ice cream snowballs
One of the people I’m saddest I never was able to meet is Shawn’s mother, Sharon. She passed away a few years before Shawn and I met, and though I was never able to know her, I feel that she still has an impact on our life together. Shawn always tells me stories about her and it’s easy to see how much she did for her five children. She was a talented cook and went out of her way to make celebrations special. When Shawn and some of his siblings went vegan, she would adapt her recipes to make vegan versions.
Often times, Shawn will tell me something she used to make and we’ll try to recreate it. These snowballs fall into that category. A simple to assemble treat that is exponentially more tasty because it is fun to eat. With warmer weather rolling around (maybe?) I can see we’ll be making more of these.
Start with a scoop of your favorite non-dairy ice cream.
Roll it around in some coconut. Use your hands. It’s not even that messy.
Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for 10-30 minutes. That’s it! You now have a snowball.
Now personally, I’m not a fan of coconut, but I didn’t want to be left out of the snowball fun, so I made some “dirty snowballs” with crumbled cookies instead.
Perfect.
Thank you Sharon for still being an inspiration, even though we never met. Mostly though, thank you for raising such an amazing son who I adore so much.
Portland vegan desserts
In the four days Shawn and I spent in Portland, I ate more food than I ever thought possible. With so many vegan restaurants, it’s not even possible to try everything, but we were on a mission to test as much as we could. One of the highlights was being able to visit some completely vegan bakeries which Los Angeles is sorely missing. The most amazing treat that we tried, I believe was the raspberry coconut cream pie from Back to Eden. I don’t even like coconut, but oh my god, this pie was heavenly. Fluffy and sweet with the perfect crust.
Back to Eden was basically the last place we went before we headed for the airport. After getting numerous recommendations, we had to go there before we left. I tried a chocolate marionberry cupcake and also snagged some marionberry bread for the plane. I don’t even know what marionberry is but it is damn good. The fruity frosting on the cupcake was rich and amazing. The marionberry bread was moist with just the right amount of sweetness.
They had a case full of delicious treats including whoopie pies, tartlettes, chocolates and other savory items like quiches. The whole place is adorable. Oh yeah, and they have soft serve.
Of course we visited Sweetpea Baking Company. Actually we visited quite a few times. Everything we tried was super good. I loved the cute little zucchini cake. We also had cookies and donuts and…
Loved how cute these pride cupcakes were. They were completely sold out on our second visit. We really tried to make it for their Sunday brunch but couldn’t get there in time. Not to mention, the idea of eating a huge brunch was a little terrifying considering all the food we had the day before.
We stopped in Saint Cupcake Deluxe just to check out the selection and were happy to find a handful of vegan flavors. This shop was super sweet and not only had cupcakes, but also had a lot of sweet cupcakes supplies. It was also attached to Noun, a shop where I wanted to buy basically everything.
It’s not a trip to Portland without Voodoo donuts. Do I really have to say anything about these guys? So good. While I usually prefer risen donuts to cake donuts, the chick-o-stick donut is a must have. It may have been my favorite. I’ll probably have to try them again to see.
Wow, that’s a lot of dessert. That’s not even everything. I drank a lot of coffee to counteract the sweetness. That makes sense, right? This soy latte from Stumptown was one of the best I’ve ever had. I mean, Intelligentsia good. Damn I want one now.
Vegan Crème Brulée Experiment
I decided to embark on the wonderful challenge of making vegan crème brulée. This has always been one of my favorite desserts, but I never considered trying to make a vegan version myself. I wanted to try to use a cashew base instead of relying on tofu, as I find that often desserts that have a subtle flavor and a good deal of tofu can some times be too plain. After mixing my first batch, I tested the uncooked custard before it went in the oven and it had a very strong cashew flavor. Since I had extra of all the ingredients, I thought it would be best to try another batch with a different recipe, to make a less intense version. Here are the results and recipes to go along with them.
Vegan Crème Brulee v.1 ¼ cup silken tofu ½ cup sugar 1 cup raw cashews ¼ cup Mimicreme or soy creamer 2 Tbsp corn starch 1 Tbsp vanilla 1 tsp lemon
Vegan Crème Brulee v.2 1 cup silken tofu ½ cup sugar ½ cup raw cashews ¼ cup Mimicreme or soy creamer 1 Tbsp corn starch 2 Tbsp vanilla 2 tsp lemon
The process for each version is nearly the same, version 2 just has to cook a little longer.
1. Preheat oven to 325° Place your dishes on a cookie pan. Depending on your dishes, this will make 4-6 servings.
2. In a food processor, blend the tofu until it is smooth. While the processor is still running, add the sugar and let blend until smooth before adding the cashews and soy creamer together. Blend until there are no chunks, this should take a few minutes. Finally, add the cornstarch, vanilla and lemon, blending until everything is combined.
3. Pour the custard into your dishes and place in the oven. Cook for 15-20 mins for version 1 and 25-30 for version 2. The outsides will be slightly firm and centers still slightly soft.
4. Let cool to room temperature and then place in refrigerator. Refrigerate for approximately 2 hours or until cold.
5. Sprinkle with sugar, enough to make a thin layer over the top of the custard. Use a butane torch to caramelize the sugar. If you don’t have a torch, you can try putting them under the broiler for a few minutes.
I was impressed at how good these were. Both have a strong cashew flavor, but it isn’t overwhelming. I believe this is mostly due to the flavor of the Mimicreme which is also made from cashews/almonds. I think next time I’d like to use a generic soy creamer to make it a bit lighter. Version 1 was much denser. The flavor was smoothed out when it baked and was very pleasing and rich. Version 2 was lighter and creamier but wasn’t quite as custard like. Back to back, they didn’t have major flavor differences, they did have the same ingredients after all, it was mostly just a difference of consistency and intensity.
I have only had one vegan crème brulée ever, which was amazing, so I know that a fantastic vegan version is possible. These were really good (I’ve eaten 3 already!) but I know they could be even better. This is one experiment I won’t mind repeating.
Holidays, NYC and lots of dessert
homemade cinnamon bunIt is the last day of 2008! Had to squeeze in one last delicious post before the new year. I’m excited for all the projects and plans coming up. I know it’s going to be an awesome year.
Before moving forward, I’m going to have to look back for a moment as the past weeks have been terribly busy and I haven’t had a chance to show off some of the treats we’ve been indulging in. I made the above cinnamon bun from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I’ve been dying to make these, but was a bit scared off by the prep time. Since I have had a couple of days off, I finally had a chance to indulge myself. It was extra inspired by smelling the Cinnabon in the airport the day prior. Despite the fact that those things are quite possibly one of the most disgusting creations ever, the sure do smell good.
I ended up over cooking my buns a bit, but I think this may have had a bit to do with using new cookie sheets. They still tasted awesome, and were even better reheated the next morning with coffee.
peppermint cookies and cream cupcakeFor my family Christmas party, I opted to bring cupcakes rather than anything to actually eat for dinner. It worked out rather well as a bunch of my cousins happened to make vegan vegetable dishes. I made peppermint cookies and cream cupcakes. The cupcakes themselves came out amazing, perfectly moist and chocolaty. I still can’t decide if I liked the peppermint in the icing though, it was good, but perhaps too much. Maybe not though.
cookies and cream cakeShawn and I went back East to spend time with his family for the holidays. It was super exciting for me to show up and see snow on the ground.
I feel very lucky to have so many vegan restaurants in Los Angeles to go to, but it’s nothing like going to NYC. There’s just a different style of vegan/vegetarian restaurant there. The other thing that gets me super excited is getting to have some Vegan Treats. Pretty much every vegan restaurant in the area serves their desserts and there is honestly nothing like them. Over the summer, Shawn and I made a pilgrimage to their storefront in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where I was even more blown away by their selection of French pastries.
On one of our days in the city, we had lunch at Curly’s. I had a toastie with tomato, which is basically a vegan grilled cheese with red pesto and of course tomato. It was one of the most satisfying lunches. Simple and tasty and exactly what I wanted. Shawn had the Suno melt. I’ve had vegan tuna melts before, but have never been impressed. I only had a bite, but this was super good. Of course, we had to get some dessert, and I insisted on a cookies and cream cake, freshly delivered from Vegan Treats the previous day. The cake was moist and the frosting light and fluffy. Honestly, exactly how cake should taste, sweet and rewarding.
peanut butter cheesecake
cookies and cream brownieAt some point we also made a quick stop at Moo Shoes and Babycakes. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me, but after some more sampling, I’m really not a fan of Babycakes. Their desserts just don’t quite fulfill my sweet tooth. I can’t really pinpoint what it is about them that I don’t care for. The best way I can describe it is that I always feel a level of excitement when I enjoy a really good vegan dessert. Babycakes just doesn’t give me that thrill. I also am not a fan of their prices at all. Some cupcakes cost nearly $5 and that seems outrageous to me.
So that’s about it for 2008. Many exciting things to come in the future. I hope everyone had lovely holidays and Happy New Year!
berry crumble
Here is a black raspberry and blueberry crumble I made. The important thing with this is that the crumble on top is really great and could be used with any fruit. It is great with peaches or apples or berries. I’m not usually into blueberries but I love how they look with the black raspberries and the flavors are very complimentary. Here is the recipe…
Crumble top
3/4 cups all purpose-flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup non-dairy butter
Filling
(sorry my measurements are a bit, well, sketchy)
1 bag frozen black raspberries
1 bag frozen blueberries
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Defrost the fruit in a saucepan (or microwave) and pour into pie pan. Stir in sugar and arrowroot powder until it is dissolved in the fruit juices. Set aside.
Pour dry ingredients into a bowl and combine. Cut non-dairy butter into chunks and add to bowl. Use your hands to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until they form crumbly balls. Sprinkle on top of berries.
Bake for 40 minutes or until crumbles are golden brown.
Another option with this is to leave out the arrowroot powder all together, depending on the fruit, or substitute regular flour.
I’m supposed to be posting more this month but man it’s quite a bit harder than I thought. Mainly because I spend all day in front of a computer at work and don’t really want anything to do with my laptop when I get home. I would much rather be baking. Anyway I’m trying to get back on track.
