vegan

Name: Vegan Chocolate Flax Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 47 min
Yield: 12 cookies
Ingredients: 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 Tbsp water); 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (measure solid and then melt); 2/3 cup coconut sugar; 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract; 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup cocoa powder; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/3 cup flaxseed meal; 3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Vegan Chocolate Flax Cookies

April 12, 2019 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

This is a recipe I created around the time I first started recipe testing. Back then, I would try to come up with new recipes off the top of my head. And with that came a lot of trial and error. Baking cookies with coconut oil was super tricky for me at first. Sometimes the cookies would spread way too much, get too crispy at the edges, or even not spread enough!

These cookies have such a lovely flavor and texture. I’d actually forgotten just how good they are. The best part? They’re vegan and packed with good-for-you flaxseed meal! And they’re delicious. Tender, melt-in-your-mouth cookies with lots of chocolate flavor and the tiniest bit of crunch thanks to the flaxseed meal.

I love these cookies, and I enjoyed re-baking them after so long. But you must follow the ingredients and method precisely. You’ll want to measure your coconut oil as a solid and then melt it. If it’s already melted, then pour it into your liquid measuring cup until you have a bit more than 1/3 cup (I know. I know.).

As for the refrigeration, it is mandatory. If your dough is too greasy to handle after it’s first mixed (this has to do with the temperature in your home affecting the coconut oil) pop your scooped dough balls into the refrigerator for 10 minutes before rolling them smooth. Then (no matter what) you must refrigerate your dough balls for 20 minutes prior to baking. Don’t worry, this is all outlined below.

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Flaxseed meal (along with water) makes for a wonderful egg replacement. It’s the only vegan egg replacer that I use when baking. Flax seeds are also high in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids.

Coconut sugar is my go-to low Glycemic Index sweetener. It’s less likely to spike your blood sugar as intensely as cane sugar, honey, or maple syrup.

Coconut oil is a great butter substitute when it comes to cookies. For this recipe, we melt it first to make sure our cookies are tender and soft. If you don’t like the taste of coconut (or just prefer your treats without the flavor) you can use refined coconut oil which has no flavor.

Cocoa powder helps give these cookies that rich double-chocolate flavor. You’ll want to use the natural, regular cocoa powder, or even cacao powder, for this recipe.

Baking powder helps these cookies keep their shape. Be sure to use powder instead of soda.

Yield: 12 cookies

Vegan Chocolate Flax Cookies

Rich and chocolate-y cookies made vegan with high fiber, good-for-you flaxseed meal! These cookies taste so good, no one will be able to tell they're better for you than the average cookie!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 7 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 47 minutes

Ingredients

1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 Tbsp water)
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (measure solid and then melt)
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup flaxseed meal
3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Instructions

Make your flax egg by combining 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal with 3 Tbsp water; set aside to thicken. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil, coconut sugar, and vanilla extract; set aside.
In a large bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flaxseed meal until totally combined.
Stir flax egg into wet ingredients and add wet ingredients to dry. Use a wooden spoon or large spatula to mix the ingredients together. Add 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and mix.
Scoop dough balls 1.5 Tbsp in size onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Roll dough balls smooth and press extra chocolate chips into the tops. Refrigerate for another 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Prepare a second baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer dough balls to room temperature baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 6 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes. Move to a cooling rack. Store leftover in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

refrigerating the dough balls is super important for proper shape! Don't skip this step!

Glazed Orange Almond Muffins (dairy-free!)

April 3, 2019 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

I feel like I say this about a lot of the things I bake, but these muffins are seriously so delicious you’ll want to eat half of the batch at once! The fluffy Orange Almond Muffins are so good all on their own, but then you add the Orange Almond Glaze and OMG it’s one of the best muffins I’ve ever had!!

Anyone else out there remember the orange cinnamon rolls in a can (or still bake them)? We had those a lot growing up, and these glazed muffins took me right back there (in the best way possible!). Lots of freshly grated orange zest and pure almond extract make for a seriously good flavor combo in these muffins.

The recipe is a standard two-bowl set up. You’ll mix your wet ingredients and then your dry, and then gently mix them together. You can play with the amounts of orange zest and almond extract, but after three test batches, the recipe below reflects the amounts I feel are perfect for these muffins.

You can use regular all-purpose flour if you’d like, though the muffins may not come out as fluffy. The coconut sugar can be replaced with white or brown cane sugar or even Stevia in the raw, if you’re into that. If you’re looking for a vegan recipe, then you can simply use flax eggs in place of the regular eggs (see notes).

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Whole wheat pastry flour makes for excellently fluffy muffins and quick breads. These muffins come out light and fluffy thanks to this special flour.

Unsweetened applesauce is a great substitute for oil + adds natural sweetness and moisture.

Coconut sugar is my favorite low GI sweetener, which means it won’t spike blood sugar levels the same way other sweeteners (like cane sugar, honey, and maple syrup) do. It tastes nothing like coconut, so don’t fret if you’re worried about that!

Orange zest gives you lots of bang for your buck in these muffins. It brings powerful and delicious flavor and pretty sprinkle-like pops of orange to the glaze.

Orange juice adds a bit more of an orange flavor to the muffins. I tested the recipe without it but liked the muffins even more with the extra orange flavor!

Almond extract is one of my favorite flavors for cake. It pairs so perfectly with the orange in these muffins that the Orange Almond Glaze will forever replace any other orange glaze.

Yield: 10 Standard Muffins

Glazed Orange Almond Muffins

Fluffy and moist Orange Almond Muffins made with fresh orange zest and pure almond extract, topped with the most delicious Orange Almond Glaze! If you're a fan of orange, then you will love these dairy-free, better-for-you muffins!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

Muffins

2 large eggs
1/3 cup coconut sugar
3 Tbsp light olive oil
2 Tbsp nut milk (or oat milk)
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
1 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp finely grated orange zest (2-4 oranges)

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1 tsp finely grated orange zest (1/2-1 orange)
4 1/2 tsp nut milk (or oat milk)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare your muffin pan with liners or non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Whisk in the olive oil, nut milk, orange juice, almond extract, and applesauce; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gently fold in the liquid ingredients until no flour pockets remain. Add the orange zest and gently mix.
Fill 10 muffin wells with batter. You want to fill them to about a 1/4" from the top. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out with a couple of crumbs. To avoid making multiple toothpick holes, you can lightly tap the top of a muffin and see if it springs back. If it's done, it will spring back without leaving a finger dent.
Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before gently removing to a cooling rack. Allow muffins to cool totally before making your glaze.
In a small saucepan, combine the powdered sugar, almond extract, and orange zest. Add nut milk 1 tsp at a time until you reach a consistency that is thin enough for spreading but pours off a spoon (it will thin more once it's warmed up).
Heat glaze on low heat, stirring constantly, until just warm to the touch. Remove from heat and dip each muffin into the warm glaze, allowing the extra glaze to drip off before turning the muffin over. Glaze will crust within a few minutes so work fast! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

For Vegan: use 2 flax eggs in place of the regular eggs. Mix 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal with 6 Tbsp water; let rest for 5 minutes to thicken.

All-purpose flour will work just fine in place of the whole wheat pastry flour

You will have leftover glaze, but I found that it's easier to dip the muffins if there's a bit more to work with. You can cut the recipe by 1/3 if you'd like

Vegan Blueberry Crumble Bars

February 14, 2019 by Rachael Ng 2 Comments

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!)

February 8, 2019 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

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

January 30, 2019 by Rachael Ng 2 Comments

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

Vegan Chocolate Flax Cookies

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Vegan Chocolate Flax Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Recommended Products

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

Did you make this recipe?

Other recipes you may like:

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake Donuts

Vegan Tahini No-Bake Cookies

Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Crinkle Cookies

Glazed Orange Almond Muffins (dairy-free!)

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Glazed Orange Almond Muffins