Raw Carrot Cake Bites

November 4, 2012 62 Comments

Happy November!

I am just coming down from a chaotic wrap-up of October, but feel calm and excited as November gears up and I delve into the season of holidays, families, delicious food, homemade gifts, and more. I have a lot of new things planned for the upcoming months so keep your eye on The Sweet Life!

To start with, I have begun a month long food challenge. Perhaps bad timing considering Thanksgiving is around the corner, but challenge: accepted. Additionally to eating 100% vegan, I will be cutting out gluten and refined sugar. Are you ready for wholesome and delicious recipes that everyone can enjoy? I will be posting a lot of Thanksgiving recipes with my new stricter restrictions, so pass on the word to anyone who is facing cooking and/or dietary challenges this upcoming holiday.

For the first recipe of the month I have these delicious raw Carrot Cake Bites inspired by this recipe.

Raw Carrot Cake Bites
vegan. gluten-free. grain-free. refined sugar-free
makes about (15)1 x 2 inch bites

Carrot Cake

2 1/2 cup shredded carrots (about 3-4 large carrots)
1 cup raw walnuts
1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt

Cashew Cream Frosting 

1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp raw agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
juice of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

walnuts and extra cinnamon for finish

Line a 9” springform pan, 8×8 square pan, or equivalent sized loaf pan with parchment paper so that the edges hang over the sides of the  pan as shown below:

By hand or in a food processor with the grating attachment, shred carrots. Place in large bowl and set aside. With the blade attachment, blend together walnuts and dates until mostly smooth, with a few smaller chunks. Add coconut, spices, and salt and blend together. Add carrots and blend until well combined, scraping down the sides often.

Scoop cake into prepared pan, smooth top, and chill.

To make cashew cream, drain and rinse soaked cashews in clean water. In a food processor or blender combine cashews, water, agave nectar, vanilla, salt, and lemon juice. Blend VERY WELL, scraping down the sides often, until VERY SMOOTH. Depending on the strength of your blender this make take up to 10 minutes. Add melted coconut oil and blend to combine. Spoon onto chilled cake and smooth the top. Freeze for 2 hours.

Pull from freezer and remove cake from pan by pulling up the sides of the parchment paper. Let thaw 10 minutes. With a hot, sharp knife cut cake into (approximately) 1 x 2 inch pieces. Decorate with walnuts and dust with cinnamon. Let thaw an additional 15 minutes before serving or return to freezer, thawing 25 minutes before eating.

Do you have any specific dietary issues you are dealing with for the Thanksgiving holiday?

If you do, are looking for ideas, or have any questions regarding special diet foods, leave a comment below and perhaps I can help you come up with some ideas.

 

Filed Under: gluten-free desserts, sweets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Raw Chocolate Orange Truffles

October 30, 2012 7 Comments

With Halloween Eve upon us, my mind is on the candy. Last week, in preparation for this sweet holiday, I shared a Halloween Candy Round-up with some truly amazing candy recipes from around the blogosphere and refurbished my Salted Caramel Corn post from many months ago. But yesterday I was motivated to make a healthy Halloween candy to be enjoyed without risking cavities and stomach aches. These raw truffles are so delicious AND healthy that I feel okay about sharing little bits with Eden as she experiences her first Halloween.

Raw Chocolate Orange Truffles
makes about 24

1 cup pitted dates
1 cup walnuts
up to 2 tbsp water, if necessary
3 tbsp raw cocoa powder (plus more for dusting)
1 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp orange extract
pinch of salt

In a medium bowl soak dates and walnuts for at least 30 minutes.  Drain and transfer to a food processor. Blend until mostly smooth. Depending on the strength of your food processor/blender, you may need to add water at this point to blend fully. Add slowly and do not exceed 2 tbsp.

Add remaining ingredients and blend again until well combined. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and place in refrigerator for 1 hour until truffle “dough” has hardened enough to mold.

Roll into rounded teaspoons. Toss in extra cocoa powder and return to refrigerator to harden for at least 1 hour.

Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Happy Halloween everyone! What are your sweet and scary plans?

Filed Under: gluten-free desserts, sweets Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Maple Caramel Sauce

October 16, 2012 6 Comments

The rainy season has begun in Portland, Oregon and while 8 months of rain is a bit drearisome, I always look forward to the first few weeks. The coziness of hunkering down in the house, a fire in the fireplace and the dog sitting at my slippered feet; the feeling is irreplaceable really.

The days are getting shorter and wetter and my evening are becoming filled with knitting children’s Christmas presents, drinking Spicy Chai Lattes, and, when I’m really lucky, eating Pumpkin Bread Pudding. 

Pumpkin Bread Pudding 
serves 2

2 cups homemade challah or French Bread

1/3 cup soymilk
1/3 cup soy creamer or coconut milk
3 tbsp chickpea flour + 3 tbsp water
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extra
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp allspice
pinch of salt

Maple Caramel Sauce

2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp soy creamer or coconut milk
1 tsp arrowroot powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a small (two person) baking dish or two 12 ounce mason jars or mugs.

Cut bread into 1/2 inch cubes. For best results the bread should be a slightly stale so that it won’t fall apart in the custard. If fresh bread is your only option, toast cubed bread in the oven for 10 minutes at 300 degrees F.

Whisk together the pudding ingredients (everything from the soymilk to a pinch of salt) in a small bowl until completely smooth. Fold in the cubed bread until it is fully hydrated. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. With a slotted spoon remove the bread from the custard and place in the prepared baking dish.  Pour the remaining custard over the bread so that it is fully submerged.

Bake for 20-45 minutes (times will vary greatly depending on size/shape of baking dish) until pudding has firmed up and the tops has turned golden brown. Let cool for at least 20 minutes.

To prepare the Maple Caramel Sauce whisk together maple syrup and arrowroot powder in a small sauce pan, over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil and allow it to boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Sauce should begin to thicken at this point. Remove from heat and add creamer. Stir to combine. Let cool slightly. It will continue to thicken while cooling.

Pour sauce over bread pudding just before serving. Enjoy!

How do you enjoy the rainy/cold season when it’s too wet to go out and play?

A couple days ago Jason and I started watching Friday Night Lights. I’m not yet entirely sold on the show, but I do see it becoming one of the many ways we make it through the rainy nights ahead of us.

There are still a few days left to enter into my giveaway! Follow this link to find out how you could win a year subscription to VegNews Magazine. 

Filed Under: Eating in Season, Fall, sweets, sweets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

DIY Ice Cream Sundae Bar

August 29, 2012 10 Comments

I have some sad news: this is my last summer dessert of the year.
Now I have some happy news: because for me, unlike the calendar,  Autumn starts September 1st, next week will begin the celebration of fall’s arrival. That’s right. Get ready for pumpkins and pecans!

But first a few moments of reflection on Summer’s recipe highlights. As a brand new blog (4 months old) I have been very excited about some of the recipes that have emerged from this project. It all started with the Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Creamsicle. Remember that one? It had a little trip around the vegan corner of the blogosphere. After that I went a little ice cream crazy. There was the Peanut Butter Ice Cream Bars, the Healthy Neapolitan Ice Cream Pops, and the Tropical Ice Cream Banana Split. Shear ice cream madness over here. So a DIY ice cream sundae bar seemed fitting for my last summer dessert. All the components (and yes, the ice cream) are made from scratch because that’s the only way to Do It Yourself.

DIY Ice Cream Sundae Bar:

The components:
Caramel Sauce
Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Whipped Cream
Candied Pecans
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Bananas
Cherries

Caramel Sauce
makes about 1 cup

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp corn syrup
1/2 cup soy creamer or coconut milk

Have all your ingredients measured out and within reach before you begin.

Place sugar, water, and corn syrup in a very clean medium sized (at least 2 quarts) pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Do not stir. Agitating the sugar will cause crystallization. Continue boiling for about 10 minutes until the sugar has melted and begins to turn a rich golden brown (aim for it to be the color in the above picture). Immediately remove from heat and slowly add soy creamer while whisking. The caramel will bubble up quite a bit so use caution while adding creamer.

Whisk until combined. Pour caramel through a sieve into a jar and allow to cool to room temperature. The caramel will thicken as it cools.

Store at room temperature for up to five days or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Chocolate Ganache
makes about 1 cup

6 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 cup soy creamer or coconut milk

In a small pan heat the creamer to a scald (just before boiling point). Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Once creamer is ready, pour over the chocolate chips and cover for 3-5 minutes. Remove cover and stir together with a spatula until the chocolate and cream come together to create a homogeneous thick sauce. Be careful not to over mix.

Chocolate Whipped Cream
makes about 1 cup

1 can of full fat coconut milk, chilled overnight
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa powder

Skim off the solid (coconut meat) top half of chilled coconut milk. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder and with a whisk or hand mixer, bring together until it resembles the texture of whipped cream.

*For some reason my coconut milk did not separate overnight. Because I needed the whipped cream for a birthday party, I mixed the ingredients together and froze the cream for several hours. By the time I needed it, the coconut cream was close to the correct consistency.

Candied Pecans

1 cup pecans
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add butter and brown sugar and stir together. Add pecans. Stirring constantly, cook until butter and sugar are completely melted and fully coating the pecans. Remove from heat and allow pecans to cool on wax paper or a silicon mat.

Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cups soy milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 vanilla beans
salt

*This is how I make ice cream without an ice cream maker. If you have an ice cream maker, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.

Whisk together milk, cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a large pot over medium-high heat. With a knife split open the vanilla beans and completely scrape into the pot. Stirring constantly bring all ingredients to a boil. Let boil for one minute, still stirring. Remove from heat. Scrape ice cream onto baking sheet and freeze until frozen all the way through.

Break or cut into small quarter-sized pieces and place in food processor or blender. Blend until ice cream becomes smooth and creamy. This may take up to 10 minutes. Scrape into a plastic container and let refreeze (about another hour).

Slice a banana, top with a cherry and enjoy!

Savor each bite because summer is ending and things around here are going to be changing.

What Fall foods do you especially love?

I love pumpkin everything. Pumpkin curry. Pumpkin scones. Pumpkin Chai. Pumpkin Cheesecake. Just wait. You will see.

Filed Under: gluten-free desserts, Summer, sweets, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Tropical Ice Cream Sundae

August 6, 2012 12 Comments

It is hot! The kind of hot that us redhead freckled folks hate. Or at least this redhead freckled folk. Eden and I spend our days hiding out in the basement, reading books and putting our cheeks on the cold cement floor. Oh and making ice cream. A couple days ago, when I found out about Sweetly Raw’s Vegan Ice Cream Sundae Challenge, I decided if I was going to do one thing in this heat, it would be this. It didn’t take me much thinking to decide upon a tropical ice cream sundae. If it’s gonna be this hot, I wish I was lying on a Honduran beach drinking a Pina Colada. And if I can’t have that, I’ll take sitting on my back deck eating one.

Tropical Ice Cream Sundae – makes 2

Tropical Coconut Ice Cream

1/2 cup mango and pineapple (each)

1 cup canned coconut milk, full fat

1 tbsp + 1 tsp lime juice

2 tbsp agave nectar

Extras

coconut whipped cream

3 tbsp unsweetened coconut, toasted

2 bananas

In my opinion, the best part about this ice cream recipe is…you don’t need an ice cream maker to achieve a wonderfully creamy and remarkable airy ice cream.

Tropical Coconut Ice Cream:

Blend all the ice cream ingredients together in a food processor until smooth. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or a silicone mat and pour the ice cream out, spreading thinly. Place in freezer and allow to fully harden (2-3 hours).

When frozen hard, break ice cream into small pieces and return to food processor. This time you will be working air into the ice cream. Blend for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the sides often, until the frozen pieces have broken down and are the consistency of soft serve. Spoon into a freezer-safe container, cover, and refreeze until hardened (1-2 hours).

Coconut Whipped Cream

1 can coconut milk, chilled overnight

3 tbsp powdered sugar

I’ve talked about this in many of my recipes and it’s ALL over the vegan corner of the web, but if you haven’t discovered coconut whipped cream before, get ready for something awesome!

Chill a can of coconut milk overnight. This allows the fatty solids to separate from the liquid. Scoop the solids into a bowl. Add powdered sugar and blend with hand mixture until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream.

Now here comes the best part! Assemblage. Cut the banana in half and place in bowl. Scoop Tropical Coconut Ice Cream onto bananas. Pipe Coconut Whipped Cream over the ice cream and sprinkle with toasted (unsweetened) coconut.

There you have it! I enjoyed this treat with Jason this evening and when I closed my eyes and focused real hard, I almost thought I was in the Carribean. Almost.

How do you deal with the hottest days of summer?

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Eating in Season, gluten-free desserts, Summer, sweets Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Individual Chocolate Espresso Cake… with zucchini

July 10, 2012 17 Comments

The last few weeks my recipes have been heavily influenced by my farm share, as it should be this time of year. Two of my most popular posts, chocolate dipped strawberry creamsicles and lavender marionberry mason jar pie have both been born from farm share goodies. So when I found zucchini in my crate this week, the wheels in my head started turning. I played around with different ideas all week and yesterday I went to work in the kitchen. The result: a moist, rich chocolate espresso cake.

Chocolate Espresso Cake
serves: 2
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp water)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 small zucchini, grated (about 3/4 cup)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp instant coffee
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 half pint mason jars or similar sized baking dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil two half pint mason jars.

In a medium sized bowl combine wet ingredients (oil, sugar, molasses, flax egg, instant coffee, vanilla, and zucchini), stirring together until uniformly mixed.

In a separate bowl combine the dries (flour, baking soda and powder, and salt). Add dries to wet and mix together. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chip.

Fill 1/2 pint jars between 2/3 and 3/4 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until knife comes out clean. Allow cake to cool at least 30 minutes before removing from jar.

Enjoy with a fresh cup of coffee.

Filed Under: sweets Tagged With: , , , , ,
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