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!

Almond Joy Bars with Turbinado Caramel

I was inspired by Almond Joys to create this bar cookie. I decided at the last minute to also make a carmel sauce to put on top with some Turbinado sugar I had around. It took a few tries, but eventually I figured out a caramel recipe that works, although it's a bit on the strong side. Feel free to experiment to make your own perfect caramel! Its a fun experience to have.

Almond Joy Bars with Turbinado Caramel

•1 cup shredded coconut

•1 cup whole wheat flour

•1/2 cup sugar

•1/3 cup canola oil

•1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used vanilla almond)

•1 tsp vanilla

•1 tsp almond extract

•1/2 tsp baking powder

•1/2 tsp salt

•1 cup turbinado sugar

•3 Tbsp margarine

•1 tsp vanilla

•4 tsp non-dairy milk

•1 cup dark chocolate pieces

•1 cup chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and combine all cookie ingredients in a bowl. Put the mixture in the bottom of a cake pan and top with the almonds, then the chocolate pieces. Put in the oven. Easy enough, right?

While it's baking, get ready to make some caramel. Start by premeasuring out your ingredients and having them at hand so that you can put them in right when they need to be added. Heat up a large saucepan on medium high, and when you're ready, add the sugar. Stir every 10-20 seconds, until the sugar has melted and becomes a light golden brown. Then add in the margarine and stir the mixture over medium heat until it melts. Once the margarine is combined, and it might take a few minutes, add the milk a bit at a time. It'll be hot, so the milk will case a lot of steam-be prepared! Once the milk is combined, let the mixture sit a moment and them pour it into a cooler bowl or pan. Filter out any unmelted sugar pieces if neccessary.

Once the bars are golden brown and the chocolate has melted, remove them from the oven. You may have to swirl the chocolate around a  bit with a knife to get the covered effect. Once the bars have cooled, drizzle with the caramel and garnish with coconut if you're feeling fancy. Slice and enjoy!