July 21st is National Ice Cream Day. As if we need another reason to eat ice cream. This is a delightful rendition of ice cream without the dairy. The mint in this dish lightens the coconut milk and gives the dish a bit of brightness making it an extra refreshing treat.
Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients
1 can (13.6oz) full fat coconut milk
3 TBL Rumple Minze or other peppermint schnapps
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
2-4 TBL sugar
dash salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips, chopped
Instructions
Blend all ingredients, except chocolate chips, until smooth.
Freeze ice cream in your ice cream maker according to manufactures instructions.
Stir in chocolate chips and place in your freezer until you are ready to enjoy.
Discussion:
Why I made the decisions I did:
I used Rumple Minze which is a 100 proof peppermint schnapps. I used the schnapps for three reasons, it is sweet, has the flavor of peppermint, and has a high alcohol content which prevents the ice cream from freezing fully giving it a creamy texture even when it has been frozen overnight. I decided to give it a bit more sugar so it was sweet enough to be ice cream. I also amped up the peppermint flavor with peppermint extract. The dash of salt opens your taste buds and highlights the other flavors in the ice cream. Adding the chocolate chips at the end allows the ice cream to freeze more consistently, then brings a bit of texture to the party.
So you’re looking for food to serve the vegan mother in you life for Mother’s Day. Good job; you’re working hard to fulfill her desires and it will be appreciated. Just for you, I’ll tell you what I would love for a food-filled vegan Mother’s Day.
1. Start with vegan hot chocolate. If she’s into it, and most mothers are, add a shot, or ten, of espresso to make this a mocha.
2. For first breakfast choose something savory such as a tofu breakfast sandwich, or just a delightful jalapeno bagel. If your special vegan is also gluten free try this savory oatmeal. For extra credit you can make the bagel at home. Just for you I made a video in case you’re going for the big wow factor.
3. Of course, she will need a late morning snack. I suggest something sweet again and bakery quality. Maybe a blueberry muffin or cinnamon bun with another cup of coffee. Preferably iced at this point.
4. Just a salad for lunch please to balance the morning and get her ready for the delightful dinner you are going to prepare.
5. Now a little appetizer of happy comfort served up in this smoky bean dip.
6. For dinner I’m going between these lentil tacos, or a pasta with vegan alfredo sauce. Hmm, I guess I’ll leave it up to the cook.
7. Dessert, the most important part of the day! You have a few options, but in my world they are all chocolate. My first choice would be this vegan French Silk Pie. You could also do a chocolate cake, or chocolate chip cookies.
8. Good luck and thank you. The person you are cooking for will love the fact that you took the time to figure out and make something special just for her. Happy Mother’s Day!
This was my birthday cake. Yes, I made my own cake; I couldn’t trust anyone to make it just right, except for me. It was so worth it! This is also my first cake recipe that is really my own, instead of just changing the flavor of other’s recipes. I’m quite proud of how it turned out. Rich, dark, moist, and perfectly packed with chocolate. For my birthday I also topped the cake with burnt bourbon caramel (cook the caramel until it is a little burnt), bourbon chocolate ganache(just switch the amaretto with bourbon), and bourbon coconut whipped cream (add 2 tsp bourbon). I was really trying to take this to the next level of rich, deep flavors. It worked. You could top it with anything and it would be amazing. Next time maybe some raspberry jam and coconut whipped cream. Ohh, the possibilities.
Vegan Chocolate Layer Cake
Ingredients
1 TBL white or apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee, red wine, or more water
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Oil 2 8″ round cake pans, put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, oil and flour pan and parchment paper.
Mix together the milk and vinegar, set aside to curdle.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in sugar and salt.
Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the milk mixture, coffee, oil and extracts mixing with an electric mixer briefly until there are no lumps.
Evenly divide batter into prepared pans and bake 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let cake rest in the pan about 10 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on cooling rack before frosting.
So this cake is a little silly it is so good. It is so rich and filled with awesomeness even I was little skeptical about how rich it could be. Somehow it all works out. The layers are cut and drenched in caramel keeping the cake incredibly moist. Everything is then topped with the chocolate ganache. There is no way anyone could tell this is a vegan cake unless you told them. Trust me. You will be the hero of the holiday party if this is your offering. The cake and ganache are from “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World”, the Bourbon Caramel is adapted from the Minimalist Baker website. There are a few steps to this recipe with the instructions for putting it all together at the bottom. Enjoy!
Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease, flour and use parchment paper to prepare two 8″ round cake pans.
Briefly stir non-dairy milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside to curdle.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Once the milk and vinegar has curdled add the sugar, oil and vanilla and almond extracts.
Beat together until foamy.
Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until combined.
Pour batter into prepared cake pans, distributing batter equally.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake out clean.
Remove cake from pans and allow to cool on cooling rack.
Bourbon Caramel
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tbsp bourbon
pinch of salt
Instructions
Heat sugar and water on medium heat to a simmer. Swirl pan, but do NOT stirring for about 15 minutes or until a deep amber color is reached. Watch carefully as this will burn easily.
Once desired color is reached, remove from heat and slowly add non-dairy milk while stirring.
Add salt and bourbon and cook over low heat for another minute while stirring.
set aside until ready to use.
If there is extra you can store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator and re-heat when ready to use.
Chocolate Ganache
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/4 cup Amaretto (or more non-dairy milk)
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
2 TBL pure maple syrup
Instructions
In a small sauce pan bring non-dairy milk and Amaretto to a gentle boil.
Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips and maple syrup mixing until smooth.
Set aside at room temperature until ready to use.
Putting it all together
1. Once the cake is cool cut each cake in half to make four layers total.
2. Place the bottom layer on a cake plate. Pour caramel sauce over cake spreading until it has soaked into the cake.
3. Repeat with remaining layers using as much caramel as the cake will hold.
4. Once cake is stacked carefully spread the chocolate ganache over top and sides of the cake.
5. Serve in small slices saving plenty for your breakfast the next morning.
I was staying with a friend a few weeks ago and we decided to make cookies. I was all like “no problem, I’ll just go on my blog and grab my recipe.” Much to my dismay I found that I have NEVER blogged my chocolate chip cookie recipe. I am truly sorry. You have been missing out on some amazing, and easy to make cookies because I was sure they were already here. I make these cookies a lot. Way more than I should. I love them right out of the oven, so much so that I have justified eating 3 or 4 every time I make them because they just don’t taste the same the rest of the batch. My husband loves them frozen. After I have eaten as many cookies as I can in one sitting (they must still be warm while consuming) I freeze the rest of the batch. This is a recipe only slightly adapted from “How It All Vegan” by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. I love this recipe because there are no crazy substitutions to make them vegan, and they taste amazing!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 TBL water
2 /14 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 – 2 cups chocolate chips
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a medium bowl cream together coconut oil, Earth Balance, brown and white sugar, vanilla extract, and water mixing until smooth and creamy.
Add flour, baking soda, and salt giving dry ingredients a stir before combining with the creamed mixture. Mix dry and creamed mixture just until combined.
Add chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.
Drop cookie dough by the spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets leaving 2″ between each cookie.
Bake for 7-9 minutes until golden brown.
Transfer from cookie sheet onto cooling rack immediately.
Wait a few minutes before eating to prevent burning your mouth on hot chocolate chips.
It’s Mother’s Day. Pretty late in the day on Mother’s Day. Don’t worry, I have a plan. First a bit about my mom, then a recipe from my mother’s mother’s mother (my great grandmother): Spice Cake!
My mom: As you may have noticed I reference my mother frequently on my blog. This is because she is the reason I cook. She is pretty much the reason I do everything, but for now let’s focus on the cooking. Many of my earliest memories are cooking with my mother. I still distinctly remember standing on a chair and being taught how to measure flour correctly. From a very young age I was allowed to experiment with food. I have a recipe I wrote before I could spell apple. My efforts were encouraged and I never remember a time I was scolded for making a mess. My mother’s endless patience is something I wish I had inherited. My mother always took the time to explain how things work, and why we do what we do. If she didn’t know, we looked it up. Questions were encouraged and always answered. This parenting philosophy was carried out in the kitchen and out. I know that I have the self assurance that I do because of my mother. I can’t thank her enough. A friend recently asked my if my mother is always the way she is now. She had to explain. She said “you know, the perfect ideal of a Midwestern mother.” Oh, that. Yes she has always been that. I told my friend stories about when I was a teenager my friends would come over to hang out with my mom, and eat. She has always had more love and more food than anyone I know. I love you mommy. Happy Mother’s Day.
Now for the spice cake. This ties in, I promise. I love cooking. My mother loves cooking, and my mother’s grandmother loved cooking. Pretty much everyone on my mother’s side is an excellent cook, but the passion has skipped around a bit. This recipe for Spice Cake has been adapted to be vegan. It has been passed down from my great grandmother to now grace your table on Mother’s Day (if you’re also running very late), or day of the year to make it special. The spices are warming and will remind you of the warmest most loving grandmother you can think of.
Gramma’s Spice Cake
Ingredients
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tsp. vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 TBL vegetable shortening
1 tsp. psyllium husks mixed with 2 TBL water
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 370F.
Add vinegar to milk and set aside.
Cream together sugar and shortening until smooth.
Add the psyllium husk/water mixture to sugar and mix together.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
Alternate between adding flour mixture andc milk to the shortening, mixing thoroughly between additions.
Pour batter into a greased 9×9 cake pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until cake pulls away from the edges of the pan.
It’s almost Easter which means it is time for pie. Really it is always time for pie, but especially now. Any family gathering is better with a delicious pie. One of my family favorites was always French Silk. The deep dark chocolate, the fluffy whipped cream… So rich and delicious. This one that took years of me thinking of how to convert and egg and cream filled pie to vegan, without once attempting a creation before I even had a brainstorm of how to get the perfect combination of taste and texture. This is it folks; a rich, creamy, dark chocolaty confection in a perfectly flaky crust topped with coconut whipped cream.
Vegan French Silk Pie
Crust
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour-pluse extra to roll crust
1/2 tsp. salt
6 TBL shortening
3 TBL very cold water-add an ice cube while making the recipe
Instructions
Mix the flour and salt together in a medium bowl.
Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter or fork.
Mixing with the fork add just enough of the water to hold the crust together in a ball with no large cracks.
On a clean dry flat area sprinkle flour in a shape larger than you want your crust.
Split the dough in half and make each half in to a ball.
Place the dough ball in the middle of the floured area and sprinkle more flour on the dough as well as on a rolling pin.
Role the crust starting in the center of the ball and working toward the edges. -touch the dough as little as possible.
When the crust is rolled to the size you desire pick it up using the rolling pin and place in pie plate.
The second half can be used for a top crust or another bottom crust.
Coconut Whipped Cream
Ingredients
15 oz can full fat coconut milk (without an emulsifier as an ingredient)
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1-2 tsp granulated sugar (optional)
Instructions
Chill can of coconut milk overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day, pour off the liquid still in the can and scoop the thick coconut cream into a chilled bowl.
Whip the chilled coconut cream until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
Add the vanilla and sugar if using and whip again.
Filling
Ingredients
1/2 Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
12/3 oz silken tofu
pinch of salt
Instructions
Using a double boiler melt the unsweetened and semi-sweet chocolate together. Once melted, set aside to cool.
Cream Earth Balance buttery sticks and sugar together, using a mixer, until creamy and smooth.
Add cooled chocolate and beat until smooth.
Add vanilla extract, salt and tofu, beat everything until smooth and uniform in color, about 5 minutes.
Pour into baked pie crust and chill at least one hour.
Today we are going to talk about toffee, vegan toffee to be specific. It is actually amazingly easy to make vegan toffee, nothing special required. Just replace the butter with vegan “butter”, I like Earth Balance, and make sure your chocolate chips are vegan.
If you don’t just want to eat this for some reason, or want to dress up your ice cream feel free to crumble it a bit and dump it over the top. Or sprinkle it on your waffles, or dip a banana in the pieces that fell off in the pan while when you cut it. A very versatile cookie.
I have to confess I did not actually make vegan toffee this year. I’m sorry to disappoint you. I did get vegan toffee in my cookie box from my mom. I immediately hid it in the back of the fridge so my husband wouldn’t find it. While he was at work today I took it out and took pictures of it. Just because I didn’t make it doesn’t mean you should have to suffer a holiday season without vegan toffee. Don’t worry, my mom doesn’t mind.
I keep my toffee in the fridge and it lasts a pretty long time if you hide it well enough.
Vegan Toffee
Ingredients
1 C Pecans, chopped
½ C Earth Balance
¾ C Brown sugar
½ C Vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
Grease your pan with butter.
Spread pecans in pan.
In a saucepan
heat the sugar and butter to boiling, stirring constantly.
Boil and stir for 7 minutes.
Immediately spread mixture evenly over nuts in pan.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over hot mixture, cover baking pan with a cookie sheet or foil right away and let the captured heat soften the chocolate chips.
Remove cover and spread the softened chips over the toffee like frosting.
While still warm, cut the toffee into 1 ½ in. squares.
Chill.
Note: this makes a 9×9 pan of toffee, it can easily be doubled for a 9×13 pan if you have to share with anyone, or mail it to your daughter.
Well is is almost Christmas so I though I should go ahead and make some vegan Christmas cookies. These are one of my favorites, probable because of the memories that go along with them. My mom would always make these around the holidays and we would have tea and cookies. I pretty much have to have a cup of tea while eating these as my mother has shown me the importance of dipping ones ginger snap into the tea. Really nothing says winter like a ginger snap dipped in tea.
This recipe has come down from my great grandmother and the only thing that has changed is using flax seed instead of eggs. The texture and flavor are just the same as I remember.
My mom still makes these every year and as the weather gets colder I eagerly await my box of cookies that always comes. The very first winter I became vegan she figure out how to make these vegan for me so I could still eat my cookies. Yes, my mom still sends me cookies. Because she is awesome and I love cookies.
This year I had to have a cookie before she sent them so I made a batch of my own to hold me over.
Vegan Ginger Snaps
Ingredients
¾ C sugar
½ C vegetable shortening
2 TBL flaxseed ground, + 3 TBL water
4 Tbl Molasses
Rolling the cookies in sugar
2 C flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. salt
Instructions
Cream sugar and shortening, add flaxseed mixture and molasses.
Mix well.
In another bowl, combine flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt.
Gradually add to wet mixture and mix well.
In your hands, roll dough into walnut sized balls, dip into sugar and place sugar-side up onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350° F. for 7-10 minutes, just until the tops “crack”. They will still be soft and will harden as they cool. If you like crisper cookies, bake longer, remembering they all harden more as they cool.
To continue on the vegan Thanksgiving theme I thought you might be looking for dessert. Now anyone can make a vegan apple pie, maybe not as good at my mom’s, but anyone can do it. I’m not going to go there, no pie today. Today we go for luxurious, sinful, and beautiful vegan tiramisu cupcakes. So yummy!
Vegan Tiramisu Cupcakes
I have always been into food, reading cookbooks, magazines and the like. I had heard about tiramisu, but never tasted it until my mom and her best friend took me and my best friend (also my mom’s best friend’s daughter) to New York City for our high school graduation present. There I went into an Italian bakery and had my first taste of heaven. I later went to Italy to study abroad and made it my mission while I was there to taste as many different versions of Tiramisu as I could. Over the years I have put all my tasting of the dessert to good use and have now created my own vegan version of the classic Tiramisu. This cupcake version is sweeter than the classic, but I think pretty darn good.
These cupcakes can easily be made a day or two ahead of time. I actually like them better the day after I make them; I think it gives the coffee time to settle into the cupcake and the tiramisu filling to settle into perfection.
I know these seem a little time consuming, but they are actually pretty fast. Just make the cupcakes, while they are in the oven make the filling. Put the filling in the refrigerator until the cupcakes are totally cool, then assemble according to the directions. No problem.
Happy Food Ninja 