Monday, January 10, 2011

A Quick Snack

Just popping in quickly today to post about a tea time snack I made the other day.  John used to be a big fan of the chocolate chip muffin from Dunkin' Donuts, in theory at least.  Generally when he would get one, it wouldn't be as good as he hoped, and instead would be dry and crumbly.  When we started flirting with the idea of veganism, I bought a couple of cookbooks to try out some recipes, and one of them was How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer.  It seemed like the authors were a lot of fun, and the ingredients were pretty much normal, so I felt like it would be achievable.  The first recipe I picked was the Chocolate Chip Bars, which turned out to be the perfect replacement for chocolate chip muffins, and much more dependably delicious than Dunkin' Donuts.

Sorry for the red tint - low light situation going on here and the tablecloth took over.

These make a great little snack with a cup of tea, or a light breakfast on the go.  I make them with part whole wheat pastry flour to try to up the nutritional profile a bit, and I'd like to try replacing the added fat with applesauce or banana.  I do think the recipe should actually be called Chocolate Chip Muffin Cake, because the texture comes out much more cakey than fudgy, which is not what I would have expected with bars.  The recipe isn't available online, so I can't reprint it here, but I do recommend checking out Barnard & Kramer's book (and their follow up The Garden of Vegan), as both contain a lot of easy, tasty recipes that use ingredients you probably already have on hand, and the ladies are chock-full of personality, which makes the books more fun to read.  You may even be able to find these books at your local library, so don't forget to use that as a resource!

6 comments:

  1. How great that you found John NOT ONLY a vegan replacement for his theoretically beloved Dunkin' Donuts chocolate chip muffin, but one whose flavor and quality are superior to the original! (I love when that happens!)

    They sound very tasty and look good, too - I actually like the ambiance of your photo's reddish hue. Looks like it was taken in a romantic little bistro in Venice or something. :-)

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  2. I meant to ask you if you're getting heavily snowed upon! Looks like it! Hope your pantry's well stocked and you can enjoy some cozy days by the fire (and don't lose your electricity!)

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  3. Thanks Melo, that means a lot coming from you. You always have the most colorful and delicious looking food on your blog!

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  4. Laloofah, I'm glad the red tint didn't throw you off! It's actually my mother-in-law's dining room, where we went to eat dessert after she took us out for my birthday. She's Italian, so she'll be thrilled you think of Venice when you saw her dining room :)

    Yes, it is the snow-pocalypse here today! We got a couple of feet, yikes. I've been living in Massachusetts 10 years and I never get used to it. The funny thing is, I work at the electric company, so whether I lose power or not, someone usually does, which means I have to go in to work. Luckily, since I worked the last storm (day after Christmas) while everyone else was on vacation, she let me work from home today. I got off super lucky on that deal! We didn't lose power (unlike about 75,000 other people in RI & MA), so I've been warm & cozy all day. I live in an owner-occupied building, so they took care of most of the snow removal. We went down around 4:30 and spent an hour getting our cars out, but it wasn't bad at all. Definitely better than some of the other places we have lived. It will all be back to business as usual tomorrow, I am sure :)

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  5. Ah, well, I'm part Italian too, so you see why I liked the Venetian ambience! :-)

    I'm glad you caught a bit of a break in that particular wave of winter weather! I've lost track, have you experience one or two since that one? That's too bad that you often have to go into work when the weather's bad enough to result in people losing power, but I'm sure they all appreciate that folks like you are out there, working to take their calls and to restore it for them! I've always felt for the linemen who often have to go out in truly treacherous weather and do that dangerous job.

    Hope you're staying snug and cozy today!

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  6. Two storms since that one, and supposedly a massive one on the way. And we still have February and March (and maybe April) to go. BLAHHHHHH.

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