Gluten-Free

Name: Vegan Cheesecake Dip
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: vegan yogurt of your choice; Pillsbury Creamy Supreme cream cheese frosting

Vegan Cheesecake Dip (dairy-free, nut-free, coconut-free, cream-cheese-free)

February 14, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Two inexpensive and easy-to-find grocery items combine to perform magic in this simple but tasty twist on cheesecake. Make it tonight to impress all your people!

Ok, so this recipe almost feels sacrilegious. I feel kinda bad for even posting it but 1. it’s freaking delicious and 2. it’s freaking easy and 3. I tried so so hard to get an actual cheesecake recipe up for you guys in time for Valentine’s Day, but I fell hard from my high horse after my first attempt succeeded wildly and then I couldn’t replicate it. SO EXPECT ACTUAL CHEESECAKE SOON. But until then, this should fill the hole in your heart where cheesecake used to be.

Even though this isn’t an actual cheesecake, it tastes exactly like one. And it’s way super easy to customize to be any flavor of cheesecake your heart desires. And?? It’s free of all top eight allergens except for soy (sorry soy-avoiders, but I promise I’ve got one coming out for you shortly!).

But before you go any further… THIS RECIPE IS NOT HEALTHY. If you’re looking for a healthy recipe, just turn back now. Close your eyes and cover your ears and go back to where you came from because this is not it. My goodness, is it not. At all. But it’s a great treat every once in a while and super simple to whip up if you need something at the last minute for some bunch-of-ingredient-avoiders.

SooOooOOoo can I get a drum roll, please?!

Ingredients

That’s it. Lol.

I told you it was simple!! And not healthy. BUT SO GOOD.

1. Pick your favorite vegan yogurt – whatever you like to eat in whatever flavor you want your vegan cheesecake dip to be. Are you nut-free? Well then don’t pick one with nuts, silly. Need to avoid coconut? Don’t get that one. I used soy for mine since soy is in the second ingredient, and I didn’t want to double up on allergens.

2. Pillsbury Creamy Supreme cream cheese frosting. No, you stop it. Don’t get mad at me. I told you this wasn’t healthy!! I warned you. You’re not allowed to get mad at me for this! The readymade frosting tastes like cream cheese and sugar, which are two big ingredients in cheesecake. Badabing badaboom. It comes in both a tub and a pre-filled pastry bag. Either one works.

(Betty Crocker Cream Cheese frosting might also work, but it does have a ‘may contain milk products’ warning on it, and contains ‘natural flavors’ which are always dubious. Use at your own risk)

The yogurt is fermented (which adds cheesy tang) and has probiotics, which is awesome. But the probiotic content doesn’t negate the fact that this is totally not a health food – so stop trying to make that happen! Geeze. Just enjoy it as a treat!

What ingredients are in this frosting??

The only top allergen is soy. It’s certified gluten-free, and while it’s not certified vegan, the plant-based community has overwhelmingly decided that it is free of animal products.

Here’s the ingredient list though – just.. just don’t think it’s gonna be healthy. And don’t try to feed it to your WFPB friends.

I hate those ingredients! Can I just use your cream cheese frosting recipe??

You can give it a shot, as long as everything is cold. You’re not going to be able to warm it up or the frosting will split. It might even split if it’s cold because the yogurt has a lot of moisture and my frosting doesn’t have added emulsifiers. I’m working on a recipe for those of you who can’t use the packaged stuff, though.

I suppose if you really really really really really hate the frosting, you can go ahead and use vegan cream cheese instead. But this recipe is magnificent because it doesn’t use cream cheese! But whatever, do what you want. 😉 You’ll need to add a sweetener of some sort to it though, or it’ll just taste like fruity cream cheese. Which isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. Just ain’t cheesecake.

Wait.. did you say warm it up?

Heck yeah I did. Because the frosting has so many emulsifiers (ingredients that help water and oil become best friends instead of mortal enemies), this can be served as a warm dip! And I absolutely love it warm contrasted with some ice cold fresh fruit. Omnomnom.

You definitely don’t need to serve it warm though, and the warmer it is the thinner the cheesecake dip will actually be. So it’s up to you how you want to serve and eat it. Cold, hot, or room temp. They’re all wonderful.

Can I add anything to it?

For sure! I melted in a little cocoa butter for the pot in the photos, actually! I, believe it or not, don’t really like sweets too much, so I added the cocoa butter to calm the sugar sweetness down without compromising the viscosity/thickness of the dip. Unsweetened chocolate would also be a great choice if you wanted to go the rich chocolate cheesecake route.

Stirring in chopped, freeze dried fruit is a marvelous addition (peaches! omg freeze dried peaches in this.. hnnnggg..).

I stirred some cheesecake crust crumbles for a little bit of crunch and was not disappointed. You could try crushed Oreos or graham crackers and I’m sure it would be mouth-watering, too!

It’s so hard to hold the camera to take pictures with one hand while trying to sprinkle cheesecake crust crumbles INTO the cheesecake dip and not just around it with the other.

Oh, and if you want to add color, just stir it into the yogurt before you mix everything together.

How do I make it?

First step: Open the yogurt.
Next step: Put the yogurt in whatever you want to serve the vegan cheesecake dip in
Next: whisk/stir in spoonfuls of the frosting until you like the texture of the dip. Keep in mind that the more frosting you add, the sweeter it’s going to be.
Finally: stir in any additions you want and serve with whatever vehicles you want to use to get it into your mouth

Note: If you want to serve the dip warm or to add chocolate or cocoa butter, I recommend heating all the ingredients up slowly together in a saucepan before pouring into your serving dish.

What do I dip into this magical vegan cheesecake dip?

I’m not here to tell you how to run your life, but pretty much anything you wanna put in your mouth can get dipped into this cheesecake dip.

Bananas are good, oranges are bomb, and granny smith apples are totally my favorite. Fresh fruit and yogurt! Heck yeah! So healthy!! NO. STOP THAT. IT’S NOT HEALTHY.

If you’re a sugar fiend, try out some marshmallows! Or some graham crackers would be perfection to complete the cheesecake flavor profile. In the picture, I’m dipping one of my gluten free sugar cookies to keep with the whole GF theme.

Just about any fresh fruit, dried fruit, cookies, crackers, spoons, or whatever else you’d love to throw onto a cheesecake would be great in this cheesecake dip. If you dipped an actual slice of cheesecake into this vegan cheesecake dip, that would be epic and I want to see a picture.

Can I turn this into an actual cheesecake?

Please excuse me while I cry.

I totally did. And it was magnificent. I did one part yogurt to two parts frosting and froze it and it was perfect.

And then I could never make it happen again.

Sad, melting disaster of a cheesecake. 😭

If you want to give it a try, you’re more than welcome. Just don’t tell me if it works out because I will just cry more.

And if you don’t want to give it a try and need a tried and true recipe, check out Gretchen’s Vegan Bakery. Cheesecakes are totally her specialty, and she has tons of amazing recipes for them!

How can I make this vegan cheesecake dip healthier?

Please leave me alone so that I can go make it!

Ok! Geeze! Go!!

Pin it for later:

Recipe:

Vegan Cheesecake Dip

Two inexpensive and easy-to-find grocery items combine to perform magic in this simple but tasty twist on cheesecake. Make it tonight to impress all your fans!

Prep Time 1 minute

Cook Time 2 minutes

Total Time 3 minutes

Ingredients

vegan yogurt of your choice
Pillsbury Creamy Supreme cream cheese frosting

Instructions

1. Open the yogurt and the frosting

2. Put the yogurt in whatever you want to serve the vegan cheesecake dip in

3. Whisk/stir in spoonfuls of the frosting until you like the texture of the dip. Keep in mind that the more frosting you add, the sweeter it’s going to be.

4. Stir in any additions you want and serve with whatever vehicles you want to use to get it into your mouth

Notes

If you want to serve the dip warm or to add chocolate or cocoa butter, I recommend heating all the ingredients up slowly together in a saucepan before pouring into your serving dish.

Easy Creamy Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce

February 10, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// 1 Comment

Simple ingredients with big time flavors combine to give you a creamy, luscious pasta sauce with the classic Italian taste you love and the creaminess you miss from before your dairy-free days. No nuts, no coconuts, and no funny business, but still easy as can be with amazing results.

One of the things I missed the most when I gave up dairy was a good, luxurious, comforting cream sauce for my pasta. There are plenty of recipes out there that use blended cashews or other nuts, or even coconut cream. I don’t like spending the bajillions of dollars on cashews, and I don’t really like coconut a whole lot, so that’s a no from me, dawg.

There is an amazing recipe by Oh She Glows for Cauli-power Alfredo which I’ve made and is tremendously delicious, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to give it a go. It’s work though, including a food processor/blender and I am lazy – so I’ve only made it once despite how delicious it is.

I made a spaghetti squash lasagna with the cauliflower alfredo back in 2016 and I still dream about it to this day

What I Needed

So what was I looking for, exactly? An easy creamy pasta sauce that doesn’t take a whole lot of time, doesn’t need blenders or food processors, doesn’t use nuts, and did I mention I want it to be creamy?

Easy. Creamy. Quick. Delicious.

What It Ain’t

This isn’t an alfredo sauce or comparable. I’ve got one of those on the way, but this is a tomato-based cream sauce (my favorite before I gave up dairy). So if you’re looking for a white cream sauce, check out the one I linked above or stay tuned for mine coming out soon.

Let’s Get Down to Business

Ingredients You Need

Tomatoes: For super duper ease I used canned tomatoes. Whole tomatoes are going to be the best quality, but diced tomatoes ain’t too bad themselves. I go for diced because I like them. You definitely can use fresh tomatoes – and big, juicy vine tomatoes are going to be your besties for this recipe. Just measure out about 30oz (850g), chop them up, and give them a few minutes in your hot pan before moving on to the rest of the recipe.

Onions: I like to use sweet onions, but plain white or even yellow onions will work fine here. I buy pre-chopped onions from my store because I have arthritis and laziness.

Garlic: Again, I buy pre-minced. It works fine for me and tastes enough like garlic to make me happy. (See “onions” above for why I go this route). Feel free to use fresh, or substitute with granulated garlic if that’s your jam. Use a half a teaspoon if you use dry, though. Or more. I’m not about to tell anyone to curb their garlic usage! (I actually use way more than I put in the recipe, but I’ve been accused by a lot of people of using too much garlic and I didn’t want to offend any palates out there)

My cheat code for arthritis and laziness

Oil: In the spirit of this being Italian food, I use extra virgin olive oil. This one is my most favorite – it’s actually Tunisian. Yeah, I know, Tunisia isn’t in Italy. But most “Italian” olive oils aren’t even usually olive oil anymore, and this one is and it’s absolutely delicious. Can’t do olive oil? Use whatever neutral oil floats your boat – or just sub with your favorite vegan butter!

Basil: Basil is 1000000% my most favorite herb of all time, and if you can get it fresh it’s amazeballs. Italian basil, of course. Thai basil might be a bit too spicy for this application, but you can give it a shot if you’re feeling adventurous! If you can’t find fresh, feel free to use dried. Just follow the notes in the recipe card below. Can’t do basil? Try it out with oregano and thyme instead. Throw in a little rosemary and sage and your tastebuds will be very happy. 🙂

The Special Ingredient: as I was sitting around thinking about how I could make a creamy vegan tomato basil sauce without cream, as I often do, I scanned through my mental list of things that could possibly make it creamy as I noted above. Nuts, but expensive (and allergenic). Cauliflower, which is delicious but tedious and requires horsepower. Coconut, but blech. I could use my easy cheese sauce, but that wouldn’t give it exactly the creamy, luxurious mouthfeel I was wanting. Then.. it hit me.

Carbonara.

Carbonara is a creamy Italian pasta sauce that has absolutely zero cream in it. Its creaminess is achieved with eggs. They’re stirred in at the end to form a glossy, creamy, divinely delicious sauce with zero dairy. So what can we use instead of eggs to make a vegan version? What else but aquafa–

Just kidding.

For once I’m not using aquafaba!! I’m using something that uses it though! Mayonnaise. It’s a creamy emulsion of oil and vinegar traditionally made with eggs, but vegan mayo gives us the perfect creaminess we are needing in our sauce without the use of eggs, dairy, nuts, coconuts, or magic – well at least not much of it, anyway.

Process Notes

One of the best tips I have included in this recipe is to microwave the garlic and onion with your olive oil. This is a nifty trick I learned from Alton Brown in his book I’m Just Here for the Food 2.0. It softens the onion and mellows the garlic perfectly to cut out a good chunk of time from your stove-top cooking. Just be aware that your microwave will smell like onions and garlic for a while.

You can use your hands to smush up the tomatoes in the traditional rustic Italian manner, but again – arthritis. I use a potato masher for a good, texturous, chunky sauce. If you don’t like your sauce to be chunky, you can totally use a blender or food processor.. Or just use tomato sauce and save yourself some dishes?

Save that pasta water! It’s important because the starches in the water bring the oils and waters together for a creamy emulsion in your sauce. Check out this awesome video for a demonstration.

As far as how much of your vegan mayo to add – it’s up to you! I recommend starting with two tablespoons, and see if you like that level of creaminess. If you want it creamier? Add two more tablespoons. Rinse and repeat.

Pin it for Later:

Do the Thing

Yield: 4 servings

Easy Creamy Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 22 minutes

Ingredients

2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp olive oil (or other neutral oil)
2 14.5oz cans of diced or whole tomatoes
handful of fresh basil, divided
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
12oz pasta, prepared according to package instructions MINUS four minutes
1/4 c reserved pasta water
4-8 tbsp vegan mayonnaise (depending on how creamy you want the sauce to be)

Instructions

Put your water and salt to boil for your pasta
Heat a large saucepan or skillet over medium high heat
Stir together your onion, garlic, and olive oil in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for one minute on high
While your onion mix is in the microwave, empty your tomatoes into your hot pan and stir, letting some of the liquid evaporate off
Add your onion mix into the tomatoes and stir well
Add your uncooked pasta to the boiling water and stir well. Set a timer for the time it takes it to cook MINUS four minutes
Tear half of your basil into small pieces and stir into the tomatoes
Use a potato masher or fork to smash your tomatoes into smaller pieces, and let the mixture cook down until thickened to your liking (I let it go for about four to five minutes at medium-high heat)
Drain your pasta and add to your tomato mixture along with 1/4c of the pasta water
Stir well and lower the heat to medium-low, allowing the mixture to thicken more for five to six minutes until the pasta is al dente
Tear the remaining basil into small pieces and add to the pasta
Remove from heat and stir in the mayonnaise for a magically cream-less creamy tomato basil sauce!
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with fresh basil and vegan parmesan, and enjoy immediately with some yummy carbs

Notes

If you don't have fresh basil, you may substitute 4 tsp of dried. Add it all together at the first addition rather than dividing in half

If you're soy-free, try Sir Kensington's vegan mayo! We love Hellman's, but it does contain soy.

We use gluten-free pasta and Barilla's is our favourite!

Vegan Choriqueso (Queso Dip with Chorizo)

February 1, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

The combination of spicy, acidic chorizo and smooth, creamy cheese is one of my favorite appetizers in Mexican cuisine. This warming comfort food has turned dairy-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly here, and I think you’ll love it as much as I do.

This recipe comes on the heels of my Easiest Vegan Cheese Sauce Base recipe, and is the first one I’m publishing using it! But don’t worry, I have lots more on the way. 🙂

So if you haven’t already, take a quick peek over there and acquaint yourself with it because you’re going to need a double batch for this recipe.

What is choriqueso and how do I eat it?

Choriqueso is a fondue made from melting white cheese (usually Oaxaca, which is very similar to mozzarella) and adding fried chorizo. Sometimes onion or tomato can be added, or even bell pepper. One of my favorite varieties in Mexico was served with sautéed mushroom slices!

Overall, the cheese itself is very mild in terms of flavor – but the punch comes when the chorizo is added! It’s spicy, acidic, and bright red. The flavor is addictive and pairs beautifully with all kinds of other foods. I even use it in my Quick and Easy Vegan Pozole recipe to add amazing depths of flavor that would normally take hours to develop.

It’s eaten with chips, fresh tortillas, bread, or whatever else you can get your hands on to dip and scoop it with. You’ll be in heaven if you try it over fries!

Ingredients

The ingredients you’ll need here are

1. a vegan Mexican style chorizo (Cacique soyrizo is my favorite),

2. vegan mayonnaise,

3. vegan butter or oil,

4. chopped white onion,

5. lime juice,

6. miso paste, and

7. salt.

Some fresh cilantro leaves to garnish are also lovely. And of course, you’ll need the double batch of cheese sauce.

This recipe as written contains soy – but if you avoid it, check out this spice mix and add one tablespoon + one tablespoon of vinegar to your ground meat replacement of choice, and Sir Kensington’s Fabanaise is soy-free, as well!

Equipment

Equipment and tools you’ll need are:

A stovetop burner,

a medium sized pan,

a silicone spatula,

an oven-proof bowl big enough to hold at least four cups,

a smaller heatproof bowl that can hold at least a cup,

an ovenproof platter or pan to bake the larger bowl on (in case of overflow), and

an oven to bake it in.

Process

1. Preheat oven to 400°F

2. heat your pan over medium heat, and add your butter/oil

3. add the chorizo and stir well until it starts to appear more dry (about 3-4 minutes)

4. add the onion and miso paste, stirring well to incorporate

5. once the onions are translucent, separate a third of the mixture and set aside for garnish

6. add the cheese sauce

7. stir well until completely incorporated

8. add lime juice and stir well

9. add mayonnaise and stir well

10. taste test and add more salt if desired

11. pour cheese mix into oven safe bowl (unless your pan can go straight into the oven, then do that – fewer dishes to wash!)

12. add remaining chorizo to top

13. set bowl on baking tray in oven and bake for 20 minutes

14. remove from oven, squeeze fresh lime juice and sprinkle fresh cilantro over the top, and serve the choriqueso immediately

Video Tutorial

(Currently uploading)

Pin it for later

Yield: 3 cups

Vegan Choriqueso

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 batches Easiest Vegan Cheese Sauce
2 tbsp vegan butter or oil
4 oz vegan Mexican-style chorizo (see notes in post for soy-avoidance)
1/2 c diced white onion
2 tsp miso paste (use chickpea miso if avoiding soy, or omit entirely)
4 tsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise (see notes in post if avoiding soy)
Salt, to taste

Garnish

Juice of half a lime
1/8 c chopped cilantro leaves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F

2. heat your pan over medium heat, and add your butter/oil

3. add the chorizo and stir well until it starts to appear more dry (about 3-4 minutes)

4. add the onion and miso paste, stirring well to incorporate

5. once the onions are translucent, separate a third of the mixture and set aside for garnish

6. add the cheese sauce

7. stir well until completely incorporated

8. add lime juice and stir well

9. add mayonnaise and stir well

10. taste test and add more salt if desired

11. pour cheese mix into oven safe bowl (unless your pan can go straight into the oven, then do that – fewer dishes to wash!)

12. add remaining chorizo to top

13. set bowl on baking tray in oven and bake for 20 minutes

14. remove from oven, squeeze fresh lime juice and sprinkle fresh cilantro over the top, and serve the choriqueso immediately

Notes

If you want to turn up the heat, try adding your favorite hot sauce!

If you’re pressed for time, this can be made without baking - just pour into a bowl and serve!

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

Easiest Vegan Cheese Sauce Ever BASE RECIPE (no blender needed!)

January 31, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Say welcome back to pizzas, pastas, grilled cheese sandwiches (toasties for you Brits!), fondue, and more – because this basic vegan cheese sauce recipe will open the door for all of them to come back into your post-dairy life! No nuts, no soaking, no blenders, no weird ingredients, and virtually fool-proof.

This is the absolute bare minimum, base level, most allergy-friendly, but still absolutely luscious and wonderful vegan cheese sauce recipe that will change the way you eat forever.

Seriously. The day you make this cheese sauce will be the first day of a new era in your kitchen.

I swore I didn’t do stories in my recipes but here I go..

I don’t usually go into ancient histories and long babbling stories here on my blog, but this post deserves a little backstory:

So in my formative years while growing up, we had a small dairy goat farm. I milked goats twice a day with my two little hands, strained, stored, and turned the milk into all kinds of amazing things. Butter, yogurt, ice cream, and.. CHEESE. So I’ve got a little bit of knowhow when it comes to cheesemaking.

A pink piece of printer paper with three goats drawn on it, and "GOATS ROCK!" in all caps. Top is captioned with 'Hoof Hearted Farm" — Lololol. A piece of original artwork by yours truly from 20 years ago. Yes, our farm was officially registered under that name.

And do you know what I realised? Guess what we made cheese out of? MILK. Not solid milk. Not milk powder. LIQUID MILK. Cheese in the simplest sense is milk + something to thicken it (rennet, bacteria, time, and/or acid). This is a way oversimplified explanation of cheesemaking which can actually get super duper complicated, but just hang with me for a minute..

Now, I know that plant-based milks don’t exactly perform in the same ways as dairy milk. Trust me, I’m not that dense. But most plant-based milks on the market today come pretty darn close to the taste and texture of dairy milk. The sweetness is just about the same (cow’s milk has around 13g of sugar per 8oz), and the viscosity is matched thanks to gums, proteins, or gelling agents that are either added or are naturally in the plant that’s being used to make the milk.

So I decided to give plant milk a shot to see if it could deliver. And boy did it.

What kind of milk do I use?

Rice milk, soy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, pea milk, and oat milk have all yielded pretty similar results with this recipe. I’m convinced that any decent tasting dairy-free milk will be able to give you a nice cheese sauce.

I use oat milk because it’s my favorite in coffee 🤷🏼‍♀️

So basically, choose your favorite plain, unflavored milk here that you love to drink on its own to make your vegan cheese sauce. Allergic to nuts? Choose one without them. Don’t like soy? Don’t use it. Hate additives and can’t find any without them? Use homemade. The world is your [vegan alternative] oyster!

What other ingredients are there?

For our bare-minimum basic vegan cheese sauce, there is only one more ingredient: tapioca starch. (This is the one I use. Don’t laugh at the name, it works great.)

Tapioca starch is a super fine powder that will. get. everywhere.

When tapioca starch is heated in liquid, not only does it thicken it but it also makes it stretchy and very.. well, cheese-like. And not only that, but the ‘cheese’ will thicken even more when it cools, and remelt when it’s heated. It’s freakin’ magic.

Can’t find tapioca starch, and can only get your hands on tapioca flour? No worries, they’re the same thing.

Allergic to tapioca? Give arrowroot powder/flour/starch a try. It performs nearly identically to tapioca.

Are both tapioca and arrowroot out for you? Potato starch (NOT flour) is a great sub and still gives you some good stretch!

What this cheese sauce ISN’T

This sauce is NOT firm cheese product which can be sliced and grated.. at least not in its natural form. I’ve got a variation that can be sliced and grated, and I’m working on getting that recipe put together for you so stay tuned!

It’s perfect for pouring and dripping, not for slicing and grating.

This sauce does NOT look appetizing while cold! Seriously. It’s gross and gloopy. But don’t judge it, heat it up, and watch the magic happen!

Refrigerated cheese sauce is goopy and semi-solid, kinda like soft jello. It melts beautifully when heated, though.

This sauce is NOT flavored! This is the BASE RECIPE – so if you want to give it a smoky mozzarella or cheddar flavor, or if you want to go a bit funky and go bleu cheese direction, you’re going to have to add some flavor to it. This recipe will taste like the milk you made it with and no more.

If you want some flavoring ideas, I highly recommend giving my friend Kat a visit at 86eats.com and browsing through her plethora of vegan cheese recipes. She’s the queen of vegan cheese and your flavor will most likely be found there! Check out what she uses for flavors and pop ’em in this sauce and you’ll be golden. I’m also adding my own recipes here as I get them put together, so stay tuned for that. (Eek I already put together the first one – my vegan chorizo queso recipe!)

I swear though, if you come at me with one star saying this sauce is bland and tasteless I’m gonna give you the angry Samuel L. Jackson stare.

How do I use it?

First of all, flavor it. Lol. Even if it’s just a little salt and garlic powder to get your feet wet. Then? The sky is the limit! Toss it with some pasta, drizzle over an open-faced sandwich before toasting, use it on pizza, in lasagna, as a dip, in soup.. Whatever your heart desires!

What equipment do I need?

Super simple here, y’all.

A saucepot. A tablespoon. A measuring cup. A silicone spatula. A stovetop.

That’s it. Really.

Sometimes I use a fine mesh sieve if I want to get some chunky ingredients mixed in for flavoring, or if I walk away and it thickens while I’m gone and gets tapioca pearls in it. But otherwise, it’s not needed.

You absolutely do not need a blender!

The Process:

The first thing you’re going to do is measure out one heaping tablespoon of tapioca starch into a measuring cup and add just enough of your plant milk to cover the starch (add in any desired flavorings now).

Mix it well until there are no lumps and the milk is smooth.

Next, add milk until you have one cup total.

Pour the mixture into a small saucepot over medium heat, and stir continuously with a silicone spatula.

As the mixture heats up, you’ll soon feel the bottom of your pan become slippery and friction fade away – keep stirring.

Once you start to see froth/foam start to appear at the top of the milk, turn your heat to low, and stir quickly. It will begin to thicken within just a few seconds.

When your mixture thickens it will look very lumpy at first, keep stirring vigorously for another minute or two until it all smooths out. This whole process should take less than ten minutes.

Once it’s smooth, turn off the heat and remove your pot from the stove so that your cheese sauce doesn’t burn.

You can use your sauce now or store it in the refrigerator for future use. It will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 5-7 days.

Other cheesy things I have to offer:

Other than my sense of humor, that is..

I’ve got my vegan chorizo queso recipe here!

And if you’re wanting other dairy-free, vegan cheese options that aren’t necessarily of the savory variety, you should check out my revolutionary cream cheese frosting and my crave-worthy cream cheese danish filling!

Video Tutorial:

Watch me make it, from beginning to end:

Pin it for later:

Pinterest image showing stretchy cheese sauce over an open faced sandwich

Printable Recipe:

Yield: 1 cup

Easiest Vegan Cheese Sauce Ever BASE RECIPE

This is the un-flavored base recipe for all kinds of cheesy creations to come.

Prep Time 1 minute

Cook Time 9 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup plant milk (your choice, unflavored)
1 heaping tbsp tapioca starch (use arrowroot or potato starch if allergic)

Instructions

mix tapioca starch with enough milk to cover until smooth
add milk until one cup total
heat in a small saucepot over medium heat, stirring continuously
once froth rises to top, turn heat down to low, continue stirring
sauce will thicken very quickly, stir until smooth
remove from heat

Notes

Check out 86eats.com for flavoring ideas, or check back later for new recipes from me!

Use while hot, or store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Silk Vegan Heavy Whipping Cream Review

January 3, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// 8 Comments

Wondering if the new dairy-free, vegan heavy whipping cream alternative from Silk is perfect? I asked the questions and found the answers.

First of all, this post is NOT sponsored by Silk or any brand other than myself – Cooking on Caffeine. What you’ll find here are my own personal, honest opinions, based on how I use the product and my own tastes.

I stumbled on this product at my local Walmart today while looking for my favorite oat milk creamer (which they didn’t have, and I am upset). It was next to the dairy whipping cream, and was flanked by their new dairy-free half and half (which I didn’t purchase).

Of course it caught my attention, and of course I bought it. I have so many questions! I have so many recipes to test! Does it go well in coffee like cream? Does it actually whip up (and stay whipped)? Does it make perfect, luscious ice cream? How does it cook? Does it give a silky mouthfeel like dairy cream? Does it separate like dairy cream? Can I overwhip it?

Whew. So many questions.

The most important question is obviously whether it’s good in coffee or not.

And I’m sure you have the same questions I do, so I’ve decided to do all the testing and post the answers here because we all need answers!

Let’s get the dairy-free whipping cream party started!

What’s it made of? Is it safe for my allergy or diet?

According to the packaging, it’s certified gluten-free, so that’s the one allergen you can be 100% sure you’re safe with here.

Unfortunately, there is a cross-contamination warning for dairy, soy, and tree nuts. What does that mean? It means this product is made in the same building that houses those allergens – they aren’t included in the whipping cream, but they can’t give a guarantee that particles haven’t found their way into it.

Super special thanks and shoutout to Raechel Carr from the Deliciously Dairy Free Facebook group for sharing the screenshot below of her email response from Silk regarding cross contamination with us!

Silk's email response regarding cross contamination risk

If you are extra sensitive and risk anaphylaxis if you consume dairy, tree nuts, or soy – this isn’t the product for you. if you are allergic to coconut, this is not safe for you as coconut is a main ingredient. It also contains fava bean protein, which is a legume – so avoid if you’ve got a legume issue. It also contains guar gum and sunflower seed oil and lecithin – so avoid if needed. See the email above for more info.

The bottom line is that if you’re avoiding animal products, this is safe. If you’re dairy-free by choice, you’re safe. If you’re only mildly intolerant of dairy, tree nuts, or soy, you make the call but you should be ok.

If you don’t have to avoid cross contamination, this is an exciting product because it’s made without soy ingredients! It has historically been very difficult to find whipped cream alternatives that are soy-free – so now the soy-avoiders can rejoice!

It’s also sugar and carb-free, so the keto/low carb community will rightfully be dancing for joy when they find this product!

You will also notice a complete lack of carrageenan – which is nearly unheard of for dairy-free alternatives.

Beyond just ingredient items, this vegan whipping cream is Non-GMO Project Certified, which will put a lot of minds at ease who are concerned about that sort of thing.

Guess what’s also missing? Palm oil. It’s pretty much a win win win win.

What does it look like?

It’s pure white and thicker than milk.

How does it pour? What’s the viscosity like?

It isn’t as thick as I imagined it would be – more like a half and half type consistency than heavy whipping cream – but definitely better than any plant milk I’ve come across, except for super fatty canned coconut milks.

What does it taste like?

It tastes like.. nothing really. It’s not sweet at all, but there are no bitter or sour notes either. It’s completely neutral.

Is it great in coffee?

Um, YES. I absolutely loved it in my coffee!

Back in my dairy days, I drank my coffee with half and half – and this is exactly like it.

I was afraid it was curdling as I poured it into my hot coffee (which I brew quite strong) since most plant milks separate right away. It looked like it was doing it, but as soon as I stirred it all smoothed out.

And guess what? It stayed that way! It didn’t separate at all over the 45 minutes I had it sitting. Huzzah!

Does it whip?

This answer is a little more complicated.

Yes, it whips. But not well. I used a cold bowl and cold beaters and cold whipping cream, and I added some pure powdered sugar since whipped cream should be a little sweet, but could only get it to very soft peaks. It would be perfect for dolloping over hot pie or fresh fruit. (Note: I was using my humble four-speed Kitchenaid hand mixer. Something more powerful may have been able to get to stiff peaks)

After mixing for a little more than five minutes on high speed, it started to separate – badly. Just like dairy whipping cream (which I guess could be considered a good thing? It’s like dairy except that I couldn’t get it to stiff peaks).

HOWEVER! I drained off the liquid “whey” (I poured the contents of the bowl into a fine mesh sieve and stirred it around with a rubber spatula, pouring out whey as I could) and whipped what was left AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. It was super stiff, fluffy, smooth, creamy, and delicious. I put some on my coffee and it was amazing.

The only issue here is that there is the faintest aftertaste of coconut since it’s concentrated, now. It isn’t bad though. I dislike coconut and it’s not enough to bother me. Other than that, it’s just like fresh dairy whipped cream!

So does it whip? Yes, no, yes.

As for the “whey”, I’m going to try using it as milk in a cake recipe. (Update: I ended up using it in my coffee as creamer and it was darn delicious)

It’s kind of disappointing that half of the whipping cream is going towards “whey”, but the quality of the concentrated whipped cream is high enough that I may just keep buying it for things like flavored butters.

Can I overwhip it?

Yes, yes you can. See the above paragraph. 😉

Does it stay whipped?

It will if you fridge or freeze it immediately. Within an hour, the room temp whipped cream was already super soft and melty. Because of this I don’t recommend trying to put it between cake layers unless the cake layers are absolutely frozen, going straight into the freezer, and going to be served while cold. To see the before and after freezing, check the paragraph below – but here is a before and after of the room temp whipped cream:

And here is a before and after of my refrigerated whipped cream, two hours between photos:

Does it freeze well?

After being whipped, YES! Here is a before and after photo of it being whipped, separated, and whipped again (as outlined above) as a small sample:

**I have a bit of un-whipped in the freezer overnight and I’ll test it in the morning and update here with results** I’ll also be testing homemade ice cream with it in the near future. (Update: it whipped up fantastically!)

Does it heat/cook well?

Oh, does it.

It’s a thing of beauty, y’all. Even if you have zero interest in trying to make whipped cream, you’ll love cooking with it! I made a five minute alfredo to test if it would 1) heat without curdling, and 2) tolerate an acid (lemon juice) being introduced and still hold up. It also has salt, and a handful of other seasonings for testing.

I’m happy to report that it passed with flying colors! And it was delicious. I’ll get the recipe up soon!

Does it curdle/separate?

In coffee it does not (YAY!) but it does while whipping after soft peaks. You’re safe to cook with it, though!

Is it everything I’ve been dreaming of?

Well, maybe not everything. I wish it whipped up stiffer right out of the carton, but apart from that I am super impressed! I’m having visions of all kinds of pasta sauces, flavored vegan butters, and of course – delicious coffee.

If you want whipped cream though, you’ll have to work for it and chill it right away. And if you don’t want to do all that work, I suggest trying my American meringue buttercream recipe and letting it whip for 15 or so minutes. You’ll get a light and silky faux whipped cream that’s much more stable than this one.

Overall, I think this is a quality product and I will definitely be purchasing it again. I hope that they can get rid of the cross contamination risks so more folks can enjoy it. Despite its shortcomings though, it’s exciting that we have things like this becoming commercially available, and I can’t wait for them to get better and better!

Pin it for later:

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

Vegan Quick and Easy Mexican Red Pozole/Menudo (Instant Pot)

January 1, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Deep, rich, spicy, and flavorful red pozole is a classic comfort food in Mexico – especially during the winter holiday season. It’s a chili based hominy soup and usually simmered all day with cuts of pork or chicken (or beef tripe for menudo). My version is vegan, easy, and can be made in less than an hour thanks to the Instant Pot.

Pozole: a brief

First of all, pozole is pronounced poe-SO-lay.

Traditional red pozole (pozole rojo) is made by slow simmering pork or chicken in a rich broth made of blended red chili peppers and onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, and a host of other herbs and spices that change based on who is making it and how their abuelita taught them. The same dish, but made with tripe instead of meat is known as menudo.

White or yellow hominy is added and it’s garnished with cabbage, radish, cilantro, onion, and lime juice. Avocado and tostadas (baked or fried corn tortillas) are also frequently enjoyed with pozole.

It can be simmered for hours to days, and is a labor of love, and a holiday tradition passed down through generations of Mexican families. It’s a beautiful dish rich in both flavor and history, and once you’ve tried it you know you’ll be craving it again and again.

As beautiful as the thought is of simmering it for days according to an ancient family recipe, I ain’t got time for that. Plus, I want it to be vegan. So I’m gonna make it convenient with quick ingredients, pre-ground and mixed spices, and an Instant Pot to cook it in less than an hour.

Ingredients:

Here’s a breakdown of our ingredients for this quick and easy vegan pozole:

The first ingredient I use in my quick and easy vegan pozole is soy chorizo. Yup. I know. That’s weird. But trust me.

Chorizo actually has a ton of the same spices and flavors as traditional pozole: chili, garlic, some acidity, and lots of gorgeous natural red. Yes, red. That’s important because we are making red pozole. Your red pozole should not be lacking in red.

Can’t do soy? No worries! Just skip the soyrizo. 🙂

The second ingredient is portabella mushrooms. Or portobello. Or giant creminis. Whatever you want to call them, they’re meaty and absorb all the pozole flavors wonderfully. Slice them thickly so they give plenty of chew.

I use baby portabellas because they give smaller chunks that are more manageable.

Before slicing your mushrooms, please please please wash them. The brown stuff you see on your mushrooms isn’t dirt. And trust me, you don’t want to eat it.

Next is veggie broth. I love that the manufacturer has already slow-simmered this for hours and hours so that I don’t have to! Yay! Complex flavors in an instant. Life doesn’t get much better than that.

The most important ingredient of all is menudo spice. Menudo spice is an intricate and balanced mixture of a TON of herbs and spices. You can definitely mix your own, and there are thousands of recipes online if you decide you want to give it a go. I don’t. Lol. I’ve been there, done that, inhaled way too much chili pepper, and I don’t want to go down that road again. So I buy pre-made.

There are a lot of different brands out there! Fiesta is the most popular where I am, but La India and Gebhardt are very good, too. Actually, I’ve never tried one I didn’t like – so find what you can, check the ingredients for anything you’re avoiding, and use what’s safe. I’m using Gebhardt in this because I went shopping for it ON NEW YEARS EVE (when everyone is making pozole) and literally all the menudo spice was sold out except for this one because it was hidden on an end cap on the opposite end of the store.

Lastly, hominy. Humble hominy is a larger and tougher variety of corn than what most Americans are accustomed to. It’s actually the corn used to make grits! There is a yellow and a white variety, and either one will work wonderfully here. Find it close to the canned corn or in the Hispanic section of your grocery store.

Cacique is my favorite brand of soy chorizo because the flavor is amazing, so is the price, and the meatiness is scary convincing – all while being gluten-free

INGREDIENTS: WATER, SOY FLOUR, SOYBEAN OIL, DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR, PAPRIKA, SALT, MUSTARD POWDER, SPICES, GARLIC POWDER, CARAMEL COLOR AND POTASSIUM SORBATE (TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS).

Let’s get started!

Step one: Turn your Instant Pot on sauté on medium heat and gather all your soup ingredients. First, add the chorizo and give it a good stir. Add about two cups of broth as needed to keep it from burning.

If you have whole mushrooms, you should cut them into about 1/2″ (about 2.5cm) slices. They don’t have to be exact. If you have sliced mushrooms, just toss them in!

Add your mushrooms to the pot.

Stir the mushrooms to coat with chorizo and juices.

Add about two cups of broth (16oz, 480ml) and stir well. The broth will keep it from burning on the bottom.

Open your hominy and drain it.

See? Corn! really ugly corn, but still corn.

Dump your drained hominy into your pot and stir well.

Now it’s time for the menudo spice! Hold your breath as you dump this in. You don’t want to breathe in chili powder. Use whatever brand you can find and tolerate. And use the amount indicated for 2-3 pounds of meat.

Delicious flavor and color, coming right up!

Stir everything really well.

IMPORTANT INSTANT POT INFORMATION!!!

My Instant Pot is a 6 quart Duo. It has a line inside that marks 2/3 capacity with a note that says “PC Max”. This is the max fill line for pressure cooking. DO NOT FILL YOUR POT UP PAST THIS POINT. If you have a smaller pot, are using any dehydrated ingredients that will increase in volume during cooking, or you are not confident about filling yours up to this point, stop here, cover, and cook now.

If you’re ok filling it up, go ahead and add another four cups of broth or until you reach the max fill line according to your Instant Pot instruction manual.

Close your lid and turn your valve to the sealing position.

Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook on normal/medium pressure for 20 minutes. It should come to pressure rather quickly since the pot is full and it’s already hot.

Once it’s done, let it natural release for ten minutes before carefully turning the valve to ‘venting’. Allow it to vent until the button drops and it’s safe to open.

If you opted to not fill your pot to the max fill line earlier, go ahead and add the four remaining cups of broth now and stir well.

Stir and serve your soup! Top with cilantro and chopped white onion, shredded cabbage, radish slices, and plenty of lime juice. It can also be enjoyed with avocado and tostadas.

Store it in the fridge for up to four days and reheat portions rather than the whole pot for best food safety.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, don’t fret! Follow the instructions but in a slow cooker for 4-5 hours, or on a stovetop over a medium simmer for 1.5-2 hours.

Pin it for later:

Video:

Coming soon!

Recipe:

Yield: servings 8-10

Vegan Quick and Easy Red Pozole

Deep, rich, spicy, and flavorful red pozole is a classic comfort food in Mexico - especially during the winter holiday season. Mine is vegan, and cooks quickly in the Instant Pot.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb (452g) soy chorizo
24 oz (680g) baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
2 30oz (850g) cans of hominy, drained
64 oz (1.8L) vegetable broth
3.25 oz (92g) menudo spice mix

Garnishes

Cilantro
Finely chopped white onion
Thinly sliced radish
Shredded cabbage
Fresh limes

Instructions

In the Instant Pot on the sauté function, stir together the chorizo, sliced mushrooms, and two cups of broth
Drain and add the hominy, and stir well
Add the menudo spice and two more cups of broth and stir well
If you’re worried about overfilling your Instant Pot, you can seal and cook now. I have a 6qt Duo and this recipe fills it exactly to the 2/3 max fill line. DO NOT GO OVER YOUR 2/3 MAX FILL LINE. SEE YOUR INSTANT POT’S INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Add the remaining four cups of broth now (or after cooking if you’re worried about overfilling the Instant Pot)
Pressure cook on medium for 20 minutes, and allow to naturally release for 10 minutes before venting, stirring, and serving
Garnish with fresh cilantro, chopped white onion, shredded cabbage, sliced fresh radishes, and fresh lime juice

Notes

Please use caution while using your Instant Pot, and follow the user’s manual exactly.

This can also be prepared in a slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours, or on the stovetop over a medium simmer for 1-2 hours - until the mushrooms are cooked through.

If you're avoiding soy, omit the soy chorizo and check the menudo spice mix and veggie broth well for it. If you're avoiding corn, swap the hominy for chickpeas and check your menudo mix for cornstarch and your veggie broth for corn.

Vegan Low Carb Almost-Instant Mug Brownie

December 16, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Sometimes you need a sweet treat right now, without a lot of prep or waiting, and you don’t want to share. Whether you’re keto or just watching your carbs, or you’re diabetic and don’t want to throw your sugars off, or if you’re avoiding gluten or animal products, this brownie recipe is for you!

Is this recipe keto?

Keto seems to be defined differently by a lot of different folks. This recipe definitely can fit into a keto diet/lifestyle. Is it keto if you eat it 18 times a day? No, no it is not. Will I judge you for doing that? Again, no. No I will not.

For the sake of avoiding arguments from internet people, I’ve decided to label this recipe as being ‘low carb’, because it’s waaayyyy lower in carbs than a traditional brownie is. It is not zero (about 16 net carbs as is, 7 if you leave out the chocolate chips), but it is also meant as a special treat and not as an everyday thing (but again, I will not judge if you decide to make and eat it every day!).

So really, “is it keto” would be answered by how low you think it has to be in carbs to fit the definition. But I can tell you it’s darn delicious.

spoonful of brownie — Enjoy your brownie, guilt-free!

What do I need to make this recipe?

Equipment-wise, you’re going to need a microwavable mug or ramekin, and a second small bowl for mixing your wet ingredients. You’ll need a spoon to stir and measuring spoons to measure out your ingredients, and of course you’ll need a microwave to cook it in.

Ingredient-wise, this is what you’ll need to gather:

Dry Ingredients:

Almond flour
If you’re allergic to almonds, you can use another nut flour here like hazelnut or pecan. Allergic to nuts in general? No problem! Swap it out for sunflower seed or pumpkin seed flour and it’ll work just fine.
Cocoa powder
I really like Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder, but I’m a dark chocolate fiend. Any cocoa powder should work fine here, though!
Baking powder
NOT baking soda. Baking powder is a mix of base and acid in powder form, so that when it gets wet it fizzes and makes lots of tiny bubbles in your brownie so it’ll be spongey and won’t be a hockey puck.
Salt
Whatever kind of salt you want, as long as it’s salty. I use sea salt because it’s what I’ve got. It’s to balance out the sweetness of the brownie (plus, salt and chocolate are total besties and go SO well together!).

Wet Ingredients:

Coconut oil
Allergic to coconuts? Have no fear! Use palm oil, or even Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks instead.
Don’t want to use palm oil AND allergic to coconuts? Swap it for any oil of your choice and it should be fine! The oil is to up the fat content for the keto-ers, and also helps to keep the brownie moist and decadent.
Flax egg
Da heck is flax egg? GOOD QUESTION! Flax egg is when you mix together ground flax seed with water and let it gellify. It gets the same goopy consistency of chicken eggs, with 100% less animal protein. I actually keep a big container of it premade in my fridge and just scoop out 3 tbsp for each egg in a recipe, but if you need to make it on the spot it’s 1 tbsp of ground flax and 2.5 tbsp water per egg. No flax? Use ground chia seeds instead!
Almond milk
You can actually use whatever liquid you want here! So if you’re allergic to almonds or nuts, use your favorite plant milk instead – or even just plain ole water. I chose unsweetened vanilla almond milk for this recipe because of the extra vanilla boost and the zero carbs.
Sweetener
Use whatever your favorite sweetener is here. Erythritol is a preferred sweetener by low carb/keto folks but it has a cooling sensation a lot of people can’t get past. Stevia is a good choice, but can be bitter. Monkfruit is a great choice, but hard to find (getting easier, though!) and is a little pricey. I find that mixing erythritol and stevia gives great results because there’s not enough of either to make your mouth go “ick”.

Other Ingredients

Lily’s dark chocolate baking chips are the crowning glory of this brownie. I love them (and they don’t pay me to say that) because again, I am a dark chocolate fiend, but also because I love that they’re super delicious and sugar-free so I can nom them and not feel bad about it. I also love adding them to all my kids’ breakfast foods because no added sugar. Yay!

That said, you can leave them out if you don’t have them or don’t like them, and your brownie will still turn out decadent and wonderful. Just add another teaspoon or two of your sweetener to make up for what Lily’s would have added.

Additionally, you can add chopped nuts or seeds to this and it’s amazing. Pecans, walnuts, or roasted seeds are all great choices.

Tell me how! The process:

Making the brownie is actually really quick and simple – and gets quicker the more times you do it. 😉

Wet ingredients and dry ingredients, ready to be mixed

1. Measure together your wet and your dry ingredients separately. Also, if you don’t have your flax egg pre-made and waiting in the fridge, go ahead and mix that before you do anything else. Melt your fat and heat up your liquid to make sure you don’t get solid chunks anywhere.

I measure the dry ingredients into whatever vessel I will be microwaving the brownie in – in this case, a coffee mug.

dry and wet ingredients, mixed separately and ready to combine — Dry ingredients and wet ingredients, mixed separately and ready to be combined.

2. Stir together the dry and wet ingredients in their separate containers. I do the dry ingredients first, and then use the same spoon to do the wet ingredients. Fewer dirty dishes makes me happy.

Dry and wet ingredients combined into batter — The luscious batter made by combining the dry and wet ingredients.

3. Once everything is nicely mixed in their separate containers, go ahead and plop the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well.

Batter with chocolate chips folded in and sprinkled on top — Fold in half of the chocolate chips and sprinkle the other half on top.

4. Once you’ve mixed the batter and everything is smooth with no giant lumps, go ahead and add half of your chocolate chips and all your nuts/seeds if you used them, and stir them in. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top.

Finished brownie — Once microwaved, it turns dark and rich!

5. Microwave your mug on high for 90 seconds. It’s going to puff way up in the microwave (so make sure you’re using a mug or bowl that has plenty of headroom left in it) and then fall back down once done. You can see here that mine souffléd up to the rim of my mug before collapsing down to its final height.

It will be a bit like a molten chocolate cake while it’s still hot/warm, and will firm up as it cools (if you can wait that long!).

Enjoy at whatever temperature you wish! You can top it with some whipped buttercream made with confectioner’s Swerve instead of sugar, or some whipped coconut cream. Or eat it as is. 🙂 I eat mine still hot with a cup of coffee and nothing added on top.

Quick and Dirty Method:

You can totally do this ALL in ONE mug if you’d like to avoid a couple more dirty dishes. Results might be a little lumpier, but still delicious. So feel free to use this method if you are short on time or patience and just need some delicious brownie in your face rite nao:

Measure oil and milk into your mug and microwave for 30 seconds, or until it’s hot to the touch
Add the rest of your wet ingredients and stir well
Mix in your cocoa powder and stir well
Add the rest of your dry ingredients and stir well
Fold in your chocolate chips and nuts/seeds if using, and top with chocolate chips
Microwave and enjoy as usual

How do I store them?

Uhh.. In your belly? I suppose you could pop some plastic wrap over the top and save it for later, but this is meant to be enjoyed right away.

I have made them in silicone cupcake liners and transitioned them to paper for a Valentine’s gift in a cupcake box and they worked well like that. But I would really advise you to eat these the same day that they’re made.

What if I’m not low carb/keto?

If you’re not watching your carb intake and aren’t concerned about consuming sugar, feel free to use granulated sugar as your sweetener and regular chocolate chips instead of the Lily’s! It’ll work just as well for a quick single-serving treat!

Can I make these in the oven?

Yes! Give it a try at 325F for about 10-12 minutes.

Can I double or triple the recipe?

Yes you absolutely can. The photos you see here are actually of the recipe doubled (so you can actually see what’s going on). You’ll just need to microwave a bit longer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on after the brownie is cooked (so the chocolate doesn’t burn) and give it another 30 seconds to melt. Try cooking for two and a half minutes for a double batch, and three and a half minutes for triple.

Pin it for later:

Recipe:

Yield: 1 serving

Vegan Low Carb Almost Instant Mug Brownies

Sometimes you need a sweet treat right now, without a lot of prep or waiting, and you don't want to share. Whether you're keto or just watching your carbs, or you're diabetic and don't want to throw your sugars off, or if you're avoiding gluten or animal products, this recipe is for you!

Prep Time 3 minutes

Cook Time 1 minute

Total Time 4 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

4 tbsp almond flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Wet Ingredients

1 flax egg (see recipe post for details)
2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk, hot
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
4 tsp sweetener (erythritol, stevia, or monkfruit that measures like sugar)

Additions

2 tbsp Lily's dark chocolate baking chips, divided
1 tbsp roasted nuts or seeds, chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Make your flax egg if you don't already have some waiting

2. Measure together your wet and your dry ingredients separately

3. Stir together the dry and wet ingredients in their separate containers

4. Mix everything together in your microwaveable mug, combining well

5. Fold in one tablespoon of your chocolate chips and all of your seeds/nuts if using

6. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top of the batter

7. Microwave for 90 seconds

8. Enjoy hot as a molten cake, or allow to cool for a firmer brownie

Notes

If you have allergies to any of the ingredients, or want to make it not-low-carb, see recipe post for substitutions

This recipe is inspired by the non-vegan 3-minute keto brownie recipe from Keto Daily

Vegan Cream Cheese Filling for Danishes

December 3, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// 4 Comments

The dairy-free cream cheese filling you’ve always wanted and needed for your puff pastry creations. Creamy, tangy, just sweet enough, and perfect for pairing with any fruit in all your vegan danishes!

One thing I don’t like to do is make recipes with prepared vegan cream cheese. Why? Well, for starters it’s kinda hard to find where I live. I mean, my local grocery store carries it but it’s always sold out. Always.

Beyond that, I know not everyone has access to it, or if they do they may be allergic to the contents – so I try to create my own with easy-to-find ingredients that can be just-as-easily swapped out depending on your dietary needs.

So today, after being inspired by someone in a Facebook group I’m in who had cherry turnovers last night (you’re a hero, Dara!), as well as all the leftover puff pastry in my freezer, I set out to make some. And then I thought: OH MY GOSH I NEED CREAM CHEESE FILLING.

But what can I make it out of?!

The Ingredients

Creaminess. I had vanilla soy yogurt in my fridge. Choose whatever yogurt best suits your needs allergy-wise.

Tanginess. I learned from my friend Kat over at 86eats.com that sauerkraut makes vegan cheese taste absolutely legit. Sounds weird, but I swear it’s magic. (If you want to make your own vegan cheese, you NEED to check out her recipes!)

Melty browningness. Is that a word? Probably not. Oh well. But you know what I mean. Dairy cream cheese softens and melts in the oven, and browns ever so slightly around the edges when baked – remaining luscious and smooth and creamy inside. Enter tapioca starch. It does these things.

Sweetness (if you want). I didn’t add any extra sugar to mine, but you totally can if you like it on the sweeter side.

The Process

It’s way easier than you’d think!

Empty your single serving of yogurt into a blender if you’ve got one, or a microwave safe bowl/container if you have an immersion blender and add the sauerkraut.

Blend it well! You don’t want sauerkraut chunks in your sweet cream cheese filling, trust me.

Add tapioca starch a half a teaspoon at a time, mixing in well between additions.

If using a blender, empty contents into a microwave safe bowl.

Microwave on high for two minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Heat activates the starch and will thicken up the mixture and get it stretchy and gloopy and cheesy like.

Add powdered/icing/confectioner’s sugar to taste.

Allow it to cool before adding to your puff pastry so that it doesn’t ruin the lamination in the dough.

Scoop or spoon your vegan cream cheese filling into each danish before baking

How do I use this glorious vegan cream cheese filling??

Immediately!

I scooped it into the centers of my danishes with a small cookie scoop. It was enough for all eight danishes I got out of my package of puff pastry. (You can also use crescent dough or any other dough your heart so desires!)

Then I topped the vegan cream cheese filling with some cherry cake filling – but you can use fresh fruit or pie filling, or even jelly/jam! Or plain ole cream cheese filling would be great, too. 🙂

Bake as directed by your puff pastry, but mine was 400°F for 20 minutes.

You can brush the pastry with aquafaba and sprinkle with course sugar before baking to give it a golden brown, crispy coating if you’d like. I’ll definitely be doing that next time. 🙂

Give them a try drizzled with my vegan royal icing or even some American meringue buttercream!

Enjoy!

I’ll update this post with process photos once I make my next batch, and will publish a full Danish tutorial as well! So keep your eyes out for that.

Pin it!

Yield: 8 danishes worth

Vegan Cream Cheese Filling for Danishes

Prep Time 8 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 28 minutes

Ingredients

1 5.3 oz container of vegan yogurt (150g)
2 tbsp fermented sauerkraut (the refrigerated kind, not in the jar)
3 tsp tapioca starch/flour
Powdered/icing/confectioner's sugar to taste

Instructions

Empty your single serving of yogurt into a blender if you’ve got one, or a microwave safe bowl/container if you have an immersion blender and add the sauerkraut.
Blend.
Add tapioca starch a half a teaspoon at a time, mixing in well between additions.
If using a blender, empty contents into a microwave safe bowl.
Microwave on high for two minutes, stopping and stirring every 30 seconds.
Add powdered/icing/confectioner’s sugar to taste.
Allow it to cool before scooping onto your puff pastry

Notes

Feel free to add vanilla if you’d like (unless you plan to make a savory danish!) 1/2 tsp is plenty.

Make the vegan cream cheese filling as your puff pastry dough defrosts, just before baking.

It must be used immediately.

Gochujang Spicy Brussels Sprouts (Vegan)

September 22, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Sweet and spicy, easy to make, full of umami, crowd-pleasing Brussels sprouts are totally possible and need to be on your dinner plate tonight! They’re buttery and caramelized with Korean gochujang chili paste – which once you try, you’ll be addicted to adding it to everything you eat!

What is Gochujang?

Gochujang is a red chili paste with its origins in Korea. It’s made with rice flour and vinegar, sugar, as well as red chilis – and it’s a perfect harmony of spicy, sweet, and tangy. (Here’s the Wikipedia article if you want to learn more)

We use this one because it’s vegan, gluten-free, and it’s also soy-free in case that’s what you’re needing. Most are made with gluten and soy, so just make sure to check ingredient lists. It caramelizes perfectly when you heat it thanks to the sugars, and its flavor accompanies just about any savory ingredient well. We’ve even enjoyed it on fresh fruit (dipping apple slices) with raving reviews!

And would you believe me if I told you it’s also amazing in dessert? Add a couple of drops to the center of a jam-filled macaron and have your mind blown!

So I invite you to set the sriracha aside (yes, just trust me!) and give gochujang a try!

Yield: 4 servings

Gochujang Brussels Sprouts

Sweet and spicy, full of umami, addictive butter-fried sprouts caramelized in gochujang Korean chili paste.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb Brussels sprouts
1/2 c vegan margarine
2 tbsp gochujang chili paste
1 tbsp soy sauce (gluten-free soy sauce if avoiding gluten, coconut aminos if avoiding soy)

Instructions

Wash, trim, and halve your sprouts
Heat a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium-high flame
Add your margarine and allow it to melt and boil
Once your margarine has stopped fizzling, add your sprouts to the pan in a single layer
Allow the sprouts to cook until they begin to brown on the bottom - about three to four minutes
Toss the sprouts and allow them to brown again, another three to four minutes
Mix in the gochujang and allow to cook for two minutes
Add soy sauce and mix well
Serve while hot

Fruit Smoothie Cake (vegan, oil-free)

July 6, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// 8 Comments

I was on the hunt for a fruit-flavored cake recipe that was three things:

Stupidly simple –

Vegan –

Absolutely delicious –

I found a few recipes that hit two out of three, but none that checked all three off my list. So what did I do? I did what I do and I wrote one. But in order to write a cake recipe, you need to know a little cake science and do some dissecting.

So what parts are there to a traditional cake recipe? In no particular order: the flavor, the substance, the liquid, the leavening agent, the sweetener, the fat, and the binder.

I wanted my fruit flavored cakes to taste like.. well.. fruit. And what tastes more like fruit than fruit? So that definitely needed to be my first ingredient. And it just so happens that fruit purée not only makes an epic flavor base, but also an amazing egg replacer for binding AND oil substitute. And it’s juicy. Bam. Why haven’t I been doing this all along?!

The best strawberries in the world from a local farmer being smoothie-fied for cake

So the fruit does the job of four cake recipe components: flavor, liquid, binder, and fat [replacer].

Then you need your substance – the bulk of the cake. That’s your flour.

And you need leavening to give the cake rise – that’s when the batter creates millions of tiny bubbles within itself and the cake puffs up, becoming a sponge instead of a hockey puck. Traditional cakes do this in a variety of ways: usually eggs filling with steam and the addition of a bit of baking powder. This cake does it with a chemical reaction of acid + base. Think back to elementary school volcanoes made with vinegar and baking soda. That’s what we are doing here, but with citric acid instead of vinegar.

For sweetness I normally use Zulka unrefined granulated sugar, but any granulated sugar will work. It also works wonderfully with coconut sugar, and for a no-sugar-added cake granulated stevia works amazingly! Just keep in mind that fruits contain natural sugars, and most flours are high in carbs which can cause sugar spikes – so while this cake made with stevia will be more diabetic-friendly than most other cakes out there, it still isn’t something that can be eaten in excess without glycemic consequences.

So with the realization of how many jobs fruit purée can do and an understanding of what other components need to be addressed, this cake can be made with, at the bare minimum, four ingredients. FOUR! And it’s DELICIOUS made with only four ingredients!

So if you’re dealing with food allergies and need something base-line basic, I’ve got you! This can be made with just an acidic fruit purée, sugar, baking soda, and flour – omit everything else and follow the steps the same way. Do you need it to be gluten-free? Use your favorite cup for cup gluten-free flour and add a teaspoon of baking powder (results may vary based on the brand or mix of gluten-free flour you use, so please test yours).

Strawberry smoothie cupcakes and cakes, made with only four ingredients. Who would have thought?

So you may be asking – why in the world would you add more stuff to it if it’s delicious with just those four??

Good question.

With just those four ingredients, the cake is stupidly simple, vegan, and absolutely delicious. BUT – sometimes I make showstopper cakes that need to hold up well with lots of layers, can be carved, can be crumb coated and frosted with ease, and some people really like extra flavor on top of the natural fruit, as well as a pop of color – so I made a few additions to make those things happen.

Flax helps the cake to be more sturdy and less crumbly, salt balances the sweetness, and the kool-aid powder adds extra flavor, color, and citric acid to react with our baking soda for more lift. If you use it, choose the same flavor as your fruit purée or a complimentary flavor (peach-mango with mango purée, for instance). If you’re using a fruit that isn’t very acidic (blueberries, for instance) you need the extra boost of acidity – so if you don’t want to use KoolAid powder, use a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice instead).

Strawberry smoothie cake all trimmed and torted and ready for filling, surrounded by the chaos that results from cake decorating.

So far I’ve made this recipe with strawberry, mango, peach, kiwi, dragonfruit, pineapple, raspberry, and blueberry. If you want to try another flavor, or even combine them, go for it and let me know what you did!

Making fruit-flavored pastry is a peach-a-cake! ;D
Here are the fluffy innards of a peach smoothie cake.

And finally, keep in mind that this cake, because it is made of mostly fruit, will be more dense than your traditional light and fluffy birthday cake style cake. To avoid it being any more dense than necessary make sure to gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together rather than stirring (so you don’t develop the gluten and make the cake chewy and bready). You can also add extra flour, up to a cup, to lighten it up a bit. But remember that the more flour you add, the less the fruit flavor and color will come through.

This recipe is great for cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, and even pancakes! It can be doubled, tripled, halved, or quartered and still works great. Try it with my quick and easy ganache or my easiest buttercream ever.

Take a look at my video here to watch how I whip up the batter in less than ten minutes, and please subscribe to my YouTube channel to be the first to know about new tutorials I put up:

VIDEO:

Yield: 1 10” or 2 8” or 3 6” or 24 cupcakes

Vegan Fruit Smoothie Cake

The simplest fruit-flavored cake recipe ever. Made with fruit as the first ingredient, it’s super allergy-friendly, infinitely customizable, oil-free, and can be made with no added sugar and gluten-free as well.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

2.5 cups fruit purée (540g)
2 cups sugar (400g)
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
5 tablespoons hot water
———
3.5 cups flour (440g)
2 teaspoons baking SODA (bicarb)
1 packet of KoolAid or other acid-based unsweetened drink powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325°F (160°C) and prepare your cake pans (I like to use nonstick spray and a parchment paper circle inside the bottom).
Prepare your flax eggs by mixing the ground flax and hot water in a small bowl or cup (1 tbsp of flax + 2.5 tbsp water = one flax egg - so you’re making two eggs here. Also, using hot water speeds up the process). Set aside.
Add your flour, baking soda, salt, and KoolAid powder to a medium mixing bowl. Sift or whisk if you’d like.
Add your fruit purée and sugar to a large mixing bowl.
Add your flax egg to the fruit/sugar once it’s goopy - after about ten minutes.
Pour your dry ingredients into the wet, and fold them together using a silicone spatula until the batter doesn’t have any dry bits. Don’t stir! Fold!
Pour the batter into your prepared pans.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Cupcakes take about 17 minutes)
Proceed as usual and enjoy your cake!

Gluten-Free

Ingredients

What ingredients are in this frosting??

I hate those ingredients! Can I just use your cream cheese frosting recipe??

Wait.. did you say warm it up?

Can I add anything to it?

How do I make it?

What do I dip into this magical vegan cheesecake dip?

Can I turn this into an actual cheesecake?

How can I make this vegan cheesecake dip healthier?

Please leave me alone so that I can go make it!

Pin it for later:

Recipe:

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Recommended Products

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

What I Needed

What It Ain’t

Let’s Get Down to Business

Ingredients You Need

Process Notes

Pin it for Later:

Do the Thing

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Recommended Products

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

What is choriqueso and how do I eat it?

Ingredients

Equipment

Process

Video Tutorial

Pin it for later

Ingredients

Garnish

Instructions

Notes

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

I swore I didn’t do stories in my recipes but here I go..

What kind of milk do I use?

What other ingredients are there?

What this cheese sauce ISN’T

How do I use it?

What equipment do I need?

The Process:

Other cheesy things I have to offer:

Video Tutorial:

Pin it for later:

Printable Recipe:

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Recommended Products

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

What’s it made of? Is it safe for my allergy or diet?

What does it look like?

How does it pour? What’s the viscosity like?

What does it taste like?

Is it great in coffee?

Does it whip?

Can I overwhip it?

Does it stay whipped?

Does it freeze well?

Does it heat/cook well?

Does it curdle/separate?

Is it everything I’ve been dreaming of?

Pin it for later:

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

Pozole: a brief

Ingredients:

Let’s get started!

IMPORTANT INSTANT POT INFORMATION!!!

Pin it for later:

Video:

Coming soon!

Recipe:

Ingredients