Vegan Chocolate Cashew Cream Truffles

This post is a few days past Valentine's Day but for good reason. I made these for my husband and since he reads my blog I couldn't post them until after he got them. These are the first of two different truffles I made. They were so simple and easy to make. And they look pretty! Truffles usually require cream but a healthier and vegan option is to make a cream out of cashews. You may say, 'But I just want chocolate truffles, no nutty flavor!' and I assure you that these taste nothing more than pure chocolate. Fudgy balls of goodness! 

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup water

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips 

3 tablespoons maple syrup

Anything you want to coat the truffles in: cocoa powder, sprinkles, crushed nuts, powdered sugar, crushed cookies, melted chocolate, etc.

Directions

The first step is to make a cream out of your cashews and water. Blend the two in a food processor for about 4 minutes, until you have what looks like cream. 

Next you want to melt your chocolate. You can do this in a double broiler or in the microwave like I did. If you do it in the microwave, make sure to stir it every 30 seconds or so. Once the chocolate is melted stir in the maple syrup and the cashew cream. 

The mixture now needs to firm up before you can form the truffles. You can just put the bowl in the fridge but it might take awhile. I transferred the mixture to a square pan so that it was more spread out and would firm up quicker. It will take anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours in the fridge to get firm enough, depending on you refrigerator temperature. 

Once the mixture is firm it is time to shape the truffles. This will get a little messy because you are rolling chocolate in your hands. Make sure anything that you are rolling your truffles in is ready to go. Since I rolled some of my truffles in pink sugar and some in cocoa powder I put each of those things in their own bowl. Now for the messy part! With a teaspoon or melon baller scoop a small amount of the truffle mixture out and roll between your hands to form a ball. You can then roll the truffle in whatever coating you choose. Place the finished truffle in a mini muffin liner or anything else of your choosing. Store the truffles in the fridge and try not to eat them all at once! 

Stay tuned for the next post on the other truffle I made...Peanut butter truffles! Mmmm....

Cookies 'N' Cream Cupcakes

I was anxious to try another recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the Worldand decided to go for the cookies 'n' cream cupcakes. I made the basic chocolate cupcake batter and mixed in a cup of Hint O' Mint Newman-O's that were crushed in the food processor. I then made half of the recipe of the fluffy buttercream frosting and mixed in 1/4 cup of the crushed cookies. Mmmm....

Vegan S'mores Cupcakes

I finally caved in and bought the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. And boy am I glad I did, if only for the S'mores cupcakes I just made! I'm not going to post the recipe (since it's in the book) but pictures I do have.

So basically there is the graham cracker cupcake:

Then I chose to cover that in the Rich Chocolate Ganache Topping. The recipe recommended sprinkling the frosting with chocolate shavings or drizzling the frosting with chocolate. I however wanted more chocolate. After all, real s'mores have pieces of chocolate bars in them!

On top of that I put a spoonful of the Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting, or "the marshmallow":

Finally, I sprinkled graham cracker crumbs on top:

 My husband said they looked like they were toasted marshmallows. I think I'm in love with a cupcake.

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

This has definitely become my default chocolate chip cookie recipe. They're chewy but not cake-like. Yum.  I found it on VegWeb but usually modify it slightly. Today I made a peanut butter version:

Ingredients

.75 cups raw sugar

.75 cups light brown sugar

1 cup vegan butter substitute

1 teaspoon butter

1/3 cups applesauce

2 tablespoons of peanut butter

1 cup white flour

1.25 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

12 oz bag of vegan chocolate chips (it's a lot of chips for the batter so less than 12 oz would be fine)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees. Combine the sugars, butter substitute, applesauce, vanilla, and peanut butter. In a separate bowl mix the flours, baking soda, and salt together. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. After the dough is well blended stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-15 minutes. They should be golden brown. 

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Well, this is my first post!

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup of white flour and .5 cup of whole wheat flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cups applesauce

1/4 cups canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup water

1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line or grease the cupcake pan.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Now add the applesauce, oil, vanilla, and water. Mix well. At this point the batter is going to be split up to make separate peanut butter and chocolate batters. Take about 1 cup of the batter and put it into another bowl. Mix the peanut butter into this batter. In the other batter, mix in the cocoa. Finally, add 2 teaspoons of the vinegar to the peanut butter batter and mix quickly. Then add the remaining 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of vinegar to the chocolate batter and mix quickly.

Divide the chocolate batter evenly into the cupcake pan. Then pour the peanut butter batter on top of the chocolate batter. Bake for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cups vegan butter substitute

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons water

Directions

Mix all ingredients well. Frost cooled cupcakes!