Kelly's Bake Shoppe - Cupcakes and Cookies and Brownies - Oh My!

What if I told you that there was this pretty little bakery in downtown Burlington, Ontario where you could indulge, guilt-free, in the most delicious cupcakes, cookies, brownies and other sweet treats, and... that they were all gluten-free and vegan? Not to mention they are baked using natural, fair trade and organic ingredients (think flower petals, agave, essential oils) and are peanut-free too. And did I mention, absolutely delicious? You'd likely scoff and say something like, “Pfffttt...there's no way gluten-free and vegan desserts can be that good”. Oh yes they can, I say. Yes. They. Can!

Kelly's Bake Shoppe is owned by sensational mother-daughter team Kelly Childs and Erinn Weatherbie. These two are the brains and faces (and beautiful faces, I might add!) behind this oh-so-pretty little slice of heaven on Brant Street. The popularity of the desserts at their vegan restaurant (Lettuce Love Cafe, also located in Burlington), prompted the duo to open a bakery to satisfy the demand for guilt-free desserts of their sweet tooth customers. The bakery took off and is now award-winning, including accolades such as Best Bakery in Burlington, a few times over.

   

Everything about the bakery is pretty – from the mural on the outside wall, to the décor inside where you can enjoy a Skinny Cookie (so hearty and yummy!) with a Balzac's coffee, to the pretty pink packaging that the treats come in. I'm a sucker for all things pink and this place makes my heart happy. You may also spot Kelly's Cupcake Bus around Burlington and Hamilton – I saw it just this week! (Insider tip: if you snap a photo of the bus and post it to Instagram or Twitter using hashtags #kellyscupcakebus and #kellystribe, you'll get a FREE cupcake next time you stop by the bakery!)

The menu at Kelly's includes beautiful and decadent cupcakes, donuts, cookies, brownies and so much more. They also offer vegan soft serve to eat in or take home. There are standard cupcake flavours available every day as well as daily and monthly features such as Black Magic, Lemon Raspberry, Pina Colada, Salted Caramel and Rootbeer Float, to name a few.  Kelly's will also bake you a custom cake for any occasion, including weddings. 

In exchange for this blog post, I was given some treats by Kelly's to try. And try I did. The Snickerdoodle cookie barely made it home in the car. I didn't even know I liked Snickerdoodles! I brought the cupcakes and Mile-High Brownie to share at a family birthday party and when I went to take them out of the box at dessert time, there were only crumbs left from the brownie (you know who you are...)! I can only assume that means it was scrumptious. I was already a fan and customer of Kelly's before this opportunity arose, though, and had one of their triple-layer, red velvet cakes for my birthday in April. It was to-die for.

My birthday Instagram post

The cupcakes from Kelly's are hands-down the best I have ever had. The absence of preservatives and artificial ingredients along with the abundance of flavour, sky-high icing and toppings are what make these beauties so incredible. Having dabbled in vegan and/or gluten-free baking myself (with very limited success), I can attest that it is not easy to make delicious desserts that don't taste like they are missing something (“cake-free cake” as my husband has called some of my experiments).  Kelly's has perfected this. 

Next time you're in charming downtown Burlington, why not stop in at Kelly's for a treat while browsing the unique shops or taking a stroll in Spencer Smith Park on Lake Ontario? You won't regret it. Not going to be in the area? Fear not! Kelly's Bake Shoppe will deliver anywhere in the GTA for a $15 flat fee.

Keep doing what you're doing, Kelly and Erinn. Your passion, enthusiasm and incredible desserts are appreciated and loved by many!

Flour-Less Blueberry Oat Muffins

Who doesn’t love a good muffin?  After all, most muffins are really just cupcakes without the icing, right?  Knowing this, I’m not comfortable baking a standard white flour and sugar-based “cupcake” for my toddler, so I went in search of a healthier muffin recipe for the little guy and came across this fantastic one for Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Muffins.

This quickly became my favourite quick and easy muffin recipe and I have whipped up several batches in the last couple of months.  I have modified the recipe a bit by reducing the sugar (each time I put less and less in) and increasing the bananas – I use three instead of two.  While they can’t be called gluten-free unless made with certified gluten-free oats, they are flour-free and include the goodness of Greek yogurt (yes, that’s right!). 

Last weekend when the hubs came home from the market with a ton of blueberries, the wheels quickly started turning in my head about how to modify the muffin recipe to make them blueberry.  It was a precarious experiment, as an expert baker I am not, but I’m happy to say it worked!  

I like to make minis and regular-sized muffins so this recipe made 12 minis (cups full) and 6 very large regulars.  Here’s my recipe:

Flour-Less Blueberry Oat Muffins

The Ingredients:
2.5 cups quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (you choose the fat content!)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (or less!)
1 ½  teaspoon baking powder
½  teaspoon baking soda
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

The Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (the original recipe says 400 degrees but my gas oven gets super hot, so 375 is plenty hot enough). 

Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with muffin cups.  I make a combination of mini and regular muffins.
   
Place yogurt, eggs, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, apple sauce and ½ cup oats in a blender or food processor, and blend until oats are smooth.  Add the oats half a cup at a time and continue blending.

Add blueberries after blending is complete and stir until just mixed.

Pour batter into muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Bubbly blueberries fresh out of the oven!

Let me know how these turn out and if you have any other variations you’d like me to try!

ENJOY!

Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Muffins

I have been negligent in making my own food for Baby O lately (there have been a few other things occupying my mind and time…), so we have an overstock of sweet potatoes on hand from our organic CSA share from Plan B Organic Farms.  I came across a recipe for mini sweet potato muffins on Pinterest and thought, what a great way to use them up! 

The original recipe is from a site called Weelicious but I adapted it to make it gluten-free.  I used Red Mill’s gluten-free all purpose flour and I also substituted organic apple sauce for the canola oil.  The result? Delicious!  They aren’t as sweet as most cake-like muffins out there, but they are tasty and will make great snacks for Baby O and the big boys in my house too.  

Here’s the recipe!

Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Muffins

Adapted from this recipe on Weelicious.com

Makes 12 regular-size muffins

What You'll Need:

1 Cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Quick Cooking Oats
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Large Eggs, whisked
1 Cup Sweet Potato Puree – see note below
1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 Apple Sauce (I bought sweetened by mistake, will use unsweetened next time)
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

What You'll Do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
4. Slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients just until they are combined (be careful not to over mix the batter).
5. Place batter in each cup of greased or paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 22-26 minutes, depending on your oven.  Muffins are done when a toothpick comes out clean.


To make sweet potato puree, bake sweet potatoes (or yams) in a 400 degree oven for one hour, allow to cool, slice in half lengthwise and mash flesh with a fork until smooth – OR do what I did and puree them in the Baby Bullet!