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« Vegan Vittles: January 2012 | Main | Vegan Vittles: May 2012 » Vegan Vittles Mini Shortbread Cups filled with Chocolate Mousse Shortbread Ingredients
Yield: 36 cups Grease the mini cupcake pans. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer until smooth and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, rice flour/cornstarch, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and beat until it forms into a ball of dough. Divide the dough into the 36 cups (a little less than 1T of dough per cup). Use your fingers or a dough tamper to shape the dough into cups. Bake for 20 min at 325degF. Cool before removing the shortbread from the pans.
Yield: Enough to fill 36 cups with some leftover for eating Beat the tofu in a food processor until completely smooth. Add the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. Add the melted chocolate to the tofu and process until completely combined. Pipe the mousse into the cooled cups using a 1M star tip. Garnish with fresh raspberries. Eat the rest of the mousse with a spoon, your fingers, or just piping it directly into your mouth. Be fat and happy. By min | February 5, 2012, 7:15 PM | Vegan Vittles | Link Being vegan, we can't pick up those convenient packages of frozen hors d'oeuvres at the store whenever we're having a get together. There are plenty of time-consuming vegan appetizers you could make (i.e., mushroom turnovers), but not everyone has an entire day to devote to cutting little circles of dough and carefully putting just enough, but not too much, filling in each circle. This is where packaged puff pastry becomes one of the most fantastic inventions ever.  Spinach Swirls Ingredients
Yield: 24 slices Mash the cream cheese in a bowl. Add the spinach, bacon, scallions, and cheese. Mix well. Preheat the oven to 425degF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay out 1 sheet of puff pastry on a cutting board or pastry board. Spread half of the spinach mixture onto the sheet, making sure to keep 1/2" of one long side spinach mix-free. Get the mixture evenly spread all the way to the other 3 edges. Moisten the clean edge with some non-dairy milk or water. Roll into a log towards the clean edge and seal. Repeat with the second sheet of pastry and remaining mixture. This is where it gets a little messy. Make sure your knife is sharp. Cut each log into 12 rounds (approximately 1/2" thick). Carefully transfer the slices to the baking sheet, leaving some room for the pastry to expand. Bake for 15 min or until golden brown. Mine aren't so golden as they could be. I got impatient.  Vegan Pigs-in-a-Blanket Ingredients
Yield: 45 Preheat the oven to 425degF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay your first sheet of pastry on a cutting board or pastry board. Cut it in half. Cut each half into thirds widthwise. Now you have 6 pieces that are each the same length as your hot dogs. Cut 1/2 of your second pastry sheet the same way to make 3 more pastry pieces. Roll each hot dog up and seal the edge. Cut each hot dog into fifths. Lay seam-side down on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 min or until golden brown. Sadly, this leaves you with half a sheet of unused puff pastry. It's not my fault that hot dog packages come in stupid numbers. You can do the math and figure out the perfect number of puff pastry sheets to packages of hot dogs, or you can take that remaining sheet of puff pastry and wrap it around some cinnamon and sugar coated apple slices. You know, whatever. By min | February 5, 2012, 12:19 PM | Vegan Vittles | Link Which is just an uppity way of saying "Napoleon". Not a very seasonal dessert choice, using strawberries in January, but i had puff pastry sheets in the freezer. And hey, it was Chinese New Year, so red's appropriate.  Ingredients
Yield: 2 3-layer mille-feuilles Cut the sheet into thirds lengthwise. The sheets i get are folded in thirds, so i conveniently cut along the fold lines. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake according to package directions. Be careful not to over bake. When cooled, split each layer in half, resulting in 6 layers. Choose the 2 nicest pieces for the top pieces of your millefeuille. Put the mixer bowl and beaters/whisk attachment in the freezer for 20 minutes. If you're using the tofu, put it in the food processor until completely smooth. Add this to your chilled mixer bowl. Add only the coconut cream (not the liquid at the bottom). Mix a little to blend. Add the confectioner's sugar and hazelnut liqueur. Start mixer slow but quickly bring it up to a high speed. Mix until the cream starts to stiffen and form soft peaks. Place bowl in the refrigerator where it will stiffen a little more. Lick the beaters. De-stem and slice the strawberries. Place two sheets of puff pastry on a dish. Spoon 1/4 of the hazelnut cream onto each sheet. Top with strawberries. Repeat with another layer of puff pastry and the remaining cream and berries. Lay the top pieces on each tower. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (or very carefully in the microwave). Use a spoon to drizzle melted chocolate over the tops. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. By min | February 5, 2012, 11:48 AM | Vegan Vittles | Link « Vegan Vittles: January 2012 | Main | Vegan Vittles: May 2012 » |