Healthy Very Vanilla Cupcakes

It's time to celebrate another birthday! Be prepared for a few more birthday posts coming soon, as there are quite a few August birthdays (including our very own Papaya Crumpet!). My dearest friend Rose wanted something 'vanilla' so I made her vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting. All white (technically, off-white) and classy.

Healthy Very Vanilla Cupcakes

Somewhere on this blog, I have previously mentioned my back luck with cupcakes. Traditional butter-laden versions and healthy versions alike have problems when I attempt to bake cupcakes. Usually the top is covered in holes or the texture is heavy and dense. But this vanilla cupcake recipe seemed to end my streak of bad luck! We can celebrate this too, haha!

Piping Cream Cheese Frosting Roses on Healthy Very Vanilla Cupcakes

This recipe was so quick to put together and yielded round cupcakes that rose above their liners. Only one mixing bowl needed! No problems were encountered when I switched these to make regular sized cupcakes instead of mini ones. I was so excited to see they looked like normal cupcakes when pulled out of the oven. No need for extra fiddling with the oven temperature and watching them like hawks. One toothpick check and they were finished~

Healthy Very Vanilla Cupcakes

This is a considerably healthy cupcake because of the low amount of sugar and oil. For one loaf or a dozen cupcakes, I always stay under half a cup of sugar. Since these vanilla cupcakes were for friends, I used half a cup. However Eat Good 4 Life noted that a third cup is sufficient if adding icing. She even used whole wheat flour, which would up the amount of fibre but in sacrifice for a darker colour. Either way, I approve of this recipe and would try it again! It is a cupcake I could eat without knowing it will completely sabotage my diet.
 
The texture wasn't the lightest and fluffiest cupcake I've had (check out Papaya Crumpet's earl grey cupcakes if you're looking for a fluffy cupcake), but they were acceptable. Maybe this is due to the fact I only had half a cup of pastry flour to use so some all purpose flour was mixed in. Vanilla paste or extra vanilla bean would make these even better. That's how these cupcakes can become 'very vanilla'.

Healthy Very Vanilla Cupcakes with Rose-shaped Icing

I kept with a 'rose' theme with the gifts I was giving her, and icing these cupcakes using my Wilton 2D Closed Star tip was a no brainer. Plus, it gives the cupcakes that 'professional cupcakery' look. I used a traditional cream cheese frosting, which was the only unhealthy part. No recipe is included below because I kind of just made it from scratch. Mixing the cream cheese and butter by hand (because poor Coconut Crumpet doesn't even own a hand mixer...much less a beautiful pink Kitchen Aid...) and adding icing sugar until the consistency I wanted was achieved. To be honest, I think I must've added too much because it was a bit too sweet. Thank goodness the cupcakes themselves weren't already filled with sugar!

Healthy Very Vanilla Cupcakes

Yield: 11 large cupcakes

Adapted from Eat Good 4 Life

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup pastry flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• A few grinds of Himalayan pink sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, oil, milk, vanilla, and sugar until well combined.
3. Sift in flours, baking powder, and baking soda. Add a few grinds of Himalayan pink sea salt.
4. Fold batter until just combined. Over mixing yields large holes in the cupcake!
5. Scoop batter into prepared pan using a cupcake scoop or ice cream scoop.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with just a few crumbs.
7. Cool completely before frosting.

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Ingrid's Village Cafe

Ingrid's Village Cafe

In the middle of the Village Stroll in Whistler lies this tiny cafe that is loved by both locals and visitors alike. Although I walk past this cafe at least six times a day, I would have never thought to go in if it weren't for the good reviews seen on the Internet. The cafe is not very noticeable as there's no big sign displaying their name and their small patio section is attached to three other restaurants. Look for the 'home cooking' neon lights or an A-frame sign that says stuff like "vegan! hot chocolate!" (Sorry, that's all I remember...), or a patio full of people enjoying burgers out of plastic red baskets.

Garden Veggie Burger ($6.95)

I got the Garden Veggie Burger which is a patty of shredded vegetables in a multigrain bun with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, green bell pepper, shredded carrots, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, salsa, and mayonnaise. This was an absolutely massive burger. Tall and thick! 

The patty was labeled is gluten free and vegan but it also was 'with mozza'. I'm not sure if mozza meant mozzarella cheese, so if you're vegan you may want to double check with an employee. And also tell them 'no mayo' (which I forgot to do...) When eaten, I thought the patty was a bit too wet, being on the verge of tasting undercooked. The mushy texture made the feeling rather strange. As with most vegetarian burgers or low-fat meat patties, the flavour relies heavily on spices. Which is healthier because the spices substitute the lard's job of providing flavour. But for those new to vegetarian burgers, just be prepared. Let's just say the Garden Veggie Burger looked appealing but the taste was rather anticlimactic. The Superior Veggie Burger made of lentils and vegetables could potentially taste better as apparently, Ingrid's is famous for that.

A short mention for the toppings: I'm glad the avocado was thickly spread on the bottom bun; nothing worse that looking forward to some creamy avocado but just getting a tiny sliver. However, the alfalfa sprouts were a totally different story. There are like three sprouts sticking out in the photo, and that's about how much was actually in the burger. Smaller than a pinch. -insert unimpressed face here- All the other vegetables were (I think) present in the burger. Even though the whole patty is made from vegetables, I like to include as much veggies into each meal as possible. Can't go wrong with more cellulose right?

Ingrid's Village Cafe is a great place to pick up a breakfast wrap or a simple soup and sandwich lunch for under $10 inside the village. Sandwiches, burgers, and wraps are all built to order. The prices are extremely reasonable and affordable, great for a day where you don't feel like spending a ton of money to dine at some fancy five-star restaurant or just need something quick and easy. I would love to come back and try some of their other items. Maybe their daily soup or the new Avocado Breakfast Wrap. Ingrid's is like Subway, but with more exciting choices.

The menu and prices can be viewed on their website. 




Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Quick as a Wink Pizza (Yeast-free, V, GF)

I have always loved homemade pizza. But I never liked making the dough because it just hogs up all your time. Here's an example: "Let sit for 2 hours. Once dough has doubled, punch the middle, and let rise for another 3 hours" ... you get what I mean?

Many people would just buy the unbaked or pre-made pizza dough, but what's the point of eating a home-made pizza when you didn't actually make the dough? You more or less just put toppings on and stuck it into the oven.

So the solution to solve my problem for never having the motivation to make pizza is to create my own yeast-free, vegan recipe. For those with gluten sensitivities, this recipe is also for you!

Quick as a Wink Pizza (Yeast-free, V, GF)

makes one large pizza

Dough

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 cup amaranth flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour 
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
• 2 tsp baking powder

Topping Ideas

• Vegan Pesto
• Walnut Cheeze (crumbled walnuts + nutritional yeast)
• Zucchini chunks
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Corn
• Red peppers
• Avocado
• SUNDRIED TOMATOES!! 

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2.) In a large bowl, combine together all the dry ingredients.

3.) Add your water and mix with a plastic spatula. This will seem like a lot of       water, but it will be absorbed!

4.) After water is absorbed, your dough should have the consistency of a drop         cookie dough, a bit of a contrast compared to your good ol' fashioned dough.     Dump your dough onto a pizza pan or cookie sheet. 

5.) Spread the dough evenly on your pan. I found it easier to wet my fingers         first so the dough stick less.

6.) Put in oven for 15 minutes, until the top of crust is no longer doughy.

7.) Now it's time to pile up your pizza! Remember to stack it up high with           nutrient dense veggies!

8.) Bake for another 20-30 minutes until crust is perfecto, slice and indulge!

 Lots of Nuts,
Peanut Crumpet xo

Nectarine & Almond Banana Bread

Nectarine & Almond Banana Bread

Just a quick post on a variation of my recent Healthy Banana Bread recipe! Since nectarines are currently in season, all plump, sweet, and beautiful, I decided to incorporate this summer fruit into my banana loaf. Here are the alterations I made to the banana bread recipe linked above:

1. Leave out the shredded coconut
2. ½ tsp vanilla and ½ tsp almond extract
3. 1 nectarine (or peach), divided. Dice ¾ of the fruit and slice the last ¼ into super thin slices for topping the loaf.
4. 1 tsp of cinnamon, or more, if you love cinnamon like me :P
5. Instead of toasted walnuts, use ¼ toasted almonds. Either whole almonds chopped into smaller chunks or sliced almonds. Now don't be like me and toast your sliced almonds but forget to fold them in until the loaf is already in the oven.... Fail Coconut Crumpet, fail..

Nectarine & Almond Banana Bread

Sound yummy to you? I promise you this will be the best banana bread recipe ever, the one and only banana bread recipe you'll need. Endless types of banana bread can be created with this healthy base batter. Mix in different nuts, chocolate, fruit, and flavours to create your dream banana bread. I'm thinking of adding raspberries to this variation to make a Peach Melba banana bread! Sounds so cute~

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Healthy Banana Walnut Bread (with Coconut!)

Healthy Banana Walnut Bread with Coconut

Recently, I've returned to my obsession with Despicable Me minions. Last year, us Nutty Crumpets were crazy enough to put the Banana Song at the end of our YPI presentation. We thought it would be funny and end the seemingly depressing topic on a light-hearted note, but that nearly cost us not advancing to the semi-finals. Although I can't say the second movie was the best movie I've ever seen, it was definitely an entertaining movie to watch. Yes, it completely contrasts the first movie as Gru the villain is no longer doing evil deeds, but the increased amount of minion action makes up for it. 

What the banana minion says when you pull the banana

Mc Donald's currently carries minion toys as part of the kids' Happy Meal. It's extremely strange for me to want to visit Mc Donald's much less beg to go. The toys certainly do their job very well of luring children (or children at heart, ahem) into buying their food. Thankfully, Happy Meals are not the worst thing to force down your throat and are fairly priced. The portion control and healthy options like milk and apples makes for a acceptable fast food meal. By the way, the hamburger is the 'healthiest' entree option, Happy Meal or not. Anyways, back to the toys. I was disappointed to find that my preferred minion toy was not available on the first trip to get a Happy Meal with Az. Since then, I have dragged my parents to five different locations in search of the 'banana minion'. A successful Coconut Crumpet feels happy about her accomplishment. But my mother says I need to become more mature. I beg to differ.
 
Not only is the banana minion my favourite, but I've become addicted to playing Minion Rush on my phone. And I rarely ever play games, mainly because I'm terrible at them. Something about collecting bananas and running other minions over is so amusing to me. Evidently I seem to have some bias towards the combination of minions and bananas. So, with the bananas that have been sitting frozen in my freezer for months, I dedicate this beautiful banana bread to all 10 million of the minion fans out there.

Super tall Healthy Banana Walnut Bread

Chocolate Banana Cookie Dough Cream Pie

Who says a vegan can't have pie?!
A pie that is so delicious and good for you at the same time? Yes please!
Your family and friends would NEVER believe this pie isn't laden with processed sugars, butter, lard, modified corn starch and all that "natural and artificial flavouring" junk. But i don't blame you if you decide you want the whole pie to yourself because I grant you permission to eat this whole pie! 
But do try controlling yourself eh? ;)

Vegan whipped cream is the best thing I've ever experienced in my life. It tastes so. freaking. delicious. 
Coconut whipped cream= happy peanut crumpet

Chocolate Banana Cookie Dough Coconut Cream Pie

yield 1 pie that would make you go "MAMA MIA" 

Crust:

1 c. almonds

1 c. walnuts
1 1/2 c. dates

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Chocolate Layer:

4 large bananas (set 2 aside for slicing)

3 tbsp. agave

1/4 c. almond butter

1 tbsp. coconut oil

dollop of vanilla paste (or splash of extract)

Pinch salt

1/4 cup cacao

splash of almond milk

Whipped Cream:

1 can full fat coconut milk, in fridge overnight (I used Thai Kitchen organic coconut milk)

1/8 - 1/4 tsp. stevia

splash of vanilla extract

For the crust, put everything into the food processor and pulse until it forms a sticky gooey delicious mass of dough. Remember to pulse so the oils of the nuts don't release as much to prevent it from being too oily! Take a generous amount of dough to press into your pie pan. Put your crust into the freezer to firm up while you make the filling. 

For the leftover "crust", roll them into cookie dough balls the size of the nail of your thumb and set those aside. 

For the chocolate layer, put all of your ingredients in the food processor (except the almond milk) and just give it a whirl until super smooth with the consistency of a thick pudding. If you think your mixture should be a little runnier, add a teensy weensy splash of almond milk, but don't add too much or the filling won't hold its shape!

Pour this lovely concoction into the prepared crust and let sit in fridge until it firms up a bit.

Once firm, slice your 1 banana thinly (so you get more slices), and scatter them in addition to some of the cookie dough balls all over the chocolate layer. Bat your eyelashes at the pie and admire for 1 minute (optional step ;) ). TIME TO MAKE THE COCONUT CREAM!

Take the coconut milk you've been hiding in your fridge and spoon off all the thick goodness from the top. You will be left with clear liquid which can be used for smoothies, or any coconutty baked goods. It tastes sort of like a coconut syrup/extract. I know coconut crumpet would approve. After the scooping of the yummilicious full fat coconut milk, it's time to whip it up baby! Use a handmixer or stand mixer for optimum fluff, but because I don't have a hand mixer and I didn't want to wash the large bowl of my stand mixer, I decided to whip by hand. Wheeee! When you get soft peaks, add your stevia in and whip until you get moderately stiff peaks! Now, you don't want to eat this whole bowl because your pie will make it all up to you later. So just spread this goodness on your pie and lick ALL the equipment that touched this luscious cream. 

Garnish your pie with another sliced banana and your remaining cookie dough balls, and stick it into the fridge for at least 1 hour before eating! (or you can eat it all gooey and melty :) )


Lots of nuts,
Peanut Crumpet xoxo

Green Egg Salad

Green Egg Salad made with Avocado

So your best friend decides to come over for some long-needed gossip time. Both of you are sick from eating restaurant or cruise food. With nothing much other than fruits and vegetables in my fridge, I whipped up this quick, easy, and healthy egg salad for our lunch today! This whole recipe was made in the little time I had left after eating breakfast and going for a swim at 9am. Left it in the fridge to cool and came home to slather it on some fluffy white bread. To be much more healthy than me, use a whole wheat bread full of seeds, nuts, and fibre!

Green Egg Salad Sandwich

This is a very green salad. Celery bits give a bit of crunch, green onion and basil (freshly picked from my new basil plant!) add flavour, and avocado binds the mixture together and adds various textures. If I had fresh spinach laying around, I'd add that too! The richness and creaminess comes from mashed avocado and a tad bit of Greek yogurt. You won't miss the fatty mayonnaise at all. I think avocado brings so much more to an egg salad. You see, my relationship with mayonnaise is the same with my relationship with butter, if not worse. Blech! This recipe is made from wholesome ingredients; no weird preservatives or chemicals added!

Strawberry Chocolate Icebox!

You drooling yet? ;) Just look at that natural pink colour! No chemically formulated colours here, folks!

My intention was to post an Easter recipe, but somehow this turned into another delicious frozen dessert. Well, who's complaining? ;) It's probably because of this beautiful weather I'm experiencing this past few days here in Vancouver.

Warning, your eyes may experience some extreme widening and you
may will feel the urge to get into your kitchen and make this chocolatey strawberryness ;)

If you like strawberries dipped in chocolate, you're definitely at the right place. And don't get intimidated by its gorgeousness; this is one of the recipes that requires little hands-on time, but a longer waiting time (which is definitely the hardest part!) :D

In fact, you make lose some of the love for chocolate-dipped strawberries, as now you can have something that tastes better, and is wayyyy healthier for you than the 50 grams of sugar you get from the chocolate fountain. Oh, and did I mention it's vegan also so no animals are suffering on your behalf? ;)

Strawberry Chocolate Icebox - makes one 11× 5.5 × 3 inch loaf pan