Bakery-style Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (with a Hint of Maple)

I recently bought the Vegan Cookie Connoisseur cookbook and it's my new favourite! I like it so much I've bought the kindle edition for my ipad as well as the actual book (because I love the feel of books and nothing is quite like writing notes on an actual page!).

I've been substituting White Wings gluten-free plain flour for the normal wheat flour and so far, I've had no problems at all. I highly recommend tthe White Wings flour, it's the best IMO, but don't use their Self-raising flour as that has an awful aftertaste. If you need SR flour just add 2tsp baking powder per cup of plain flour for a much better result.

These biscuits turned out so delicious and chewy! I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate as it's the only easily available commercial chocolate without soy lecithin and it was a bit rich but I wanted something I could just buy at the supermarket. We get a nice one at the cafe which is a bit less dark with no soy but it's more expensive but much nicer and would be wonderful in these. They have a sort of dark, burnt sugar taste due to the maple syrup and so I'd say they're a more adult cookie, they're extremely rich!

I'm back!

It's been ages since I posted last, life kind of threw me a few curve balls but I'm back and baking!

Since I last posted both my sons have been diagnosed with allergies as well, and theirs make mine seem like a walk in the park! My youngest had been vomiting nearly every night and the oldest had been having severe stomach pain regularly and nothing the doctors did was helping so I took them off to be tested and yes indeed, that was the problem. Unfortunately, doctors just don't seem to think of food allergies, they were quite surprised when I went back and told them how much all our symptoms had gone since getting rid of the food we were diagnosed as being allergic to.

Our combined allergies now include; wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, yeast, nuts, rye, rice, beans, and citrus. Of course, we've all managed to have slightly different cobinations too! It certainly makes cooking interesting.

Since removing the offending foods though we're all so much better. My arthritis (which I've had since I was 14)  has virtually disappeared, Nik is no longer vomiting nightly and Sascha has lost over 8kgs and is waking up without being in agony. If we have something with an allergen the results are definate and not pleasant. Unfortunately so many things can be hidden. Going out for dinenr is a real minefield because so many places just don't know or understand allergies enough to care. It's certainly difficult but it's making cooking an adventure and quite fun as I experiment and find things we can eat and actually enjoy!

Banana Split Cupcakes

There is no other way to describe these than Oh My God! They are just like a banana split in a cupcake! The cupcake is banana with chocolate and pineapple jam spread through it and then the frosting is a vanilla buttercream with chocolate ganache, nuts, hundreds & thousands, and a cherry! It tastes sooooo good! They look so good too!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemony Frosting

One word; Yummm!!! Thick, fudgey and warmingly spicy, these cupcakes are perfect for a cold winter's day. I'm not much of a ginger cake person but these are truly good :)

Chocolate Gluten Freedom Cupcakes

At the cafe we get a lot of customers in with food allergies, and not surprisingly these days, gluten is a biggie. Generally, gluten free cupcakes can be a bit hit and miss. I have a chocolate cake I make with ground almonds that's pretty amazing, but that has egg in, so a no-no for my own allergies. This one (yes, my favourite cupcake book once again!) is gluten, egg and dairy free and is, as usual, amazing! It has tapioca, rice and quinoa flours as well as ground flax seed. It took me on quite a search through Geelong to locate all the ingredients (seems Quinoa flour is quite hard to come by at the moment!) but I eventually found them all and it was well worth it. The quinoa gives the cupcakes a deliciously nutty taste and the texture is dense and moist and just so chocolatey. I topped them with the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting which compliments them so well. The creaminess blends exceptionally well with the richness of the cupcake.

I also made the vanilla version of these but we weren't as sold on those as the nuttiness seemed a bit overwhelming. I think I'll try them again using a pre-mixed gf flour instead of the quinoa and see if that keeps the texture but loses the nuttiness.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

One of my favourite drinks at our cafe, apart from my initial cup 'o mud which is a neccessity of a morning to get me going (just ask our waitresses Kirsty or Sonia about the colour of my coffee ;D), is our Mexican Hot Chocolate. It's so rich with chocolate and cinnamon and has a texture to it thats just amazing. Made with oat milk, it's part of my every lunchtime ritual. So I was very excited to find this recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes in the Vegan Cupcakes book.

I made it without the cayenne pepper and with vanilla instead of the almond essence. I also left out the fine ground cornmeal and just added a little extra almond meal. And the result? They are soooooo awesome! Thick, dense and incredibly moist they are so chocolatey it's like chocolate heaven. They have a mild hint of cinnamon which gives it an exotic taste that's just so good! (Can you tell I really, REALLY like these ones!).

They're iced with Rich Chocolate Ganache Topping (pg 143) and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. So yumm!

Chocolate Cake

 I made this for the cafe from the recipe found here. It's from the blog of my favourite vegan recipe queens and is basically their Basic Chcolate Cupcake recipe doubled and cooked in two 20cm cake tins and then layered and frosted with their vegan chocolate buttercream frosting. I was going to do their ganache as on the website but got over-excited by the frosting and forgot! Ahh well, next time (and there definately will be a next time!). This cake is moist and dense and oh so chocolatey! I made a non-vegan devils food cake last week and this one is so much more suitable to be food for the devil!