Vegan Blueberry Tart!

Um, wow. I just ate two bites of this dessert, and it's killer (and vegan!) The original recipe comes from Vegan Culinary Crusade, which included dried lavender. Since I didn't have any, I omitted it, but it still tasted wonderful. I made two small tarts, but I think next time I might use an even smaller container- maybe a mini muffin tin (?!) -they are soooooo rich and filling, it's best to keep servings small.

Without further ado, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

Crust

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup walnuts

4 medjool dates, pitted

pinch of salt

Filling

1 cup cashews, soaked 2 hours

2 medjool dates, pitted

1 TBSP agave syrup

1 tsp dried lavender (if you have it!)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

pinch of salt

Topping

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 tsp agave syrup


Steps:

1. Soak the cashews for the filling for about 2 hours.
2. Combine the nuts for crust in food processor and pulse into a fine meal. Add dates (briefly soaked in warm water if they are hard) and salt, pulse until the dates are well mixed in.
3. Press the batter into small tart shells or a medium tart pan, using your fingers to press the batter evenly across the base of the tart pan and to create an even crust around the sides. Place the tart shell in the freezer or refrigerator to firm up.
4. Combine the filling ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. (Note: this wasn't clear from the original recipe, but I had my cashews in a big bowl of water soaking. I poured off the water before adding the cashews to the blender, but then ended up having to add about 5-6 Tbsp to get it to blend, so maybe don't pour off all the water!) Add the filling to the tart shell and return to the freezer for ~30 minutes.
   
5. Heat the blueberries and agave in a small sauce pot over low-medium heat, gently stirring to keep most of the blueberries whole. Pour over the top of t he tarts & serve! (or store in fridge for later). OR: simply sprinkle fresh blueberries over the top of the tart.

Notes:
The cashew filling can also be a vegan icecream- just store in the freezer and serve with fruit. Keep in mind that small servings are good for something that rich & filling though!

Vegan muffins

Muffins and cupcakes are some of my favorite things to make. They're easy, tasty, and you can vary them a million different ways. But during my vegan month, I was a little skeptical that vegan baked goods could be that great (without perhaps using way too much oil). Well, I'm happy to say that there's no reason to be afraid of vegan butter and egg substitutes! I used Red Mill All Natural Egg Replacer for this recipe, which is made of whole soy flour, wheat gluten (but there are gluten-free egg replacers too!), corn syrup solids, and algin. It contains NO trans or saturated fats, and has a measly 30 calories and 1 gram of fat per "egg" equivalent.

I found this "easy vegan baking batter" recipe through the Lunch Box Bunch/Healthy Happy Life, a great vegan site. I decided to try it as a base for a few different types of muffins- lemon poppy seed and banana cinnamon.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup agave syrup
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup soy milk - (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
  
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 5 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 Tbsp Egg Replacer + water to activate as per instructions on package
• 1 mashed banana (optional)

• For flavors I used you will also need: lemon for zest, poppy seeds, and for the second muffin, banana and cinnamon. I also sprinkled the tops with some clear sparkling sugar.
  

I opted to make the low-fat version, using 1/4 cup of oil and 3/4 cup of the almond milk, which I don't think sacrificed much flavor. I also substituted whole wheat flour for about half of the total flour, which I wouldn't really recommend doing unless you are making a heartier muffin- such as maybe something with oats or raisins in it.

They were very tasty! Especially right out of the oven.


There aren't instructions on the site, but here's what I did:
Steps:

1. Mix together the flour, baking soda, powder and salt.
2. Mix 2 Tbsp egg replacer with the instructed amount of water on the package, and add to dry ingredients.
3. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. (The banana is optional -it makes the muffins really nicely moist, but does give a strong banana flavor. Without it, the muffins are still spongy and moist).
4. Place in mini or full-sized lined or greased muffin pans and bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean. (About 12-15 minutes for mini ones).
   

After mixing all the ingredients, I actually split the batter in half (something I do fairly often when I'm baking! I like variety). With half of the batter, I added a very small ripe banana and mashed it into the batter, and then added some cinnamon and just a sprinkle of nutmeg and cloves (don't go overboard with those spices!). With the other half, I added some lemon zest and poppy seeds.

Front row: vegan lemon-poppy seed mini muffins
Back row: vegan banana cinnamon mini muffins

The batter can also be used for pancakes, waffles, and coffee cakes too! Happy vegan baking!

Vegan Summer "Pasta"

I found this recipe for vegan raw spring pasta through Finding Vegan (my new favorite site! the pics are awesome and always inspire me to try new dishes). The picture made my mouth water - it just looked so deliciously creamy! But, surprise, that's not pasta- it's spiralized zucchini!

I had never used - or for that matter heard of- a spiralizer before, but I have to say, I got pretty excited about using it for the first time. I can make noodles out of vegetables??!! No way!!!

The epic virgin spiralizer experience:

I can't wait to try out other things, too - like sweet potato fries and homemade veggie chips. But back to the "pasta" dish. The recipe comes from Vegan Culinary Crusade, so I can't take any credit. But I'm glad I found it! Here are the ingredients and steps, copied from VCC:

Pasta ingredients:

• 1 large zucchini, peeled or spiralized into noodles
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup asparagus
  

Sauce

• 1 avocado
• 6 TBSP water
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1 TBSP fresh thyme

Steps:

1. Wash & cut fresh asparagus into bite-sized pieces and place in the freezer. Keep the peas in the freezer as well until you are ready to use them.
   
2. Peel & spiralize the zucchini (it's easy!) and mix in the salt & pepper. Set aside.
   
3. Put all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender or processor and blend until creamy.
   
4. Boil a pot of water. Remove the asparagus & peas from the freezer and place in a large bowl. Once the water has reached a boil, pour it over the asparagus & peas so that they are completely covered. Let stand for ~ 2 minutes.
   
5. Drain the water from the asparagus & peas and mix in with the zucchini noodles.
6. Add the sauce & toss!
   

Notes:
Just a little bit of a warning: raw veggies can be a little harder on the digestive system (sometimes they make you... bloated), so moderate your portion sizes.

This dish looks creamy and rich, just like an alfredo pasta. But looks can be deceiving! The avocado does give the sauce a nice creaminess, but obviously it doesn't taste like a cream sauce. But, the dish is summery and refreshing with the lemon and thyme. This would be a good accompaniment to a summer meal, but I'm not sure I'm sold on raw zucchini.

Bon appetite!

Chloe's cupcake!

I love cupcakes. I've been making mini ones the center of parties for a while, and so I was pretty excited to try my first batch of vegan cupcakes during my "vegan month". But how to pick a recipe? If I'm committing to making a full batch of cupcakes and bringing them to a party, I want to make sure they are really delicious. What better vegan cupcake to pick, in that case, than the one that beat them all in Cupcake Wars? I decided to make the beautiful Chef Chloe's equally beautiful vegan Tiramisu cupcake.

To sum things up, this is an 100% vegan cupcake with a vanilla cake base, hollowed out a bit in the center and filled with a soaking liquid of amaretto and espresso and raspberry sauce, and topped off with a buttercream frosting that's hinted with amaretto & espresso. Is your mouth watering yet? The result is a very sweet, grown-up cupcake, reminiscent of Tiramisu but not overpowering.

Despite having no egg, and almond milk rather than regular milk, these cupcakes came out perfectly... they have a hint of vanilla flavor and are incredibly moist and just a little spongy. A great base cupcake.

I'll defer to Chef Chloe's site for the recipes/instructions for all these components, and just list the ingredients in case a link changes at some point!

Ingredients I used in the cupcakes: 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, ¾ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (T.Joe's brand), ½ cup canola oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Next came the raspberry filling. At first I thought I had made it too thin (I used agave syrup rather than sugar, as the recipe calls for either), but after letting it cool in the fridge, the consistency was perfect for a filling. (OR, I'm thinking this would make a great topping to icecream- vegan or not). There's a hint of citrus and cinnamon in the raspberry filling that makes it just awesome.

Ingredients I used in the raspberry sauce: 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen), a little less than ½ cup agave syrup, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, dash of salt

I pretty much followed the recipe to a T, other than I only made 6 regular sized cupcakes- with the rest of the batter, I made 24 mini cupcakes, since people at parties tend to be scared off of committing to a full-sized cupcake (even though they will eat 2 or 3 minis!)

The results:

These are the mini ones only:


Soaking liquid ingredients: 1/3 cup amaretto and 1 Tablespoon instant espresso

Frosting ingredients: 1 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, 3 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add to taste: 2 tablespoons instant espresso powders mixed wiht 2 tablespoons amaretto.

Some notes:
-Definitely take Chloe's advice and don't add all the espresso mixture to the frosting at once. I might have used about half of it in total to get the right consistency and flavor.
-The frosting is REALLY sweet. I'm wondering if some of the sugar could be cut back...
-Overall, a really delicious, sophisticated cupcake. They do take a bit longer than your average cupcake to make, but the result is worth it!
-I just might have eaten the scooped out parts of the cupcakes that Chloe says to 'discard'.... hey, you have to make sure they taste ok, right? ;-)