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Strawberry O Bars

June 15, 2015 · Natalie 27 Comments

I’ve been kind of obsessed with cereal desserts lately. Just for about the past 21 years or so.

I don’t know why I love them so much. I mean they are usually ridiculously fast and easy. And they’re typically light and and crunchy. And they often require licking delicious messy fingers after making and after eating. And they are always customizable with mix-ins. Nope, can’t figure out what’s appealing about all that.

So cereal isn’t exactly a ‘whole food’, but there are definitely healthier options when it comes to boxed breakfast crunchies. The less sugar and flavorings the better. And plain cereals are more fun anyways because you can flavor, top, and tasty them up yourself! I like to think of them in 3 categories: Os, rice crisps, and flakes.

I have tried many, many healthy cereal brands to find the fewest ingredient, best tasting options for each category, and here are my current top picks:
– One Degree Organic Sprouted Ancient Grain Os. Great taste, great crunch, and I love that they are sweetened with coconut sugar. Note that they are not gluten free though.
– Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal. This is my go-to cereal, I always have a box around. There are only 3 ingredients: brown rice, brown rice syrup, and salt! They do come in a salt-free version too, but I think the salted ones have a better, more balanced flavor.
– Barbara’s Bakery Organic Corn Flakes. These are made with non-GMO corn and sweetened with fruit juice, which I love! They are very light, like traditional corn flakes, not thick like many other healthy flake cereals.

Now onto these Strawberry O Bars!

I don’t think I need to say much to convince you, strawberries + chocolate + crunch is an awesome combo and everybody knows it. Making them is easy, and involves lots of sticky chocolate fingers to “clean”. After baking, snack them, share them, don’t try to save them for next week. These bars don’t last very long without turning soggy (it’s the strawberries’ fault), so devouring them within a couple of days is a requirement!

Strawberry O Bars

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 9 bars 1x

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Ingredients

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3 cups O cereal
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
2 tbsps cacao powder
6 medium strawberries (chopped)

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300F.
In a large bowl, mix together the cereal and cacao powder until evenly coated.
Add the brown rice syrup, and mix until everything is chocolatey and sticky and messy.
Add the chopped strawberries and toss to combine.
Line a 8×8″ square pan with parchment paper. Transfer the chocolate O mixture into the pan. Press down firmly. You can use a piece of wax paper on top so it won’t stick to your fingers.
Bake for 30 minutes at 300F.
Cool, then slice.
Store in the fridge for up to 2 days. They will become soggy if stored too long due to the moisture in the berries.

Are you a cereal dessert lover or a serial dessert devourer?

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF + HCLF)

June 11, 2015 · Natalie 19 Comments

I got a request for a mint recipe, and wouldn’t you know I happened to have a sad-looking, 5-day old bunch of mint in the fridge. Why let it just wilt away when there are cookie possibilities?

This bunch of mint had quite an exciting week last week. On Monday it went into a bliss ball recipe for an exciting collaborative cookbook project! #VeganFriendsCookbook On Tuesday it went into this cucumber mint smoothie that I posted on Instagram (recipe courtesy of Curls’n’Chard). And on Saturday the slightly limp remains went into these gluten and oil free Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies!

The texture can only be described as pillowy…or cake-like. Pillowy or cake-like, one of those two words. Unless you want to call them chocolate mint bliss, I’m okay with that too.

I bumped up the mint flavor with a teaspoon of mint extract. I don’t usually like minty desserts that are only made with fresh mint. They taste a little too…leafy for me. I want that cool kick of mint that a little bit of mint extract is VERY good at delivering! Mint extract is the epitome of “A little bit goes a long way”.

Fun fact: Did you know that if you stick your finger in the mint extract (accidentally of course) it will experience that chilly sensation too. The same thing works on your foot if you spill it all over the floor and then step in it (this time is really was accidental).

Because making cookies is a very difficult, precise process…a video:

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF + oil-free)

★★★★★ 4.3 from 3 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 16 1x

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Ingredients

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2 cups oat flour
2 tsps baking powder
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves
1 tsp mint extract
1 batch of HCLF Chocolate Bits (or 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips)

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Blend the banana, coconut sugar, non-dairy milk, mint leaves, and mint extract until smooth.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder.
Add the wet mixture and stir to combine.
Gently fold in the Chocolate Bits. If it seems to liquidy to spoon onto the pan, let it sit for 5 minutes or so. The oat flour will absorb water and thicken the batter.
Spoon onto a cookie sheet. Top with an extra sprinkle of Chocolate Bits to make them look pretty. Press them in lightly
Bake for 10 minutes at 350F or until the bottom edges are just starting to brown.
Cool, then devour!

What’s your favorite way to use fresh mint?

Vegan Cinnamon Cupcakes with Apple Frosting

June 5, 2015 · Natalie 32 Comments

High-carb low-fat frostings are tough. They require me to engage all my unconventional baking imagination. Well not chocolate frosting. Chocolate frosting is (on top of) a piece of cake. But non-chocolate frostings require me to pull out all the sweet fruity stops and try every crazy idea that comes to me. Like this one…

In FF frosting history we’ve had…
– Freeze dried banana AND freeze dried strawberry frosting
– Purple sweet potato frosting
– Rice Whip frosting
– Chia frosting
– Caramel frosting
– Beet-dyed coconut frosting
– and a whole lot of other failed attempts that never left my kitchen.

Today I’m adding a new one to the list: Applesauceting! Applesauce + frosting. After making those Raw Blueberry Slices from Simple and Light Desserts, I had a whole new appreciation for dried apple slices. So I frosting-ed them.

It’s sweet and SO perfect perched on top of yet another flavor of Everything-Free cupcakes: cinnamon! And when the frosting soaks into the cake a little bit…WOW! I would say that this is my favorite flavor of Everything-Free cupcakes yet, but I probably said that last time…and the time before. I just can’t pick a favorite.

If you haven’t tried any of my Everything-Free cupcakes by now than you need to put that at the top of your to-do list. The vanilla, chocolate, and black bottom are all deeelicious! Everything-Free cupcakes are a feat of fruity baking! They are gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, oil-free, and sugar-free. And I’ve discovered that they last up to a week in the fridge without losing any cupcake quality.

Vegan Cinnamon Cupcakes with Apple Frosting

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 6 cupcakes 1x

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Ingredients

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FOR THE CAKE
1 cup pitted medjool dates
1 cup water
1 1/4 cup flour (I used oat flour, but all-purpose or wheat or spelt works too)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup milk
FOR THE APPLESAUCETING
1 1/2 cup dried apple slices
1/3 cup apple juice
1/3 cup non-dairy milk

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Instructions

FOR THE CUPCAKES: Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine the dates and water in a food processor or blender.
Blend till smooth.
Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and milk.
Process to combine.
Divide the batter into 6 cupcake tins lined with paper liners or lightly oiled.
Bake for approximately 22 minutes at 350F, or until the tops are firm when touched.
Let the cupcakes cool.
FOR THE FROSTING: Soak the dried apple slices in the apple juice and milk for 15-20 minutes.
Blend the soaked apples with 3/4 of the soaking liquid. Add as little of the remaining 1/4 cup liquid as possible to keep the blender moving but keep the applesauceting thick.
Once cool, frost the cupcakes. Keep the cupcakes in the fridge for up to a week.

What flavor of Everything-Free cupcakes should I make next?

Chocolate + Vanilla Cake Parfait

June 2, 2015 · Natalie 31 Comments

I had leftover cupcakes. I had frozen bananas. I had a sweet craving. So this happened.

I don’t understand the birthday party tradition of cake and ice cream. I barely understand the concept of ice cream cakes. Just think about it for a minute, if the cake part wasn’t there, you would be eating ice cream with frosting…weird and ew! If you find that attractive, please explain the appeal to me, because I am bewildered. Cold and creamy + warm and creamier just doesn’t sound like a good combo in my opinion. But cake – frosting + ice cream I am a big advocate of!

And I have to give a shoutout to my friend Bianca from ElephantasticVegan.com because she totally gets me on this one. Just look at her magnificent cake + ice cream creation!

It’s also a great way to solve the ever-so-common problem of extra, unwanted cupcakes. Or the issue of an overstocked freezer of bananas. #veganstruggles

Chocolate + Vanilla Cake Parfait

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 parfait 1x

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Ingredients

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1 Everything-Free Vanilla Cupcake
1 Everything-Free Chocolate Cupcake
3 frozen bananas
1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder (I love Sunfood Vanilla Bean Powder)
1 tbsp cacao powder

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Instructions

Cut both cupcakes into large chunks. Set aside.
Blend the frozen bananas on high until smooth.
Remove half of the banana ice cream. Stir in the vanilla powder. Place in the freezer.
Blend the remaining nicecream again with the cacao powder.
Layer it all in a tall glass and enjoy (additional toppings always allowed)

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Banana Slice-Not-Split Pie

May 28, 2015 · Natalie 17 Comments

Graham cracker crusts and chocolate crusts, fruity crusts and oat crusts. But I think I may have just discovered my favorite crust of all: the rice crispy crust!

I usually make my marshmallow-free rice crispy treats with brown rice syrup, but I was out. So I used coconut nectar to sticky my crust together, and I can now tell you from experience that brown rice syrup is a better rice crispy glue. The crispy crust just didn’t crispify quite the same way with the coconut nectar. BUT if you freeze it…problem solved! Or you can just use trusty ‘ole brown rice syrup…problem still solved! And if you really want to treat yourself, you could try a chocolate crispy crust.

Sliced not split. Coined not halved. Stacked in a pie not stuffed with ice cream. There are some definite differences between this and a banana split, most notably the lack of ice cream (not to say it wouldn’t be a tasty addition). But the banana base, the choco drizzle, the nutty sprinkle, and especially the cherry on top are all a little reminiscent of a banana split. Just take a few steps back and sort of squint a bit and you’ll see what I mean. Or watch the video…

Banana Slice-Not-Split Pie

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 2 mini pies 1x

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Ingredients

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FOR THE CRUST
2 cups brown rice crispies (I really like One Degree Organic’s brown rice crisps)
3 tbsps coconut nectar or brown rice syrup
FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE
2 tbsps cacao powder
2 tbsps coconut nectar
1 tbsp water
EVERYTHING ELSE
4–5 bananas (sliced)
Toppings (nuts, dried fruit, cacao nibs, etc.)
2 sweet cherries

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Instructions

FOR THE CRUST: Heat the coconut nectar until it starts to bubble. I microwaved it for about 30 seconds on high. Use a large container and watch it carefully, it can bubble over very quickly.
Mix the warm coconut nectar into the rice crispies.
Divide the sticky crispies between two pans that are lined with wax paper or lightly oiled.
Press the crust into the pans with a sheet of wax paper to keep it from sticking to you fingers.
Freeze for at least 10 minutes.
FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE: Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth.
Once the crusts are chilled and crunchy, layer in the sliced bananas, sprinkle on toppings, and drizzle the sauce over top. And don’t forget the cherry!
Eat immediately.

What’s your favorite kind of pie crust?

Strawberry O Bars

Strawberry O Bars

Ingredients

Instructions

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF + HCLF)

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF + oil-free)

Ingredients

Instructions

Vegan Cinnamon Cupcakes with Apple Frosting

Vegan Cinnamon Cupcakes with Apple Frosting

Ingredients

Instructions

Chocolate + Vanilla Cake Parfait

Chocolate + Vanilla Cake Parfait

Ingredients

Instructions

Banana Slice-Not-Split Pie

Banana Slice-Not-Split Pie

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Instructions

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