strawberry donuts.

Ever since I have seen this post, my mouth has been watering and I have been determined to buy a normal size donut pan. We bought a really big carton of strawberries, and they were getting a little wrinkly faster than we could eat them. It was a sign that these donuts must be made!

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup almond milk

egg replace equivalent to one egg

1 tbsp melted earth balance

10  medium to large strawberries (between 1/2 and 3/4 cup depending on size), pureed with 2 tsp seedless strawberry jam

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

Glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cups cold milk(I halved this and added about a tablespoon of the leftover strawberry mixture to this)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease a 6-doughnut pan with baking spray.  To make doughnuts combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together.  Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in almond milk, egg replacer, melted earth balance, and maple syrup.  Stir until well combined.  Stir in strawberry mixture, starting with 1/2 of it and adding more only if needed.  Batter should be wet, but not runny.  Put dough into a pastry bag or plastic bag and snip approx 1-inch off end.  Pipe batter into each well, reserving extra batter.  Bake for 7-9 minutes until doughnuts spring back when touched.  Let cool five minutes and turn onto a cooling rack to cool completely.  Spray pan again and continue with the rest of batter until all doughnuts have been made.  While doughnuts are cooling make glaze.  To make glaze, stir all ingredients together until smooth.  When doughnuts are cooled dip each into glaze  and place back on cooling rack to let glaze set.  When glaze has set enjoy!

cinnamon crunch coffee cake.

I have been looking for a reason to make this coffee cake from vegan brunch, since I bought the book a few years ago. I specifically stayed away from it beause I knew if I was left with this in my house, I would EAT IT ALL. I definitely have a soft spot for cinnamon crunch cakes. I was headed to a clothing exchnage with a pot luck brunch so I knew this would be the perfect thing to bring. It made just enough, and was a hit! There are all kinds of variations in the book, and I’m definitely looking forward to trying them all.

The recipe is:
Topping:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/4 tspn ground nutmeg
1/4 cup canola oil

Cake:
3/4 cup almond or soy milk
1 tspn apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tspn vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
2 tspns baking powder1/2 tspn salt

Preheat oven to 375. Grease an 8 inch round springform pan (or a 8×8 baking pan). Combine the milk and the apple cider vinegar and allow to curdle. Begin preparing the topping while this is happening.

In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar and spices. Drizzle the oil by the tablespoonful or so; use your fingers to mix it up really good, until it all turns into a crumb like mixture. Now its time to make the cake.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the milk mixture, sugar, canola oil, and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until smooth. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture on top, patting it down just a bit.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.

grasshopper pie.

I’ve said it before, but something about the holidays (especially easter!) makes me want to make pie. Last year I made a delicious chocolate pie; and this year its this frozen grasshopper pie (found here). This pie is crazy good. and its made with avocados and marshmallows. Yep. Avocado and marshmallows. Dont knock it. Try it and you’ll see how crazy good it is.

Chocolate Crust:
15 trader joejoes or other chocolate sandwich cookie
4 Tablespoons Earth balance, Melted

Mint Filling:

1 Cup Pureed Avocado (From About 2 Small, Ripe Avocados)
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
1/4 cup soymilk
1 10-Ounce Package Dandies Marshmallows
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoon Peppermint Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Begin by combining the cookie crumbs and melted margarine in a large bowl, and stir well until there are no dry spots. Transfer this mixture to a 9-inch round pie tin, and use your fingers to press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides. Place the crust in your freezer until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, you can start preparing the filling. Puree your avocado using a blender or food processor, along with the lemon juice and soymilk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically ensure you have no lumps of avocado. Set aside.

Place all of the marshmallows in a medium sauce pan, and set it over moderate heat. Stir continuously until the marshmallows have completely melted, and quickly transfer the marshmallow goo into your food processor or blender. Pulse to combine, and add in the salt, mint, and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides once or twice between pulses, until the mixture is homogeneous. Pour into your frozen crust, and return the whole thing to the freezer. Let freeze for at least 4 hours, until set and sliceable. If desired, top with chocolate shavings, curls, or ganache. (recipe to follow)

Ganache
1/4 cup soymilk
4 oz choc chips
2 T maple syrup

In a small saucepan, heat up soymilk until its a rolling boil; remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips and syrup. Top pie with it, and put back in the freezer to cool.

* I made my pie, and put in the freezer for about 2 hours, then made the ganache, topped the pie with it and put it back in the freezer for another 2 -3 hours before serving.

raw brownie truffles.

I’m intrigued by raw deserts, but they seem like they can be kind of expensive, considering all the ingredients and time that goes into them. I have been pinning a few here and there lately that have peeked my interest and might start giving them a try….These were a simple treat to make, made with ingredients I had on hand. ( I seem to have alot of almonds on hand currently so I used those!) They are fairly healthy for you too, considering they have no refined sugar! They should satisfy a craving for something sweet and chocolatey. And you can roll them in all kinds of goodness – and make a whole variety of truffles.

Place 1 cup almonds in a food processor ( i used my vitamix) (you can also use any kind of nuts or combination of nuts here) and get them chopped up (not too fine). Add 1 cup pitted dates and mix until it starts to stick to the blade.  Add 4 T shredded coconut and 5 T cocoa powder and mix. Then add 2 T agave and mix until combined.  Roll into walnut size balls and then roll them into your topping. I rolled mine in cocoa powder and cinnamon.

chocolate chip oatmeal pecan cookies.

I made these cookies to welcome my friend back to the office, and to kick off our busy catalog season at work. They were delicious and a hit among the co workers. Those Joy the baker recipes never seem to let me down. I veganized this one, and I cut the recipe in half.

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
egg replacer for one egg
3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4  cups uncooked oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Beat the sugar and earth balance in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment.  Beat until creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add egg replacer and the vanilla extract and beat until blended.

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.  Add to the butter and egg mixture slowly beating on low speed until just incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans last.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 13 minutes or until they’ve reached your desired doneness.

fudgy beet cupcakes.

Have you ever baked with beets?

I have one other time, years ago – and although it can be kind of messy (your kitchen can look like a serial killer worked in there if you aren’t careful), its pretty amazing how you can pack something so healthy into something so sweet and not really even know its there. I’m not really a HUGE fan of beets. I can handle them in small doses, or if they are heavily disguised. We juice them alot, but usually I try to mask the earthy taste with something sweet like pineapple or apples. I find on their own they are just too much for me. This recipe disguises the beets pretty well – and if you use natural sugar and some whole wheat pasty flour, you can really pack a healthy treat. Although, Milo had the great idea to stick some chocolate chips in there too….

The original recipe is found here.

• 2 medium beets
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
• 
3/4 cup raw turbinado OR granulated sugar
• 3 T melted coconut oil
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tspn chocolate extract
• 1 cup + 1 heaping Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
• scant ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
 + more for topping
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F, remove the stem and most of the root from your beets, and scrub and wash them underwater until clean.
2. Wrap beets in foil, wrap tightly, and roast for one hour or until a knife inserted falls out without resistance. They should be tender. Set in the fridge (in a bowl to catch juice) to cool to room temperature.
3. Once cooled, either finely grate or puree beets in a blender (adding orange juice or water to encourage mixing). Measure out ½ cup and set aside.
4. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
5. Whisk together the almond milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and ½ cup beets and beat until foamy.
6. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a sifter and slowly sift it into the wet ingredients while mixing with a hand-held or standing mixer. Beat until no large lumps remain. Throw in some chocolate chips if you desire.
7. Pour batter into liners, filling ¾ of the way full. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Do not try and unwrap them or they’ll stick to the wrapper.
8. Once cooled, dust with cocoa powder and store in an airtight container to keep fresh.

shortbread.

Making these shortbread cookies was all milo’s idea. And he was a great helper,
They only use a few ingredients. You could use red food coloring and make them red, for an even more festive treat.

1 ½ cups earth balance
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.
2. With a flat beater, cream earth balance until light and smooth.
3. Add granulated sugar and mix until well blended.
4. Add powdered sugar and salt and beat until fully combined.
5. Add the flour and beat until fully incorporated.
6. Roll the cookie dough out. I was having a hard time with a rolling pin, so I just grabbed it in chunks and flattened it with my hands. This seemed to work much better. Cut out shape and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes.

king cake.

Happy fat tuesday!

Fat tuesday is the kick off to mardi gras; meant to be a day of indulgence to be followed up with days of fasting and giving up thing that are bad for you. Kind of silly if you ask me – but it didnt stop me from indulging in some king cake!

I have never had a king cake. Haven’t ever seen a vegan one for sale, but I do remember that Kittee seemed to be the queen of vegan king cake, so I gave her recipe a whirl.

This recipe seems intimidating because it uses yeast and you have to let it rise. But don’t let that stop you. It’s not hard at all. And it turned out delicious. I used some tofutti cream cheese topped with cinnamon and sugar as my filling. It has a hint of orange in the dough, and something about that keeps making me want to go back for more.

I didn’t know how easy it would be to find the traditional mardi gras colors for the sprinkles, nor did I feel like going to the store specifically to try to find out – so I made my own! I just mixed food color with regular sugar. That was easy!

So enjoy your fat tuesday! What do you plan on indulging on today?

original recipe found here:

• 1 cup whole wheat bread flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup unbleached granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (four tablespoons) Earth Balance
• 1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 1/4 cup tepid water
• 1/2 cup non-dairy yogurt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch or Ener-G egg replacer (dry–don’t mix with liquid)
• 2 teaspoons organic orange zest, divided
• 1 1/2-2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and more non-dairy milk for glaze.

What You Do:

1. In the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook, combine the whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, and 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar.
2. Heat the Earth Balance and non-dairy milk over medium low heat, until the Earth Balance is melted. Remove from heat and add the warm water. Bring the temperature to 110F.
3. Add the warm liquid to the flour and and beat to combine. Add the yogurt, Ener-G and zest and continue to beat until well blended.
4. Add in 1/2 cup of white flour and mix to combine. Continue to add the white flour in 1/2 cup increments until the dough is soft and firm, but still a bit tacky (mine only needed 1 1/2 cups).
5. Knead for ten minutes by hand or five with a dough hook, until the dough is smooth and elastic (it will be slightly tacky to the touch).
6. Gather the dough into a ball and let rise in a large bowl covered with a tea towel in a warm area, until doubled in size about 2 hours. (I put mine in the oven with the pilot light lit).
7. Once the dough has risen, punch it down, preheat the oven to 350F.
8. Lightly flour your counter and rol lthe dough out into a long rectangle about 26″X20″ (keep the wide end facing you). The dough should be about 1/4″ thin.
9. Once the dough is rolled out, it’s time to fill it. Spread your choice of filling over the whole thing, but leave a 1″ margin at the top and sides to help prevent the filling (see below) from squirting out when you roll it.
10. Starting at the bottom edge, carefully roll up the dough, jelly style–don’t forger to hide a tiny baby in the cake somewhere (you can use a dry bean, too). Pinch the seam really well, and connect the ends to form an elliptical ring. The sides will need to be pinched extremely well too, because they often leak.
11. Carefully transfer to the dough to a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake until brown about 35-45 minutes.
12. Let cool ten minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool more.
13. While the dough cools, make the sugar glaze. Sift the sugar in a bowl, and add just a tiny bit of milk-teaspoon by teaspoon- until it’s a thick but pourable consistency. Pour over the mostly cooled cake and decorate with purple, gold and green sugar**.

chocolate chip skillet cookie.

Oh, you bet we ate it with ice cream on top….
recipe is from vegan diner

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tspn bkg powder
1 T ground flax
3T hot water
1 stick earth balance
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 inch skillet.
combine flour and baking powder. In a small bowl, combine water and flax. Mix well.
Set aside to thicken.

In another bowl, cream earth balance and sugar until light and fluffy. add flax mixture and vanilla. Add dry ingredients until batter comes together – don’t overmix. Add in pecans and chocolate. Spread into pan and bake for 30-40 minutes until edges turn brown. let cool about 15 minutes and serve warm.

funfetti cookie for one.

After dinner tonight, we decided we needed something sweet. Dj suggested a chocolate chip skillet cookie, but since it was just three of us, I thought that would do TOO much damage (doesn’t mean it wont be coming in the near future…), So i opted for this funfetti cookie for one – in our case…three.

It totally satisfied the sugar craving, and we were able to whip it up in no time. We each got a little taste, and I’m not left with two dozen cookies calling my name all weekend….Probably not the healthiest habit to get into, but it sure was tasty!

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp earth balance
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tspn egg replacer, plus 2 T warm water, combined
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sprinkles

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir the earth balance and sugar together until creamed. Mix in the egg replacer and vanilla.
3. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, and sprinkles until just combined. Do NOT overmix.
4. Place the dough in the center of the prepared cookie sheet into a big ball. flatten a little bit -  Bake for 14-16 minutes until the edges are browned. The center may appear undone but that’s what you want. It will firm up. Allow to cool completely ON the baking sheet. Enjoy!