PUMPKIN BREAD!!!

Of all the recipes I've posted, I'm most excited about this one.  Every year since he was about 7, my wonderful husband has been in charge of making the holiday pumpkin bread.  This year, he as been tirelessly working to create the perfect vegan version of his famous classic.  After about 4 different loaves, he's finally found THE ONE!  It's light, fluffy, moist, sweet, pumpkinny, and the most delicious bread I think I've ever had.  The only other bread that could compete would be my dad's zucchini bread.  I seriously considered not posting this because I've always wanted a stellar secret recipe, but Michael insisted I share it with everyone :)  He's too nice.  Remember that baking is a science, so you want to follow this recipe like the straight A student you always wished you could be ;)

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies!!!

Ta da! A gluten free cookie that looks like a cookie, feels like a cookie, tastes like an amaaaazing cookie, and can be made in your very own kitchen!!!  My gluten-full friends, you may not find anything unbelievably extraordinary about this cookie.  It is, after all, one of the most standard and simple American treats.  My gluten-free friends, however, you might want to get out the box of tissues and have a seat before trying these...it could get a little emotional ;)

Berry Easy and Delicious Cobbler

(not the most amazing picture..)

This recipe is a collaboration of a recipe I found online and my mom's apple crisp.  I pretty much ate the entire thing in one night.  This is a great dessert when you need to quickly throw something together and really want to impress your guests, or yourself :)

Cobbler

Ingredients

7 cups frozen berries, thawed and drained (to save time, I put them in a strainer and ran  warm water over them.  It will be around 5-6 cups when thawed.  I used blackberries,  cherries, and blueberries.)

1⁄4 cup flour

1⁄4 sugar

juice of 1⁄2 a lemon

zest of 1 whole lemon

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and spread in a greased pie dish.

Topping

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 cups brown sugar (packed)

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 1⁄2 tsp cinnamon

2⁄3 cup butter, softened

Mix all ingredients well in a medium bowl (a pastry cutter works great - or a fork) and spread over berry mixture. 

Bake 25-30 minutes or until berry mixture is bubbling and topping is golden brown.

Enjoy!

French Toast Doughnuts!

My favorite memory of doughnuts has to be when we were "down the shore" (Ocean City, NJ) and my dad would get up early in the morning to get fresh doughnuts and Mallon's sticky buns.  It was blissful waking up on a warm and muggy East coast morning to the sweet smell of pastry heaven.  This recipe is courtesy of Vegetarian Times September 2009 issue.  These are not the type of dougnuts you'll find at a pastry shop like the jelly doughnuts I made in November.  They're heartier like the boxed ones you find at the grocery store.  But better.  Much much better. Not to mention they're so easy!


Doughnuts:
1 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup sugar
1 1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1 1⁄2 tsp. egg replacer (Ener-G brand)
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2⁄3 cup plain soymilk
4 Tbs. nonhydrogenated vegan margarine
1⁄2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Maple Glaze:
2 Tbsp. soymilk
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1⁄8 tsp. salt
1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract


Cinnamon Sugar:
2 Tbsp. sugar
1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon


Directions:
1. To make doughnuts: Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat doughnut pan (see below) with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, egg replacer, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
3. Combine soymilk, margarine, and vinegar in saucepan, and heat over low heat until margarine is melted.  Cool. Whisk vanilla extract into soymilk mixture.  Stir soymilk mixture into flour mixture.
4. Fill each doughnut mold half full with batter.  Bake 12 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in doughnut comes out clean. Carefully unmold doughnuts on wire rack to cool, and repeat with remaining batter.  Depending on the size of the doughnut pan, you may not have enough batter to make two batches :(
5. To make Maple Glaze (yum!): Combine soymilk, maple syrup, sugar, and salt in saucepan, and  bring to a simmer, whisking constantly.  Remove from heat, and cool 5 to 10 minutes, or until thickened.  Stir in vanilla extract.
6. To make Cinnamon Sugar: Whisk together sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Dip each doughnut into Maple Glaze and sprinkle with or dip in Cinnamon Sugar.  Let glaze set before serving...if you can wait that long...


Enjoy!


You can purchase one of these doughnut pans at Sur La Table for $10.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Eggs...whhhaaaaattt???

Crunchy chocolaty shell, smooth peanut-butter-cream-cheesy center... You're gonna love these!

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese
2 Cups smooth (or crunchy if you like) peanut butter
3 Tbsp earth balance (softened)
1⁄2 pound of powdered sugar
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
24 oz (2 bags) chocolate chips (I used whole foods bulk chocolate chips)

Mix all ingredients together (except the chocolate) with a mixer until smooth.  Scoop into little balls and place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.  I think my mixture made about 55.  Place in the freezer for at least an hour.

When they're frozen, melt chocolate on medium - low.  Be so careful not to burn the chocolate - it sucks.  Dip the balls - eggs - haha oh my -whatever you'd like to call them in the melted chocolate and place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet or plate.  I used a fork to fish them out.  You should get a nice thick layer of chocolate.

When they're cooled, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator....if they even make it that far....

enjoy!!

p.s. isn't my easter plate so cute?!

Gluten Free!

CREAM CHEESE COOKIES!!!

 Alas.
Now, one of my favorite people in the entire world, Kristen, is gluten intolerant so I made mine gluten free.  They are really yummy, but definitely not the cream cheese cookies I grew up on.  I'm pretty sure most yellow cake mixes are vegan.  Besides not having vegan sugar, I didn't see any animal products in the Duncan Hines yellow cake mix.  It just depends how "healthy" you want these to be.  If you don't mind partially hydrogenated oils for special occasions, go for it.  I get my yellow cake mix at whole foods.

Because I used a gluten-free vanilla cake mix, my cookies didn't come out yellow.  But yours will.  Not only will these be THE favorite at your holiday parties, they will probably be the easiest cookie to make.  This will most likely be the only time I'll do this, but these are so good, that I'm going to put the non-vegan option here as well (in red).  Ok enough talking!!!

Ingredients
1⁄4 Cup margarine, room temp
1 1⁄2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer  (1 egg yolk)
8 oz cream cheese, room temp (tofutti is the best)
1 box yellow cake mix (18.25 oz)
1⁄4 tsp vanilla
1⁄2 Tbsp almond milk (no milk if using the egg yolk)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Cream butter and cream cheese.  Blend in egg replacer and milk (or just the egg yolk) and vanilla.  Add cake mix, 1⁄3 at a time.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.  Or overnight.  This will make them soft and gooey.
2. Spoon onto a greased baking sheet.  They don't have to be as far apart as mine, they don't spread too much.

(couldn't decide which picture I like  better)

3. Bake for 6-8 minutes.  They will look uncooked, but when you take them out of the oven, they will still cook on the cookie sheet for another minute or two.  Don't over-cook (like I did with my first batch..oops!)!!  Let cool on the baking sheet.  Good luck keeping them around for too long.

Enjoy!!

Apple pie in the sky!!!

This is the yummiest apple pie in the world!  Pretty sure I say that about all my recipes :)  The crust is not light and flaky.  I don't really like my crust like that because to me, it always seems dry.  This is thick and doughy! yum!  I found the recipe in My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky.  GREAT book - highly recommended. Here we go!

Ingredients

Sweet Maple Crust

2 1⁄2 cups all purpose flour
1⁄2 cup Whole Wheat pastry flour
1⁄2 tsp salt
3⁄4 cup margarine, well chilled
1⁄4 cup Maple syrup
3-5 Tbsp plain soy creamer (I needed about 7 Tbsp, and I used vanilla rice milk - so start with 3 and go from there..)

Filling

7-9 apples (I used 7 Braeburn but next time I'll use at least one more)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
1⁄2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1⁄4 cup corn starch
1⁄4 tsp. salt
1⁄4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. (or more if you like) cinnamon
2 Tbsp margarine

Directions

1. Toss the flours, salt, and margarine into a medium bowl, and combine them with a fork or pastry cutter (or you could do it in a food processor).  Continue blending until coarse crumbs develop and small pieces of margarine are left intact.  Mix in the maple syrup, and add the soy creamer one Tbsp at a time, using just enough to bring the dough together into a cohesive ball.  You will have to use your hands to make the cohesive ball - it won't happen with a pastry cutter or a fork.  Divide the dough into two even pieces, smooth them into round disks, and wrap each tightly in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate the dough for two hours.

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

2. Meanwhile, peel, core, and slice the apples to desired thickness.  Put in a large bowl, and mix in the lemon juice.  Add all of the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the margarine.  Just the sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon.  Stir gently and coat the apples evenly with the dry ingredients.  Set aside.

3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place dough ball on a lightly floured surface.  If you don't have a rolling pin, use a full bottle of wine.  If using wine bottle, cover the top of the dough with wax paper.  Roll dough out to 1⁄4 inch thickness.  Place in lightly greased pie dish.  *For an easy transfer, fold the dough in half and then move it to the pie dish - but this dough was pretty sturdy.

4.  Roll out the second ball of dough, just like the first, making sure it is big enough to spill over the sides of the pie dish.

5.  Pour the apple mixture into the pie dish on top of the first crust.  Cut the margarine into little pieces and scatter atop your filling.

6.  Place the second flattened round of dough on top of the filling, and cut off the excess dough around the dish.  Press the top and bottom crusts together with your fingers.

7.  If you feel so inspired to cut out shapes for your pie, form the excess dough into a ball and roll out again.  Use a cookie cutter to cut desired shapes!  Get creative!  

8.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Then lower the oven to 350°F without removing the pie.  Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes until the crust turns golden brown.  Let cool for 45 minutes before serving to allow the ingredients to set and get ooey gooey!

Enjoy!

Best Pumpkin Muffins in the Whole World (seriously)

These are the most amazing baked good I've ever made.  I found the base of this recipe on the post punk kitchen website, which has awesome vegan recipes.  I modified this a lot to lower the fat, add some fiber, and omit the molasses.  So I'm definitely calling this my own recipe.  If you like molasses, add a tablespoon or two.  We had these in the morning, so I wanted a lighter flavor.  But I'm glad we omitted it because they are packed with plenty of flavor. You'll have no idea these are vegan.

Ingredients:
1 3⁄4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1⁄4 cups sugar (I use raw turbinado sugar)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. nutmeg
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄4 tsp. allspice
1⁄8 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbsp ground flax seed

1 cup pureed pumpkin
2 Tbsp yogurt (I used vanilla coconut based yogurt - but use whatever)
3⁄4 cup almond milk (or soy or rice...)
1⁄2 cup applesauce
1⁄4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.  Grease muffin tins (I used a 6-jumbo muffin pan) with vegetable oil or spray oil.

1. Sift together dry ingredients (flour through flax).
2. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (pumpkin through vanilla).
3. Pour wet into dry and combine.
4. Fill tins 2⁄3 of the way and bake for 27-30 min. (mine were done, but still ooey gooey inside at 28 minutes).  If you're using smaller muffin tins reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes.
5. Bake until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.  My knife didn't come out completely clean, but I like my muffins a little gooey in the middle.  So whichever you like!
6. Smother in butter and eat warm.

*Since there are only two of us, I usually cook 2-4 muffins at a time and save the rest of the batter in the refrigerator.  That way we can bake them fresh the next day or a couple days later.

Yummy treat alert

If you don't already know about Trader Joe's Cherry Chocolate Chip Soy Ice Cream, now you do and go get it!  It's a staple in this house.

I just discovered another treat that I LOVE.  Instant chocolate pudding from Trader Joe's - in the red box.   Hint: it's pretty thin if you use the full 2 cups of milk.  If you like it really thick start at 1 1⁄2 Cups and go from there.  And it does set in 5 minutes - but I'd give it 10 :)

It seems pretty easy to make on your own, but the boxed stuff is so cheap, it might not be worth it.

Caramel Apples

This requires a little love - but how often do we treat ourselves to vegan caramel apples?!

Recipe courtesy of suite101.com

*If you can find vegan condensed milk, let me know where.  If not, see recipe below.

Vegan Caramel Sauce

To make a thinner, saucier caramel sauce, reduce the condensed milk to ¼ cup or omit altogether.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp vegan margarine
1 cup ightly packed brown sugar
1⁄3 cup corn syrup
1 cup vegan sweetened condensed milk (we couldn't find it in the store so we made it. See recipe below

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt margarine
2. Stir in sugar and corn syrup.
3. Bring to the boil and stir in condensed milk, if using.
4. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until boiled.
5. Turn to low heat until thickened.

Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk

Ingredients:
This makes double the amount of condensed milk you need, but we didn't play around with halving it and sometimes when you halve recipes, they don't always work out.  But feel free to give it a try.  Or just double the caramel sauce recipe.

2 cups soy milk
1 3⁄4 cups brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch

Directions:
1. Measure the corn starch into a small glass or measuring cup.
2. Add 2-3 Tbsp of the soy milk and whisk with a small whisk or fork until smooth.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the remaining soy milk and brown sugar. Whisk in the cornstarch-soy milk mixture.
4. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until thick.

Assembly:
We dipped them right in the sauce pan and spooned extra sauce over them.  Add chopped nuts or chocolate sauce or chocolate chips or whatever tickles your tummy. As you can see, we forgot to buy popsicle sticks so we improvised with chopsticks.

The Conquering of the Vegan Doughnut!

 I finally got around to making the doughnuts from Vegetarian Times. Boy do I wish I made these sooner! I even remembered to take pictures this time. Although I made them at midnight and didn't have the best light...but you get the idea! You're gonna need time for these, so make them on a lazy Saturday when you have lots of love to give em! I did not modify these at all so before you go thinking I'm a doughnut goddess (although you can if you want), remember that this is not my recipe...but I did execute it well!!

Jelly Doughuts

Ingredients:
1 0.25-oz pkg dry active yeast
3⁄4 cup plus 1 tsp. sugar, divided
2 1⁄2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. ground nutmeg (don't skip this! don't worry, they won't taste nutmeg-y at all)
3 Tbs vegan margarine, melted
2 cups canola or vegetable oil for frying
1⁄2 cup confectioners sugar
at least 1⁄2 cup jam of your choice. I used Boysenberry from Trader Joe's. *It's MUCH easier to fill the doughnuts if you use jam with NO chunks!

1. Mix yeast and 1 tsp. sugar with 1 cup warm water bowl. Let stand 5 minutes or until mixture foams and smells yeasty (not my own words...)

2. Whisk together flour, remaining 1⁄4 cup sugar, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg in large bowl. Grease a separate large bowl with oil.

3. Stir yeast mixture into flour mixture with wooden spoon until sticky dough forms. Add up to 1⁄4 cup warm water to make smooth dough. Stir in melted margarine. Turn dough out onto well-floured work surface, and knead 6 to 8 minutes or until smooth, soft, elastic dough forms. Add flour while kneading if necessary. Transfer to oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1 1⁄2 hours.

4. Dust a baking sheet with flour. Roll dough out to a 1⁄4 inch thick round on well floured work surface. Cut circles from dough with a 2-inch round cutter. You can use a bigger cutter for bigger doughnuts. Transfer rounds to prepared baking sheet, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes.

5. Heat oil in large skillet or Dutch oven to 370°F, or until hot but not smoking. I filled the pan with oil until it was 1⁄4 inch or so deep. So they weren't completely deep fried. Fry doughnuts in oil 3-5 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Do a small test doughnut before you put a bunch in to find your groove. Turn each doughnut 2-3 times. Drain on paper towel lined plate: then roll in the confectioners sugar while still warm. Let cool.

6. Fun part!! Poke small hole in side of doughnut with toothpick or chopstick or something like that. Move tool of choice around inside the doughnut to create space for the jelly.  Use pastry bag fitted with small round tip to fill each doughnut with approx. 1 tsp. jam. *If you're using a jam with chunks, use a bigger round tip with pastry bag.

And if you are really worried about your figure, here's the nutrition facts per doughnut:

119 cal; 1g prot; 4 g total fat (1 g sat); 20 g carbs; no cholesterol; 119 mg sod; 10 g sug; less than 1 g fiber.

Enjoy!!!

*These guys are really only good on the first day, so make them when you're having friends over or if you're going to a brunch.  They're ok the next day, but nothing compared to freshly baked.