Vegtastic!

This recipe is based on one of the first I veganized and posted on VegWeb way back in 2007: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Brownies.

(Can I just say how awesome VegWeb is? The interface hasn’t changed a bit in the five years I’ve been using it, but it’s still a fantastic crowdsourced resource for vegan recipes.)

I call them “monkey brownies” because they use banana instead of egg — I was living in a suburb of Boston (booo) without a car in 2007, and the Shaw’s down the street definitely didn’t have commercial egg replacer or ground flax. Mashed banana seemed like the best alternative, and even though I’m not a huge fan of bananas, you can barely taste them.

Based on the comments, I doubled the baking chocolate and added chocolate chips. And because I never got to have nuts in brownies growing up (my bro hates them), I added a healthy dose of walnuts for added omega-3s.

They’re soy-free if you use soy-free peanut butter, Enjoy Life chocolate chips and a nut milk — I am loving the new Blue Diamond coconut-almond mix.

Monkey brownies

makes one 8″ x 8″ pan — 16 small squares

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 mashed banana
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, room temperature — the really creamy and processed kind
• 2 oz. melted bittersweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Instructions:

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix the banana and sugar. Add the peanut butter and melted chocolate.
3. Mix flour mixture into sugar mixture, adding the non-dairy milk a little at a time.
4. pour into a greased/floured 8″x8″ pan. Mixture will be very thick, so you may need to spread it out a bit.
5. bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out more or less clean. They will solidify a bit as they cool, too, so it can be a little soft in the middle.

If you are looking for a decadent dessert idea, gaze no further than this chocolate chip cookie dough-filled chocolate cake topped with velvety ganache.

Yes, this is the most disgustingly indulgent recipe that Vegtastic has ever shared. You will probably get diabetes if you eat this daily.

The idea hit me after eating a chocolate-covered vegan cookie dough truffle at Whole Foods: why not fill a chocolate cake with a layer of cookie dough?

Unlike cookie dough made with raw eggs, vegan cookie dough won’t land you a cameo on Food Safety News. You could make your own vegan cookie dough, though I’m a fan of Eat Pastry’s pre-made stuff, also available at Whole Foods.

The chocolate cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World makes the richest 6″ cake I’ve tasted in recent memory, and 6″ of chocolate chip cookie dough-filled chocolate cake topped with ganache is really all you’ll need for a small army or hungry office.

Chocolate-chip cookie dough filled chocolate cake

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe chocolate cupcake batter from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
• 1/2 cup cookie dough, like Eat Pastry’s, softened
• 1 recipe chocolate ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Instructions:

1. Prepare cupcake batter according to instructions and pour into 2 greased 6″ pans. Bake at the temperature suggested by the recipe for 30 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
2. Cool layers on a wire rack. When cool, spread cookie dough onto one cake layer. Top with the other layer.
3. Drizzle spread ganache over top of cake and allow to drizzle down sides.

Serve with a side of cold vanilla soy milk and an insulin shot.

Much like adolescent girls with Twilight heartthrobs, brownie lovers fall into two camps: team fudgey and team cakey.

If you are a member of team fudgey, you will enjoy these brownies. If you fall into the cakey camp, you might want to look for an alternative dessert. Or, you can suck it up and just enjoy something ooey and gooey and chocolately, which describes these brownies pretty accurately.

If you are on a low-fat or soy-free diet, you will also love these brownies — they use no oil or egg replacer.

What do they use instead? Black beans.

So, they’re actually kinda sorta good for you, in the same sort of way that Vitamin water or baked potato chips are good for you. As in, not really good for you, but not as bad as some alternatives.

I’m not going to say these are the best brownies on the face of the planet. They aren’t. They lack the oily crumb that makes full-fat brownies, fudgey and cakey alike, so delicious. You probably wouldn’t request these brownies as part of your last meal.

They’re also sort of polarizing: some people will gobble down, like, 5 of them, while others will take a bite and leave the rest untouched on their plate — I served them at a party and this is exactly what transpired.

So why am I posting such a love-’em-or-hate-’em-recipe that even I say is not the most delicious thing since the dawn of time?

Well, mostly because I’ve been curious about black bean brownies and wanted to report the facts and only the facts, ma’am. And I suspect you may be curious about them too. Plus, I feel that the spirit of VeganMoFo is an honest representation of everything you’ve cooked — what vegans really eat.

Also, they’re really good for what they are: a low-fat dessert — low fat desserts are never going to be as scrumptious as their full-fat alternatives.

Smother them in So Delicious coconut frozen dessert and hot fudge and call it a brownie sundae and you’ve got it made. That sorta defeats the purpose of low-fat, but increases the deliciousness factor. Or, stir them into a blended frozen banana.

I used No Meat Athlete’s black bean brownie recipe using all purpose flour instead of whole wheat and walnuts instead of hazelnuts, and added chocolate chips for a little extra decadence.

My college dining hall served some pretty killer dessert options, and these babies were one of my favorites.

In fact, I credit magic bars for ending my first foray into veganism. And also for 7 of the freshman 15.

After going vegetarian my freshman year, I deviated back to pescatarianism during my junior semester abroad in Russia because reliable sources told me I would starve in The Motherland if I did not — I wouldn’t compromise now, but I was young and naive then.

Despite allowing fish into my diet, I still consumed an insane of dairy in Russia. What, no meat? Why, serve her some cheese, comrade!

I ate dairy products I never would have eaten in the US. For example, I remember sitting in a small cabin above the arctic circle two ours outside of Murmansk, eating condensed milk on thick crackers, with a local repeating over and over “sgushonoye malako… sgushonoye malako… gushonoye malako” — condensed milk — before I could finally remember how to say it.

When I returned home, I was so disgusted with dairy — not from any ethical standpoint but just the bloated over-consumption of it — that I gave it up. And eggs, just for good measure. And I ate vegan all summer, aided by muffins and cookies from Nabolom.

But that all ended the day following my return to campus when the dining hall served no other than magic bars, those rich confections of chocolate and coconut atop a crust of buttery graham, bound by a sweet web of… sgushonoye malako. I caved.

I’ve managed to recreate almost everything I enjoyed before going vegan, but condensed milk has been the proverbial thorn in my side, being the one item that I could not find a vegan substitute.

But someone made a vegan condensed milk, and my little vegan world is full of magic (bars) again.

Vegan Magic Bars

Adapted from AllRecipes

makes 9

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup  margarine, melted
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 (330 ounce) can condensed soy milk
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine butter and graham cracker crumbs, and press into a greased 9″ x 9″ pyrex dish.
3. Pour condensed soy milk over crumbs.
4. Evenly cover with chocolate chips, walnuts and coconut.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until coconut is toasted.
6. Refrigerate until cool, then cut into squares.

Susan tweeted her pleasure at the number of cats in VeganMoFo posts, but that there could always be more. Zeno crawled into my light box while I was taking photos, and was happy to pose for the camera.

Avocado? In a dessert? Whaaaa…?!

No, this chocolate mousse from Love Veggies and Yoga does not taste anything like an after-dinner guacamole. The avocado gives the body a rich lightness, but coco powder and agave nectar completely mask any avocado flavor. It’s all chocolate, baby.

Seriously, one bite of this raw, egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, corn-free, tree nut-free, peanut-free, processed sugar-free chocolate confection will prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can eat decadently on any diet, no matter how many restrictions. (Unless you’re allergic to avocado, in which case… I pity you.)

Proof: a friend is allergic to gluten and cane sugar, among other things. I’m vegan. Finding the common denominator of foods we can both enjoy can be tricky, but not impossible. For her birthday this past weekend, I whipped up a batch of VCTOTW’s chocolate gluten-freedom cupcakes made with palm sugar and topped them with this chocolate mousse and raspberries.

Success.

Cupcake photo by Carlos Sanchez, who is a talented professional photographer, so I probably shouldn’t be stealing his photos, but they’re my cupcakes, so… sorry, Carlos.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse — from Love Veggies and Yoga

• 4 Avocados
• 2/3 c cocoa powder
• 1 and 1/3 cups Agave
• 1.5 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

You can sub out another liquid sweetener for the agave — I subbed 1/2 cup of maple syrup for 1/2 cup of the agave in mine.

I have two BBQs and a birthday party to attend today. [I'm not used to being this social.]

So, I baked cupcakes. All recipes are from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

One batch of the book’s Fluffy Buttercream Frosting produced enough to top 36 cupcakes (errr, 34 — David and I each ate one un-iced). I mixed up everything for a single batch except for the extract, then divided it into thirds and added extracts, food coloring, and additional ingredients accordingly. (Since the recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, it ends up being 1/2 tsp extract per 1/3 of the recipe).

Coconut

Start with the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes. Sub out 1 tsp of the vanilla for coconut extract. Adding some shredded coconut to the batter would probably be nice, but I didn’t do so. Sub out half of the vanilla extract in the 1/3 batch of frosting for coconut extract (1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp) and add a couple tablespoons shredded coconut. Frost with a 1M tip.

Lemon

Start with the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes. Add a lemon zest (≈1/2 a lemon) to the batter and sub out 1 tsp of the vanilla for lemon extract. Sub out half of the vanilla extract in 1/3 batch of frosting for lemon extract (1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp) and add the zest of the other half of the lemon and a couple drops of yellow food coloring. Frost with a #21 tip.

Gluten-free chocolate

The batter tastes strongly of flax, but baked these cupcakes turn out marvelously; not to be cliche or anything, but they are so moist and tender that I really can’t tell that they are gluten-free.

I needed to sub garbanzo bean flour for the quinoa flour Isa+Terry recommend, though the result is still delicious. Something to note: tapioca flour (as called for in the recipe) is the same as tapioca starch. I prepared the frosting following the directions 100% and added food coloring to get a green color, then striped my pastry bag with blue food coloring for the contrast. Frost with a 1 M tip.

Green and blue are my frisbee team’s colors (BBQ #2); since I’m terrible at frisbee, I wanted to show them that I’m at least good at something — baking.

If you’re looking for a cute way to control dessert portions, look no further than brownie pops.

Brownie pops are an easy trick to transform a regular plate of brownies into something a little more elegant and fun– a sweet treat on a stick.

I baked a batch of these for the most recent Sidecar for Pig’s Peace bake sale. Hope they raised some money for the piggies!

You’ll need:

• 1 recipe for brownies
• brownie pop mold
• cookie sticks
• chocolate chips, for melting
• decoration

You’ll do:

1. Preheat oven to whatever temperature your brownie recipe tells you. For the one I have linked above from VegWeb, it’s 350 degrees.
2. Mix up your brownies.
3. Fill each section of the mold about 2/3 full.
4. Bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, insert a stick into each one and bake 10 minutes more.
5. Cool brownies and remove from pan. Repeat with remaining batter.
6. Melt chocolate and dip brownies in it. Roll in some sort of decor– I used coconut, but sugar sprinkles or those tiny colored balls would be cute. You can really decorate them how you want; some folks get clever, but the lazy method is just as tasty.

Remember how in elementary school everyone got a valentine on Valentine’s Day?

You’d construct mailboxes out of paper or shoeboxes, and then at lunchtime on February 14 the whole class would deliver their little notes of friendship and love.

Most of your haul were probably the crappy commercial-type cards– characters from cartoons or popular movies, with some cheesy saying and the sender’s messy handwriting signifying who it was too or from.

Maybe you (or your mom) made even your own. I think I did that one year, and then never again– you know how many kids are in a California public grade school class? That’s a lot of doilies and glitter.

Things are a little different as an adult, but perhaps you still want to give your coworkers a little something special. Like I’ve said before, I’m not really into Valentine’s day from a romantic perspective, but it’s still fun to give people things.

Since you don’t want them to know you have no life, making everyone a homemade Valentine is not an option, and the “I love you beary much” and “take a walk with me” messages on the seemingly innocent little pieces of cardstock sold at the grocery store, while perhaps appropriate for the 3rd grade crowd, become a recipe for an employment lawsuit.

(Not to mention the discomfort associated with giving Awkward IT Guy a holographic gorilla proclaiming him to be a “wild animal”– yeah, that’s an actual Valentine I didn’t buy at Walgreens.)

The go-around is to make bon bons.

Okay, they do take a bit of effort, but it’s the acceptable kind– the sort of effort that involves chocolate and crumbled sandwich cookies.

Much better than corny cards from a box. (Though yeah, I did give some of those too.)

Vegan bon bons (From Food.com)
makes 20-25

• 1 (1 lb) package Newman-Os
• 8 ounces Tofutti Cream Cheese
• 16 ounces chocolate

1. Crush cookies in a food processor or a zip-lock bag. You’ll be tempted to eat a few. Don’t.
2. Mix cream cheese in with crushed cookies.
3. Roll into small balls and place on waxed paper on a cookie sheet; place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Melt chocolate.
5. Dunk balls in chocolate and place back on waxed paper. Allow to cool.
6. Optional: melt a second flavor of chocolate (like vegan white chocolate, if you can get it) and drizzle over balls.

Three words: chocolate raspberry ganache. Make that four words: vegan chocolate raspberry ganache.

These make an incredibly rich and decadent dessert for a party or other special occasion– maybe a New Years’ Eve party? (more…)