Tag: dessert

Cinnamon Candied Almonds

Cinnamon Candied Almonds
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Cinnamon Candied Almonds

Recipe by LisaCourse: Dessert, SnacksCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs raw almonds

  • 1 cup brown sugar

  • 1 cup granulated sugar

  • 2 Tbsp vanilla extract

  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 1 1/2 tsp salt

  • 2 egg whites

Method

  • Preheat oven to 250 F. Beat egg whites until soft-peak stage.
  • In a bowl, combine sugars, cinnamon, and salt.
  • Mix almonds into egg whites and stir to coat. Add sugar mixture and stir to combine.
  • Line a baking tray with a silicone baking liner. Spread almonds in a single layer. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
  • Let almonds cool before packaging.

Maple Peanut Butter Eggs

Maple Peanut Butter Eggs
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Maple Peanut Butter Eggs

Recipe by LisaCourse: DessertDifficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • Peanut Butter Filling

  • 1 cup chunky peanut butter (unsweetened)

  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

  • Maple Chocolate

  • 4 oz 100% cocoa bakers chocolate

  • 2 tbsp coconut oil

  • 1/3 cup maple syrup

  • 1 tbsp maple sugar

Method

  • Line a plate with clingfilm or wax paper
  • Combine the peanut butter filling ingredients and mix to combine
  • In a double boiler, melt coconut oil
  • Add chocolate to coconut oil and melt
  • Stir in maple syrup and maple sugar
  • Take about a tablespoon of peanut butter mixture and roll into an egg shape
  • Roll peanut butter egg in chocolate to coat
  • Carefully remove coated egg from chocolate and place on lined plate
  • Once all eggs are coated, refrigerate for a few hours to solidify

Notes

  • Because coconut oil is used in this chocolate, it has a very low melting point — it’ll make a mess if you hold it in your hand as you eat it. Replacing the coconut oil with butter would raise the melting point.

Peanut butter and carob hummus

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup carob powder
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • pinch of sea salt

Method

Place everything in the bowl of a food processor and run until you’ve got a smooth paste.

To get really smooth hummus, I cook the garbanzo beans in a pressure cooker for about 35 minutes with at least 20 minute of natural depressurization.

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Anya says these taste like peanut butter / chocolate / oat cookies. And it’s great for dipping anything that goes well with chocolate (strawberries, apples).

Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (80 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, natural or Dutch-process
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large cold eggs
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

Set up a double boiler with barely simmering water. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in the double boiler. Stir mixture occasionally until the butter has melted and mixture is quite warm and looks a bit like chocolate.

Remove the bowl from heat and set aside for 3 to 5 minutes to cool slightly. Stir in vanilla with a spatula. Then, add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks shiny and well blended, add a tablespoon of flour at a time, stirring until fully incorporated between additions, then vigorously beat with a spatula for an additional 50 strokes.

Pour batter into prepared pan, then drop spoonfuls of peanut butter into the batter. With a knife, swirl the peanut butter into the batter.

Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out almost clean (you want it to be a little moist with batter). Cool completely then remove from pan. Cut and serve.

Maple Custard Tart

I’ve seen custard tarts topped with apple “roses” and wanted to make something similar for our Christmas dessert. Since we made our own maple syrup this year, I wanted to use a maple custard. We had a big bag of walnuts, so I used those for the crust.

Maple Custard:

  • 1.5 cups whole milk
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 3T corn starch
  • 1t vanilla extract
  • 1/4t sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a double boiler (or a metal bowl on top of a pot). Select a medium heat (‘4’ on my cooktop). Whisking constantly, heat custard until it thickens. Remove from heat, cover with cling film, and refrigerate.

Apple Roses:

  • 2 apples
  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup melted butter

The instructions used a mandolin to slice the apples, I used a spiral food slicer. Worked well. Combine orange juice, butter, and sugar in a bowl and mix. Gently stir in apple pieces so they are covered. Let sit for 10 minutes.

To assemble – spread custard into cooled pie crust. Curl apple slices around themselves to make rose shapes and gently press into custard.

I used a walnut crust for this pie — it’s a great combination.

Pies

Again this year, no one wanted to make the pumpkin pie for Anya’s preschool feast. So I volunteered. I didn’t want to make the same pie a few days later for our dinner.  A bit of Internet searching and I found a dairy free pie for her class and a carrot pie for us. Both were incredibly good.

Because these are custard fillings, I blind baked the crusts. When dough is in pie plate, lay aluminium foil over the whole thing. Pour white sugar into the lined pie plate. Bake at 350 — 40 minutes for non-refrigerated coconut oil crust, 60 minutes for butter crust that was refrigerated for an hour after being placed in pie plate. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and pick up the aluminium foil with the sugar & dump it back into the sugar bag. Since the crust is already baked, I covered the pie’s edges with aluminium foil to bake the completed pie.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie – adapted from https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/11/04/healthy-pumpkin-pie-recipe/ and http://minimalistbaker.com/coconut-oil-pie-crust/

Pie Filling:
20 oz pumpkin puree
14 oz can coconut milk without emulsifiers
2 tbsp ground flax (or 2 eggs)
1/4 cup rolled oats, powdered in food processor
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup solid coconut oil
6 tbsp ice cold water

Crust:
Put about half a cup of water into a glass and place in freezer.
Mix salt and flour, then use a pastry blender to cut in coconut oil.
Add 4 tablespoons of water from freezer and mix in. Add a little more water, a teaspoon at a time, until dough forms.
Split dough in half, wrap with clingfilm, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove from refrigerator and roll out dough. Place into pie plate and bake for 30-40 minutes until it is cooked.
Remove crust from oven and allow to cool while making filling.

Filling:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Drain watery liquid from tin of coconut milk and reserve. Combine coconut milk solids with pumpkin puree and mix to combine.
Add sugar, spices, vanilla, and salt. Mix well.
Add ground flax seed (or egg) and mix. Pour into pie crust, cover crust edge with aluminium foil, and bake for 30-50 minutes until pie has mostly set.
Cool, refrigerate for 4+ hours.

A lot of kids really enjoyed the pie (it never occurred to me that “picky eating” extended to pie … but I learnt last year that, yeah, a lot of kids won’t eat pie. Especially not a pie that’s got any sort of could-be-a-veggie in it. For a normal snack/dessert, I make the filling, put it in ramekins, and steam it in the pressure cooker. Same flavour without the trouble of making a pie crust.

The recipe made two “normal” sized pies (i.e. not deep dish), and there was plenty for twenty people (sixteen kids, four adults). With enough left over that all three of us got a slice after class 🙂 Since I expected to have pumpkin pie on Tuesday, I wanted to make something different on Thursday. I found a carrot pie at http://www.craftycookingmama.com/carrot-pie-perfect-fall-holiday-pie/ and adapted it a little bit. I used the all-butter crust from Smitten Kitchen.

1.5 lbs carrots
2 T butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp tapioca powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Boil carrots for 20-30 minutes until they are tender. Drain water & return to heat to evaporate excess liquid.
Place carrots, butter, and cream in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and puree until well mixed.
Pour into cooled crust and bake at 350 for 60 minutes until pie is set (knife inserted into centre comes out clean).

Served with maple whipped cream — add a few tablespoons of maple syrup to one cup of heavy whipping cream and whip until stiff peaks form.

This pie was really good too – Scott didn’t realize it was carrot-based until I mentioned it. It’s creamy and spicy and really good. So good we didn’t manage to get any pictures 🙂

Avocado Chocolate Mousse

Mmmmm – I made an avocado chocolate mousse that a friend of a friend sent out. I modified the original recipe significantly: used a lot of carob in place of the cocoa, used maple syrup in place of honey, and used coconut milk in place of almond milk. 

Ingredients:

2 avocados (room temperature)
6 Tbsp coconut milk
5 Tbsp carob powder
1 Tbsp cocoa powder (I used KAF’s triple cocoa powder)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp maple syrup

Method:

Dice up the avocado into large chunks. Combine everything in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Eat 🙂