Days 10, 13, 16, and 42 & a minor kitchen fire...

Just a reminder that I am involved in The La Dolce Vegan cooking challenge sponsored by The Vegan Culinary Institute, wherein we cook our way through La Dolce Vegan cookbook by Sarah Kramer & blog about our experiences.

I had a bit of a catch up day yesterday...all desserts! I have an event tomorrow where I'm in charge of desserts, so I saved a bunch for then & also skipped ahead so I'd have enough to share. Here we go:

Day 10 ~ Espresso Cake (247) with Chocolate Glaze (260). First of all, I don't have an espresso maker, so I went up to my local coffee shop for the espresso, thanks Coffee Buddha! I also decided to double the recipe since I need to feed lots of people. The cake recipe was very easy and smelled like heaven! I didn't have a double boiler for the glaze, so I had to fashion one. It was a little messy but did the job. I didn't get to try the finished product yet, but can't wait to!

Day 13 ~ Stephanie's Asteroids aka Sugar Bombs aka Crack aka Instant Cavity (page 209). In my baking frenzy yesterday, I forgot to make these. So I whipped them up this morning before breakfast! Quick and easy. I screwed up by putting the sugar (a reduced 2/3 cup) into the dry mixture, so I ended up putting the remaining 1/3 cup on the stove with the peanut butter and soy milk. It turned out fine & actually made them look a little sparkly:). But so much for trying to watch the sugar intake. My advice before rolling this sticky little nuggets of goo in your hands is to wet your hands with cold water...makes life much easier. And holy sugar!!!! Be so careful giving these to your kids...they may not sleep for days! These are like a non-drug drug...I'm still buzzing! Yum!

Day 16 ~ Cherry Cobbler (page 230). Okay so I hate cherry pie, cherry cobbler, or anything to do with cooked cherries. I only like them fresh. But I actually didn't mind this recipe so much. I loved the little "biscuits" that made up the cobbler part. This literally makes exactly 4 servings...Sarah Kramer is a genius for coming up with this idea. (Though it did sabotage my plan to feed 30 people with it. What was I thinking??) Love it...2 thumbs up. Next time I might try it with strawberries or blueberries.

Day 42 ~ Cranberry Apple Crisp (page 234). This is my skip ahead recipe, since the cobbler couldn't feed more than 4 people. I doubled this recipe as well for the number of people I want to serve and also didn't get to try it just yet. I didn't have enough cranberries for the doubled recipe, so I used blueberries. It was 2 cups cranberries and 1 cup blueberries. Looks delicious & smells fantastic! Just like fall. The hardest part was chopping the apples. But if you have an apple peeler-corer-slicer, it's a breeze. Whoever invented this thing is a stinking genius! It is perfect for making apple pies. If you don't own the stand, you may want to think about getting it, as this doesn't clamp on my kitchen counter tops. You know another thing I love from Pampered Chef? These measuring spoons. Another genius invention and space saver. And for $8, you are going to save yourself a world of hassle. No I do not sell Pampered chef, I am just in love with these two purchases! Anywho...check out the Crisp:

And now on to my final order of blogging...the kitchen fire. As all my lovely desserts were cooling on trivets on the stovetop, I decided to rest and make myself a cup of tea. I put the teapot on the stove, turned it on, and walked away. Within about 10 minutes the house was filled with smoke. I turned on a burner under one of my cooking desserts & set the wooden trivet on fire...and I mean real flames! This is not the first time I have done this & it's one of the reasons I really miss my gas stove. This is, however, the first time there have been actual flames. But I learned something...my smoke detectors don't work so great! I got the smoke cleared, but my house definitely smells like a campfire. Ah well...what an adventure!

Lying on the floor where I tossed it after smothering the flames. *sigh*