Cheese and Chocolate

No, not together. And not real cheese either. Obviously.

So the chocolate fest began on Monday night when my mom commissioned me to make dessert for an early birthday bash for my dad (his actual birthday’s tomorrow, but my sister Livie left for college on Tuesday, so we had to push it up a couple days…). I only recently acquired My Sweet Vegan, and I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to take it for a spin. I wish I could say that I chose to make the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie because it’s my dad’s favorite, or something adorably sentimental like that, but really, it was the first decent recipe I found for which we had all the ingredients. :) It was dayummm good though! Here’s my pops blowing out his candles:

Okay, you got me. He’s not 23. Just like my recipe choice, the pie toppers were dictated by what was available.

Mmm. This is definitely a special occasion pie, as it’s LOADED with Earth Balance and sugar, but it was so delicious. I think next time I made it, I would just use the concept of this recipe, but use a super healthy cookie dough recipe like Dreena’s. But it was fun to make this once!

Something else I made recently – okay, so it’s not chocolate, but carob is close enough – Oatmeal Muffins from Eat’n Veg’n. Look at these cuties:

They’re super dense and healthy (mine were especially dense because I only made 10 muffins instead of 18), but in a good way! And they’re wheat/flour-free and sugar-free (besides the carob chips I added). They’re literally just bananas, peanut butter, oats, carob chips, cinnamon, raisins, and a little baking powder! And those, my friends, are a lot of my favorite things. :) They also make a fun template – you can switch up the nut butter, spices, and mix-ins easily.

Okay, another real chocolate recipe. Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Cookies from Simple Treats. This was my first time using this cookbook as well, though I can’t for the life of me imagine why! It’s right up my alley – delicious and healthy baked goods free of refined sugar and flour (they use barley flour instead of wheat flour in all the recipes).

I followed the recipe, but just swirled in a little peanut butter at the end to make them pretty. Did I do a good job? ;) That is not a rhetorical question.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made a cookie where I didn’t replace half the oil with applesauce or something, so this recipe was a welcome change because, with a cup of peanut butter and a bit of canola oil, these cookies achieved a “buttery,” flaky texture that my baking often lacks. I think I generally prefer “hippier,” chewier baked goods, but these were amazing and reminded me of these chocolate almond cookies my mom used to always make for me when I was pulling all-nighters writing papers in high school before I was vegan. :)

Enough chocolate! You want “cheese,” right? Thought so.

Macaroni and “Cheese” Casserole from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. Look at that cute little curious noodle poking it’s noochy head up into the wide world from it’s cozy bed of bread crumbs:

I didn’t actually have any of this because I was helping my mom out by making it for one of her sick friends. Her friend loves Mac ‘n Cheese apparently, and my mom was going to make her some until I stepped in and set things right. :) It sure smelled good though. If I ever make this for myself however, I will probably quarter the fat or something. Lots and lots of Earth Balance and oil. I was too afraid to alter it for my mom’s omnivore friend because I didn’t want to lower the fat too much and give vegan food a bad rap since I have no experience with this recipe.

Naturally, I wanted something cheesy after making that dish for someone else, so I made the Zucchini Chedda Soup from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook with the optional brown rice added for extra comfort food power.

I’m not really sure I can accurately recall the taste of real cheese, but this tasted pretty freaking cheesy to me. Seriously, if someone else served this soup to me, I would’ve been like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you trying to pull?” The cheddar-cheese color comes from roasted red bell peppers blended up with a lot of nooch and other delicious things. I added a little turmeric and mustard for extra color, too. Look, it even stretches like cheese!

That’s it, except for some bonus smoothies! Here’s a blueberry-banana-cinnamon:

And here’s a yummy green monster, with mango, banana, kale, spinach, spirulina, hemp and flax.

Green smoothies really are the perfect breakfast. I need to have them more like every other day than once a week, which is what I do now. It’s insane how much nutrition you can pack into one Magic Bullet cup.

Did this post acquit me of my laziness in the past few days? I hope so! Oh, and Ruby Red Vegan, I sent your Weil bars out today!

Peanut Butter-Carob-Cookie Dough Pie

I had an open block of silken tofu, a broken pie shell in the freezer, and just enough peanut butter in the jar. All these things screamed, “PIE!” I wanted to take it further than the typical vegan PB-chocolate mousse pie, though. So what to do? Add some raw cookie dough, switch the chocolate for carob, and call it a (fantabulous) day.

I used Dreena’s Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for the cookie dough, omitting the baking powder and soda (because I wasn’t going to bake it!), cutting down the sugar a bit (because God knows there will be enough sugar in the pie without it), and replacing the oil with soy milk (because it’s just gonna be dough anyways–why add fat?). Oh, also, when I made it, I only used a 1/2 recipe’s worth of cookie dough, but I’m calling for a full recipe of it here because I think the pie would be better with a thicker cookie dough layer!

Peanut Butter-Carob-Cookie Dough Pie

1 pre-made 9″ whole wheat or spelt pie shell (I use Wholly Wholesome)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Base
1 cup spelt flour
2 Tbs unrefined sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Peanut Butter-Carob Mousse
1 12 oz container of silken tofu
6 Tbs maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter
6 oz carob chips, melted in the microwave*

*You can use chocolate chips here instead, but I like the earthy sweetness of carob, and even if you think you don’t like carob, don’t worry-it’s taste isn’t super distinctive here as it blends in so much with the peanut butter (my sister didn’t even know it was carob until she saw the titles of my Flickr photos!)

Garnishes
1 banana, sliced very thinly
Peanut butter candies, Peanut butter Newman’s O’s, crumbled brownies, pretzels, etc.

Bake pie shell according to package directions and set aside to cool.

Make the cookie dough:
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses, vanilla, and non-dairy milk, and stir until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined.

Press the cookie dough into the already baked pie shell, and place in the fridge to cool while you make the mousse.

Make the PB-Carob Mousse:
Combine tofu, vanilla, and maple syrup in a food processor, and process until smooth. Add peanut butter and melted carob chips and process until thoroughly blended.

Pour mousse over the cookie dough base in the pie shell, and place in the fridge to firm up a bit before you add the toppings (so they don’t sink or get soggy). When the mousse has firmed up, it’s time to lay on the toppings! I crumbled up some Laura Lee’s Peanut Butter Treats (they taste like Butterfinger insides!) I got at Food Fight in Portland, but you could use chopped Newman’s O’s, crumbled brownies, pretzels, peanuts, coconut, chocolate syrup, whipped “cream,” or even something crazy like Ricemellow.

Finally, lay the banana slices on (if you slice them super thinly, you only need one banana to encircle the whole pie!)

I like this pie straight out of the freezer–it’s almost like a luscious ice cream cake, plus nice and refreshing as a summer treat! But you can thaw it a few minutes before eating if you prefer!

Carob Chip Cookie Dough Oat Bran

So I have to thank Ruby Red Vegan and Curly Top for my delicious breakfast this morning! Peanut Butter Carob Chip Cookie Dough Oat Bran! I know the name is the mouthful, but didn’t you know that complicated recipe titles make the food taste better? Well, you should.

I followed Ruby Red’s recipe for the most part, but I left out the date because I didn’t need the extra sweetness since I used VitaSoy Light Vanilla instead of unsweetened soy milk, and I used pecans instead of walnuts because I like them better (and I take an omega-3 supplement, so I don’t always have to be eating walnuts, flax, and hemp! Though I do love them all, don’t worry!).

Finally–and perhaps the most exciting alteration to the recipe that I made–I used Pbu instead of peanut butter. If you click the Curly Top link above, you’ll see that “Pbu” is the name of her “light peanut butter” she invented that only has 60ish calories per 2 Tbs serving instead of 190 (OMG, I KNOW!). All you have to do is mix 2 parts almond milk to 1 part PB, add a little salt (I think this is key so as to boost the peanutty flavor that is so often accompanied by saltiness), and some cinnamon if you wish (I think it adds a nice dimension, so I would go for it).

I know that sometimes–believe me, I LOVE peanut butter, I know–only real, unadulterated, full-fat, stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth PB will do, but when you just want to add a substantial kick of PB flavor to a breakfast, I think Pbu is a great way to go! I got to put double the amount of Pbu into my oat bran than Ruby Red did PB, for less than 1/3 of the calories! And, because there was more of it, its flavor was better able to permeate the whole bowl despite the fact that it was “diluted,” as it were. I think Pbu would be great in place of syrup on waffles/pancakes, as a topping for fruit salads, a filling for crepes, or as a fancy mix-in for soy yogurt bowls, oatmeal, and oat bran, as I used it here!

So what are you waiting for? Go make some! And experiment with different non-dairy milks and nut butters too!