Raw Chili Chocolate Brownies with (optional) Fudge Glaze

These brownies might be one of my favorite recipes I've shared on the blog yet. They are so rich and satisfying and have a subtle kick to them. I single handedly finished off an entire batch almost by myself. Yes, it was done slowly over the course of a week or two, but still. Simply Delicious.

What to know what's in them?

Almonds

Dates

Raisins

Cocoa

Cinnamon

Chili powder

Agave

Vanilla

Sea Salt

What a beautiful, nutritious list of ingredients! And if you really want these to be a crowd stopper then you can also top them off with my delicious vegan fudge sauce. The sauce hardens and give these brownies a delicious fudge layer on top. But if you decide to keep these raw, then they'll be just as delicious too.

I had quite of few of my friends try these brownies and everyone loved them. That's when I know it's good. I hope you try these! You won't regret it.

Raw Chili Chocolate Brownies

(Serves 16)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almonds
• 1 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 cups dates, pitted (Best when soaked in warm water to soften and then drained)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar

For the Fudge Glaze:

• 2 tablespoons almond milk
• 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips
• 1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Directions:

1. In a food processor, process the almonds until fine.
2. Add in the cocoa powder and process some more. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add in the cinnamon, chili powder and sea salt and pulse a few times.
4. Add in the soften and drained dates and the raisins 1/2 cup at a time, processing each time and scraping down the sides of your food processor bowl often.
5. Drizzle in the agave and vanilla. If you need to add in more agave to moisten the mixture you can.
6. Press the mixture into a 8x8 baking dish and place it in your fridge while you make the fudge sauce. 
7. For the Sauce: Heat the almond milk in a small skillet over medium heat. Once warm add in the chocolate chips and stir until all the chips have melted. Add in the chili powder and stir some more.
8. Pour the fudge sauce over top of the brownies and spread over the top of the brownies.
9. Place the brownies in the fridge to cool and then cut into 16 squares.
10. Keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.

Notes: Recipe adapted from Sweet Sugar Bean.

Eat Consciously,

Faith

One Bowl Vegan Chocolate Cake

I have a baking ego.

I don't know where it came from. For some odd reason though I think I can drastically change a recipe (a.k.a. substitute half of the ingredients in the recipe for different ingredients that I deem "healthier") and still achieve the same result.

It never works.

Thankfully, I still learn a lot in the process and have even had accidents turn into masterpieces. Like this Vegan Chocolate Cake. It was my friends birthday a week ago and we invited her and her husband over for some birthday dessert. I asked her what her favorite flavors and/or desserts were and she mentioned brownies and ice cream.

While her and her husband aren't vegan, they have been in the past and often eat vegetarian meals. Any time we have them over I take advantage of trying out new vegan dishes, because I know that they don't mind meatless meals. More importantly, whenever we have anyone over for dinner I always like to make a vegan dessert. That way I don't sit there awkwardly watching everyone else eat their dessert while they wonder if I have a thing against chocolate. That will never happen. 

So for my friends birthday dessert I wanted to make vegan brownies. I also wanted the ingredients to be ones that I felt good about putting in my body. There are tons of vegan brownie recipes out there that call for two cups of sugar and a cup of oil and I'd rather just not go there. So after a bit of searching I found a recipe that used whole wheat flour, avocado and a little bit of olive oil. I didn't have an avocado on hand so I used unsweetened applesauce instead. I also wanted these brownies to be made only with agave nectar instead of white and brown sugar, so I cut out the white and brown sugar and replace some of the wet ingredients with agave. The batter tasted great and it wasn't as runny as some other brownie batters I've made in the past, so I was feeling optimistic. 

When I checked on the "brownies" close to when they were supposed to be done I realized that they had risen a lot and that it was looking and feeling more like a cake. Whoops. I figured I would just roll with it, whip up some type of frosting or glaze to pour on top and call it a night. I remembered that my mom used to always make this ah-maaaaazing chocolate sauce using milk, chocolate chips and vanilla so I thought I'd make it using vegan ingredients and pour it on top of the cake.

Oh. My. Goodness. The result was one decadent, rich chocolate cake. I didn't want my piece to end! Everyone thought it was a hit and my friend didn't care in the slightest that it wasn't brownies. 

Failure turned success. Finally.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Fudge Icing

(Serves 8)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1 batch Vegan Fudge Sauce or icing of choice

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the applesauce and olive oil until smooth. 
3. Add in the remaining wet ingredients (until vanilla) and mix until combined.
4. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, soda, starch and salt and stir until you get a thick batter.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. My edges cooked quicker so make sure you check the center of the cake!
7. Let the cake cool, remove from the pan and top with Easy Vegan Fudge Sauce.
8. Cut and dig in!

Eat Consciously,

Faith

3-Ingredient Vegan Fudge Sauce!

I'm not going to talk a lot for this post, because this vegan fudge sauce is the star of the show. Seriously, you can put this stuff on anything and it will turn the even the most tasteless desserts into competition winners. 

My mom always made this fudge sauce for us growing up as a topping for our ice cream...which we at every night. I'm not lying. I used to eat a huge bowl of ice cream every night before bed. Actually all three of my siblings and I grew up thinking that was totally normal thing to do. My parents would buy a 5 gallon bucket of vanilla ice cream from Costco and the six of us would eat through that tub in no time. I'd add in sliced banana, whipped cream and this fudge sauce and sit on the couch in heaven. I have no idea how all of us kids didn't end up overweight. Thank goodness our bodies are forgiving when we're younger. 

And thank goodness I recently remembered this recipe and can now share it with you. I don't even know if you'd call it a recipe. There aren't really measurements which, in my opinion, is the wonderful thing about this sauce.

Please try this. Scoop large amounts of vanilla ice cream into a bowl and top it off with this sauce. You'll wish you too had grown up eating it every night.

Tomorrow I'll also be posting a recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cake which uses this fudge sauce as the icing. It's an amazing combination that you won't want to miss!

Vegan Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

• Almond milk
• 1/2-1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place a small sauce pan on a burner and turn the heat to medium-low. Cover the bottom of the sauce pan with a thin layer of almond milk. Slowly increase the heat and let the milk heat up until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges. Don't let it get too hot or the almond milk will start to burn.
2. Pour 1/2 cup of chocolate chips into the sauce pan once the milk is warm and use a whisk to stir. The chocolate chips will start to melt and combine with the milk. If there is too much milk, add another 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips until all the milk is absorbed in the chocolate.
3. Add in the vanilla extract and continue to stir until all the chocolate chips have melted. 
4. Serve warm or store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Picture of how to make it follow:

Pour a thin layer of almond milk into a small skillet until the bottom is covered.

Add in about a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to start.

Whisk together the chocolate chips and milk until they start to combine. 

If there is still excess almond milk, add in more chocolate chips.

Add in the vanilla extract and whisk until all the chocolate chips have melted. 

Serve warm or refrigerate.

Easy Fried Plantains

Right now my house slightly in chaos. Brett and I are packing up all of our belonging while trying to sell somethings in the process. We are also traveling to West Palm Beach for a week the day after we move out of our house. Then right after we get back from that West Palm we are going to China for five weeks! We have so many different trips we're trying to pack for in addition to moving that it's hard to keep things straight in my head. 

One thing that has made the packing process less painful is that I've been taking frequent breaks throughout the day to cook delicious food...like fried plantains! Seriously, yesterday when I was minutes away from finishing up the laundry, I stopped to fry some plantains. I just got hit with intense hunger so decided to run with it. Laundry can wait.

I've eaten fried plantains a lot when overseas and I've even bought plantains a few times in hopes that I'd do something with them, but never did. I was never sure when they were ripe or when I should bake them verses fry them. I saw a little recipe card at the grocery store the other day for Fried Plantains and decided to give it another go. The recipe said to look for black plantains when you are going to fry them. That means they are overly ripe and sweet, but still hold their shape. 

It only takes three ingredients to make this delicious snack: a plantain, coconut oil and sea salt. You can serves these as a side with dinner or eat them as a snack. The plantains themselves are sweet and then you get little hints of salty with the sea salt. Addicting I tell ya!

Fried Plantains

(Serves 1-2)

Ingredients:

• 1 plantain, black 
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
• sea salt (optional, but so good!)

Directions:

1. Peel and slice your plantain on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons of coconut oil in a small skillet over medium heat. 
3. Fry the plantains on one side for about 4 minutes until browned. Flip them over and fry about 4 minutes more.
4. Pour them onto a paper towel lined plate to soak up any excess oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Pumpkin Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

I know the name of this recipe is a mouthful, but I couldn't choose which key ingredient to leave out. The pumpkin makes this pudding so moist and the subtle spice of cinnamon and the chewiness of the raisins are in every mouthful. This bread pudding is healthy enough for breakfast (at least in the VanderMolen household) and was perfect for brunch on Brett's Birthday. We absolutely looooved my Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls so I thought this would be a fun twist on similar ingredients.

I've mentioned a few times that Brett and I are moving to NYC soon, so I've slowly been trying to clean out our freezer. I don't even know who put all that food in our freezer, but it needs to be eaten. One large item in there was a loaf of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Bread. We love that stuff, but go through it slowly, so I still had a good chunk frozen. 

I saw a recipe for a pumpkin bread pudding that included cinnamon and raisins and I thought it would be perfect to use our cinnamon raisin bread for a similar dish. I've never made bread pudding before, but it's really simple. If you've ever baked anything, you can make bread pudding. It's mainly just dry and wet ingredients mixed together and baked to perfection. Simple and delicious.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups (about 10 slices) Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Bread (or other brand)
• 1 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

For the Cinnamon Pecans:

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)
• 2-3 shakes of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray 6 ramekins with cooking spray and set aside. 
2. Rip up the bread into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl
3. Place all the ingredients from almond milk to nutmeg in a blender and blend until smooth.
4. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the bread slices and stir well to combine. Let it sit for about ten minutes to allow the bread to soak up the liquid.
5. Give the bread mixture one last mix and then evenly divide it among the 6 ramekins. 
6. Bake the bread pudding for 40 minutes until the top of the bread is starting to get firm.
7. About 5 minutes before the bread pudding is done prepare the cinnamon pecans by stirring the pecans, sweetener and cinnamon together in a bowl. Spread evenly across a lightly sprayed baking dish and place in the oven for 5 minutes to toast. 
8. To serve, sprinkle the cinnamon pecans evenly on top of the individual bread puddings and dig in!

Notes: This is perfectly sweet for me, but if you want it sweeter for a dessert you can increase the agave nectar in the pumpkin mixture to 1/2 cup.

Adapted from Fat Free Vegan.

Rip up the slices of bread into bite size pieces and place them in a large bowl.

Blend up all the wet ingredients, from almond milk to nutmeg, until smooth.

Pour the pumpkin mixture over the bread, stir to combine, and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Divide among the 6 ramekins.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes and then top with the cinnamon pecans.

Dig in!

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Strawberry Coconut Shortcake: Perfect for a Mother's Day picnic!

I know you're probably thinking I'm confused about my holidays with the red, white and blue theme in the picture, but I did indeed make this Strawberry Coconut Shortcake recipe for Mother's Day last week. And man, it turned out great! 

I had been wanting to experiment with coconut oil and biscuits for a while, but I didn't know if savory dinner biscuits made with coconut oil would work. When I had to make a dessert for Mother's Day I jumped on the opportunity to try out strawberry shortcake with coconut oil. Paired with Coconut Milk Whipped Cream and sweetened strawberries it became an amazing combination perfect for a family picnic outside. 

The biscuits were moist and sweet and gave off the most amazing smell as they baked in the oven. They flattened out more than I thought while they were baking, but were still thick enough to slice and had lots of surface area to layer on tons of strawberries and whipped cream. 

I wasn't sure what my non-vegan family would think about the Coconut Milk Whipped Cream, but everybody loved it and keep reaching for more. That's when I know something I make is a winner. 

This recipe is perfect for spring and summer and will wow your friends. They'll never guess it's dairy free! 

Strawberry Coconut Shortcake

(Serves 8)

Ingredients:

• 2 pints strawberries, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1/4 cup sugar
• juice of 1 lemon

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (+ more for dusting)
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons coconut oil, chilled
• 1 cup almond milk + 1 tablespoon
• 1 recipe Coconut Milk Whipped Cream

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix together the strawberries, lemon juice an sugar and set aside. 
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. Using a pastry cutter or two knives cut in chilled coconut oil until you get a course meal. Make sure there are no coconut oil chunks bigger than pea size.
5. Pour in 1 cup of almond milk and stir to combine. 
6. Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and pour the dough onto the flour. If it's still to sticky, sprinkle more flour on top and continue to turn and add flour until you can handle it.
7. Press the dough down until its about 1 1/2 inches thick. Use a biscuit cutter or a cup to cut out circular biscuits. Cut out as many biscuits as possible and then gather up the scraps, reform the dough and repeat until you get 8 (6 is fine too) biscuits. Brush the tops lightly with more almond milk and then place the biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
8. Bake the biscuits for about 25 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the tops are starting to turn golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.
9. To serve, slice the cooled shortcakes in half, spoon strawberries on the bottom half of the biscuit, cover with the top half of the biscuit and dollop Coconut Milk Whipped Cream on top.
10. Enjoy!

Notes: Adapted from Martha Stewart.

In a large bowl stir together the chopped strawberries, lemon juice and sugar. Set aside.

Whisk together the dry ingredients for the shortcake.

Add in the chilled coconut oil.

Cut in the oil with two knives or a pastry cutter.

Add in the almond milk and stir until dough forms.

Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and add more flour if it's too sticky.

Flatten the dough until it's about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Cut out 6-8 biscuits.

Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Brush with almond milk.

Bake for about 25 minute until the tops begin to turn golden brown.

Let the cool on a wire rack.

Assemble your Strawberry Coconut Shortcake and dig in!

Eat Consciously,

Faith