What I've Been Doing

So, despite my absence from the blogging world I've been keeping up with my passion for baking and cooking. Part of my apparent issue with consistent updates is my frustration with my very basic digital camera, and my inability to make it take good pictures regularly.
One of the cool challenges I had recently (that was not photographed) was to make a vegan dessert for a very belated Christmas party in February. I had never before attempted making a vegan dessert, and was definitely not a fan of them. The lack of butter, cream, or anything that really adds moisture to a delicious dessert, is not allowed and therefore not on my agenda. So, this was a real challenge.

After trying a recipe of Angela's at Oh She Glows, I found that my previous judgement still stood and I revamped the recipe to make it easier to consume for both vegans and animal eaters alike.

Something I found very intriguing was the avocado base of Angela's Chilled Double Chocolate Torte, and so I kept that and rather than making the chocolate vegan cake again (which came out extremely dry) I processed some vegan chocolate ginger cookies into small crumbs, combined them with some almond milk, and pressed a crust into the bottom of the cake pan, and in between two layers of the torte filling (think ice cream cake). I also added another ounce of melted chocolate to the filling to make the avocado taste less conspicuous. I was extremely happy with this attempt, and it made the cut for the party. No one could even tell it was vegan!

Anyway, though I didn't take any pictures of my vegan challenge, here is a photo journal of the past few months:



Research



It's apples and oranges.



"I'm sorry"



Parmesan Cauliflower Cake



A reinvention of Ina's pesto fish dish



Mmmm



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip. These are dangerous.



Salted Peanut Caramel Cups



Peanut butter cookies filled with salted peanut caramel and drizzled with chocolate. After these babies my office literally demanded more treats.



Candied ginger. Time consuming, but a great Christmas gift and snack to munch on. Also a great addition to apple pie.



About to cook down the cherries for winter storage.







Snickerdoodles always warm my heart.







I think peanut brittle is the hardest thing I've ever made, but homemade peanut brittle is SO much better than store bought.



I'm not as good as making and thinking up lovely things to say for Valentine's Day, so I just made a giant heart out of cupcakes.

 
If you're interested in any of these recipes let me know and I will post them!