dessert

The Best Vegan Lemon Bars

May 26, 2020 by Katherine Baker 5 Comments

The other week I was searching for a dessert recipe and somewhere along the way, the interwebs suggested the Pioneer Woman’s lemon bars recipe to me. Immediately, I had an intense craving for lemon bars. But of course, most lemon bars are made with egg yolks and butter, and I wanted vegan lemon bars. Not just any vegan lemon bars, but the best vegan lemon bars.

I’ve made vegan lemon bars a couple of times. But in my experience, most vegan lemon bar recipes are raw and made from soaked cashews or almonds.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m down for a raw dessert now and then, but to me, the custard-like texture of the lemon bar filling was missing from the raw nut-based recipes I’ve made.

I also longed for that shortbread-like crust you find in traditional lemon bar recipes. So, I set out to make my own lemon bars with a shortbread-like crust and a creamy dreamy luscious lemon filling.

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Recent Vegan Eats: Quarantine Edition 2

May 2, 2020 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Hi friends! Happy weekend to you. I’m back with another ‘recent vegan eats’ post. If you’re new around here, in this mini series, I share some of the things I have eaten and happened to have photographed in the past several weeks.

As with all posts in this series, this entry is not meant to depict an ideal or healthful diet. In fact, it’s worth noting that this isn’t everything I’ve eaten lately; it’s simply what I’ve happened to photograph with my phone. I simply do these posts to provide entertainment and perhaps some new meal and snack inspirations for fellow vegans and/or my part-time or veg-curious friends.

I apologize for the slight slow down in posts the past couple of weeks. It’s a super busy time of the academic year, and a lot of my life has been all over the place which has left me feeling a bit out of sorts.

Anyways, if you’d like to watch me talk in circles about climate change and zoonotic diseases for 17 minutes, check out this Q&A I did with Planet Forward yesterday.

And now back to the eats! I hope you enjoy! Now onto the recent vegan eats: quarantine edition 2!

Homemade bread

I forgot bread in my most recent grocery pick-up order, so I improvised and made this bread, which was really easy and really satisfying. I ate it all over a couple days, with nut butter and syrup pictured above, and with hummus and avocado (below).

Amy’s Vegetable Soup, salad + more homemade bread

I was craving Panera one rainy evening, and so I heated up a can of Amy’s, made a quick side salad (with a random leftover boiled potato), and enjoyed with more fresh home baked bread. It did the trick!

More bread with Thai Curry Hummus and Avocado

I really ate my loaf of bread quickly! This was a scrumptious quick meal: two thick slices of my homemade bread (toasted) with Hope Foods Thai Curry hummus (which is so incredibly flavorful) and avocado. Paired with a nice green side salad for some veg.

Black Bean, sweet potato and corn salad bowl

I whipped up this fun bowl one evening with a bed of rice topped with mixed greens, some roasted sweet potatoes (seasoned with cayenne, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper), some black beans I cooked from dried in the instant pot with a bay leave, oregano, cumin, and cayenne, some Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn, and some random leftover tortilla strips I had from a Trader Joe’s salad kit. Delicious!

Kung Pao Bowl

I had half a bag of Trader Joe’s Kung Pao Tempura Cauliflower in my freezer that I wanted to use up, so I baked it up all crispy and served it over a mix of wild and cauliflower rice, steamed frozen veggies, and some random leftover black beans, which totally ‘don’t go’ with the meal, but I wanted to use them up, and they helped me add in a bit of protein to an otherwise lower-in-protein meal.

And I drizzled the extra Kung Pao sauce and some buffalo sauce all over the top. The result was a bowl full of deliciousness.

This was a nice change of pace. The sweet-sticky spicy tempura cauliflower is truly something I wouldn’t make from scratch on a regular basis, so the crispy florets of joy really made for a special meal.

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Healthy Brownie Batter Dip

February 24, 2020 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Healthy Brownie Batter Dip that happens to be vegan and gluten-free and also delicious? And made from a handful of ingredients you probably already have in your pantry? Yes, please!

This blog primarily started as a baking blog, hence the name. If you look back to some of my earliest posts, you’ll notice I was all about the sweets.

But since that time, I’ve evolved. I still love to bake, but I’ve also graduated undergrad, gotten two masters degrees, spent years working in the real world, and started a PhD program. As I have evolved through these experiences, my content on this blog has also evolved.

Now, I focus more on disseminating evidence-based nutrition and environmental health science information with a bi-weekly ‘recent eats’ post thrown in the mix. But every once in a while, I still like to share a recipe, just because.

So here I am rambling on and on about my life when you just clicked this link to get the Healthy Brownie Batter Dip recipe. So I’ll stop my chatter and get back to the food.

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Vegan Snickers Cups

July 1, 2019 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Dates (the food) are my favorite. Well, maybe not my favorite ever, but I’d put them on my top 10 list of foods. I love to eat them in date-caramel truffle form, stuffed with nut butter and dipped in chocolate, and/or in the form of these Vegan Snickers Cups.

I bought these extra magnificent dates at Costco recently and have been itchin’ to let them shine in some date caramel type of treat.

I was going to make some scrumptious bars (which now I still want to…maybe next week…) but then randomly had an urge to make Vegan Snickers Cups, aka date caramel, salty crunchy nuts, and nut butter, gently enrobed in chocolate.

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Recent Vegan Eats and Photos from Late May in NYC

June 4, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you, internet friends! Going to do a mini photo/brain dump with some recent vegan eats now that I’m home in Milwaukee for the summer after a very stressful move where literally everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. As the struggle bus was REALLY bumpy last week, a lot of the random snacks I ate escaped my phone’s camera because documenting my protein bars and other random snacks for the blog was the last thing on my mind. Yay good times! These eats pick up where this post left off. I will be recapping my sister’s bridal shower desserts in a future post. I am also working on a vegan Q&A that will be live soon so check back later this week if you’re interested!

And here’s a fun twist: the first person to comment the correct number of times Millie is in this post will get a surprise from me! Now onto the post:

Brunch at ABCV:

Backing up to being back in NYC/Jersey City a couple weeks ago: here is a lovely brunch I had at ABCV with my mom. After going to ABCV for dinner the previous week, I wanted to try their brunch, so the very night I dined there I made a reservation for the following Saturday for brunch.

Verdict: delicious. I would say, though, that I think ABCV shines brighter at dinner, at least based on the two meals I had. Anyways, I had the Vegan Eikorn pancake, which had some strawberries and bananas baked in, some tangy raspberry powder on top, and came with the cutest little beaker of maple syrup and a scoop of coconut cream that melted all over the top. YUM. I love pancakes. These were very good pancakes. They had the texture of a very fluffy thick pancake/muffin that was magical. For $18 though…I thought I’d maybe get more than one.

I also shared the avocado lettuce cups again and had some of my mom’s dosa. I am feeling inspired to up my pancake game, make those lettuce cups, and try my hand at dosa making!

After dining at ABCV, we went to Union Square Green Market and walked around. I hadn’t been in years and it was honestly really nice! I used to live on Union Square my sophomore year at NYU and went all the time. It truly is one of the most magical farmer’s markets.

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Easy No-Bake Vegan Banana Cream Pie

May 5, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

Can you believe that before March 21, 2019, I had never ever laid my mouth on a piece of banana cream pie? Me either! Which is why, when I realized in early March that I had never before had banana cream pie, I set out to make my own! An Easy No-Bake Vegan Banana Cream Pie to be exact.

I made this Easy No-Bake Vegan Banana Cream Pie to celebrate a belated Pi Day with my pals Kari and Lauren. We gathered over spring break for pie, conversation, and a cute baby. It was so enjoyable to connect over scrumptious food. That’s what life’s about after all, isn’t it?

Now, I know this recipe is delayed. I honestly forgot I drafted it last month. I meant to re-take photos, but have been overwhelmed with school, and haven’t gotten around to re-shooting the recipe. I didn’t make this pie the prettiest the first time as I had no intention of snapping photos. However, it ended up turning out positively scrummy and several people asked me for the recipe after I included it in this round-up. So here we are.

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My Favorite Easy Vegan Dessert Recipes

April 12, 2019 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Hello everyone! It’s Thursday night and he fire alarm just went off which meant me + Millie got to hang out with all of our building neighbors in our pajamas while the fire people cleared up the situation. Anyways, thanks to our 10:00pm adventure, I am now fully of energy and in the mood to whip up an easy vegan dessert recipe! I’ve been working on a couple new ones, but while I’m working out all the kinks, I thought I’d share a roundup of my favorite easy vegan dessert recipes from this blog. I hope you enjoy!

…and if you’re hungry for more, check out my ebook, 40 Easy Vegan Desserts, from way back in the day! #shamelessselfpromo

Vegan Levain Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Lucious as can be! Make these beauties with this delicious recipe.

Sunflower Seed Butter Salted Caramel Date Truffles

Probably my all-time favorite easy no-bake snack or sweet treat. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…something about sun butter and date paste together is so magical. Recipe is here.

Vegan Samoas (Caramel DeLite Style) Girl Scout Cookies

These beauties are a take on the original and are made with date caramel. Give them a whirl!

Giant No-Bake Peanut Butter Cup

No explanation needed. Find the details here.

Homemade Vegan LoftHouse Style Frosted Cookies

So fluffy and soft and pretty! Cookie + frosting recipe here.

Vegan Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

…honestly, need I say more? These things are insane(ly delicious). Get the recipe here.

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Wholesome Vegan Carrot Cake with Vegan Cream Cheese Almond Frosting

January 28, 2019 by Katherine Baker 3 Comments

Carrot cake! Vegan carrot cake! Also known as my favorite dessert on the planet (tied with Van Leeuwen vegan ice cream).

My favorite non-homemade carrot cake is from Peacefood cafe (which I ate last weekend!). If you like carrot cake and you’re ever in New York City, go to Peacefood and order their glorious carrot cake, even if you’re not vegan. I promise you, it is life-changing.

This year, I had Peacefood carrot cake the day after my birthday, but I also wanted to make myself a cake for the actual day.

While thinking about my cake, I actually got curious about the origins of carrot cake, and did a little bit of googling. According to Wikipedia, the origins of carrot cake are widely disputed, but most food historians believe carrot cake was somewhat inspired from Medieval carrot puddings eaten in Europe. During the Middle Ages, when sugar became scarce, people began using carrots as a substitute for sugar.

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Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake with Chocolate Buttercream (And How to Veganize A Non-Vegan Cake Recipe)

September 8, 2018 by Katherine Baker 2 Comments

Do you ever just feel the need to eat deliciously rich, Bruce Bogtrotter-worthy chocolate cake? Because I do. That’s where this Vegan Chocolate Cake with Vegan Chocolate Buttercream comes in.

One thing a lot people don’t realize about vegan baking is that it’s actually quite easy to veganize a lot of “conventional” recipes with a few simple swaps.

Non-dairy milk for regular milk, vegan butter in place of butter, and an egg replacement (1/4 cup applesauce or canned pumpkin, 1 tablespoon chia seed or ground flax + 3 tablespoons of water, or 1/4 cup silk tofu, to name a few) for the egg, whipped aquafaba for egg whites, etc, and viola! You’ve veganized your desired “conventional” baked good.

Now, it may take a couple of attempts to figure out which replacements you like best, and/or which ones work best for your old favorite “conventional” recipes, but it’s truly not as scary as it sounds, and experimenting in the kitchen, though it can lead to some epic fails, can also lead to exciting new and wonderful creations of your own.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Bites

August 12, 2018 by Katherine Baker 3 Comments

I love a salty sweet treat. And these peanut butter chocolate pretzel bites are the epitome of a salty, sweet crunchy creamy dream snack.

Bonus: they couldn’t be similar to make. If you can make cereal, you can probably make these delightful nibbly desserts.

All you need is pretzels, peanut (or your other favorite nut) butter, chocolate chips, and some salt. And the only fancy equipment you need a microwave, microwave-safe bowl, and a refrigerator or freezer. Now let’s get into it.

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