Tag Archives: sprinkles

Vegan MoFo 2017 Day 26: Showstopping dessert pizza

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Childhood Favorites, Desserts, Gluten Free, Unicorn, Vegan MoFo 2017 and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Today’s MoFo daily theme for the weekly theme of entertaining is showstopper dessert.

Well, I certainly have one that will stop me, Fluffy the Vegan Unicorn, from having a movie made about me. Yes, it’s that amazing.

May I present you, a recipe for Dessert Pizza.

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Makes 1 huge cookie enough to serve 12 people

Can be made gluten free

This recipe puts my top two favorite things together: pizza and dessert. Except not in a gross, unappetizing way.

My pal Laura remembers a similar recipe from her childhood: a humongous chocolate chip cookie covered in crispy melted marshmallows and candy. Heavenly!


It makes a great gift for all occasions. You can even put it in a leftover (clean) box from your vegan pizza if you have one to make it even more fun.

This recipe works best with a delicate balance of candy, especially with Unreal vegan chocolate quinoa gems, and sprinkles on top of mini vegan marshmallows (Dandies makes these and you can find them in most grocery stores. If you can only find the big ones, be sure to cut them up into smaller pieces before using them). Be careful not to weigh down the cookie with too many toppings.

This comes out really sweet and rich, which is delightful for unicorns who are known for our sweet teeth! Humans, especially the little ones, may get a tummy ache if they eat too much at once.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon flaxmeal
  • 3 tablespoons warm water
  • 1/2 cup white vegan sugar
  • 1/2 cup organic brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup melted refined coconut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or for a gluten-free version, Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour
  • 6 oz vegan Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P) recommended vegan chocolate chips
  • About ⅔ of a bag of Dandies vegan mini marshmallows
  • Other vegan candy like Unreal’s vegan chocolate quinoa gems, peanuts, chopped up candy bars, etc.
  • Plenty of rainbow sprinkles!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk the flaxmeal with water in a small cup. Let sit and whisk several times until gelled. Voila! Magic vegan cookie binder. Now mix together the sugars, melted coconut oil, and flaxmeal binder. Slowly and carefully stir in the baking soda and flour. Sprinkle the chocolate chips into the batter. Now it’s time to make a giant cookie bigger than the face of a human! On an oiled and large flat baking sheet or pizza pan without holes, place the dough in a ball on top. With your fingers, press the dough into a thin, round, giant cookie the size of a smallish pizza crust. When the crust is formed, place handfuls of marshmallows in the center spreading outwards. Leave about an inch of cookie naked so it looks more like a real pizza with a defined crust. Sprinkle candy, peanuts (optional), and sprinkles on top. Remember not to overload it with toppings, this calls for a delicate balance. Keep it beautiful looking and it won’t be a melty gob of goo. Pop this wonder into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely. Using a cookie cutter, slice into pizza shaped portions. Devour or bless someone with an amazing dessert pizza as a gift.

 

Vegan MoFo 2017 Day 19: Minimalist White Chocolate Fudge

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

Today’s theme is Minimalist (5 ingredients or less!) vegan recipes. May I present vegan white chocolate fudge fit for a unicorn! This stuff is really good, and it’s almost as hard to find vegan white chocolate as it is to find a unicorn, so it seems fitting. I usually get culinary cocoa butter online, but I believe places such as Whole Foods sell it in the nutritional supplement/superfoods section. Just be sure you’re buying food grade and not cosmetic grade as I believe there is a big difference between the two! 

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Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups cocoa butter (I used a brand that was recommended by Food Empowerment Project)
  • 1 can sweetened condensed coconut milk
  • 2 cups organic powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Toppings of choice such as Dandies Mini Marshmallows, a variety of freeze dried fruit slices, crushed up cookies or candy, sprinkles, etc. I used Sweet and Sara’s rainbow cereal marshmallows I got before they announced their closure.

Directions:

  1. Melt the cocoa butter and condensed coconut milk until all the cocoa butter bits are liquified. It will become a bit of a golden brown liquid, that’s okay.
  2. Slowly stir in one-half cup of the powdered sugar at a time until smooth and no longer clumpy. Unicorns don’t like clumps.
  3. Grease an 8×8” pan and spray the bottom and sides with a nonstick spray. You may also want to line it with parchment paper to make it easier to remove from the pan later.
  4. Pour the liquid fudge into the pan. Spread the toppings across the shiny surface. They should float to the top like a mermaid who has come to the surface of the ocean.
  5. Make sure the top is pleasing to the eye, cover, and place into the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight until set.
  6. Slice into cubes and serve.
  7. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

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Vegan MoFo 2017 Day 18: Unicone cupcakes

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

Today is chocolate cupcake day, one of many of my most favorite days.

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These chocolate cupcakes are stored in an edible container. Ice-cream cones! They’re easy to make gluten free as well if you have a good chocolate cake recipe and gluten-free cones. We actually used gluten-free wafer cones with the gluten-full flour in the cake.

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They were topped with a vegan buttercream frosting mixed with a bit of acai powder to give it a slightly purple tint, sugary sprinkles, and a dollar store lollipop that had the stick mostly cut off as the unicorn horn.

This is an easy way to reinvent your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. When baked in the cone they may come out a bit fudgy in the middle, which makes it even more delicious. If you try this, be sure to rest the cones filled with the cake inside muffin tins so they don’t fall over.

Personally, I’m not sure how unicorny these look, but they’re still cute. And delicious.

Vegan MoFo 2017 Day 11: Talkin’ ’bout sprinkles!

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

Did you know unicorns get clean by bathing in bathtubs full of vegan sprinkles? Must be nice, huh?

Sprinkles are an important element in making unicorn-worthy desserts. They make everything so pretty, crunchy, and colorful. What makes most sprinkles not vegan? Confectioner’s glaze, which is made of insects. Usually, if you’re looking for non-specified vegan sprinkles (as in their not labeled as such),

What makes most sprinkles not vegan? Confectioner’s glaze, which is made of insects. Usually, if you’re looking for non-specified vegan sprinkles (as in they’re not labeled as such), you will find carnauba wax instead.

However, those mindful of environmental, health, and animal testing issues should note that most vegan sprinkles are still problematic in different ways. For example, carnauba wax is made of palm and artificial colors are tested on animals and harmful to our health (especially for children). If you want to fully avoid these concerns (I tend to lapse my ethics when it comes to sprinkles because they’re usually used in small amounts and I don’t have kids which I’d be more concerned if they were eating them too). However, I plan to try to look for more vegan sprinkles once I use up my current stash that uses natural coloring instead.

For example, Let’s Do…Organic makes non-pareil “sprinkelz” but their color retention is really poor. A promising company that makes vegan dye-free sprinkles is the seller NakedSprinkles on Etsy. I have yet to try them, but I am going to try them very soon.

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So, now that I’ve shared the dye free sprinkle options, here are some options if you aren’t as concerned about that. As I said earlier in the post, you can read the ingredients in any sprinkle bottle you may encounter out in the world, and if it’s free of confectioner’s glaze or other non-vegan ingredients, they’re vegan! I’ve had good luck at places like Home Goods, Marshall’s, and TJ Maxx finding vegan colored sugars and such.

My favorite source for awesome vegan sprinkles, however, is Sweetapolita. They make regular and vegan kinds of sprinkles, so make sure to verify before you put them in your cart that they really are the vegan kind. They sell a pretty sweet vegan sampler which is a variety of their most popular vegan sprinkles.

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Here is most of my collection of Sweetapolita sprinkles. My favorites are the ones with the stars.

Now I can take a bath in my sprinkles while you sprinkle them over all your baked goods! ❤

Remember to follow us on Instagram @bananacurlvegangirl and @unicornseatvegan.

 

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 vegan donuts

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Baked Goods, Breakfast, Chloe's Kitchen/Chloe Coscarelli, Donuts, Other Vegan Food Blogs, Recipes, Vegan Junk Food and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been all forlorn because there are now two places in my city that have vegan donut options, but I am essentially too broke to buy them. Everyone I know that’s vegan seems to be posting them on social media, and it made me want donuts SO BAD.

So, I made up my mind to make some of my own.

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I used this recipe for the donuts but substituted the shortening for coconut oil (using 1 1/2 tbsp).

I fried them up, choosing to make them without holes because I thought I might add a filling inside. I used Chloe Coscarelli’s recipe for chocolate ganache as a topping.

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On half of them, I applied some vegan sprinkles from Sweetapolita’s shop.

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On the other half, I used Chloe’s filling frosting in the recipe above (made with half coconut oil and half veggie shortening I’m trying to use up), and separated it into three bowls, colored it with my natural food colorings (red, yellow, green), and then got super frustrated trying to use this icing bag contraption I bought that’s supposed to make it easier to pipe out multiple colors at the same time. I don’t think it was that easy, but it did come out very nice.

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I think next time it’d be better if I fill the insides with the frosting and don’t color it. It got really melty on top because it’s summer and I ended up refrigerating them.

BUT THEY ARE SO GOOD! They helped me wake up early this morning because I knew they were waiting for me, and I was able to get a ton of humane education work done because I was up so unusually early. 🙂

 

Cake Batter Everything

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Desserts, Drinks, Smoothies, Spring Recipes, Uncategorized, waffles and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Thanks to this recipe for cake batter butter, I discovered that vegan butter extract exists, and started going a little overboard making all things cake batter.

Then I decided to make a raspberry cake batter smoothie.

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It’s basically two cups nondairy milk, a scoop of vanilla protein powder (I use Vega Essentials), 1/3 cup frozen raspberries, one banana, 1/2 tsp vegan butter extract, 1/2 tsp almond extract, and 2 tsp vanilla extract. I also added in some vegan sprinkles, So Delicious coco whip to make it creamier (about 1/3 cup in the smoothie, and more for the topping), and drank it out of a fun straw. If you make the nut butter, you can also add a tablespoon or two into the blender.

Enjoy!

PS: If you like vegan, gluten free, soy free, and protein packed waffles, check out the new Fitquick birthday cake flavor…I haven’t tried it yet but I love their stuff and can’t wait until I can!

 

Happy Birthday to me! Banana costumes and a birthday-worthy waffle recipe!

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Birthday, Breakfast, Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen, happy herbivore, Happy Herbivore Light and Lean, lindsay s. nixon, mayim bialik, mayim's vegan table, Other Vegan Food Blogs, Recipes, Sunday Brunch, Vegan cookbooks, Vegan Health, veganism, waffles and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

For my 30th birthday, which happens to be today, I had a bunch of fun stuff planned. The biggest thing was my run last weekend, in which I lived up to my blog’s name, and ran in a banana suit in the Providence (RI) Monster Dash 5k. I made a PR by about 2 minutes and it was soooo fun running in this costume:

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10435985_10100231982422689_6184586216801925680_nIt was a big hit with kids, especially. When I ran through the large crowd of people cheering us on, so many kids along the way would exclaim “there goes the banana!” And many of them put their little hands out to catch a high five from me as I ran past them…it was so cute. I waved to several of them, and even had a trifecta of 3 little kids put their hands out all at once that made me feel like I was a celebrity working the crowd. Haha. So that was cool, and I also plan to use this banana suit for more things for this blog, to make it funnier. You’ll see what is in store for it soon!

This morning, I made birthday cake waffles. I had some left over chocolate sauce from my candy apples and some strawberry syrup left from the strawberry frosted donut recipe that I put on top. Yum.

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BIRTHDAY Cake Vegan Waffles

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Immaculate yellow cake mix (found in my local Target in the baking section)
  • 1 cup vegan bisquick mix (read labels)
  • 1-2 scoops vanilla vegan protein powder (optional)
  • 2 tbsp melted Earth Balance
  • 1 tbsp applesauce
  • 1 ½ cup vanilla almond milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp almond extract
  • ¼ cup vegan non-pareille sprinkles (read label, I was able to find one without the confectioner’s glaze that’s in most sprinkles at my regular local grocery store, and instead has carnauba wax.

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and follow waffle iron’s directions to cook them. Makes about 5 waffles depending on your maker.

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The batter

Tonight my family is making me a vegan vanilla cake, with raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream. I am making vegan crockpot buffalo ranch lasagna from this recipe for my dinner. I will share pictures later in a new post, maybe.

Also, I got three new cookbooks for my birthday present:

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So far I have looked in Chloe’s book the most, and I was seriously drooling after that. I will be cooking out of these for awhile in the next few weeks I think, so get ready for me sharing some reviews and pictures! 🙂