Pumpkin Cheesecake In the Raw

I have not deserted you my desert blog!

I made this cheesecake, and took this lackluster photo, weeks ago, but since I sit at a computer for 40+ hours a week at work, that’s usually the last thing I want to do during my free hours. Stuff besides work, like Thanksgiving and a cold that never seemed to really go away, only aided in my procrastination  and then suddenly I’m stressing about Christmas presents already. I don’t know about everyone else, but once I hit the ripe old age of 25, time just started to fly by. Days and weeks are just suddenly gone. I can only imagine what that must be like at 50 but I’ve got a lot of time until then . . .  or do I? Well no time to ponder that, so onto my Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake before another day goes by without a post.

raw pumpkin cheesecake

I live by Café Gratitude and love their menu, and I have always been curious to learn more about raw desserts and how they are prepared. When I found a recipe for Raw Cashew Cheesecake in my July/August issue of Vegetarian Times, I knew I was going to attempt to make my own version and I had a feeling it would include some pumpkin. Later when I wrote my very first post, I sent an email to my coworkers about my blog and encouraged them to send me their ideas and requests for things to make. One of the founders, Sami, suggested that I try a raw cheesecake.

Weeks later I delivered a piece of the pumkin stuff to Sami at work and a few days after that, when he returned my Tupperware container, he told me he loved the cheesecake and he also handed me a book: Sweet Gratitude: A New World of Raw Desserts.

He showed me that he bookmarked his favorite recipe, the raw Tiramisu, and since I’ve lent and borrowed many cookbooks over the years, I assumed that he was letting me borrow the book. So after a week and a half of study, I brought the book back, only to learn that it was a gift for me to keep. So I must take a moment to give another big THANK YOU to Sami. That was such a wonderful gesture and a raw dessert book is truly a great addition to my cookbook collection. It’s so unlike all my other dessert books and there’s so much to learn. I’m incredibly grateful and I’ll be sure to try out the Tiramisu and bring some into the office when I do.

There is one tiny caveat to the recipe you’ll find below however, though it is easily remedied. When I was making the pumpkin filling I felt it needed more sweetness than the ¼ agave syrup provided, but I didn’t have any more so I reached for what I thought was a good substitute and would complement the pumpkin flavor – maple syrup which is so NOT raw. That simply didn’t occur to me at the time though I’ve since confirmed that the sap is indeed boiled well beyond 116* F. To be honest I’m not certain that the agave nectar I used was raw either. I’ve also seen a lot of debate online as to whether agave nectar can be considered raw at all so I’m really confused about the whole thing. It’s used a lot in the Sweet Gratitude recipes so in that case it’s good enough for me. Anyway I figure that anyone who endeavors to make this can simply use more agave syrup in place of the maple stuff.

Practically Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake

Adapted from Andrea Kowalski’s Raw Cashew Cheesecake recipe published in the July/August issue of Vegetarian Times

Crust

2 cups pecans

½ cup dates

¼ cup dried coconut

Raw Pumpkin Filling

1 ½ cup cashews

1 ¾ cup raw pureed pumpkin

6 T coconut oil

2 T lemon juice

¼ cup agave syrup

2 T maple syrup*

2 t cinnamon

1 t nutmeg

1 t ginger

* Raw foodists, please substitute more agave syrup for the maple syrup.

1. Soak pecans and cashews separately, in cold water for four hours. Rinse, drain, and set aside.

2. Pulse pecans and dates in a food processor until they have a sticky, crumby consistency.

3. Sprinkle dried coconut in the bottom of an 8 inch pie dish.

4. Press pecan and macadamia nut mixture into pan to create the crust and set aside.

5. Combine remaining ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.

6. Pour filling into crust, smooth and freeze for several hours or until firm.

7. Slice while frozen and allow to thaw before serving.

Pumpkin Pie . . . Truffles Part II

Did I really say that I was going to post this recipe early last week? Really?

Ok, well time got away from me a bit and I decided that I needed to give this recipe a second go-round because it wasn’t really as simple as it could be. For the first recipe I made a caramel sauce and used that to sweeten the pumpkin filling, but the result didn’t taste any different that it would have if I’d just used sugar. I also baked the first batch of filling to firm it up in the hopes that I wouldn’t have to freeze the centers but that ended up being inevitable. My boyfriend also suggested that I add a crust element and since that thought had already crossed my mind more than once, I figured it had to be done.

lotsa truffles

So without further ado, here is a truly simple pumpkin filling that you can dip in chocolate and call a truffle. However I must include a disclaimer: This recipe probably makes enough for around 40 1 oz. truffle centers. Personally, there’s only so much chocolate dipping that I can handle and I didn’t get that far. If you actually want to make that many truffles, or if you don’t mind having some extra pumpkin filling to use in other things (pancakes or cookies anyone?) then go ahead and make the whole batch. Otherwise I recommend making just a half batch. I should also note that this pumpkin filling turned out a bit less orangy than the filling you see in the pic from my last post.

Pumpkin Pie . . . Truffles

1 29 oz. can of pumpkin puree

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti)

2 T cinnamon

1 1/2 t nutmeg

1 t ginger

1 t salt

1. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly until creamy.
2. Cool in fridge for approximately 20 minutes (This will make it much easier to scoop the centers)
3. Use an 1 oz. ice cream scoop to form the centers.
4. Freeze the centers until firm, dip into your favorite melted vegan chocolate and decorate as you please.

a tale of two truffles

If you’re feeling ambitious or if you don’t like your pumpkin without some crust, the following works pretty well, but it’s recommended that you make the crust first so you can scoop the centers right onto the crust and then freeze them together.

Pumpkin Truffle Crust a.k.a. Pecan Strusel

1 c toasted pecans

3 T brown sugar

1/4 cup spelt

2 T flax meal

1 oz butter

1. Process pecans in your food processor until you’ve got some fine crumbs
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until the mixture starts to come together.
3. Form the mixture into a thin disk and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
4. Use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds the same size as your truffle centers.
5. Place your freshly scooped truffle centers on top of the rounds and freeze.
6. You know the rest.

Pumpkin Pie . . . Truffles

I’ve got no time to write out this recipe, simple as it may be, but I couldn’t let a week go by without a post. At the very least it will show my small loyal audience that I’m not slacking off. My coworkers are getting a sneak preview of these babies today and more to come soon. (I’ve still got a lot of pumpkin centers in my freezer that are in need of some chocolate coating.) The recipe will follow early next week with a few more pics and I’ve got a raw pumpkin cheesecake in the works so stay tuned.

Happy Halloween!!!!

pumpkin + chocolate = goodness

Time Crunch Peach Crisp

Someone asked me recently how I find the time to keep up with this blog. Things are rather hectic lately and I was planning to write about all the things I have to do, but then I realized that I don’t have time for that kind of idle chatter. I do have time enough to tell you though that this recipe is probably one of my favorites of all that I’ve posted because I just easily threw the darn stuff together and I was blown away by how good it was. Don’t let the lackluster picture or ease of preparation fool you – this is good stuff!

mmm, crispy and peachy

Time Crunch Peach Crisp

• 2 peaches chopped
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 2 T amaretto
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup Grapenuts cereal
• 10 dried dates
• 1 T almond oil
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 T Earth Balance margarine, melted

1. Mix peaches with granulated sugar and amaretto and put aside to sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Combine almonds, Grapenuts and dates in a food processor and process into small crumbs.
3. With the food processor motor running add the almond oil to the mix.
4. Take approximatley 4 T of the almond mixture and press into the bottom of one 5-inch ramekin and repeat with another ramekin.
5. Divide the peach mixture among the two ramekins.
6. To the remaining almond mixture add the brown sugar and margarine and mix and pinch the mixture thoroughly with your fingers until you’ve got a nice stickly clump that you can then crumble over the peaches.
7. Bake @ 350* for 25 minutes.

Ok and just for fun, here are some really old Grapenuts commercials that I stumbled upon. Hope you enjoy.

Be vewy vewy quiet, we’re hunting banantelopes.

Phew! I was sitting here with no idea what to call this post and it occurred to me that I might have already used up my alloted number of bad puns for the day, but clearly I’ve still got it thanks in part to a little help from Elmer Fudd. I do hope that this reference to hunting doesn’t upset any fellow vegans though. It didn’t occur to me when I grabbed my little zebra plate from the cupboard, but once I saw the little tartelette sitting on top from behind my camera, it became so obvious how much my little chocolate adornments looked like antlers. And thus the banantelope was born.

Meet Mr. Bantantalope. Check out the horns on this guy!

The only original recipe I came up with for these was the peanut butter crust so my other creative juices went into the presentaton. I’d actually never had banana chips before and after eating close to half a bag for dinner the other night, I’ve concluded that, while quite addictive, they actually don’t taste much like banana. They make for good decorations though.

Marshalltown Plastic Notched Spreader

The coolest part of the decorating was that the little comb I used to make the chocolate squqqles came from the hardware store and only cost me 69 cents. If you check out the link from the photo here, you’ll see that I was actually totally ripped off since the thing is only 34 cents online, but I guess it’s a wash since I didn’t have to pay for shipping and handling and I like the guys at my local hardware store so it’s all good.

Regardless, it was definitely a lot less than the combs made specifically for cakes that will set you back $4 at least. It was sooo much fun to play with too. It’s amazing the various designs you can come up with when you get into it and throw some funky wrist action into the mix. And if you decide that your designs suck, you can always melt them and start over.

Or you can eat them.

I like to eat my messed up squqqles.

Anyway, I suppose I should get onto the actual making of the tartelettes. The recipe for the peanut butter crusts follows below. Once baked and cooled, I spread some melted chocolate on the bottom of each crust, and once the chocolate was set and dry, the tarts were filled with pastry cream a la The Joy of Vegan Baking with an added quarter cup of brown sugar and two extra bananas mashed in. (The book says it’s optional to add one banana, which I did, so that’s three total.) This was topped with Tofu Whipped Topping from the same book. I’ve got to admit though that this was my first time making it and it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I’m not sure if I made some error with the recipe but it was a lot more runny and less light and fluffy than I expected. Had I been inclined I would have tried to thicken it up, but I wasn’t up for that and it worked in the end. Chopped peanuts were then sprinkled on top, to be followed by the careful insertion of a chocolate dipped banana chip and two chocolate antlers into the tartelette center.

Watch out for the herd!

Peanut Butter Crusts

 (Sorry for the ounce measurements here. I used my scale when I made these and I’m just too darn tired/lazy to convert everything over right now.)

 

8 oz natural, crunchy peanut butter (I used Natural Directions because it doesn’t get all separated and oily on top and hard as a rock on the bottom. I hate that!)

8 oz whole wheat pastry flour

3 oz powdered sugar

4 T soy milk

2 T maple syrup

1. Mix all ingredients until combined and the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened.
2. Press into mini tart pans. (This made ten really small tartelette crusts plus two three-inch crusts.)
3. Bake @ 325* until gently browned and fragrant. (In other words, I forgot to write the time down, so do your best!)

Give Yams a Chance!

Terrible title, I know. I’ll be the first to admit that the word ‘yam’ is less than inspiring, but yams still need to be given their due respect and admiration. My boyfriend doesn’t really like yams or their sweet potato cousins prepared in savory dishes, but mixed with a bit of sugar and spice, pureed yams are easily transformed to taste just like pumpkin pie filling, and my boyfriend sure loved these pies.

mini pies

I happen to adore sweet potatoes and yams and love to eat them whipped up like mashed potatoes. I also like yams as a pumpkin replacement because they’re easier to prepare and puree if you don’t want to buy canned pumpkin, and no one can really tell the difference anyway.

I did have issues deciding what exactly what I was making from this recipe (hence the options listed in the title below). First I was going to make bars or squares, but I had no foil or parchment on hand to line my pan and I figured I might not get this stuff out of the pan without it. The only pan I’ve got with a removable bottom is my tart pan so that’s what I used. When it came out of the oven it did look nice as a tart but I though that little rounds would make for a better presentation. In my world anything made smaller is always cuter.

Yam n’ Pecan Pies (or Bars/Squares or Pie or Tart)
Partially inspired and adapted from the Maple Pecan Squares recipe from Essentials of Baking

Crust:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup sucanat

1/4 t salt

1 stick Earth Balance vegan margarine, cut into cubes

1. Mix, flour, sucanat and salt.
2. Cut margarine into the flour mixture or pulse all ingredients in a food processor until nice crumbs are formed.
3. Press dough into the bottom of an 8×8′ square pan or a 9×9′ round. (Preferrably a pan with a removable bottom or, if not, lined with foil or parchment.)
4. Bake @ 350* F for 12 to 15 minutes.

Yam Filling:

2 cups yam puree (I peeled and sliced 4 large yams, sprinkled them with almond oil and salt, baked them in my oven @ 350* until fork tender, and put them in the food processor. Boiling them should do just as well.)

4 oz silken tofu (I used the non-refrigerated kind.)

4 T maple syrup

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/4 t ground ginger

1. Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined and smooth. (I used the paddle on my kitchen aid and mixed for probably 4 minutes.)
2. Spread filling over pre-baked crust.

Pecan Topping:

1 1/4 chopped pecans

3 oz Earth Balance vegan margarine

1/2 cup sucanat

3 oz maple syrup

3 T soy milk

1. Combine Earth Balance butter, sucanat, and syrup into a sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Once butter is melted, bring mix to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat and stir in soy mik and pecans.
4. Pour over yam mixture and bake @ 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. (I recommend baking this on a cookie sheet as the pecan topping is likely to bouble and may boil over the edges a bit or leak through your removable-bottomed pan.)
5. Be sure to cool it thoroughly and keep it in the fridge until serving.
6. You can slice or cut into bars to serve. To make the mini pies you see here, you’ll need to cut out rounds with a large cookie cutter and you’ll have to find something to do with the scraps. That’s not difficult though. It’s seems that every time I open my refrigerator I find that my refrigerator gnomes have stolen more of the leftovers, and the rest, if you want to be bad for breakfast, is quite nice stirred into your morning oatmeal.

tastes just like pumpkin

Pomegranates, sorbet and sherbet! Oh my!

‘Oh my’ is right. I had hoped to write my second post this past weekend, but by the time I was done cooking and cleaning up, cooking and cleaning up again, and taking and reviewing tons of photos, it was past 11:00 on Sunday night and time for bed. And yesterday, being a very long Monday, was just not a good day to be cheerful and blog. Still, I’m not terribly disappointed to be posting this on a Tuesday (ok, Wednesday morning). I figure since it’s a bit of a double feature, I can cut myself some slack.

Look at those seeds!

When my boyfriend and I first spied and sampled the pomegranates at our farmer’s market several weeks ago there was no question about buying one. I, having not been thoroughly exposed to pomegranates in my younger days, reported to my Dad how ‘exciting’ it was to have bought one. ‘That’s not exciting,’ was the quick reply from my boyfriend, but I just don’t see how that can be so.

Even now that I’m used to the pomegranate’s tart, crunchy, red seeds, I’m still amazed each time I open one, and removing those seeds is still a pleasure rather than a chore. I suppose my pomegranate wonder might wear off someday but I’m a food nerd and I still marvel when I see egg whites beaten and transformed into meringue, so there probably isn’t much hope for me.

But how does a girl transform these beauteous seeds into a fantastic dessert? Being in a chocolate-craving state of mind I decided to try coating some of the seeds in chocolate, and having recently bought a large bottle of Pom Wonderful juice (yes, we’re pomegranate crazy right now) I decided a simple sorbet would go well under those coated seeds.

Where's my spoon?

Sadly, the seeds didn’t work out so well. Despite gently blotting with paper towels to dry them as much as possible, I couldn’t prevent the chocolate from seizing when it came in contact with the little arils, and in hindsight I don’t know why I’d ever want to cover up those beautiful seeds in the first place. (It’s amazing how chocolate can affect one’s judgment.)

I still managed to get some chocolate to accompany my sorbet however, in the form of a chocolate balsamic sauce on top and a little chocolate shortbread cookie on the side.

The cookie recipe is a veganized version of the Chocolate Shortbread with Cacao Nibs and Sea Salt recipe from the The Essence of Chocolate, and the balsamic sauce is my own, but I think it needs a bit more work, so the recipe isn’t included here. However the sorbet recipe follows below and I like to think that it’s quite nice. If you like Pom juice and you like sorbet, it’s a good marriage of the two that is easier than easy to make and will produce a nice little pucker on your lips. The brilliant purple color isn’t bad on the eyes either.

mmm, creamy goodness

And I didn’t stop there. I’m just really a fan of creaminess more than iciness and since sorbet is so easily melted down and messed with, I decided to transform my sorbet into some ice cream. It’s sherbet technically speaking because of the low fat content, but I find it creamy enough to satisfy an ice cream lover’s needs and the taste is extraordinary. The simple addition of soy milk created a balance so pleasing that I’m sure to make this again and again. No more puckering; just yummy, creamy, fruity goodness.

Pomegranate Sorbet

3 cups pomegranate juice, divided

2 T sugar, divided, or more or less to taste

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Pomegranate seeds to garnish

1. Bring 1 cup of pomegranate juice and 1 T sugar to a boil and simmer until reduced by half.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients (add more or less sugar as you see fit) and refrigerate for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours.
3. Churn in ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions.
4. Serve with seeds and some form of chocolate.

Pomegranate Sherbet

1 and 1/2 cups Pomegranate Sorbet mixture, melted or pre-frozen*

1 cup soy milk (I used vanilla flavored Silk)

1 T Arrowroot mixed with 2 T soy milk to form a slurry

1/2 to 3/4 pomegranate seeds (optional)

1. Bring Pomegranate Sorbet mixture and 1 cup soy milk to a boil.
2. Add the slurry to the pomegranate mixture, remove from heat and stir for a minute or two. (I also added a tiny drop of pink food coloring at this point since the soy milk dulls the color of the juice.)
3. Refrigerate for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours.
4. Churn in ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions. (I added the seeds to the mix just a minute or two before the churning was complete. Freezing doesn’t make them too hard and they give the sherbet a  nice look and a good crunch.)

* I realize the sorbet recipe makes double this amount, however my boyfriend and I already ate half of it by the time I decided to melt the rest and make sherbet. I didn’t want to post a double recipe without having tried it, just in case doing so throws something out of whack, but I’ll be sure to post an update when I make it again.

also makes good sandwiches

Fudgy Wudgy was a bear . . .

mmm, fudgy

I just happened to watch that episode of Sex and the City in which Carrie’s friend Stanford says, ‘Judgy Wudgy was a bear’ and I also just happened to make fudge. Thus, this new turn of phrase was born and I can’t help but think it, or even say it to myself quite amusedly, when I encounter fudge now.

Since this is my first post, I suppose I should provide a bit of background about myself. I’ve always loved baking and took a professional course only to find later that baking doesn’t quite get the rent paid. It’s thus been relegated to a hobby or favorite past-time for now. I also became a vegan several months ago and turned to the internet to find recipes for all the things I couldn’t do without – sweets mostly. I was thrilled to find so many wonderful vegan blogs with fabulous recipes. I’d never really followed any blogs before but now I’m hooked on quite a few and want to join in all the fun.

I came across a recipe for Rum Cashew Fudge on Yeah, That “Vegan” Shit, adapted from have cake, will travel’s recipe for whisky peanut fudge.* I had Malibu rum on hand as well as some shredded, sweetened coconut and decided to make yet another version of this recipe which came out quite nice. I substituted 1/4 cup of the coconut for 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar but kept all other ratios the same. I surmise this may have made my fudge a tad bit softer than the others but I haven’t had them yet so I can’t say for sure. At any rate, it’s still darn good fudge and if it happens to get a little melty while you hold it in your fingers, oh well, I guess you’ll have to lick them.

* I hope it’s ok that I mentioned your blogs and recipes. Thank you!

mmm, more fudge