have cake, will travel!

I’m really enjoying eating this for breakfast, lately. it’s rather healthy as far as chocolate things go, and makes waking up early just a touch more bearable.
for the record, I found it even tastier the next day. and “tastierer” after a passage in the freezer.
(I don’t eat it frozen, though!)
the recipe’s begging to be played with, which I will do in the near future.

6-8 pieces:

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour [spooned and leveled]
1/2 cup brown rice flour [spooned and leveled]
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1/4 t fine sea salt
1/2 t cinnamon
heaping 1/4 cup Sucanat
1 medium, ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup oil
1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk [or other milk alternative]
2 T blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350F, prepare an 8×8 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

in a large bowl, sift flours, cocoa, baking powder, and cinnamon. whisk in Sucanat.
in a medium bowl, whisk together banana, oil, milk, and molasses.

combine wet and dry preps without overmixing, fold in chocolate chips.
pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
leave in pan for about 30 minutes, then remove cake from pan, place it on a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

I’ve been eager to use up my imposing stash of organic blackstrap molasses to enjoy its beautiful health benefits, so I figured it was time to work with the Peanut Butter Oat Bars recipe again in order to make some nutritious breakfast items.

quick note: although the blackstrap molasses flavor isn’t over-pronounced in these, you can sub light molasses or another liquid sweetener in its place. that also means less health goodness, but it’s a free world.
same thing goes for Sucanat, light brown sugar will do a fabulous job too.
I can see using oat bran, wheat bran, wheat germ, or other flours instead of spelt, too.
lastly, if cranberries aren’t your thing or if you’d rather see some nuts in there, you can figure out what to do about it.

for 8 bars:

preheat oven to 350F. coat an 8×8 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

in a large saucepan, heat up the following until smooth and well combined:

1 cup pumpkin purée
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup Sucanat
2 T walnut oil [or what you have at hand]
2 t pure vanilla extract

add and stir until well combined:

1 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup light spelt flour [scoop up and shake to level]
1 generous t cinnamon
1/4-1/2 t ginger powder [depending on taste]
generous pinch fine sea salt
1/3 cup dried cranberries

press mixture into prepared pan, bake for 25 minutes. let cool in pan on rack.
place in fridge once cooled.

optional decoration:

place 1/3 cup powdered sugar in a bowl, vigorously stir in tiny amounts of unsweetened almond milk [or what you have at hand] until the adequate consistency is reached: you want the stuff to stick to the back of a spoon without being too thick either.
drizzle on top of the cut bars.

I told you there’d be some cookie-ing.
but it might be a problem: they’re even quicker and easier to make than the bars, which means I’m more likely to bake them more often. oops…
they’re deliciously caramel-y and chewy, and since I changed the recipe just a little bit, here it is for you.
(ps: stay tuned for a not-too-far-in-the-future second installment of cookies will travel…)

makes 6 cookies:

preheat oven to 350F. line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat.

in a saucepan or in your microwave, melt:

2 1/2 T vegan margarine

in a medium bowl, stir together with the melted margarine:

6 T Sucanat

add & stir:

1/2 t Ener-g egg replacer powder
1 T unsweetened almond milk [or whatever you have]
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 T pecan bits
tiny pinch fine sea salt

in a separate bowl, sift:

1/2 cup light spelt flour [lightly spooned and leveled]
1/4 t baking powder
1/16 t baking soda

throw flour mix into wet ingredients, stir until well combined.
divide into 6 equal portions, plop cookie dough onto cookie sheet. no need to flatten them, but leave at least an inch between the cookies as they will spread while baking.

press into divided cookie dough:

a few semisweet chocolate chips per cookie

bake for 9 minutes, let cool on sheet.
I eat them cold, straight from the fridge.

my husband was exhibiting symptoms of peanut butter cup withdrawal, so I put on my superhero suit apron and came to the rescue.
I started improvising as I went along, only to find out that “my” recipe is 99% similar to the one on VegWeb.
oops! my bad.
I’m posting it anyway, since there’s still that 1% that makes the whole difference. (ahem.)

quick note: be sure to leave your cups in the fridge until ready to eat, as they have a tendency to soften up rather quickly. gotta love summertime…

update: suggested Reese’s peanut butter cups have peanut butter added to the chocolate part, so I’m definitely trying this the next time I make these. I’m thinking 2-3 T to begin with.
update on the update: adding PB directly to the chocolate was a fantastic suggestion! also, the cups taste awesome straight out of the freezer.

for 12 “small” cups:

12 mini cupcake liners
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter + 2 generous T to add to the melted chocolate
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
pinch fine sea salt [if your PB is already salted, it's optional to add more]

melt the chips in your microwave, keeping a close eye on them and stirring often to make sure they don’t burn. it should take between 1-2 minutes. add the 2 generous T and stir to incorporate.
give it about 5 minutes to cool down a bit, it’s easier to spread around when not lava-hot.

place a heaping teaspoon of melted chocolate in each mini cupcake liner and spread it all over the place with the back of a spoon. repeat with all 12 liners.

place the chocolate-covered liners onto a plate, into your fridge, to let it all harden.

meanwhile, stir together peanut butter, vanilla, salt, and sugar. if your peanut butter is anything like mine, it should form a sort of paste that you can start kneading to make sure all gets incorporated really well.

the chocolate should be hard by now, so divide peanut butter paste into all 12 liners, pressing down gently to make sure the paste goes everywhere.

top with heaping teaspoon of chocolate [melt it again if needed], spreading carefully so that none of the PB paste can be seen.

chill in fridge for at least one hour, until ready to devour.

I sacrificed myself to further disprove the myth that vegan food always = health food…
best thing? the pecans make it so I don’t even have to share them with the husband.

the batter turned out so nice, I’m totally planning on “cookieing” these decadent, chewy, and crispy-on-the-edges bars.
update: have cookies!

it will also be good to experiment with different egg replacers in the near future, as I think soy yogurt would yield even better results.
update: B. Bars, Version 2.0.

finally, it’s funny to see how dark they came out, thanks to the Sucanat. you’d almost think there’s chocolate in the batter itself.

Butterscotch Pecan Bars

preheat oven to 350F, coat 8×8 inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray.

in a small saucepan, melt:

1/3 cup vegan margarine

remove from heat. stir in:

3/4 cups + 2 T Sucanat

set aside and let cool a little.
in a large bowl, sift together:

1 cup light spelt flour [lightly spoon & level]
1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
1/2 t fine sea salt

stir in:

1/3 cup pecan bits

in your stand mixer bowl, vigorously whisk together:

1 1/2 t Ener-g egg replacer powder
2 T warm water

add cooled down margarine mixture, as well as:

1 t pure vanilla extract

stir together until well blended.
add flour mixture, scraping sides once to make sure nothing gets ignored.

pour batter into prepared pan, sprinkle with:

1/3 cup chopped chocolate

bake for 19 minutes, let cool in pan on top of a cooling rack. place in fridge or freezer before cutting. as is almost always the case with the baked goods that I prepare, I enjoy these straight from the fridge. sometimes freezer.

if you can, have one (or 4) while it’s still warm and crusty.
no, no, don’t thank me: chew away at it and be happy.

for 4 bagels:

1/4 cup pesto of choice
3/4 cup water
1 cup bread flour [lightly spoon and level]
1 cup whole wheat flour [same]
1 T vital wheat gluten
1 T Sucanat
1 t fine sea salt
3/4 t instant-rise yeast

place all ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. start kneading with the dough hook, for about 5 minutes, adding flour if the dough is too sticky.
continue kneading by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic.

lightly oil bowl and coat the now ball-shaped dough with it. cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and let rise for at least one hour in a draft-free, warm area.

preheat oven to 400F. prepare baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

bring a large pot of water to a boil.
punch down dough and divide into 4 equal portions.
let rest for 5 minutes if the dough doesn’t want to collaborate.
shape dough portions into bagels, punching a whole in the center with your thumb and twirling dough around it.
drop 2 bagels at a time in the boiling water, for about 30 seconds on each side.

using a slotted spoon, get them out of the water and place them on baking sheet.
I chose to apply some Ener-g egg replacer on mine to get a nice crust, but it’s optional.

bake for 22 minutes, or until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. let cool on a rack.

I first baked a batch of these with matcha instead of vanilla, was thrilled with the taste and texture, but not with the appearance of the cookies: the top cracked a bit too much for my taste, so I decided to work on them a little more before releasing the recipe into the wild. the world wild web, that is.
hardy-har…

this second batch was made without matcha as I didn’t want to use and abuse the costly stuff before I could be sure the results would satisfy, so if you want to go green instead, simply add 1/4 t pure almond extract as well as a scant 1 t matcha powder in half of the dough that’s not all cocoa-ed out.

that’s when I hired Mom as a tester, and my posting the recipe should be telling of what the verdict turned out to be.

for 5 cookies:

4 T margarine
4 T icing sugar
pinch fine sea salt
1 t arrowroot or cornstarch or Ener-g powder
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 1 T whole wheat pastry flour [lightly spoon and level]
1/4 t baking soda

preheat oven to 350F. line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

cream together margarine & sugar. add the rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined.
gather cookie dough together, shaping into a ball. divide into two equal parts, set one aside.

for the chocolate half of the dough:
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t soy milk or other milk alternative

place other ball of dough back into the bowl, adding cocoa & milk alternative and stirring until well combined.

gather chocolate dough and start working on making the cookies.

using your hands, flatten both vanilla & chocolate dough separately until they are the exact same shape and size, a small rectangle, about 3/4-inch thick.
cut in half and place one on top of the other, patting down gently to stick them together. make sure that you put a slice of vanilla dough on top of chocolate dough, then vanilla, and chocolate again. pat down gently to form a rectangular roll.

cut into 5 equal slices and place on prepared cookie sheet, leaving about 1 inch in between each cookie, as they spread just a little bit while baking.

it’s best to place them in the fridge for 1 hour at this point, if you have room to fit the cookie sheet in there. otherwise, just do it prior to cutting the dough into cookies.

bake for 15 minutes or until just slightly golden on the side and almost firm on top: the cookies will firm up when out of the oven.

leave on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before placing on cooling rack.

because I wasn’t quite done playing around with the peach soy yogurts from the other day…

these are so fragrant I just about dove into one as soon as the batch came out of the oven. I had to be physically restrained by the husband and the cats, but everyone’s fine now. thanks for asking.

if you want the chocolate to melt more, coarsely chop up the chips instead of using them whole.

makes 6 rolls:

6oz peach soy yogurt [other flavors work too, but peach is nice here]
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 T Earth Balance or other vegan margarine
1 T agave nectar

place in small saucepan, heat slowly on medium until lukewarm. set aside.

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 t instant-rise yeast
1 t fine sea salt
1/4 t baking soda

mix ww flour with only 3/4 cup ap flour, the yeast, salt, and soda. add soy yogurt mixture and stir until moistened and combined. continue adding ap flour until the dough is smooth, elastic, and not overly sticky.
knead for about 10 minutes in all, then place in a lightly oiled pyrex bowl, cover with plastic wrap or lid and let rise until doubled in size, between 60-90 minutes, in a warm, draft-free place.

20 minutes before the dough is done rising, preheat your oven to 350F. lightly coat an 8in square pan with non-stick cooking spray.

punch down dough and divide into 6 equal parts. flatten them down.

the filling amounts are per roll, so make it x 6:

1 generous t fruit spread [I used raspberry]
1 scant T semisweet chocolate chips

place in the center of each flattened roll. gently grab sides of roll, and wrap around filling, pinching and smoothing folds to make your rolls pretty and make sure the filling doesn’t escape.

2 T melted margarine [I actually used Smart Balance Light for this part]
about 2 T Sucanat

brush margarine on top of roll, sprinkle Sucanat on top.

bake for 27 minutes, remove from pan after a few minutes to place on a cooling rack, and let cool completely before storing.

these are nutty, dense, and satisfying. way to take the sleep out of your eyes and energize you for hours on end without having to resort to caffeine. (yeah, right.)

I see myself playing around with the recipe even more, most definitely replacing the corn syrup with something obviously better for you when financial times, they are a-betterin’ for everyone.
like maybe: lowering the amount of applesauce for more crunch. replacing the wheat germ with some flax meal. or almond meal. or both.

if you’re not a fan of raisins, use chocolate or carob chips instead. or any other dried fruit that doesn’t make you cower in fear the way raisins do.

these are totally adapted from Siue Moffat’s Lickin’ The Beaters.

makes 8 large bars, or a larger number of smaller ones.

coat an 8-inch square pan with non-stick spray. preheat oven to 350F.

1 cup dark corn syrup [by all means, use maple syrup if you can, or a mix of it and brown rice syrup, even some agave (but remember to watch the baking temperature with the latter)]
4 1/2 T unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup natural chunky peanut butter

heat (medium heat) in a large saucepan until combined and melted. set aside.

1 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup organic raisins
3/4 t ground cinnamon

add in, stir well until coated.
press into prepared pan, bake for 20 minutes. leave in pan and let cool on a rack. it will easier to cut if you place it in the fridge once cooled down. but it’s supposed to be a free country, so dig in while still warm if you’re even more impatient than I am.

if you like your cookies crispy & on the healthy side*, you should appreciate these babies.
if you want a larger batch, then by all means: go for it. you big glutton, you.

don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with chewy. or crispy, since all cookies are more or less created equal in my mouth.
useless piece of trivia number 3838: I only found out about there being such a controversy between chewy and crispy cookies since moving to the States. I actually never really knew of chewy back in the mothership.

two things:

1. I love me some maple syrup, but the reality is it’s going to get harder and harder to afford the stuff, seeing that the price of a bottle jumped from $11 to $16 at Trader Joe’s.
(well, the price has increased everywhere else too, but this is where I usually get my fix.)
I’ve always tried to keep its use to a minimum anyway considering that even when it’s cheaper, it’s far from being cheap. but there will be even less use of it in the near future, unfortunately.

2. I’ve been saying “splash of vanilla” a lot in the recent recipes because I ordered a humongous bottle of pure vanilla extract at an affordable price, and now I know why it was so cheap: if you try to measure it, it spills everywhere. if you simply eyeball it, the mess is a bit more bearable. oy. but yeah, that’s why I have to estimate the measurements instead, until I go back to being wise and purchase smaller containers again.
(granted, I could simply transfer it to better containers right now, but…it hadn’t really come to mind until I typed it up here. shuddup!)

*they’re still cookies, you know.

for 2 large cookies:

preheat oven to 350F. line cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

in a large bowl, whisk together:

4 T light spelt flour, scoop and level
2 T brown rice flour, scoop and level
1/4 t baking powder
pinch cinnamon
1 generous T chocolate chips
1 generous T pecan bits

in a small bowl, whisk together:

2 T maple
1 T peanut oil
1/2 t pure vanilla extract

add wet to dry ingredients, stirring until combined. spoon the dough onto prepared cookie sheet, making sure to divide it equally.

bake for 16 minutes, or until edges are golden. leave on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before placing on cooling rack.

I dug up a lot of peach Silk soy yogurts yesterday at the usual grocery store that shall remain nameless for fear people start to think I’m sponsored by them or work for them or what-have-you.

of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone, and had to go for something…a little more sinful. this wannabe recipe is so simple it’s almost embarrassing to post it here, but I’ll get over it and share the deliciousness anyway.

makes 8 small servings:

4 x 6oz peach soy yogurt [or your favorite flavor]
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips [or your favorite kind of chocolate]

melt the chocolate in your microwave or in a double boiler, going slow in order for it not to get scorched.
place yogurt in food processor. add chocolate, and let her rip, scraping sides often to make sure all gets mixed & kinda thick.
divide resulting deliciousness into 8 small serving dishes. place in fridge or freezer: if you store it in the freezer for some time, you might want to nuke it for about 10 seconds to get a spoonable consistency again.