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Posts Tagged ‘dessert’

S’mores Truffles

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on July 26, 2012| 2 Comments »

This week, a truly amazing thing happened that left me all warm and fuzzy.

DSW and Toms sent me their fall shoe preview emails.

That’s right…fall shoes. Which means only one thing, summer is almost over. I’m getting giddy just thinking about it! Fall is right around the corner and I will be pulling out my tights, boots and scarves (and apparently my new plaid Toms…So cute!) in no time!

Just not yet.

Because today, it’s going to be in the 80s and I am still recovering from my Warped Tour sunburn which has moved from the “oh-my-god-this-hurts-so-bad-I-can’t-sleep” phase to the “oh-my-god-this-itches-so-bad-I-can’t-sleep” phase. The latter is also known as “aren’t-I-so-sexy-with-my-peeling-skin” phase. Needless to say, my upcoming beach weekend will be spent with a tshirt on At. All. Times. I imagine the only thing worse than a sunburn is a sunburn on top of a sunburn. *shudder*.

Anyway, since I can’t fire up the oven, pull out my soup pot and go apple picking just yet, I’m chowing down on these no-bake S’mores Truffles.

the “dough”

S’mores Truffles 
from The Wonder Forest, created by Catherine from Rabbit Food for my Bunny Teeth
Makes 10 kisses

2 graham crackers + 1 for outer “crust”
1/2 cup unsalted cashews
1 cup Medjool dates – pitted
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp vegan mini chocolate chips (or carob chips for a vegan option)
Optional: additional 1/4 cup of chocolate for dunking.

Place 1 graham cracker in a food processor or blender and process until finely ground. Empty the graham cracker contents into a bowl and set aside, as it will be used to roll the truffles in later. Combine cashews and 2 graham crackers  in a food processor and grind until they become very finely ground, but not a butter. Remove pits from dates. Once pits have been removed, add the dates and vanilla into the food processor. Process until the contents are evenly chopped/combined and form a sticky dough (my food processor apparently isn’t cool enough to form a dough. Instead, everything got really finely ground, which worked fine. See picture for reference). Remove dough from the food processor and fold in chocolate chips by hand or mixing spoon. Using a 1tbsp measuring spoon, scoop the dough into balls and roll evenly in your hands.

At this point, you can either: 1. Roll the ball through the bowl of ground graham cracker, coating it evenly (this will add flavor and prevent the kisses from sticking together). Or, 2. melt the additional chocolate chips in a double boiler with a tiny bit of vegetable shortening. Dip the truffles in the melted chocolate (I only dipped half of each truffle in chocolate) and then roll in the ground graham crackers.  

store in the refrigerator for 1 week, or freezer for up to 1 month.

I’ve made these both ways, with the graham cracker crust and dunked in chocolate. If you are planning on taking these on an outing such as the beach or camping, stick with the graham cracker crust. If you are munching on these for lunch throughout the week and can keep them refrigerated, make the chocolate dunked ones. Both are delicious, though!

These are definitely getting packed for this weekends beach adventure! Along with SPF 500, long sleeve t-shirts and jeans. I will not get sunburned again!!

PS. Do you like my red paper napkin prop?? Goal for next week- work on picture composition and props!

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Patriotic Popsicles and July 4th Roundup

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on July 3, 2012| 1 Comment »

One more day until we get a mid-week day off! I have to say, even though I’d rather be on vacation this week with everyone I know, the lack of traffic in Boston is beautiful! It took me 7 minutes to get to work. 7! It usually take me at least 20. I am way too excited about this.
 
So what are everyones plans for the 4th? I foresee some serious sleeping in and laziness occurring for me. Maybe a mid-day BBQ, definitely a margarita and overall just enjoying the day I have off while secretly praying my 6-930 shift at my retail job is cancelled.
 
One things for sure- I will be concluding my BBQ lunch with these Popsicles, which I am a HUGE fan of. I’ve been craving popsicles like crazy lately but I haven’t been able to find popsicle molds anywhere. Popsicles are like the new cupcake. Come on, stores! Instead, I went the old fashion route- dixie cups, popsicle sticks and a spring form pan to keep the cups from rolling around in my freezer. Success! I imagine a lot more popsicle recipes in the future. Chocolate mint? Strawberry margarita? Cookie dough? oh yeah!
Patriotic Popsicles
from Taste of Home
  • 1 1/4 C sliced fresh strawberries
  • 1 3/4 c (14 oz) vanilla yogurt divided (I used Soy  Delicious vanilla coconut-milk yogurt)
  • 1 1/4 c blueberries, fresh or frozen
  • 6 popsicle molds or paper cups (app. 3 oz. each)*

Place the fresh strawberries and 2 TBSP yogurt in a blender and process until fully combined. Transfer to bowl and set aside.

In the blender, process the blueberries and 2 TBSP yogurt until full combined. Set aside.

Layer approximately 1 1/2 TBSP of strawberry mixture, 3 TBSP yogurt and 1/2 TBSP blueberry mixture in each mold or cup. Top with holders or cover plastic cups with tinfoil then insert popsicle stick. If you are using plastic cups, place the cups in a deep pan to hold them together in the freezer. I used a round springform plan and it worked perfectly!

*The original recipe said this made 12 popsicles by doing a 1:2:1 ratio of fruit, yogurt, fruit but when I tried doubling it to 2:4:2, I barely got 5. This 1.5:3:1.5 ratio I provided above should comfortably give you 6 popsicles.

 

And know for some great vegan recipes that should please everyone at your BBQ, or at least give you something to munch on!

Recipe Round Up:

appetizers/drink:

Black Bean Salsa

Blueberry Strawberry Salsa– My friend Amelia said this salsa changed her life. She could be exaggerating. Then again, maybe she isn’t…

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Strawberry Avocado Salsa

Strawberry Margarita– Best. Cocktail. EVER

Meals/sides:

Nuts and Oats Burger (make ahead of time and bring to the party that way they are ready to get thrown on the grill when the time comes. Also freezes well)

Peanut Pasta Salad with Fried Tempeh


Strawberry Chickpea Salad with Cinnamon Dijon Dressing- A change from the heavy pasta and potato salad, this dish would work as a side or as a full meal for those not interested in grilled meat.

Desserts:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Cookie Dough Truffles

Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes– Though these are chocolate and not white, which would be more ideal for the holiday, they are the perfect not-too-sweet cupcake that has always gotten thumbs up when served. You can go crazy with the frosting and sprinkles to make them more festive!

Fruit and Chocolate Dessert Pizza

Funfetti Cake Balls– these would look adorable with red white and blue sprinkles

Strawberry Margarita Cupcake

Trailmix Seven Layer Bars

Whole wheat Cherry Pecan Cookies– Cookies are great because they go together easily and are great for all ages

This round up has made me realize two things: 1. I have A LOT of dessert recipes and 2. I have A LOT of strawberry recipes. Good things 4th of July cook outs are perfect for both!

Have a safe 4th of July everyone!

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Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 19, 2012| 9 Comments »

Happy Tuesday, Everyone! I hope you had a great weekend and a Happy Father’s Day.

I asked Dad if he’d help me make a coffin table for halloween one year. I envisioned a cheapy plywood table- he took my idea and ran with it. And it came out awesome!

I know that I definitely had a rockin’ weekend. Since my Dad is the bestest Dad ever (I mean, come on…how many Dad’s would make their daughter a life-size coffin to use as a beer pong table for their halloween party??), I decided for Father’s Day to take him and my mom to the SoWa market in Boston. It has a farmer’s market and food trucks that I thought my Dad would get a kick out of. (I also bought him some Croc’s because he was practically begging for them. They’re so ugly though, I made him swear he wouldn’t wear them in public!)

We got free samples, we ate lunch out of food trucks (Clover’s is SO good!) and we OD’ed on craft tables (my Dad just adored that part as you can imagine). I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more veggies in the farmer’s market area but it is still early in the season and I did walk away with some amazingly awesome strawberries (expect some strawberry recipes in the futures) so I can’t complain too much. Plus, Dad seemed to really enjoy it so that’s all that mattered! (Though, I think we walked away with matching Father/Daughter  sunburns so check back in with me tomorrow- We may be singing a different tune.)

Some of my favorite booths were Nella Pasta (I bought a frozen box full of sweet potato apple raviolis, which were awesome when I tried a sample), Soula’s Salsa (their black bean and corn fiesta salsa was super flavorful!) and Emrys Fynery, which was a jewelry table that had all this great, victorian- inspired, off-beat jewelry. Their etsy page doesn’t do them justice- they had a ton of stuff on display. SoWa is such a fun market. If you are in Boston and are looking for something not-so-touristy, I would definitely check it out.

Anyway, I also went to a porch party this weekend and I brought these super yummy truffles along. They went so fast! In fact, I went to check on them at one point to see if there were any left (because apparently the one hundred I ate while making them and on the way to the party weren’t enough…), and not only were the truffles gone but even the tupperware holding them was gone! I sort of imagine some super drunk kid huddled in a corner licking the crumbs out of it…they were seriously that good!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
from loveandoliveoil.com
makes about 3-4 dozen…if you don’t eat the dough as you go…

  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup soy milk
  • 1 cup mini vegan chocolate chips (or regular sized if you can’t find the mini chips. I only found some at Shaw’s and they were so expensive I opted not to get them)
  • 14 oz vegan chocolate chips for the outside shell
  • 1 tsp vegetable shortening

directions:

Beat Earth Balance and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add soymilk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1″ balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate and vegetable shortening in a double boiler. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into chocolate. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

PS. these do have chocolate chips in them. For whatever reason, the one above just doesn’t. And I mean, I couldn’t very well bite into another one because I’d already eaten three!

 Loveandoliveoil.com came to my attention when I discovered the new book, The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook, which was written by Lindsay Landis, who writes the blog Love and Olive Oil. I MUST find this cook book and try more recipes because these truffles were so addicting. They were legit cookie dough without the eggs. I don’t know why I have never thought to roll up my vegan cookie dough, dunk it in chocolate and call it a new dessert. I mean, DUH! But Landis beat me to it so I gotta give her props! These were super delicious! And everyone at the party who tried them seemed to agree.

Dad and me a few years ago.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good start to their week! And Happy Father’s Day again, Dad! (and if anyone sees him wearing those Croc’s anywhere besides his garden, let me know ASAP! Because that is definitely not allowed!)

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Strawberry Lime Granita

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on June 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Last week was a really weird food week. I was in a major food funk.  For the first half of the week, I was completely unmotivated to make anything. One night, I walked into the kitchen and just stood in the middle of it. I unenthusiastically opened cabinets and refrigerator doors but just could not figure out what I was in the mood to make and eat.

I settled on a banana dipped in pb. Then I curled up in bed and caught up on Girls. I may have had an additional spoonful (or two) of peanut butter before I was done my tv marathon. Maybe… And that was my dinner.

Another night, I had some leftover blueberry salsa lying around so I baked a tortilla shell (one of the huge ones) and just ate that and the salsa. Except, there was maybe ¼ cup of salsa left and it was gone before I was even half way through my tortilla. So I just ate a plain, baked tortilla. And that was my dinner for that night.

Nothing says a well rounded meal like a plain, baked tortilla covered in sea salt! oh yeah!

Truthfully, I think my weird food phrase may have had to do with the weather. I had planned out a menu of grilled items and light salads but then it got cold and rainy. Suddenly, curling up in my pjs, eating a banana and pb for dinner and watching hours of Girls seemed way more fun then trying to get my grill lit for a measly veggy burger..when it’s cold…and rainy.  Yuck!

Thankfully, the blogs I follow posted some amazing looking food last week and by the time Saturday rolled around, I was ready to cook again!

The first thing I had to make was Strawberry Lime Granita that Angela posted over at Ohsheglows.com. We all know that I’m obsessed with lime recently (especially when mixed with strawberry) courtesy of my Strawberry Margarita addiction. For breakfast one morning last week I had hot water with lime because it was 10 degrees in my office, I had no tea and because, well, I’m addicted to limes. I’m hoping this dessert will feed my Strawberry Margarita addiction without me having to reach for the booze. That handle of tequila is disappearing a bit faster than I would like!

Strawberry Lime Granita
from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled
  • 5-6 tbsp fresh lime juice, to taste*
  • 1/3 cup agave nectar
  • 1/2 cup water

1. In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until smooth. Adjust agave or lime juice to taste.

2. Pour mixture into a 9-inch square pan (or equivalent non-stick pan) and place into freezer for a couple hours, uncovered is fine. After a couple hours, scrape the mixture with a spoon or fork to break it up a little. You can repeat this process in another hour. It should be ready after 4-5 hours of freezing, but this may vary based on your freezer.

3. When it’s firm enough, scrape/shave it with a fork or spoon and serve. Cover and freeze leftovers in the freezer until ready to enjoy.

*As I may have mentioned, oh…8 times?…I’m really into lime so I added the full 6 TBSPs of lime juice. It turned out very sour and almost overpowers the strawberry. I’m clearly ok with that as I’ve been practically squirting lime juice directly into my mouth but you may want to start with 3 or 4 TBSPs and work up. Just a little warning

This dessert is perfect for the summer! It’s cold and refreshing but doesn’t have the heaviness of ice cream. Plus, won’t ruin any diets your on. Win all around!

Now can someone please tell me what I’m supposed to think of Adam and Hanna on Girls? I can’t decide how I feel about their relationship.

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Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on May 29, 2012| 2 Comments »

My Memorial Day weekend consisted off:

– Tudors marathon on BBC America (seriously, Natalie Dormer made the best Anne Boleyn! All the other wives were so dull. And Henry Cavill…yes please!)

– Doing ALL my laundry, which took forever

– Celebrating a belated Mother’s Day. I baked Mom some Strawberry Margaritas Cupcakes. Dad made us some yummy grilled veggies and pasta. It was the only grilled food I had this weekend. Bummer! I’m remedying that tonight though

– Working

– Watching the new Underworld. What’s this? Underworld 5? Bring it!

– Cooking and baking…a lot! I made almond joy cake balls for Melinda’s birthday (she’s been telling me she wanted these for her birthday since I made them the first time- I’m not exaggerating). And I made these yummy cupcakes!

I know they are a bit of a cop-out because I’ve made the chocolate cupcakes before BUT the mint frosting and chocolate glaze are so yummy! I had to share them with you.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

cupcake:
My Perfect Chocolate Cupcake recipe found here

Mint cream:
from easybaked.net

  • 2.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 tsp peppermint extract
  • 1/4 c. melted butter
  • water
  • green food coloring (optional)

Chocolate Glaze:

  • 6 oz vegan chocolate
  • 2 TBSP butter

Prepare the cupcakes according to the recipe. Allow to cool completely.

For the mint cream, mix the confectioners sugar, butter and peppermint extract together. If the mixture is not coming together, or is too dry, add a little water until it is a spreadable consistency. Add food color if you want. Spread on the cupcakes and put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes- 1 hour until the mint cream has hardened.

For the chocolate glaze, melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler (or a microwave). Once melted, spoon the chocolate on the cupcake.

Tonight, I party it up with Melinda and crew. We’re hanging out, grilling, eating and going out drinking- all the things that make a good party! Pictures (and recipes, or course!) to come.

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Trail Mix Seven Layer Bar

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2012| 3 Comments »

Two weekends ago, Melinda and Amelia came over for a dessert baking party. Wine was opened, chocolate was melted and these bars were inhaled. I’m not exaggerating. Melinda wouldn’t even wait for them to set! The pan of Trail Mix Seven layer bars was passed around between all of us on the couch (including two of my roommates) and we ate them directly from the pan.

With our hands.

I wish I was kidding.

I wish we could say we were stoned to at least excuse our behavior but nope! They were just delicious and that’s the only excuse we had!

I woke up the next morning to find a tiny little corner piece was all that remained. The five of us ate almost the whole pan! Clearly, a photograph was not taken and even if it was, I don’t think any of us want us unceremoniously shoving trail mix bars into our faces with our hands to be available on the internet!

Either way, I was forced to make them again for you so I could actually get a picture.

Trail Mix Seven Layer Bars
inspired by Vegan Baking

Crust:

  • 9 cinnamon graham crackers (one packet in Honey Graham Set)*
  • 5 TBSP of coconut oil, melted
  • 1 TBSP + 1tsp water
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup apple juice infused dried cherries (or regular dried cherries)
  • 1/2 cup craisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped almonds
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
  • 1 cup condensed milk (recipe here. I used Unsweetened Vanilla Almond milk this time)

Prepare the condensed milk ahead of time.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.

Put the graham crackers in a large ziploc baggy and crush until the graham cracker are roughly the texture of sand. (You can use a food processor but honestly, why lug it out and then have to wash the whole darn thing when crushing them works just as easily??).  Add coconut oil, water and salt to  your crushed graham crackers, seal up the bag and mush it all around until everything is well incorporated.

Dump the graham cracker crumbs into your 8×8 pan. Spread evenly. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to press down on the crumbs until they are tightly packed together.

Cover the graham crackers with the toppings. Pour the condensed milk over the toppings.

Bake for 35 minutes.  Once removed from the oven, allow to cool completely before cutting into it. I would recommend putting it in the fridge overnight. If you don’t let it cool, it will just be a crumbly mess of ingredients. I mean, it will still be delicious! But it won’t hold together in bar form. Trust me…the crumbly mess is what we ate the first go around because we were impatient.

*I know graham crackers often have honey in them. I could not find honey-less graham crackers when I was at Whole Foods but I don’t have an issue with honey so I went ahead and used them. Also, the Honey Graham brand and Whole Food’s 365 brand had mostly the same ingredients. If you are looking for a honey-less, more all-natural version, I would recommend trying to make these and swap out the honey for agave syrup or maple syrup. These have been on my ‘to-make’ list forever but this recipe wasn’t the time to try it.

The idea for these came about because my cafetaria at work always has seven layer bars and they are sooo good. and sooo not vegan. This was my vegan version. It’s a little heartier with all the fruit and nuts. The great thing about these is, like trail mix, you can customize it to your liking. You could swap out the cherries for raisin (eww, please don’t) or dried blueberries. You could swap out the almonds and pecans for different types of nuts. And you could use any time of non-dairy milk for the condensed milk.

Now seriously, go make these. And maybe have a fork ready so you don’t end up eating them with your hands. Though…I hear all the cool kids are doing that…just sayin’.

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Sweet Potato Brownies

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , on April 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

In college, I liked to have writing paper cram sessions. Ok, I didn’t like having cram sessions but it was an unfortunate side effect of having Procrastination Disorder. I would start my paper at around 7 o’clock the night before it was due, work 12 hours straight, sleep for an hour or two, review my paper and go to class around 10.

It’s crazy, I know. But what can I say? This happened with almost every paper I worked on, especially my sophmore year.

So, needless to say I’m 1. an expert on procrastination and 2. an expert on cram sessions.

I had to tap into that well of knowledge this weekend because my friend Rachel from Rachel Robin’s Nest and I decided it would be a super awesome idea to sign up for a craft fair our work is having. We, of course, were super motivated for the first week, compiling a laundry list of awesome crafts we wanted to do. Well…that was a month ago. On Friday, we had very little to show for a craft fair that is next week.

You know what that means…a cram session was in order! Oh yeah!

So, we got together this weekend and cranked out some serious crafts. And no cram session is complete without sugary fuel. In college, my go to fuel was a ginormous french vanilla cappuccino, like the instant ones that you can get at gas stations. I was addicted.

That doesn’t really suit my taste now so I had to look elsewhere. Ladies and gents, let me introduce you to the seriously chocolaty, fudgy Sweet Potato Brownie.

Fudgy Sweet Potatoadapted from

  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
  • 1/2c agave
  • 1  tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup pureed sweet potato (directions below)
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • 2 tbsp milk of choice (I used unsweetened original almond milk)
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients, and mix. Combine wet ingredients, then mix into dry. Pour into a greased pan (it will fill up half an 8×8*). Cook for about 25-30 minutes at 330 F.

*These brownies come out very thin. You could easily double the recipe for a thicker, more traditional brownie. You will have to cook the brownies longer, though. If you follow the link above to CCK’s website, she also gives alternatives for a cakier brownie. Unfortunately, it calls for a lot of artificial sweeteners that I’m skeptical about and that I just don’t have in my house. That’s why I opted for the fudge brownies but feel free to pick the variation you feel most comfortable with.

Sweet Potato Puree

1 large sweet potato

about 1/3 cup water

Cook the sweet potato at 400 F for about 40-45 minutes until it’s soft enough to easily pierce with a fork. Let cook completely. Scoop out the insides into a food process and process until smooth, adding the water when need a little at a time. You shouldn’t need too much water but the liquid helps with the pureeing process.

Add a little dairy free ice cream to make a sundae! I used So Delicious coconut vanilla bean. I have to say I much prefer the So Delicious Ice cream line that is made with soy and not coconut milk. But this sundae still hit the spot after a day of crafting! We are so going to kick that craft fair’s butt!

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Whole Wheat Cherry Pecan Cookies

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on April 12, 2012| 7 Comments »

In case you haven’t realized yet, I go through phases where I’m obsessed with something, can’t live without it, then am over it a week later.

Past obsessions:

– Fun.- We are Young. I listened to this over and over again until I was sick of it. Then I went out and bought the CD. It’s not too bad!

–  Strawberry margaritas. Seriously, I couldn’t make another batch of strawberry simple syrup or I would be certifiably a lush!

– avocados. I’m. Still. Obsessed! I may even have another avocado recipe for you in a week or so if I ever stop shoveling my new favorite meal in my mouth and take a picture of it!

Current obsessions:

– This song. I don’t know why-I don’t even really like Pop music. It just gets stuck in my head and I need to listen to it. My roommate actually caught me listening to it really, really loudly and dancing around the kitchen while making peanut butter cookie dough cups. He’s a music major…I’m pretty sure he was judging my music choice.

– Cranberry Blood Orange tea by Republic of Tea. I gave up coffee for lent and pretty much had two cups of this tea every. single. day to help me get through. Now, I can’t say I miss coffee too much (as I sit drinking a cup…)

– I know I’ve mentioned this before but- Pineapple Chipotle Salsa from Stonewall Kitchen. Get yourself a jar…or barrel, and LOTS of chips. There’s nothing worse then running out of chips and having this jar of salsa taunting you in the fridge… which is my current life. 

– Dried cherries infused with apple juice. Best. Dried Fruit. Ever. I love how chewy and a little sour they are. Dare I say, they are like the healthier, adult  version of sour patch kids? I bought them on a whim at Whole Foods and…it led to this recipe:

Whole Wheat Cherry Pecan Cookies
adapted from Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) earth balance, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)*
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 flax seed “eggs” (2 TBSP ground flax seed, 6 TBSP water)
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix up your flaxseed eggs and set aside for 10 minutes.

Mix your flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream the Earth balance, white sugar and sucanat together. Add the flaxseed eggs and mix until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Fold in the cherries, pecans, and chocolate chips. Drop by TBSP onto the prepared baking sheet (no need to roll them into balls). Bake for 9-11 minutes.** Let cool on the pan for about 5 minutes then move them to a cooling rack.

* I subbed out the brown sugar for sucanat because that’s what I had in my cabinet and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Because sucanat has bigger granuales then white sugar and definitely bigger then traditional brown sugar which you usually pack into measuring cups, my cookie was less sweet. It worked well with the whole flour, nuts and dried fruit them. It made for a healthier tasting cookie.

** I like my cookies undercooked so I pulled these out after 9 minutes and then let the sit on the baking sheet for another 9 or 10 minutes. They continue to cook a bit and firm up but the center still stays soft. I love them like that! If you want yours a little more cooked, just keep them in for a little longer.

I was pleasantly surprised by these cookies! I’m not usually big into dried fruits in my baked goods but I love those dried cherries so much that I couldn’t resist trying them in a cookie! Like I said above, the combination of the whole flour, nuts, fruits and sucanat resulted in a less sweet, a little bit heartier feeling cookie. Plus, you can use whatever is in your cabinet for this recipe- almonds instead of pecans, raisins or craisins instead of cherries, etc. I should have just called this “the whatever is in my cabinet” cookie. =)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go put on Call Me, Maybe…again…and pretend I’m Selena Gomez. Dont judge…

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Fruit and Chocolate Dessert Pizza

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , on April 10, 2012| 6 Comments »

This is my answer to the chocolate overdose I was suffering from last week. After making those cookie dough peanut butter cups (which I’m dying to make again with different flavors!) AND a vegan version of Reeses Peanut Butter eggs (which were ok,  but not great, which is why I didn’t post them here), I was so over chocolate. That’s apparently what happens when you make excuses to have peanut butter eggs for breakfast (I’ll just have a peanut butter egg instead of peanut butter on my toast. Same thing!). Infact, the thought of making something heavy for Easter dessert made me want to cry. But backing out of making a dessert wasn’t optional. If I didn’t bring anything then I wouldn’t have a vegan dessert and a holiday isn’t a holiday without a dessert…or five!

So I decided a light, fruity dessert would be perfect. It would be a nice change from heavy cakes, cheesecakes and chocolate that usually show up for our holiday parties. The one I made had a thin, chewy snickerdoodle cookie crust, a layer of creamy chocolate pudding (pudding technically isn’t a chocolate. It’s way too light for that!), and a layer of fresh fruit. Yes, please!

 

Snickerdoodle Cookie Crust
from Wicked Vegan

  • 1/2 cup vegan butter, at room temperature ( used Earth Balance)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 Ener-G “egg”
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons milk replacer (I used unsweetened soy milk)

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream vegan butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add “egg” and vanilla, mixing well until combine, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until dough comes together. Dough will most likely be crumbly at this point. Add in milk 1 TBS at a time until the dough comes together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, spread dough onto a round pizza pan. The dough will be thin. Cook between 10-15 minutes. Mine took about 12 1/2 minutes.

Let cookie cool 100%. Melt about 2 TBSP of vegan chocolate with  1/2 tsp of vegan shortening in the microwave. Spread a very thin layer of the chocolate onto the cooled cookie and let dry. This will prevent the pudding from making the cookie soggy.

Vegan Chocolate Pudding
 from epicdialogue.com

  • 1box (1.4oz) jell-o instant chocolate pudding mix*
  • 1 package (12.3oz) silken tofu, chilled
  • 1/2-3/4cup almond milk (I used 3/4 cup)

In a food processor, puree the tofu with the almond milk until smooth. Add the pudding mix and blend to a creamy texture. Put in fridge to set for about an hour. Spread on the cookie. I had about half the mixture left over.

*jell-o instant pudding is dairy-free but it has a few chemicals and weird ingredients that I wasn’t thrilled with but I couldn’t find an organic, more healthful instant pudding. I found the cook and serve kind but not instant. I wasn’t sure how the cook and serve would work so I opted for jell-o. If anyone finds a better instant pudding product or tries the cook and serve in this recipe, let me know how it turns out!

Toppings

  • strawberries
  • kiwi
  • banana
  • blueberries
  • raspberries

Slice up your fruit and layer as desired. Really, you could use any fruit you wanted, including mandarin oranges, apples or pineapple. Or you could use shredded coconut, slivered or sliced almonds or other nuts. I haven’t tried those but I bet they’d be great!

mmm…I want some of this right now. After all, if I can justify a knock-off Reeses egg for breakfast,  I should have no problem doing that with a fruit covered cookie!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on April 4, 2012| 2 Comments »

It’s Easter in less than a week. Let’s face it, Easter is a sad sort of holiday. The candy isn’t as good as halloween, the food isn’t as good as Thanksgiving and the Easter baskets aren’t as cool as presents under the trees. It’s a sad fourth on the list of major holidays.

This does not mean that it isn’t as big of a consumer holiday though. When I went to Target the other day in search of a cookie cutter, I stumbled into the holiday area and nearly died of shock when I saw how much candy they were selling. There was an entire aisle of jelly beans! Who even likes jelly beans?! I’ve never met a single person that lists jelly beans as their favorite candy. This didn’t stop me from having an urge to buy up every. single. Reeses product under the sun…but I managed to resist!

Anyway, when I left (with no cookie cutter, thanksfornothingtarget), I couldn’t get all that candy out of my head. I wanted chocolate peanut butter in the worst way! So many of the chocolates and candies have milk or gelatin in them, though, that I couldn’t resist the challenge to make my own.

Of course, I had planned to make one and then I looked down and found I was making two recipes at the same time. How did that happpen?!

So here is the first recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups
from How Sweet Eats 

2 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I would recommend Earth Balance or Teddy’s)(I used chunky because it’s what I had and it tasted great)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I couldn’t find vegan mini chip so I just ran a knife though some regular chips once and it worked fine)

In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Whisk in brown sugar until dissolved, then let it bubble for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter. The mixture will be liquidly. Whisk in vanilla. Let sit and cool completely, about 20 minutes but not longer. If it sits too long (like while your making a batch of other candies…it will solidify and you have to start all over)

Line a mini muffin with with liners. Melt 1 1/4 cups of chocolate chips (I do mine in the microwave, heating on full power for 20 seconds, stir, 30 seconds again, and stir until melted). Drop 1/2-1 teaspoon of chocolate into each liner, then use a pastry brush to brush chocolate up the sides of the liner. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes. By this point the butter + sugar mix should be cool. Whisk in powdered sugar, salt and flour, until combine and few lumps remain. Fold in mini chocolate chips (if the dough isn’t completely cool, your chips will melt and you will be left will swirled dough…so don’t do that…). The dough will be wet, but pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden.

Remove muffin tin and cookie dough, then place 1 teaspoon of cookie dough (I somewhat rolled mine) into the chocolate cups. Place back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Melt the remaining chocolate chips, then cover each cookie dough top with chocolate, smoothing with a spoon. Freeze again for 15-20 minutes. These are fine out in room temperature for a few hours (they may soften a bit) but I like them best stored in the fridge.

This was the second candy recipe I had no intention of making. I had extra chocolate from my other candies and they were in the freezer chilling. All of a sudden I look down and I’ve lined mini muffin liners with chocolate. What?! well…ok…I might as well continue…

These were great. I love the fillings texture. They are also dangerous in the mini-size so my recommendation is eat like 4 in one night until you feel sick because they are so rich and chocolaty and then you will want to die and will give them all to your roommates…or spouse…or something…I imagine.

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