Black and White Vegan Chocolate Cheese Ball

This sweet and creamy chocolate cheese ball is perfect for serving with fruit or cookies at your next get together. It is also makes for a great anytime snack, or dessert. Cheese balls don't always have to be savory, and this one proves it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup cashews soaked in hot water for a few hours or microwaved for 3 minutes then drained
• 1/2 cup refined coconut oil 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or maple butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 2 - 3 tablespoons plant based milk
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (if you only have regular, give them a pulse in the food processor first to break them up a bit)

Chocolate coating

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 
• 3 tablespoons refined coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor, and blend until it becomes completely smooth. You may need to add the third tablespoon of milk if it seems too thick.
2. Add the chocolate chips and fold in with a spoon.
3. Line 2 small bowls, or ramekins, with a pieces of plastic wrap. You want a piece big enough that it will hang a good bit over the sides. 
4. Divide mixture evenly into the bowls. Now take the plastic wrap hanging over the edges, bring together and twist to seal up the cheese. Allow to harden in the fridge for 3 - 4 hours to firm up.
5. Once cheese is ready, whisk together the chocolate coating ingredients until smooth.
6. Remove both cheese balls from the bowls, and plastic wrap. Dip the bottom halves into the chocolate coating. It will instantly begin to harden because the cheese is cold. 
7. Put cheese balls in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

serve with fruit or cookies 

Vegan Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

Before we went vegan, soft iced sugar cookies from the grocery store bakery were my kids favorite.

The thing they would beg for, and I would say no, and they would beg and I would say no, and they would beg some more….and if you have kids you might be very familiar with this grocery store scenario.

I would normally only cave on holidays or special occasions, but once we went vegan, that all changed.

Our daughter Peyton is a baking wonder and decided a few years back to try her hand at baking her favorite old cookies, and as usual, she nailed it. And now is cookie baking hero to her sisters and brother.

We made our first batch for the 4th of July but you could decorate them any way like for any holiday or a random Monday.

These vegan sugar cookies are soft and buttery, and have the perfect amount of frosting on top. It’s no wonder my kids love them so much, I love them just as much.

And if my at the time 12 year old can bake up a batch of cookies this perfect and beautiful, I am pretty sure you can too!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoons of salt

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 egg replacers (in this recipe we use store bought powdered egg replacer)

• 3/4 cups vegan plain yogurt

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Frosting

• 1/3 cup vegan butter

• 1/4 cup vegan shortening

• 4 cups powdered sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (optional, you can use 1 full teaspoon vanilla if leaving this out)

• 2 - 3 tablespoons plant based milk

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. For the cookies, mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. In another bowl beat together butter, and sugar until just combined.

3. Mix the yogurt, egg replacer, and vanilla with the butter and sugar.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, about 1/2 cup at a time, until well combined.

5. Divide the dough in half, wrapping in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours.

6. Once dough is ready, roll it out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut circles with a 2 inch cookie cutter, or using the rim of a small glass.

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 6 - 7 minutes, depending on the oven. They will still be very soft, but not doughy. Do not let them over bake!

8. Let cookies cool and prepare frosting.

Frosting

1. Beat the butter and shortening together with an electric mixer.

2. Add in the vanilla extract and salt.

3. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar.

4. Add just enough milk to get the icing to a spreadable consistency.

5. Spread frosting on cookies, and cover with sprinkles.

Basic Aquafaba

I get A LOT of questions concerning aquabfaba in our recipes.

Aquafaba quite simply is just the cooking liquid from beans. You can use canned aquafaba or liquid from dry beans you have cooked.

You can use liquid from any bean actually, but I prefer the mild flavor of the liquid from chickpeas or any white bean.

I like to use aquafaba in the whipped form. When the liquid from the beans is whipped with a stabilizer like cream of tarter or even salt, the result will be light and fluffy peaks like if you were to whip egg whites!

This means you can use whipped aquafaba in place of eggs in many recipes to add a nice airy lightness. I often use it in cakes, or even casseroles that normally call for many eggs. You will still need a binder like a starch in some cases, like in the instance of a casserole. For those recipes I will often use whipped aquafaba and a few starch eggs, or prepackaged egg replacer.

When referring to aquafaba on this website, I am referring the the whipped product not just the liquid, unless otherwise stated in the recipe.

So, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of aquafaba, it is calling for 1 cup of the fluffy white whip, not one cup of chickpea liquid, pre-whipped. This tends to be one of the biggest mistakes or misunderstandings I have had people encounter in reading the recipes. They tend to want to measure the liquid not the whip. You must first whip the entire can of liquid then measure out the whip.

You will typically have left overs, as one can of chickpea liquid will whip up a more than a few cups of aquafaba.

You can store any leftovers in you fridge. The aquafaba will deflate in the the fridge and turn back to its liquid from, but will easily whip back up, and should keep for a few days.

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INGREDIENTS:

• Juice from one can of chickpeas

• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or salt

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INSTRUCTIONS:

You can use a stand mixer or a hand mixer for this. 

Add liquid from chickpeas, and cream of tartar to your bowl. Whip until the aquafaba is thick, and fluffy, resembling whipped egg whites. 

1/4 cup of aquafaba is equal to one egg in recipes 

Guilt Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Edible cookie dough has become all the rage lately.

Regular and vegan versions are gracing grocery store shelves all over, along with dessert hummus these days.

But, why spend a ton of money on something you can make quickly and easily at home. Also you can make it much healthier and pretty guilt free!

These protein packed cookie dough bites are the perfect guilt free treat. Loaded with chickpeas, rolled oats, and nut butter, they come together in just a few minutes, making them the perfect solution when you are craving something sweet without any regrets.

You can roll them into perfect bite size portions, or even eat it right out of the bowl with no judgment and zero guilt!! Hooray for healthy desserts to help keep you on track that the whole family will love!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can of chickpeas, drianed and rinsed (15 oz can)

• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats divided in half

• 3 tablespoons maple syrup

• 3 tablespoons nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew, sun butter)

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cups vegan chocolate chips, like Enjoy Life brand

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INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add chickpeas, 1/2 cup rolled oats, maple syrup, nut butter, and salt to a food processor.

2. Blend until the mixture becomes mostly smooth. It will be a little gritty from the oats.

3. Transfer mixture to a bowl and fold in the chocolate chips and remaining 1/2 rolled oats.

4. Scoop out dough with small spoon or cookie scoop, and roll into bite size balls.

5. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Vegan Fried Dough Dippers (funnel cake fries)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups plant based milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• powdered sugar for sprinkling

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then mix in milk and vanilla.
2. Put batter into a quirt bottle (I used an old school ketchup bottle from the dollar tree) or a zip lock bag with a small hole cut in the corner, so the batter can come out.
3. Heat a half inch of oil suitable for frying in a pan until it is sizzling hot. (I use grape seed oil, but you can use peanut, or canola, whatever you normally use for frying)
4. Squirt out batter into a squiggle or any other shape you want, and let the dough fry just a minute or two on each side.
5. The dough will fry quickly, so once it begins to bubble, and the bubbles pop, its ready to flip.
6. Put finished dough on a cooling rack or paper towel- lined plate.
7. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with your favorite dip.

Easy chocolate dip

Option 1:

Melt 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips with 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds at at time, stirring well each time until fully melted

Option 2:

Mix 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, and a few teaspoons powdered sugar. Stir well until the sauce is completely smooth.