw sunflower seeds
1/2 c maple syrup
1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
1 t freshly chopped ginger

Heat oven to 375F, line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in carrot and seeds. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Pour into large bowl with dry ingredients, mixing well. Use a tablespoon to measure out each cookie, placing them 2 inches apart on the sheet. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until tops and bottoms are golden brown.

Mac-Un-Cheese 2.0

Finally, a natural neon-orange glow.

As I mentioned before, my sister made Chef Chloe's The BEST Vegan Mac N' Cheese for Thanksgiving, and needless to say it has become a staple in our house. However, our budgets don't allow for enough nutritional yeast to make this as often as we like. Plus, odd as this may sound, I'm actually not a big fan of the stuff. In order to make it work, I found I could make a few adjustments to cook a delicious yeast-free version that still hits the spot.

My original yeast-free Macaroni Un-Cheese has an earthier taste and texture; visually, it really screams "HEY I'M VEGAN" but this new 2.0 version has a much more omni-friendly appearance. Also, the 2.0 is free of Tofutti, which may be expensive and is certainly no nutritional superstar (although pretty tasty).

And of course I encourage you to add some veggies in, stir them in when the sauce is on the stove, over low heat.

Mac-Un-Cheese 2.0

1 box whole wheat penne rigate (13.25 oz)
2 T tomato paste
2 T miso paste
1 T tahini
3 T unshelled pistachios, finely ground
1/4 c silken tofu
1 c almond milk
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c whole wheat flour
dash of sea salt
dash of black pepper

Prepare penne as box's instructions.

While water/pasta is boiling, combine tomato and miso pastes, tahini, ground pistachios, tofu, and almond milk in high speed blender. Blend until completely smooth.

Add oil and flour into a shallow pan over low heat, stirring until a roux is formed. Pour in mix from the blender, stir and turn off heat. Set aside until pasta is ready.

After draining pasta (when appropiate), return pasta to the pot and pour cheeselike-sauce in. Stir until well-mixed, adding a dash of salt and pepper to taste.

Lemon Poppy Muffins

 Muffins are not "ugly cupcakes". Disregard what anyone else says. Unfortunately, many recipes seem to believe this and fill their "muffins" with white flour and white sugar. These Lemon Poppy Muffins are bringing muffin back, with whole wheat flour, flax seed, and no white sugar. For a pleasant, anti-cupcake breakfast, snack, or, for the health-nuts, dessert.

I use these Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins as my base, and then made some vegAnn changes. The result is a (nearly) fat-free, ugly-free, super moist muffin that will become your new go-to.

Lemon Poppy Muffins

 Yields 1 dozen

2 T ground flaxseed
6 T water
2 c whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/3 c applesauce (or 1/2 c veg. oil)
1/2 c maple syrup or agave nectar
3/4 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk, or any vegan 'ilk
1/4 c lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
2 T poppy seeds
2 t lemon zest
Oil for greasing pan (I used safflower)


Heat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tin with oil.


Whisk flaxseed and water in small bowl, set aside until gelatinous.

Sift first four ingredients into a large bowl. Mix remaining ingredients (including flax mix) into a medium bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir until just mixed. 


Fill muffin tin with batter so that each section is equally full, about 3/4 of the way up. I used a 1/3 cup to fill each. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until slightly browned and a inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before removing.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars

Never too early in the year for pumpkin and cranberry.

Oh how quickly "holiday desserts" are replaced by the word "detox" in our lives. Packed with flax, brown rice, oat bran, and pumpkin, these vegan, gluten-free bars allow us to add a bit of fun to our cleansing and a little cleansing to our fun.

As part of the fresh start to '11, I reorganized all of the flours in the pantry and found I had a lot of various flours from Bob's Red Mill. I tend to avoid gluten-free baking because I haven't invested in some xantham gum (yet). Thankfully, I found this recipe for Bob's Red Mill Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars. It's a very mild flavor, so next time I may add more spices. If strong pumpkin isn't your thing, these bars just might be. I replaced the raisins with cranberries, it seemed like the right thing to do.

PS. Check out my hot new recipe notebook! The bars were the first entry so I had to honor that by including the book in the photos. It was a Christmas gift from the wonderful I Laugh A Little Too Loud chick. You can see more info here. I got her a sunny, frilly apron that's not in stock anymore. Leave it to us to get each other domestic gifts from Anthropologie.

1 1/4 cups brown rice flour
3/4 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup safflower oil, or other vegetable oil
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups oats
1 cup raisins


Heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a deep baking sheet.

In a medium bowl mix brown rice flour, oat bran, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. In a large bowl blend sugar, brown sugar, molasses, flax, oil, pumpkin, and vanilla. Add flour mix into sugar mix, stir in oats and raisins.

Drop and spread dough evenly into the baking sheet, baking until golden, about 20 minutes. Cut bars in pan before cooling, letting them cool in the pan.