Chocolate Dream Smoothie
As with all of my Vita-Mix smoothies, throw all of the ingredients in, turn to speed 10, then high, then enjoy.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups plain rice milk
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup shelled walnuts
Smooth Chocolate Dream
After cooking for a couple hours after working all day, I didn’t feel like baking brownies or making a proper dessert. Vita-Mix to the rescue!
I put in one ripe banana, 1 cup vanilla rice milk, 1 oz unsweetened chocolate, broken, and mixed that on speed 10 for a minute. Then, added a splash of heavy whipping cream, on to speed 10 again, and there you have it- a Smooth Chocolate Dream dessert in 2 minutes.
Spicy Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients:
- 2 and 1/4 cups sifted whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
- 3/4 tsp baking soda (1/2 tsp if at altitude like here in Boulder)
- 1.5 TB ground ginger
- 1.5 TB cinnamon
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves (I like to buy whole cloves and grind them by hand in a mortar and pestle)
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3/4 cup softened butter- I used freshly made butter from heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup un-sulfured molasses
- 1 large egg
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 cup (or more) powdered sugar
In a large bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients. In your KitchenAid mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and molasses. Then, add the egg and beat until smooth. Next, mix in the dry ingredients. Transfer this to plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours up until over night.
When you are ready to make your cookies, let the dough sit at room temp for 20-30 minutes before rolling it out. Preheat oven to 350.
I cut mine in fourths and rolled it out between two pieces of parchment paper. I used seasonal cookie cutters to make snow flakes.
Bake on parchment paper-lined trays for 10 minutes or so. Pay attention to the baking time since ovens vary. Remove them when the edges look done and your finger leaves a slight impression in the top but does not go through the cookie come out with batter on it. Remove the cookies from the tray and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
Prepare the icing with the wire whisk attachment to your KitchenAid and beat until the icing is almost too stiff to turn the whisk. Scoop it all into a plastic sandwich bag, cut off a corner, and squeeze out onto your cookies as you like. I spread mine out with a spatula.
Thanks to my sister, I have some snowflake cookie cutters to play with each winter.
Ginger Pecan Carrot Cupcakes
These cupcakes were so incredibly delicious, made with fresh carrots from the Boulder farmers market and crystalized ginger from Savory Spice Shop. This recipe make 12 cupcakes.
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 TB ground cinamon
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped crystalized ginger
- 3/4 cup evaporated cane juice
- 1/2 cup plus 1 TB walnut oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups grated carrots
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 (375 if at altitude, like here in Boulder). Line a cupcake pan with paper baking cups (I prefer the 100% unbleached compostable IF YOU CARE brand).
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinamon, pecans, and ginger. Mix this with a fork or whisk so all of the ingredients are relatively evenly combined. Add the grated carrots and toss to coat.
In your KitchenAid mixer, add the evaporated cane juice and walnut oil. Turn it to speed 2 for 30 seconds or so, and then add the eggs and beat another 30 seconds. Add the flour and carrot mixture and mix another minute or so until you have an even batter.
Scoop into the cupcake tray and bake 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove your cupcakes from the cupcake tray and allow them to cool completely.
Next, make the frosting. Unless you have an extra KitchenAid bowl, you’re going to have to wash the bowl you used for the batter. First, pour the heavy whipping cream into the bowl, and with the wire whisk attachment, beat on speed 10 for 3-4 minutes until you have butter. Then, add the cream cheese, maple syrup, and powdered sugar and beat on speed 10 another couple minutes to make nice and fluffy fresh frosting.
Frost your cupcakes as you like. I filled a plastic sandwhich bag and cup off the corner in order to squeeze it out like piping. Get as fancy as you desire, and enjoy.
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