I usually have a small jar of pumpkin pie spice sitting around. It’s easy to make, but in the morning it is very convenient to have some ready to go when I want to spice up my oatmeal on a chilly morning. A few weeks ago, I picked up a jar at Trader Joe’s and was very surprised to discover that it tasted nothing like the classic pumpkin pie spice mix that I know and love. I also discovered that it’s not necessarily the greatest thing to blindside your tastebuds shortly after waking up. Their version of pumpkin pie spice included lots of cardamom, ginger, cloves, pepper and cinnamon. Call me traditional, but that’s not what I want my pumpkin pie spice to taste like.

The point of this little story is that when I was deciding what recipe I wanted to try from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, I realized that the spice combination in the Chai Latte Cupcakes was very similar to my non-pumpkin pie spice mix. I made the cakes and used it instead of the original recipe’s combination with great results. The flavor was very spicy and chai-like, but not too aggressive.
The only complaint that I have is that I don’t think these are actually cupcakes. They have a less refined, more muffin-like texture than I want for a cake. I would have added more sugar if I wanted to try for more cakiness from this recipe. Fortunately, the muffins went beautifully with a cup or tea or coffee and, as they weren’t frosted with anything more than a bit of spiced up confectioners’ sugar, I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about having them for breakfast instead of dessert. And this time I wasn’t surprised by the spicing - just pleased by it.
By the way, these turned out just fine with regular yogurt instead of the soy, so don’t worry if you need to make a small substitution to make the recipe fit the ingredients that you keep at home.

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The only problem that I have with loaf cakes/breads is in choosing the pan size. I tend to prefer using my 8×4 inch pan because I like the higher rise, but the 9×5 inch size is slightly more common and I often feel pressured to write my recipes for that particular pan. Pressure or no, however, I usually just go ahead and use the pan I like, simply indicating the size instead of changing the recipe around. All that said, this time I did opt to use the larger, slightly wider pan for my loaf.
This recipe is a twist on my standard recipe for banana bread, with a little bit more butter and loads of chocolate chips and pecans. Normally I’m not one for nuts in my baked goods, but here the pecans add a nice textural contrast with the chocolate chips. The bread is best when it is toasted and topped with butter or cream cheese, but if you prefer to eat it untoasted, you might want to keep it well wrapped overnight to make sure it is at its moistest when you go to eat it.
Because the pan makes the bread thinner than it might ordinarily be, it will cook more quickly and there is a greater chance of the bread overcooking. Make sure to check it with a toothpick and take it out of the oven as soon as it is done. I would check it a couple of minutes early, just in case your oven runs on the hot side.

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Want to know what I’ve been up to for the past couple of days that has kept me away from blogging? I’ve been at the Winter Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco! Check out this post for a full report.

And, yes, I do have a recipe ready to go for tomorrow.

When I got a bottle of the new Bailey’s with a hint of Caramel Irish Cream Liqueur, I knew that I wanted to bake something with it even before I tasted it. I had two reasons for this. First, I don’t often have a full bottle of Bailey’s sitting around, so it seemed to provide ample resources for creativity. Second, while I like the taste of Irish cream, I’m not that interested in having more than a few sips at a time. The creaminess of the liqueur is just too rich for me on its own, even over ice, in large doses.

That being said, the Bailey’s Caramel doesn’t really taste like your typical Irish cream at all. Without sharing a drink with you (would that I could!), I’ll simply say that it tastes very similar to a caramel macchiato from Starbucks, albeit an alcoholic one. Caramel is such a versatile flavor that I couldn’t initially decide what to do with it. Brownies came to mind, but somehow I ended up deciding to start with cheesecake.

I have made plain cheesecake bars using my Baker’s Edge pan before and they turned out so beautifully that there was no doubt in my mind I would have to use it again. I still think that the unusual design of the pan makes it perfect for anything that is likely to end up with overcooked edges and an undercooked center when baked in a normal pan, like cheesecake bars and brownies, in addition to whatever else you want to put in it.

These bars turned out beautifully. I used quite a bit of Bailey’s, so they are rather “grown up” and probably won’t be a big hit with the kids, but they should be a big hit with the adults, especially if you like Bailey’s to begin with. The cheesecake is creamy, with notes of caramel and Irish cream and the chocolaty crust provides a wonderful, shortbread-like contrast in texture. They’re easy enough to make on a weeknight, fancy enough to serve at a dinner party and taste fantastic. What more could you want?

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Remember when I pointed out a few weeks ago that cashew butter could be used to make extra-chewy cookies? It turns out that the very same property carries over to brownies, although this time I used peanut butter instead of cashew butter for something a little bit different.

Besides - who doesn’t like the combination of peanut butter and chocolate? It wouldn’t be such a popular pairing in the candy world if it wasn’t well-liked.

These brownies use both peanut butter and cocoa for a tasty twist on a favorite. The texture is wonderful, as they are chewy and rich without being extremely wet or heavy, as some “fudgy” brownies tend to be. They also keep quite nicely and taste just as good on the second day as they did on the first. I can’t vouch for the third day because I suspect that they won’t last that long.

I really recommend including the chocolate chips in this recipe because the brownies themselves are not super chocolaty and the chips will keep chocoholics content, but if you want to go really peanut-buttery with this one, try using peanut butter chips instead. You can also try using other nut butters, although your results may vary slightly from mine if you use a natural nut butter, since I used a regular brand.

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Over the holidays, I found myself with the need to make a dessert for some guests - surprise, surprise, right? I somehow got it into my head that a bundt cake would look good, not to mention that since these guests happened to be family members, I didn’t feel the need to go over-the-top and made an especially elaborate dessert. I wanted something that would go well with a bit of cofee.
My first inclination was to make the pear cake yet again, but I ultimately decided that the inclusion of chocolate into my dessert would probably make it more appealing to everyone. So after much deliberation and a few twists, I arrived at a double chocolate peppermint cake. The cake is a black and white swirl bundt that uses melted bittersweet chocolate in the black layer and melted white chocolate in the white layer. I spiked only the white layer with some peppermint extract, which added a lovely flavor without being too overwhelming, since it was tempered by both the plain chocolate cake and the chocolate chips that I stirred in to both batters before baking.
The swirl in the cake was self-made, by which I mean that I simply layered one batter on top of the other. The lower layer, the chocolate batter, rose up around the white batter because of the way the cake cooks in the oven, creating a gorgeous swirl without the need to force the different batters to “marble.”
The finished cake was moist and minty, with a good hint of chocolate that could be emphasized even more if you add a chocolate glaze, rather than a simply dusting of powdered sugar. It was substantial, but neither as heavy nor as dense as a pound cake. It went beautifully with coffee and even better with hot chocolate.

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