Tag Archives: Vegan

Raspberry Fudgesicles {Vegan & Sugar Free}

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 Everyone has that one friend who can’t eat anything.

Well, they can obviously eat something, but it’s rarely anything you can enjoy together. 

For me, that’s my pal, VJ. She’s a gluten-free vegan. Of course, I am one of those people who can and will eat just about anything. When we became friends, I worried that we’d never be able to eat together. Food is such an important part of all our lives: beyond preparation and consumption, there is the social aspect of sharing a meal with someone else. Due to our different diets, I wasn’t sure we’d ever be able to happily eat at the same restaurant or make dinner together. 

But I shouldn’t have worried. Not only is VJ a wizard when it comes to navigating menus for options that are both gluten-free and vegan, but she straight-up doesn’t care what anyone else at the table is eating as long as they’re having a good time. When we went to Maine last month, she stood on a rickety chair taking action shots while our friend, Liz, and I rushed around the kitchen making pie and Lemon Bars that she couldn’t enjoy. VJ came and sat with me at the Swans Island Post Office at midnight, just so I could use WiFi to post those recipes on this blog. And she regularly reads and shares my posts, even though I rarely make recipes that fall into her dietary parameters. She’s the kind of friend that everyone should be so lucky to have–one who is selfless, flexible, encouraging, and supportive.

VJ, this one’s for you. 

You’ll never believe what’s in these Raspberry Fudgesicles. There’s no dairy, and not one bit of sugar. Nope. Not even a little bit. These ice pops are completely nutritious, but they certainly don’t taste that way! 

 How does that work? It’s simple, really. Coconut milk and avocado keep them creamy. Dates make them sweet. Fresh raspberries and cocoa powder make them delicious! Add to that a bit of vanilla and a few cups of ice cubes and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into ice pop molds, add popsicle sticks, and freeze for several hours. 

 Once you release your ice pops from their molds and take a taste, you won’t believe that they are actually good for you! These creamy Raspberry Fudgesicles are full of chocolate-raspberry flavor and melt just like those fudgesicles you got from the ice cream truck when you were a kid. Except there’s no need to feel guilty having one of these. Nope! Full of vitamins and minerals, protein and good fats, and completely free of sugar, they’re practically healthy enough for breakfast 😊

My favorite thing about these Raspberry Fudgesicles is that I can share them with just about anyone. Vegan, sugar-free, full of nutrients, and totally delicious, they’re the best way to cool down with your friends this summer. 

 Raspberry Fudgesicles {Vegan & Sugar Free}
makes about 12 standard ice pops

24 Medjool dates, pits removed
1/2 ripe avocado
1/2 cup cocoa powder (natural or Dutch process)
6 ounces fresh raspberries
1 15 ounce can full-fat coconut milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups ice cubes

Combine dates, avocado, cocoa powder, fresh raspberries, coconut milk, and vanilla in a high-powered blender, and blend until smooth. Add ice and blend again until smooth. Divide among ice pop molds and add popsicle sticks. Freeze at least six hours or overnight.

Before enjoying, run molds until warm water for 1-2 minutes before removing ice pops.

Tropical Cashew Granola

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 It’s officially summer, and I can’t wait to get to the beach. I’m only four weeks away from a trip to Maine with a bunch of friends–it can’t get here soon enough! It’s super woodsy and we definitely won’t see any palm trees, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be eating tons of tropical fruit while we’re up there.

How, you may ask, will we have tropical fruit in the wilds of Maine? In the form of my new favorite granola! 
Yes, I am that person who packs homemade granola into her luggage. And why wouldn’t I? It’s full of whole grains, nuts, and fruit, so it’s super satisfying. It’s also refined sugar-free, gluten free, and vegan, so this is one recipe that will fit all my friends’ various dietary needs.

Between easy breakfasts and snacks, I know we will go through the full two-quart batch in no time. I mean, who can resist this Tropical Cashew Granola?! It’s loaded with dried mango and pineapple, toasted coconut, and cashews–perfect for any day at the beach. 
Normally, I am not a huge fan of dried fruit (especially in granola), but I make exceptions for dried mango and pineapple. I’ll eat a whole six-ounce bag in a day! The sweet mango, tangy pineapple, and toasted coconut work incredibly well with the crunchy oats and cashews. A moderate amount of sweetener and a full teaspoon of salt keep it all just sweet enough to enjoy with your favorite yogurt and fresh fruit. I can’t get enough. 

Having made a lot of granola in the last few years, I can tell you that the homemade stuff is a snap to put together and infinitely better than any boxed variety. When you make something from scratch, you can control the ingredients and customize it to your taste.

For instance, I love my Maple Pecan Granola (which I used as the base for this recipe), but sometimes I want my granola to have more clusters than that recipe allows. So, I took the basic formula and swapped half the maple syrup for brown rice syrup. It’s super thick and allows the oats and cashews to cluster a bit without adding excessive amounts sweetener. And since brown rice syrup has a mild flavor, the maple is still front and center!

Tropical Cashew Granola is like summer in a bowl! Don’t be surprised if the combination of mango, pineapple, coconut, and buttery cashews has you packing a jar for your vacation, too! 

  Looking for more granola? Check out my Peanut Butter Granola!

Tropical Cashew Granola
makes about two quarts

1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup brown rice syrup*
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups raw unsalted cashews, chopped
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
6 ounces unsweetened dried mango, chopped into bite-size pieces
6 ounces unsweetened dried pineapple, chopped into bite-size pieces

Preheat oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together olive oil, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, and salt. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold in oats, cashews, and coconut. Spread mixture on prepared pan. Bake 40 minutes, stirring at the 15 and 30 minute marks to prevent burning.

When granola is done baking, let cool five minutes before stirring in dried mango and pineapple pieces. Let granola cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three weeks.

Note:

Brown rice syrup can be found near the honey and syrups at most well-stocked grocery stores, or on Amazon. If you cannot find it or do not wish to use it, you may use an equal volume of mild honey or maple syrup. Your granola will not have many clusters, but it will still be delicious.

Blueberry Compote

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 For all the things I love about baking, the time commitment is not one of them. It’s rare that I make anything that can be done and ready to serve in under 90 minutes. I pride myself on my patience, but sometimes the idea that a batch of cookies is going to take four hours is enough to make me insane. 

Enter this Blueberry Compote. It only has four ingredients, involves almost no actual work, and takes 20 minutes start-to-finish. And oh, is it good–burst blueberries in a not-too-sweet lemon-scented syrup. It’s just begging to be stirred into yogurt or poured over pancakes or ice cream. It’s a sauce that can be used on any breakfast or dessert item you can imagine. 

 This is my kind of mid-week recipe–the kind that goes from “just” ingredients to absolute magic in almost no time at all. Simmer a cup of water and a little sugar together until it thickens slightly and becomes a thin syrup. Fold in two pounds of fresh blueberries and simmer a few more minutes until they start to burst. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the juice and zest of a lemon. Ladle it into a jar, and you’re done. Seriously. That’s it. 

Blueberry Compote works almost anywhere you can think to use it. It would be divine with cheesecake or waffles, but it’s also healthy enough to eat with yogurt for a quick weekday breakfast. Oh, and it is absolutely amazing with angel food cake, pound cake, or the Vanilla Bean Ricotta Cake I’m posting later this week! Stay tuned… 

 Blueberry Compote
makes about one quart

1 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 lbs fresh blueberries
juice and zest of 1 lemon

In a large saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 7 minutes, until slightly thickened. Stir occasionally to keep crystals from forming.

Add blueberries and let simmer 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and stir in lemon juice and zest. Cool completely. Transfer to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Coconut Oil Biscuits

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 I know what you’re thinking. “Coconut oil in biscuits? This girl’s lost her mind!”

But hear me out. Until last week, I felt the same way. Up to that point, every great biscuit I had ever eaten was made with butter and buttermilk, or occasionally, heavy cream. But while surfing Pinterest one morning, I came across a recipe for Coconut Oil Biscuits. At first, I was horrified. Coconut oil? In biscuits? No way. And they were vegan? I love experimenting with vegan recipes, but biscuits were sacred. 

I kept scrolling. But the evil geniuses who designed the Pinterest algorithm had other ideas. The recipe kept showing up! I closed the app and went about my day.

But that Pin kept popping up in my mind. And the more I thought about it, the more I welcomed the idea. Biscuits made with coconut oil and coconut milk? I like coconut. I love biscuits. Was it so wrong to put them together? I gave in and decided to try it myself. I figured that if they were a real disaster, I could toss them and go back to my buttermilk biscuit-only mentality. 

 Very long story short, I shouldn’t have worried. Coconut Oil Biscuits rise high and are super soft and fluffy. And they don’t need any of the chilling, rolling, folding, or thwacking that my buttermilk biscuits require. None of those things are difficult or take much time, but there’s something really awesome about being able to make scratch biscuits in 25 minutes start-to-finish. Yes, if you turn the oven to 425F right now, you are only 25 minutes away from slathering jam onto a warm biscuit! 

 But before you go running to the kitchen, there are a couple of ingredients we need to talk about. First, the coconut oil. In buttermilk biscuits, the butter must be kept cold so that it only melts in the oven–this creates flakiness and layers. If it were at room temperature during the mixing, the resulting biscuits would be dense and dry because the butter “pockets” basically wouldn’t exist. But unlike butter, coconut oil is solid (and kind of hard) at room temperature, so it will cut into the flour easily without becoming gooey. And since the oil doesn’t have butter’s water content, it keeps these biscuits nice and moist. Hello fluffy, flaky magic. 

The other thing we need to talk about is the milk. In buttermilk biscuits, the liquid is buttermilk (duh). Here, you could use regular dairy buttermilk, but why not add an extra dose of flavor (and keep the biscuits vegan!) by using coconut milk?! I use refrigerated coconut milk because of it’s textural similarity to dairy buttermilk. Doctored up with a teaspoon of vinegar, it creates tenderness just like its dairy counterpart. 

 Coconut Oil Biscuits bake up in just 10-12 minutes. They don’t really turn golden, but they definitely rise high. And they are so tender that you can lift the tops right off–perfect for topping with whatever your biscuit-loving heart desires!

For those wondering if these are super coconutty or not, well…they definitely have a coconut flavor, but as there isn’t much sugar, they are decidedly on the savory side. I like them with a little jam (raspberry is my favorite!), but I think a sweeter nut butter, like this one, would do well here. I could also imagine them slathered with some salted butter or made into little breakfast sandwiches.

No matter how you serve them, these Coconut Oil Biscuits are sure to be a new favorite. 

 Coconut Oil Biscuits
adapted from Gimme Some Oven
makes about 12 biscuits

1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup milk of choice*, plus extra for brushing
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil,* solid

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease a 9″ pie plate with coconut oil. Set aside.

Pour vinegar into a liquid measuring cup. Pour in milk until you have 3/4 cup total liquid, and stir to combine. Place measuring cup in the fridge to chill while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut coconut oil into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are the size of small peas. Pour in milk mixture and use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold everything together, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Use floured fingertips to knead a few times, until everything is fully combined. Pat dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Use a 2-inch round biscuit cutter or sharp knife to cut biscuits. When cutting, press directly down–do not twist or saw. Pat dough out again as necessary.

Place biscuits close together in prepared pan. Brush the tops with additional coconut milk. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until biscuits have risen and are no longer doughy. The tops may not turn golden.

Let cool for a few minutes, and serve warm with your jam of choice.

Notes:

1. I use SO Delicious Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage. Any non-dairy milk will work, as will whole, 1%, and 2% cow’s milk. Do not use skim or fat-free cow’s milk.

2. I use Trader Joe’s Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.

Irish Chocolate Potato Cake {with Vegan Alternative}

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 Hello! What have you been up to? I’ve been baking myself crazy, but it’s been a really fun few days!

This past weekend, I made six pies and some no-churn vanilla ice cream and had a little Pre-Pi Day Pie Party. I made a grapefruit variation of my Blood Orange Chess Pie and a truly amazing cherry cream cheese pie (coming soon!), among others, but the real hit was a no-bake vegan, grain-free, refined-sugar free, raw pie that I made for my allergic and super health-conscious friends. Everyone loved it! Check out that recipe–Rebecca knows what’s up.

On Sunday, I attended an Irish Tea Party hosted by my friend, Claire, who is an amazing cook. There were scones and sausages and tea sandwiches, and some really fantastic tea, of course! I brought a vegan version of this Irish Chocolate Potato Cake, just for fun 😊 I don’t make many vegan cakes, but this was a hit with everyone! I’ve included adjustments for veganizing this recipe in the notes below. 

Now, let’s talk about this cake. Yes, there really are potatoes in there–a whole cup! But don’t go running for the hills quite yet. The potatoes are cooked and then put through a ricer (or sieved), so you won’t find any large chunks of root vegetable mixed in with your chocolate! No, the potatoes keep everything supremely moist, and make this cake one-of-a-kind. If I hadn’t directly told you that there were potatoes in your dessert, I promise you wouldn’t even notice!

Irish Chocolate Potato Cake is made in a bundt pan. If you’ve ever made a bundt cake, you know the fear that comes with releasing it from the pan! Will it come out in one piece? How many chunks will be missing? When you’ve spent thirty minutes mixing up batter and an hour baking the thing, it can be disheartening to see what should come out as a gorgeously-shaped cake come out less than beautiful. But, never fear! I have just the trick to keep all your bundt cakes turning out perfectly every time. 

  For greasing the pan, I use a 1:1 combination of neutral-flavored oil (usually canola) and dry ingredients. With vanilla and other non-chocolate cakes, the dry ingredients are usually just all-purpose flour. But as this cake is full of chocolate, using all flour could leave a white film on the finished cake. It would still taste good, but it might look a little funny. Here, we add a tablespoon of natural unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix, which turns the whole mixture a lovely chocolate color. Use a pastry brush (or a very clean, dry hand) to spread the mixture into every last nook and cranny of the pan. Really coat the thing. It might take a few extra minutes, but it’s better than having a stuck cake! This ratio of oil and dry ingredients will work on most varieties of cake. Since I’ve started using it, I have spent much less money on parchment paper, and absolutely no time worrying about getting my cakes to release! 

The thick, beautiful chocolate batter is poured into the prepared bundt pan and baked at 350F for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted several places comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for fifteen minutes or so before running a small, thin knife around the outer edge of the baked cake. This makes inverting it onto a cooling rack super simple. Place a cooling rack upside-down on top of the bundt pan. Hold on tight and flip everything quickly…and voila! A beautiful cake 😊 

    
Let it cool to room temperature, and spread or drizzle with chocolate ganache. Let that set for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

This Irish Chocolate Potato Cake is perfect for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, or for any occasion that may demand bundt cake. I highly recommend enjoying a slice with a cup of tea. Actually, I think I’ll do that right now and call it breakfast 😊 

 Irish Chocolate Potato Cake {with Vegan Alternative}
adapted from cookingwithmaryandfriends.com
makes one 12.5 cup capacity bundt cake

For Greasing:
1/4 cup neutral-flavored oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoons Kosher or sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature*
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs, room temperature*
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup cooked, riced russet potatoes, warm room temperature*
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature*

Ganache*:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces dark chocolate (60% or so), chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bundt pan. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together oil, flour, and cocoa powder. Use a pastry brush to grease the inside of the bundt pan, making sure to paint all the nooks. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Beat in melted chocolate, followed by granulated and light brown sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla, followed by riced potatoes and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients in three installments, beating until completely combined. Transfer batter to prepared pan, and smooth the top. Tap full pan on the counter five times to release any large air bubbles. Bake cake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in a few places comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Use a small, thin knife to loosen the outer edges of the cake. Carefully invert cake onto a cooling rack, and allow cake to cool to room temperature.

Once the cake reaches room temperature, warm heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium high heat until bubbles start to form at the edges of the pan. Do not let it come to a full boil. Pour hot cream over chopped dark chocolate, and let it sit for a few minutes while chocolate softens. Stir together with a fork until completely combined. Drizzle or spread ganache over the top of the cooled cake. It will set in about an hour at room temperature.

Cake may be served immediately. Leftovers may be kept covered at room temperature for up to two days, or refrigerated for up to four.

Notes:

1. Vegan alternative: 1 cup vegan buttery spread, like Earth Balance, softened to cool room temperature.
2. Vegan alternative: use flax “eggs.” Mix 1/4 cup ground flax seed with 3/4 cup warm tap water. Let sit 5 minutes before adding to the recipe.
3. If you, like me, do not have a ricer, use a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to push cooked potatoes through a mesh sieve. This is the one I use.
4. Vegan alternative: add 1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Fill to the 1/2 cup mark with your non-dairy milk of choice.
5. Vegan alternative: in a double-boiler or the microwave, melt 4 ounces of chopped certified-vegan dark chocolate with 1 teaspoon coconut oil. Stir until smooth, and drizzle or spread on the cooled cake.