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Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

· Natalie 27 Comments

Creamy banana pudding the easy healthy way with bananas, chia seeds, cashews, medjool dates, layered with pecans and coconut whipped cream. Vegan and paleo!

Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

On a scale from 1 to GIMME! how badly do you want to dig into those jars right now?

Okay but hold your spoons for a sec, I need to tell you something…

Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

I owe you an apology.

All this time you’ve been trusting me as your source for fruit-filled sweet stuff, but it has taken literal years to post a solid banana pudding recipe up in this blog. Bananas – the world’s favorite fruit. Pudding – the almost best (ice cream, though) creamy dessert form. Banana pudding – so basic salad bars have been doing it for centuries. I gotta wonder…what’s up with that?

This absurdity ends now. Here now today with these multi-layer creamydelush jars and a big shoutout to one awesome reader who emailed me and inspired this one. Because sometimes I need a reminder to quit dreaming up triple chocolate quinoa waffle cookie dough sandwiches and just get back to SIMPLE. We all do.

Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

I don’t want to point fingers, but I think salad bars may actually be to blame here. There’s something about finding a lost shred of cheddar cheese in your pudding that kinda ruins the whole dessert. But hopefully you don’t have that same unfortunate association. Hopefully you have nothing but happy memories of silky pudding layered with used-to-be-crunchy cookies and banana coins and airy whipped cream.

As childhood cheese trauma therapy or just a healthier recreation of one of your fave desserts, I promise this recipe will leave you with nothing but happy banana feels.

Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

I’m not about to tell you to make homemade nilla wafers AND cook then chill a stovetop pudding AND whip coconut cream by hand AND slice your own bananas. Nobody’s got the time or patience for that. I am here to bring you a much much easier version that still has all the necessary elements – creamy, crunchy, fluffy, banana. Because we love short cuts around here.

So here’s what’s happening:

  • Banana pudding. Without refined sugar or cooking or any tofu funny business. Just good stuff like banana, coconut milk, chia seeds, cashews, and vanilla. But blended so it’s suuuuuuuuper creamy.
  • Pecans. For the CRUNCH element, plus they just taste so dang good with nanas. Roasted is best! If your heart is set on cookies, maybe try these. Or these.
  • Coconut whipped cream. Or cocowhip (like cool whip but vegan!) if you really want to make things extra easy on yourself.
  • Bananas. Okay you do actually have to slice these yourself.

The trick to getting the pudding just as dreamy as possible is to combine all the nuts/seeds/fruits/stuff in the blender, blend briefly so it’s all mixed, and then let it sit and soak for about 10-15 minutes. This will soften the chia seeds and cashews so then you can crank that blender up to high and achieve max lusciousness.

Oh, and cashew-free lower fat option included for you too!

Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

And just when these cookies thought they had dibs on all the ripe bananas in my house. Not so fast cookies, not so fast.

Happy easier + healthier Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding parfait-ing to you!

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Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
  • Yield: 4 parfaits 1x
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: blender
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Creamy banana pudding the easy healthy way with bananas, chia seeds, cashews, medjool dates, layered with crunchy pecans and coconut whipped cream. Vegan and paleo!

Ingredients

Scale

Pudding

  • 2 cups (480g) non-dairy milk (I used carton coconut milk)
  • 1 ripe banana (120g)
  • 1/4 (40g) cup chia seeds
  • 1/2 (65g) cup raw cashews*
  • 6 pitted medjool dates (100g)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For layering

Instructions

  1. In a high speed blender, combine the pudding ingredients and blend briefly.
  2. Let the mixture sit and soak for 10-15 minutes to soften the chia seeds and cashews.
  3. Blend again on high until creamy and smooth.
  4. Pour into a jar and refrigerate overnight. It will thicken as it chills.
  5. Layer the pudding into jars with the pecans, sliced bananas, and coconut whipped cream.
  6. Enjoy!

Notes

*You can substitute the cashews with 1/2 cup (120g) non-dairy yogurt, but you will need to reduce the milk to 1 1/2 cups. It won’t be quite as rich.

Nutrition

  • Calories: 292
  • Sugar: 23
  • Fat: 13
  • Carbohydrates: 40
  • Fiber: 7
  • Protein: 6

Keywords: chia, pudding, no bake, easy, breakfast, snack, dessert, vegan, dairy-free

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Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins (2 ways!)

· Natalie 50 Comments

The yummiest Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins made with coconut sugar or dates, almond flour, and lots of juicy purple berries. Easy healthy snacking!

Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Arguably the most perfect baked good. In my humble bloob muffin-loving opinion, but maybe that’s just me.

Maybe you can resist sweet almost-cupcake fluff concealed underneath nubbly toasty tops. Maybe you aren’t as easily delighted by biting into purple spots of juicy berry sweetness. Maybe you aren’t as smitten with easy and healthy and made-for-snacking recipes like this. But if you are, hi hello how are you friend?

Stick around, I think you will be a fan of what’s to come…

Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Sometimes a little indecision pays off, and this is one of those times. Dates?…coconut sugar?…dates?…coconut sugar? Clearly the only answer was BOTH. So I bring you two different but equally yummy versions of these muffins, sweetened whichever way you prefer.

Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Because dates add quite a bit more moisture to the batter than a granulated sweetener, it’s not just a simple swap one for the other situation. The coconut sugar version starts with non-dairy yogurt (because that is my FAVORITE way to make muffins lately) or applesauce. The medjool date version starts with blending the dates with water and nut/seed butter. You could skip the nut/seed butter, but the muffins will have a less well-defined crumb (read: slightly smushy) without it.

The rest of the recipe is almost identical for both versions, and pretty damn simple too. Almond flour, tapioca starch, baking soda, salt – you know, the usual grain-free vegan baking squad.

Oh! And if you are all about the oat flour, THIS is your muffin.

Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Why you need these Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins in your life stat:

  • texture? killing. it.
  • ease? just one bowl/blender, 30 minutes, done.
  • consumption rate? crazy fast!
  • dog approved? I almost tripped over my begging pup at least twelve times during the photoshoot
  • appropriate for? every possible time of day
  • taste? so so so GOOD

You are already checking that freezer for frozen bloobs by now, right?

Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins

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Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins

★★★★★ 5 from 8 reviews
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 6 muffins 1x
  • Category: muffins
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

The yummiest Vegan Paleo Blueberry Muffins made with coconut sugar or dates, almond flour, and lots of juicy purple berries. Easy healthy snacking!

Ingredients

Scale

Date-Sweetened Version

  • 12 pitted medjool dates 180g
  • 1 cup (220g) water
  • 1/4 cup (70g) nut/seed butter (I used almond butter)
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup (30g) tapioca starch (can sub arrowroot or cornstarch)
  • 2 cups (220g) almond flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (70g) blueberries

Yogurt Version

  • 1 cup (240g) non-dairy yogurt (or applesauce)
  • 1/3 cup (55g) coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup (60g) tapioca starch (can sub arrowroot or cornstarch)
  • 2 cups (220g) almond flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (70g) blueberries

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, coconut sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir/whisk until combined and lump free.
  3. Or for the date-sweteend version, blend the dates, water, nut/seed butter, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth.
  4. Add the tapioca starch, almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir/blend to mix.
  5. Gently fold in the frozen blueberries.
  6. Divide the batter into a muffin pan (paper liners or sprayed with oil) filling each muffin until it is level with the top of the pan. You will get approximately 6 muffins. Gently smooth the tops.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F or until golden brown and firm to the touch when you lightly press the center.
  8. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the pan.
  9. Enjoy! Keep leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 muffin
  • Calories: 328
  • Sugar: 14
  • Fat: 20
  • Carbohydrates: 33
  • Fiber: 5
  • Protein: 8

Keywords: baking, snack, dessert, paleo, vegan

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Fluffy Chocolate Banana Pancakes

· Natalie 70 Comments

The fluffiest Chocolate Banana Pancakes – made with quinoa flour, banana, cacao, and chocolate chips for a protein-filled vegan breakfast that tastes like dessert!

Fluffy Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Is a quadruple layer stack of fluffy chocolate with chocolate chips sprinkled in and drizzled in extra syrupy sweetness a bit extra to be filed under the breakfast category? Maybe. But if so then I don’t want to be un-extra.

I could’ve added sprinkles. I could’ve topped the whole stack with ice cream. I could’ve used chocolate chunks for sprinkling and chocolate syrup for drizzling. So really what we’ve got here is quite tame. We’ll save all that stuff for the other end of the day, but mornings sometimes needs a smidge of decadence too. Healthier decadence – it’s a thing.

Fluffy Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Everyone needs THEIR pancake recipe. The one you can whip up while still half asleep on a sunday morning because you know the ingredients by heart. The one that never fails to flip perfectly and fluff up flawlessly.  And once you find it, it takes a LOT to make you stray. Try a new flavor? – sure. Cinnamon, blueberry, chocolate, chocolate chip, chocolate chunk, chocolate swirl…

These quinoa flour pancakes are my pancakes. Oat flour pancakes can be gummy, almond flour pancakes are usually too dense, coconut flour pancakes without egg are a disaster, but quinoa flour is just right. I almost regret all those years I spent eating other pancakes not knowing the magic of the quinoa pancake was possible.

Reasons to love:

  • they are vegan
  • and gluten-free
  • made in the blender
  • thick and fluffy with zero gummy middles
  • never stick to the pan
  • did i mention the FLUFF (see fork shot below)
  • deeeeeeelish

What more could you possibly ask a pancake to be?

Oh, and they soak up syrup like it’s their job…which in a way it kind of is. Rough life.

Fluffy Chocolate Banana Pancakes

So that’s why I am bringing them back but CHOCOLATE this time. And switching applesauce for banana too because 1) chocolate + banana = ♡ and 2) we can. Banana works just as well as applesauce, so use what you have/like.

One batch makes 5-6 good sized pancakes, so it’s the perfect breakfast for two or even three people. Personally I am not a make-ahead person when it comes to pancakes, but if that’s your jam then eat half, freeze half, and consider tomorrow’s breakfast covered.

You could add chocolate chips to make them extra dessert-for-breakfast-y. Or you could add vanilla or coffee extract for a little extra flavor love. Or even cinnamon since that goes so well with both banana and chocolate. Or even walnuts for a chunky brownie vibe. Or nothing at all and just revel in every fluffy cocoa bite.

Fluffy Chocolate Banana Pancakes

I am confident that there is major potential for these to become YOUR pancakes too!

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Fluffy Chocolate Banana Pancakes

★★★★★ 5 from 11 reviews
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 10
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 pancakes 1x
  • Category: breakfast
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

The fluffiest Chocolate Banana Pancakes – made with quinoa flour, banana, cacao, and chocolate chips for a protein-filled vegan breakfast that tastes like dessert!

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Blend the banana, milk, vinegar, and maple syrup.
  2. Add the dry ingredients. Blend on low until combine, stopping to stir as necessary. Don’t over-blend.
  3. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat (I recommend spraying it lightly just to make sure they don’t stick).
  4. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and spread into a circle.
  5. Cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat or until you can easily slide a spatula underneath. Flip and cook for 2-3 minutes on the second side. Remove from the pan.
  6. Repeat until all the batter is used up. I got about 6 medium sized pancakes.
  7. Add toppings of choice and enjoy!

Notes

*To make your own quinoa flour, either grind quinoa flakes in a high speed blender or toast and grind whole raw quinoa. Video tutorial HERE

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 2 pancakes
  • Calories: 313
  • Sugar: 13
  • Fat: 5
  • Carbohydrates: 58
  • Fiber: 7
  • Protein: 10

Keywords: breakfast, chocolate, banana, protein, vegan, easy

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Fluffy Chocolate Banana Pancakes

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Vegan Paleo Carrot Cake

· Natalie 44 Comments

Vegan paleo carrot cake made with almond flour and filled with yummy spices, chunky walnuts, and a creamy cashew frosting on top. Easy, healthy, delicious!

Vegan Paleo Carrot Cake

I know, I know – carrot cake? again? already?

But this one is different, I promise. Plus carrot cake and too much are words I’ve never used together. And it’s officially spring now (WAHOO) so that deserves another round of cake.

I don’t know about you, but in my head it’s been spring for a while now. The weather may still have some catching up to do, but when it does we will be waiting with open arms and welcoming plates of cake. Vegan Paleo Carrot Cake with cashew yogurt frosting, obviously.

Vegan Paleo Carrot Cake

When I posted this carrot cake made with oat flour, many of you asked for a grain-free version. Ask and you shall receive. A one-for-one sub – almond flour for oat – did not work. It took a bit of tweaking to get the texture right, but WORTH IT.

I try not to pick recipe favorites, so it would be wrong of me to say I like this version better. It would be wrong to say it’s naturally sweeter and more moist because almond flour does that to things. It would be wrong to say I devoured the whole thing in two and a half days. Wrong…but kinda true.

But really, I love both of my carrot cake children equally for different reasons – the oat flour is fluffier (and cheaper!), the almond is richer. And the original recipe has already gotten tons of great feedback, so you don’t just have to take my word for it.

Vegan Paleo Carrot Cake

Ingredient wise they are mostly similar. Here’s what we’ve got:

  • applesauce OR non-dairy yogurt
  • coconut sugar (but less this time!)
  • lemon juice
  • vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, salt
  • almond flour
  • tapioca starch
  • baking soda
  • grated carrots
  • walnuts (or pecans or any nuts or no nuts)

Mix. Bake. Frost (if you want). And happy spring!

Vegan Paleo Carrot Cake

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Vegan Paleo Carrot Cake

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 40
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 9 pieces 1x
  • Category: cake
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Vegan paleo carrot cake made with almond flour and filled with yummy spices, chunky walnuts, and a creamy cashew frosting on top. Easy, healthy, delicious!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup non-dairy yogurt or unsweetened applesauce (240g)
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar (50g)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup tapioca starch (60g)*
  • 2 1/2 cups almond flour (275g)**
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups grated carrots (180g)
  • 1/2 cup walnuts (60g)

Cashew Yogurt Frosting

  • 1 cup (120g) raw cashews (soaked overnight)
  • 1/3 cup (75g) nondairy yogurt
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. To a mixing bowl, add the yogurt/applesauce, coconut sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
  3. Add the tapioca starch, almond flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir to combine.
  4. Fold in the grated carrots and walnuts.
  5. Transfer to a baking pan (I used a 9×9″ square pan, but round is fine too) that has been lightly sprayed with oil or lined with parchment paper.
  6. Bake for approximately 40 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  7. Remove from the oven and cool completely before frosting.
  8. Drain the cashews. Combine all the frosting ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth and very creamy. If it gets stuck at a higher speed, reduce the speed to low and let it blend for a while (30-60 seconds).
  9. Spread onto the cooled cake and ideally refrigerate until the frosting is set (at least 2 hours). Or you can eat it immediately, but the frosting will be quite soft.
  10. Slice and enjoy! Keep leftovers in the refrigerator.

Notes

*You can substitute with arrowroot or corn starch. **For an oat flour version, try this recipe instead.

Nutrition

  • Calories: 252
  • Sugar: 9
  • Fat: 16
  • Carbohydrates: 23
  • Fiber: 5
  • Protein: 7

Keywords: baking, cake, birthday, vegan, paleo, gluten-free

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Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups

· Natalie 21 Comments

Crunchy, gooey, salty, sweet, CHOCOLATEY. Salted date caramel filling, chocolate coating studded with crispy rice cereal, and irresistible all the way through!

Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY NATURAL DELIGHTS.

So I kicked peanut butter out of the chocolate cup equation, whatchya gonna do about it? Not even the most loyal of peanut butter lovers will be able to hate me after tasting these caramel-filled, cereal-crunchy, two-bite Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups. Trust me.

This is one of those mashups where the whole candy cup thing magically becomes so much greater than a sum of the parts. Crunch bar outside, caramel inside, Reese’s shape. Somewhere between snapping through the crispy rice and teeth sinking into gooey caramel and fingers getting messily involved, you will realize there is no way you are not going back for another. That’s why I made them mini – two is basically the same as one so when you have three it’s really less than two and you are a rockstar at pacing yourself. Makes sense, right?

You know what else I love about these cups? Besides the delectable sweet/salty flavor mingling through so much textural variety, of course. I love that they are homemade and therefore endearingly imperfect. Some are lopsided. Some have a bit of caramel squishing out one side. Some are more crunch than caramel, some more caramel than crunch. Each it’s own unique chocolate snowflake.

Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups

Okay but specifics.

There are just SIX ingredients:

  • Medjool dates
  • Water
  • Vanilla
  • Sea salt (don’t be shy here!)
  • Dark chocolate chips
  • Crispy rice cereal (not puffed rice, you want CRISP)

We are making instant caramel filling in mere minutes with zero cooking here, so we need the best of the best ingredients. That means real vanilla extract or even vanilla bean powder. That means a generous pinch of sea salt. And that means medjool dates from Natural Delights. I never get un-amazed by how sweet and impeccably squishy they are every. single. time.

Now if you are serious about your DARK chocolate, you could even make the cups with unsweetened chocolate so the medjool dates are the only sweetener. A sweet caramel center contrasting a bitter dark outer spells DELICIOUS to me. But maybe I’m weird, it is intense. Otherwise I recommend something around 70% cacao.

Blend the caramel, (and chill it while you) melt the chocolate, mix in the cereal, build your cups – muffin liner > chocolate > chill > caramel > more chocolate > more chilling – and DONE.

Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups

These little gems will last in the fridge for at least a week-ish (or so I’ve heard), but I sorta love them frozen too. There is really no way to mess this up except by not making them. Soon!

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Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups

★★★★★ 5 from 4 reviews
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 18 mini cups 1x
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: no bake
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Crunchy, gooey, salty, sweet, CHOCOLATEY. Salted date caramel filling, chocolate coating studded with crispy rice cereal, and irresistible all the way through!

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Blend the dates, water, salt, and vanilla until smooth. If it gets stuck, stop, scrape down the sides, and try blending on a lower speed for longer.
  2. Set the caramel in the freezer while you make the chocolate coating.
  3. Melt the chocolate chips. Stir in the crispy rice cereal.
  4. Line a mini muffin pan with paper liners and drop a small spoonful of the chocolate cereal mixture into the bottom of each. Try to leave a well in the center.
  5. Freeze for 10 minutes.
  6. Place a dollop of caramel in the center of each cup.
  7. Top with more of the chocolate cereal mixture. Shake the pan so the chocolate goes down the sides completely surrounding the caramel.
  8. Freeze until set.
  9. Enjoy! Keep in the fridge or freezer.

Nutrition

  • Calories: 100
  • Sugar: 9
  • Sodium: 42
  • Fat: 6
  • Protein: 1

Keywords: no bake, easy, candy, chocolate, dessert

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Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups

Thank you Natural Delights for sponsoring this post!

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