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 Carrot Cake with a Cream Cheese Icing or Lemon Glaze

       There is something very satisfying about eating carrot cake. Could be the taste, could be the fact that I feel better about eating a carrot-based cake than other less nutritious desserts. Ryan actually thinks that my carrot cake might be too healthy, but he's happy because he gets to eat cake for breakfast.

       If you know my dad, you probably know that he LOVES carrot cake. I remember when I was around ten or so, my mother was had broken her arm during March break. But it being my dad's birthday, he wouldn't settle for anything less than homemade carrot cake. So my mother, with only one good arm grated my father carrots for his carrot cake. She always reminds us of how that was the best cake she ever made (this recipe is based off of her recipe, minus the sweat and tears that went into that particular recipe), and she never lets us forget it. 

       This carrot cake has pretty much everything in it, many of the ingredients personally requested by my father (he tasted it yesterday and was quite pleased) including shredded coconut and raisins. I grew up loving a good cream cheese icing on my carrot cakes, but recently have been opting for a tangy lemon glaze. Both toppings pare excellently with this recipe, and their recipes and instructions can be found below.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups finely grated carrot, unpacked (approx. 2 medium-large carrots)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 cup soy milk or other varieties
• 1/2 cup light oil, olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp apple vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat or mixed flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2/3 cup raisins, soaked and drained
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, I like unsweetened
• 1/2 cup walnuts, pecans or mix

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a loaf pan, bunt pan or 9x9 square pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all wet ingredients, and mix together.
3. Soak raisins in water while you prepare the dry ingredients.
4. In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients.
5. Pour wet ingredients into the dry bowl and mix until combined. Drain the raisins, then fold into wet batter with the nuts and coconut.
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake 350°F for 45-60 minutes. Depending on your cooking wear the times will vary, the square pan and the bunt pan will take less time to cook than the loaf pan.
7. Before removing loaf from oven, check done-ness with a tooth pick or a cake tester.
8. Let cool completely before icing or slicing.

Vegan Cream Cheese Icing

• 4 oz/125g Tofutti cream cheese
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups icing sugar

1. Beat cream cheese, margarine and vanilla, and gradually add sugar until fluffy.

Vegan Lemon Glaze

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh is better)

1. Whisk icing sugar with lemon juice until smooth.

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Sesame-Soy Vinaigrette

       I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this, but my favourite type of food is Asian food. Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, you name it, it's all tasty. As the weather has been getting warmer, I've been craving many of my favourite summer dishes, cold soba noodle salad being one of them. So today I bring you my favourite "pasta salad" with an Asian twist. 

       I've been making this recipe for ages, and in general it's a real crowd pleaser. It was only recently though that I decided that it was about time I measure out exactly what I'm putting in it so that I can share this lovely salad with all of you!

Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3-6

Ingredients:

• 9oz/250g buckwheat soba noodles
• 1-2 Tbsp peanut oil 
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar 
• 1/8 tsp or a pinch of chili flakes
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 large carrot, fine julienne or shredded (or spiralized!)
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)
• 3 Tbsp sesame seeds, white and/or black

Preparation: 

1. In a large pot of salted, boiling water, cook soba noodles until al dente, about 5-8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, start mixing up the dressing: in small measuring cup or bowl, mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and chili flakes. Chop onions and shred, grate or fine julienne carrot. 
3. When pasta is ready, drain and rinse with cold water, then put in large serving bowl and gently mix with peanut oil to stop them from sticking.
4. Poor vinaigrette over noodles along with onions, carrots, cilantro, and 2 Tbsp of the sesame seeds. Toss and mix.
5. Let cool for at least one (1) hour in the fridge before serving. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 Tbsp sesame seeds before serving.

Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew

       Oh, stew. How you warm my heat. Sunday was day light savings (Spring is slowly coming to Canada) so amazingly, we actually ate dinner in daylight....though it was more of a lupper, seeing as we had brunch at 12.30. Anyways, we wanted some comfort food, so we decided on a hearty red lentil soup. Ryan wanted a soup, but I prefer stew, and it just happened that the pot wasn't big enough for him to add anymore liquid, so I won the soup vs. stew battle and we settled on a robust red stew with buttery drop biscuits.

       Also just to give you guys a heads up, I'm going to be offline for the next two weeks and will return on the 21st of March for a my birthday post (oh the options!). Two weeks four projects and four papers. Its going to be a very busy next couple of weeks. But don't worry, just because I'm not publishing recipes, doesn't mean I'n not making new recipes or testing old ones. A girl's got to eat after all.

       But anyways, back to the stew.... This stew is inspired by Indian dhal, and so uses some warm spices, like cumin and turmeric, but also some more floral spices like thyme and oregano. This stew is hearty enough that it doesn't need an accompaniment, but if you, like myself, enjoy dipping bread or biscuits into your stews and soups, give my vegan drop biscuit recipe a try.


Serves: 6-8
Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 2 medium-large carrots, sliced into rounds or semi-circles
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• I bunch red or rainbow swiss chard, stems separated from greens, stems chopped, greens chiffonaded
• 2 cups red lentils (dry)
• 1/4 cup white wine (or 2 tbsp white or red wine vinegar)
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 can or jar tomato puree, or alternatively diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1-1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 3 medium white or red potatoes, chucked 
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Preparation

1. In a large soup or stock pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Sauté onions, carrots, garlic and chopped swiss chard stems for about 3 minutes or until onions are translucent. 
2. Add lentils, stir and let toast for a couple of minutes. Add the wine and let the alcohol burn off for an additional two minutes.
3. Add broth, water, tomato products and spices. Cover, bring to a boil on high heat, and then reduce and let simmer for 10 minutes. The lentils will absorb a lot of liquid so add more water as needed.
4. Add chopped potatoes, and simmer for an additional 15 minutes on medium heat.
5. When the potatoes are starting to get tender, add the swiss chard greens, slowly while stirring the soup to avoid greens from clumping together. Let simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.
6.  Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice. 
7. Serve with biscuits or garlicky toasts and enjoy.

Vegan Baked Banana French Toast (or is it Bread Pudding?)

     Do you know what is better than Saturday brunch? 

     Sunday Brunch. I say brunch because this is usually a dish I eat with Ryan, but seeing as I'm a morning bird, I've already had my morning coffee and a snack/first breakfast and have started doing homework or typing up a blog post (like this morning) before he wakes up. Anyways, I've got the perfect recipe for your Sunday brunch or breakfast: super easy baked banana french toast or bread pudding (really, it's all the same thing). Seriously, there are only a handful of ingredients and you only need to dirty one mixing bowl and of course whatever you are baking this bad boy in. Seeing as we prefer not to eat eggs here at No Empty Fridge, we make our custard base out of bananas, non-dairy milk and cornstarch. It really is that easy. Since we like to get a little extra protein boost in the A.M., I like to add some toasted walnuts to the mix. Turns out great. This baked french toast casserole is rather firm so that you can serve it with a spatula or a large flat spoon but it's still soft and creamy on the inside. If you like it more custardy, take it out of the oven earlier, or leave it in a smidgen longer if you like it firmer.

Serves: 2-4
Time: 15 min + bake 30 min 

Ingredients

• 4-6 pieces of bread, cut into 1" by 2-3" chunks, or left whole
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 cup non-dairy milk, I use regular soy milk
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)
• Margarine

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. 
2. Place your walnuts, if using, in your baking dish (see below), and toast uncovered while your oven is getting up to temp. By the time your oven gets up to temp your walnuts should be toasted (depending on how fast your oven heats up), but if they don't yet seem toasted enough, you can toast them for a couple more minutes at 350°F, checking often to make sure they don't burn.
3. In a large mixing bowl mash banana until creamy, if your banana is really ripe you can do this with a whisk, otherwise use a fork.
4. Whisk in soy milk, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract and canola oil. Mix in chopped walnuts if using.
5. Coat all of the bread in the mixture. The older your bread is, the longer it will need to sit. Let sit for about 5-15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to make sure all of your bread gets coated in and absorbs the banana custard.
6. While soaking up the banana custard, lightly grease a small baking dish, I use a 7"x7" square or a 9" oval  glass or ceramic baking dish.
7. Mix your bread mixture one last time before pouring into your baking dish. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving with fresh fruit and a strong coffee.

and ready to bake

Have any favourite vegan breakfast or brunch options? Let me know!

Vegan Spinach and Black Bean Enchiladas

   I've made these a couple of times now, and absolutely love them. The first time I made enchiladas, Ryan came home from work, saw them in the baking dish as asked "Mexican manicotti?". Yea, pretty much. A tomato-y sauce, a tortilla instead of the pasta, and a tasty filling. That's pretty much it, right? 

     Enchiladas are extremely versatile and can be packed full of whatever your little heart desires. My personal favourite is a mixture of quinoa with black beans, spinach, corn and green onions. Super tasty, and besides rolling the enchiladas, there is minimal prep. I've included a pretty easy recipe for enchilada sauce, a thin tomato sauce seasoned with smoked and hot spices, along with cumin and coriander. But alternatively, if you want to make this recipe even easier, you can used canned or jarred, pre-made enchilada sauce, normally in the Mexican section of grocery stores next to the taco kits and what-not, though I am not sure if they're vegan (I've just never looked).

Serves: 4-6
Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 8-10 12" Tortilla wraps
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 can black beans, strained and rinsed
• 4 green onions, washed and chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro, washed, stems removed and chopped
• 1 cup spinach, chiffonaded or finely chopped and packed tightly
• 1 1/2 cup frozen corn (thawed)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander

Sauce (optional)

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp each of onion powder, chili powder, smoked chipotle, smoked paprika, cooriander and salt
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp cold water
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Cook quinoa: either follow package instructions or place quinoa in a microwave-safe bowl with 1 1/2 cups water and cook for 8 minutes on 60% power, then 5 minutes at full/100% power. Remove from microwave when all water is absorbed, if any water remains, microwave for additional 1 minute increments at 100% until quinoa has completely absorbed liquid. Let cool.
2. Meanwhile, start the sauce if using. In a medium sauce pan, on medium heat, warm olive oil with garlic until fragrant. Toss in all the spices to quickly toast, about 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste, and slowly incorporate the broth and water while stirring. Continue to stir the sauce while incorporating the cornstarch and water mixture. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until thickened (will thicken more as it cools). 
3. While your sauce is cooking, mix together all filling ingredients in a large bowl. 
4. Preheat oven to 375°F and coat the bottom of a large rectangular pyrex dish (9x13") with a bit of sauce.
5. Start rolling! Evenly distribute the filling among the tortillas, roll up (you can leave the ends open or closed, it's up to you) and place seam down in the baking dish.
6. Cover enchiladas with the remainder of the sauce and bake at 375° for 20-30 minutes.
7. Serve with a guacamole for a tasty treat!

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.