Sugared & Stirred

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Vegan Blueberry Crumble Bars

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The last time I made something this fruit heavy was probably last fall (I’m basically on a permanent chocolate and cookie kick). But we love berries at our house. And blueberries have been on sale, which means we’ve been hoarding an abundance of them in our fridge. This also means that sometimes we don’t get to them in time before one of the little suckers starts growing mold. If I’m going to rush to eat a whole carton of blueberries, I want to put them in these Blueberry Crumble Bars.

These bars are seriously simple and will look like you spent more time on them than you will. You whip up an easy dough that will be the base and topping for these bars. Then you’ll toss your blueberries in a few things, put it all together and throw it in the oven! I promise it really is that simple. And they’re vegan and can easily be made gluten-free! In fact, my first recipe test for these was with an all-purpose GF flour blend. Still totally delicious. The base of these bars is sweet and chewy and the blueberry lime filling is perfectly tart. The crumble adds a bit of texture and really rounds it all out. I love these so much I actually ate three of them the day I baked them (it’s fine. they’re small)! I hope you love them, too – happy baking!

Vegan Blueberry Crumble Bars
Makes 16 bars

Crust + Topping
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend)
1 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
Pinch of salt
Blueberry Filling
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
2 Tbsp coconut sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice*
Zest from 1 lime* (optional)
1 1/2 Tbsp tapioca starch/flour (or 3/4 Tbsp corn starch)

1.) Preheat your oven to 350°F and spray an 8×8″ baking dish with olive oil – or other non-stick spray. Line sprayed dish with parchment paper, being sure to leave “handles” hanging over two of the edges.

2.) In a small bowl, combine the melted coconut oil, coconut sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla extract; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a large wooden spoon or spatula until just combined (mixture will be crumbly).

3.) Set aside 3/4 cup of the crumbly dough (for your topping). Firmly press the rest of the dough into the bottom of your prepared baking dish; set aside.

4.) Rinse your fresh blueberries and pat dry. In a medium bowl, combine the coconut sugar, lime juice, lime zest, and tapioca starch until no longer lumpy. Add the blueberries and mix until fruit is well coated.

5.) Add the blueberry mixture to your baking dish, spreading the fruit in an even layer. Be sure to scrape any extra liquid into the dish. Sprinkle the 3/4 cup of crumbly dough over the blueberries.

6.) Bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes or until fruit is bubbling. Allow your bars to cool completely before removing from the dish (using the parchment paper handles) to cut into squares. I cut mine four across and four down, which yields 16 bars. Store the bars in a sealed container at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Bars can be frozen ahead of time and then thawed in the refrigerator – be sure to pop them in the oven for a couple of minutes to re-heat and serve fresh! Enjoy! 

*lemon will work just fine. I personally love the slight lime flavor that the zest adds to these!

Strawberry Chocolate Baked Donuts (vegan option!)

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Since Valentine’s Day is next week, and I’ve recently been very into pink and red desserts over on Instagram, I decided I wanted to come up with a vegan-friendly strawberry baked donut. After a less-than-thrilling first recipe attempt, I came to the conclusion that the donut would just be better if I added cocoa powder. Is this my life now? Adding chocolate to anything and everything because it just makes things better? Anyways, these baked cake donuts are so light and fluffy, they’re basically cake. My toddler, who knows what a donut is, took one bite and decided all on her own that these donuts were in fact cake – she chased me around trying to get a bite of my “cake” – ha!

I added strawberry purée to both the donut batter and the icing. The icing is really where the strawberry flavor hits you, so don’t skimp on the purée! I made this recipe twice in an attempt to perfect the pink icing and both times I ended up with results that just weren’t visually appealing enough for decent photos. BUT that doesn’t mean I didn’t perfect the recipe! And since Valentine’s Day is just a few days away, I really wanted to get this recipe published for you all, even with this one photo. I hope that’s okay with you, and I promise that at some point I will make these again and get more than just a “donut in hand” pic. Happy baking!

Strawberry Chocolate Baked Donuts with Strawberry Icing
Makes 6 regular donuts or ~32 mini donuts

Donuts
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 large egg or 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flaxseed  meal + 3 Tbsp water) if vegan
2 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk
3 Tbsp neutral oil (avocado, grapeseed, light olive oil)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry purée*
3 Tbsp applesauce
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8  tsp fine sea salt
Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp strawberry purée*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-4 tsp nut milk

1.) Preheat your oven to 350°F and spray your donut pan with olive oil (or other non-stick spray). For vegan donuts, prepare your flax egg.

2.) In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar and egg. Add the almond milk, oil, and vanilla extract and whisk until totally combined. Stir in the strawberry purée and applesauce; set aside.

3.) In a medium bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt until no white streaks remain. Add liquid ingredients to dry and gently fold until totally combined, making sure to scrape flour/cocoa off the bottom of the bowl.

4.) Add your batter to a piping bag or ziplock bag. Snip the end and pipe batter into donut pan, filling close to the top. Bake regular donuts at 350°F for 10-11 minutes and mini donuts at 350°F for 6-7 minutes or until toothpick inserted into a donut comes out with crumbs.

5.) Allow donuts to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. I like to turn my pan over and wave it a bit until the donuts fall out.

6.) Once your donuts have cooled, you can make your icing. In a small saucepan, add the powdered sugar, strawberry purée, and vanilla extract. Use a small spatula or whisk to combine the ingredients. If needed, add nut milk 1 tsp at a time until desired consistency is reached – I added around 3 tsp. Keep stirring/whisking until icing is totally smooth and no lumps of powdered sugar remain.

7.) Place icing over a very low heat on the stove and heat up until just warm. Turn off the heat and begin dipping the tops of your donuts. Work quickly and stir the icing as you go along to keep it from crusting. The icing will harden on your donuts very quickly, so if you plan to use sprinkles or other toppings, I recommend having a second person do that part immediately after each donut is dipped. Enjoy your donuts! Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator if it’s warm.

*for my strawberry purée I simply blended 2 cups of whole frozen strawberries that I had thawed at room temperature. The 2 cups of berries gave me about 1 1/4 cup strawberry purée – you’ll only need half of that for this recipe.

Vegan Black Sesame Coconut Milkshake

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So I’ve been on a bit of a black sesame kick lately (i.e. I made black sesame powder from a giant bag of seeds and now I want to put it in everything). They’re nutty and delicious, and there’s just something about making desserts gray that is just so neat to me.

Now black sesame ice cream is nothing new,  but this Black Sesame Coconut Milkshake is vegan, low in sugar, and made with very few ingredients. And it’s delicious! The black sesame powder is like a flavor bomb for this milkshake. That’s why I really only recommend you make the powder yourself. It’s super easy, and you’ll be left with lots of yummy black sesame powder to do as you please.

This recipe does take some major prep time – you’ll need to freeze your coconut cream ahead of time. So if you’re in the mood for a milkshake, like, right now, then this recipe probably isn’t for you. But if you’re willing to wait a day, then read ahead and get to freezing! Happy milkshaking!

Black Sesame Coconut Milkshake
Serves 1-2

1 can full fat coconut cream
3 Tbsp agave
3 Tbsp nut milk
1/4 cup toasted black sesame powder*
Dash fine sea salt

1.) The day before, pour your coconut cream out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze. If your can of coconut cream is separated/solidified, then scoop and pour it all into a heatproof bowl and microwave until smooth; then freeze.

2.) Break up the frozen coconut cream and add the pieces to your blender. Add the agave, nut milk, sesame powder, and salt. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

*Black Sesame Powder

1.)  Toast a bag of black sesame seeds by heating them in a clean pan over medium heat. Stir frequently until you begin to smell the sesame seeds – you should notice a very distinct nutty aroma.

2.) Immediately blend the sesame seeds in a blender or food processor until you have a fine meal. Store “powder” in an airtight container at room temperature. 

Vegan Chocolate-Dipped Orange Shortbread Cookies

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These Orange Shortbread Cookies are flaky, delicate, melt-in-your-mouth goodness! I really wanted to utilize orange + chocolate again this season, because it’s one of my favorite dessert combos. An orange flavored chocolate shortbread cookie came to mind, but then I decided to leave out the cocoa powder and dip the baked cookies in dark chocolate instead! I love the mix of the light cookie with the rich dark chocolate!

My first few attempts at re-creating multiple shortbread recipes with coconut sugar weren’t my favorite. Coconut sugar is so much darker than regular can sugar, and the larger granules don’t lend a good hand to such a delicate shortbread cookie. I ended up using powdered sugar, which is what the original recipe from Epicurious calls for. I don’t find these cookies to be overly sweet, and my favorite part about them is how versatile the dough can be. Leave out the almond extract, replace the orange for lemon, etc – do your thing!

I think these cookies bake best with a thicker cut cookie, and the edges may spread a tiny bit. As soon as my cookies came out of the oven, I carefully (and slowly!) re-cut each one with my cookie cutter to clean the edges up a bit. In other words, don’t expect these cookies to come out looking super sharp. They’re packed full of delicious coconut oil, so they’re bound to spread a bit! As always, happy baking, friends!

Vegan Chocolate-Dipped Orange Shortbread Cookies
Makes ~15 cookies, depending on cookie cutter size

1/2 cup coconut oil, solid
Zest from one medium orange
1/8 tsp almond extract
Pinch of fine sea salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk
2oz dairy-free dark chocolate
1 tsp coconut oil, solid

1.) In a medium bowl, beat the solid coconut oil until smooth and a bit fluffy, around 5 minutes. Using a big wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the orange zest, almond extract, and salt. Sift in the powdered sugar and corn starch and mix with a spoon. Add the almond milk and stir until dough comes together. It will be crumbly. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic and flatten to a disc shape. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2.) Roll your dough between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/4″ or 1/2″ thick, depending on how thick you like your cookies. Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes (I used a 2″ circle), dipping your cutter in flour before each cut (I recommend a non-complicated shape, as you may have to re-cut the cookies post-bake). Gently move the cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet and re-roll leftover dough, cutting more shapes. Once all your cookies are transferred to the baking sheet, freeze them for 10 minutes.

3.) Preheat your oven to 325°F. Bake the frozen cookies at 325°F for 10 minutes. If the edges of your baked cookies look messy, carefully re-cut the cookies with your cutter. It’s important to be extra gentle with this step, because these cookies are quite delicate. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

4.) Once cookies have cooled completely, use a knife to shave your chocolate (make small cuts along the edge). Melt half of the chocolate shavings in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring between each set. Once melted, add the second half of your chocolate shavings and stir until all the chocolate is melted. Add 1 tsp of solid coconut oil, stirring until melted and totally combined.

5.) Line a cooled baking sheet with parchment paper (or re-use the one from earlier). Dip half of each cookie in the chocolate and lay on your baking sheet to set. Immediately zest fresh orange over the chocolate. Alternatively, you can drizzle the chocolate over each cookie or cover your cookies totally by placing them on a cooling rack and pouring the chocolate over each cookie – you will need to melt more chocolate if you choose the pour method. Enjoy! Store leftover cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious

Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Crinkle Cookies

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A couple of weeks ago I had an idea to create and post a bunch of new dairy-free holiday cookie recipes for you all to enjoy. So I’m officially kicking off the Sugared & Stirred 12 Days of Dairy-Free Cookies with these Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Crinkle Cookies! I mean, can it get anymore holiday?! I’ve baked three big test batches of these this week, and I’m nowhere near being over them. They’re made ultra chocolatey with rich dutch-process cocoa and chopped, melted chocolate. They’re the perfect amount of peppermint-y with a delicious mint crunch, thanks to the crushed candy canes I added to the powdered sugar coating – a serious mint chocolate dream.

The recipe for these cookies is pretty straightforward, but be sure to follow it exactly as written as I haven’t tested any ingredient swaps. You’ll want to use dutch-process cocoa (Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa has a new formula that is 100% dutch-process now – check the label) and peppermint extract. Regular mint extract will taste like spearmint, which isn’t what we want here. When it comes to rolling the dough balls in the powdered sugar and crushed candy canes, make sure to double or triple roll them until they are heavily coated. I found that a thin coat of sugar would melt in the oven and come out with less of a powdery, snowy look. Feel free to drop any questions below. Happy baking!

Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Crinkle Cookies
Makes ~26 small cookies

2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 6 Tbsp water)
6oz semisweet dairy-free chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup solid coconut oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp peppermint extract (not mint extract)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp crushed peppermint candy (1-2 candy canes)

1.) Make your flax eggs by combining the flaxseed meal and water in a small bowl; set aside to allow time to thicken. Meanwhile, fill a medium pot with about an inch of water and place over medium heat. Grab a heatproof bowl (one that will sit on your pot of water without touching the water), place it on your pot of water, and add the chopped chocolate and coconut oil. Stir frequently until everything is melted; set mixture aside.

2.) In a medium bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt until flour and cocoa are combined.

3.) Return to your chocolate mixture and stir in the coconut sugar. Add the flax eggs and peppermint extract and stir to combine. Finally, add the dry ingredients and stir until totally combined. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Stir the dough, re-cover, and refrigerate for another 15 minutes.

4.) Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a shallow bowl or dish, mix together the powdered sugar and crushed peppermint candies; set aside.

5.) Remove dough from the refrigerator and scoop 1 Tbsp dough balls, 8 at a time. Roll each dough ball in your hands, warming up the dough a bit, and then, using a spoon, immediately roll in the powdered sugar mixture. Make sure each dough ball is heavily coated before carefully transferring to your baking sheet.

6.) Bake cookies – 8 per standard baking sheet – at 350°F for 6-7 minutes or until cookies have begun to crack and spread. Allow cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 1 minute before moving to a cooling rack. If you’d like to sprinkle a bit more powdered sugar on top, let your cookies cool completely before doing so. Store leftovers in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes