Strawberry Almond Bread...and a little post on Freedom :)

Sometimes I have a craving for something I can't place; I'll have it for weeks before I actually figure out what it is I've been craving. Ever have that happen to you? Maybe it hasn't happened with food, but with things far less tangible though just as necessary for a healthy existence, like strength of mind with a heaping cup of fearlessness thrown in for added flavor. Those are two ingredients that play the same role in life as salt does in a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Without them, life's just flat and bland - you know something's missing, even when it's only a pinch.

I'll admit, there are moments when I need more than a simple dash of fearlessness and strength of mind to spice up my life, more like a gallon! Thankfully, I still have a mustard seed of faith lying around somewhere; it keeps me going when the reserves are low. But I really love it when I come across an inspiring blog post, that also revitalizes me and gives me a reality check. Take this post written by Oscar of Freshtopia, for instance. Here is a man with enough strength and fearlessness to get him through the hardest of knocks, like a brain cancer diagnosis.

What reveals his strength? There's enough evidence in that blog to safely say he's a loving man who truly understands what it means to be free, even when inflicted with an illness that would make most feel physically limited and emotionally defeated. So what does that have to do with freedom? Everything. The worst oppression is the kind that's self-inflicted, losing your personal freedom to negative thoughts and bitterness. The first sign of this? A mentally insatiable craving for something more; feeling like life owes you something, and focusing on that so much that you lose yourself and the ability to love in the process.

Freedom comes with acknowledging your blessings in the midst of what seem to be curses, and that's fairly impossible without strength of mind. Reading Oscar's post made me think of a kind of independence that all of us should strive for. Happy 4th of July!

...and because this is a food blog ;), here's a recipe for some tasty Strawberry Almond Bread!

June Cupcake Hero Entry: Watermelon Cocktail Cupcakes with Cherry Vanilla Frosting

This month, the Cupcake Hero 'special' ingredient is Melon. I've never had honey dew, watermelon, or cantaloupe cupcakes, so I really had to think out of the box when it came to coming up with a melon-inspired recipe. Personally, I have to be in the mood for watermelon to really enjoy it (though it tastes yummy cold, I'm generally more of a honey dew fan), but because I admire every watermelon's fun pink color, I decided to go with it!

Watermelon has such a crisp and easily distinguishable flavor, I wasn't sure what to pair it with. It's great in fruit salads, so that was my inspiration for this month's melon challenge. I pureed fresh watermelon with maraschino cherries, then added a bit of lemon and orange zest to the mix. Because I wanted the cupcakes to have an intensely summery flavor, I also threw in some fruit cocktail juice to the batter.




The end result was a really moist and fruity cupcake with a bright orange color and lightly watermelony after-taste. Hence their other name, Sunshine Cupcakes, they taste like Summer in a cupcake. I topped them off with a homemade cherry and vanilla frosting. Instead of using plain old vanilla extract, I added a few tablespoons of this new sugary blend I recently added to my collection of baking spices - vanilla sugar. It smells ammmaaaazzing! Like your favorite candle...like a warm sugar cookie....like real vanilla! Soo delicious, it even tastes spectacular on toast.

I waited until the last minute to bake these cupcakes...and I waited until the last minute to do the Daring Bakers challenge, so sugary baked goods are all that you'll get to see on Flour Arrangements this weekend :)! But I do promise to cook up something savory soon! Expect another sweet post tomorrow :D!

Double Chocolate Razzcherry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I made these intense cupcakes yesterday, for the May Cupcake Hero challenge. Preparing everything took awhile, but I have to admit that coming up with this recipe took even longer! I wanted the cupcakes to have flavor and bite, so I filled the dense, chocolatey cupcakes with homemade razzcherry sauce (yep, that's what they're really called). I also topped them with a cheesecake-like frosting (I 'drizzled' even more sauce on afterward, because the bunny needed something soft and gooey to cushion it from the hearty frosting!).

The frosting itself contains roughly broken up pieces of bunny grahams and rehydrated tart cherries. I thought of pureeing all these ingredients together to make a smooth, rich buttercream/cream cheese frosting, but, instead, I decided to leave it chunky and thick. So it seems the frosting is a dessert in itself :) -- especially in these cupcakes, where it's 50% of the actual dessert :). I have to admit, I made more frosting than expected, but I didn't want to waste...so I used a cookie dough scooper to top the cupcakes with a generous serving of frosting. Make sure you follow all of the instructions on the recipe card below. Don't overlook the last step, where you're asked to devour the cupakes then BRUSH your teeth; these sweet and decadent cupucakes are cavity-causing ;)!

Dairy Free Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes with Kahlua Almond Ice Cream and Caramel/Cream Cheese Sauce or "frosting"

Wow...that's a long title for cupcakes that took an even longer time to make ;)! I enjoyed coming up with this fun recipe for ice cream cupcakes. It was kind of exciting trying to figure out how I'd convert a sticky toffee pudding recipe into a sticky toffee pudding cupcake recipe. Initially, I was a little worried that the cupcakes would come out a bit gooey, but with some recipe-improvising, I was able to figure out a way to give the gooey pudding a cupcakey texture. I used one less egg and substituted the butter with canola oil.

The tricky thing about making these cupcakes was the dairy free part...so when it came time to make the 'caramel cream cheese frosting', I ran into a few problems that led to unexpected discoveries! Normally I'd use heavy cream to make caramel sauce, but this time I used soy creamer. I was hoping it'd be a tad bit thicker than soy milk, and possibly serve as a nice alternative to heavy cream, but I was wrong. The soy creamer pretty much dissolved as soon as it hit the caramel colored, burnt sugar; it's almost like it took on the form of water. Strange. Anyone have any tips on how to make dairy free caramel? I could sure use 'em!

On to the unexpected discoveries... Since the caramel sauce was watery, I decided it'd have a richer taste if it was combined with something like tofutti cream cheese frosting (I've made caramel sauce in the past, but for some reason, it really wasn't working out for me this time -- I had to re-do it 3 times!). I also had some issues with the tofutti cream cheese frosting (probably because I've never made any kind of cream cheese frosting before ;) -- it turned out a little on the watery side, but all was not lost! The end result was a lightly flavored, creamy and syrupy caramel sauce that nicely complemented the rich pudding-based cupcakes and crunchy soy ice cream.

Next time I make these cupcakes, I'd like to make the soy ice cream. I don't have an ice cream maker at the moment, so I wasn't able to do it this time around. I do think I experimented enough with the cupcakes and topping, though. But I wonder how the ice cream would've turned out if I tried making that dairy free?!

I'd now like to take the time to applaud each and every talented dairy-free baker/blogger who effortlessly creates delicious treats...how do you all do it?!

I had so many of these cupcakes, and I knew my husband and I wouldn't be able to finish even half of the batch, so I thought I'd have him take another version of them to work. I knew it'd be too messy to transport the cupcakes with an entire scoop of ice cream on top, so I packed them up in a container and covered them in the caramel cream cheese sauce, instead. I then used a teaspoon to scoop a tiny serving of ice cream on top of the saucy frosting. To give them a somewhat cute look, I threw an almond on top of the dab of ice cream. They ended up resembling a big sticky mess by the time his coworkers got to them, but I love sharing baked goods with folks. Who doesn't love getting an unexpected treat at work -- doesn't it make the day go by a little faster :)? Below is a picture of the cupcakes Jose took to work, version 2 of the sticky toffee pudding cupcakes.