Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

First and foremost, I have to say Happy VEGAN MOFO everyone! I have been mega busy lately but I hope to get a few more things up here before the end of the month. I have been on a real kick lately making all sorts of loaf type desserts...it all started with the never ending supply of my Spiced Banana Bread. Then I started making pumpkin bread variations on it. It was only a matter of time before my dessert journey ended here....homemade Nutella and pound cake. That's right folks....Nutella swirled into pound cake. And the result...heavenly! Sometimes, you just have to take risks to get great desserts, right?

Also, I think I am secretly trying to come up with some awesome desserts because Chris' birthday is on Thanksgiving this year!!! Crazy! That means double desserts. I am going to be in a food coma for a long time after next Thursday.

Nutella

2 c. hazelnuts, toasted and mostly shelled

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/2 c. powdered sugar

3 tbsp vegtable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c. water

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Pound Cake

3/4 c blended silken tofu
1 c. sugar
1/3 c canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tbsp corn starch
2 c flour

To start, you will want to begin with the nutella. Toast the hazelnuts in a 350 degree oven for about 12- 15 minutes. Using a kitchen towel, scoop about maybe 1/2 c or so of the hazelnuts, and use the towel to rub off as much of the skins as you can. If you have some skin left on the nuts, it will be okay, you just want as much off as you can get. Repeat for the remaining hazelnuts.

When all the hazelnuts are done, place in a food processor and blend until it gets to be almost like peanut butter like consistency. This will take several minutes of blending/pulsing to achieve. First, it will be kind of like bread crumbs, and slowly the natural oils will come out of the nuts and make it into a sticky, peanut butter type paste.

When you have the right texture, add your powdered sugar, cocoa powder and oil. Pulse and blend until everything is combined. You might have to stop several times to scrape the sides down. Everything will probably get very thick at this point.

Next, the trick to get this more of a smooth consistency, I transfered everything to my KitchenAid mixer. While you are mixing and fluffing the nutella, add a 1/4 c. of water at a time until you have a smooth, more spreadable mixture. For mine, I ended up using 1/2 c. of water.

Now, set up a double boiler and melt 4 oz of semi-sweet chocolate. When the chocolate is close to being all the way melted, take the bowl off of the double boiler and continue to stir until no pieces of chocolate remain. Add to your nutella spread, and mix until everything is smooth and combined.

Note: This makes about 2 c. worth of nutella, and for the cake, you will likely only use a little over a cup. But hey, this means nutella for breakfast, for lunch, for snacks! Anytime!

Okay, onto the cake. I know that just making the nutella was a lot of work, but the cake goes quickly and you will have almost a whole hour to rest up while it is in the oven. So, let's get this cake going!

Take your silken tofu and blend in your food processor. This will make sure there are no lumps, and it should almost resemble the consistency of yogurt. Take the blended tofu, add your sugar, oil and vanilla, ,mix until everything comes together to a nice, smooth batter. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and corn starch. Then add your flour, one cup at a time. Mix for a couple of minutes, the batter should be fairly thick in consistency.

Now for the fun part! Take a 9x5 inch loaf pan and spread about 1/3 of the batter as the bottom layer. Then take the nutella and spread a layer on top of the batter. Since the nutella is a lot thicker than the batter, I found that spooning out small amounts of nutella and dotting it across the batter works best. Then take the back of the spoon and spread it out as best as possible. Take about 1/3 of the batter and spread over the nutella. Repeat the nutella layer. Then pour over the rest of the batter on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick/knife comes out clean when poked in the center.

Now eat cake! With nutella on top! And maybe ice cream if you have any around!

Mini Peach Galettes

It seems like every time I have been to the grocery store the last few weeks, there is a beautiful, huge pile of sweet peaches and nectarines. I kept buying some, munching on them as a snack...and then finally I thought, "I should probably bake something with these wonderful peaches!" And it was that simple. I literally woke up one day last week with only one thought in my mind, I must bake today. I was up and at the store by 8:30 am, home by 9:15 and in the kitchen.

I knew I wanted to make some sort of tart-like thing, but then my obsession with mini/personal sized foods kicked in. Mini Galettes. Perfect! I love galettes because all of its imperfections are what make it look so pretty and perfect. It adds to the galettes character, rustic-ness and charm. Plus, personal sized...they are just so darn cute looking!

peach galette:
4 large peaches, peeled and cut each half into ninths
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ground walnuts

the dough:
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
16 tbsp Earth Balance or your fav. vegan butter substitute
6 tbsp very cold water

Start with making the dough first, since it works best if it has time to chill in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours. Using a food processor, begin the dough by pulsing together the flour, salt, and sugar a few times just to mix everything together. Then add the cold butter and pulse until it is a bit coarse and crumbly. Add your cold water to the dough, and begin to pulse until the dough comes together.

If it is still crumbly, add one tbsp of cold water, and pulse again. The dough should not be too moist where it feels sticky, but it should hold it's shape when squeezed together. Take a piece of saran wrap or parchment paper, and flatten out the dough into a large disc, and refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours.

Next up are taking care of the peaches. You want to peel them, and to make that easier just drop them one at a time into boiling water for 1 - 2 minutes, then place them into an ice water bath. This should let you remove the skins a whole lot easier. Cut each peach in half, then cut each half into nine parts.

Mix together your corn starch, lemon juice, brown sugar and salt. Pour over the sliced peaches, stir to coat evenly and let marinade for 15 - 20 minutes.


After the chilling time is up for your dough, take a piece and roll out a circular shape to reach 6 - 7" wide and 1/4" thick. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. After I rolled out my first dough, I placed it onto my Silpat and baking sheet, and then put it into the fridge. Every rolled out dough I placed onto the baking sheet in the fridge as well. This will keep your dough firm and make it easier to work with when forming galettes. Repeat for the remaining dough. I was able to make 5 galettes out of my dough, the last one being slightly larger in size than the rest.

Onto the assembly. Take one circle dough, drop 1 well rounded tsp of ground walnuts in the center. Leaving at least a 1" border from the edge, spread out the ground walnuts evenly. Grab your peaches, arrange several peach slices on top of your ground walnuts until it is completely covered. Fold the edge border of your dough, pleating the edge every inch or so all the way around the dough. Spoon over a few tbsps of the peach juice/marinade on top of the peaches. Place in fridge, and repeat for your next galette.

Place into a preheated oven to 400 degrees. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the peaches & juice is starting to bubble.

Let cool, if you can resist the delicious aromas! Eat and enjoy!

Side note: because I am a food nerd, I did a bit of reading up on galettes and the layer of ground nuts is a traditional technique that aids in forming a crip/not soggy bottom. The ground nuts serve as an additional layer to soak up juices and prevent it from reaching the actual bottom layer of crust, resulting in a yummy, firm crust! Neat, right? And no more soggy crust!

Lemon Blueberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

I have really been into going berry picking at local farms here, which are plentiful here in the Northwest. And this past weekend, I went berry picking yet again (....but can you blame me, its around $1/pound!) and I was pleasantly surprised that the blueberries were in full swing! And let me tell you, blueberries grow on the most adorable little bushes! I got a little over 2 pounds in maybe 10 minutes. It was such an amazingly sunny day, and I knew I had to make something special with these berries.

It was a hot weekend, and all I had on my mind were the follow things in no particular order: ice cream, cookies, refreshing, and cold! Immediately, the idea of ice cream sandwiches jumped to mind. And almost like magic, I was struck with the taste of bright, refreshing lemons with blueberries....in ice cream form! And cookies, lemon cookies...! And so began the long journey of making ice cream sandwiches from scratch, every step of the way.

For the ice cream, you make a blueberry compote first, which will get swirled into the lemon ice cream. Then you make cookies, and then you assemble. A little note, making everything in one day was quite the project. I think it would be much more manageable splitting it into two parts. But I needed my fix of ice cream sandwiches, stat! So, right after berry picking I got to work.

Here is what you will need:
blueberry compote
2 c. blueberries
1/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. corn starch

ice cream
2 - 13.5 fl oz cans coconut milk (not the low fat kind!)
3/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. arrowroot
4 - 5 tbsp. lemon juice

lemon cookies
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. sugar
2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
12 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Ener-G egg equivalent

First thing first, you want to make the blueberry compote. That way you can put it in the fridge to cool while you make the lemon ice cream mixture. Start by rinsing 2 c. blueberries, put into a medium pot and add the sugar. With a fork or a potato masher, start to crush/smoosh the berries until they release their juice and there are no more whole berries left. Simmer for 5 - 7 minutes. You should have a dark sauce with smooshed up berries that look pretty mushy as well. Add the tbsp. of lemon juice to the 2 tbsp. cornstarch, mix and add to compote. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. It should have thickened up a lot, and be like a thick blueberry syrupy sauce almost. Set aside in fridge to cool.

Next up, the lemon ice cream. Reserve a 1/4 c. of the coconut milk, and set aside. In a medium sized pot, add the rest of the coconut milk along with the sugar. Cook on medium high. While this gets up to temp, take your 1/4 c. coconut milk and incorporate your 2 tbsp. arrowroot. When the sugar/coconut milk just starts to boil, take it off the burner, add the arrowroot mixture, and stir to combine. You should notice this getting a bit thicker as well. After everything is incorporated, add 4 tbsp. of lemon juice. Taste, and if you like it a bit more zingy, add another tbsp. of lemon. Stir, and set aside in fridge to cool completely.

For everything to come together in your ice cream maker, your lemon mixture really needs to be cold. Even just "cool" can be too warm and it will not work. Trust me on this, I too once was anxious to have my ice cream and threw in a cooled mixture into the ice cream maker and it never quite got where it needed to go. So you have two options at this point: 1. make the cookies or 2. take a nice, long break! I left my mixture in the fridge about 3 hours, stirring every once in a while.


Once totally cold, follow your ice cream maker instructions accordingly with the lemon ice cream. After it is done, I layered the lemon ice cream and the compote. For every couple of scoops of lemon ice cream I put into my container, I would add a big, heaping spoonful of blueberry compote. After filling your container in this fashion, simply take a knife and make swirly figures in your ice cream. Place in freezer to harden.

Ok, if you are brave, you will venture onto the cookies. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix to combine all ingredients. One tbsp. at a time, mix in your butter. After all of your butter chucks are well combined, add your vanilla, lemon, and Ener-G egg equivalent. Mix until the dough comes together. Take it out of the bowl, and knead for a 2 - 3 minutes. Roll it into a log, wrap in saran wrap and stick it in the fridge for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. You will notice the dough is super soft, similar to sugar cookies. Freezing the dough a little will make it easier to handle the dough.

Fast forward 1 hour or so, take out your cookie dough log, slice off cookies in 1/4" slices. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place on a non-stick baking tray or onto a tray lined with a Silpat mat. Bake cookies until slightly golden brown, 12 - 14 minutes. You want your cookies slightly softer than normal, this will make it easier to bite into your delicious ice cream sandwich. Let the cookies cool completely.


Ok, now for the fun and tasty part. Finally, right!? If you are not worried how nice and neat the sandwiches look, take the ice cream out of the freezer and set it on the counter for 20 minutes or so to soften up a bit. Scoop several spoonfuls onto a cookie, place a cookie on top, with the edge of the spoon, smooth out the edges a bit. You can eat this now, or freeze it a bit to firm up the ice cream again. Firming up the ice cream is what I recommend, but I have to admit I had one right away. After all of this work, I had to do it, okay!?

If you want really neat, pretty sandwiches, you can do what I did. Simply take some softened ice cream, fill a little ramekin with about 1" of ice cream, throw the ramekin in the freezer for 20 - 30 minutes. Use a knife to line the edge of the ramekin, this will loosen the ice cream circle. Turn upside down and tap onto cutting board. Out should pop a neat, little circle you can simply place onto the cookies to make the sandwiches.

Eat lots of these and enjoy! You have earned it!

Mini Cashew Cream Fruit Tart

I have been really, really into all sorts of fresh fruit tarts lately. Also, I am hooked on using cashews as a base for any sweet and creamy filling for desserts. It is creamy, and the cashews have a really nice, natural sweetness to them. And it thickens up like mad! I was pretty surprised the first time I tried this.

I have been making full size tarts, but I thought it would be cute so have little personal tarts, because 1.) they are cute and 2.) I am obsessed with "personal" sized servings of food. I don't know why, but I am. So here is my offering in hopes that these summery little tarts will help ward off the rain here in the Pacific Northwest. I guess I just want my fruit tarts and my summer to go along with them.

The recipe makes 10 mini fruit tarts. I had some cashew cream left over, but it is delish tart-less, simply topped with some fresh fruit.

What you will need:
Crust
1 1/3 c. flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. Earth Balance (or your fav butter substitute)
1 1/2 tbsp ice water

Filling
1 1/2 c. raw cashews (pre-soaked for 3 - 4 hours)
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
6 tbsp. Earth Balance, melted
2/3 c. water
mixed berries, your choice for topping


Start by soaking your cashews in advance, for at least 3 - 4 hours.

Next up, make your tart crust. Add your flour, sugar and salt into a food processor. Pulse once or twice to mix. Add your 1/2 of the Earth Balance, either cutting into small cubes if using a stick of butter sub. or by spooning by the tbsp. Pulse 4 - 5 times to mix. Add the other half of the Earth Balance in the same fashion, and pulse a few more times. Add your ice water. Your dough will almost seem crumbly at first, but go ahead and pulse several more times. Your dough should slowly come together. If a few more pulses don't do the trick, add 1/2 tbsp ice water more to your dough and repeat. The trick to a fab tart crust is to go through this whole process using the least amount of water and the least amount of blending. Once your dough has come together, knead a few times on a lightly floured surface. Form into a disc, and refrigerate for one hour.

After one hour, take out your dough and roll out to appropriate sizes. I used a muffin pan for my mini tart shells, so I rolled out the dough and cut out circles to fit into each muffin compartment. I used a glass with a 5" diameter to cut out each mini tart shell, then rolled each circle out until it was about 1/8" in thickness. Place rolled out dough into each muffin section, gently press dough to fit. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes. Then preheat oven to 375, make a few pricks with a fork into each tart shell and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until shells are lightly golden brown.

While the tart shells are cooling down, go ahead and start on your cashew cream filling. I don't have one of those fancy Vita-Mix blenders, just a regular old blender and it works fine for this. I am sure my blending time is a lot longer than with the awesome Vita-Mix, but hey, whatever works, right? Ok, onto the filling. Add half of your cashews and all of your sugar, vanilla, melted Earth Balance and water into blender. I usually start on a lower setting and work my way up to the highest blender setting. Once I have this blended to a fairly smooth consistency, add the rest of your soaked cashews one handful at a time. This will help in not overwhelming your blender if you just have a little one like I do. There should be no cashew chunks visible, just a smooth mixture that almost resembles pudding or a custard. (I have read about doing this in a food processor and have tried it, results where nowhere near as good as with my crappy little blender.)


Spoon filling into each tart shell and place in freezer for 30 - 40 minutes, or until firm. Slice up fruit and top each tart with a generous helping. For additional, gluttonous yummyness...top each little mini tart with some soy whip cream.

Vegan Caramels (with Chocolate)

So, after a bit of a break spending time visiting my family in New York, I am back and ready to do some serious cooking, baking and experimenting. I got a really super informative and awesome candy making book from C and it got me really excited at the prospect of using new/interesting ideas and techniques and translating them into tasty, vegan versions.

The first thing I tackled, just to get my feet wet in the candy making arena, was caramel. I found that coconut milk turned out to be a super substitute for the heavy cream/sweetened condensed milk ingredients. Also, not until reading this book did I know all of the nuances and different types of caramels. I decided to go with the ooey, gooey delicious caramel that I knew and loved. And apparently, the texture of your caramels depend on what temperature you raise your mixture to, so it is pretty darned important that if you want to venture this way, you get yourself a good candy thermometer. I have the kind that clips onto the side of my pot and I can peek at the temp without fussing around and having a free hand to keep it in place. Ok, ok....onto the good stuff....

What you'll need for the caramels:
2/3 c. brown rice syrup
1/2 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. Earth Balance (or your fav. butter substitute)
1/8 tsp. salt

To coat with chocolate:
8 oz semi sweet chocolate

Also, before you proceed, you will need parchment paper of sorts, OR if you are awesome, you have discovered the secret of the Silpat mats, which I used to pour my caramel mixture onto. This thing (Silpat) is amazing, and the caramel was a true test of its non-stickness. So be prepared or proceed with caution!

In a medium-large pot, set to medium heat and combine all of the ingredients listed above. Stir to melt/incorporate all of the ingredients. Clip on your thermometer and keep an eye on the temperature. Keep stirring your mixture constantly so it does not burn, as you will have this come to a boil. It might even look like a crazy, bubbly mess. Cook until the temperature of the caramel reaches 240F degrees (115C). Pour onto your Silpat mat, or your pan lined with parchment paper. Cool at room temperature until it is firm.

I was anxious to start on covering them with chocolate and gave it a try a few hours later. BAD IDEA! Like the good book says, it is better to wait at least 24 hours before attempting to cut the caramel, and I, like an amateur, tried anyways. However, I tried again the next day and although the caramel was still soft, it was not as sticky as the day before.

So, this caramel was pretty darn good on its own. However, if you wish to turn them into little nuggets of deliciousness, shape your caramel into 1" logs and put them in the freezer while you temper your chocolate. Then, they should stay formed like the shapes in the picture below. Again, speaking from experience, the caramel as is, is far to soft and delicate and the heated chocolate will melt the caramels and they will turn into weird (albeit still yummy), flat discs.


I found using a fork to hold the caramels, and a spoon to pour over the chocolate worked best for me. Place on parchment paper, saran wrap or another sort of non-stick surface and let cool. If you are in a fancy mood, after your chocolates have hardened, dip your spoon in the chocolate and in a fast, zig zag motion, swing the spoon over your chocolate covered caramels. This adds a pretty, decorative finish to your candies. I also used some sea salts of half of my chocolates, cause I like 'em like that!


And then, make more...Those are my plans, anyways!

Nuss-Ecken (Hazelnut Triangle Bars)

After a few very failed experiments, I received a perfectly timed letter from my Oma in Germany, along with this recipe for Nuss-Ecken! I was so happy because I needed something to make that wouldn't turn out disasterously. The original recipe from my Oma uses butter and eggs, but hey, those things are easy enough to change!


This is a traditional Germany cookie/bar/pastry and my Oma would make them throughout the year, but around the holidays, these Nuss-Ecken were a staple (along with about 20 other cookies). Not only were these one of my favs because they tasted so darned good, but when I was little, I just loved helping my Oma out in the kitchen and being able to coat them with chocolate...it just seemed so awesome and fancy through the eyes of a 7 year old me! And to my surprise, I still like making them on my own now.

What you'll need for the dough:
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. vegan sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg equivalents of Ener-G (can sub w/ ground flax seed)
5/8 c. Earth Balance or your fav. butter substitute

In the middle:
apricot preserve (about 400ml)

On top:
1 c. Earth Balance
1 c. vegan sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. water
3 c. ground Hazelnuts
1 c. chopped Hazelnuts
7-8 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate

Start by baking the bottom layer of the bar, add your butter and sugar to your mixing bowl and mix until it is creamed together. Add and mix to incorporate your egg substitute, vanilla and baking powder. Then cup by cup, slowly add your flour and mix until the flour is well combined into the dough, which should be very smooth and does not stick to the side of your bowl. To make rolling out the dough a bit easier, wrap the dough in saran wrap or parchment paper and let chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Take the dough out, and either grease a 11x13 in. baking sheet or line it with parchment paper or a fancy shmancy Silpat mat. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to fit the sixe of the pan. It should be a fairly thin layer, maybe about a 1/4 in thick or so. Then grab your apricot preserves and spread a nice, even layer across your dough. It doesn't have to be a thick layer, just enough to cover the dough evenly.

Now to make the topping! To make the ground hazelnuts, I put about 1 c. hazelnuts at a time into my food processor and pulsed many times to get them ground up with some fairly small pieces chopped up. Do this a total of 3 times, or until you have just about 3 c. of ground hazelnuts. Next, chop 1 c. of hazelnuts into a rough chop, but making sure not to leave really huge pieces or whole hazelnuts. I found my mezzaluna worked really well for this part. Add those to your bowl of ground hazelnuts.

Next, melt your butter, sugar, vanilla and water in a pan and let cook until all of your sugar is melted and well combined. Take your pan off the burner, and add your hazelnut mixture to this and combine until everything is well incorporated and coated evenly. Spread this mixture over your dough and apricot layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees or until the sugary hazelnut mixture is a nice, caramelized golden brown color. Take out and let cool for a few minutes to let everything set. Take a knife and go around the edges of the pan to make sure non of the sides and stuck to the pan if you greased the pan. Cut into 2 1/2 - 3 in squares and then carefully cut each square in half to make the triangles.


Let the Nuss-Ecken cool completely before melting your chocolate, otherwise they might want to fall apart if this is done right away. Once cooled, temper your baking chocolate and use a spoon to coat half of the triangles, or any other way your heart desires.

Eat. Share with friends. Be happy and repeat!

Apple Cider Donuts

Somehow, I feel like I am never quite ready for things lately. Especially holidays. Before I new it, Halloween was here and gone, and I felt completely unprepared and like I had not done my usual routine of visiting pumpkin patches, going to the corn maize, pumpkin carving....I don't know what is going on, but I just feel like I am a few steps behind the rest of the world.

And then it hit me, one very important piece of my fall ritual had not been completed....apple cider donuts! I knew I had to do a bit of research and make them right away. And by right away, I meant the weekend.

So here is what you will need for the dough:
3 1/2 c. flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
4 tbsp Earth Balance or vegan butter substitute
1 cup vegan sugar
2 egg equivalents of Ener-G
1/2 c. soy milk
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 c. apple cider

for frying:
36 oz. of vegan shortening
candy thermometer

Since 1 c. apple cider is too much liquid for a standard recipe, what we are going to do is reduce this cup down to about 1/4 cup apple cider. This way, the flavor is extra concentrated into the smaller, correct amount of liquid. Use a small pot, and on medium heat, let this simmer down to a 1/4 c, this might take somehere around 20 - 30 minutes, so make sure to start this step first. Then, when you have about 10 minutes left, take your 1/2 cup soy milk and add your 1 tbsp vinegar and let sit for the remaining 10 minutes that the apple cider is reducing. The vinegar and soy milk combo creates a liquid similar to buttermilk. I discovered this trick during my research where something said you can use regular milk and vinegar to create "buttermilk" in a pinch. So I thought...hey, why not try it out with soy milk? You will notice that almost right away the soy milk will thicken up quite a lot. While all of this is going on, you can also grab an additional bowl and mix your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

When you have the apple cider reduced, and you soy "buttermilk" ready, begin to make the batter by mixing your sugar and butter until it is smooth, light and almost a tiny bit fluffy. Add about half of the Ener-G mixture and mix well until incorporated, then add remaining Ener-G mix. At some point you might have to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add your 1/4 c. apple cider, then slowly add your soy "buttermilk," then turn down the setting on your mixerslowly and carefully add your bowl of dry ingredients to the batter and mix until everything is a nice and smooth dough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle flour onto it, toss your dough onto the flour coated parchment paper and knead a few times. Add a bit of flour if your dough is still really sticky. Using you hands, press out the dough until it is about a 1/2 inch thick and set in the freezer for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Now for the fun part! Take your flattened out dough out of the freezer and using a circular cookie cutter about 3 inches wide, cut out donuts and place onto another baking sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly sprinkled with flour. After you have cut out as many donuts as you can get out of your dough, knead it together and flatten back out to a 1/2 inch thick sheet and repeat. Once you have gone through all of your dough and cut out all of your donuts, use a circular cookie cutter that is 1 inch wide, and use it to cut out the center of each of your donuts.


Throw these guys back into the freezer for about 20 minutes. While they are in the freezer, prepare your workspace for frying your donuts. I used about 1 1/2 tubs of vegan shortening, each tub containing 24 oz. I also used a medium sized sauce pan and fried 2 donuts at once. I did it this way, because to get a large pot or pan with enough oil for frying, you would need a huge amount of oil or shortening, and I did not want to go that way, and I found my mini-frying station set up I had worked just fine. Onto the kind of gross part, put your 36 oz of shortening into the pan, and heat until it is liquid and reaches 350 degrees, try to keep your frying liquid at this temp.

Take your donuts out of the freezer and using a slotted metal spoon or sorts, or something that will not melt in hot oil, VERY gently place 2 donuts into the frying liquid. They will sink to the bottom and then slowly float up to the top. After about a minute and a half, flip each donut and let it fry for the same amount of time on the other side.


When done, take your slotted spoon, and place on some paper towels to drain. Repeat with each donut and all of those cute donut holes! I found I could fry about 5-6 donut holes at once without the temp dropping and keeping everything consistant.


I also make a little bit of cinnamon glaze for about half of my donuts by mixing together 1 c. powdered sugar with a few tbsps of soy milk to get it to the thickness of frosting you like, and adding 1 tsp of cinnamon. I poured this onto a plate, and then dipped each donut into the frosting and let them harden up.


I have to say, these are probably one of the most delicious things I have ever had the pleasure of creating in my kitchen. They are so so so good, and really hit the spot for that fall time, apple cider craving. I made about 20 donuts and 20 donut holes.

The only thing keeping me from making this every weekend is that 36 oz of shortening I needed to fry these up in! Also, speaking from experience, be VERY CAREFUL when frying these, taking care to gently place them into the oil. A little donut hole accidently slid off too quickly, and I immediately got a burn on my hand with a blister that formed right away from oil spattering from the falling donut hole. SO BE CAREFUL! But if you take this journey, you will be rewarded with delicious, fluffy, beautiful Apple Cider Donuts!

Nutmeg Cake

For the past couple of months, I have had a growing obsession with nutmeg. I add it to almost everything I make lately, especially anything tomato based. The flavor of nutmeg with a slow, simmering pot of fresh tomatoes make the most excellent pasta sauce.

So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a recipe for Nutmeg Cake! I had to try it out right away. This vegan version is adapted from "The Herb and Spice Bible" along with my own Pumpkin Spice drizzle.

What you will need for the cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp coriander
2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 cup Earth Balance, or your fav. vegan butter
1 egg equivalent
1 1/4 c. soy milk

Pumpkin Spice Drizzle:
1 c. confectioners sugar
2-3 tbsp soy milk
1- 2 tsp pumpkin spice

Preheat your over to 350 degrees and mix together 1/2 of your flour, all of your sugar, cinnamon, allspice and coriander. Add your 1/2 c. Earth Balance or vegan butter to the mix, and crumble the pieces of butter with the mixture. It will be somewhat coarse and chunky, and that is a-ok.

Spread a bit of Earth Balance onto the bottom of your pan. I used a bundt pan, but an 8 inch round cake pan will work nicely as well.

Sprinkle the flour, sugar, spice, butter combo onto the bottom of you pan to coat it. Whatever you have leftover, add your other 1 cup flour to this mixture, add your baking powder, salt, nutmeg, soy milk and egg equivalent and whisk together.

Pour this batter over the crumbs in your pan, and bake for 50-60 minutes. Depending on what kind of pan you use, your baking time will vary slightly, so keep an eye on your cake at around the 50 minute mark. The cake is done when you can insert a fork into it and it comes out clean, it should also feel springy to the touch.


While you let your cake cool in the pan, prepare your Pumpkin Spice drizzle. Mix all ingredients together, and adjust the amount of soy milk until you get a somewhat thick liquid. Set aside.

Remove cake from pan, and drizzle the Pumpkin Spice drizzle over the cake. And if you are feeling festive like I was, decorate your nutmeg cake with autumn colored sprinkles!

Caramelized Pear & Ginger Cake

I have envisioned this tangy, sweet and delish flavor combo for a while now. Ginger and Pears. I could not get this out of my mind, so I came up with a way to combine these two flavors into a sort of cobbler like cake. The cake has a bottom layer, then the fruit, and then topped again with small pieces of dough that was used for the bottom layered on top of the fruit.

Pears have such a great sweet and mild taste, the addition of the ginger and some other spices really are a nice addition to this cake.

Here is what you will need:
4 - 5 pears
1/2 c water
2 tbsp finely minced ginger
1 tsp fresh nutmeg
1 tsp fresh all spice
vegan sugar to caramelize pears

For the dough:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (i used the chunkier, kosher salt here)
1 cup vegan sugar
3/4 cup vegan earth balance
3 egg equivalents for Ener-G (use warm water)

Begin by making the dough, as it will need to set in the freezer for about 30 minutes for you to be able to handle it easier, and it won't be a sticky mess.

Begin by adding the earth balance and the 1 cup vegan sugar into your mixer, beat for about 5 minutes so it becomes a nice, light, fluffy mixture. In a seperate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Also mix 3 egg equivalents of Ener-G together.

When your sugar and butter mixture is nice and fluffy, slowly add about 1/3 of your ener-g mixture at a time, making sure each 1/3 is incorporated before adding your next 1/3. Add your bowl of dry ingredients slowly. Continue to mix until it comes together into a very smooth dough. It is going to be very sticky, wrap this up in plastic wrap and leave in your freezer for about 30 minutes.

While the dough is in the freezer, start to prepare your pears. I cut mine in half length wise, then in half again. Do this to all of your pears. Then, take a small plate and pour some of your vegan sugar onto it. This will allow you to place each pear section into the sugar to coat it.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium high, and place each pear slice into it, cut side down. They might be a bit smooshed in the pan, but that is ok. Cook for about 5 minutes, and then add your 1/2 cup of water, in addition to the ginger, nutmeg and all spice. Let this cook for another 10 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on this, you don't want the sugary syrup to burn. If it looks like it is getting too thick or burning, add a little bit of water to it. Set aside and let cool.

While the mixture cools down, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take out your plastic wrapped dough, take 1/2 of the dough and use this to create the bottom layer of the cake. I used a pie pan for mine, but I think a 9" springform pan would work nicely as well. Spread out the dough to get a nice, even bottom layer.

Take your pear mixture, and spoon the pears over the bottom dough layer. Make sure to save the sauce, but feel free to scoop out all of the small pieces of ginger and add to the pears. Take your other 1/2 of the dough and layer the top with table spoon sized chunks of dough. Try to cover almost the whole layer, but there will be small spots where the pear layer peeks through. This is ok, as the dough will spread out during baking.

Now for the neat part. Take your sugary, syrup like sauce and cook it on high heat for about 2 - 3 minutes. It will bubble like mad, start to turn a caramely brown color and get thicker.



Pour this syrup over the top of your cake. This will make the top layer of your cake have a nice, really cripsy top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is baked golden brown.

Also, learning this from experience, put another pan, like a pizza pan, underneath your cake just in case there are some juices that bubble and spill over. Not fun to clean up.

Eat right away, or let cool and savor later.