Puddings and Cakes and Muffins, Oh My!

I've been busy in the kitchen. Since I last posted, I baked potato rolls, which were great on their own, but I used the leftovers to make banana chocolate chip bread pudding. I wouldn't have thought to use potato rolls in a dessert, but the authors of Veganomicon recommended it, and I've grown to trust them. The potato was quite subtle, so the bread pudding definitely did not taste like potato! The combination of cinnamon, warm bananas, maple syrup, and chocolate was comforting and delicious.

Last week, I baked vanilla yogurt pound cake with rosewater. Soft silken tofu gets whirled in the food processor and combined with vanilla soy yogurt in place of butter and eggs, so I didn't have to feel quite so guilty about finishing the entire loaf within 24 hours (or at least I'll keep telling myself that). I've noticed that certain cake-like desserts get moister the longer they sit, and this was one of them. I have yet to figure out why, given that most pastries get drier as time passes.

I also made mocha chip muffins, wherein I found a use for Starbucks VIA Ready-Brew (their fancy name for instant coffee-- I'm generally weirded out by instant coffee, but this tastes so much like drip coffee, I wouldn't know the difference, and I'm a bit of a coffee snob. Also, it's great for baking because it comes in small packets, so I didn't have to purchase an entire jar of instant coffee I would never use again). With a short ingredient list (the only slightly strange item being soy yogurt), these only took a few minutes to bake but were absolutely wonderful. In fact, I believe these muffins may have crossed over into cupcake territory. Speaking of which, I just ordered Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, so expect a lot more about cupcakes. Until then: pumpkin coffee cake with pecan streussal.