Dairy-free Biscoff Ice Cream [v.]

My favorite ice cream is the Biscoff flavor at this local ice cream shop in my hometown. It’s not what I would describe as a luxurious ice cream. It’s not exceedingly rich or overwhelmingly complex, but each bite is like a refreshing bite of chunky cookie butter. When I order it with friends, we get it sundae style, topped with chocolate shell and oreo crumbs. While I didn’t have oreos when I took the photos, chocolate shell was a must.

The ice cream’s base is lightly spiced, and there are copious rushed cookies added for texture. I’ve tried Trader Joe’s cookie butter ice cream and while good in a “how-can-you-screw-up-vanilla-ice-cream-and-cookie-butter” kind of way, it couldn’t compare to the biscoff ice cream at this shop.

Since my stomach has been rebelling against dairy as of late, I thought I’d try to make a dairy-free version of my favorite ice cream. I used a coconut cream and cashew milk base which I sweetened with brown sugar and plenty of crunchy cookie butter. I won’t lie and pretend you can’t taste any coconut because you can, but I thought the flavor paired perfectly with the cookie butter. I normally don’t like the taste of coconut, especially chocolate with coconut, ick, but the coconut flavor was mellow and if anything, enhanced the overall flavor of the recipe.

Dairy-free Biscoff Ice Cream  – gluten free. vegan.

• 1 can coconut cream
• 1 can’s worth cashew milk (measure with the empty coconut cream can)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup biscoff spread or trader joe’s chunky cookie butter
• (optional: 2 tbs plain vodka, to improve scoopability)
• 5 ounces biscoff style cookies, crushed into a mix of crumbs and chunks

To make the ice cream base, whisk together the coconut cream, brown sugar, and biscoff spread. Once smooth, whisk in the cashew milk, and vodka, if using.

Refrigerate the ice cream base until cold, and then churn in an ice cream maker according to the machine’s directions. Right as the ice cream’s finishing, add in the biscoff crumbs and let the machine go for a few more seconds until the crumbs are mixed in.

Scoop into a tupperware container and freeze for at least several hours. Or if you’re feeling impatient, eat soft serve style straight out of the ice cream maker.

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No-knead Cranberry Walnut Carrot Bread

Have you watched the Food Network show Chopped? I’m sort of slightly addicted. When I’m at college, I only have cable at the gym so the amount of TV I watch is limited to how long I’m willing to run, aka not that long. Now that it’s summer break I’ve developed this horrible habit of getting home from work, microwaving whatever food I cooked the night before, plopping my ass on the couch, and letting Food Network run in the background while I browse the internet on my laptop. 90% of the time this means watching Chopped.

The premise of the show is that four competitor chefs compete for three rounds (one chef is eliminated per round), where they have limited time to create an appetizer, entrée, and then dessert using “basket ingredients”. Each round has a different basket, but this usually means 3-4 unrelated and unusual ingredients. Sometimes the chefs absolutely kill it and create beautiful dishes and meals, and other times the clock or ingredients get the better of them.

While I am far too unqualified to ever compete in a show like Chopped, I am a huge fan of its premise, and am constantly trying to incorporate unusual ingredients into the foods I make. Mostly for fun (see sweet potato brownies)…and sometimes due to impulsive purchases. This carrot bread is because of the latter.

One day I found myself driving home from Trader Joe’s with a bottle of carrot juice, and a craving for a carrot cake smoothie. I made the smoothie (it was pretty good), and put the remaining juice in the fridge, only to find it a week and a half later when I was scrum-aging for ketchup. I didn’t want to let it spoil, and I had recently begun a no knead bread kick, so I decided that although I had never heard of yeasted carrot bread, it would probably taste alright. Turns out someone had the idea before me, and yeah, it’s a delicious combination!

If you’re not already a confident bread maker, my recommendation would be to learn how to make no knead bread before proceeding with carrot bread. No knead bread only has 4 ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast), so it’s super cheap to make, but the dough can be a bit finicky so it’s best to develop some intuition before spending money on extra ingredients such as walnuts and carrot juice.

I kept the bread savory and didn’t add any sweetener besides the naturally sweet carrot juice, but I think an eight to quarter cup of brown sugar, either added at the beginning or folded in before baking would be delicious. Lastly, you can add the walnuts and cranberries with the initial ingredients, which is what I did, but they’ll absorb water and lost their chew and crunch. For this reason I recommend adding them later.

No Knead Carrot Walnut Cranberry Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups bread flour [400g] (I used all purpose. ymwv)
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed carrot juice
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup roasted walnuts
• (optional: 1/4 tsp cinnamon)

Baking process:

Combine in a large bowl:

• 3 cups bread flour [400g] (I used all purpose. ymwv)
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed carrot juice
• (optional: 1/4 tsp cinnamon)

Stir together until a shaggy dough forms. The dough should be moist, but have some shape. Add a few tablespoons of water if the dough looks dry.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set on a warm counter to rise for 12-18 hours. It should double in size and be dotted with bubbles.

Deflate the dough by folding in:

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup roasted walnuts

Flour a flat surface. Scoop the dough onto the flat surface and folding the edges of the dough to the center to create a ball.

Wash out the bowl used originally, and grease with a thin layer of oil or cooking spray. Place the dough ball seam-side down into the bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 1-2 additional hours.

Half an hour before baking, place a 4-5 quart dutch oven on the center rack of your oven and preheat to 450 degrees.

After 30 minutes, gently dump the dough into the dutch oven (seam-side should now be on the top), and cover the dutch oven with its lid. Bake for 25 minutes, remove the dutch-oven lid,and bake for 10-20 minutes more. The crust should be dark golden bread.

Cool on a wire rack and serve with cinnamon butter or cream cheese.

Nutty Apricot Bars

My latest food stint has been vegan cooking. It evolved out of my desire to reduce the stress of “ahhh what am I going to do with this quickly expiring milk” and “oh my god i have 16 kinds of cheese let me just eat nothing but cheese for the next week” (really, I make this seem like a bigger problem than it is, because cheese is delicious), and has led to a lotta stir fries, smoothies, and pasta dishes.

Despite my growing confidence in plant-based cooking, there are still times when I turn to my dear friend butter, and this, my friend, is one of them.

These bars are so good. Like, bring-to-a-fancy-dinner-and-watch-anxiously-as-people-take-that-first-bite good. The nutty shortbread base melts in your mouth, and the slight tartness of the apricots is a perfect complement to the lightly sweetened frangipane. And this is coming from someone who is way more of a chocolate than fruit dessert person. (On a side note, I believe there are two type of people: people who prefer fruit desserts and people who prefer chocolate. I refuse to believe that there are people who want neither.)

They’re also incredibly easy to make. Seriously, if you have a food processor (and if you don’t, I highly recommend you get one, because it is one of the few things I am willing to lug across the country to college), all you have to do is throw two sets of ingredients in (at separate times) and whiz away. That, and chop a few apricots, but still, the prep for this recipe is incredibly quick.

My “secret” ingredient for this recipe is premium salted butter. It has a lower water content than regular butter, which makes it perfect for shortbread. Kerrygold butter should be easiest to find, but Trader Joe’s had another brand that was cheaper so I used that. If you can’t find premium butter, don’t worry, regular salted butter works as well.

Nutty Apricot Bars

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1/2 cup almonds or pecans (I used half of each) [60 g]
• 1 cup flour [125 g]
• 1/4 cup brown sugar [50 g]
• 1/2 cup salted premium butter, or unsalted butter + 1/2 tsp salt [115 g]

Frangipane filling:

• 1 cup almonds or pecans (I used half of each) [120 g]
• 1 tbs all purpose flour [10g]
• 1/4 cup white sugar [50g]
• 5 tablespoons salted premium butter, or unsalted butter + 1/4 tsp salt [70g]
• 1 large egg

Toppings:

• ~6 small apricots
• 2 tbs sliced almonds

Preparation Process:

Begin by roasting the nuts. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Meanwhile, line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper. Cut two ~15 inch long pieces of parchment so they are 8 inches wide. Drape one piece in the pan so that it lines 3 sides, and drape the other piece perpendicular so that all sides of the pan are covered.

Add to a food processor:

• 1/2 cup almonds or pecans (I used half of each) [60 g]
• 1 cup flour [125 g]
• 1/4 cup brown sugar [50 g]
• 1/2 cup salted premium butter, or unsalted butter + 1/2 tsp salt [115 g], cut into 1 tbs piece

Blend until the mixture is beginning to form large clumps. Press the dough into the pan into an even layer. Bake for 15 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to darken, and then remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. To speed up the process, put the pan in the freezer.

While the crust is cooling, grind in the food processor until sand consistency:

• 1 cup almonds or pecans (I used half of each) [120 g]
• 1 tbs all purpose flour [10g]
• 1/4 cup white sugar [50g]

Add to the food processor:

• 5 tablespoons salted premium butter, or unsalted butter + 1/4 tsp salt [70g]

Mix until no butter chunks are visible, then while the food processor is still running, add in:

• 1 large egg

Pulse until just combined.

When the crust has cooled (I recommend letting it cool fully, or else the butter in the filling will begin to melt), spread the frangipane filling over it.

Top with:

• ~6 small apricots
• 2 tbs sliced almonds

I cut the apricots in half, sliced each half into thin pieces, fanned out the slices, and then transferred them to the base on a butter knife.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the bars should come out clean, and the edges of the crust should be deep golden brown, but not burnt.

For the cleanest presentation, allow the bars to cool on the countertop until warm, and then cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator until cold. Remove the bars by pulling up the edges of the parchment.

Slice into 16* squares**, and serve at room temperature.

*The smaller the slices the more you can eat, right?

**A little tip is to slice off the outer edges of the bars before cutting into squares. The crisp edges are perfect for eating like biscotti, and the squares look more uniform sans edges.

Curried “Meat” Hand Pies (vegan)

This past summer, I’ve finally created a sustainable approach to cooking for one (hungry) person. I aim for fresh meals and zero waste, and so far it’s working well. As a result I’ve been thinking a lot about my food philosophy and approach to cooking.

On one hand, I’m a huge fan of the minimalist approach to cooking. I love simple high-quality dishes with flavors that are bright and true, rather than cluttered and muddled. Think, Minimalist Baker or Budget Bytes.

At the same time, some of the best foods have page long lists of ingredients that combine to form the perfect symphony of flavors. Think, Lady and Pups or Serious Eats.

I’m still trying to figure out where I should focus my cooking with respect to these two extremes, but I’ve found it’s usually better to start simple.

These curry “meat” pies are my take on Jamaican Hand Pies. I combined a few of the recipes I found online, stripping down the ingredients to my kitchen staples (hence, the minimalism). TVP might not be a kitchen staple of yours (yet), but I recommend buying a bag because it’s cheap, an easy protein addition to sauces and soups, and it has a shelf life of over a year. If you’re still hesitant, feel free to replace it with a generous ¾ cup of crumbled tofu or 8 ounces of ground beef.

Until I get a chance to try authentic Jamaican pies, I can’t say how close they taste to the real things, but they are savory and flavorful, and my friends inhaled them. I’m headed back to college soon, but my next kitchen with have a freezer stocked with these for sure (they’re basically a much improved hot pocket). These and this vegetable lasagna. So good.

Curry “Meat” Hand Pies

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup tvp “grains”
• 3 tablespoons butter, margarine, or olive oil
• 3 oz diced yellow onion
• 4 oz sweet potatoes, diced in small pieces
• 2 oz carrots, diced in small pieces
• 4 oz cabbage, finely chopped
• 2 oz frozen or fresh peas
• 3 tsp beef flavored bouillon (3 cubes in my case)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp curry powder
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ¼ cup tomato sauce (or ¼ cup water and 2 tbs tomato paste)
• 2 sheets puff pastry (1 box)
• optional: 2 tbs crushed walnuts, salt or soy sauce to taste

Preparation process:

Combine in a bowl:

• 1/3 cup tvp pellets
• ½ cup boiling water

Stir, and let sit for 20 minutes so that the tvp can rehydrate (you can proceed while waiting).

In a large saucepan, cook at medium-low heat:

• 3 tablespoons vegan butter or olive oil
• 3 oz diced yellow onion

Continue cooking the onion until it is soft and light golden brown. Then, add:

• 4 oz sweet potatoes, diced in small pieces
• 2 oz carrots, diced in small pieces
• 4 oz cabbage, finely chopped

Once the vegetables are beginning to soften, add the the pan:

• the rehydrated tvp
• 3 tsp beef flavored bouillon (3 SMALL–much smaller than the boillon cubes i’ve used in the past–cubes in my case)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp curry powder
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ¼ cup tomato sauce (or ¼ cup water and 2 tbs tomato paste)
• optional: 2 tbs crushed walnuts

Continue cooking for 10 minutes, adding a few tablespoons water if the filling mixture looks dry.

Lastly, fold in:

• 2 oz frozen or fresh peas

Taste, and add a pinch of salt or drizzle of soy sauce if desired (I added ½ tsp soy sauce). Transfer the “meat” pie filling to a bowl and refrigerate until cold.

While the filling is chilling, place a box of frozen puff pastry out to defrost for 45 minutes and preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the two puff pastry sheets (each box of puff pastry should come with 2 sheets) into four pieces each. Put away 2 pieces for later use. I went this route and made peanut butter banana pastries. So good.

Roll out the remaining 6 pieces of puff pastry into thin squares. Place 1/6 of the filling onto one side of each square (each side is a triangle), leaving a ¼ inch border between the edge of the puff pastry and the filling.

Fold the puff pastry over the filling, creating a triangle shape.Crimp the edges with a fork, making sure to not leave any gaps where the filling might fall out.

Now, either bake at 400 degrees until golden brown (~15-25 minutes) OR put the “meat” pies into the freezer. Frozen pies can be baked straight from the freezer at 400 degrees for about 25-35 minutes. The pies are down when they are golden brown and flaky, and the filling is steamin’ hot.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with Flour Peanut Butter Frosting

My motto for this cake was “go big or go home”. I can’t say I wasn’t tempted to add zucchini and applesauce to the cake, but I resisted because some times call for copious amounts of peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache, and 21st birthdays are one of those times.

My favorite component of this is the peanut butter frosting, which I created with a technique that I’ve been using for the past five or so years. The frosting uses a flour, milk, and sugar roux which is cooled and then whipped with butter to create an incredibly fluffy and flavorful frosting.

I prefer this technique over traditional buttercream frostings which I find to be overly sweet, and swiss meringue frostings which I find to be overly buttery. Flour frosting combines the best aspects of both. I’m normally pretty iffy about frosting, but I could eat this frosting by the spoonfuls. It’s that good.

Chocolate cake recipe: this chocolate cake recipe

Ganache recipe: this recipe for ganache

Peanut Butter Flour Frosting 

Makes enough to frost 1 small 5 inch cake. Double the recipe for full-sized cakes.

In a medium saucepan combine:

• 2 tbs flour
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup 2% or whole milk

Bring the mixture to a bowl, stirring constantly, and then cook for 1 minute. The mixture should be thick and slightly translucent. Scoop the mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap to the surface of the roux.

Place the bowl in the fridge until cold.

In a medium bowl, cream with an electric mixer:

• 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Add the frosting roux and continue whipping until a thick and fluffy frosting forms.

Add:

• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (I used processed peanut butter because that’s the smoothest kind that exists. I’m not sure how natural peanut butter would fair.)

Whip until the peanut butter is fully whipped in. Now, eat a giant spoonful to “quality test”. Continue “quality testing” periodically.

The Greatest Healthy Zucchini Cake (vegan)

I’m banning modesty from this post. This zucchini cake deserves so much better than what modesty can afford it.

I’m a bit antsy to be posting a recipe for “The Greatest Healthy Zucchini Cake” after a recipe for “The Best Veggie Lasagna,” but I think that’s mainly caused by my lack of posts. Up until this zucchini bread, nothing I made inspired me enough to write about it.

College has started up again, but because I’m living off campus I have my own kitchen. Lately I’ve been honing my healthy banana bread making skills (I’ve been taking a lot of bananas from my dining hall…), but that’s still a recipe in progress.

That’s, however, irrelevant. Back to what’s important.

This zucchini cake.

This zucchini cake is soft, perfectly moist, and loaded with zucchini and chocolate chunks. It’s also really, really healthy as far as cake goes, made with only ¼ cup oil, no processed sugar, and sprouted spelt flour. (Truth be told I’m a bit surprised it turned out so well.) I also added a oatmeal crumble topping, which was probably one of my smartest ideas of the semester (besides faking LaTex, but that’s another story entirely).

I’m a huge fan of sharing food with others (well, except sushi. Sharing sushi tests my generosity), but I’m finding it really hard to convince myself to share these. This is my 2015 recipe. Really, really, really.

The Greatest Zucchini Cake

In a bowl combine:

• 1 ¾ cup shredded zucchini (1 large zucchini)
• ¼ cup oil
• ½ cup dry sweetener (I used erythritol, sugar or coconut palm sugar should also works)
• 2 tbs buttermilk powder (or 1 tsp lemon juice to keep the recipe vegan)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir in:

• 1 cup spelt flour (or regular all purpose flour)
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• (optional) ¼ cup chocolate chips

Pour batter in a greased 8×8 pan. In a small bowl combine:

• ¼ cup spelt flour
• 2 tbs instant oats
• 2 tbs coconut palm sugar
• 1 tbs coconut oil

Stir until a crumbly mixture forms, and then sprinkle on top of the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a knife comes out clean.

Best Veggie Lasagna

It’s hellishly hot, I’m running on 5 hours of sleep, and I forgot my laptop charger at work so I’m anxiously watching the battery drain, but at the moment all that matters is this lasagna.

The origins of this lasagna are a losing battle I have with cheese. Aka, I can’t stop buying new varieties of cheese. My latest impulse cheese buy was queso fresco, which, while a delicious cheese, is not a particularly versatile one. I used it once as a topping for shrimp tacos, a second time on top of refried beans, and then watched it go untouched for a week before I decided there had to be some good way to repurpose it. Enter this veggie lasagna.

It turns out crumbled queso fresco mixed with a bit of cottage cheese makes a remarkably good mock ricotta. It also turns out that layering paper thin slices of zucchini creates something similar enough pasta that it’s kind of unsettling. I added regular lasagna sheets too because pasta is delicious, but they were the no boil kind which made assembly super easy.

I haven’t even finished this batch of lasagna, and I’m already eyeing the frozen paneer since I think it’s quite similar to queso fresco. We’ll see. Very, very soon.

I’m putting the recipe under a read more because it’s a bit long, even though the actual process is quite simple.

Recipe ahead.

Best Veggie Lasagna

Make one loaf sized pan of lasagna: 2 huge servings, 3 big servings, 4 regular servings

For the full ingredients list, see the bottom of the recipe.

Preparing the zucchini:

1) Obtain:

• 1 large zucchini

2) Create long, paper thin slices of zucchini using a vegetable peeler. Discard or save the middle of the zucchini for another use. Add the slices into a bowl with 2 cups of water + 1 tsp salt. This process will remove excess water from the zucchini and prevent it from making the lasagna watery later. After 20 minutes (make the pasta sauce while you wait!), drain and rinse the zucchini, and then pat dry with paper towels, removing as much excess water as possible.

Making the pasta sauce (or you can use 2 cups of premade pasta sauce):

Note: This makes just enough sauce. If you’re a fan of extra saucy lasagna, it might be smart to double the recipe and just store any leftovers.

1) To make the lasagna sauce, heat in a saucepan:

• 1 tsp oil
• ¼ a large onion, diced (½ cup diced onion)
• 1 heaping tsp diced garlic (1-2 cloves)

2) Cook until the onion is soft and translucent. Add:

• 8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced

3) Continue cooking for 5 minutes, and then add:

• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 1 13.5 ounce of no salt added tomatoes, crushed
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

4) Cook at medium heat for 15 minutes, or until the sauce is thick. Remove the bay leaf.

5) Add to taste:

• salt
• pepper

Lasagna cheese filling:

Again, this is just enough cheese filling. Use 1.5 cups of ricotta cheese if you’re a fan of extra

1) In a bowl, add:

• Option A: 1 cup ricotta cheese
• Option B: ½ cup ricotta cheese + ½ cup cottage cheese
• Option C: 5 ounces crumbled queso fresco + ¼ cup cottage cheese + 2 tbs egg whites

2) Stir in:

• 2 tbs grated parmesan
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

3) Cook at medium heat until wilted.

• 1 cup spinach leaves

Once the spinach cools, chop roughly and stir into the cheese. Set aside.

To assemble the lasagna:

1) First, gather:

• the prepared zucchini
• 1 recipe pasta sauce
• 1 recipe ricotta cheese filling
• 3 lasagna noodles
• 1 tbs grated parmesan
• ¼ cup shredded mozzarella

2) Add ¼ of the pasta sauce (½ cup approximately) to the bottom of a greased 9×5 loaf pan.

3) Top with 1 lasagna noodle.

4) Spread 1/3 of the cheese filling (1/3 cup approximately) over the lasagna noodle and any exposed sauce.

5) Add a layer of the zucchini slices, using approximately ¼ of the slices.

6) Repeat steps 2-5.

7) Repeat steps 2-5. By now you should have used up the cheese, zucchini, and noodles, but have ¼ of the sauce left.

8) Top the lasagna with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the grated parmesan and shredded mozzarella.

9) Cover the pan with a piece of aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 5 minutes more, or until the mozzarella is melted and bubbly.

–

Full Ingredients List:

• 1 tsp oil
• ¼ a large onion, diced (½ cup diced onion)
• 1 large zucchini
• 1 heaping tsp diced garlic (1-2 cloves)
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup spinach leaves

• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 1 13.5 ounce of no salt added tomatoes, crushed
• ½ tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

• 1 cup ricotta cheese or ½ cup ricotta cheese + ½ cup cottage cheese or 5 ounces crumbled queso fresco + ¼ cup cottage cheese + 2 tbs egg whites
• 3 tbs parmesan
• ¼ cup shredded mozzarella

• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt & pepper

• no boil lasagna noodles

Vegan Peanut Butter Crumble Bars, Two Ways

Two years ago I posted a recipe for Peanut Butter & Jelly bars.

At the end of the post I wrote: “If you’re gluten free or vegan, I’ll post a similar recipe that you can enjoy soon!”

Tada! It’s here.

I’ve made these bars three times to work out little kinks in the recipe, and can say that for someone who generally doesn’t love peanut butter cakes or cookies, these bars are good.

One of my latest baking goal is making health(ier) desserts that are good enough to share, and not just something I can enjoy–looking at you super avocado-flavored brownies.–and these fit that criteria.

They’re soft, super peanut butter-y, and melt in your mouth…kind of like a cross between blondies and shortbread. I brought them to a fourth of july gathering with friends and they were all eaten, so that qualifies as a success to me!

Peanut Butter Bars (Vegan)

In a medium bowl combine:

• ¼ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup spelt flour (replace with oat flour to make gluten free)
• 2 tbs sugar or erythritol
• 1 tbs ground flax seeds
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbs peanut flour (optional–can replace with 2 tbs almond flour)

In a small bowl, microwave for 20 seconds and then stir until smooth:

• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 3 tbs peanut butter (decrease to 2 tbs if you added peanut flour)
• 1 tbs melted coconut oil

Stir in:

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir until combined. They should form a crumbly, but cohesive dough.

PB&J Option: 

Set aside ¼ cup of dough and press the rest of the dough into a small cake pan (about 6″ diameter) or ramekins.

Meanwhile combine in a microwave safe bowl:

• 1 tbs strawberry jam
• ½ cup frozen or fresh berries

Microwave, stirring every 20 seconds, until thick and gooey. It should take around 3-5 minutes. Spread on top of the dough, and then sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes. The very top of the bars should be lightly golden, but the bars shouldn’t appear totally baked through.

Chocolate Fudge Option:

Add to the dough:

•  2 tbs chocolate chips

Set ¼ cup of the dough aside, and press the rest of the dough into a small cake pan (about 6″ diameter) or ramekins.

On top of the bars spread:

• 3 tbs chocolate fudge sauce (I used this sugar free, fat free fudge sauce, but if you’re aiming for a purely vegan recipe, feel free to use otherwise)

Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of dough on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes. The very top of the bars should be lightly golden, but the bars shouldn’t appear totally baked through.

3 Ingredient Fudge Sauce (Sugar-free & Fat-Free)

I’m a firm believer in drowning all ice cream in hot fudge sauce.

In fact, I believe that most things should be drowned in hot fudge.

Bananas, strawberries, oreos, chocolate chip cookies…I think all of them could use a generous dousing of fudge sauce to be honest.

The problem is that most hot fudge is probably not something you want to use as a dip for any and everything, for health and sanity reasons.

This hot fudge is different. It’s sugar and fat free, yet practically indistinguishable from regular fudge. Really, really. (I’ve even had others confirm so I know it’s not just me.)

I honestly feel weird referring to it as sugar and fat free, because really it’s just damn good fudge.

Sugar-free, Fat Free Hot Fudge 

• ¼ cup fat free evaporated milk
• 2 tbs sugar free vanilla syrup*
• 1 tbs cocoa powder (2 tsps if you use Hershey’s dark cocoa)

Optional add ins (I can vouch for all!):

• dash salt
• ¼ tsp extract (I’ve used butter extract and vanilla extract)
• 1/8 tsp molasses (adds caramel notes)
• ½ tsp coffee concentrate (intensifies chocolate flavor; add more to make mocha flavored sauce)
• 1 tbs chocolate chips – yum

1. In a microwave safe bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, sugar free vanilla syrup, and cocoa powder.
2. Microwave at high for 2-3 minutes, stirring every 5 seconds, or whenever the fudge bubbles up and threatens to spill over the sides of the bowl. The hot fudge should thicken to a nice pourable consistency. It’ll thicken even more as it cools.
3. Remove the hot fudge from the microwave, stir in any of the optional add-ins, and whisk for one minute as it cools.
4. Serve immediately, or reheat as desired!**

*I recommend Monin since I haven’t tried the recipe with any other brands, but I think any sugar free vanilla syrup should work. Note that if the sugar-free syrup has a strong artificial aftertaste, it will likely be present in the final product, so use a brand with minimal aftertaste.

** If you plan to store any remaining fudge sauce (although it’s a small batch so there probably won’t be much left over), I’d recommend adding ½ tsp corn syrup.

Looking for a more traditional recipe? I can personally vouch for this hot fudge.

Homemade Pizza for One

This is my kind of pizza.

It has a thin, unimposing crust that’s soft and chewy, but also sturdy enough to hold triple its weight in toppings.

Because I love toppings.

However, I usually shy away from making pizza because I don’t want to buy entire cans of olives or pineapple since it’s a hassle to use up so much of one ingredient.

(Yep, my favorite pizza combination is black olives and pineapple. I discovered this salty sweet combo in middle school and haven’t looked back.)

Recently, I’ve cracked this problem. Salad bars! Ok, I might look a little weird buying a container of artichoke hearts, mushrooms, black olives, salmon, corn, and pieces of pineapple picked out of pineapple salsa, but it’s so worth it because now I can get the perfect amount of pizza toppings/omelette fillings.

I feel so empowered.

And now with my topping dilemma solved, I anticipate a lot more pizza in my future.

Pizza for One

Makes one small pizza–double if you’re hungry!

Making pizza to share? Check out this recipe.

Crust:

Makes one 6 inch crust. Double or triple the recipe as desired.

• ¼ cup (30g) spelt or all purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp instant yeast
• 1/8 tsp sugar
• tiny pinch salt
• warm water
• ½ tsp oil

1. Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and ¼ tsp oil, in a small bowl.

2. Add warm water, 1 tsp at a time, until the dough is moist, but not wet.
Knead the dough until smooth. The surface should be supple but not sticky.

3. Coat the dough with the remaining ¼ tsp oil, and then place covered in a bowl to rise for an hour.

4. Use the dough immediately, or place in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Assembling the Pizza:

• 1 pizza dough [above]
• 2-4 tbs pizza sauce*
• 3 tbs shredded mozzarella cheese
• ½ tsp parmesan cheese
• toppings! (I added grilled pineapple, baked cauliflower, sauteed mushrooms, black olives, and artichoke hearts)

1. Roll out the dough into a circle and place on a greased pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

2. Add pizza sauce on top, sprinkle with the parmesan, and add as many toppings as desired.

3. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes (I baked mine for 14 minutes but I had a lot of toppings and pizza sauce).