Vegan MoFo 2014 - Filthy Toxic Hot Chocolate

Last night, Mike wanted to make hot chocolate. I'm not the best at remembering ratios and stuff for how I like my hot chocolate, so I looked up some recipes to jog my memory. And boy howdy did I not like what I saw. Yes, there was a how to that took 10 steps even though it called for hot chocolate mix and a microwave. But then I saw a recipe that called for cashews (with an hour+ soaking time) and dates. And then I saw some of my most hated words - paleo, no refined sugar, clean eating.

Nope.  Nope nope nope.

Friends, these are not words and ingredients to be used in connection with hot chocolate.

Hot chocolate is a treat. It should have sugar. It should not have dates. And it sure as shit wasn't around in the palaeolithic era.

Instead of my righteous rant against food policing and woo peddling, I give you a recipe for hot chocolate rich in most of the things that are freaking people out right now (I don't have any MSG so couldn't include everything).

Filthy Toxic Hot Chocolate

Serves 2

Handful of chocolate chips

1 c soy creamer

1 c soy milk (more/less depending on how you like it)

1/4 c cocoa (I used Hershey's to make it extra dirty)

1/4 c sugar (more/less to taste - probably less for most people because I like mine super sweet)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Mini marshmallows

Place the chocolate chips and a couple tablespoons of the creamer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and stir until melted. Slowly stir in the remaining creamer. In a separate small bowl, make a paste of the cocoa powder and sugar with some of the soy milk.  When it's as lumpless as possible, add it to the pan along with the rest of the milk. Add in the salt and heat to your desired temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Pour into two mugs and top with mini marshmallows.

I used the new Freedom micro mallows, which contain both carrageenan and hydrolysed soy protein! In case you're keeping track, that's non-organic processed soy, fat, sugar, salt, and carrageenan all in one delicious cup of hot chocolate. It was like drinking a melted candy bar.

Sorry about the terrible picture - it was late when I made it.

If you're even remotely familiar with me, you know that I'm all about comfort and convenience foods, so this ramping up of food shaming (which, let's be realistic, is mostly aimed at and hurts women, and disproportionately restricts non-animal foods) is really pissing me off.  Luckily I'm not the only one.  PPKer MissMuffcake's theme is about vegan finds at Target and was spurred by a series of posts about food shaming.  And really, the PPK is great for calling out food policing and woo.  Because veganism is about the animals, first and foremost, and restricting yourself until you have almost nothing to eat doesn't help the animals (especially when you decide that veganism is the problem and go back to eating them).

So, fuck food shaming.  Eat what you want and do the least harm possible.

Vegan MoFo VII - Almost Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice

A few weeks ago, I needed a potluck dish but had almost no money to buy ingredients for one.  I had red beans, and I had rice, so I decided to make red beans and rice.  I didn't really use a recipe - I basically just started throwing stuff in a pan.  It was a combination of guessing what should be in beans and rice with some of the spices from the Red Beans and Quinoa recipe from Cookin' Crunk (and since I can't eat quinoa, I'm calling that recipe made).

This was also my dinner for that night, so when it was done, I served it up.  It tasted remarkably similar to the delicious, MSG-laden delight that is Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice.  And since that stuff is about £3 a box here, I'm sure my concoction was significantly cheaper (especially since I got about 6 meals out of it outside of it being eaten at the potluck).  So I present to you now:

Almost Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice

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Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil

¼ c shallots, diced

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1 roasted red pepper, diced

1 tsp mixed herbs

½ tsp salt

½ tsp file powder

½ tsp celery salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 c rice

4 c water

2 bay leaves

1 bouillon cube (I used Kallo tomato and herb)

2-3 c cooked red beans (preferably homemade), with some liquid

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pot.  Add the shallots, garlic and red pepper and sauté until the garlic and shallots are just beginning to brown.  Add the herbs and spices and stir to combine.  Add the rice, water, bay leaves and bouillon cube.  Bring the rice to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes (depending on your type of rice – you may need a bit more time).  Add the beans and a bit of bean liquid and continue cooking until the beans are heated through and the rice is tender.

Homemade Luna Bars, or slightly less sugary rice crispy treats

One of the things I've been spending a lot of money on lately is a new breakfast bar from Kellogg's.  It's a chocolate-chocolate chip All-Bran bar with added vitamins.  They're really good and great as snacks (if I wanted to eat a biscuit for breakfast, I'd eat a real biscuit), but pretty expensive when not on sale.

In the interests of saving money, I decided to try to make my own bar.  A while back, I found this recipe from V K Rees (probably best known as the photographer behind the amazing photos in Isa and Terry's latest books) for pumpkin Luna bars.  I didn't make those because I'm trying to wait until at least October before busting out the pumpkin everything.  But it led to the original recipe by Chocolate Covered Katie, upon which I based the recipes for the two batches I made.  The first recipe is also somewhat inspired by some treats that Sal made for a PPKamping trip a few years ago.

Speculoos Crispy Bars
Inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie and Sal

 3 c rice crisp cereal
1/2 c Speculoos (crunch or smooth)
1/2 c sticky liquid sweetener (I used rice syrup)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 1 1/2 c chocolate chips*

Line an 8" square pan with parchment paper and put the cereal in a large bowl.  Put the Speculoos, sweetener, and vanilla in a small, microwave-safe bowl and microwave at 15 - 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until everything is melted and blended together.  Pour this mixture over the cereal and mix well, making sure all the cereal is covered.

Pour the mixture into the pan and freeze for 30 minutes.  A few minutes before taking these out of the freezer, melt the chocolate chips (either over a double boiler or in the microwave).  Pour the chocolate over the cereal mixture and smooth over to cover the entire top, then put everything back into the freezer for another 30-odd minutes.  When the chocolate is solid, cut the bars into your desired size.


PBJ and White Chocolate Crispy Bars**

3 c rice crisp cereal
1/2 c peanut butter (or PB substitute, like Freenut Butter)
2-3 tbsp raspberry jam
2 tbsp raspberry syrup (or more jam)
2 tbsp sticky liquid sweetener
1 - 1 1/2 c white chocolate chips (vegan, obvs)

Follow the instructions as above.

*I used about a cup, and it barely covered my stuff.  If you want a thick layer of chocolate, use more.
**I only just put these in the freezer, so a) there's no pic and 2) they might suck.  I'll try to remember to update about their quality.

Cherry chocolate chip ice cream

 

Disclaimer:  The recipe below is adapted from A La Mode by Hannah Kaminsky.  I asked for permission to print my version but haven't heard back, so if she comes back saying no, this will be removed.

I bought Hannah Kaminsky's e-zine A La Mode (a precursor to her full-size book Vegan a la Mode, and which seems to no longer be available) a while ago and then never made anything from it.  I don't know why - loads of stuff looked amazing.  I had another look through it when I decided on Sundae Sunday as a theme, and I have plans to make a few things.

One of the recipes that jumped out at me was the Jam Ice Cream.  It's super versatile - you can use any kind of jam and therefore make as many flavours of ice cream as there are flavours of jam - and it only has 3 ingredients.  So I decided to make some, but because I'm me, I didn't trust the original recipe and made some changes.

Cherry chocolate chip ice cream

Ingredients:
300g smooth cherry jam (or any other flavour)
1 c soy creamer
1 c soy milk
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
a few tablespoons of chocolate chips

In a small saucepan, cook the jam, creamer, milk and vanilla bean paste over low heat just until the jam has dissolved.  Pour into a container and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.  Pour the contents into your ice cream maker and churn until mostly frozen (mine took about 20 minutes, but ymmv).  Add in your desired amount of chocolate chips and churn for another minute or two.  Put the contents back into your container and freeze until solid (or eat it straight out of the container - I won't judge).

I bet this would be super delicious with some kind of cherry-flavoured alcohol, which would have the added benefit of keeping the ice cream from freezing solid (if, unlike me, you manage to freeze it completely before eating it all).  I have some other jams I want to try this with, which I might actually post about for the next Sundae Sunday!

This has also spurred me to make more recipes from the e-zine and buy Vegan a la Mode.  Do you have this book?  If so, what are your favourite recipes?

Bean and Broccoli Pie

 After making the Latke Breakfast Pie and the baked beans, I still had about 2 cups of beans left to use up before they got funky.  I also had that light puff pastry crust to use, and a head of broccoli that was getting a little sad.  So pie was a pretty obvious choice.

I used the bean, leek and mushroom pie (I'm too lazy to look at the actual name of it) from Vegan Brunch as a guide.  Instead of walnuts (I'm allergic), I used almonds (not allergic and had them to hand), and I used broccoli in the filling instead of leeks and mushrooms.

Bean and Broccoli Pie
with thanks to Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Ingredients:
1 pie crust, ready made or homemade*
1 medium-large head of broccoli**
1 c roughly chopped almonds
2 c cooked haricot beans (navy beans in the US) with liquid***
1/4 c nutritional yeast
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic granules (or powder)
1/2 tsp onion granules (or powder)
extra water as needed for blending

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C/gas mark 5.  Press your crust into a 9" or larger pie plate (I have a 10 or 11" plate, so you might have some leftover filling if yours is 9").

Chop your broccoli into smallish pieces and steam for 5-10 minutes.  Make the filling while the broccoli steams.

Blend the almonds until they're finely ground and sorta sandy.  Add the beans and bean liquid and blend until relatively smooth.  Add a bit of water if they don't blend easily.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until incorporated.  Pour the filling into a medium bowl and fold in the broccoli, then pour the mixture into the prepared pie plate.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is browning and the filling is relatively firm.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  This will allow the filling to set a bit more.

I served this with green beans cooked relatively similarly to the garlic green beans in Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations.  Mike liked it so much that he actually suggested I make it again, though with a different vegetable.  He thought it tasted like chicken pie, so I bet it would be even more like chicken pie with some soy curls or light TVP chunks soaked in chicken-flavour stock.

I had some leftover dough, so I mixed about a tablespoon of Vitalite, 3 tsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 2-3 tbsp of chocolate chips, put it in the middle of 2 scraps of dough, rolled them up (sorta), and baked in the oven after the pie came out.  And it was amazingly delicious.  I'm actually a little impressed at how great today's evening meal turned out.

In that spirit, what was the best meal that you made up on the fly?

*If you care about crustiness, you might want to blind bake the crust for 10 minutes or so before adding the filling.
**I just used the florets, so if you use the stem, you could get away with a smaller head of broccoli.
***Because you include the liquid, it's probably best to use homemade or tinned organic beans.

Vegan MoFo VII - Overview and Sundae Sunday

I'm having a pretty bad allergy attack for probably the 3rd/4th weekend in a row, but I wrote most of this early.  Suck on that, allergies!

I can't believe it's MoFo time already!  Well, mostly because it's in September this year rather than October/November.  But it's for good reason - different food availability, better lighting, and less chance of a month of pumpkin recipes (though I have no problem with pumpkin recipes).

I'm not gonna go crazy with themes this year.  I only have three - budget meals, Southern Saturdays, and Sundae Sunday.  I'll also have some lazy days where I talk about products/restaurants, as per usual, and I'll be baking at least once because Mike's birthday is on the 20th.

The budget meals theme is pretty much gonna be an ongoing thing in my life for the foreseeable future.  The cost of living keeps rising a lot faster than my salary (we only get c-o-l increases, which don't even keep up with inflation, instead of merit increases, so in real terms, I make less now than when I started), and I'm now paying nearly half of my salary into my student loans.  I also put a lot into savings - I suppose I could save less, and tbh I end up spending half of my savings anyway, but it's important to me, as a person who is terrible with money, to have something (anything) going into savings.

But this won't be a month of beans and rice!  I'm totally gonna post a beans and rice recipe, but it's killer, and I promise it'll just be the one.

My plan is to live off of my online shop of non-perishables that I did at the end of August and what I have in the cupboards and only buy perishables (bread, fresh fruit/veg) for the rest of the month.  I'll be buying as few convenience foods as I can (I still have to buy lunch meat for Mike's lunches because I can't seem to force myself to make seitan often enough, though Mike has volunteered to make seitan) and making as much as possible from scratch (I'm gonna make my own baked beans!).  Hopefully this'll force me to get through all the stuff I've been buying over the years and never getting around to using (I'm looking at you, sticky rice and multiple bags of cornmeal).  My goal is to spend less than £125 on food for the month (including the rare convenience food) - so that averages to about £25 per week from payday to payday.

I'll talk more about my Southern theme on Saturday.  Needless to say, I'm super excited about that.  I might (might) buy in extra stuff for these recipes, but I'm hoping I can stick to my budget plan for this part as well.  I'm gonna try to pick recipes for which I already have most/all of the ingredients.

And since it's Sunday, it's Sundae Sunday!  This one is pretty straightforward - I'll make ice cream, and I might make some toppings (if I don't already have them), and then I'll make a sundae.

For my first Sundae Sunday, I started pretty easy.  I made one of my favourite ice creams - PB Speculoos, which is based on the PB variation of the Veganomicon recipe.

PB Speculoos Ice Cream

Ingredients:
6 oz silken tofu (about 1/2 pack)
1c soy cream*
1/2 c soy milk
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c peanut butter (or PB substitute like Freenut Butter)
1/4 c Speculoos**
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Pour the mixture into a lidded bowl and chill for at least an hour or overnight if you have time/patience.  Churn in your ice cream maker as per the machine instructions.  You can either eat it as is (I like it melty right out of the ice cream maker) or freeze until hard.

*I use a full container of Alpro soy cream, which is actually 250ml, but those extra 10ml don't really make much difference.
**I use crunchy Speculoos because I always seem to have a jar even though I don't really like it as much as smooth.

I made Cinnamon Pancakes from Cookin' Crunk for brunch, and we had 2 left over, so I used those for the sundae base.  I topped the pancake with the ice cream and, because of the allergies, I just topped everything with Hershey's syrup and soya whip (from a can).

I wasn't sure if the pancake would work out, but it was really good!  The cinnamony Speculoos flavour from the ice cream complimented the pancake well, and the chocolate tied everything together.  The only thing that I thought was not quite right was the spray cream - it was maybe just a bit too beany.  Overall, this was a winner.

I know there are lots of other people who are doing some amazing themes (such as Lazy Smurf's taco cleanse and the Seinfeld theme at Naked Vegan Lunch, to name just a few), so I'm really excited to see what other people come up with.  Happy MoFoing!

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 22 - Mike Makes Monday Meals - Tofu Noodles

First of all, sorry for slacking yesterday.  I didn't have as much alone time as I'd hoped, and the kitchen wasn't clean (and I couldn't bear to clean it again), so I had cereal for dinner and didn't bake anything.  But I posted something, so there's that.

I went to an event tonight - a book launch for Voicing Scotland:  Folk, Culture, Nation by Gary West, who was one of my lecturers at uni (and the piper at my wedding!) - so I didn't get home until nearly 9pm.  I picked the perfect dinner for Mike to cook tonight - soba noodles with smoked tofu and spinach.  I based the technique on a recipe from Get It Ripe - I think that one is noodles and kale, no tofu - but did my own thing with not measuring and using different stuff.

It's super easy - cube a block of smoked tofu and fry it while waiting for your water to boil, then add soba noodles to the water.  Add spinach to the tofu pan and wilt the spinach while the noodles cook for 5 minutes.  While the noodles and spinach cook, make a sauce with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sriracha, and garlic (I used 2 cloves, but could've used more).  Once the noodles are done, drain and add to the pan with the tofu and spinach, then pour over the sauce.  It takes about 10 minutes to come together, which is brilliant when you want a filling and (relatively) healthy meal but can't be arsed/don't have time to wait for something more complicated.  It's even faster than cooking up chips and a Fry's chicken burger!

I also finally, finally found Rekorderlig Winter Cider - it's now being sold in Sainsbury's! 

From their Facebook page

Rekorderlig is my favourite cider, possibly because it's one of the few vegan-friendly brands that are available both in stores and in pubs.  Also, their flavours are amazing.  I imagine most people wouldn't be super keen if they were dry cider fans because they tend to be quite sweet, but they're exactly the way I like them.  I've never had a flavour I didn't like, but then again I've never tried the orange ginger (which I've been told tastes like duck's ass).

We tried the winter cider warm.  It's alright, but I think I prefer my alcoholic cider cold and my non-alcoholic cider warm.  But I have another bottle in the fridge to drink cold another night!

Bonus Zebby picture - it'll get me hits!

 D'aww.  BTW, the cat bed is from Luna's Apawthecary.

Irn Bru cookies!

Remember this post about Irn Bru cupcakes?  They were good, but not quite right, and I thought further experimentation was warranted.

Well, some time last week, an ex-pat friend of ours (Brit in Canada) posted on Facebook that he missed Irn Bru.  What better excuse could I have come up with?  I know from homesickness (even if one wouldn't refer to that particular instance as homesickness), and he seemed to be having a crap week on top of that, so I offered to make him some Irn Bru cookies.  He seemed pleased by the idea, so I was like, YEAH LET'S DO THIS!

I did some research into using soda as a flavouring for baked goods and came across this post on grape soda cupcakes from Kelly of The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur.  I also looked for the right cookie recipe.  I finally settled on Kelly's recipe for Amazingly Soft Sugar Cookies.  I basically made an Irn Bru reduction and replaced most of the liquid with the reduction.  Kelly very kindly agreed to let me post her recipe with my minor changes, so here it is.

sorry about the crap pic - I was running late for work

Irn Bru Cookies
(recipe adapted from Amazingly Soft Sugar Cookies in The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza)

Ingredients:

• 4 c Irn Bru

Pour the soda into a pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until it reduces to about 3/4 of a cup.  Set aside to cool.

• 3/4 c margarine
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 1/2 c soy yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 c Irn Bru reduction (plus more if needed)
• 4 c flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar.  Add the yogurt and vanilla and mix to combine, then add 1/4 c Irn Bru reduction and mix until well combined.  Sift in the dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing as you go.  Add more reduction if the dough is dry.  Refrigerate for an hour or more (or freeze for 15 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.  Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls in your hand and then smoosh them down (alternatively, you can roll and cut them).  Place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes or until slightly golden at the edges.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely before icing.

For the icing:  Dump a good amount of icing sugar into a bowl and add about 3 tbsp Irn Bru reduction.  Beat with a fork until smooth.  It should be pretty thick - if it isn't, add more icing sugar.  Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the icing and place on cookie sheets to firm up.  If you're awesome like me, make another batch of glaze and double dip those bad boys once the first round of icing is set.

The whole process takes a few hours, but it'll probably be easier and faster the second time around since I know what I'm doing (and hopefully won't be having an allergy attack like I did this time).

After all that, I never got my friend's address!  But his loss was everyone else's gain - I gave the cookies I took in for shipping to my co-workers, and Mike ate the rest (about a dozen in one night - he really liked them).

I imagine this would work for other types of soda-based cookies, so I might give it a try with something else.  And I might also try to reduce the Irn Bru even further for a stronger flavour - even with the reduction instead of the straight soda, the flavour was still pretty mild.  Any ideas what I should try next?

Perfect chocolate chip cookies

I thought I would take a break from blogging for one day, but then I decided not to.  It's World Vegan Day!  And because of that, I had to make something.  I decided to dig out my old favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe and see how it compared to the ones I'd made the past few days.

Many years ago, I was not really a cookie fan.  I don't know why - maybe because people thought putting things like oats and raisins and nuts in cookies was acceptable practice.  I pretty much only ever ate chocolate chip cookies, and my favourites were Keebler Soft Batch cookies.

Then this dude started coming out with books for making home versions - nearly exact replicas - of packaged and restaurant foods.  One of them had Keebler Soft Batch cookies in it.  Score!  I bought the book and made the cookies, and they ended up being my sister's favourite as well as mine.  I think about her every time I make these, if only because of the time she insisted I make them at her tiny little apartment when, not being a cook/baker herself (she preferred things from cans and boxes in those days) and not having much equipment, we had to try to cream the first ingredients by hand with a spoon (or maybe it was one of those hand-cranked egg beaters).  I think we gave up after about 15 minutes (but we still made the cookies).

One of the first recipes I veganized was that cookie recipe.  Instead of posting the recipe here and running afoul of copyright law or something, I'll just direct you to the link above and make the following suggestions:

• Only make half a batch unless you're taking them to a potluck or something (otherwise you'll be in the kitchen for hours)
• Replace the butter with vegan margarine
• Replace the egg with either a flax egg or commercial egg replacer
• If you live near sea level/in a moist climate, increase the flour a bit (you should be able to shape them by hand)

I love how these cookies are still soft a day or two later (if they last more than 2 days).  I don't know if it's the molasses or the method, but whatever it is, they're amazing both right out of the oven and the next day.  They're the only chocolate chip cookie I've ever had that stayed soft, which is how I like them.  Oh, and if you mess up and take them out too early (like I did tonight), you can still eat them and they'll still be delicious!  I actually kinda love gooey, undercooked cookies.  I think I ate about 5 tonight, and now I feel a bit sick.

I tested a recipe for Terry last night, but since this post is already kinda lengthy, I'll post that tomorrow.

Vegan MoFo - PPKlassics: Pandacookie's Butterscotch rum cake

I think this might be my saddest post ever, because it's a post about failure.

I'll be honest, I'm not used to baking failures that are my own fault.  I mean, I can handle something like the Irn Bru cupcakes that didn't come out the first time because it was an experiment and I couldn't have known what would happen.  But when I fail at something that has been tested and approved by others, I feel kinda crappy.

There's a thread in the Kitchen about PPKlassics - recipes that made the rounds on the old boards or early days on the new boards.  One of the recipes mentioned was Pandacookie's Butterscotch Rum Bundt Cake - a yellow cake made with rum and butterscotch chips.  I know, it sounds amazing.  I didn't actually have anything to write about today because Mike came home tired and didn't want anything elaborate for dinner, so we just had sammiches.  Then I remembered I had been gazing longingly at that recipe, checked that I had the ingredients, and went for it.

Well, in the interim, I got upset about something (I won't talk about it here), and I didn't tend to the cake as I should have.  I tested it, but I must have tested the wrong bit, because, after cooling, I discovered that it was still gooey on the inside.  I ate a bit, hoping it would be at least acceptable for home consumption, but it was really bad.  I actually think I may have gotten buzzed off the rum that didn't bake out.

So, yeah, my cake was a failure, so my previous upset was compounded by failcake (that I can't even make in to cakeballs).  Not only did I waste the time, I also wasted almost all of the rest of my stash of imported butterscotch chips and most of a bottle of Morgan's Spiced Rum.  But since it's my own failure and not that of the recipe, I'll post it here.

Pandacookie’s Rum Butterscotch Bundt Cake

2 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c rum
1/2 c canola oil (I used 1/4 c oil and 1/4 c applesauce)
1/2 c soy milk
equivalent of 2 eggs (I used ener-g)
2 tsp vanilla
1 c vegan sour cream (I used soy yogurt)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 c butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Sift flour, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl.  In another bowl combine rum, oil, milk, egg replacer, and vanilla.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix.  Fold in the butterscotch chips, then fold in the sour cream.  Add the vinegar and stir briefly (the vinegar will, react making pale swirls in the batter).  Quickly pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 35-45 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes before turning out of the pan.

If you try this, let me know if it works out for you.  Maybe it was the subs, or maybe it was taking it out too early, or maybe it was the pan being too small.  All I know is, I am sad that I have no cake, because that one is going in the bin.

Vegan MoFo - Ruby Rose's Macarena Muffin Pie

This summer, I went PPKamping in Dorset with MessyVeggie, holylopez, baps, hana, and jojo.  We met up with Ruby Rose at Monkey World (!), and naturally the conversation turned to odd foods.  It turns out that Ruby Rose (aka Amy) had a dream about making a pie with a shortcrust base, apple filling, and cinnamon muffin topping.  She then sold it at a bake sale while doing the Macarena.  I think that was how the dream went.

Well, as soon as she said this, I thought, I must make that pie.  Then someone else mentioned using Lotus biscuits (out of which Speculoos spread is made) to make a cookie crust (completely unrelated to the previously mentioned pie).  My thoughts then turned to, I must make that pie with Speculoos crust!

I finally got around to making it today.  One thing I have to say - I forgot just how much I dislike making apple pie.  The coring, the peeling, the slicing - it takes SO. LONG.  But I soldiered on for the good of humanity (or so I assumed). 

The crust recipe is a variation on this cookie crust.  The apple filling is a variation on the filling for the Gingerbread Apple Pie in Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz*.  And the muffin top is my own cinnamon muffin recipe (minus the chocolate chips).  I now give you...

Macarena Muffin Pie

Crust:

• about 20 Lotus/Biscoff biscuits
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp margarine, melted

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.

Crush the biscuits into small pieces (or whiz them in a food processor).  Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined.  Press into a pie plate and bake for 5-7 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool as you make the other elements of the pie, but leave the oven on.

Apple Filling:

• 1 pound apples (I used Pink Lady), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tbsp arrowroot

Combine everything but the arrowroot in a large bowl.  Sprinkle the arrowroot over the mixture and stir until the starch is dissolved.

Assemble:

Have ready one recipe of cinnamon muffins without chocolate chips.  Pour the apple mixture into the prepared crust, then top with the muffin batter**.  Smooth the batter over the apples so that they're completely covered.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffin top is brown and slightly cracked and a toothpick inserted in the middle (but not too far down!) comes out clean.

The Verdict - OMG it's so good!  I have to say, though, that the crust as written isn't perfect.  It doesn't actually stay together, so it's more like one of those cakes with a pudding bottom.  Still, it's freaking delicious.  And I'm glad I left the 1/4 c of maple syrup out of the apple filling because it would've been way too much sugar, as it's a bit of sugar overload as is.  In fact, I forgot to take pictures of the first piece and had to have a second, and I think I might go into a diabetic coma soon.  I might try it again with the shortcrust (or shortbread crust, which was another variation I thought of trying before the mention of Speculoos crust).  I might also just put cinnamon in the apple filling as it felt a little overwhelmed with spices.



And in case you didn't notice, I got a new camera.  Naturally, the first photos I post from it are brown and messy.  Awesome.


*Many thanks to Isa for letting me print my variation.
**You won't use all the batter, so throw some chocolate chips into the remainder and bake in muffin cups after you've baked this.

Vegan MoFo - Homesick

As you know, I'm American, and I live in Edinburgh.  I love Edinburgh, I love living here, and I have no intention of ever leaving.  But I haven't been back to the US since 2008, and I haven't been back to Texas since 2006.  I have friends, family, and cats that I haven't seen in 5 or more years.  Overall, I don't like Texas, and I never want to live there again, but sometimes I get homesick.  I miss my friends, I miss my family, I REALLY miss my cat, and I miss the food.

This afternoon I was reheating my lunch when I realised that I'd bought one of those new fridge packs of baked beans (which really are quite genius) and forgot about it after eating one serving.  It says to use within 5 days, and it's been 7.  But I smelled them and they seemed fine, so I brought them home.

So, what does the one have to do with the other?  When I first started experimenting with veganism, my friend Joy let me borrow a copy of How It All Vegan by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard.  Being a shitty vegetarian (I pretty much just replaced meats with mock meats and still didn't eat any veg), I gravitated towards the recipes that most closely resembled my regular diet.  I think the Bean and Cheese Casserole was the first recipe I made from that book.

It turned out that my mom really liked it.  I mean, what's not to like - beans, potatoes, and cheese layered in a casserole.  But my mom liked it enough to request it multiple times and even make it herself (though with hot dogs and dairy cheese, completely defeating the purpose) when she visited family in New York.  I haven't made this recipe in years.  I honestly can't even remember the last time I made it.  But it always reminds me of my mom.  So, tonight, I'll be using up my beans and potatoes in this casserole, and maybe I'll call my mom.

Since this recipe was first written (over 10 years ago!), we've come on leaps and bounds in vegan cheese.  You can now get vegan cheese that melts, which I'm sure would make this recipe even better.  I'll be using smoked cheddar Sheese tonight, but those of you in the US could use Teese or Daiya, and it would probably be amazing.

BTW, this recipe is already online and has been for ages (here), but the direct link is a bit dodgy.  I'd cut and paste, but the formatting is all jacked up.  And I think I can maybe make the directions make a little more sense, so I'll just rewrite that bit.

Bean and Cheese Casserole
How It All Vegan

Ingredients:

5-6 small potatoes, sliced
1 can baked beans
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp pepper
2 c grated vegan cheese

Directions:

Boil or steam the potatoes until soft enough to pierce with a fork.  While the potatoes are cooking, mix the beans, mustard, and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C and lightly grease a casserole dish.  Place half the potatoes in the bottom of the casserole, then layer half the bean mixture, half the cheese, then another layer of each, topping with cheese.  Cover and bake for 35-40 minutes.


For those far away from home, what recipes remind you of home?

Vegan MoFo - Irn Bru Cupcakes

Another in my irregular series on Scottish-ish foods, I have made Irn Bru Cupcakes.  And what a bloody saga!  But more of that coming up.  I should say right at the top that, when I went to document said saga, I discovered that my camera was dead (I put in brand new batteries and it told me to change the batteries and then went black), so I apologise for the lack of pictures pretty much for the rest of MoFo (unless I manage to replace the camera).

Photo from the Barr site

For those who don't know, Irn Bru (pronounced like iron brew) is an orange soda that isn't orange flavoured (though Wikipedia claims it's vaguely citrus).  I think it kinda tastes like Big Red, the cream soda that doesn't taste like cream soda, except a little milder - maybe because it's orange instead of red.  It's native to Scotland, and in fact is the best-selling soda in Scotland, ahead even of Coke.  Though it's difficult to verify and there are a lot of differing views, Googling every listed ingredient has made me 99% sure it's vegan.

I was inspired to make Irn Bru cupcakes by Panda With Cookie's delicious Cheerwine cookies (unfortunately currently unavailable since she's recently moved and hasn't set up her baking again yet).  I thought about sending her some Irn Bru cookies that were similar to her Cheerwine cookies, but I decided to experiment with cupcakes first because they're easier (I'm really not much of a cookie baker).

I started out trying to combine concepts from the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and this non-vegan recipe for Irn Bru cupcakes from London Baking.  I basically tried to veganize the second recipe based on the first.  I replaced the margarine with oil and the buttermilk with soy milk curdled with apple cider vinegar.  It didn't work.  At. All.  The batter was WAY too runny, but I baked it anyway, and my cupcakes came out concave and gooey.  I gave it another try, decreasing the liquid and increasing the dry ingredients, and the cakes worked fine.

Then I moved on to the frosting.  My idea was to reduce the remaining soda to syrup and make a buttercream a la the raspberry buttercream in VCTOTW.  I cooked it down for a good hour or more, and it didn't seem to get any thicker, so I bunged in some sugar.  It still didn't look thick enough, so I bunged in some more sugar.  Then it started to really thicken.  I took it off the heat to let it cool, and within 5 minutes, I had Irn Bru candy.  It was not gonna become frosting.

In the end, I poured some soda in a bowl and left it out overnight to flatten and just replaced the milk in the Vegan Fluffy Buttercream recipe.  But that recipe doesn't really require a lot of milk, so the flavour was really subtle.  Overall, the cupcakes didn't have a very strong Irn Bru flavour, but they were good, and you could tell they weren't plain vanilla.

Irn Bru Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c milk
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1/2 c oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 c plain flour
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 c Irn Bru

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C and line a muffin tin with liners.

In a large bowl, combine the milk and acv and let sit for about 5 minutes to curdle.  Add in the sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix well.  Combine all dry ingredients and sift into the wet ingredients, then mix to combine.  Add in the Irn Bru (it'll get really fizzy!) and mix to combine.

Pour the batter evenly into the muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

When the muffins are completely cool, frost with Vegan Fluffy Buttercream with the milk replaced by Irn Bru.

If I try this (or the cookies) again and manage to get the frosting right, I'll write it up in another post.

My first stuffed peppers - Latin style.

I can't remember if I mentioned this, and I can't be bothered to look it up. Every time there's a thread on the PPK along the lines of "What will I be served at this omni event?", someone always suggests stuffed peppers. It seems to be a thing for some people that they're always served stuffed peppers. Well, I have never been served a stuffed pepper. Even when I was omni, I never ate a stuffed pepper, not even chiles rellenos.

Truth be told, I didn't like bell peppers for a long damn time, so it's kinda understandable. But I've liked bell peppers long enough, and have been vegan long enough, to have been served this supposedly omnipresent omni stand-by. But no, no omni (or vegetarian, or vegan, for that matter) has ever offered me a stuffed pepper.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to take matters into my own hands. But having never been served a stuffed pepper, I didn't know what I should stuff in my peppers. So I asked the PPK. I ended up not using any of their suggestions, mostly because they were suggesting quinoa (I have a sensitivity) and Daiya (not available in the UK). But they did give me ideas.

There were two things that I felt my stuffed peppers needed. First, I had a block of tempeh that I bought on a whim and then didn't know what to do with, so I wanted to use that. Second, I knew I wanted to use brown rice as a grain. For some reason, I decided that I would use recipes from Viva Vegan!. This is what I came up with:



Latin Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

one recipe Yellow Rice with Garlic made with brown rice
one recipe Tempeh Asado (see below)
one recipe Simple Latin Tomato Sauce
4 bell peppers (green or red, however you roll), cleaned, halved, and de-seeded
mozzarella-style cheeze

Method:

The best way to do this is to make the tempeh ahead of time so it can marinate for a while. I suggest making it the night before (which I didn't do), though you can probably make it no less than 30 minutes before assembly. Follow the recipe for Tempeh Asado, with the exception that you chop your tempeh roughly into crumbles to put in the marinade, then let sit for 30 minutes or more.

For the rice, you could also make that the night before. You can do brown or white rice - use about 2 1/3 c water if you do brown (rather than the 1 2/3 c called for in the recipe).

Make the tomato sauce while your oven pre-heats to 375F / 190C, after the rice is relatively cool (if you made it the same night). While the sauce simmers, you can clean et al your peppers and make the stuffing. Combine the tempeh with about 2 cups of rice (I just eyeballed it, but I didn't use all the rice I made), then add in about a cup of shredded mozzarella (or whatever cheeze you prefer). At this point, you should also line a lasagna pan with foil.

When your sauce is done, coat the bottom of your pan with a thin layer of sauce. Put the peppers cut side up in the sauce. Scoop about 1/4 c (more or less, depending on the size of your pepper) into each halved pepper. Spoon the rest of the sauce over the stuffed peppers. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until the peppers are relatively soft. Sprinkle additional cheeze over the peppers and bake for another 5 minutes or until melty.

You might want to serve these with something green like the Swiss Chard with Capers or the Brazilian Shredded Kale, but you've basically got everything you need - veg, protein, whole grains, and deliciousness (that's a vital nutrient, right?).

In case you couldn't guess, I loved my first stuffed pepper. I don't know how often I'll make them, though, because Mike didn't. Oh well, I can always invite friends over.

Mug cake revisited - the mother of all mug cakes

I posted about mug cake ages ago, saying that I had perfected the recipe. Well, I've been tinkering a lot lately because we've been eating a lot of mug cake. While it is a lot easier to make than a whole cake in the oven, I started getting tired of busting out the egg replacer every time, and I was constantly annoyed about those dry bits at the bottom and sides of the mug that I always missed.

Taking a cue from this post on the PPK, I first decided to start making my mug cake in a bowl. This made the process (and the clean-up) far easier. I also changed up the method. But the stroke of genius (that I really should've worked out ages ago) was to stop using egg replacer and make it like normal cake with curdled soy milk. I now present -

The Definitive Vegan Microwave Cake

Ingredients:
1/4 c soy milk (for these experiments, I used vanilla, but plain should be fine)
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp oil (canola, sunflower, etc.)
1/4 c sugar
splash of vanilla
1/4 c plain flour
1-2 tbsp cocoa (depending on how chocolaty you want yours)
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

1) Combine soy milk and vinegar in a small, microwaveable bowl (I use a ceramic cereal bowl) and allow to sit for a few minutes to curdle.
2) Add oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix thoroughly with a fork.
3) Add dry ingredients (sift if you have a small enough device to do so without getting stuff all over the counter) and mix to combine.
4) Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes (it takes mine 4 minutes in a 700ish watt microwave).
5) Eat straight from the bowl, or turn out on a plate and top with raspberry jam (or whatever you like)!

I think this is even easier than the original mug cake, and the flavour is slightly better (it is still cake made in a microwave).

As before, if you have applesauce on hand, you can probably replace some of the oil with it to make this lower in fat. You could also use wholewheat pastry flour for part or all of the flour, if you really wanted to. But if you're so desperate for cake that you're making it in the microwave, I think you deserve that little indulgence.

It's almost October, and Mike and I will be going sugar free for the month. I did this back in June, and it was pretty good (I lost 6 pounds!). It took some thinking to sort out what to eat (toast and scramble instead of cereal for breakfast, hummus and pita instead of cereal bars or muffins for snacks, etc.), and I did miss sugar a couple of times. I don't see myself having many problems this time, since I worked out the kinks in June. I thought I'd really miss coffee, which I've recently started drinking because Mike suddenly insisted on having it, but I've suddenly gone off it again. We'll see how Mike does with it, though - he has cereal for breakfast, biscuits and/or chocolate for snacks most days, and coffee and some kind of dessert every night after dinner. Hopefully it'll be OK.

Update on the jam tart crust

A couple of days ago, I wrote this post about jam tart. I wasn't terribly keen on the crust, and I decided to try a few things to make it better. Today, I made an apple tart with the same crust recipe. For a half recipe, I used GF flour (1/2 c GF mix, 2 tbsp soy flour, and 2 tbsp buckwheat flour - so double these amounts for a full recipe), and I used finely ground corn flour, rather than a medium grind.

From this, I learned two things - 1) Definitely use the finer grind, or it's just too gritty, and 2) it works with GF flour.

Also, my apple tart is awesome. I just sliced some Pink Lady apples, threw them in a bowl with about 2 tbsp of almond butter and maybe 3 tbsp of Monin caramel syrup (from my awesome coffee syrup purchase - £33 for 6 750ml bottles, shipping included), and layered them in the crust, then put the leftover crust on top and baked for about 20 minutes at 350F/175C. Unfortunately, I had too many apples and not enough crust dough, but it still worked out. I wish I'd had some vanilla Swedish Glace, but what can you do?

Fauxsage Pizza

I wanted to accomplish a few things with tonight's dinner:
1) Use up some stuff in the fridge.
2) Use a recipe from my new cookbook (500 Vegan Reicpes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman).
3) Make something that will get eaten in its entirety tonight - no leftovers.
4) Experiment with trying to recreate Pizza Hut Pan Pizza.

And I accomplished all four with Fauxsage Pizza. I used the recipe from 5VR for Cast-Iron Deep Dish Pizza Dough and Bread Bowls for the crust, which I cooked in my cast-iron pan (a la the pan pizza). I used the Basic Seitan Crumbles recipe from 5VR as a template and combined it with a vague replica of the spice combination for Tempeh Sausage Crumbles in Vegan with a Vengeance to make seitan sausage crumbles, which used up the rest of my ketchup (catsup?). I topped it with Cheezly mozzarella left over from the lasagna I made earlier in the week. And it was small enough (and delicious enough) for us to eat the whole thing in one go.

So, I know that baking in the cast-iron is part of the way to getting Pizza Hut Pan Pizza crust, because they used to serve the personal pan pizzas still in the little cast iron pans. But it didn't quite work out. I think part of it might be to bake the crust a bit on its own, and also oil the hell out of the pan before putting the crust in. Because that shit is greasy. And I think I might need to go with a higher oven temp, because it definitely didn't get as crusty as the Pizza Hut stuff.

Also, I'll attempt to recreate the fauxsage crumbles below. I need to tweak the recipe a bit - I didn't use enough fennel, and I used too much ketchup (catsup?) (following the guidelines in the recipe). It was good, but not perfect.

Seitan Fauxsage Crumbles

1/2 c vital wheat gluten
1/4 c nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground fennel seed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp water

Place dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to thoroughly combine. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. When all of the dry bits are incorporated, break into crumbles with your hands. Fry for about 8-10 minutes in a large skillet or saucepan.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the deliciousness. We were hungry. And, you know, it just looked like pizza. But it was kickass good vegan pizza. And Mike is finally getting over his aversion to cooked fake cheese. Yay!

Plum brandy conserve and raspberry jam tart

A few days ago, I saw this post in my blog feed thingy, and I thought, that looks good. You see, I like the concept of pies et al (crust and sweetness, possibly topped with ice cream or whipped cream - hell yeah!), but I don't like the texture of bits of fruit that is inevitable in such items (well, of the fruit variety). This seemed like the perfect solution. Also, I've had a jar of plum brandy conserve in my cupboard that I got at the Farmers' Market months ago but could never bring myself to open it for some reason. However, as you can see from the thread, it doesn't actually have a recipe. It links to two other blogs that do have recipes, but neither of those is vegan. As you can see from the original post, it calls for one whole egg and one egg yolk, and I wasn't exactly sure what to do there. I mean, I know how to sub eggs in cake, but since I've only ever made eggless pie crusts in recent memory, I wasn't sure what I should sub for the egg (well, the yolk more accurately). So, after some PPKonsultation, I settled on soy yogurt. I give you ...

Plum Brandy Conserve and Raspberry Jam Tart



9 tablespoons (110g) margarine, at room temperature
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c plain soy yogurt
1/8 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 c plain flour
1/2 c stone-ground cornmeal or polenta
pinch sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 c plum and brandy conserve
1/4 c raspberry jam
turbinado or demerara sugar, for sprinkling


1. Cream together margarine and sugar. Mix in the soy yogurt and almond extract.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder. Gradually add the dry ingredients, just until the mixture just comes together.

3. Measure out about 2/3rd of the dough, wrap it in cling film, and chill it. Take the remaining dough, wrap it and chill it, too. (I chilled for about 2 hours, but only because I was distracted.)

4. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of an ungreased removable bottom 9-10"/24cm tart pan or springform pan, patting it evenly.

5. Spread the conserves and jam evenly over the dough (they'll mix together as you spread - no need to combine them ahead of time if you can't be bothered).

6. Form the extra dough into disks, then lay them over the jam. Top very generously with coarse sugar (as much or as little as you feel like).

7. Bake until the pastry is golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool before serving, and serve at room temperature.



The Verdict: I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda like a giant fancy pop tart - a crusty icing sugar glaze wouldn't have felt out of place here. And I wasn't keen on the texture of the crust, to be honest. But overall, the taste was great, and it was even better the next day (as was the texture).

I'll make this again, but I might experiment with a finer grind of cornmeal. It was pretty close to a shortbread crust, so that's another possibility. Also, as the original recipe suggests, you can use pretty much any jam, preserve, etc., in place of what I used - this is just what I had on hand. I might try again with raspberry jam and chocolate chips, since it's always been a winning combination. I might also try to do a GF crust, just to see if it works and to do something for the GF peeps.

I've uploaded all of my pictures from the past, oh, 8 or so months, and I've managed to get them into my Food Porn album on FB. I have to say, trying to label everything (thank jeebus for AllyChristine's cookbook/blog challenge compilation post) reminded me about a lot of good food I haven't made in ages. And it made me hungry. Part of me wants to do a post (or 10) to catch up, so I might do later. But I have meal planning and grocery shopping to do, so it'll have to wait.

Bonus: Perfectly perfect cinnamon chocolate chip muffins

A few weeks (months?) ago, I wrote this post about old-school cinnamon chocolate chip muffins like mom used to ... let me buy a packet mix for and turn into a cake-sized muffin that I hated to share. So, I've been making these like crazy (seriously, a couple times a week, hence my most recent post). When I made them last week, they came out absolutely perfect. It was the best muffin I've ever made in my life, including the much-raved about Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever from VwaV. The changes are slight but crucial. If you want the absolute most perfect cinnamon chocolate chip muffins in the world*, follow the recipe below exactly.

*YMMV

The Best Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins Ever

3/4 c plain flour
3/4 c wholemeal pastry flour
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c non-dairy milk
1/4 c + 2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp applesauce
1/3 c plain soy yogurt
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir dry ingredients together. Make a well in the centre and add liquid ingredients. Stir to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill muffin liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick through the centre comes out clean.


That said, when I next make these, I'll probably have to reverse the proportion of oil and applesauce to make them as low fat as possible. But at least I've shared my discovery with others.

I think I've perfected the vegan mug cake.

Mike asked me to make him a mug cake for dessert tonight. I usually make adjustments to the mug brownie recipe, but this time I looked up the mug cake recipe. I found this recipe on vegweb.com, but I still wasn't entirely pleased with it, so I made a few more adjustments. So here's the recipe with my changes. Mike really liked it, but I thought it was a bit too chocolaty, so I'm giving a range of cocoa powder.

1/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1-2 tbsp cocoa
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 "egg" (I used 1/2 tbsp Ener-G with 2 tbsp water)
3 tbsp soymilk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
splash of chocolate extract (optional)

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large, microwaveable mug. Mix up egg replacer and add to dry ingredients along with other wet ingredients. Stir to combine, making sure to get the dry bits along the bottom edges of the mug. Microwave for 3-5 minutes (depending on the power level - mine is 700w and it took 4 minutes) until it looks firm and pulls away from the mug. Eat with a spoon or turn out onto a plate. It tastes pretty good topped with raspberry jam.

I might tinker with this a bit more. I thought about adding a couple drops of almond or coffee extract, since those flavours work well with chocolate.