Whoopie pies with pumpkin "buttercream" filling

Tonight, we went to a fall festival at Major’s school.  Apparently I am THAT mom that now has to bake everything homemade and package it all cutesy because that is exactly what I did!  I tend to overcompensate since Major can’t have everything at events like this, so I want him to have something special that I made for him.  Something I also did this year was added a sticker that I printed on my computer that listed all of the ingredients in them, just in case someone else had food allergies at the festival.  Anyway, I made these cookies and they were a hit!  They were gone in 15 minutes!  I definitely need to make more next year!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 tablespoon earth balance soy free buttery spread softened

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup oat milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place earth balance, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the dry ingredients, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining dry ingredients.

Drop about 2 teaspoons dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper (or in a pinch a cookie sheet sprayed with pam works just as well!), spacing  about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes.

Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and transfer to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.

make the icing (see recipe below)

Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies.

Dairy and Soy Free Pumpkin “Buttercream”

1 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

2 T. oat milk or any milk alternative

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 T. canned pumpkin puree

1/4 tsp. almond extract

With a whisk or whisk attachment on a stand or hand mixer, beat the shortening, almond extract, and vanilla extract until combined. Add the powdered sugar (with the mixer off, you will only make this mistake once, it goes everywhere!) and whisk until completely combined. If the icing is too thick you can always add more pumpkin or the milk alternative to loosen the icing up. If the icing gets too loose, you can always add more powdered sugar! After the icing is complete, add 1-2 tsp. of icing in between 2 of the whoopie pie cookies and enjoy!

Adapted from: http://www.marthastewart.com/354430/mini-pumpkin-whoopie-pies & http://makinglemonadeblog.com/pumpkin-vanilla-buttercream-frosting/

Nothing Bundt Cakes Major Style!

“Nothing Bundt Cakes” White Chocolate Raspberry Cake “Major Style”

White Chocolate:

4 oz. cacao butter (can be purchased here, it goes a LONG way!)

½ tsp. vanilla extract

8 T. powdered sugar

2 tsp. powdered rice milk (or you can do any powdered milk alternative you can find and tolerate!)

Melt the cacao butter in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring in between until all chunks are liquefied.  Next, mix all other ingredients into the melted cacao butter with a whisk until smooth.  Pour into a plastic container and allow to harden (this took about an hour at room temp.)  Once hardened, reserve ¼ of the white chocolate for melting into the icing. The remaining ¾ of the white chocolate, chop finely to put into the cake batter.

(Adapted from a recipe on www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com)

Cake:

1 pkg Duncan Hines yellow cake mix (or any other boxed cake mix that is safe, can use gluten free also)

1 pkg Jell-O White Chocolate pudding (not instant, read ingredients to be safe though!!)

¾ of the white chocolate, chopped finely

1 c. So Delicious Vanilla Cultured Coconut milk “yogurt”

4 large eggs (or egg replaced to equal 4 eggs)

½ c water

½ c oil (I used vegetable oil but you could use any neutral tasting oil!)

½ pint fresh raspberries, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk all ingredients together except the raspberries until thoroughly mixed.  Pour half of the batter into a Bundt pan that is greased with Pam or any type of spray oil (or really whatever works best for your allergy situation).   Next, sprinkle the chopped raspberries across the batter in the pan evenly, then gently spread the remaining batter over the top until all of the raspberries are hidden.  Bake for 45-60 minutes.  The cake is done when a cake tester comes out clean (may have some raspberry juice on it, that is ok!)

Frosting:

2 (8 oz) packages Daiya vegan cream cheese, softened

¼ of the white chocolate, melted

3-4 c powdered sugar (I use the kind from whole foods without corn starch, but use whatever is best for your family!)

1 T. vanilla extract

¼ tsp. almond extract

With the whisk attachment on a mixer, or a whisk, whisk together the softened Daiya and the white chocolate until thoroughly mixed.  Next, add the extracts and powdered sugar until you get a mixture that resembles soft cream cheese icing.  It will be kind of soft at this stage!  After the icing reaches the desired consistency, scoop it into a gallon sized plastic bag, seal, and then place in the refrigerator for an hour or 2, until it is firm.  Once the cake is completely cooled, cut the tip off of the bottom of the zip loc bag and pipe onto the cake as seen in the picture!

Note about the icing:  This is the only part of the cake that I didn’t just LOVE.  I am going to play with the recipe, maybe add half shortening or earth balance butter to see if that kind of neutralizes the pea proteiny taste in it, but my husband liked the icing and if you’re not picky like me it’s fine!  

Spaghetti O's

What do you do when you have a picky 18 month old with food allergies?  Make your own kid food that is healthy!  Here is my attempt this week, and the whole family loved them!  I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Healthy Dairy/Soy free Spaghetti O’s

3 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces

½ onion, diced

1 cup carrot puree (I used gerber carrot baby food)

1 (16 oz.) can tomato sauce, preferably organic

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

16 oz dry pasta, preferably stars or letters

Meatballs:

            2 lbs ground beef

            1 onion, grated

½ cup bread crumbs (soaked in milk alternative until moist)

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 T. Italian herb blend

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Next, mix all ingredients together for meatballs in a bowl.  After meat mixture is thoroughly mixed, roll marble sized meatballs (or whatever size works best for your child, you know them best!).  Place on a greased pan and bake for 20 minutes!

In the mean time, boil about 5 cups of water, and add about 1 tablespoon of salt to the water and boil the pasta. 

Sautee the bacon pieces and onion together until soft in a separate skillet or pot (big enough to fit everything in once it’s cooked!) once the bacon and onions are soft add the carrot puree, tomato paste, and tomato sauce.  Simmer until the pasta is done.  Once the pasta is done, drain and place in the sauce and mix together!  After the meatballs are done mix into the sauce and pasta mixture and you have spaghetti O’s that even adults will love!

Note: I used Monjuni’s brand pasta sauce, but use your favorite!  As always, check ingredients in everything to make sure you’re not missing any allergens!