It's all Chocolate (and carob)

I recently started trying out my new oven and baked a few goodies. One great batch of cookies i made are the Peanut Butter Bombs from the cookbook My Sweet Vegan. While mine didn't turn out as round as the ones in the photo, the taste made up for it - the peanut butter surprise in the middle was melted perfectly and was surrounded nicely by two chocolate cookies.

I also made Vanilla Agave Cupcakes recently and made them with a special mocha chocolate icing. I didn't have the proper ingredients for a fudge icing, nor did i want a full on mousse, so i created something in between. The left over icing (and isn't it always great to have left overs!) we devoured as pudding for our Oscar Night Party for Two. Oh, and the cupcake recipe is of course from the cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. For some reason, they didn't puff up and get big like my cupcakes usually do, but the agave was such a nice and subtle touch!
Here's the recipe for Bambu-ed Choco Icing:
1/2 cup margarine or vegetable shortening
1/2 cup pure Maple Syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp Bamboo powder
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk

1) Beat margarine and syrup in mixer until smooth, using medium speed. Whisk in vanilla. Slowly add cocoa powder (making sure to sift first) and Bambu powder. If you don't have Bambu, you can use instant coffee or espresso powder, or even sub some fresh coffee for the milk. Slowly beat at slow, making sure the cocoa doesn't fly everywhere!
2) Add milk at intervals, making sure it is all incorporated, using a rubber spatual to bring in the stuff on the side of the bowl.
3) To ensure that the icing stays fluffy and doens't change it's form, put in in the fridge for 10 minutes or so, or just as long as your cupcakes need to cool down!
I also recently splurged on a carob bar at my new local health food store. Splurged because it was just over $4 for the bar! I have to admit i was attracted to the sweet pastal and brown labels. Bad i know, but it was also exciting to see a whole line of carob bars - like Hazelnut Praline, Orange Zest and the good ole plain bar, for example. While i do like carob, i prefer a dark chocolate bar, but i wanted to give this a try. The bar was nice, but as i bought the hazelnut one, i was really hoping to taste that flavour and i didn't. One the other hand, the texture was lovely and smooth, which isn't always the case for carob!