Friday, December 26, 2008

the aftermath.

christmas is over!! how very sad. i hope everyone had a good holiday filled with food and presents and all that mushy love crap.

what did *i* do on christmas, you ask?!

for starters, i made cinnamon buns for breakfast.



picture taken mid-drizzle... yum. the almondy icing went perfect with coffee.

as far as presents go, i got a bunch of awesome stuffs including clothes and a copy of my absolute favorite piece of music, a schumann piano concerto. obviously though, you guys are only interested in the food-related goodies, so here ya go:



vegan candy! newman's sweet dark chocolate x2, green and black's 70% dark, dagoba (i'm not sure if the name is a star wars reference or just a coincidence) mint chocolate x2, sunspire chocolate raisins and chocolate almonds, huge bag of candied ginger, and some random japanese fruity things hidden under there.



a DONUT PAN! so i can make delicious vegan donuts without the bothersome and artery-clogging deep frying.




a lovely recipe book so i can have a place other than my laptop to keep all of my favorite recipes from you guys ;)




a WWF sweatshirt. not food-related, but kind of vegan-related?


here is the cinnamon bun recipe:

cinnamon buns
veganized from baking bites

Dough:
1/2 cup water, warmed
2 tsp sugar
2 packets active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
1 1/2 cups vanilla almond milk, warmed
2 ener-G eggs
1 tbsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp earth balance, softened
5 1/2-6 cups flour

Combine first three ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let stand for 10 minutes, until yeast is foamy.
Add almond milk, "eggs", salt, sugar, earth balance and 3 cups of flour. Mix until well incorporated and smooth. Add 2 more cups of flour. Mix until smooth. Add any remaining flour in smaller increments until dough comes together and away from the sides of the bowl. Dough will be slightly sticky, but very smooth.
Form dough into a ball and place in greased, covered bowl to rise until doubled, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Filling:
3-4 tbsp vanilla almond milk
Cinnamon
Brown sugar
1 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F.
Coat two 9×13 glass baking dishes with cooking spray or butter.
Remove dough from bowl onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide dough in two and roll each piece out into (roughly) a 10×14 inch rectangle. Brush each rectangle with milk, dust throughly with cinnamon and top with brown sugar. Sprinkle with raisins, if desired. Roll in a jelly-roll fashion beginning at a short end. Pinch seam shut. Repeat for second rectangle.
Slice logs at 1 inch intervals and place rounds in the baking dish so they are just touching.
Bake 15-20 minutes at 400F, until tops are golden brown.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut apart and drizzle with glaze.
Makes about 20 buns. (i halved the recipe and got 15, but mine were small)

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Enough almond milk to form a pourable consistency

Stir ingredients until smooth with a fork. Drizzle over cinnamon buns.


Wednesday, December 17, 2008

my life as of late: a photo essay

okay, so i haven't blogged in a long time, obviously. so i decided that instead of boring you all with a painfully long post i'd simply put up a photo essay, because not only does that sound all sophisticated-like and artsy it's alot more fun. woo hoo!



pumpkin pie.



foam sculpture from 3D design class, cast in aluminum



carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.. this wasn't vegan, but it's quite lovely anyhow



sporting my humane society shirt, although you can't see it.



cranberry pie.





my grandma's molasses crinkles, veganized!



creamy mac n cheeze from fat free vegan. actually by the time i took this photo it kind of hardened as saucy pasta is apt to do. but i promise it was creamy at some point in time and was very delicious.




bonus video: dr gradus ad parnassum! i'm playing it for part of my college audition. i've been practicing my ass off lately. around 3 hours a day. (does this video work? i'm not sure, i embedded it from facebook)