Tag Archives: cocoa powder

Vegan MoFo 2017 Week 2, Day 9: Behind the Scenes: Unicorn Must-Haves

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Unicorn, Vegan MoFo 2017 and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello, Fluffy the Vegan Unicorn is here!

This week’s MoFo theme is “Behind the Scenes.” This means you’ll be getting tips, tricks, tools, and must-haves, as well as some sneak peeks at the idea for the book Laura is writing with me.

Today we are looking at some of the must-haves for a magical unicorn-inspired kitchen. Some of these things we will be going into more detail later in the week. Those items will be starred.

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Here’s a photo of my “unicorn poop” sugar cookies…

Natural vegan food coloring. Whether it is the from the powders and recipes I talk about here, or storebought colors such as India Tree, Color Kitchen, or TruColor.

Cocoa Butter. This is used to make various vegan white chocolate recipes, some of which will be shared at a later date through this MoFo. I will only buy cocoa butter by brands recommended by Food Empowerment Project, or are fair trade and sourced outside Africa, since F.E.P. seems to be more about ready-to-eat chocolate rather than raw ingredients like Cocoa Butter. I do need to research this topic a bit more to be more clear on the matter.

Marshmallows. Let’s all take a moment of silence for Sweet and Sara Vegan Marshmallows getting ready to close…………..Okay. So, unfortunately, we won’t have dried rainbow-colored cereal marshmallows for much longer 😦 but we will have Dandies and Trader Joe’s vegan marshmallows. Dandies make special edition flavors sometimes which are really good and has good mini marshmallows that you can use for lots of Unicorn-friendly recipes. If you can only find the large pillowy vegan mallows near you, you can always cut them smaller for certain recipes that need mini mallows.

Vegan Sprinkles.* More on this in its own post, due Wednesday, October 11. All different kinds. And colored sanding sugar.

Unicorn shaped cookie cutters.* How else will you make unicorn shapes? More on these tomorrow.

Lots of sugar. This is self-explanatory. Make sure it’s always organic/vegan.

There’s probably a lot more I should mention, but this is a good start of the basics for now.

 

 

 

 

 

My own vegan brownie recipe!

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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i have been very picky with vegan brownie recipes. Honestly, I haven’t found a good enough recipe and I’ve tried a lot. So, I decided to take the plunge and create my own. I really had no idea how it would turn out and got so nervous…I decided to try making plain brownies before I try to make them fancier for a secret recipe I’m currently working on for an Earth Balance baking contest. I decided once I made these that they’ll do the trick for that purpose, and wanted to share the recipe now for just the brownies, because I think they did come out pretty good for vegan brownies. My mom has a family recipe she uses that aren’t vegan, and I looked at that to get some ideas, but her recipe has way too many eggs to be able to veganize, as well as way too much margarine for my liking.

So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup vegan white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp flaxmeal
  • 6 tbsp water
  • 1 stick (8 tbsp, or 1/2 cup equivalent) earth balance margarine, melted
  • 1/3 cup applesauce
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup non-dairy milk

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix dry ingredients (except flaxmeal) in a bowl together.
  3. Make 2 flaxmeal “eggs” by whisking the 2 tbsp flaxmeal and 6 tbsp water together. Let sit until thick.
  4. Mix flaxmeal “eggs” and the rest of the wet ingredients into the dry. It should have a runny yet thick consistency.
  5. Place in a baking dish sprayed with oil.
  6. Bake brownies for 20-30 minutes. I recommend after 20 minutes starting to check with a toothpick inserted into the middle until it comes out clear every five minutes and adjusting the time if it seems it will be done in less than 5. I find that ovens can vary drastically from oven to oven, so I want to make sure it works for you and say this! 🙂
  7. Take out of the oven when done. Let sit until cooled most of the way or fully, and slice, and enjoy!