Mar

Donuts from scratch!

I love donuts! I was really excited during fall season last year when I was inspired to make deep fried cidar donuts. I bought organic ingredients from Trader Joe’s and was thrilled to smell the heavenly aroma from the dough I kneaded. I knew it would be nothing short of spectacular. Shortly after I had rolled out the dough and cut the donuts, I ended up with a overly deep fried mess.

Bummer. I realized that frying donuts at the perfect temperature and being able to cook them through evenly is quite challenging.

So, I found a vegan donut recipe from Chef Chloe Coscarelli that is pleasantly surprising. Although I am a fan of commercial donuts, these baked donuts are nothing less than satisfying. The feeling of guilt after eating this particular donut just doesn’t happen as it does for the deep fried ones. In fact, the donut feels healthy and wholesome. To learn more vegan recipes, please visit http://www.chloecoscarelli.com.

Check out the process below!

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups all purpose flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup soy milk, 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup apple cidar vinegar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Dough).

1/4 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons soy milk (Glaze).

Toppings: anything you like!

Directions

1. Set oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix dry ingredients

3. Mix wet ingredients

4. Grease 2 donut pans holding 6 donuts per pan.

5. Put wet to dry ingredients and mix. Do not over mix it.

6. Take a few plastic bags and stuff the dough into the bag and tie the end. Cut the tip.

7. Pump the dough out into the donut pan per each donut.

8. Put donuts in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

9. While donuts are baking, clean up!

10. Set out the glazing ingredients.

11. Take the chips, soy milk and melt.

12. Take it out the glaze mixture of the microwave or double broiler and add the powdered sugar mixing until smooth. Set aside for 10 minutes.

13. Take out donuts and let them completely cool.

14. Dip the top of the donut into the glaze and turn it around with your hand to wipe of the excess. Immediately top with your favorite toppings!

Don't forget the nutmeg:)

Mix all the dry ingredients!

Mix all the wet ingredients!

Gooey and sticky dough.

Getting ready for donut shapes.

All doughed up and ready!

All baked and ready for dipping!

Glaze time.

All melted down!

Let the dipping party begin!

Slam dunk!

Beautiful.

418 days ago Short URL Comments

Desserts!

chocolate/delicious!/Dessert/donuts/vegan

Mar

Cocoa Powder = Miracle Powder

I had an itch for chocolate today, but wanted to go for something rich and dreamy where you lose all sense of reality.

I decided to mix up Chef Chloe’s chocolate frosting from her special ‘Chocolate Layer Cake’ and add it to her cake recipe for her ‘Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes.’

The results were chocolate heaven.

For more information please visit: http://www.chefchloe.com

Check out the process below!

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 cup coconut milk, ½ cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (Cupcakes).

1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (dairy-free), 1 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, 3 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 2 to 5 tablespoons soy milk (Frosting).

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together separately. Mix wet ingredients separately. Add wet to dry ingredients and mix (do not over mix).

2. Line 1-2 cupcake baking pans with 12-14 liners depending on how much you want. Make sure each cup is 2/3 full. Bake between 16-18 minutes. Poke a toothpick after baking and make sure it comes clean or with a few crumbs.

3. While cakes are cooking, clean up!

4. Melt 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips in the microwave. Watch it closely so that it does not set on fire! Let your chocolate cool down for about 10 minutes.

5. Get your frosting together now. Put the shortening and pulse while adding the powdered sugar. Then add the vanilla.

6. Add the cooled melted chocolate to the frosting mixture and pulse.

7. One tablespoon at a time, add the soymilk until the frosting reaches the consistency that you want.

8. Pull the cakes out of the oven and let them cool completely. Frost them with your frosting and add garnish if you like!

See the pics below!

423 days ago Short URL 3 Comments

Desserts!

Chef Chloe Coscarelli/chocolate/cupcakes/delicious!/Dessert/vegan

Mar

Sea Salt My Chocolate Please!

I am so happy to receive my pre-sale cookbook ‘Chloe’s Kitchen’ from my favorite vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli this morning!

Chef Chloe is currently on tour across the country to promote her new book. She made a recent visit to NYC for a book signing and I’ve begged her to come to Chicago. I stumbled upon her recipes by accident when I was on the hunt for the perfect vegan cake. Since then, I have had a love affair for vegan desserts and am thrilled to now have more goodies to try out. Why is Chef Chloe so great? Her desserts are simple, light and insanely good. And more importantly, everything I have made from her thin mints to lemon cake have been devoured by, well you know who you are!

Please visit www.chefchloe.com to learn more!

Today I am going to experiment from her new book and try the ‘Sea Salt Toffee Bars.’

Ingredients:

1 cup flour, 1/4 cup vegan margarine, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup chilled vegan margarine, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Shortbread crust).
1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup vegan margarine, 4 teaspoons soy milk (Caramel).
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (dairy-free), sea salt (Topping).

Process:

Shortbread Crust

1. You’ll prepare a shortbread crust by pulsing all the ingredients above in a mixer. Next, press it into an 8×8 pan lined with parchement paper that extends over the edges of the pan and bake it 16 minutes minimum until edges are golden at 350 degrees. Once it is finished cooking, let it cool down. Once cooled, put the crust in the fridge.

Caramel

2. Separately, you’ll pull all the ingredients for the caramel in a saucepan under medium heat until melted while mixing. Step up the heat for 1-2 minutes to let it boil. Let it stand for 10 minutes.

3. Once the crust is cooled and the caramel is cooled pour it over the shortbread crust. Put in the fridge to set.

Topping

4. Take your 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate load it in a microwaveable bowl and heat. Length of time depends on your microwave so don’t set it on fire!

5. Take the shortbread out of the pan by pulling on the edges of the parchment paper and pour the chocolate over it and sprinkle with the sea salt.

6. Put in the fridge to harden. Once hardened, cut with a knife into squares.