Blueberry Scones

 

adapted from Blue Harvest Farms

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
1/3 cup Earth balance
1 egg
1/4 cup almond milk 

1/2 cup blueberries

Glaze

1 1/2 tbsp almond milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Stir together, adding more milk to get desired consistency.

Instructions

Stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. 

Rub in the Earth balance with your fingers until the mixture resembles small crumbs. 

Add the egg.

Mix together to form soft dough. 

Carefully stir in the blueberries.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of an inch. 

Cut into triangles.

Place triangles on a lightly greased baking sheet. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Summer Peach Bars

Peaches are now in season! Making them into bars, they are remarkably portable, and have held up for a week. I love how bright the peaches look peeking from beneath the crumble topping. (Please excuse the less than average quality of the pictures, I had to use a camera phone since my camera ran out of batteries). To repeat this fabulous recipe please go to this site. 

Haphazard peach slices on the bottom crumb layering

I see you, you sly peaches!

A light dusting of crumb topping...almost there....

The finished result: Yum! Yum! Yum!

Peanut Butter Cups

Only the simplest recipe ever! Melted chocolate + peanut butter = heavenly combo

Carrot Cake Squares

I love carrot cake, and when I saw LLE's recipe for these squares, I couldn’t wait to make them!

It was really easy make, and best of all, vegan! I substituted honey powder because we were out of sugar and left out the walnuts. These were really good, so they will definitely be made again! I'll probably follow the recipe exactly next time though.

Vegan Banana Muffins

My mom has a great banana bread recipe, so I used that as the basis for these vegan banana muffins. 
Ingredients
- 2 c whole wheat flour
- 1 c oat flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 c sugar

- 3 flax eggs (3 tbsp flax + 6 tbsp water)
- 3/4 c applesauce
- 1/4 c coconut oil
- 5 mashed bananas


1. Mix the dry ingredients together.
2. Mix the flax eggs, applesauce, and coconut oil in a separate bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Add bananas.
4. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
**Baking time depends on what you pour the batter into. The mini muffin tin was done in about 20 minutes, while the regular size one took 30 minutes. 

Smores Bars

Remember those laid back days sitting by the fire roasting marshmallows and creating haphazard s'mores? This recipe created a way to savor every bit of that chocolate-marshmallow smorgasborg we all loved. I'm sure if I had tried harder I would have been able to successfully cut proper bars to photograph. Unfortunately I did not possess the patience to wait for the chocolate and marshmallow to cool. Instead what you see are messy lumps of graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow. But don't be fooled! They were delicious!

I definitely added more chocolate than this

Magic of Fluff Marshmallows!

Final Graham Cracker Crust!

Yum! Yum! Yum!

 

Vegan Banana Mango Muffins

After reading this post, I was in the mood to bake, especially after realizing I had most of the ingredients. Since I'm currently eating a vegan diet, I decided to use flax eggs. Also, I left out the dried mango and coconut. The batter was quite thick, and the muffin came out a bit dry. It was still quite good though!

Treacle Tart

When I saw Vegan Dad's Treacle Tart post I was intrigued. Up to that point I had never tried treacle tart, and had only first heard about the dessert from Harry Potter. I was nervous that I would not find the Lyles Golden Syrup, which is the main component of the entire tart. Luckily HEB carried it. When I first took it out of the oven I had a small panic attack. The tart looked runny and none of the slices held up. However after an hour in the fridge the tart firmed up and I quickly took the opportunity to snap a pic.

The treacle tart pre-refrigeration

Firm piece *whew*

Mother's Day Muffins

I was excited to bake for the first time since coming back from Italy! I followed this recipe, but substituted chopped strawberries and bananas for the pear and greatly reduced the nutmeg. To be honest, I was a bit nervous to see how the change would affect the final product, but it turned out delicious. Definitely would make these again!

Salted Chocolate Caramel Cookies

I have developed a strong liking for the salted chocolate such as this Ghiradelli treat. I went looking for a cookie version of the heavenly trio of salted, chocolate, and caramel. This recipe seemed to fit the bill perfectly. When they came out of the oven, these little mouthfuls of ecstasy were pooling with delicious caramel. But after putting them in a container overnight the caramel inside got hard. I recommend placing them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to get the caramel gooey again. I also was trying to get rid of bits of different types of chocolate, thus the different colors of brown seen on the cookie.

What is inside this seemingly ordinary chocolate cookie?

Perfect gooey caramel

Caramel Apple Pie

Let me begin by acknowledging my desperate desire to make a perfect lattice top for a pie. I realize it tastes the same regardless, but something about a lattice top has always stuck with me. When I found this recipe I couldn't help myself, I had to try. After hours of slicing up apples and patiently refrigerating the pie dough I was victorious!

Doomed apples

Lattice top! Lattice top! Lattice top!

The crumbles seen underneath the lattice are the chopped toffee bits

Easy Strawberry Sheet Cake

I wanted to make something light and fresh for the upcoming hot months so I opted for sheet cake with a fruity twist. Using the cake recipe from here, I decided to cut the sheet cake into thirds and layer them on top of each other. (Truthfully when I cut up the cake I couldn't help but eat some...the "thirds" probably ended up being fourths. Shush.) I then quickly whipped up some easy frosting using 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1 tbsp of powdered sugar. I frosted each layer, laying strawberries between each third. Easy, simple, and gone within two days.

Layers of moist delicious cake

Scraps of glorious cake

Layers of upgraded moist delicious cake

Hints of what lay underneath the frosting

Cupcakes Overload!

Besides just posting up recipes that we've tried, I thought it'd be great to mention websites to lust after. More specifically this one. I'm thinking about trying the coffee chocolate cupcakes with Baileys Irish Cream Icing. Perhaps I'll substitute Baileys for rum? Yum! (purposeful attempt at awkward rhyming) In any case, sorry for not posting lately, get ready to be hit by tons of uploads soon!

Italian crossaint, gelato, & cake

yum, yum

Mai in Italy

To see Mai's Italian adventures, click here: http://iammai7990.blogspot.com/

No Bake Granola Bars

 

I've tried making granola bars many times, but most of the time, they never stuck together. So I was really excited when I was actually able to cut through these, AND they were delicious! Granola bars from the store have unpronounceable ingredients and I always thought they were too sweet. These bars are really simple, and require no baking. 

 

1/8 c honey
1/2 tsp vanilla 
pinch of salt
1/8 c almond butter
3/4 c rolled oats
1/4 c puffed brown rice
1/8 c chocolate chips
1 tbsp flax seed
1/8 c raisins
1/8 c sunflower seeds 

In a large bowl, add rolled oats, puffed brown rice, flax seed, raisins, and seeds (I used sunflower, but you can pretty much add anything).
Microwave together the almond butter, honey, vanilla, and salt for about a minute. I stopped it about halfway through and gave it a stir so that it wouldn't overflow.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.
Add chocolate chips and try not to mix it too much, so that the chocolate chips stay whole.
Transfer the mixture to a sheet pan or flat container, and put it in the refrigerator to cool.

Strawberry Muffins

I don't remember the site where I found this "very berry whole wheat muffins" recipe, but I obviously only used one type of berry. All we had were frozen strawberries, but they turned out well!


1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 c canola oil (I used applesauce) 
1 egg
1/2 c strawberries, chopped
1/2 c blueberries
1/4-1/2 c milk (I 1/2 used coconut milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp raw turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 400. Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add canola oil, 1/4 cup milk, vanilla, and eggs, and mix until combined. If your  dough is very thick, add the rest of the milk. Fold in blueberries and strawberries. Top with a sprinkling of raw turbinado sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.