Tofu Chocolate Pudding

     Chocolate heaven. As much as I love greens, and boy have I been getting a lot of them lately with my CSA from Rye's HomeGrown, it's always nice to escape the jungle that is my fridge with a smooth and decadent chocolate delight. I initially created this recipe for a food demo for one of my nutrition classes, aimed at getting vegetarian children to eat more protein, considering the nut-free policy of most elementary schools these days. And based on the reviews I received, you'll love this pudding and so will your children (or anyone else's children). Because tofu is so dull it takes on whatever flavours you add it to, in this case it just tastes like chocolate, which makes me very happy. 

     I've tried a couple different ways of making tofu chocolate pudding. Making it with just cocoa powder isn't quite decadent enough, not enough fat. I found that when I used just chocolate chips, it was a bit too fatty. Or perhaps I just felt guilty using that much chocolate chips. Either way, I find that using a combination of chocolate chips and dutch cocoa powder is just perfect. 

     This recipe is rather simple compared to dairy based chocolate puddings, the hardest thing you'll have to do is melt some chocolate, which can either be done with in a double boiler, or if you are lazy like I often am, you can even do it in the microwave. 

Time: 15min (+1h)

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 package silken or soft tofu, drained
• 2/3 cup (120g) semi-sweet chocolate chips or quality dark chocolate
• ¼ cup (30g) cocoa powder, unsweetened
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup water
• 1 Tbsp soy milk

Preparation

1. In a double boiler or a large glass bowl over a pot of boiling water, melt chocolate with cocoa powder, maple syrup, water, and soy milk, stirring regularly.
2. Meanwhile blend silken or soft tofu in blender until smooth, alternatively this can also be done with an immersion blender.
3. When the tofu is smooth and the chocolate mixture is melted, add the chocolate to the tofu in the blender, and blend on low to combine.
4. Transfer to a storage container or serving bowls, and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
5. Serve with fresh raspberries and coconut or shaved chocolate.

Try serving it with raspberries and fresh shaved coconut, it's a delicious combination!

Vegan Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies

     Last week I tried out a couple new recipe ideas. Some of them turned out so-so and need a bit more work, but these dark chocolate cookies I made are perfect just the way they are! And once I (and a close group of my friends...and Ryan's co-workers) give the seal of approval, it's time for you guys to give them a try and tell me what you think. 

     These cookies have a lot of substance to them. In addition to the fresh espresso, they also have cranberries and almond pieces which really make these cookies stand out. Oh, and of course there are chunks of chocolate. I decided it was time to make a chocolate chunk cookie mostly because I had a ton of dark chocolate left over from Easter. I've had the idea for this recipe as a note in my recipe book from before I even had a blog (I knew what was up) and I figured it was about time I tried to make my chicken scratch into something delicious.

     If you're not a big fan of espresso, don't be alarmed, it is not over powering at all but rather ties the chocolate and the cranberries together perfectly. If you taste the batter (and please do, it is delicious!) you can really taste the espresso, but baking breaks down some of the espresso aromatics, and makes the cookie almost more savory. I've got a similar recipe that doesn't have the espresso, but has the same ratio of flour to sugar, and they taste much more sweet. 

Serves: 3 dozen
Time: Prep 20 minutes; Cook 11 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegan margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 espresso (If you like espresso pull two double shots, otherwise pull a  long double shot)
• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

• 100g dark chocolate, chunked (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup chopped or sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F/ 190°C and prepare a large baking or cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream margarine with brown and white sugar. Slowly whisk or mix in espresso and vanilla until smooth.
3. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, cocoa powder and leavening agents.
4. Pour dry ingredients into wet and mix well.
5. Add in the goodies: chunks of chocolate, cranberries and almond pieces and mix to combine.
6. Using a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, scoop balls of delicious batter onto the cookie sheet, leaving about an inch and a half between the cookies.
7. Bake at 375°F/ 190°C for 9-11 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Enjoy!

Vegan Dark Chocolate Beetroot Cake

     February sixth has come again, which means that Ryan's another year older. I was thinking of making Ryan a lemon poppy seed cake, but he decided that he wanted a chocolate beetroot cake. So here is my recipe! It's light and fudgy and absolutely delicious.

     I tried to look up a vegan recipe online but there weren't really any that suited our needs. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple out there, but there where a couple things I needed to have in this cake, like espresso (Ryan's request), boiled beetroot rather than roasted so that I could use the water for the liquid in the recipe, and a light but fudgy product. So, I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe, and umphed it up with some luscious beet purée and a long shot of espresso... as well as a couple other changes to try and get the right texture and moisture content. 

     This cake turned out wonderfully! Ryan couldn't believe how moist but fluffy this cake was. Moist chocolaty goodness, why not? I've also paired the cake with a poppy seed butter cream, a fun spin off of the usual, but nothing to flavourful so that it doesn't outshine the cake.

Serves: 6-10
Time: 30 minutes prep, 30-45 minutes cook

Ingredients

• 4 medium beets, about 400 g, trimmed, peeled and cut into 2" pieces
• 1 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups all-purpose-flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 cup beet water, or water
• 1 long espresso (2-4 Tbsp)
• 1/2 canola oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Poppy Seed Butter Cream

• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered/confectioners sugar
• 2 Tbsp soy milk
• 2 - 3 Tbsp poppy seeds

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Wash, trim and peel beetroot (you might want to wear some gloves). Cut into 2" pieces. Place in a medium pot, rinse once, and then cover with about 2" of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender (they should be easily pierced with a fork), about 30 minutes. Check water level every ten minutes, and top up with a bit of water if too much boils off.
3. Poor beet water into a glass measuring cup, keep one (1) cup, and discard the rest, or of there is less than a cup, top it up with warm water.
4. Purée beetroots with a food processor or an immersion blender. As much as I love my food processor, beets are a bit messy so I tend to choose the stick blender for this task.
5. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa, leavening agents and salt.
6. While whisking, slowly add in the wet ingredients: beet purée, beet water, espresso, canola oil and vanilla extract. Mix well until smooth.
7. Lightly grease your baking pans, either two 9" round baking pans or a bunt pan, and if possible, also line with parchment paper.
8. If using the two round pans, equally distribute the batter between them. On a flat surface, bang the pans a couple of times, and then swirl or spin so that there is more batter around the edges of the cake pan than the center. This will help you get flatter cakes rather than really rounded cakes.
9. Bake in the oven at 350°F for 30-35 minutes (two pans) or 40-45 minutes (bunt pan).
10. Lick spoon (it's tasty. Seriously).
11. When done baking, you should be able to pierce the center of the cake with a tooth pick or a knife and have it come out clean. 
12. Let cool on a wire rack in the cake pans for 30 minutes, then delicately remove from the cake pans, and let cool an additional 30 minutes, still on wire rack, before icing or glazing.
13. To make the poppy seed butter cream, whisk together the margarine with the vanilla extract, then slowly whisk in the powdered sugar. Then whisk in the soy milk and the poppy seeds, you can use a little or less soy milk to achieve your desired texture. This can be done by hand, or using an electric mixer, your preference.
14. Ice and enjoy.

Chocolate Lover's Brownie Cookies

     Lovers of anything chocolate beware. These fudgy brownie cookies are addictive. Soft, gooey and oh so chocolaty.

     After what seemed to have been the longest exam period in history, I am finally free. Well relatively speaking. I'm still working at the pool, teaching kiddies how to swim, volunteering at the hospital and taking summer school. But overall, I have much more time to do things that I want (like build another book shelf and create some new recipes). So to celebrate my freedom, I made some cookies.

     These cookies are supper moist. When you take them out of the oven they look undercooked. But by leaving them on the hot baking sheet for a few more minutes, you are firming up the bottom so they don't fall apart while allowing them to stay moist and gooey in the center, just like a brownie cookie should be.

Serves: about 36 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips (use 1 1/2 cups to make them extra chocolaty)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. In a medium bowl, beat margarine and sugar until fluffy, then beat in the water and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder.
4. Stir dry mixture into the wet, until well combined, then stir  in chocolate chips.
5. Use a cookie scooper or roll dough into golf ball size balls (1 1/2" in diameter). Place balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and either slightly compress the dough balls or leave round (the more round the gooeyer).
6. Bake in the center of the oven for 8-10 minutes, remove and let cool on the cookie sheet for 1-5 minutes before transferring the cookie onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Cups

School's back in session and we can all use a mid-week pick-me-up, so behold: chocolate peanut butter cups. If you've had Reese's peanut butter cups, you know what to expect. But these tasty cups may exceed you expectations. 
I make my peanut butter cups with dark chocolate chip, but feel free to use any chocolate you wish. As for the peanut butter, use natural peanut butter, or a similar product without all the added sugar which can make your peanut butter cups cloyingly sweet.

Makes: 12 cups (so make sure you've got 12 paper muffin cups on hand)

Ingredients

1 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/2 icing sugar
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/8 tsp salt (optional, but makes them taste better)

Preparation

Melt chocolate chips either on low heat on the stove top or in a microwave.
Spread half the melted chocolate evenly around the sides and the bottom of the 12 muffin cups. I find this can be done easily with a small spoon if you hold the muffin cup in you hand and spin it while spreading the chocolate around.
Place the paper muffin cups in a muffin pan and place in the freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes.
While the chocolate is hardening  in a small bowl cream the peanut butter with the sugar (can be sifted to avoid sugar chunks, unless you are too lazy like me) and salt. If the mixture is a bit stiff due to stiff peanut butter, you can add a dollop of margarine to the mixture.
In hardened-chocolate cups, distribute the peanut butter mixture evenly, spreading it flat with a spoon or by banging the muffin pan on the counter.
Refreeze the peanut butter cups for about 20 more minutes before spreading on the top layer of chocolate.
After all the chocolate has been smoothed out, refreeze the peanut butter cups for 1 hour.
Store in the freezer afterwards and let them thaw for a few minutes before nibbling.
Enjoy!

No-Bake Double Chocolate Torte

       Updating a favourite! Brought this delicious Chocolate Avocado Torte to a dinner party this past weekend and it was a huge success. I don't know how a chocolate torte could get bad reviews, but this one sure didn't fall short. The inspiration for this recipe came from "oh she glows' Chilled Double Chocolate Torte: The No-Bake Version" by Angela Liddon which I originally made in 2013 (oh how the time flies!). This torte is an excellent chocolate summer treat, and because it is no-bake, you don't need to brake a sweat making a delicious dessert.

Serves: 8-12
Time: 40 minutes + 2 hours (inactive)

Ingredients

No-Bake Crust

• 2 cups pecans or walnuts, toasted
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil (can also use vegan margarine, though the crust will be a bit crumbly)
• 1/8 tsp salt

Chocolate Avocado Mousse 

• 3 medium avocados, pitted and flesh scooped out
• 1/3 cup soy milk or dairy-free equivalent
• 1/2 maple syrup or honey
• 1 tbsp almond butter or smooth peanut butter
• 1 tbsp cornstarch 
• 1/8 tsp salt, scant
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup of melted chocolate chips, semi-sweet

Preparation

Crust:

1. Oil a 7-10 inch spring form pan, or use wax or parchment paper.
2. In a food processor, pulse pecans or walnuts with other crust ingredients until thick and crumbly or cakey (a few larger nuts never hurt anyone).
3. Spread the mixture evenly on the bottom of the spring form pan, and put in the freezer while making the mousse.

Mousse:

1. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring frequently.
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, purée all other mousse ingredients until smooth.
3. Stir in melted chocolate chips and pulse until smooth and well combined.
4. Remove the crust from the freezer and scoop the mousse on top. Smooth out with a smatula and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving chilled.
5. To serve, let defrost for 5-10 minutes before cutting the torte, then replace the remaining torte in the freezer to not over soften the mousse.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

     Its chocolate cake! need I say more? Well, Grandma passed this recipe down to us. Apparently, this is an old war time recipe, frequently used for its lack of expensive and perishable goods, such as butter, milk and eggs. Who needs animal products anyway? ("Not I!" said the vegan!) 

This recipe is very simple and very chocolaty. Delicious with Vegan butter cream, this recipe makes excellent birthday cakes or even cupcakes. 

Please note how the majority of the cake was
eaten before we could take the picture :)
Shown here with a chocolate frosting
(melted chocolate with a bit of margarine,
soy milk and sugar)

Serves: 6-10 (or 20-24 cupcakes)
Time: 5 minutes prep, cook for 40-45 minutes (or 20 minutes for cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup light vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Preparations

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease bunt pan or muffin pan with oil or margarine, or use muffin cups.
3. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate container.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry bowl and mix well.
5. Pour into pan. (if using a muffin pan, fill each compartment 3/4 of the way.)
6. Place in preheated oven and bake cake for 40-45 minutes, or cupcakes for about 20 minutes.
7. When you can smell the cake, its normally done. 
8. Remove from oven and test with a tooth pick or chopstick.
9. Let cool slightly before removing completely from pan to let cool entirely.
10. If icing the cake, the cake must be at room temperature.

Kinda wishing I had some cake left now...

Bars and Squares

Two days till christmas, if I don't do my christmas baking now, I'll never get it done in time for the big day. I've been making this recipe for years, super easy and a real crowd pleaser. 

Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2-1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, amount depends on how nutty you like it)
• 1/2 chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Boil water with 1/2 cup flour over low heat, stirring constantly until it reaches a thin, glue like consistency. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
3. Mix sugar, salt, vanilla, cocoa and oil. Add the cooled flour-water mixture and mix well.
4. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, nuts and chocolate chips and mix well.
5. Spread mixture into greased 11 x 7 glass pyrex pan.
6. Bake at 350°F for around 25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

Best Ever Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Serves: 4-5 dozen cookies
Cooking time: 11-13 minutes
Preheat Oven to 350F

Ingredients

1 cup vegan margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup boiling water
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preparation

Cream together margarine, sugar, vanilla.
Add flour and salt and mix well.
Dissolve baking powder in boiling water and add to mixture. Stir in oats, nuts and chocolate. And mix.
Roll dough into golf ball size balls and flatten with a fork on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350F for approximately 12 minutes.