Derby Bars

Since being home, I've been having the itch to make something delicious. But first let me tell you about my trip to Churchill Downs!

View of the Winner's Circle

It was so good to be back home for Derby Week! It is literally impossible to go anywhere without seeing some kind of Derby paraphernalia. I love it! This morning we went to the Turf Club for a early morning breakfast and to watch the horse's morning workouts.

It was great to see all of the Derby contenders gallop around the track. It gave me a good idea of who to bet on for Saturday's Race!

Hansen

Optimizer

Churchill Downs is all prepped for Derby! They already have the red carpet out and constructed the press boxes!

Pres Boxes by the Track

It was a beautiful morning!

But back to my delicious treat! I was browsing pinterest (per usual) and I came across some Zucchini and Carrot Bars. I have been wanting to make these for WEEKS, however without a grater in my Dallas apartment, I had to wait until I got home!

So that is just what I did!

These bars taste even better than they look! Do you want to know a secret?!?! These are virtually fat-free!!! But no one will ever guess that. If you really want to make these, extra-delicious, a nice dollop of cream cheese icing would be an excellent addition!

And do to the addition of freshly grated zucchini and carrots, I'd like to think that eating one of these is a serving of vegetables! They are perfect for breakfast, dessert, or for a snack!

Carrot and Zucchini Bars

Print this recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup grated carrots (2 small carrots)
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini (1 small zucchini)

Directions
Begin by freshly grating your zucchini and carrots.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix to combine and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs and egg yolk together on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Add in the sugars, oil, apple sauce, and vanilla extract until throughly combined and smooth.


Add about 1/2 of the vegetables to the wet ingredients, followed by 1/2 of the flour mixture. Turn your mixer on just to incorporate the flour (literally about 2 seconds). Add in the rest of the grated vegetables and rest of the flour mixture. Again, turn the machine on just to combine everything together. Be careful not to over-mix!

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 15 - 17 minutes. Cake should be slightly brown on top.

Allow to cool in the pan placed on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes before removing cake from the pan. Allow to cool completely before cutting into rectangles. 

Top with cream cheese icing, or just a side of ice cream!

Derby Week!

Monday was an interesting day... It ended like this:

yes, that is the inside of my car

From the beginning: Monday started out with Bootcamp, 2 hours of studying, 1 final, 3 more hours of studying, second final, then FREEDOM!!!

I was so excited to finish my finals, I went to a few shops to try to find a purse/hat for Derby! If you don't know... the Kentucky Derby is on Cinco De Mayo!!

Saturday May 5th will be the 138th Running of the Kentucky Derby! I have to go study the condensers!!

Getting back to the story: before my afternoon bootcamp, I stopped to fill up my car with gas.

PROBLEM

The gas tank wouldn't open....fail.

I then proceeded to call Marshall who looked up how I had to disassemble the trunk of my car in order to manually open the gas tank. Needless to say, that was an adventure. But through skyping, pulling, and twisting, this happened:

open sesame

SUCCESS! Now, I could effectively get gas so that I could now take my car someplace to get it fixed. That was the important part! But that had to wait because....

.... I flew home yesterday!!

[source]

That would to be Louisville, KY!! And it's the best week ever!! 

[source]

DERBY WEEK!

No need to worry, because I have some good recipes planned! Especially since I'm now officially on my three week "summer break" and I plan on baking all sorts of goodies!!! Get excited!

If you are planning a Derby Party this week, these would be a great addition to your spread.

Buttercream

Did you think I would leave you hanging and give you a cupcake recipe with no icing?? Of course not!

Today, we will be making a Chocolate Ganache Filling for our Bourbon Scented Vanilla Cupcakes and topping them with a Bourbon Nut Buttercream.

Get excited, because not only are both equally delicious, they are both VEGAN!! But don't let that discourage you. No one will be able to tell and everyone will just love this icing. I think it has just become my go-to recipe!

Let's start with the ganache. Pretend you've already made the delicious ganache and now you will want to fill your lovely cupcakes with the chocolate (Recipes are at the end of this post).

To assemble your cupcakes, you will need to hollow out the middle of your cupcakes:

I use the bottom of the icing tip to make a shallow hole

Then use a 1/4 teaspoon to hollow out the very middle of the cupcake, making the crater deeper

It should look about this deep

Fill cupcake with your cooled ganache

Finally, you need to top the cupcakes with some rich and creamy Bourbon Nut Buttercream!

Make your icing! It will look like this:

Beautiful

I used a big star tip to make the cupcakes look extra special.

Both the recipes for chocolate ganache and buttercream are below. You will not be disappointed!

I just took the traditional ganache recipe that is usually made with cream, butter, and chocolate chips, but vegan-ized it. It is extremely delicious and would also be perfect for using as a dipping chocolate for strawberries or whatever else you might like.

Print this recipe!

Vegan Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 4 Tablespoons Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
• 6 oz. vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a double boiler, heat butter and soy milk together over medium heat until butter is completely melted. It will take about 10 minutes to completely melt.

Once melted, add in the chocolate chips and continuously stir until the mixture is shiny and smooth. About another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside to let cool to pudding like consistency. It will take about 2 - 3 hours to cool to this stage. Stir mixture every 15 - 30 minutes during the cooling process.

Shiny and Smooth!

NOTE: Do NOT let any drop of water get into the mixture while heating, otherwise bad things will happen.

Print this recipe!

Bourbon Nut Buttercream

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients

• 2 sticks earth balance buttery spread, softened
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons soy milk
• 4 Tablespoons bourbon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions

First things first, if you do not have your walnuts finely chopped, chop them up in a food processor until very fine and meal-like.

In a large bowl, beat butter on medium high speed for 4 - 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.


Add in the powdered sugar (carefully), soy milk, and bourbon. Beat on low - medium speed until everything is combined.


Finely, beat in the finely chopped walnuts until evenly incorporated.


You are now ready to top your favorite baked good with this delicious concoction!

Cupcakes!

Cupcakes are definitely one of my favorite things. They are so cute and dainty and you can be so creative with them. Cupcakes can be molded and shaped into any flavor combination possible and the result is almost always delicious.

So naturally, last week I was going through cupcake withdrawals having not produced a single mini cake in my oven in MONTHS! And with the Kentucky Derby coming up soon, I got a little creative with the traditional Derby dessert...Derby Pie.

Here's what I came up with:

Bourbon Scented Vanilla Cupcakes

 with a 

Bourbon Nut Buttercream 

and 

Chocolate Ganache Filling

I was essentially going for the same flavors you would find in this traditional pie...chocolate, nuts, and bourbon... but put into a slightly different form.

I was extremely happy with the result, and I hope you make these for your next Derby Party on May 5th, 2012!

For starters, I'll give you the cupcake recipe.

Print this recipe!

Bourbon Scented Vanilla Cupcakes
Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients

• 3 cups bleached cake flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1.5 cups cane sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons bourbon
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon cane sugar

Directions
Sift all of the dry ingredients together and set aside.

It may get a tad messy

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together for 3 - 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. 

Add in the eggs, one at a time, until everything is fully combined. Beat of medium high speed for another 3 - 4 minutes.

Next, alternately add in the sifted flour mixture and the milk + vanilla, being sure to start by adding the flour, and ending by adding the flour. The pattern should look like this:

1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 milk, 1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 milk, 1/3 flour mixture

Be sure you do NOT over-mix the batter, or your cupcakes will turn out tough!

Fill cupcakes liners 2/3 of the way up with batter and baked at 350 degrees for 20 - 22 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees half way through baking.

Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Once the cupcakes are cool enough to handle, mix the bourbon, water, and sugar together in a small bowl. Take a teaspoon of the liquid and drizzle onto the top of the cupcake. The liquid should instantly soak in.

You are now ready to fill and frost your cupcakes!