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Silky Sweet Vegan Date Caramel Sauce

October 17, 2016 · Natalie 89 Comments

Just 5 ingredients, a blender, and a few minutes is all it takes to create this most decadent, silky, rich Vegan Date Caramel Sauce, perfect for dipping or drizzling!

I am still questioning whether this super simple recipe justifies it’s own whole post and video. But hey, we’re here, it’s rich and dreamy, let’s do this.

I am a big fan of the classic date caramel. For dipping, for coating, for frosting–it’s awesome. But one thing it is not awesome for is drizzling. Frankly it has no drizzle game, it just plops. And unattractively I might add.

I started experimenting in hopes of finding a more silky, less plopping prone date caramel sauce to use as part of another recipe, but after posting this photo on Instagram a drizzle-worthy caramel sauce recipe seemed to be in high demand. So I tweaked and tested multiple batches yesterday until I found an ingredient mix that had the exact consistency I was after. I should note this is not the same sauce as in that photo, that was a date-less nut butter situation. But I for one like this fruit-filled version much better!

I didn’t even consider all that pesky stove-top candy thermometer business, so it had to be a no-cook blender recipe. A lot of no-cook caramel sauces are made up of a liquid sweetener + nut butter + coconut oil. For my liquid sweetener I chose coconut nectar because it is really sticky. Brown rice syrup would work too. Maple syrup is a bit thinner than you want for this recipe. I know it might seem weird to add a sweetener to already sweet dates, but that viscosity is essential for a smooth pour-able texture. The dates are the thickener here instead of nut butter, plus they add extra caramel flavor. The coconut oil I replaced with coconut milk. While still high fat, at least it’s not pure fat. You can try it with a lower fat plant milk, but it’s not going to have the same texture.

Blend it all up with a little bit of sea salt and vanilla bean powder (because yum), and you have a silky sweet vegan date caramel sauce. This sauce is by no means the healthiest caramel sauce around, good old 2-ingredient date caramel claims that title. But it is quite a topping treat on ice cream, brownies, oatmeal, spoons, almost anything!

Silky Sweet Vegan Date Caramel Sauce

★★★★★ 5 from 17 reviews

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1 1/2 cups 1x
Category: Sauce
Method: Blender
Cuisine: American

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Description

Just 5 ingredients, a blender, and a few minutes is all it takes to create this most decadent, silky, rich Vegan Date Caramel Sauce, perfect for dipping or drizzling!

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup pitted Medjool dates
1/2 cup coconut nectar or brown rice syrup
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
Pinch of salt

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Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a high speed blender.
Blend on high until very smooth and creamy. You can adjust the consistency by adding more coconut milk if it is too thick to pour easily.
It makes a lot, so keep the extra in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Keywords: Sauce, caramel, sweet, topping, dates, medjool, healthy, sweet, vitamix, easy

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Soft-Baked Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookie

October 10, 2016 · Natalie 52 Comments

A soft-baked, cinnamon sugar topped snickerdoodle cookie with pumpkin added in for extra fall flair. This vegan, gluten-free, single cookie recipe is ready for warm-from-the-oven devouring in no time!

That title up there was supposed to read ‘Soft-Baked Sweet Potato Snickerdoodle Cookie’. It has a nice ring to it doesn’t it, with the alliteration. But in the middle of making it the idea for an orange ingredient swap hit me, and I just had to test the recipe one more time but with pumpkin instead.

Now I don’t know if it was my actual tastebuds talking or the current pumpkin craze, but the pumpkin version was kinda sorta a whole lot more delicious!

Plus I haven’t posted anything pumpkin in like…okay fine it’s been less than a week. But it’s October so that means it’s acceptable to post all pumpkin all the time. At least I hope so. Otherwise I have some major content calendar revising to do.

You may be thinking “Another oversized cookie on a Monday?” But of course you are thinking that in an excited tone not an exasperated one, right? If there is anything Monday needs, it’s more exceptionally large and quick to make baked goods. Healthy-ish dessert the size of a hockey puck–I can’t imagine a better way to kick off the week.

No sprinkles or frosting or movie tie-in this time, but this cookie doesn’t need all that. Because it has something else. Something wonderful. Cinnamon sugar!

Soft and chewy. ~~Drowned in~~ lightly sprinkled with cinnamon sugar before baking. Only 6 ingredients. A single cookie recipe means you get to enjoy the entire batch at peak warm-from-the-oven freshness. Ready in 12 minutes. Happier Monday friends.

Soft-Baked Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookie #vegan #glutenfreeClick To Tweet

Soft-Baked Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookie

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 17 minutes
Yield: 1 cookie 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

2 tbsp pumpkin puree
1 tbsp coconut sugar
4 tbsp oat flour
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

1 tsp coconut sugar*
Dash of cinnamon

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine all of the ingredients for the cookie in a bowl. Mix to form a sticky dough.
On a pan lined with parchment paper, press into a thick cookie shape (about 4 inch diameter). Or you can even use a cookie cutter for a perfect circle.
Mix together the cinnamon sugar topping. Sprinkle on top and press in lightly
Bake for 12 mins at 350F.
Let it cool for 5-10 mins before eating.

Notes

*Coconut sugar works and tastes great here. But for the classic sparkly sugar-coated snickerdoodle look, organic cane sugar works better.

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Turmeric Spice Pancakes

October 6, 2016 · Natalie 44 Comments

Easy, fluffy Turmeric Spice Pancakes you can whip up in the blender in no time for a vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, anti-inflammatory breakfast. And with 2 color options!

Turmeric Spice Pancakes…and a chemistry lesson.

Do you remember in school when they taught us about the color wheel? Do you remember the part about how it’s not possible to make primary colors with other colors? Well that is a lie and these pancakes prove it. Because it turns out yellow + yellow can = red. Whaaaaaaat??

Turmeric + lemon juice = red. Mind blown! At least my mind, maybe you already knew that. But you better believe I was completely confused when I poured yellow pancake batter into the pan, flipped it, and it was RED.

Chemistry–always surprising me when I least expect it.

UPDATE! I was wrong. A very smart reader explained it to me, read the real reason in the comments –> here

After I ate my pancakes, did some googling, discovered that turmeric and lemon can make red, and then recovered from my pancake color confusion, I remade them without the lemon so as to not confuse everyone. Gold and glowing, just as all things turmeric are supposed to be. But I have to admit I actually like the red ones better.

Without the lemon juice they are just not as super fluffy. Still fluffy, just not SUPER fluffy. And more importantly the red compliments the pumpkin butter yogurt swirls much better, don’t you think?

So if you want a super fluffy stack, go with the red version. Or if you wanted to fool someone into thinking you made them a tall stack of red velvet pancakes but secretly sneak them a dose of anti-inflammatory turmeric spice this would be the perfect way to carry out that deception. Or if you ever find yourself making red velvet cupcakes only to realize you are out of beets mid batter-mixing, having this trick in the back of your mind could save the color of your batch of cupcakes.

But the gold version is nice too.

I should note, there isn’t much info out there on google about this crazy color magic. Some sites said only lime + turmeric makes red, not lemon. Considering the batter was still very much yellow, and I know I’ve combined the two before in juices/smoothies, maybe it’s only with heat. Or maybe I possess a rare color-morphing bottle of turmeric. I don’t completely understand it, but I do find it fascinating. Edible, soft, fluffy, breakfast science is the best kind of science!

For the spice part of the Turmeric Spice Pancakes, I added in the typical golden milk latte spices: cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, and (not a spice) vanilla.

And just in case all those warming spices weren’t autumn enough, I topped the entire breakfast stack with yogurt and Tiina, from My Berry Forrest’s, delicious Apple-Pumpkin Butter. I may be a little bit obsessed with this stuff right now. Make it…you’ll see why!

Turmeric Spice Pancakes

★★★★★ 4.8 from 4 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 5 -7 pancakes 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
2 tbsps maple syrup
1 tbsp baking powder*
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground turmeric
pinch of black pepper
¼ tsp ginger

For topping

Coconut milk yogurt
My Berry Forest’s Perfect Apple-Pumpkin Butter
Chopped pecans

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Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a blender.
Blend till combined. Don’t over blend.
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan. Since it is quite thick, spread/smooth into a circle.
Cook for 2-3 minutes on the first side. When you can easily slide a spatula under, flip. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan.
Repeat until all the batter is gone.
Top with yogurt, pumpkin-apple butter, and chopped nuts. Enjoy!

Notes

*If you want to make the fluffier but red version, use 1 tsp baking soda + 2 tsps baking powder + 1 tsp lemon juice.

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The Nightmare Before Christmas Cookie

October 3, 2016 · Natalie 33 Comments

Quite a few fall flavored foods have already happened around here, but it’s October now. Time to step up the Halloween game from pumpkin spiced to pumpkin spooky. Or at least as spooky as cookies and sprinkles can possibly be. Which admittedly is more sweet than spooky. More treat than trick.

There is no one better to kick off this month of all things orange, black, and ominous with than my beaming baking bestie, Demeter. She is the queen of sweet, spooky, and scrumptious! And also storytelling. I always bring snacks and settle in for a great tale when I visit Beaming Baker. Usually funny, sometimes thrilling, always entertaining stories, that (most importantly) always end with something completely crave-worthy. Or in this case creepy and crave-worthy!

As you probably already guessed from the title of the post, this is no ordinary spiders/ghosts/pumpkins Halloween collaboration. There is a cinematic element involved. For our dessert recipe duo, we took inspiration from the creepy, kooky, monster-filled movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. So we both have a sweet movie-themed treat to share.

My original plan was to create this entire moonlit mountain-top scene on top of a tall golden stack of pancakes, but things went in an unexpectedly not gold direction (more on that another day). Change of plans. Enter: oversized chocolate cookie. Honestly I’m no too mad about the switch. More chocolate and a chance to sneak some pumpkin into the mix–I’m pretty sure that’s winning!

With the chocolate cookie canvas taken care of, next is a thick layer of pumpkin frosting. Okay fine, it can be any frosting. But it’s October so pumpkin is highly recommended. I actually used some leftover filling from the Pumpkin Spice Oreos. But you could use chocolate frosting. Or coconut frosting. Or caramel frosting. It makes no difference, it’s going to be covered with sprinkles and sweet stuff anyways.

Next comes the sprinkles. Turmeric-dyed sprinkles make up the yellow moon backdrop. I printed and cut out a cookie-sized copy of the swirling mountain peak from the movie, and utilizing my pro glitter-application skills, I coated the rest of the frosting in gold sprinkles.

Fill in the mountain with melted chocolate, build a tiny stick figure of Jack Skellington with chocolate sprinkles, and done! I made that sound super simple by writing it really fast, but actually the stick figure part is kinda tricky and involves lots of toothpick-sprinkle maneuvering in my experience. But it doesn’t have to be perfect, you are going to eat it in 5 seconds anyways!

Apparently The Nightmare Before Christmas brings out the chocolate + coconut lover in both of us, because Demeter created these crazy amazing Jack Skellington Mounds Cups! I’m pretty sure she was born to make Jack Skellington into chocolate coconut candy, don’t you? Check out her recipe -> here

A video for this mega-sized, movie-inspired, chocolate cookie creation…

Nightmare Before Christmas Cookie

★★★★ 4 from 1 review

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 52 minutes
Yield: 1 cookie 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

Cookie

1/4 cup oat flour
2 tbsps unsweetened applesauce (or pumpkin puree would work too!)
1 tbsp cacao powder
1–2 tbsp coconut sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For Decorating

Pumpkin frosting (see post above for other options)
Turmeric sprinkles
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Chocolate Sprinkles

1 tsp cacao powder
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tbsp water

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Instructions

Make your chocolate and turmeric sprinkles first following the instructions in this post.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the cookie. Mix.
On a pan lined with parchment paper, press out the dough into a single cookie (approximately 4″ diameter). You can use a cookie cutter to make it more exact.
Bake for 12 minutes at 350F.
Let it cool, then chill for at least 1 hour before decorating.
Once cool, pipe/spread a smooth layer of frosting over the entire cookie.
Print and cutout a clipart drawing of the mountain silhouette that fits the cookie. Press onto the cookie.
Sprinkle the entire top of the cookie with turmeric sprinkles. Press them in gently. Remove the paper cutout.
Melt the chocolate chips. Fill in the mountain with melted chocolate using a squeeze bottle or a spoon. It helps to freeze the cookie for 10 minutes first so the chocolate will set faster.
Use a toothpick to carve out the Jack Skellington silhouette. Carefully lay the chocolate sprinkles to make the figure, using a small dot of melted chocolate for the head.
Take a picture, smile about the imperfections, and eat!

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Vegan Pumpkin Spice Oreos

September 29, 2016 · Natalie 62 Comments

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Oreos are easy and fall-festive sandwich cookies with a 4 ingredient vegan gluten-free cookie and a simple pumpkin spice cream filling!

I’ve already visited the pumpkin + chocolate combo once this pumpkin season. And there was that time last year with this cookie-covered brownie situation. But I hope you don’t mind if I bring back that killer combo for a part 3…

This take on those delicious two flavors is the most obvious, had-to-happen recipe of them all: Pumpkin Spice Oreos! Duh, what took me so long? Thank goodness for a friend who also happens to be recipe genius, Arman, for pointing it out. And with plenty of time left in pumpkin season to make this stack of sandwich cookies happen.

My original 5-Ingredient Easy Vegan Oreos recipe just needed a little tweaking to get in the festive fall spirit–more orange and more spice. Because these are made with only real foods, the pumpkin filling is not overly orange. Not like the shade of those candy corn pumpkins I used to love but most people hate. I promise you will taste the pumpkin flavor though! And the spices. And the hint of maple to make things extra autumnal.

There will be extra frosting, so you have options…
1. Eat it. With a spoon. No shame.
2. Make more cookies.
4. Quadruple stuff those sandwich cookies. None of this silly double stuff stuff!
3. Save it for a special Halloween recipe that may or may not require frosting and may or may not be coming on Monday.

Sidenote (a.k.a. rant): Does it annoy anyone else when something is labeled “pumpkin spice” but they literally mean just the spices and no actual pumpkin. Silly me, I interpret “pumpkin spice” as pumpkin + spice expecting orange squash inside, but they are just using “pumpkin” as an adjective for “spice”.

Like Pumpkin Spice Tea. Newsflash…there’s usually no pumpkin in the tea. It should read Just The Spices That Usually Go in Pumpkin Pie But No Actual Pumpkin Tea. Although worse yet is when they try to make up for it with “natural pumpkin flavors”?

Okay rant over. Back to Pumpkin Spice Oreos.

The cookie is a little more fall festive too with a dash of pumpkin pie spice baked right in. I also made them slightly larger this time, which means more bites. And more bites means more chances for frosting to squish out the sides with every bite (especially if you quadruple stuff). To prevent that, refrigerate or even freeze your cookies for 30 mins or so after sandwiching but before eating. It makes the filling more firm and less prone to squishing.

I’ve gotten many comments on my original oreo recipe like “But oreos are already vegan.” Yes, yes they are, which is great. But they are sorta full of crap–high fructose corn syrup, palm oil, and artificial flavors all in one bite. The choice is yours of course, I’m just here to give you a healthier, gluten-free, oil-free sandwich cookie option!

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Vegan Pumpkin Spice Oreos

★ 5 Stars ☆ ★ 4 Stars ☆ ★ 3 Stars ☆ ★ 2 Stars ☆ ★ 1 Star ☆ No reviews

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients

Scale

Cookie

1/2 cup cacao powder (*see note)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp brown rice flour
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves)

Filling

15 oz can full fat coconut milk (refrigerated overnight to separate)
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tbsp maple syrup
**See notes for a low fat option

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Instructions

Make the filling first so it has time to refrigerate and thicken.
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk with a hand mixer until well combined and smooth. Transfer to a piping bag or jar and refrigerate.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine all the ingredients for the cookie. Mix to form a thick dough.
Roll into 10 balls. Spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten with the bottom of a cup or your hand. They will not spread while baking, so flatten them to desired thickness now.
Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350F.
Let them cool completely, or better yet refrigerate before making the sandwiches.
Once cool, spread your filling on half of the cookies. Sandwich with the other half.
Eat immediately or refrigerate or freeze for 30 minutes or so to allow the filling to solidify.
Keep in the refrigerator.

Notes

*I highly recommend using cacao powder, NOT cocoa powder for this recipe. Cocoa powder is much more bitter and as these cookies contain a lot of it it can make the cookies too bitter. Cacao has a more mild flavor that is better here.

**For a low fat filling option, you can use pumpkin butter instead. I really like this recipe.

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Silky Sweet Vegan Date Caramel Sauce