I had a pastry sheet I needed to use up quickly.
I was in a mood for something sweet, and I came up with this.
The main ingredient of the mousse is avocado!
It works wonderfully.
A couple of avocados were blended with rum, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and coffee.
So delicious!
You get a food idea, and you picture what the end result should look like.
But it always doesn’t work out that way.
I just bought a bag of Cara Cara oranges which are my favorite orange.
They looked pretty good before baking already.
These turned out exactly what I hoped they would!
(And it doesn’t happen too often when it comes to baking.)
I kept the sweetness minimum, so you can really enjoy the flavors but no overpowering sweetness.
Delicious with my homemade vegan butter.
There are a lot of things I enjoy making on weekend, and scone is definitely one of them.
It’s so easy, and it takes no time from start to finish.
There are endless combinations of flavors.
These are strawberry, lemon, and basil.
Last weekend when we had a family gathering, many people said “lemon” is their favorite flavor in sweets.
Well, who doesn’t like lemon, or strawberry, or basil, right?
Perfect when served with black tea.
Flaky, and super flavorful.
Great for breakfast, or any time of the day.
It’s one day early, but tomorrow March 3rd is “Momo-No-Sekku”, or the girls celebration day in Japan.
Because of the time of the year we usually celebrate with things that indicate the beginning of spring.
Lots of pastel colors, particularly pink, are used, from home décor to food that day.
Inspired by the Sakura (cherry blossom) tea, I decided to make some steamed buns and then decorate them with the beautiful Sakura flowers.
These buns were sweetened only with Ama-zake, a traditional Japanese fermented rice, which has intense but unique sweetness.
The buns were accented with the Kuro-Mame from the previous post’s Kuro-Mame tea.
This time I made three flavors: plain; Matcha; strawberry.
All were tasty, but the strawberry was probably my favorite.
Steamed bun is one of my favorite snacks.
They are soft and moist, and satisfying, without oil.
I crushed freeze-dry strawberries and added to the batter.
The color is so pretty.
Have a great weekend everyone.
This is one a few things you see in my blog that was not made by me or eaten at a restaurant.
This ice cream was made by my husband from start to finish.
He is a big ice cream fan.
Today there are actually a lot of vegan ice cream options you can buy, but some of them (particularly the ones he likes) can be quite expensive.
Last Christmas my father-in-law gave us homemade coconut milk ice cream, and that got my husband interested in making ice cream again.
We used to have an ice cream maker, but we got rid of it when we started the plant-based diet.
He recently bought the exact same ice cream maker we had before (well, it worked well), and he has been making pretty amazing ice cream.
This one is peanut butter fudge, and it’s delicious.
You can see the beautiful marble design.
Since Valentine’s Day lands on Thursday this year, we decided to celebrate two weekends, before and after.
So last weekend for our celebration part one I wanted to make a chocolate cake for us to enjoy.
I did a little google research to see if I could make my cake heart-shaped without buying a heart pan.
Well, who knew!
There was a way.
And a relatively easy way.
For the cake itself, I knew exactly what recipe I wanted to try.
Amy’s Vegan Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cake.
She has so many great ideas for Valentine’s day, and I had a very hard time deciding which one of her recipes to try until the very last minute.
But I just couldn’t resist the combination of red wine and chocolate.
This is a two-layered wine-chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate frosting.
I made my own berry filling with a touch of red wine, but other than that I followed the recipe without modification.
I LOVE her whole-food approach.
For instance, the main ingredient of the frosting is such a brilliant idea (I won’t tell you what it is. You have to go to her site to find out!), and probably one of my favorite features of this cake.
Making a cake following her recipe is not just a process but a joyful and learning experience.
I served my cake with wine reduction berry syrup.
This cake was ABSOLUTELY SCRUMPTIOUS!!
I’ve eaten enough delicious vegan foods by now, so I would hate to say “you can’t believe it’s vegan.”
But this cake can be enjoyed by everyone, vegans and non-vegans.
I shared it with my husband and a couple of neighbor friends (non-vegans), and everyone loved it.
Thank you, Amy, for this wonderful recipe!
It was so perfect for our (early) celebration.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.
My husband travels often for business.
Since I work full-time also, we don’t talk much during the day.
But he never fails to let me know when someone gives him interesting food ideas or recipes even when he is away from home.
When he told me about this recipe, I had to try it.
I was so interested in the ingredients, because the list does not include flour!
I didn’t have everything on the list, so I made mine with what I had.
I used maple syrup in place of honey, clementine for orange, jasmine-sencha tea for chamomile, and walnuts for pecans.
I decided not to use chocolate chips, because I wanted to keep it relatively “healthy” but added chopped dried persimmon.
This was SO GOOD!
Even before baking, I couldn’t stop licking the batter-covered spoon.
(I could have eaten the whole bowl of batter!)
I was worried about baking though because there was no flour in the batter.
But it came out just fine.
The texture is different from that of “regular” blondies, but I really liked it, probably better!
Such an awesome recipe.
Thank you, Liz, for sharing.
I had frozen puff pastry sheet in my freezer I wanted to use up.
My neighbor just gave me ripe strawberries that needed to be eaten fast.
And I recently got to make vegan custard cream successfully.
Why not putting all together?
First, the puff pastry.
Perfectly light and flaky.
Thick custard cream first.
And then fresh berries and mint leaves.
The ratio of everything was just perfect!
Simple, fresh, and elegant.
This will be a good dessert option when we have our non-vegan family over for dinner.
I think my father-in-law will like this.
I was pretty set on having savory breakfast this morning.
But once I get some idea, I have a hard time not trying it right away.
I had these beautiful mint leaves in the fridge, and I thought it would be fun to make pancakes with this fresh mint.
And what would be better than chocolate chips to complement it?
So I decided to try this all-time favorite flavor combination, “mint chocolate chip” in pancakes.
No extract.
Just fresh mint.
I pureed it in soy milk in order to get extra mintiness and the smoother texture.
They turned out perfect!
So glad that I had just freshly made a new batch of vegan butter.
They kept the lovely green color.
The mint flavor is there refreshing, but not too overpowering.
Packed with chocolate chips!
This is like dessert for breakfast, and I loved it.
(Okay, not everyday, but it’s appropriate for Sunday!)
Recommended beverage: black coffee.
My husband had just made a fresh batch of home-brewed coffee as well.
Happy Sunday everyone!
Mint Chocolate Chip Pancakes:
1 cup all purpose flour
2-3 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon flax meal
2 tablespoons water
1 cup milk
2/3-1 cup fresh mint leaves (add to milk, use hand blender, and puree)
1/4 cup oil
1/2-2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Cook on a greased pan or griddle, both sides, until cooked through and slightly brown.
Our non-vegan neighbor/friend invited us for a homemade plant-based chili dinner, and I offered to bring a dessert.
She implied that we should celebrate her belated birthday, and I was happy to make a birthday cake for her.
When asked what type of cake she typically likes, she said she usually likes cupcakes that are made with vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.
I know she liked the vegan chocolate mousse I made with avocado, so this is what I came up with.
Boston Cream Pie Inspired Birthday Cake!
Vanilla sponge cake.
Custard cream.
And avocado chocolate frosting.
I made vegan custard for the first time, and I was surprised that you can make delicious custard cream without dairy milk or eggs.
Making Boston Cream Pie was not my initial intention, but when I looked at the final product, it definitely reminded me of that.
I decided not to call it “Boston Cream Pie” mainly because 1) mine has three layers and not two! and 2) mine has a little more decorative touch on top.
When it comes to cake-decoration, my motto is usually the simpler the better.
But this time I decided to put in a little more effort.
And I’m glad I did.
Absolutely loved how it turned out.
It’s a little girly but still elegant.
Unfortunately, our dinner got cancelled, so my friend never got to see or taste this cake.
The bright side is that my husband and I got to keep it to ourselves!
The flavor combination was great.
Many store-bought Boston cream pies tend to be too sweet for me.
But of course, when you make your own cake, you can control the sweetness, which is always a big plus.
I loved my BCP-inspired cake, and I will definitely make it again.
Vegan Custard Cream:
1.5 cups soy milk
1/3 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons vegan butter
1. Combine all the ingredients in a small pot, except for vanilla and butter.
2. Cook over medium heat until it achieves the preferred thickness. Constantly stir.
3. Remove from heat. Add vanilla extract and butter. Mix well. Cool. Refrigerate.
