Babycakes Covers the Classics: Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes From Donuts to Snickerdoodles (12 page)

Sno Balls

Like bubble-gum ice cream, Sno Balls were one of those grocery-store items I coveted as a very young girl. All I knew was that they looked like Barbie food and that was precisely what I wanted and needed. And then I tried one. Absolutely awful. Like, terrible. I wondered how something so pretty could taste so wretched. And then, when it came time to write this book, I decided,
No, something so adorable need not be so incredibly foul-tasting
. So I reworked them. In the process, I stumbled on a new bakery favorite. What’s more, you get two recipes in the process of making a batch of these; head over to the recipe for
Bread Pudding
and see just one idea for what you can do with the unused part of a cupcake.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and
set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the coconut and red food coloring and toss with your
hands until the flakes are uniformly pink. Add a touch more food coloring if you
want to make them brighter pink. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, potato starch, arrowroot, baking
powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the agave nectar, coconut oil,
applesauce, vanilla, and lemon extract and mix with a rubber spatula until the
batter is smooth. Add the hot water and mix until fully incorporated.

Using a ½-cup measure, divide the batter among the baking cups. Bake for
14 minutes, rotate, and bake until the cupcakes are lightly golden on the outside
and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 14 minutes more. Let
stand in the tin for 30 minutes.

Remove the liner from each cupcake. Cut the bottom third of the cupcake away and set it aside for another use. Using a spoon, hollow out the inside of the remaining section of the cupcakes and fill each with 1 tablespoon Ricemellow Crème. Spread an additional 2 tablespoons crème on the top of each snowball and roll in the pink coconut.

Makes 12

Frozen Chocolate-Dipped Bananas

You’ll notice in a minute that this recipe does not call for the
Sugar-Sweetened Chocolate Dipping Sauce
, even though it might harden up in the freezer a little better than the alternative. Instead, I turn to the agave-sweetened version because, to my mind, there’s no sense in rolling a perfectly nutritious snack in vegan sugar when an agave-sweetened option offers an equally excellent alternative.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Cut the tips off each banana, slice in half, and place on the baking sheet.
Insert a Popsicle stick into the wide end of each and place in the freezer for 20
minutes. Dip each banana in the chocolate glaze, then roll in the topping of your
choice. Place the bananas back on the baking sheet and freeze for 45 minutes
more.

Makes 12

Banana Royale

I’m not a fan of the usual banana split because raw bananas taste too—how do I say this?—
healthy
for a sundae surrounded by all that other sweet chaos. So I add a little love and caramelize the bananas, which transforms them into a richly textured miracle and brings a buttery taste not available in your garden-variety banana split.

Cut the bananas in half lengthwise and then into thirds crosswise. In a
medium skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium heat until the oil is hot, about 45
seconds. Add the sugar and bananas and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, taking
care not to break up the bananas, until they are browned.

Place 1 heaping scoop of ice cream in each of 4 dessert bowls. Divide the
banana mixture among the bowls and spoon 2 tablespoons of the Ricemellow
Crème over each. Drizzle each with ¼ cup of the chocolate glaze.
Scatter with the almonds, if using, and top with a cherry.

Makes 4 sundaes

Sweet-and-Spicy Popcorn Balls

This is one of my absolute favorite snacks—a perfectly refined marriage of competing flavors. Whatever you do, do not put these in a big bowl by the couch and dig in for a reality-TV marathon while pretending to write a cookbook on a windy, rainy spring day like I did. You will lose that productivity battle, I assure you. Instead, make a big batch and divvy the balls out into individual air-tight sandwich bags for on-the-fly enjoyment throughout the week.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment
paper.

Spread the pumpkin seeds or almonds in a single layer on the baking sheet and
bake for 10 minutes, or until nicely toasted, stirring once. Transfer to a large
heat-proof bowl and set aside. Pop the popcorn according to package instructions and
transfer to the bowl. Toss the popcorn with the seeds or nuts until thoroughly
mixed. Set aside.

Combine the agave nectar and ½ cup water in a medium saucepan and bring
to a boil over medium heat, stirring every other minute so that the mixture
doesn’t stick to the pan. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook until
the liquid turns deep amber, about 10 minutes more. Turn off the heat and let the
syrup sit for 1 minute. While whisking briskly, add the coconut milk, the 2
tablespoons coconut oil, the vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne and continue to
whisk until the caramel is smooth. Cool for 1 minute, then pour the caramel over the
popcorn mixture and stir until evenly coated. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator
for 20 minutes.