Category: Food

There’s a few food blogs I check up on regularly for ideas. One of them is Kevin and Amanda and last month they posted this decadent recipe for Cookie Dough Billionaire Bars.

I had never heard of billionaire bars before. It’s a bar with a shortbread base, topped with caramel, followed by a layer of cookie dough and with a chocolate ganache.

There’s a bunch of recipes online and they all seemed to point to the same source: a book called The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook. Anywho, I decided to do a vegan version for a potluck at work.

Shortbread Base

• ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 2 Cup Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
• 3 ¾ Cup Flour
• ½ Tsp Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Grease a lasagne pan and line with parchment paper. This is optional but it’ll make your life easier.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the flour and salt.
5. Put the dough in the parchment-lined lasagne pan. Press it down.
6. Bake until the edges are slightly browned. About 30-35 minutes.
7. Let cool.

Caramel

• 1 Cup Sugar
• ¾ Cup + 2 Tbsp Vegan Milk (eg. Unsweetend Almond Milk)
• ¼ Cup Maple Syrup
• 1 Tbsp Vegan Butter
• ½ Tsp Vanilla
• ⅛ Tsp Salt

1. Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan.
2. Cook until amber. Stir constantly. About 10 minutes.
3. Place in ice bath to stop the mixture from cooking further.
4. Pour the caramel sauce over the cooled shortbread.
5. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or freeze for 15 minutes.

Cookie Dough

• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• ½ Cup Vegan Butter
• 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
• ¼ Cup Unsweetend Apple Sauce
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• 1 ½ Cup Flour
• ¼ Tsp Salt
• 1 Cup Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips

1. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
2. Add the maple syrup, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix until consistent.
3. Add the flour and salt. Stir until smooth.
4. Add the chocolate chips. Mix.
5. Spread over the caramel layer in the pan.
6. Refrigerate.

Chocolate Ganache

• 2 Cups Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips
• ¾ Cup + 1 Tbsp Vegan Milk

1. In a small sauce pan on low heat, combine chocolate chips and milk.
2. Stir until chocolate mixture takes on a glossy finish.
3. Pour over the cookie dough layer and chill until set. Approximately 30 minutes.

Thoughts

It’s very rich, sweet and dense. You can taste the two-plus cups of butter that are within. The caramel recipe I used was pretty runny and ended up getting absorbed by the shortbread. I think if I were to do this again I’d use a different recipe for that, or let the caramel cool a bit first so that it forms a distinctive layer.

It’s a fun recipe but I don’t see me making it again. It’s too heavy. If you cut it, I recommend doing thin slices.

I was looking for a simple vegan cake recipe and stumbled on this one. I found a separate (dairy-free) cream cheese icing recipe to go with the Tofutti container I had in my fridge. The portions make a single-layered cake in an 8″ cake pan. I doubled everything to make a two-layer cake.

Almond Cake (Original)

• 1 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
• 1 Tbsp Vinegar
• 1 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/3 Cup Oil
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Tsp Almond Extract

1. Set the oven to 350 F.
2. Grease and flour the cake pan.
3. Stir milk and vinegar in a cup.
4. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
5. Mix the remaining wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.
6. Add the milk mixture to the wet ingredients bowl and mix.
7. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir mixture until batter is lump free.
8. Pour into baking pan and place in the oven until a toothpick/fork inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Approx 35 minutes.

Almond Cream Cheese Frosting (Original)

• 1/4 Cup Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
• 1/4 Cup Vegan Cream Cheese (eg. Tofutti)
• 2 Cups Icing Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Tsp Almond Extract
• Sliced Almonds (Optional)

1. Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
2. Add in icing sugar and mix until smooth.
3. Add vanilla and almond extract, stir until consistent.
4. Apply frosting to a cool cake and top with sliced almonds. I used candy confetti instead of almond slices – it’s whatever you want!

Thoughts

This cake came out dense but moist – which is as the author of the recipe I plagiarized this from said it would be like. Very similar to banana bread. I really like the almond theme, but I’d like for a lighter cake – so I probably won’t make this again.

Same recipe, two different products depending on what pan you use! If you have a miniature muffin pan, you can make tiny strawberry shortcakes. If you have a doughnut pan, you can make brown butter cinnamon sugar doughnuts. Both options are vegan.

Doughnut Muffins

• 6 Tbsp Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
• 6 Tbsp Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
• 1 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 3/4 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

1. Set the oven to 350 F.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy.
3. Add the apple sauce.
4. In a small bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, as well as the milk. Stir until well combined but don’t over mix.
6. Pour in miniature muffin pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Brown Butter Cinnamon Sugar Crust

• 3/4 Cup Vegan Butter That Can Brown (eg. Earth Balance)
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Cinnamon

1. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. Melt butter in a sauce pan and stir. Stir constantly as it browns.
3. Pour the butter in a second bowl.
4. When the baked muffins are cool enough to handle, dunk the tops in the melted butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar by the spoon-full. Sprinkling the cinnamon sugar as opposed to rolling it in the sugar mix prevents the melted butter from making moist clumps with the sugar.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (Optional)

• 6 Tbsp Vegan Butter
• 1 Cup Icing Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Vegan Milk
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• Strawberries

1. Mix all of the ingredients except the strawberries in a bowl until smooth.
2. Pipe onto muffins and top with a sliced strawberry.

Notes

You can use this batter to make baked doughnuts as well. This is a veganized version of a recipe I spotted on Kevin & Amanda. They said their recipe could make 18-20 miniature muffins, but it was closer to double that. So I halved the recipe, applied a few substitutions, and increased the baking powder usage. The end result was tasty.

I like this recipe, I don’t know whether I’d consider it a favourite. This works just as well without the buttercream frosting.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies (Original)

• 1 2/3 Cup Flour
• 2/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Cup Vegan Butter (I used Earth Balance)
• 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Egg Substitute (I used a Flax Egg)
• 2 Tsp Vanilla
• 1 Cup Vegan Milk (I used Unsweetened Almond Milk)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. If preparing a flax egg, grind 1 Tbsp of flax seeds. Put them in a small bowl and add 3 Tbsp of water. Mix them up and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
4. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a separate large bowl.
5. Add egg substitute and vanilla and keep mixing.
6. Pour half the dry ingredients and half the milk into the wet ingredients bowl. Mix.
7. Repeat with the other half.
8. Drop a rounded table spoon onto your baking sheets.
9. Bake for 8 minutes.
10. Let cool.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling (Original)

• 1/2 Cup Vegan Butter (I used Earth Balance)
• 1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup White Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Vegan Milk (I used Unsweetened Almond Milk)
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips (Make sure there’s no milk products)

1. Cream butter and sugars.
2. Add vanilla and milk. Mix until uniform.
3. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Spoon on cooled whoopie pies to make sandwiches.

Notes

So I wanted to bake for a support group tonight, but all the stores are closed. My fridge was purposefully empty because I had been on a trip for the last few days. I did however have butter and almond milk, as well as some chocolate chips left over from a previous project. I found a recipe that could work with that and off I went.

The whoopie pie sandwich part was actually pretty devoid of taste. It was the filling that made it good. Otherwise very rich – probably too much so for me to make it again.

So I came up with two ideas for desserts the other day, and this was one of them. I’m happy to report that it worked out!

Vegan Lemon Pies Inside of Apples

This makes four lemon pies.

Ingredients (Original Recipe)

• 4 Apples (I used Fuji)
• 2 Lemons
• 3/4 Cup Water
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 1 Tbsp Flour
• 1 Tbsp Vegan Butter (eg. Earth Balance)
• Pinch Salt
• Icing Sugar to Drizzle

Directions

1. Juice one of the lemons.
2. Cut the top off of the apples, and carve out their insides to create a hollow shell. Each time you finish with one of the apples, coat its insides with lemon juice. This will prevent it from browning.

   

3. Optional: I put the apple carvings in a separate container, to use for a later day. When I was done preparing all the apples, I dumped the rest of the lemon juice in the container with those carvings and shook it up before placing it in the fridge.
4. Juice the second lemon.
5. In a small sauce pan, mix the sugar, corn starch, flour and salt. Stir in the water and lemon juice. Make sure there are no clumps.

   

6. Bring the sauce pan to a boil. Stir frequently.
7. Add the butter.
8. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens.

   

9. Take the sauce pan off the heat, and pour the contents into the four apples.

   

10. Drizzle with icing sugar.

    

My Thoughts

This dessert took no time at all to put together, and in terms of calories you’re looking at quite a reasonable amount – definitively below the 200 calories per apple mark. It tasted fine, but I felt like it needed something else beyond the apple and lemon filling. Perhaps it would have been better served by a crumb topping or whipped cream rather than the icing sugar drizzle.