vegan apple banana muffins

After the sugar cookies and getting the tiny terrors to bed I started on my next baking adventure: vegan apple banana muffins.
These were made for Cory's Christmas breakfast at work, so I only got the privilege of eating half a muffin. (Cory ate the other half)
I'm not a vegan. I'm so not a vegan. There was one month year or so ago when I didn't eat meat for a whole month. (with the exception of that one bowl from KFC. It was asking to be eaten and I've never been the kinda girl that could say no when it comes to food) That's the closest I've ever come. But if everything vegan were this simple to make and tasted this delicious I'd jump on the vegan bandwagon.

2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1 apple, diced
2 ripe bananas, smashed

Just toss everything together, put in muffin tins or liners, and bake at 325 for 35-45 minutes. Don't be afraid to fill the liners to near the top. These muffins were pretty dense so you won't get that nice muffin top. But the taste definitely makes up for its lack in beauty.

There's no need for butter, eggs, or milk because the moisture from the apple juice & fruit makes them so moist & perfect.

I made a double recipe because I knew there would be a lot of people at Cory's work this morning, and managed to fill all the liners I had left, which was 24, and I have enough batter left over for..ehh..probably 10 more or so. So I'm thinking this recipe should get you about 15-20 muffins give or take.

Sugar cookies

My mom brought me her old Christmas cookie cutters the other day because she doesn't use them any more. I don't know that she ever did come to think of it.
So even though I despise Christmas and everything about it, I've come to the conclusion that I owe it to my kids to try & have the most kick ass Christmas's in the history of everything that has a history. I put up a tree this year-the first time in years-and have been burning the midnight oil trying to get their gifts ready. (I'm attempting to make them each a doll. This is laughable because I have no sewing skills whatsoever) So in honor of my least favorite holiday, I present to you...sugar cookies.

I found this recipe in an old copy of Kraft Food & Family. It was stuffed in with my cookbooks and is from the year 2004. I have no clue where it came from. Such is my life.

1 package cream cheese, softened (They say to use Philadelphia cream cheese. I despise product placement by the way and used some generic cream cheese)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl on medium speed until well blended. Then add flour and baking soda; mix well.

Roll out the dough to your desired thickness. They say 1/8 inch, but I don't like wussy thin sugar cookies, so I rolled mine out thicker. They we cut into shapes and placed in a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

I used the same icing recipe from the oreo cupcakes, sans the oreos.
I let Faith pick the colors and requested pink and "lellow". But I had no "lellow", so we decided blue would be an okay alternative. Then I used Wilson color to beautify the icing.

They're quite delicious cookies, and we had tons of fun making them. Faith was most helpful in cutting out the shapes, and we ended up with some mutant looking snowmen.
Faith agrees that they're good...especially if you just lick the icing off the top of the cookie.

Cutting out the cookies

Cupcakes happen to be my favorite

So for my first posting I will share a recipe from howtoeatacupcake.
She seems to be a fairly nice young lady so I'm sure she wouldn't mind me sharing the recipe here as well.
I used a friend's birthday as an excuse to bake a massive number of Oreo cookies & cream cupcakes.
See, my husband doesn't exactly share my love for all things tooth achingly sweet so I don't really have a guinea pig to try recipes out on. I especially can't give them to my kids seeing as how they automatically turn into tiny tornadoes of terror at the slightest hint of sugar.
Therefore my friends have become subject to my baking.

Okay...I didn't think ahead enough to take pictures of all my ingredients & the whole process of putting these little wonders together, but on the original recipe I stole from she does all that for you.

and the recipe is as follows...

30 Oreo cookies
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 cup sour cream-she states in her blog that she lets her sour cream sit til it reaches room temperature so I did the same.
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract-I'm a lucky girl who has managed to obtain pure vanilla from Mexico. I like to open the bottle and smell it at random times throughout the day.

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.
2. Count out 12 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Make sure each has some of the icing on it. Place one wafer, icing side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Set them aside. Place the remaining 18 Oreos between sheets of waxed paper or in a large, closed zipper-lock bag and crush them by rolling over them with a rolling pin. Set these crumbs aside.
(Okay...I got confused here because..and follow my train of thought here...this recipe was supposed to make 24 cupcakes, but she's only saying to use 12 oreos for the bottom of the cupcakes. Then the light went on and I realized that if you separate the 12 Oreos you will, in fact, have 24 cookies to place in the liners. Hello. My name is Vanessa and I'm a college dropout. )
3. Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 1 1/2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the crushed Oreos and fold these into the batter until well incorporated. Set aside the remaining crushed Oreos for the frosting. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cup­cake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.
4. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cup­cakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your finger­tips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.
(I left mine in the liners. I have this obsession with cupcake liners, even if they're just the boring green and pink paper ones. I find them adorable and have considered stitching a dress together made of cupcake liners just for the hell of it.)

I also used her icing recipe, who she apparently got from Natalie of Bake and Destroy-who I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with. I mean..could she BE any cuter?


1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
remaining crushed Oreos

Mix together butter, confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt until it’s creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until its light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until its smooth. Fold in crushed Oreos. Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

(I thought the butter, sugar, and salt was going to turn into this creamy like substance, but no...I realized that light & fluffy meant a light & fluffy texture. It isn't going to look anything like icing yet, not until you put in the whipping cream. I told you, I'm a beginner, and I'd never made ice cream without the use of crisco before. Not only am I a college dropout, but I barely passed high school, okay)

Okay. Pictures of the finished product...







Now, you'll notice that they're a bit too brown.
This is due to the fact that my oven is a cantankerous bitch run off propane. I love cooking propane but I've found that baking with propane is a serious pain in the ass. I checked them at one point & they didn't seem quite done yet so I set my internal timer for a minute. ONE minute. Then I take the out to discover they've attained an ever so silghtly browned outer layer.

No one seemed to mind seeing as how the wonderful cavity inducing inside & frosting over powered the taste of the outside.

They were a hit and I am now a goddess. I believe the word "amazing" was mentioned once or twice.

So there you have it.

Oreo cookies & cream cupcakes=deliciousness.

and just who are you?

Name's Vanessa Kim.
I'm new to this blogger business. I blog obsessively on myspace, but I wanted to have a different place to share my baking and other life adventures.
This is mostly for my benefit. If you happen to trip over someone else's site and land in mine, let me e-shake your hand and welcome you. If you find me boring don't worry, a lot of people do-it's not just your imagination.

Okay...the "stats"
Height-5'7"
Weight-I got junk in my trunk and I like it that way
I've been married to a wonderful man for 4 & 1/2 years now.
We have done our part in overpopulating the earth by having two children.
Faith Elizabeth Melinda is 3 and Elliott Django Stephen A. is 19 months old.
No, Django is not because of Star Wars. Yes, we like long names.
I've been baking since I was old enough to open the oven. Granted up until recently it's been mostly cake mixes, but baking none the less.
Within the last few month it's become almost an obsession with me though, and thank God because my life is relatively boring with the diaper changes and Yo Gabba Gabba routine.

So I'm going to push publish post now & pop this blogger cherry. Let's get this party started...