Hawaiian Baked Oatmeal

I rarely eat breakfast. When I was at school, I would eat a quick bowl of cereal before running off to class, and on the weekends, I’ll admit I probably wasn’t in the breakfast mood after a late night of consuming alcohol. Now That I’m unemployed and living back at home (kinda pathetic sounding, I know, but I’m looking!) I don’t wake up in time to eat breakfast. However when I woke up today, no matter that it was 10 o’clock, I wanted oatmeal.

I was planning on baking up some lemon macadamia cupcakes, but my mom, who would be the only person in the house who would help me eat them, just left on a trip to India. So I decided to hold off.

I was feeling adventurous today and wanted to make an oatmeal I had never had before. One of my favorite bloggers, Chocolate Covered Katie always makes the most delicious looking oatmeals, so I decided to try a spin off of her ‘boatmeal‘ or baked oatmeal.

I didn’t have any pumpkin, but I did have this:

Have you ever tried this? I discovered it yesterday… in my fridge. It’s sooo good, and it tastes just like regular yogurt! This has to be my favorite type of soygurt (=soy yogurt) i’ve ever tried. Of course, nothing compares to coconut milk yogurt, my absolute favorite, but little grocery store only sells one type of dairy free yogurt. (But now i’m going to have to find out where my mom buys this stuff!)

Anyway, back to the oatmeal. I decided I did not want to bake the soygurt in the oatmeal, What if it curdled or tasted gross? Then I would have ruined the last container of this deliciousness! So, I just let the key lime pie flavor influence me. I made a banana, pineapple, and coconut oatmeal. And it was delicious, if I do say so myself!

Baked Hawaiian Oatmeal

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 banana, mushed up
1/4 cup pineapple tidbits
1 tablespoon coconut butter

Mix all the ingredients together, and put them in a small baking dish. (I used 2 small ramekins)  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, then broil for about 3 more minutes.
I topped mine with a big ‘ol dollop  of silk live key lime pie yogurt (Of course!) a drizzle of more coconut butter, more pineapple tidbits, and a few chopped up macadamia nuts. It was sooo good!

It was so good, the warm oatmeal with both cold and warm pineapple, and cold oatmeal! yummmy! Here’s another shot, just in case you need some more convincing:

I wish it could have had a little more variety color wise, but I’m not complaining.  It was gooey nummy heaven. I hope you all try this!

p.s.- I changed the layout of the blog… The old one just wasn’t me… And I wanted something a little more basic and streamline.

Banana Cupcakes

With creamy chocolate ganache filling and not too sweet peanut butter cream cheese frosting, to be exact.

These are by far one of my favorite cupcakes. And the dairy and eggs aren’t even missed!

Banana Cupcakes

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 banana, mushed up

Directions:
Mix together soy milk and vinegar, and let curdle. Once curdled, add oil, sugar, vanilla, and banana, mix about 3 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients, and mix until just incorporated. Fill 12 cupcake liners with the batter, and bake at 350 degrees F for about 18 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup soy milk

Directions:
Simmer soy milk on stove. If chocolate  isn’t already in small pieces, chop up so it melts quicker.

Remove the simmering milk from the stove, and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit for about 4 minutes, then whisk until smooth. If there are still chunks of chocolate, microwave for 15 second intervals stirring in between until all is melted.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz. dairy-free cream cheese (I use the tofutti brand, It’s the only kind they carry in my grocery store)
2 tablespoons margarine or dairy-free butter substitute
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Beat cream cheese, margarine, and peanut butter until smooth and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat until all the ingredients are incorporated.

How To assemble the cupcake:

Directions:
Using a paring knife or melon baller, cut/scoop a small hole out of the top of the cupcake, and pipe or spoon a dollop of ganache. You can cover this with a slice of banana, a thin piece of the cake you cut out, or just leave it open.

Pipe frosting on top. I used a lot of frosting on these, the frosting only uses about one cup of powdered sugar (while a lot of recipes use close to 4!) So it’s not overly sweet. If you do want to make it sweeter however, feel free to add as much sugar as you like.

To decorate, I just drizzled some of the extra ganache on top. The cupcake on the far right has a pulled sugar garnish, that I made at school and brought back with me. You could also pipe on some peanut butter or sprinkle some chopped peanuts on top as well.

The World’s Greatest Chocolate Cupcake

… or chocolate peppermint cupcake I should say. And it’s vegan to boot. ; )

Once again, I got the base cupcake and frosting recipe from my favorite, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. The frosting is a chocolate mousse- and it contains- get this, tofu! I made some of these for one of my mom’s church events, and all those tofu/vegan wary people thought they were to die for, and were shocked they were vegan!

Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes:
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup  soy milk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil2 teaspoons peppermint extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and prepare your muffin tin with liners.

Mix together the soy milk and vinegar, let curdle for several minutes.  Once curdled, add the oil, sugar, and peppermint extract and beat until foamy.

Add all the dry ingredients in two additions, and beat until there are no large lumps in the batter.

Dish out into the cupcake liners, and bake about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before frosting.

Amazing Chocolate Mousse Frosting

Ingredients:
1 (12.3oz) package of firm silken tofu
1/4 cup plain soy milk
2 tablespoons agave syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (you could use peppermint, but I didn’t want the peppermint to overpower the cupcakes)
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Melt the chocolate. Let cool for about 5 minutes.

Add the tofu, soy milk, agave, and vanilla to the blender and blend until smooth. Add the chocolate, and blend until incorporated.

Refrigerate for about an hour, until firm.

Pipe onto cupcakes, and sprinkle with crushed up candy canes if desired. It’s the perfect holiday treat. I do realize, the holidays are over : / Guess you’ll have to save this one for next year. Although, It is a great way to use up those leftover candy canes. I know my grocery store has carts full of them at the checkout that they give away for free once Christmas is over.

I’ve been spending a lot of my time lately looking for jobs, as well as entering some baking contests. One is the Chocolate Adventure Contest, which ended yesterday. The other is the ZenSoy Contest at GoDairyFree.org. It’s an amazing website if you are lactose intolerant or have a milk allergy. This contest ends January 15th, I highly recommend you check it out! I’m keeping my lips sealed on my entries for these contests however. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

My next post I’m going to give ya’ll the recipe for a delicious Banana cupcake with ganache filling, and peanut butter cream cheese frosting! See you soon!