Banana Wonder

I've been apple baking like crazy these past few weeks and started referencing some of my recipes from my RIP food blog, bananawonder. I'm sharing some of my faves here in case anyone wants to check them out starting with this vegan mahleb coffee cake, which I must say, is one of the best coffee cakes I've ever tasted. The recipe was mutated off the Vegan Diner cookbook.

When I read the recipe, it sounded almost like milopita - a Greek apple cake/pie.

This cake is seriously delicious - moist, fragrant, and comforting. The base is so spot on that I'm thinking of trying different fruit combos in the future depending on what's in season.

Apple Mahleb Coffee Cake
(adapted from Vegan Diner cookbook)

2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mahleb
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (I used almond, and you should too if you love it)
1 cup vanilla almond milk
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mahleb
2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

crumb topping
1/3 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
dash of cinnamon and malheb
1 heaping tablespoon flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square glass baking dish with pam or some kind of vegan grease.
In a small bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, 1 tsp mahleb, and salt.
In a large bowl, beat together the oil, brown sugar, and vanilla (almond) extract with an electric mixer. Add the flour mixture a little at a time, alternating with the almond milk, beating until just combined.
In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar with cinnamon and 1/4 tsp mahleb.
Spread one third of the batter into the prepared dish. Lay half the apple slices on top of the batter, and sprinkle with some of the cinnamon-sugar-mahleb mixture. Spread another third on top and do the same thing with the apples. Spread the rest of the batter over (it may be spotty, but that's okay).
Combine the crumb topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of batter.
Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Remove to a rack and cool before serving.

I clicked on a recipe for "The BEST Chocolate Cake Ever...that happens to be VEGAN" and ended up making these.
http://www.bananawonder.com/2015/02/vegan-chocolate-cupcakes-with.html

I just took one of those career tests on facebook and it told me I should be a firewoman.

Banana Wonder: Slow Cooker Vegetarian Greek Chili