Coconut Choc Chip Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches

I was just going to whip up a batch of cookies to eat, but I had leftover cream cheese frosting in the fridge so I thought why not make these into fancy cookie sandwiches! 

Chewy oatmeal cookies with delicious cream cheese frosting in the middle! SUCH a good combo. 

The cookie recipe is adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, with a few of my favourite add ins - coconut and chocolate!

I made a cream cheese filling, but vanilla frosting would be good too! 

Keep them refrigerated, because the cream cheese filling becomes firm so you can bite into the sandwich without it spilling out the edges.

Cookies

1/3 cup almond or soy milk

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup melted coconut oil (or canola)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the soy milk and ground flax seeds.

Whisk in the sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Sift in the flour, spices and salt and mix until just combined.

Fold in the coconut, oats and chocolate chips.

Roll or scoop the dough to form small balls onto the baking trays. Flatten slightly and bake for 10-12 minutes just until the edges are golden. Let cool on the baking sheets and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream cheese filling

1/4 cup vegan butter


1/4 cup vegan cream cheese


2 cups sifted powdered sugar


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Beat or whisk the butter and cream cheese together until well combined. Beat in the sugar in batches and mix until smooth, and then add the vanilla.

Assemble the cookie sandwiches with 1 or 2 tablespoons of frosting, refrigerate for 30 minutes, then eat!

Vanilla Raspberry Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my new housemates!
The base recipes are from the trusty Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World book.
For the raspberry frosting I defrosted a cup of frozen raspberries and beat them into the frosting, it turned out delicious! Frozen berries work best because they become soft and mushy when defrosted, so they are easy to incorporate into the frosting.
These would be even more amazing with white chocolate chips stirred into the batter, if you have some on hand! :)


Vanilla cupakes
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch 
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix soy milk and vinegar together and let sit for a few minutes to curdle.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, soda and salt.
Whisk the vanilla, sugar and oil into the soy milk mixture.
Fold wet into dry, and mix until combined.
Fill cupcakes 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.

Raspberry frosting

1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
1/2 cup refined coconut oil or nonhydrogenated shortening
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup defrosted frozen raspberries
Soy or almond milk to thin

Beat the margarine and shortening until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla, then beat in the raspberries until well combined. 
Add a splash of soy milk if it's too thick, and beat for about 5 minutes until it's nice and fluffy.

Cornmeal Cupcakes with Maple Frosting and Popcorn!

I saw some cupcakes in a shop with popcorn on top and had to make some of my own! The corn and maple combination was inspired by johnnycakes(those yummy corn pancakes that you eat with heaps of maple syrup!)
The cupcakes are more like muffins, but whatever, still delicious! The recipe for the cupcakes/muffins is adapted from the PPK, and the frosting is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal
 (or fine polenta)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup soymilk

1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup sugar
½ cup canola oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix soy milk and lemon juice together and let sit for a few minutes to curdle.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, baking powder, soda and salt.
Mix the vanilla, sugar and oil into the soy milk mixture.
Fold wet into dry, and mix until combined.
Fill cupcakes 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.

Maple frosting
2/3 cup maple syrup
¾ cup margarine
2/3 cup soy milk powder (I did 1/3 soy powder + 1/3 powdered sugar instead)
1 tsp maple extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
[+ Popcorn for topping the cupcakes. I used the sweet & salty kind!]

Beat margarine and maple syrup together (don’t worry if it looks a bit curdled). Beat in the vanilla and maple extracts, then gradually beat in the soy powder/sugar. Beat until it looks creamy and fluffy, adding more maple syrup if it looks too dry, or more soy milk powder if it’s too wet.

Lemon Curd Cake with Coconut Glaze

Lemon curd

1 cup fresh lemon juice

½ cup water


1 cup sugar


4 tablespoons cornstarch


¼ teaspoon salt


Zest of 3 lemons

¼ cup coconut cream

2 Tbsp. vegan butter

Combine lemon juice, water, sugar, cornstarch, salt and zest in a saucepan. Whisk over a medium high heat until it starts to bubble (approx. 10 minutes). Let it boil for one minute. It should become thick and start to turn transparent. Remove from heat and whisk in the coconut cream and butter until completely combined. Let it cool to room temperature before using or storing in a jar.

Lemon cake

1 ½ cups coconut milk

½ cup soy/almond milk

1 ½ cups sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

¼ cup lemon juice

3 tablespoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans.

In a large bowl whisk together coconut milk, soy milk, sugar, oil, lemon juice, zest and vanilla until well combined.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Mix in half the dry ingredients to the wet, then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Pour the batter evenly between the two pans.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a kinfe comes out clean.

Let cakes cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely. 

Coconut glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon coconut extract

Hot water

Whisk together sugar, oil, coconut extract and 1 tablespoon of water. Gradually add more water until you reach desired thickness. 

Pumpkin Pie

My first Thanksgiving, so I made pumpkin pie! I just used the recipes from Vegan Pie in the Sky but replaced soy milk with coconut milk for extra creaminess ;) 
I served it with Healthy Top whipped cream and the most amazing ice-cream ever from a little ice cream store in NYC called Stogo, which unfortunately has to close down :( 
But this ice-cream is my favourite ice-cream in the world- Ginger Vanilla Bourbon made with hemp milk!

Peach Oat Pancakes

A delicious summery breakfast!
(Ignore the ugly benchtop in the background- I just moved into this apartment in NYC and there aren't many areas with good light!)

1 cup oat flour or finely ground rolled oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour, spelt flour, or a gluten free blend
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon + 1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
2 tablespoons sunflower/canola/coconut oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbls maple syrup 
1 or 2 fresh peaches, sliced


Whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined, adding more milk if the batter is too thin. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes.

Pour batter into the pan, then press 3-4 slices of peach into the pancake.

Serve with extra peach slices and maple syrup :)

GF baked pumpkin spice donuts with maple glaze

I'm obsessed with baked donuts at the moment. I've been using the gluten free recipe from BabyCakes Covers the Classics to experiment!


The other day I tried replacing the applesauce in the plain donut recipe with pumpkin puree to make pumpkin donuts, and it worked great! I think any kind of fruit/vegetable puree would do the same thing.


And I decided to top them with maple glaze :)
I think chocolate icing/ganache would taste really good too!

Here's the recipe, adapted from the book:


1/3 cup coconut or canola oil
1 cup sugar
3/4 white or brown rice flour
1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill garbanzo and fava bean flour (If your in Australia most health food shops stock it)
1/2 cup potato starch (or cornstarch works too)
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water


Preheat oven to 160C (325F). Spray or brush donut pans with oil.


Whisk together sugar, the flours, potato starch, arrowroot, baking powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl.
Add the oil, pumpkin, vanilla and hot water and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined. Drop 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the moulds and use a toothpick to spread it evenly around.
Bake for 15 minutes rotating the pan halfway through, until the donuts are golden brown.
Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool another 15 minutes.


For the glaze:
1/2 cup icing sugar
3-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup (depending on how thick you want the glaze)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon


Whisk all ingredients together, then dip the donuts in the glaze and let it set on a wire rack.


Enjoy!