tofu ricotta

Vegan Blueberry Pancakes with Sweet Lemon Ricotta

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Have I mentioned how much I love summer! It yields all of my favorite fruits, and picking our own makes me feel so much more accomplished!

Every year in May we drive 45 minutes north to a local organic blueberry farm and we pick blueberries until we can no longer stand the heat.

We live in Florida, so by May the temps are easily already into the 90s. This means we maybe can last an hour tops before everyone is melting and miserable. The heat, and bugs are well worth the reward, though.

Affordable, beautiful, organic blueberries, pound and pounds of them. I have 4 kids, so thats a lot of hands for picking!

So instead of just making the obvious but favorite blueberry pancake this weekend, I decided to step up my game, and made these beautiful and delicious vegan lemon blueberry compote pancakes with sweet lemon ricotta! I am always looking for recipes to pile sweet tofu ricotta on top of, and these pancakes were the perfect fit.

They were such a hit that I have a feeling we will be eating these all summer! I mean after all, we have 16 lbs of blueberries to get through!!!

If it happens to not be summer time or you can’t get your hands on fresh blueberries, no worries, frozen will work just as well. Like I said, we picked a ton and there will still be some in my freezer come winter. I really love making recipes like this in the colder months as a bright and happy pick me up.

In the south, winter time is actually citrus season, so finding nice fresh lemons in the winter months should be super easy!! I end up making a lot of citrus themed recipes in the winter, which is perfect for cold and flu season. We need all the vitamin C we can get to fight off all those sniffles!!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

  • 4 tablespoons white sugar (If vegan, not plant based, make sure the brand you use is in fact vegan, not all white sugars are. I use Florida Crystals)

  • 4 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 2 1/2 cups plant based milk

  • 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter

  • zest from 1 lemon

  • 3/4 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries

Lemon Ricottta:

  • 1 block firm tofu

  • 1/4 cup maple syrup, or a few tablespoons agave

  • Juice from 1 lemon

  • zest from 1 lemon

Blueberry Compote:

  • 1 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

  • 1/2 cups refined sugar

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. For the compote: place blueberries and sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium. Mash up the blueberries some using the back of a spoon. Allow the berries to come to a simmer. Let them continue to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and allowing the liquid to reduce. After 20 minutes turn off the stove and let the berries cool in the pot.

  2. For the pancakes: Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

  3. Add in the melted butter, plant based milk, vanilla, and stir well.

  4. Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Add a teaspoon of vegan butter or spray the pan with cooking oil. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out batter into the skillet, 2 or 3 pancakes at time. Sprinkle 4-5 blueberries on top of each pancakes. This works better than mixing them into the batter because they like to sink to the bottom.

  5. Let pancakes cook until tiny bubbles begin to form and pop, once this happens they are ready to flip. Cook on the other side for another minute or two, until cooked through.

  6. Repeat, adding more butter or oil to the pan as needed, until all batter is used.

  7. For the ricotta: Drain the tofu, and break it into a few pieces. Add it along with the sweetener, lemon juice, and zest to a high speed blender, and blend until creamy and smooth.

  8. To serve, stack 3 or 4 pancakes and top with blueberry compote, lemon tofu ricotta, and extra lemon zest if you like.

Serves 4 - 6.

If you like this recipe, try these:

Vegan Orange Creamsicle Pancakes

Vegan Banana Pudding Pancakes

Vegan Samoa Pancakes

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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cannoli

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Holy Cannoli! It’s vegan cannoli!

I mean if you didn’t know this is a thing, it’s totally a thing! And they are so flipping delicious.

It was actually our 13 year old daughter who decided she wanted to make vegan cannoli. Ya’ll, she is 13! So if she can do it, you can too!

The shells take a little time but are worth it! So worth it! We don’t have a cannoli tube/maker, so made one out of foil. If you plan on making them often, I suggest investing in the the tube. But making your own totally works!

We also used tofu for the filling. We made it into a sweet tofu ricotta and it is super delicious! I love using tofu to make sweet and savory ricottas. The texture is creamy perfection and the chocolate chips add just the right bite.

You could dip your finished cannoli in chocolate, sprinkles, pistachios, whatever. We just wanted to give you the basic recipe and beyond that, get as creative as you want.

Just remember to fill the shells when you are ready to eat them. They tend to get a little soggy if you fill them and let them sit for extended period of time.

So, go forth and make cannoli! Just because you are vegan does not mean you cant’t enjoy the same treats as everyone else. Cannoli included!!

The Dough:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour

  • 1 tablespoon sugar

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons vegan butter, like Earth Balance

  • 1 egg replacement , we used store bought powdered egg replacement for this recipe

  • 1/2 cup dry white wine

  • enough oil for frying.

The Filling:

  • 1 package firm organic tofu (drained)

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar

  • Juice from one lemon

  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

  • 1/4 cup mini vegan chocolate chips

Instructions for the Dough:

  1. In a medium sized bowl, mix dry ingredients.

  2. Add in the cold vegan butter to the dry ingredients. Using your hands, mix the butter in until you have a rice like, crumble.

  3. Add the flax egg, and wine, and work mixture with your hands until a soft dough has formed. If it seems too dry, add another teaspoon or two of wine until it comes together.

  4. Flatten dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Pop the dough in the fridge to rest while you make the filling.

Instructions for Filling:

  1. Add all of the filling ingredients EXCEPT the chocolate chips to a high speed blender, or food processor. Mix on high until filling becomes completely smooth.

  2. Once smooth, fold in the chocolate chips with a spoon. Place in fridge until ready to use.

Making the Cannoli:

  1. Remove dough from the fridge, and roll it out to about 1/8 of of an inch thick. You want the dough very thin.

  2. Cut 3-4 inch circles from the dough with a circle cookie cutter, or the rim of a drinking glass.

  3. You should be able to get about 20 circles from the dough.

  4. You will need a cannoli mold, OR you can make some with some aluminum foil (pictured above.) Take 4 sheets of foil, you want tear the foil at about 4 inches. So your sheets will be 4x12 inches. Start rolling the first sheet at the short end into a tight tube. Begin rolling that tube into another sheet, and so on, until all sheets of foil have been used up. Now you have a foil tube. You can make 3 or 4 tubes to make frying a little faster. The tubes get very hot so you will have to wait for them to cool each time before you start another batch.

  5. Heat a deep skillet (I just used a small/medium cast iron skillet) with an inch or two oil on medium heat.

  6. Take a circle of dough and wrap it around your mold. Brush the dough with a tiny bit of water at the seams to help seal them. Use your fingers to flare out the edges just a tiny bit.

  7. Take some metal tongs, and place the cannoli into the hot oil. Let cook for 15 to 20 seconds on one side, then turn it. It will begin to brown instantly. You only need to cook each one for a minute or less. Be carful because the foil tubes will hold oil. When you pick the cannoli up out of the pan, hold it vertically above the pan with your tongs, and allow the extra oil to come out before placing on a wire cooling rack.

  8. After a minute or so, allowing the cannoli to cool, grab the tube with the tongs in one hand, use a paper towel in the the other hand to help you carefully pull the cannoli off the tube. I like to place the still hot foil tubes on a plate, and stick them in the freezer for a few mintues to let them cool enough to handle before starting the next batch of cannoli shells.

  9. Repeat this process until you have fried all of the dough.

  10. Once all of the cannoli shells are done and cooled, fill a piping bag, or large zip lock with the filling. If using a zip lock, snip a corner with some scissors. Pipe the filling into the shells, and dust with some powdered sugar.

 The shells will store well at room temperature, so if not serving immediately, wait to fill the shells until ready to serve. 

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Grilled Peaches with Maple and Vegan Ricotta

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These grilled peaches are such an easy, and delicious summer dessert. The warm sweet, and tart peaches, paired with the creamy maple ricotta is summer perfection.

My daughter adores all things peaches and peach season happens to coincide with grilling season. So since I I grill any chance I can get, it was an obvious choice to throw some peaches onto the grill and top them with some easy tofu ricotta.

We decided to give the peaches a drizzle of maple and top them with some sliced almonds for a nice crunchy contrast and truly they are just there perfect healthy, easy, summer time dessert!

If you can’t find any peaches I am certain this would also be just as tasty with a nectarine.

So, the next time you are grilling up dinner, toss on a few peaches, whip up some quick tofu ricotta, and dessert is done in minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 - 6 peaches

  • 1 package firm tofu

  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup

  • 1 lemon

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)

  • More maple for drizzling

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Prepare peaches by rinsing with skin on. Cut peaches in half and remove pit.

  2. In a blender, or food processor, add drained tofu with juice from 1 lemon, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Process until completely smooth.

  3. Spray grates of grill with cooking oil, and heat.

  4. Spray or brush the cut side of the peaches with a little oil, and place face side down on the heated grill.

  5. Grill peaches for about 10 minutes, or until nice grill marks have formed.

  6. Flip peaches, and grill the other side for about 5 minutes.

  7. Remove from grill, and let cool for a few minutes.

  8. Add a scoop of the tofu ricotta in the dips of the peaches, sprinkle with almonds, and drizzle with maple syrup to serve.

Serves 4-6