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!
wickedvegan.com 