Sunday, June 3, 2012

Vegan Pumpkin Coffeecake: Vegan Dessert Recipes with Pictures

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol Bake Sale Items
Summer brings too many low-fiber, eggy, fatty sweets.

Just count how many neighborhood bake sale and lemonade stands you've stopped at. How many overpriced cookie boxes have you purchased from scouts outside the grocery store?

If you are willing to introduce a fall flavor this summer, then this is a comfort food vegan dessert recipe to try: homemade vegan pumpkin coffeecake. 

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol Vegan Pumpkin Cofeecake Dessert Recipe
It's fat-free with protein and fiber. Plus it has a lofty yet dense pillowly texture that is satisfying. Drizzle with a vegan icing and you have dreamy breakfast coffee cake for pennies.

Vegan Cake
3 cups bread flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 TB cinnamon
5 TB pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp cloves
2 TB baking powder
1 TB yeast
1 1/3 cups soy milk

Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp rum
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 TB soy milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol Vegan Pumpkin Coffeecake Slice
Mix dry ingredients together. Heat soy milk in microwave for 1 minute and mix with pumpkin puree. Combine the liquid with the dry mix. Spread the thick batter into an 8x8" oven safe glass pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Bake for 32 minutes.

Combine rum, soy milk, powder sugar and sea salt in a small bowl. Mix with a fork and drizzle over hot cake.




Amazing loft without eggs because of the baking powder. Moist because of the puree and soymilk without any oil!

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol Non-vegan cookie lollipops
Enjoy your healthier dessert! I purchased a vegan cookbook from Kaiser Permanente to make a gradual lifestyle change. If vegan desserts taste this good, I wouldn't mind ditching my signature non-vegan sweets.

Note: This is still a high carbohydrate dessert. If you wish, you can add oats, drief fruit or flax meal to boost the fiber content.


Friday, June 1, 2012

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
I reviewed a black bean gluten free brownie recipe from Happy Herbivore and a vegan raspberry truffle brownie from The Post Punk Kitchen. I also read recipes for gluten free snickerdoodles from Betty Crocker's site.

In the end, I did not feel intrepid enough for any of these for my first summer bake sale's gluten free baked good. So I chose an American classic, the simple chocolate chip cookie.

In the early 2000s I remember buying gluten free flour mixes that were woefully savory-tasting. I remember recipe fails baking for my boyfriend on an IBS diet.

The gluten free cookies of those days were strangely salty rather than sweet and puck-like like hardtack. Unappealing.

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol's Kitchen King Arthur Gluten Free flour
To this day, I can't bear to buy a package of wheat free flour containing chickpeas.I chose King Arthur Gluten Free Flour because it relies on brown rice instead of ground beans as its base. Disclosure: I have not been paid to endorse any company, brand, product, or blog.

I'm testing wheat free cookie recipes tonight to determine if gluten free flour has improved in the past 8 years.    


Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 3/4 cups King Arthur Gluten Free Flour
3/4 cups white granulated sugar
1 TB molasses
1/4 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup soy milk
1 TB ground almonds
3 TB oats
2 TB coconut oil

1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate chips (conventional or vegan)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheight.

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Combine dry into wet mixture. 

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
 Use a measuring tablespoon to form 8 cookies. You'll notice the sandy texture of the gluten free dough. Bake the first batch for 14 minutes. Adjust baking time for crisper or softer cookies for second batch. Let cookies rest on cooling rack for 30 minutes before sampling.

Note: Contains nuts, oats and soy. If you use vegan chocolate-style chips, the recipe will be dairy-free. The Post Punk Kitchen's Wheat Free Chocolate Chip cookie recipe inspired this version.

My review? The oat flavor was more noticeable than the chocolate. This was dissappointing. Also the texture was crackly like toffee on the browner edges. Unfortunately, the cookies had a dusty aftertaste. It still tasted better than the past bean-based gluten free flour and neutral rather than salty. I would rate this a B- as opposed to the F of the early gluten free flour mixes.

I don't expect the fresh batch, tomorrow morning, to sell well.