This sorbet combines fresh cucumber, basil leaves, and zesty lemon, and salt, pepper, and olive oil bring depth to this frozen treat. Nothing is worse than a shallow, flavorless dessert. Admittedly, it wasn’t really appropriate sorbet weather when I made this, but since we’re nearing the month of May, I’m hoping that thinking about summer treats will reign in the warm weather!

The first part of this recipe is the basil syrup. Making the basil syrup is something that will need to be done ahead of time, and it’s probably the most time consuming part of making the sorbet, apart from the freezing time. Any leftover syrup is lovely in lemonade or with fresh fruit. Now, I completely understand not wanting to turn on the stove and make a syrup in the middle of the summer when you want a refreshing treat, so if you really would like to substitute the syrup, using 5-6 tablespoons agave nectar and adding extra basil leaves to the food processor could be an acceptable substitution.

Basil Syrup

½ cup basil leaves
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water

Stack the basil leaves atop each other, roll the stack up tightly, then slice the roll of basil finely to produce thin ribbons. This is called chiffonade and will allow the basil to infuse the syrup with the most flavor.
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to stir and boil until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is clear. Remove from heat and stir in the basil. Completely submerge the leaves and coat thoroughly with the syrup. Basil loses its flavor at high temperatures, so don’t be tempted to put the saucepan back on the heat. Let the basil sit in the syrup for 45 minutes to an hour.

Basil syrup, not pee:

Cucumber Basil Sorbet

Makes 4 servings

2 cucumbers
6-7 tablespoons basil syrup (recipe below)
4-5 large fresh basil leaves
¼ cup lemon juice
Pinch of lemon zest
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel your cucumbers, then scoop out the seeds.

Combine the cucumbers, basil syrup, basil leaves, and lemon juice and zest in a food processor. Add the salt and pepper, then adjust flavors as desired.
Either freeze the sorbet in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, or plan to freeze it the manual way. Pour the mixture in a shallow bowl, stick it in the freezer, and then stir every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours until frozen to a scoopable consistency.

To serve, scoop onto individual plates, then garnish with basil leaves, a sprinkle of lemon zest, a pinch of salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Now, eat sitting in bed huddled in blankets while wishing for warm weather!

So you can imagine how much I hyperventilated inside when I heard I was going to get a brand new oven. This is what happens when you’re on your landlady’s good side. You bake her cookies and be not an asshole tenant, and she gives you new ovens, ceramic bunnies, tote bags with cats on them, and Christmas cards signed from her cats.

This morning she knocked on my door and informed me that my oven is here, right now! I was still in pajamas and my kitchen was partially taken over by lasagna remnants from yesterday, but it was almost noon and I was getting a new oven, so I can’t complain. Just own up to my lazy Tuesdays. Anyway, maintenance wheeled in the new oven. It was brand new, shiny, and the knobs even had numbers on them!

Wide angle oven. It has a handle that I can hang stuff on. The old one did NOT have that. Towel, meet your new home.

Taking it for a test drive. You guys, it boils water!

I think I’ve reached my excitement quota for the day. If it goes any higher, every other day after this will be a disappointment. But it has been a successful day thus far. Now there are only three annoying things about my kitchen: the sink, darkness, and lack of space.

I’m sorry if you were expecting something a little more exciting, like a cookbook release date or a video of a puppy eating a cake, so here are some banana (“bunana”, HAHA SO CLEVER) butterscotch cupcakes with bunnies on top:

A white chocolate bunny:

Giant, decadent peanut butter egg:

Crispy jelly bean chocolate nest:

Thanks, Jess! <3

For Easter day, I visited my grandma (and followed my holiday dinner rules for the most part!) and made a coconut curry Pad Thai-like noodle dish and a simple batch of cupcakes. I’d post a picture of the entree, but I didn’t photograph the complete, plated product. Showing you guys a photo of noodles in a wok would be like it just got out of the shower and is still hanging around the house in a towel. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s just not photogenic. So, here’s some Coconut White Russian Cupcakes, a coconut coffee Kahlua-infused cake batter with a Kahlua buttercream.

The weather was pretty nice in Illinois on Easter day, but it has cooled off dramatically since. It was 30°F out a couple mornings ago in Milwaukee! Today I saw these flower buds forming on the vines on my windows, so hopefully spring will be here soon (again)!

Thanks Andi! Check out this trailer and stay tuned for the film in a few weeks!

*I wasn’t really personally offended.

Now, if you need more convincing:
Even Erica Shaffer loves kombucha. She represents TV products such as the Food Saver System, Ninja blenders, and Shake Weight, so this highly-esteemed infomercial queen’s recommendation should not be taken lightly. Erica knows what’s what and kombucha is just that. The uncertainty of the gentleman in the photo suggests he is not down with the ‘buch, but he probably is not down with fun, happiness, or taste either. For goodness sake, his shirt matches his bedroom and he’s probably reading the dictionary. What a boring dude. Erica, leave your pretend boyfriend and find a guy who truly understands the scoby lifestyle.

So, getting back to the point, the following video may or may not have converted another member to the Kombucha Kult. You’ll just have to watch and see.

Last week I was in Omaha visiting Isa and John. From the very beginning of my affection for chia seed kombucha, John has been quite a vocal opponent. He said he’d puke on my face if he took a sip. He said he’d make me drink Vega if he were to try chia seed kombucha.
Well, I’m not one to pass up a hypothetical gross drink showdown, so when 3D real-life me arrived in Omaha, chia seed kombucha was acquired and challenge accepted. A taste of Vega? Psh, no big! Apparently I was willing to risk The Laziest Vegan in the World projectile vomiting a week’s worth of Amy’s burritos all over my face, because the Vega/Chia Kombucha Showdown became a reality:

SPOILERS BELOW!
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So, John said kombucha is good! Well, as time went by, I think he started to think it was more than good because he wanted more kombucha.

We went to Whole Foods the next day and loaded up.

Will John like the two new flavors (one without chia seeds!) as well? Here’s part two of the challenge:

SPOILERS BELOW!
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So, I think he’s converted. We got another round of kombucha the next day (Isa too, this time!).

I left Omaha three days ago, but what does John send me today? This photo that proudly displays his beverage selection: Grape Chia Seed Kombucha. Though several hundred miles away, I pulled out the lonely Cherry Chia sitting in my fridge and drank in solidarity. Go kombucha.

What a whirlwind! I think we need a lifetime supply of kombucha for this ode to the baby scoby nectar of deliciousness. Please, GT’s? We love you!

Thanks for following through the journey, everyone! Drink up, baby scobies!

I filled each ramekin (thoroughly lubed up with Earth Balance or vegetable oil) halfway with root beer oatmeal stout cupcake batter. Four inch ramekins took 24-25 minutes to bake, while the slightly larger five inch ramekins took about 28 minutes. Depending on your cupcake batter, your baking times should be similar. I got three “cupcakes”: one four inch ramekin and two five inch.
After the ramekins have cool off, top with whipped cream or buttercream frosting. If you pipe out half the pastry bag onto one cupcake, your cake is going to be drowning in frosting and end up way too sugary. Instead, think about height rather than mass of frosting when you start piping, and supplement the cupcakes with other garnishes and decoration. Here, I used a thin layer of buttercream, a swirl of coconut whipped cream, root beer syrup, a chocolate dipped strawberry, straws, and a chocolate decoration.

Chocolate drizzle decorations are a great way to add height and a posh look to your desserts. Make the chocolate by melting chocolate chips in a glass bowl (maybe with a teensy bit of vegetable shortening if it won’t smooth out) and pouring the melted chocolate into a ziploc bag. Cut off a bit of one of the corners and drizzle out your design on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Let the chocolate harden at room temperature. If you stick it in the freezer right away, your chocolate will not temper and end up going into shock and melt when you remove it from the freezer and attempt to peel it off the baking sheet. Or end up melting after you stick it into your cupcake. Once the chocolate hardens, remove it from the sheet and stick it into your cupcake as decoration. I brushed my chocolate drizzles with gold luster dust to add shine and color right before carefully peeling them off the sheet.

These ramekin cupcakes would be great for gift-giving, or an alternative to a birthday cake . Buy a few cheap ramekins, bake them into cupcakes, tie a ribbon around the ramekin, and gift them to a lucky recipient! That person is bound to feel special because cupcakes imply single serving, even if they are giant. After single-handedly finishing off the cupcake in one sitting, they get to keep the ramekin and think about what a nice thoughtful person you are every time they use it from then on.

Perhaps the single-serving quality of cupcakes is a curse and a blessing in this application because the amount of batter each ramekin holds is the equivalent of 3-4 cupcakes. Share with a friend if you must, but of course there is nothing shameful in downing multiple cupcakes in one go!

Whether you’re looking for another socially acceptable way to drink before noon, or just want to give your brunch a little extra something, coconut chocolate stout pancakes are the way to go. Most of my pancake recipes are built off of my basic recipe, a vegan version of the pancakes I’ve been making since I was a kid, unchanged for the past several years. I supplemented this recipe with chocolate, a few different forms of coconut, and chocolate stout. Coconut and chocolate stout is not the most common combination, but the two flavors go together like PB+J. Google confirmed that I was on to something, because coconut chocolate stout does exist! I haven’t been able to confirm the veganness of any of those stouts, so I guess marrying the flavors in pancake form will have to do for now.

The rest of the bottle went into cupcakes (don’t worry, I got two!). Besides translating s’mores into pies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and a myriad of other treats, the flavors and components of the s’more have remained relatively unchanged in the culinary world. Perhaps a bit of peanut butter makes its way into the campfire treat occasionally, but more often than not, we’re dealing purely with marshmallows, chocolate, and graham cracker. I decided to go with a grown-up take on the s’more with this cupcake by infusing the batter with chocolate stout and coconut, then topping it with buttercream, marshmallows (toasted, of course!), and a homemade toasted coconut graham cracker cut into the shape of a heart.

I declare the chocolate stout experiments a success. The creaminess of the stout makes for a wonderful rich flavor that pairs well with other chocolate elements, and provides a bit of leavening in a cake. I’m hooked! Earlier today I was baking with oatmeal stout. What are your favorite ways to incorporate chocolate stout or other beers in baked goods or cooking?

Because red wine truffles are the breakfast of champions, I brought some to my 8am class today to share and a whole host of ball jokes ensued. I finished rolling the rest tonight and set them up on a cute little cherry plate with some pink and red hearts I cut out of paper and a glass of wine I will later accidentally shatter in the sink. Ta-da!

The chocolate flavor is balanced by just the right amount of wine flavor and creaminess from the margarine.

I’m leaving you guys with the recipe because this is what you need to make when you want some Merlot chocolatey balls ASAP. It gets a little messy, but rolling truffles in cocoa is WAY easier than making the chocolate dipped-variety. Cocoa is a very smooth complement to the filling and cuts the sweetness of the chocolate a bit, for when chocolate on chocolate sounds like a bit too much. The recipe directions are quite long, but they’re just thorough! The most time consuming part of the truffle making process is rolling them into balls.

Red Wine Chocolate Truffles

Makes 15-20, depending on size

2 cups chocolate chips
½ cup wine
2 tablespoons soy milk
¼ cup margarine

2 bowls: one for the ingredients and one for a water and ice bath

Cocoa powder for rolling

Melt the chocolate, wine, and soy milk together, then pour into the first bowl. Stir until completely smooth then set aside to cool off. It doesn’t need to be cool, as it needs to be whipped up when still liquid-y, but too warm will melt the ice and make the process take longer than necessary, with unnecessary breaks and refilling the ice bath.

Fill the other bowl up with ice and water. 7-8 cubes will do. As for the water, you don’t want so much that it spills over the side when you place the other bowl in the water, but too little will not cover the entire surface of the bowl where the chocolate is and it will whip unevenly. Try putting the other bowl in the bath and adjust the water level as necessary.

Place the bowl filled with the melted chocolate into the ice bath. Using electric beaters on high speed (but not the highest. slightly less than the most powerful setting is perfect), start whipping up the chocolate evenly around the bowl. Add the margarine and continue whipping. You will see bubbles forming everywhere and the chocolate mixture will start to thicken up to the consistency of heavy cream after a few minutes. Continue whipping until the consistency becomes very thick. Now STOP. Over whipping could cause the filling to become soft and collapse, or become grainy.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator and let chill and thicken. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon mat and pour some cocoa powder into a shallow bowl. Remove the mixture from the refrigerator and begin rolling. Using a small cookie scoop, make balls that are about an inch in diameter, then roll in the cocoa powder and place on the baking sheet. If the truffles are coming out a wonky shape or you don’t have a cookie scoop and you must use your palms, make sure they are a little wet so that your hands won’t be covered in chocolate-y goo when the balls make contact with the heat of your palms. Place the tray of rolled truffles in the refrigerator for at least one hour, then eat! Keep stored in refrigerator in an airtight container. They will last at least a few weeks before they start to taste funky.

For a hazelnutty brunch, I have Hazelnut Black Tea Pear Muffins which, I promise, are far less weird than they sound. Adding the black tea was on a total whim. I was so focused on making pear hazelnut muffins that I completely forgot…drink theme! It would be quite a stretch to say chopped pears and toasted hazelnuts were a part of any drink, so I had to think quick. Hazelnut pear already had this hearty tea shop vibe going on, so the answer was clear. Black tea ended up adding a certain something to the mix! These muffins are great for breakfast, and a little bit more substantial than a cupcake. The pear flavor complements the nuttiness of the hazelnuts and the black tea gives it a complex earthiness. A thin drizzle of dark and white chocolate completes the muffin tops. I’ve been really into adding tea to baked goods by grinding the contents of a tea bag (or loose tea) and adding a small spoonful. This works best with black tea, as in chai cookies.

When I first made these, they were kind of dense. Then on a completely separate wavelength of thoughts, I realized I never put any oil in them, or even took the bottle of canola oil out of the pantry. Shortly after, I put two and two together and facepalmed a little. See, unless I meticulously measure out all my ingredients, these mistakes just happen sometimes all the time. But even so, they turned out yummy!

These are Hazelnut Latte Cupcakes, a recipe by Carla Kelly of Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale. I was talking with Carla about my upcoming project and she sent this recipe my way! The cake is infused with coffee, hazelnut syrup, and toasted hazelnut meal (homemade with a food processor), then topped with a fluffy buttercream. I added some of the syrup to the frosting for a touch of flavor.

Hazelnut Salted Caramel Cake. This is basically just my salted caramel cupcakes made in cake pans, with a few generous glugs of hazelnut syrup in both the batter and frosting. Friends and family love the salted caramel cupcakes, so the cake version is one of my go-to cake recipes for birthdays. The hazelnuts are a great addition to the sweet and salty combination. This cake was for my mom’s birthday last month!

There you have it! Three ways to use hazelnuts. Getting the most out of one ingredient is a great strategy to force yourself to be creative in the kitchen and is also quite cost effective. You end up with a few new recipes out of the deal too! What are your favorite ingredients to bake up several different ways? I’m pondering my next move!