Black Forest Cake

I’ve always loved black forest cake, and this one is amazing- I added lots of fresh cherry preserves and a subtle but delicious chocolate ganache between each layer. I made a tall and thin cake (4 layers cut from a 9x14 sheet cake) but it would be pretty easy to double this recipe and do a standard double layer 9” round cake. 

Chocolate Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp Baking powder

1/2 baking soda

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup canola oil

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

2 cups non-dairy margarine

2 cups powdered sugar (preferably sifted)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache:

1 cup margarine

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

Cherry jam or preserves

Let’s begin by making the cake. Preheat your oven to 350 and mix together the first 6 ingredients until throughly combined in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl and then combine the two together until they form a batter. Pour into your desire pan and bake it!

In the meantime, get all your fillings ready.

To make the frosting, combine the margarine, powdered sugar, and vanilla using a hand mixer until fluffy. Cover and set aside.

To make the ganache, combine the cocoa powder, margarine, and sugar in a small bowl  until dense and completely combined.

Take the cake out of the oven, and cut it into whatever circles or squares you want to layer (if you doubled the recipe and are using two round pans, be sure to cut the domed cake tops off before stacking.) LET IT COOL, then frost! Make sure all your ingredients are nice and cold for an optimal frosting experience. A layer of cake, a layer of ganache, a layer of frosting, a layer of jam, then repeat as desired. Frost the whole thing when you’re done, and have fun adding toppings (I recommend maraschino cherries, if you have them) Slice and enjoy! 

Cowboy Cookies

Cowboy Cookies

(Recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade York Cookie Jar- a great book)

These are fantastic. They are hearty, chewy, chocolatey, and the use of dark brown sugar gives them a caramely taste. They are almost like a seven-layer bar, in cookie form. Its really, really hard to eat just one.

2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour
2 cups oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup nondairy milk
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. ground flaxseed
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips
1/2-1 cup lightly toasted chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Start by combining the flour, oats, baking powder and soda, and salt, in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a larger bowl, using a hand mixer, combine the oil, sugars, vanilla, and flaxseed.

Fold in the flour mixture a third at a time, and then mix until they are completely combined.

Slowly fold in the chocolate, coconut, and pecans.

Roll dough (it will be sticky-don't worry!) into balls on two greased cookie sheets and bake until the cookies are slightly golden brown (10-15 minutes)

Thick Crust Apple Pie

This might be the best pie I've ever made. A thick, flaky crust and a rich sweet filling of fresh apples is sure to please anyone, vegan or not. Serve warm with your favorite vanilla non-dairy ice cream.

Double Crust:

•2 1/2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour

•1 cup earth balance spread, chilled

•Ice water

Filling:

•3/4 cup sugar

•1/4 cup flour

•1/2 tsp. nutmeg

•1/2 tsp. cinnamon

•dash of salt

•6 cups peeled and sliced granny smith apples

•2 tbsp earth balance spread

To make the crust, first chill the flour bowl, pastry cutter, and flour in the freezer for a half hour to 45 minutes. The key is to keep all the ingredients as cold as possible. When cold, cut in the earth balance spread until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the ice water a bit at a time until dough comes together. Split the dough into two balls, one a bit bigger than the other. Handling as little as possible,  roll out into two large circles (it helps to this in between two large sheets of parchment paper to prevent sticking). Place the larger circle in bottom of a 9-10" pie pan and save the smaller circle for the top.

To make the filling, simply combine all ingredients except the earth balance in a large bowl. Put the filling into the crust and dot the top with thin squares of earth balance. Cover with top of crust, cut a few ventilation marks into the top, and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes, or until golden brown.

Truffled Polenta with Mushrooms and Broccolini

I actually made these as a turkey alternative for thanksgiving. I wanted something just as filling and rich, but more unique and delicious than tofurkey or something like that. Why would you need fake meat when you can have truffle oil, after all?

For the Polenta:

2 packages pre-cooked polenta

1 cup vegetable oil 

2 tbsp. truffle oil

3 tbsp. earth balance margarine

salt to taste

For the Vegetables:

2 cups sliced or halved crimini mushrooms

2 cups broccolini

2 tbsp. truffle oil

3-4 tbsp. earth balance

To make the polenta, heat the polenta with broth in a medium saucepan. Stir until combined. Reduce heat and add oil, margarine and salt. Let simmer 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and pour mixture into an 8x10-ish square baking pan. Let sit a few minutes, then cut the polenta into triangles, as shown below. Grease a large skillet and, using a spatula, cook polenta cakes evenly on both sides, about 3-5 minutes each.

The cakes are done! Sautéing the vegetables is pretty simple- mix all the ingredients in a large pan over medium heat until soft, stirring occasionally. Taste and add more margarine or oil, if desired.

Serve vegetables over warm polenta-enjoy!

Cranberry Walnut Rolls

I had this idea to make some sort of fluffy cranberry nut roll to serve at Thanksgiving, but every recipe I could find online used all sorts of milk and eggs. I decided to take a recipe from bonappetit.com and veganize it, and it turned out incredibly well. I probably ate 15 within the three days following thanksgiving.

Cranberry Nut Rolls:

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 tbsp. light brown sugar

1 package yeast (dry)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups almond milk (or any nondairy milk)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 egg worth of ener-g egg replacer

1 cup dried cranberries (unsweetened)

1 cup chopped walnuts

Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Warm the milk in a saucepan until lukewarm-add the oil and mix well. Add this mixture as well as the egg replacer to the flour bowl and combine, using a low speed. Add nut and cranberries and mix until a large ball forms. Dough should be slightly sticky and elastic, and should look like this!

The hard part is over! Now just knead the dough for about five minutes, adding more flour if needed, and put it in a lightly oiled bowl, covered, for about 2 hours.

When you come back to the dough, it will be a lot larger. Take the ball and break it into about 12 equally sized pieces. Roll these pieces into nice sphere shapes and place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let stand another 1 1/2 hours. It's worth the wait!

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, and when the dough is ready, bake the rolls for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Hummus Quesadillas with Homemade Tortillas

Making your own tortillas is a really easy way to add some authenticity to any mexican dish. There are only a few ingredients and one bowl, so they come together really quickly. I made this quesadilla with hummus instead of cheese and it turned out great! Feel free to experiment with whatever vegetables and toppings you like.

Hummus Quesadillas with Homemade Tortillas

For the tortillas (recipe from texasrollingpins.com, makes about 15 tortillas):

•3 cups flour

•2 tsp baking powder

•1tsp salt

•5 tsp. vegetable shortening

•1 cup warm water, as needed

•Sliced vegetables as desired- I used bell peppers, red onion, tomato, and avocado

•Plain hummus (my favorite is Sabra plain or garlic)

Start by making the tortilla dough-mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, then cut in small pieces of the shortening, until the dough looks like coarse crumbs like this:

Then pour in the water slowly, mixing as you go, until the mixture is a thick and bread-like ball. Roll onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 5 minutes, then roll into small balls:

Cover with a clean cloth and let sit about 10 minutes.

Heat a large skillet. When the dough is ready, roll each ball out into a circle about 1/8"-1/4" thick. Heat on skillet until each side side is slightly browned, like this!

Spread hummus and toppings on a tortilla-

and cover with another tortilla. Place on skillet and grill on each side until tortillas have darkened. Remove from heat, slice, and enjoy!

Blueberry Lemon Scones

My dad asked me today for a good vegan scone recipe- I went online to try and find one only to realize what a lack of  recipes for vegan scones there are out there. Admittedly, often the main ingredients for scones consist of milk, butter, and eggs, but I knew there must be a way to make a delicious version of the classic breakfast pastry that everyone can eat. These turned out really well, with a great flakiness and soft texture. 

Blueberry Lemon Scones

•2 1/2 cups all-purpose or pastry flour

•1/2 cup sugar

•3 tsp baking powder

•1/4 tsp salt

•1/2 cup margarine (I use Earth Balance)

•Zest and juice of 1 lemon

•1 cup blueberry soy yogurt

•1-2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients including the zest together in a large bowl. Cut in the margarine into the mixture until it resembles course crumbs, like this:

Be sure not to overmix, and do not touch the dough with your hands. The goal is to keep it as cold as possible. Once mixed, add the yogurt and lemon juice and combine. Then add the blueberries-as many as fits your blueberry preference. 

Roll dough onto a floured surface and into a large ball. Flatten the ball into a circle, about 1/2"-3/4" thick, and slice it into eighths, like so:

Place each segment on a baking sheet and cook until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and enjoy!