Rawr Vegan White Chocolate

The idea for this chocolate came as I was buying ingredients to make the superfood nut butter cups for a friend. Since I was buying cocoa butter, I figured it was only logical to make white chocolate with it.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I can MAKE raw chocolate with a few simple ingredients. The ingredients were a little (ok a lot) pricey, but it is worth it since they are processed as minimally as possible. In other words, this is real white chocolate.
This recipe was followed almost exactly from Bittersweet Blog.

1/4 cup organic cocoa butter (make sure it is food grade!)
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon maca powder (the author originally used powdered soy milk)
pinch salt

Melt the cocoa butter in a glass bowl over simmering water on low heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour into silicone molds and place into freezer to set. This made 4 heart shaped white chocolates!

Homemade Twix Bars

These are sneakily healthy snack bars. Brittany taste tested them and she expressed a wish that they were healthy. I surprised her when I said that they were vegan, gluten-free, and processed sugar free (well almost)! We then went on to eat the entire tray by ourselves. So healthy is a relative term. The recipe is from Oh She Glows, a great vegan food blog. The dates are an amazing substitute for caramel. No one that ate these could tell and they had such a great flavor.

Crust

• 2 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1/4 cup honey*
• 2 heaping tbsps peanut butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• pinch of fine grain sea salt

Date Caramel

• 1 1/4 cups pitted and halved soft Medjool dates
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower seed milk+ additional if needed
• 1 tbsp raw cane sugar
• pinch of fine grain sea salt

Chocolate Layer

• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tsp coconut oil  

1. Grease an 8 by 8 inch pan and set aside. Mix together the honey, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add pinch of salt. Pour into a large bowl with rice crisp and stir well.

2. Scoop the rice crisp mixture into pan. Wet hands slightly and then spread the mixture evenly and press down firmly until smooth. I put this in the refrigerator while I went to yoga for about 1 hour.

3. Soak dates in water for 1 hour until soft (only if necessary) and drain. Place dates, peanut butter, milk, and salt in the food processor and process until almost smooth.

4. Spread caramel layer over top of the crust until it is smooth and even.

5. Melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a small pot over low heat or in the microwave. Spread chocolate on top of the caramel and place in the refrigerator.

6. If you want these to look like traditional Twix bars, slice while the chocolate is almost set. Brittany and I just left it in the pan and broke it into pieces when we wanted to eat some. Store in fridge.

*The author uses brown rice syrup instead of honey. Since I used honey, the rice cereal layer ended up being more chewy than crunchy but I didn't mind!

Oatmeal Bars

My friend, Lacey, introduced me to these delicious breakfast bars a couple years ago. I've been making them ever since. They are a winter breakfast favorite in our apartment, and it's simple to incorporate various toppings and fillings (nuts, fruit, chocolate, etc)!

2 cups rolled oats
1 heaping cup steel cut oats
1/4 cup flax seeds
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I've seen some recipes online using bananas or applesauce instead)
1 cups vanilla almond milk

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Then add the wet ingredients. Pour into greased baking dish (I use a ceramic one a little smaller than a 9x13 inch baking pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown on top and set.

I like to eat the bars heated up a bowl with some milk, so really it's like a quick way to make a bowl of oatmeal. These are great on the go too.

Beer Bread

This was inspired by Laura's soda bread. Her post actually reminded me that it was St. Patrick's day a couple weeks ago. The recipe is actually from Alton Brown who is one of my favorites from the Food Network. I used to watch that channel all the time back when I was in high school. I substituted some of the flour with some spelt flour which added some great texture. I served this bread with the simple tomato soup from 101 cookbooks. Perfect for a cold spring day!

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 cup spelt flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill

1/2 cup Daiya shredded vegan pepperjack cheese 

12 ounces cold beer, ale or stout (I used Yuengling- yay local beers)

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat the inside of a loaf pan with the nonstick spray and set aside.

Whisk together the all-purpose flour, wheat flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and dill in a large mixing bowl. Add in the cheese and stir in the beer just to combine. The mixture will be bubbly. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the sunflower seeds, if using.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes until the top is golden brown and the bread is set.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Let cool a little longer before serving.