Sweet Tooth « MidwestVeg.com

Posted on: November 23, 2011 at 4:02 AM

Filed under: Homemade, Recipes, Sweet Tooth

With: 2 comments

When I first heard about So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk and Coconut Nog I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them! I’m a huge fan of their products so I just knew these two would be amazing. I was right. I mostly drink the mint chocolate milk warmed with some instant espresso. I heat a 1/2 cup of it along with 1/2 cup of the unsweetened coconut milk and 1 teaspoon of instant espresso. It’s seriously amazing! But after seeing lots of people experimenting with the stuff I wanted to have a little fun myself.

First you need to whip up some coconut cream. I suggest following this quick and easy how-to. Then get 2 brownie squares (store bought or homemade) and crumble them. For the mint chocolate pudding pour 1 cup of So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk in a small saucepan with heat on medium. Then in a measuring cup add 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons cornstarch; mix well. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the mint chocolate milk. Bring to a boil continuously whisking the mixture. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once completely cool I popped the pudding in the freezer for a few minutes (flash chill FTW?). Now time for the fun stuff! I used 2 8 oz mason jars. Start with a layer of brownie, then a layer of pudding, and top with the whipped coconut cream. Continue until the jars are full. I had just enough to fill the 2 jars. Garnish with some crushed mint candy and/or your favorite vegan marshmallows. I used Dandies! I swear those things are tiny pillows of deliciousness!

Oh and I actually added the 1 teaspoon of instant espresso to the milk before whisking in the cornstarch. I wanted more of a mint mocha type of pudding. I also used this same method with the nog. Instead of crumbled brownie I used crumbled gingerbread cookies. That was also delicious, but I sort of ate it before taking decent photos. Oops?

Posted on: October 30, 2011 at 4:34 PM

Filed under: Homemade, Recipes, Sweet Tooth

With: 1 comment

Oh how I loved these with my Starbucks coffee weekend mornings. I’d be standing there in line staring into the pastry case debating on whether or not I should. Most times the scone won. But really. Who CAN resist the combination of maple, oats and pecans?

Yesterday the craving hit. I wanted a maple oat scone. BADLY! I had this recipe bookmarked from way back. I’ve been meaning to make them, but scones sort of intimidate me. I’ve made a few that turned out great, but I can’t say they were ‘perfect’. I guess I just didn’t want to be disappointed. Well, with a few tweaks here and there I can honestly say, these bad boys WERE perfect! All 8 of them are gone! Not a single one left. And I was already asked to make more.

Ingredients

1 cup oats, toasted (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF Rolled Oats)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp maple sugar (you can use regular sugar, I just happened to have this on hand)
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
3 tbsp Earth Balance
1 cup pecans, toasted
1 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp water
3/4 cup Silk Pure Almond Milk Unsweetened
1 tsp maple extract

For the glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
2–3 tbsp Silk Pure Almond Milk Unsweetened
1/2 tsp maple extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°.
In a small pot combine the flax meal and water. Simmer until the mixture is thick and syrupy. Set aside.
In a food processor, process the toasted oats until almost finely ground. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and maple sugar. Pulse a few times until well combined. Add the maple syrup and Earth Balance. Pulse a few more times until the mixture is coarse and resembles sand. Add the toasted pecans and pulse a few more times.
Dump the oat mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Grab your pot with the flax meal. Add the almond milk and maple extract. Whisk until well combined. Pour the flax mixture into the oat mixture. Using a rubber spatula, mix until just combined. Don’t over-mix!
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently pat into an 8–10 inch circle with lightly floured hands. Cut into 8 pieces. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely before glazing.

It looks like a lot of work, but I assure you it’s not. Toasting the oats and pecans adds so much more flavor to these scones. The maple sugar is a nice touch too. I was lucky enough to find some in the baking section of Whole Foods a while back. I topped my scones off with some streusel I had left over after making a batch of pumpkin loaf. Some chopped toasted pecans would be great too!

And now the fun stuff. The original Starbucks Maple Oat Pecan Scone contains 440 calories, 18 g fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 490 mg sodium, 24 g sugar and 8 g protein. My version contains 341 calories, 15 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 240 mg sodium, 22 g sugar and 6 g protein. Not too shabby, eh? Of course it would be a lot better without all of that sugar on top. But where’s the fun in that? Nothing a little extra cardio won’t cure!

Posted on: September 8, 2011 at 7:44 PM

Filed under: Homemade, Recipes, Sweet Tooth

With: 6 comments

No! I don’t mean THOSE kind of snowballs. I mean the delicious chocolate cakes filled with marshmallow creme, frosted in even more marshmallow creme and then coated in delicious coconut.

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for quite some time now. I’m not sure why, but yesterday out of all days I decided I just had to make them. Since I’m trying to stay away from sweets I only ate one and brought the rest to my mother-in-law. She’s living far out in the sticks now so she looks forward to any sweets I bring her way. You should have seen her face when she saw these bad boys.

I made a few changes to the cake recipe. For starters I used Earth Balance in place of butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2 cups and Unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk (seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff!). Also, am I the only one who really wants the glass displayed on their homepage hahaha? Anyway, then I used some Ricemellow to fill and frost the cupcakes and coated them in blue(ish) colored coconut. I ran out of red food coloring or I would have gone with pink.

They were nowhere near as difficult as they look. Frosting and filling the cupcakes were a bit messy, but otherwise it was pretty quick and painless. Afterward I popped them in an airtight container and allowed them to chill in the fridge overnight to firm up a bit. I swear they taste just like I remembered. Only BETTER! Good thing I got rid of them though. These guys would have caused me nothing but trouble.

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