Black and White Cupcakes

Cupcakes for everyone! EVERYONE!

AHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!

B&W Cupcakes in one of the classy boxes my SIL gave me for Christmas.

The sticker reads "2011 Baked GLUTEN FREE with love by Mairi"

Excuse me, but these cupcakes are so darn good, I just can't contain myself. And best of all, they are gluten free AND vegan. Yes, that's right. My sister-in-law (different SIL) is a celiac and recently decided to become a vegan as well. Conveniently before her birthday celebration. So I had to scramble to find a vegan, gluten free cake recipe to replace the one I was imagining. I found this recipe and used it as my jumping off point. I topped it off with a little vegan cream cheese frosting using this recipe, which really just tastes like a buttercream, but it's better than any other dairy-free frosting I've had. Oh, and you know how you really have to cover GF cake with frosting to make up for the fact that it's GF? Notice how little I used on the pictured cakes? These little darlins don't even need frosting. Enjoy!

Black Cake

Gluten Free, Vegan

ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 cup white sugar (certified vegan, if you prefer)

1/4 cup cocoa powder (high quality. seriously. especially if you don't use coffee.)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 cup coffee (you can use water, but coffee makes it the bomb)

2 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate (dairy free)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Beat together until smooth. Add the melted chocolate. Beat again, scraping regularly until smooth. Batter should thicken slightly and be sticky, not soupy.

Pour into prepared tin and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 muffins or 1 8 inch cake round

Coconut Crusted Chicken with Curried Apple Rice Pilaf

In another edition of "OMGIHAVENOIDEAWHATTOMAKEFORDINNER," I put together a gourmet feast with junk I found in my kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a coconut in my co-op basket. A COCONUT.

So I went online, figured out how to prep it, let the boys whack the hell out of it, shredded it and put it in the fridge, ostensibly never to be seen again.

Flash forward to last night, I'm gazing into my fridge trying to figure out if there is a combo of eggs, bacon and cheese that I haven't tried yet when I see the coconut and a lighbulb goes off. I'm a big curry fan, so I pulled out a Pilaf recipe (from my bestie, epicurious.com) I've been serving with my Yam Cakes and the rest is in my belly. Well, probably not anymore.

Coconut Crusted Chicken

(adapted from MY BRAAAAINS)

ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 eggs beaten

1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1 cup almond meal

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

Preparation:

Combine coconut, almond meal, cinnamon and ginger in a wide shallow bowl or plate. Dredge chicken breasts in egg (will egg sub work? idk.) and then coat with coconut mixture, patting to cover. Cook however you prefer (bake or pan-fry if you like) but I'm lazy, so I cooked it on the Forman Grill for about 10-12 minutes. I tend to overcook chicken because I am terrified of raw/undercooked chicken.

This is also great with a little mango chutney.

Curried Apple Rice Pilaf

(adapted from epicurious.com)

ingredients:

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup basmati or jasmine rice

1 apple, peeled, cored, chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 1/4 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups water

preparation

Heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Stir in rice, apple, cinnamon, ginger, curry powder and salt. Add 2 cups water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook until rice is tender and water is absorbed, about 18 minutes. Remove from heat.