Category Archives: Dessert

Cinnaholic!

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Cinnaholic!

“Cinnamon bites and kisses simultaneously.” ― Vanna Bonta

We got these award-winning vegan cinna-bombs from Cinnaholic in Berkeley. Cinnaholic’s cinnamon rolls are so ridiculously delicious that we rode the subway for an hour each way to get some. If you can’t make it there in person, they do ship nationwide within the U.S. ;)

Flavors shown above:

  • Caramel with Marshmallows
  • Banana-Vanilla
  • Vanilla
  • Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
  • Cream Soda with Marshmallows
  • Strawberry-Coconut-Vanilla

Cinnamon Facts: In Roman times cinnamon was very valuable, up to more than 15 times more costly than silver. To show his remorse for killing his wife, Roman Emperor Nero ordered that a year’s supply of cinnamon be burned at her funeral.

Camping Fare

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Camping Fare ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.” — George Carlin

Keith and I recently got out of town for a couple of fantastic nights of cabin camping on the coast. We always like to prepare our food in advance before we go camping so it’s easier to relax and enjoy ourselves while we are there. Then we just have to fire up the old camping stove, heat, and eat! :) This was our menu this time around…

Breakfast: Some sweet-tart Cran-Apple Muffins from 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 410, served with fresh fruit, tea and espresso.
Lunch: Smoky Mac and Cheese from The Vegan Slow Cooker, page 115. This is our go-to macaroni and cheese recipe. It is so cheesy and melty you wouldn’t believe it. We added some roasted broccoli & red peppers for good measure.
Dinner: Thick and savory Seitan Beef Stew from Cookin’ Crunk, page 78. This stew is amazing and was just what we needed on those chilly evenings by the fire.
Dessert: Chocolate Banana Walnut Brownies with Holy Chocolate Icing from ExtraVeganZa, page 228. Yum, yum, yum! And for second desserts, some toasted vegan Dandies Marshmallows.

Camping Facts: Camping has been a recreational sport for over 140 years. However, the roots of camping go back hundreds of years. It can be traced back to Native Americans, the first settlers of the United States.

Gingerbread Cookies

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Gingerbread Cookies ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“And I had but one penny in the world. Thou should’st have it to buy gingerbread.“ — William Shakespeare, Love’s Labours Lost

These little ginger gems are from the incredible new cookbook Betty Goes Vegan, by Annie & Dan Shannon, page 260.

This recipe conjures up dozens of soft, chewy gingerbread cookies that are so spicy and delicious you seriously cannot stop eating them once you start. Iced with Apple Vanilla Glaze, page 398.

We cut ours into stars, iced them, and added sugar sparkles. Then we wrapped them (some of them, heh!) up in compostable baggies, tied them with some vintage ribbon and gave them to friends.

Gingerbread Facts: Queen Elizabeth I is believed to be responsible for the first gingerbread man as she had them made to resemble visiting dignitaries and then presented them to the dignitaries as a gift.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

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Fresh Strawberry Pie ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This strawberry bombshell was made with a homemade whole wheat pie crust, oodles of fresh strawberries, sugar, and with cornstarch as a thickener instead of the bovine gelatin that is traditionally used in these pies.

We used the Fresh Strawberry Pie recipe from Cookin’ Crunk, the fantastic new vegan Southern cooking cookbook by Bianca Phillips, page 147.

This luscious pie was remarkably easy to make and even easier to eat… all you need are seasonal strawberries and a few pantry staples. That being said, this is definitely one to make in late Spring or early Summer.

Serve as you like with fresh cashew cream, Mimic Cream, or your favorite vegan ice cream.

Strawberry Facts: Strawberries are a member of the rose family (they are not “technically” berries).

Carrot Bread w/Cranberries & Walnuts, Spread w/Dairy-Free Cream Cheese

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Carrot Bread w/Dairy-Free Cream Cheese ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.” ― Paul Cezanne

From 1,000 Vegan Recipes, page 406. This moist, wonderful bread is chock full of carrots, cranberries, and walnuts.

We decided to go “carrot cake style” and top this with some dairy-free cream cheese, which complimented the bread nicely.

We substituted hemp milk for soy milk for a soy-free version, but you could substitute any of your favorite dairy-free milks here.

Carrot Factoid: In the 16th century, Dutch carrot growers invented the orange carrot in honor of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family. They did this by cross breeding pale yellow carrots with red carrots.

Persimmon Blondies

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Persimmon Blondies ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“If it be not ripe, it will draw a man’s mouth awry, with much torment, but when it is ripe, it is as delicious as an apricot.” ― Captain John Smith (who’s life was twice saved by Pocahontas) on persimmons

From the inspiring cookbook Vegan Desserts, by Hannah Kaminsky, page 151. This “best-blondie-everrrr” recipe uses hachiya persimmons, five-spice powder, chocolate chips, and walnuts. We ate these every day for both breakfast AND dessert until they were gone because they were so yummy. I only wish persimmons were in season year-round so we could make these more often.

Captain Smith’s quote above is true, too! Hachiya persimmons should be eaten when they are very soft. If you’ve ever taken a bite out of a crunchy one you will know what starchiness and bitterness are all about, but if you let them ripen in a paper bag until they are nice and mushy you will taste pure heaven.

Ocean’s Blueberry Orange Muffins

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Blueberry Orange Muffins ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“Animals do not ‘give’ their life to us, as the sugar-coated lie would have it. No, we take their lives. They struggle and fight to the last breath, just as we would do if we were in their place.” ― John Robbins

The recipe for these bursting-with-pure-sunshine muffins is from the incredible book May All Be Fed, written by one of my greatest heroes and the reason I became vegan, Mr. John Robbins. This recipe is named after his son, Ocean.

If you like blueberries and oranges and oats then these are the muffins for you (and me!). We poured some of the batter into our Le Creuset heart ramekins and made giant lovey-dovey versions. We also substituted spelt flour for regular wheat flour for lower-gluten muffins. Keith enjoyed these with an espresso made using his coveted Alessi espresso maker.

Blueberry Facts: Blueberries contain significant quantities of both antibacterial and antiviral compounds, and have a reputation in northern Europe of fighting infections. They may also help protect against heart disease.

Oven-Roasted Banana Rum Cheesecake w/Spiced Pecan Crust & Maple Rum Sauce

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Oven-Roasted Banana Rum Cheesecake w/Spiced Pecan Crust & Maple Rum Sauce ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

Because you don’t live near a bakery doesn’t mean you have to go without cheesecake. — Hedy Lamarr

This is the hands down the tastiest cheesecake that I have ever had, besides my Mom’s! ;) From the very talented chef Tal Ronnen’s book The Conscious Cook, page 198.

The rum sauce is pure heaven, the filling is a cheesy-banana-rum delight, and the crust is made using spelt flour and ground pecans, so it is low in gluten. This was really easy to make, and it was fun to roast whole bananas with their skins on in the oven for the filling.

Blueberry-Balsamic Meatball Sandwiches w/Mashers, Mushroom Gravy & Pumpkin Pie

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Blueberry-Balsamic Meatball Sandwiches w/Mashers, Mushroom Gravy & Pumpkin Pie ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“From a man who’s eaten his fair share? I think it’s all about the… Jesus, what’s the secret to a good meatball? I have no idea. I like a lumpy ball, personally.” —Daniel Holzman, Meatball Chef

When we saw the recipe for Blueberry-Balsamic Meatball Sauce with Rosemary in The Vegan Slow Cooker cookbook, page 170, we just had to try it! This is like a slow-cooked, blueberry and red wine sweet-and-sour sauce. What could be better?

We made sandwiches from Nate’s Meatless Meatballs sauteed in the sauce and served on toasted ciabatta with a side of garlic mashed potatoes absolutely drowning in Mushroom Gravy, from The Real Food Daily Cookbook, page 69.

We also had a ton of fresh pumpkin left over after making Fall Harvest Fruit Butter, so we filled a store-bought graham cracker crust with the yummy Pumpkin Pie filling recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking, page 104, and we baked ourselves a pie.

Vanilla-Yogurt Pound Cake w/a Blue Bottle Caffè Americano

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Pound Cake ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

This recipe is pure genius… truly the most heavenly pound cake to ever grace one’s plate. From Veganomicon, page 254. We sprinkled shredded coconut on top because we’re cukoo for coconuts. We also used rich and creamy coconut milk yogurt, which is the cat’s meow!

Served with a Caffè Americano made from Blue Bottle organic beans, the finest coffee in the land.

As the skull candle reminds us, memento mori, or “remember your mortality” and eat cake while you still can!

Meen Deen Doughnut Burger Supreme ~ from Hella Vegan Eats

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Donut Burger ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

We cannot take credit for the creation this masterpiece, we got it “to go” from a Hella Vegan Eats popup at Dear Mom in San Francisco.

What you see pictured above is the Meen Deen Doughnut burger Supreme. Hella Vegan Eats describes this as a “Freekah-beet burger patty sitting pretty between two sugar doughnuts with heirloom tomatoes, kale, secret sauce, & pickled red onions.” Hella Vegan Eats is truly festive vegan cuisine! I haven’t stopped thinking about this heavenly burger since I quickly devoured it. Apologies for the less than stellar photo. To be honest we didn’t have time to set this shot up properly as our number one priority at that moment was eating that burger!

Many thanks to the glorious blog Vegansaurus for always tipping us off about great vegan events in the Bay Area.

Doughnut Factoid: People know a good thing when they eat one… the doughnut has existed since the dawn of time. To this day archaeologists continue to unearth fossilized pieces of what look like doughnuts in prehistoric Native American settlements.

Fall Harvest Fruit Butter

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Fall Harvest Fruit Butter ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“I won all the blue ribbons for canning at the state fair.” –Loretta Lynn

This is a festive fall treat made from seasonal organic pears, apples, home roasted pumpkin, agave nectar, and warming spices. Another great recipe from The Vegan Slow Cooker, page 33.

This scrumptious fruit butter contains all of the flavors that you associate with autumn. It is the perfect accompaniment to crumpets, English muffins, toast, or even a humble pb&j.

The recipe also says that this can be frozen for future enjoyment, but we decided to go old-school and can this in jars to preserve it. Canning is so easy, fun, and rewarding!

Purple Cow Ice Cream Floats

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Purple Cow Ice Cream Floats ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“I never saw a purple cow. I never hope to see one. But I can tell you anyhow I’d rather see than be one.” – A well-known poem by Gelett Burgess, written in 1895.

Ambrosia in a pint glass! These delightful delovely delicious floats are made using grape ice cream and vanilla cream soda. The easy-to-make ice cream recipe is from Hannah Kaminsky’s brilliant book, Vegan A La Mode, page 94. It is made using coconut milk, so it is soy-free. We used an organic, natural cream soda. These went down fast. ;)

Carrot Muffins

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Carrot Muffins ~ From vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

From Vegan with a Vengeance, page 46. We substituted spelt flour for regular wheat flour and agave for sugar. We didn’t have any raisins (which the recipe calls for) but these were fluffy, moist, and delicious nonetheless. These are the perfect breakfast muffins!

Carrot factoids:
The Ancient Greeks called the carrot a philtron, which translates to “love charm.” They believed the carrot made both men and women more amorous. These muffins were lovely, indeed! ;)

The scene from the movie It Happened One Night in which Clark Gable leans nonchalantly against a fence eating carrots while talking to Claudette Colbert inspired the creators of Bugs Bunny to give him the same nonchalant, carrot-eating demeanor.

Heirloom Apples ~ Pink Pearl & Red Gravenstein

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Apples: Pink Pearl & Red Gravenstein ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

“My best traveling was done during winter months when the cold has settled in and my feet are bared; the icy earth quickens my step.”  – Johnny Appleseed on why he went barefoot.

How do you like them apples? I know I did… gorgeous and tasty pink pearls and red gravensteins. These heirloom apples appeared at our local health food store extraordinaire, Rainbow Grocery Co-op last week. Neither Keith nor I had ever seen pink pearls before. They were so pretty I just had to take a picture of them to share with you. They were creamy pink on he outside, and fuschia on the inside! The gravensteins gave the pearls a run for the money, too. They were a beautiful vivid ruby red in color, with green accents. Both varieties were crunchy, sweet, and juicy, and were perfect lunch break apples. :) Be sure to eat your apple a day, as apples are high in fiber and vitamin C and apple pectin is powerful at cleansing the body of residual radiation (and we all know that we’re getting more than our fair shares of radiation from wireless devices and nuclear fallout these days).

Chocolate-Orange Pudding

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Chocolate Orange Pudding ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

This chocolate-orange pudding recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen, page 190 is rich, decadent, and a must-try for chocolate lovers. We served this with cashew whipped cream and vegan vanilla sandwich cookies. To make cashew whipped cream: soak 1 cup of whole, raw cashews in 1/2 cup of water overnight. In the morning, add 3 tablespoons of agave nectar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and blend everything in an upright blender until thick and creamy. Easy peasy!

Cherry Cola Ice Cream

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Cherry Cola Ice Cream ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

This uber-rich and incredibly delicious ice cream recipe is from the inspired cookbook Vegan A La Mode, by Hannah Kaminsky, page 80. We made this in our indispensable Gelato Pro Ice Cream Maker, which is made in Italy and is self-cooling so you don’t need to put any part of the machine into the freezer, which usually takes up precious freezer space.

This is a fun recipe to make, as you get to create your own cola simple syrup to use. It’s also bursting at the seams with ripe, fresh summer cherries, and has the creaminess of coconut milk to boot.

We served this piled high on gluten-free sugar cones.

Kelly’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Kelly's Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

These incredibly yummy cookies are reminiscent of the famous “Toll House” cookie recipe, but with they contain no cholesterol or lactose! You can safely eat the dough without fear of contracting salmonella poisoning, too, since there are no raw eggs in it. Moist, chewy, and choco-licious, this is going to become our go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. We substituted spelt flour for unbleached wheat flour for a lower gluten version. From The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur, page 211.

Blueberries & Cream Muffins

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Blueberries & Cream Muffins ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

Blueberries are nutritional powerhouses and they taste great baked into muffins, so Keith and I developed this recipe for Blueberries & Cream Muffins to share with you. These are made using spelt flour, which is much lower in gluten than regular wheat flour and a great option for those with gluten sensitivity. We also added almond extract, which mingled really well with the other ingredients, but feel free to use your favorite extract. Vanilla, lemon, or orange would also taste great in these light, moist muffins!

Rum Raisin Brownies

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Rum Raisin Brownies ~ From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

These uber dark and rich brownies have a bit of everything in them… cocoa powder, chocolate chips, coffee powder, soy yogurt, cinnamon, rum, vanilla, and raisins! I love rum in any dish. ;) We made brownie sundaes with the leftovers the next day. This recipe is from Hannah Kaminsky’s wonderful cookbook Vegan Desserts, page 158.

Cashew Cheesecake w/Raspberries

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Cashew Cheesecake w/Raspberries - From Vegetate, Vegan Cooking & Food Blog

From The Now and Zen Epicure, page 217. Recipe doubled – because who wants only 1 cheesecake? We substituted agave for the honey, since we’re vegan. :) We also skipped the orange glaze and topped the cakes off with fresh raspberries. This was so rich and tasty… I’d like to make it again soon!