Vegan double chocolate cherry donuts. Half the calories, double the fun!

Okay, so I don't know if these donuts really have half the calories, but it sure makes for a catchy title. They may not be health food, but they are made with quality ingredients, healthy fats, and no cholesterol! After picking up a box of Paczki's the other day I was so excited to take that first bite only to find that it tasted like just a fried ball of chemicals, darn you elitist taste buds! Anywho, I saw this recipe on post punk kitchen the other day for chocolate cherry mini loaves and realizing I have no mini loaf pan, decided to turn it into some delish donuts! I adapted this chocolate donut recipe to make these deliciously natural treats. Here is the recipe!

Vegan Double Chocolate Cherry Donuts

Ingredients:

Donuts -

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 tsp egg replacer mixed with 5 tsp of reserved cherry juice (see below)

1/2 cup frozen cherries, chopped into quarters

2 Tbsp dairy free mini chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand)

Glaze -

1 teaspoon reserved cherry juice

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Tbsp coconut milk

1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

2 Tbsp dairy free mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F, grease a donut pan with coconut oil and dust with flour, shaking out the excess.

In a small saucepan, heat chopped cherries with a few pinches of sugar and a teaspoon water until thawed and juices release, pour out cherry juice to use in dough and glaze. Whisk 5 tsp of the cherry juice into the egg replacer. Mix coconut milk with apple cider vinegar and set aside. Heat 1/4 cup coconut oil by placing in a cup in a bowl of warm water until melted.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Whisk in sugar. Stir milk mixture into bowl, then stir in melted coconut oil and egg replacer mixed with cherry juice. Fold in chopped cherries (drained) and chocolate chips. Spoon batter into donut pans until they are 3/4 full, it should make 8 donuts total. Bake at 375 degrees F for 16 minutes, rotating halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the glaze:

I modified Alton Brown's chocolate donut glaze recipe (love him!). Combine coconut oil, milk, teaspoon reserved cherry juice, and extract in a saucepan until oil is melted. Reduce heat, whisk in chocolate chips until melted, then add powdered sugar. Remove from heat and dip donuts in the glaze so that the tops are covered (you may have to roll them around a bit). Place glaze side up on parchment paper to cool. Enjoy with a nice cold glass of coconut or almond milk, now this is what a donut should taste like!

I didn't take too many pictures of these, I was way too excited to inhale them!

Vegan sweet potato gnocchi!

When I saw sweet potato gnocchi on the menu of a local vegan joint I couldn't have been more excited! Sweet potatoes and pasta are two of my favorite foods (though, to be honest there are many). Unfortunately, the ones from the otherwise delicious vegan restaurant left something to be desired and ever since then I have been dying to make my own. My first try at gnocchi was a few years ago and I was so scarred by those water-logged heavy clumps that I haven't attempted since. I looked around online and found a blog that had a very basic recipe on it which inspired mine: http://vegansoulpower.blogspot.com/2010/11/step-by-step-sweet-potato-gnocchi.html

I overcame my gnocchi failure and the sweet potato gnocchi were a great success!! Here is the recipe:

Vegan Sweet Potato Gnocchi in buttery sauce:

Ingredients:

One large sweet potato (mine was probably a pound or two)

1 1/2 - 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

Two pinches good quality sea salt

1/4 teaspoon dried sage

pinch nutmeg

pinch cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon, mmm)

2 Tbsp Earth Balance

1 small shallot, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon dried sage (or fresh, I just ran out)

1 Tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Wash sweet potato, prick with fork and bake on a cookie sheet for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Peel off skin and run through a potato ricer (hopefully yours isn't rusted from 3 years of banishment) or mash. Add salt, 1/4 tsp sage, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Pile about a cup of flour on a board and top with potato mixture, work the two together with a fork. Once mixed, begin working and kneading the mixture with your hands, adding flour a little at a time just until your hands no longer stick to the dough.

Divide dough into 6 parts and roll each part into a log about 3/4 inch in diameter. Cut rectangles (1/2 inch by 3/4 inch) off the log, and if desired, dip your fork in flour and gently roll it across the rectangles to create the ridges (Do it, pasta tastes better with ridges!).

At this point, I froze half of the gnocchi on a cookie sheet with parchment paper, then dropped then into a freezer bag for a quick meal later, yum! To make the gnocchi from fresh or frozen, simply bring water to a boil in a large pot and reduce heat to medium-high, add salt then gently add gnocchi. Boil for about five minutes just until the float to the surface. Drain and set aside.



To make the sauce, heat a saucepan over medium-low with earth balance, add shallots, 1/2 tsp sage, salt, and pepper and saute for about five minutes just until the start to brown.

Add drained gnocchi to the pan and toss for a couple minutes. Add chopped parsley and serve.

That wasn't so hard now was it? And no soggy clumps here, phew!

Buon Apetito!

Lower impact kugel

I am a strong believer in the power of food to heal. Lately, I have been in need of some emotional healing, and for this tough job what better healing foods are there than comfort foods? When I was younger my comfort foods were mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, fried potato latkes, cheesecake...mmmm, pretty much anything that was bad for me and the environment, but oh so good for my soul :) I believe that comfort foods don't have to be bad for you and the earth, they just have to transport you back to a place where you felt safe and loved. Now when I feel down or tired or...even slightly uncomfortable I make tasty lower calorie vegetarian or vegan versions of my favorite classics. Growing up, my mother always made us traditional Jewish treats like potato pancakes (latkes), noodle pudding (kugel), and chicken noodle soup. Kugel is still one of my favorite things to eat and every once in a while I sneak a slice and as I lay in pain from the dairy backlash later I think "it was worth it"...

So last night after two days of having a horrible cold, I decided I needed some kugel. I made a plan to morph one of my favorite kugel recipes into a dairy-free, egg-free masterpiece and set out to our local health food store. I was able to find all but the egg-free noodles (I am certain the salesperson later recounted the tale of the red-nosed girl who asked for egg noodles without eggs and then proceeded to stand in front of the selections for 15 minutes before sighing heavily and placing the egg noodles in her cart). So I decided that this batch will be close to egg free and when I locate some eggless noodles of sufficient breadth to take on my custard I will try again!!

Anyways, the recipe I am remaking is Emeril Lagasse's classic kugel recipe:

Emeril's recipe is absolutely delish but unfortunately here are the nutrition stats per serving:
446 calories
28g fat
16g saturated fat
150mg cholesterol
2g fiber
29g sugar
12g protein

And...here are the nutrition stats after making my modifications:

260 calories

12g fat

5g saturated fat

40mg cholesterol

3g fiber

19g sugar

6g protein

Still not a health food, but my version definitely has less impact on you and the environment...AND most of the fats are from plant products, yay! Ok, enough kugel-pushing ;) here is the recipe:

A Slimmed-Down Emeril's Kugel:

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound wide egg noodles (or egg-free noodles!!)
• 2 Tablespoons Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread
• 12 oz mori-nu firm silken tofu
• 12 oz greek-style plain coconut-milk yogurt (you can use regular coconut milk yogurt, but the greek style has more fiber!)
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup (or sugar, or your preferred sweetener)
• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk beverage (or your favorite milk substitute, preferably with some fat in it)
• 2 eggs (see note below)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup pecan pieces
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove and drain. Toss the noodles with the buttery spread. Mash the tofu with a potato masher, take 1/2 cup of mash and mix in 2 Tbsp of cornstarch, whisking well, then whisk in the two eggs. In a large mixing bowl, mix the mashed tofu, tofu/constarch egg mixture, yogurt, coconut milk, and vanilla. Mix well. Fold in the noodles and raisins. Mix well. Pour the mixture into a buttered 9 by 13 - inch pan. In a small mixing bowl, mix the brown sugar, pecan pieces and cinnamon, together. Mix well. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the egg mixture, evenly. Bake for about 1 hour or until the pudding is set. Remove from the oven and cool before serving.

There you have it, now just cut and serve to your friends and family without telling them it has tofu ;)

Note: To make this totally vegan which I will try next, just use egg-free noodles, and instead of adding the two eggs, just whisk another 4 tsp of cornstarch into another 1/3 cup of the mashed tofu. I'm sure it will come out great! Or if you prefer more eggs, just use all 5 eggs, and just add the tofu to the recipe mashed (without adding any cornstarch).