Category: Food

There’s a bakery downtown that makes butter tarts in puff pastry and they’re amazing. I decided to make my own version; albeit without raisins as I really don’t like raisins.

The end result was really good. I didn’t make my own puff pastry for this one, I bought some dough from a local French baker. For the grocery store they’ll usually be in the frozen section.

Butter Tarts (Original)

• Puff Pastry Dough (I used store-bought)
• 1/4 Cup Butter, Softened
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
• 2 Tsp Molasses
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Roll out the puff pastry dough.
3. Cut dough into 12 pieces, place in muffin cups.
4. Any dough that flopped outside of the cup it was put in I would roll up a bit, so that the dough made a cup shape.
5. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, maple syrup and molasses.
6. Stir in the egg and vanilla, mix well.
7. Stir in the chopped walnuts.
8. Fill each tart shell with the mixture. Don’t fill more than half way – the puff pastry will expand while baking and it could overflow.
9. Bake for 15 minutes for a runny butter tart or 20 minutes for a firm butter tart.
10. Let cool 10 minutes before removing tarts from pan.

I realize “Peanut-Free Peanut Butter Cookies” is a contradiction. I figured people wouldn’t know what to expect if I called them “Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies.” Nor would those seeking a substitute for peanut butter cookies when someone they know is allergic find this. So Peanut-Free Peanut Butter Cookies it is.

The magic ingredient here is sunflower seed butter. I find it has a very similar taste and texture to peanut butter.

Peanut-Free Peanut Butter Cookies (Original)

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1½ Tsp Molasses
• ½ Cup Sunflower Seed Butter
• ½ Cup Butter
• 1 Large Egg
• 1½ Cup Flour
• ¾ Tsp Baking Soda
• ½ Tsp Baking Powder
• Dash Salt
• 2 Tbsp Sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. In a large bowl, cream the sugar, molasses, sunflower seed butter, butter, and egg.
3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder until mixed.
4. In a small bowl, place the 2 tablespoons of sugar.
5. Make 3 cm balls with the dough and dunk in the sugar mixture. Then place on ungreased cookie sheet, about 8 cm apart.
6. With a fork, press down on each cookie ball to make a criss-cross pattern.
7. Bake 9 – 10 minutes or until light brown.
8. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.

Notes

They really do taste like peanut butter cookies. The base recipe is decent, but I might try to find one so they can be thicker next time.

This is a classic French canadian recipe that I’ve never actually tried before. I veganized this recipe and the results were quite delicious.

Cake

• 1½ Cup Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Cup Sugar
• ¼ Cup Vegan Butter
• 1 Cup Almond/Soy/Rice Milk

1. Grease a 13×9″ (33 x 22 cm) baking pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter.
4. Add a quarter of the flour mix and milk and mix.
5. Continue adding the flour and milk in quarters until all of it is incorporated.
6. Pour the mixture into the greased pan.

Sauce

• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Maple Syrup
• 1 Cup Water
• ¼ Cup Vegan Butter

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. Place all of the ingredients in a sauce pot.
3. Bring to a boil stirring continuously.
4. Let boil for a few minutes.
5. Carefully pour the sauce onto the cake mixture. Do not mix.
6. Bake for 45 minutes.
7. Serve warm with ice cream.

I wanted to make snickerdoodle doughnuts after I had spotted a recipe online. Only they called for frying them, which I really don’t like to do! So I did some testing and came up with this recipe for a baked version. The result is alright.

Vegan Snickerdoodle Doughnuts

Makes 12 miniature doughnuts.

• 3 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Cup Sugar
• ⅔ Cup Vegan Butter
• ⅓ Cup Apple Sauce
• 1 ¾ Cup Flour
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ Tsp Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a small bowl, mix the 3 tbsp sugar and cinnamon.
3. Grease the doughnut pan. Place a bit of the cinnamon sugar mixture at the bottom of each well. Shake the pan until the cinnamon sugar coats all the walls.
4. In a large bowl, cream the 1 cup sugar and butter.
5. Mix in the apple sauce.
6. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until well combined.
7. Press the dough in each well of the doughnut pan.
8. Bake for 10 minutes.
9. Let cool for 3 minutes. Flip the doughnuts over on a plate or cooling rack.

Watermelon Cake with Coconut Whipped Cream

Makes four personal sized cakes.

• Watermelon
• 2 Cans of Coconut Milk (Don’t go low-fat)
• 2 Tbsp Icing Sugar
• Strawberry

1. Place the cans of coconut milk in the fridge overnight. The top half of the can will solidify.
2. Place a large bowl in the freezer.
3. Cut a 2″ slab of watermelon. Cut off the rind.
4. Use a cookie cutter to stamp out the watermelon cakes from the slab. Temporarily place these cakes on a large plate to let the water seep out while you prepare the coconut whipped cream.
5. Take the bowl from the freezer. Grab the cans of coconut milk from the fridge. Flip them upside down and open them up. Discard the liquid and dump the solid in the bowl.
6. Add the icing sugar and whip up the coconut mixture.
7. Place the cake on a serving plate. Pour a glob of whipping cream on top, making a circular motion with a spoon on top to get it to go down the sides. Then smooth out the sides.
8. Decorate the top of the cake with a slice of strawberry and serve.

Notes

I came up with this recipe after seeing a picture of a watermelon cake floating on a photo sharing site. The first try-through was a bit of a mess; I got a technique fleshed out the second time round. If you lack a cookie cutter to stamp out the watermelon cakes, you can use an empty can of coconut milk with both ends open.

The results are pretty great. Tasty and light. It’s now one of my favourite recipes.