A is for Avocado: Chocolate Avocado Cake (Jennifer)

Hello readers!

This week's secret ingredient was avocado! Now, normally, I would just slice my avocado, lay the slices all out on a plate, sprinkle them with sea salt and proceed to eat them up. But, I figured I needed to do a little something more for you all. Something a little more adventurous. A little more interesting. Well, I don't believe it gets more interesting than combining chocolate and avocado in a cake. But, before you dismiss this post as too zany an idea, give me a second to explain. I just might win you over.

A few months ago, while browsing around the interwebs, I stumbled upon some vegan dessert recipes that combined ingredients like beets and tofu with chocolate. I know, right? That's what I was thinking...until I tried it. And it actually worked. So, because I had a hankering for chocolate cake, I did a little web search and whaddya' know? A recipe came up on the official California Avocado website for chocolate avocado pistachio cake. Hmm....I thought. Could I actually pull this off? I did a little more searching and came up with another recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Joy the Baker. If she could do it, why couldn't I?

A is for Applesauce: Applesauce Spice Cupcakes (Jessica)

Aloha!

We did it! I'm so thrilled and amazed that Jen and I have completed this challenge and are still keen to do more! At this important milestone, I chose a cupcake recipe to bring to you this week.
Cupcakes are REALLY what started my love of baking. About three years ago, I had some friends who liked baking box cakes when they cooked dinner. One day, I was going on and on about Red Velvet cupcakes and they suggested I make some. I was hooked. Well, actually, those cupcakes turned out pretty poorly, but then I kept trying more cupcake recipes....and then I was hooked.

This week's recipe is from my favorite-ist cupcake book by Martha Stewart (check it out here). You already knew I was picking a recipe that featured applesauce, and this one stood out! It was perfect for this time year!

Another "A" for Good Measure (Jennifer)

Addressed to all who adore artichokes,

Wow, that might be a record for alliteration so far on this here blog. : ) I, too, found lots of recipes for our letter "A" challenge, so I'm posting a "bonus" recipe before we leave the "A" challenge behind:

A is also for....

To everyone who loves foods starting with A,

The truth is, there are just too many great things that start with the letter A.  Apples, avocados, asiago cheese...I could go on and on! We decided that even though we didn't test out any of these recipes, we wanted to list them up here as runner-up options that sounded great! If you are feeling creative, try one of them out! And if you do, let us know how it went so that we can improve our kitchen skills together!

1) Apple Turnovers
2) Apple Carrot Muffins
3) Apple Coffee Cake
4) Apple Pie Muffin Tops

Hmmm, it seems like I was in the mood for something with apples when I collected these...they must be the APPLE of my eye!  (haha....groan)

-Jessica

A is for Amaretti Cookies (Jennifer)

Hello from the kitchen!

For my letter A post, I wanted to do something with almonds. Almonds, amaretto.....amaretti! No, amaretto is not related at all to amaretti, but that was my thought process...follow? : ) I love both almonds and amaretto, and most recently, this past November, I traveled with my sister to Boston where I sampled THE most amazing amaretti cookies ever at Mike's Pastry. Oh, my, goodness...if ever you go to Boston, run, don't walk, to Mike's! You'll swoon over Mike's delicious amaretti. Promise.

So, back to the challenge and the recipe. I derived much of my inspiration from this recipe found on smitten kitchen. I also looked to the inside of the packaging for the almond paste I purchased for further inspiration, tips and advice. What follows is the smitten kitchen recipe, though I'll note where I slightly adapted it.

A is for Agave Cornbread Muffins (Jessica)

Greetings!

For the first recipe in the Alphabet Challenge, I picked a recipe that fulfilled two roles at once: (1) it starts with an A and (2) it is a (vaguely) Mexican recipe I could use for this month’s Mexican-themed Cooking Club dinner. (Side note about Cooking Club: we meet up once a month and everyone makes something to contribute to the dinner in accordance with the pre-selected theme).

This recipe for Agave Cornbread Muffins came from allrecipes.com which is one of my favorite sites for picking new recipes. I followed some of the users' comments and altered the recipe to the following (after the jump). For the original recipe (which is vegan), look here.