Coconut Cowboy Coffee

Photo courtesy of Gretchen at Kumquat

Ciao Ragazzi!

As some of you might have noticed, I've been MIA for a stretch. It's been fun, but I've missed you.

Lots of craziness going on - some of which I look forward to sharing when I can - but the nutshell version is that I've been displaced by yet another international transition and separated from both my beloved kitchen and my tiny (but comfortable, familiar and organized) workspace and, as a result, have been in a bit of an uninspired funk.

In any case, I stumbled across this lovely little bit of heaven that snapped me out of said funk and bookmarked it immediately for that glorious day when I can finally make myself a decent cup of coffee again - and since I have been terribly selfish hoarding all my fabulous little finds over the past couple of months, I felt compelled to pass this one on because..well, someone should be able to enjoy it immediately.

Ironically, I don't even really LIKE coffee - but this simple but fabulous little trickeroo from Gretchen at Kumquat - one of my new favorite gluten-free blogesses - has me slapping my veins wanting to shoot it intravenously...

Alas, methinks I will wait until my moka is unpacked. Just another couple of weeks...

In the meantime, please indulge and enjoy...


Coconut Cowboy Coffee
recipe courtesy of Kumquat
Serves one

1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup hot, brewed strong coffee
3 tablespoons chocolate syrup

Heat coconut milk in small saucepan until steamy. If desired, froth with a steam wand or aerator.

Combine coffee, chocolate syrup and coconut milk.

Yup, that's it. Sometimes the simplest things is life are all we need...

Enjoy =)

Chocolate Balsamic Cake with Red Wine

For those of you who don't know me, I'll let you in on a little secret - I don't really love chocolate. But put a glass of red wine in front of me and suddenly I'm prepared to take the most hard-core chocoholic to the mat over the last piece of whatever's in the house that even hints of chocolate.

So when I came across this recipe for vegan chocolate cake from Amy over at Fragrant Vanilla Cake, I just about flipped. For all you dedicated vegans out there, your karmic reward is this incredible recipe that non-vegans would likely never bother to seek out: chocolate cake held together not by eggs, but by red wine. Yes. Seriously. Oh, and with a cherry on top: a couple of tablespoons of balsamico that pull double duty for adding flavor as well as working with the baking soda to make this puppy rise.

I have to admit, having been raised on deliciously buttery eggy cakes, I was totally skeptical about how this was going to turn out. But I was determined to try a vegan cake and this one sounded way too interesting to pass up. Still, I braced myself for it to be totally dry or exhibit some other kind of weirdness and just kept my fingers crossed that it would at least be "passable"- lest I endure a resounding chorus of "I-told-you-so's" from my family. So imagine my joyous surprise when I took the first bite of this gobsmacking goodness...go ahead, imagine it. If you're picturing a cartoon character with eyes bugging out in tune with a fire alarm and passing out with little pink hearts and stars circling my head...well, you're obviously as weird as I am, but you'd be spot on.

Incidentally, as much as I'd love to, I cannot take credit for the awesomely awesome term "gobsmacking" - I shamelessly stole it from PeaSoupEats, a cheeky vegan blogger in Cornwall who if you don't already know, you absolutely must. In fact, I highly recommend pecking around her delightful little blog whilst stuffing yourself with this delectable cake!


Chocolate Balsamic Cake with Red Wine 
Recipe adapted from Fragrant Vanilla Cake
Makes one 9-inch single layer cake*

*if you want a double-decker - which, now that I've tried it, I highly recommend - double the quantities below to make two cakes and sandwich some yumm-o frosting in between

1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour (pastry flour works best, but naturally I didn't have any so I used regular wheat flour)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup sugar (original recipe calls for maple sugar - use it if you have it!)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position rack in center of oven. Amy recommends lining the cake pan with parchment paper and coating the parchment paper (and pan sides) with nonstick spray. I didn't have any paper on hand (found out the hard way a few months ago that wax paper is NOT a viable substitute) so I just used non-stick spray on a standard 9" non-stick cake pan and it worked fine.

Anyhoo. Onwards...

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl to blend well. Next, whisk oil, wine, and vanilla extract together in small bowl to blend well, then whisk into the flour mixture until well blended. And while the bottle is open, feel free to pour yourself a glass and toast yourself for endeavoring to bake something.

Whisk in the balsamic vinegar and stir quickly until fully combined. Transfer cake batter to prepared pan and bake cakes until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

Cool cake completely in pan on rack, about 1 hour. Cut around sides of pan to loosen. Turn cake out onto platter and peel off parchment paper (if you used it). Let your masterpiece cool completely before frosting.

Use your favorite frosting (there's a great one on the original recipe page that uses Tofutti cream cheese and tons more on Amy's site). You'll want to be generous with the frosting, not only because it's delicious but also because eggless cakes, whilst they can be surprisingly moist, do tend to be a little more delicate than their eggy cousins and will crumble more readily under pressure.

If you want to make it insanely decadent - go ahead, you deserve it - top it with some vegan caramel sauce to bliss yourself out completely.

Days later, I'm still seeing hearts and stars...

Raw Vegan Salted Chocolate Truffles

I'm a total sucker for salted chocolate and these little gobs of goodness are my new favorite obsession. They're a super-healthy sweet treat and so easy to make it's almost silly. The basic recipe is pretty versatile and just begging to be experimented with. I promise to get back to real food soon but I just had to share these with you guys.

They're the best weekend inspiration I can think of today.
Happy Friday everyone!!


RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
makes 16 1-inch balls of deliciousness

1 cup pecans or cashews or walnuts
1/3 cup cacao powder
1-2 teaspoons raw cacao butter (you can substitute any nut butter for a hint of extra flavor)
1-2 tablespoons coconut butter
1 cup pitted dates
1 pinch Sea Salt, plus extra for topping
splash of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons maple syrup

Firstly, process nuts into crumbs. Add cacao powder, cacao butter, coconut butter and dates, followed by salt and maple syrup, into food processor. Process the mixture until it's smooth and forms itself into a ball.

Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. One tablespoon should yield a 1-inch ball.

Enjoy them as is or press them in a sprinkling of the topping of your choice. This time I used saffron sea salt, pink sea salt and organic orange peel with a couple of pumpkin seeds.

Pop 'em in the freezer for about 20 minutes to set, and keep them refrigerated for as long as they last in your house.

No-bake Brownies with Lemon-Date Frosting

I'm obsessed.

Admittedly I'm more of an avocadoholic than a chocoholic, but these brownies have totally won me over. I'm mostly amazed at the ingredient list because it is completely devoid of anything I would have thought a brownie properly consists of (dairy-free, butter-less, eggless) and a whole bunch of other stuff that I'd never expect. I mean, I've had brownies with fruit and nuts, but never one that was actually made from them.

Oh happy day.

The lemon-date frosting is the kicker. The lemon juice cuts the sweetness of the dates just enough to give it the perfect tang. The lightness is a bonus as well and since it's completely natural, you can pile on as much as you want without feeling like a psychotic sugar monkey. I usually have to make it when I'm alone or the Bear will slurp it all up before it gets anywhere near the brownies.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

No-bake Brownies with Lemon-Date Frosting
Recipe courtesy of Katrine Volynsky via La Vita Saporita

1 cup walnuts
3/4 cup plump raisins (make sure they're pretty fresh - if they're dry they won't stick)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon alcohol free vanilla extract
1/3 cup raw chocolate powder or finally ground cacao beans
1/2 teaspoon coconut butter*
1 teaspoon grated raw cacao butter*
* if you don't have these handy, any nut butter (peanut, almond, etc) will work fabulously

Guilt-Free Lemon Date Frosting
1/2 cup lemon juice (I use 2-3 fresh lemons but the bottled stuff works in a pinch)
1/2 cup soaked dates

*FYI - these quantities will not yield Starbucks-super-sized squares so if that's what you're looking for, you might want to double the batch. In a glass baking pan of 18x26cm (7x10in) they end up being about 2cm (1in) thick, which is actually fine because they're really dense.

For those of you who like step-by-step snaps, you can find them here.

Soak the dates for at least 30 minutes. You can remove the pits before or after - up to you.

Meanwhile, process the walnuts, raisins, chocolate powder, and raw cacao butter in a food processor.

Next, add the add vanilla, maple syrup, and coconut butter and blend until batter forms into a ball.

Spread the batter into a glass pan about 1 inch high and place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

By now the dates should be gorgeously mushy. Remove the pits (if you haven't already) and blend them with the lemon juice until it's all smooth and creamy.

Spread it on top of the brownies and enjoy these little slices of citrusy-chocolate heaven!

Lavender Fudge with Vegan Vanilla Marshmallows

I'm not sure which I'm more excited about: the lavender fudge or the vegan vanilla marshmallows that make it possible!

This recipe calls for evaporated milk but I prefer condensed milk instead - both of which can be made dairy-free. Using condensed milk makes it impossible to strain the lavender but so far everyone loves it so I'm sticking with it. They turn out pretty sweet this way but you can cut the sweetness by using half light and half dark chocolate or use all semi-sweet.

I make these as a reward for getting through 30-day cycles of sneaky veganism. Definitely not the healthiest thing you'll find on this site so enjoy it in moderation. The last batch lasted us a month and that was after giving half of it away!

1 cup evaporated or condensed milk (here's a vegan recipe)
1 tablespoon dried lavender (be sure it's food grade - better yet, grow your own!)
1-1/2 cups sugar (regular or raw cane work equally well)
2 tablespoons "butter" (Earth Balance makes a good, non-hydrogenated spread)
a pinch of salt
2 cups vegan chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups marshmallows (Sweet & Sara makes yummy gelatin-free vegan marshmallows)

Heat milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add dried lavender and heat to simmering. Keep stirring and don't mind any caramelized bits that you scrape off the bottom. Remove from heat, cover and let sit five minutes.

Strain out lavender (unless you used condensed milk). Return to heat.

Add sugar, butter and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes to completely decrystalize the sugar. Remove from heat.

Add marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir until thoroughly mixed. The marshmallows and chocolate chips will melt in the heated evaporated milk even though you've removed the mixture from the heat source. Mine don't when I use the condensed milk so just keep them on the fire with constant stirring.

Pour mixture into small greased baking pan. Do not bake! Instead, refrigerate the mixture overnight.

Cut into two dozen fudge pieces and enjoy!

Update: I just made these with evaporated vanilla soy milk (so I could strain the lavender) and semi-sweet chocolate chips. They turned out a little stickier than the condensed milk version with a more intense "cocoa" flavor but there is definitely still a hint of lavender. Try it both ways and let me know what you think - would be interested to know which version is more popular!

Vanilla Pecan Bourbon Balls

Vanilla. Pecan. Bourbon. These are a few of my favorite things...

I can't wait to feed these to the Bear!!!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Amy at Fragrant Vanilla Cake


Vanilla Pecan Bourbon Balls
Makes about 2 dozen

1 1/2 cups vegan pecan sandies or sugar cookie crumbs
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp maple syrup or more if needed
2 Tbsp bourbon
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp maple extract

8 oz vegan white chocolate
8 oz vegan dark bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans




In a food processor, combine cookie crumbs, pecans, vanilla and maple extracts, bourbon, and 1 Tbsp maple syrup, and process until well blended, and starting to come together like a dough (if not sticky enough add a little more maple syrup). Roll mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer until chilled and firm, about 1/2 hour. Melt white chocolate and dark chocolate in 2 separate bowls in the microwave using 30 second intervals, stirring in between. When chocolate is melted, dip half bourbon balls into the white chocolate, coating entire outer surface, and placing on a foil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Repeat with dark chocolate. Place sheet in the fridge for a little while to set chocolate.

Avocadoholics and Chocoholics Unite!

OMG. This is so good I want to bathe in it!

If you have kids, it's a great alternative to the sweet snacks that send them bouncing around like superballs.

This yummalicious treat comes courtesy of Katrine Volynsky from my girl Jennifer at Sweet on Veg.

RAW CHOCOLATE AVOCADO PUDDING

Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 2 – 4 servings
Equipment: blender or food processor

Ingredients
2 medium avocados
1/3 cup maple syrup or agave
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cacao powder
2 Tbsp Mesquite Powder
1/3 cup water or coconut water

Blend all ingredients, add water for desired consistency.

Serve immediately before you lick the entire batch off the spoon and have to start all over!