Monday, July 21, 2014

Vegan Blueberry Oatmeal Bread




We bought a bunch of fresh blueberries when they were on sale for .88 for 8 oz, so today we decided to make some Blueberry Oatmeal Bread. We found the recipe on Betty Crocker's website here and we veganized it.

The bread turned out really good. The recipe and instructions below are changed from the original to include the vegan replacements I added and a few changes.

Ingredients

2/3 cup of Brown Sugar
3/4 cup of Organic Soy Milk (or any vegan milk)
1/2 cup of Coconut Oil (make sure it's melted but not hot because you will be mixing it with the egg replacer)
2 egg replacers - I used Bob Red Mill's Egg Replacer- 2 tablespoons mixed with 6 tablespoons of water
2 1/4 cups of unbleached flour- add 1/2 cup at a time, may use a little less flour next time.
1 cup of Old Fashioned Oats or Quick Cooking
3 teaspoons of Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of fresh blueberries

Directions

1. Heat over to 350 degrees, Grease bottom of 8-9 inch loaf pan- I greased mine with Earth Balance butter
2. In large bowl, mix brown sugar, soy milk, coconut oil, and egg replacer with spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients except blueberries, beat for 30 seconds. We found it easier to mix with our hands after adding the remaining ingredients. Fold in Blueberries, put into pan, sprinkle top with oats and a little brown sugar.
3. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I baked mine for 45 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then loosen sides of loaf from pan, remove from pan to wire rack or equivalent. Let cool for 2 hours before slicing. Wrap and store up to 4 days or refrigerate up to 10 days according to original website ( 10 days??? this won't last 10 minutes here )









Adding Soy Milk to Brown Sugar

Egg replacer before adding water

To replace 2 eggs, use 2 tablespoons of egg replacer and 6 tablespoons of water, mix well with spoon

Egg Replacer well mixed


Coconut oil melted down - don't put hot oil in mix, let cool a little if hot


Adding oil to mix with egg replacer

Mix well with spoon then a little whisk

in the middle of adding flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder- mix well

add 1/2 cup of oats at a time

we found it easier to mix it well with hands towards the end

before blueberries

1 cup of fresh blueberries

Gently add blueberries folding them in

in a well greased pan with Earth Balance Butter

Sprinkle top with Oats and Brown Sugar

Bake on 350 for 45 minutes

let cool for 10 minutes in pan then transfer for metal rack for 2 hours

Ready to cut, Have fun and Enjoy!


Sunday, July 13, 2014

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice-Cream -Easy & Delicious





We have been eating a lot of vegan ice cream from Trader Joes. They have the Cherry Chocolate Chip and the Vanilla. Both of their ice creams are INCREDIBLE, but we wanted to make our own since we haven't used our ice cream maker very much.



My wife found this recipe for Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream from Minimalist Baker. We followed the recipe exactly except we used a tablespoon of soy milk in the cookie batter instead of reserving some from the can of coconut milk. The chocolate chips, raw cashews, soy milk, maple syrup, and peanut butter we bought at Trader Joes. We used creamy peanut butter, but you can also use crunchy.



You have to prepare the ingredients the night before and keep them chilled in the fridge overnight. The next day you put the ice cream mix in your ice cream maker. (follow your ice cream maker's directions) The directions from the recipe's website said 45 minutes but it only took 30 in our ice cream maker. We bought our Ice Cream Maker on Amazon. We have the Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker.



Once it's done, you add the cookie dough by just crumbling it in, stirring it around to mix it in and adding more. At first I thought I had too much cookie dough, but you can never have too much cookie dough right? After it's added it goes into the freezer for a few hours and then it will be done. You could eat it right then but it's really creamy and not the consistency you will want it to be.



I have to say this is one of the best ice creams we have ever had. The consistency and flavor were incredible. It's very rich, so you will get full fast. The amount of cookie dough in the ice cream is perfect, it actually has A LOT.



My wife topped hers off with Chocolate Syrup that we found at Whole Foods that is Vegan and tastes great. The brand is Ah!laska. The 22 oz bottle was $6.99 from Whole Foods and will last awhile.



We love the ice cream and plan to use the base recipe a lot more and create different varieties of this. 

The Recipe says it serves 8 but we think it serves 4 decent servings or 6 very small servings.

I pasted her recipe and instructions below but changed what ingredients we used.



INGREDIENTS 

ICE CREAM

· 1.25 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight or at least 6 hours- we soaked them for around 8 hours and they were perfect.

· 1/4 cup brown sugar (or granulated) - we used light brown sugar from Whole Foods

· 1/4 cup maple syrup from Trader Joes

· 1 14-ounce can full fat coconut milk (reserve 2 Tbsp for the cookie dough)- we didn't reserve any because we used the soy milk. So the whole can went in for ice cream.

· 2.5 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

· 1 tsp pure vanilla extract





COOKIE DOUGH

· 3 Tbsp vegan butter or coconut oil (we used Earth Balance Butter)

· 1/2 cup crunchy or creamy salted natural peanut butter - We used Trader Joes Creamy Peanut Butter

· 1/2 cup brown sugar

· 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

· 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (you could sub a GF blend, but it will be slightly grainier in texture)

· 1/4 cup dairy free mini chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life)-We used Trader Joes Semi Sweet only $1.99 a bag

· 1-2 Tbsp coconut milk or other non-dairy milk-we used Trader Joes unsweetened organic soy milk


INSTRUCTIONS

1. The night before, place your ice cream churning bowl in the freezer to properly chill. Also, make sure you soak your cashews overnight OR the next day for at least 6 hours. Be sure to drain before adding to blender.

2. Add all ice cream ingredients to blender and blend until creamy and smooth, scraping down sides as needed. Use the “liquify” or "puree" setting if you have it. You want it to be completely creamy and blended.

3. Chill mixture in the freezer for 1.5-2 hours, or in the fridge overnight.

4. Add chilled mixture to ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions - about 45 minutes. It should look like soft serve. If for some reason it doesn't thicken enough, put the mixture (still in the ice cream churning bowl) and pop it back in the freezer to thicken before churning once more.

5. In the meantime, add vegan butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and vanilla to a mixing bowl and use a mixer or wooden spoon to combine. Add flour a little at a time and stir until thick and slightly crumbly. Add in a little coconut or other non-dairy milk to add moisture. Lastly, add chocolate chips and stir once more. Transfer to fridge or freezer to chill.

6. Once the ice cream is thick like soft serve, add in 3/4 of the cookie dough, crumbling it with your hands as you add it in.

7. Then transfer to a freezer-safe container and sprinkle in the last bits of cookie dough for extra texture. Cover well and freeze for at least 4-6 hours or until firm.

8. Set out for 15-20 minutes before serving to soften. Will keep for up to 1 week, though best when fresh.


Ingredients for the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough


Mix with a spoon or blender (Vegan Butter, Peanut Butter, Vanilla, and Brown Sugar)

Slowly add flour, I added 1/4 a cup at a time and stirred.

I  only added 1 tablespoon of Soy Milk because the mixture wasn't dry after all the flour was added.

Last adding the chocolate chips, I added a little more than the recipe called for.


Peanut Butter Cookie dough all ready to put in the fridge to chill overnight

Ingredients for the ice cream mix

Soaked Cashews for 8 hours-drain and rinse with cold water



Adding the Maple Syrup and then the vanilla

Adding the can of full fat coconut milk (they sell Light at Trader Joes but we used a regular with the full fat from an Asian Market)


After blending for 2 minutes

Pour into bowl to chill in fridge overnight

Mixture should be nice and creamy but will thicken more overnight



The next day into the Ice Cream maker it goes



Our Ice Cream Maker took 30 minutes

Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker


this is what it looks like when it's done churning for 30 minutes

before freezing, next step is to add cookie dough

You could roll in little balls or just crumble it like we did and recipe called for

I mixed it up to spread it througout


All cookie dough added, time to put in freezer for a few hours

After freezing for around 3 hours it created the PERFECT consistency

2 nice size amounts (this is rich and creamy and fulfilling)


My wife added chocolate syrup

Have Fun and Enjoy!