Vegan Kheer--Indian Rice Pudding

Made a delicious indian food feast with my friends this past weekend, my main contribution being, of course, dessert! I decided to vegan-ize kheer, a soupy rice pudding usually made with cream. Here's what I came up with:

8 cups almond milk
0.5 cup rice
0.5 cup sugar
0.25 to 0.5 t cardamom powder
sprinkle of nutmeg
chopped almonds and pistachios to taste, a few tablespoons is good
a pinch of saffron

Wash rice. Boil the milk in a saucepan and add the rice about 5 minutes after it starts boiling. Keep boiling off the liquid fairly rapidly with stirring until its around half the original volume, then add the sugar and spice. Cook for another 8 minutes or so. Remove from heat and garnish with nuts and maybe some extra saffron.

Rice milk might work for this too.

Vegan Coconut Banana Berry Buckwheat Muffins

Bomb buckwheat muffins! Buckwheat is a very healthy grain. I cut down on the fat in this recipe by using light coconut milk and replacing some of the oil with applesauce. Also, I tend to add a shake of clove and nutmeg to recipes that call for cinnamon. I think it rounds out the taste, try it!

0.5 cups ground oats (I ground it mortar and pestle style with a whisk, not efficient but it works)
1 cup all purpose flour
0.75 cup buckwheat flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
3 mashed ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
0.5 cup canola oil
0.5 cup applesauce
0.25 cup coconut milk
0.75 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs (I use Ener-G)
1 cup-ish of your favorite berries, I used a frozen mix

Mix the wet ingredients plus sugar, then mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine until just mixed, then add the berries. Fill a greased muffin tin with the batter, leaving about 1 cm at the top. These don't poof up much. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or so. Check them regularly, they're done when the sides start looking nice and brown and the top of each muffin is firm to the touch.

Unique and awesome muffins!

Soft Peanut Butter Banana Cookies!

I adapted a more traditional peanut butter cookie recipe, and they came out all fluffy, soft and delicious! However, the dough was a lot stickier so that made it difficult to make those cute fork lines in the cookies. Try adding more flour if you have problems with this.

2 cups flour
0.5 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
0.5 cups maple syrup
0.25 cups brown sugar
1 mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup peanut butter (Maranatha is the BEST)
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon

Mix wet and dry ingredients in separate containers. Combine and mix until just blended. Don't over mix as this affects the proteins in the flour (maybe I'm a biochemist, what of it?? hehe) and can make the cookies overly chewy. Make balls of dough approx. 1 inch diameter and place on a lightly greased or non-stick cookie sheet. Silicon sheets work great! Make little fork marks in them and add toppings, if you'd like. Bake at 350F until lightly browned on the edges. I don't like to list bake times because ovens are so varied, but check them after 7 minutes or so.

Try these tasty adornments:

• add chocolate chips, the texture of these cookies is perfect for them!
• or drizzle chocolate on top after the cookies have cooled
• roll the balls of dough in sugar
  
• put some shredded coconut on top
  

These went fast, especially the coconut ones!!! Enjoy.

Chocolate Avocado Pie

Rich, loaded with healthy fats, and soy-free, this pie is easy and uniquely delicious!

pre-made graham cracker crust, chocolate or regular

or try

crust
1 small package of graham crackers (10 cracker sheets), try Hain chocolate grahams or these
2 Tablespoons of oil (light flavor, like canola. Avoid vegetable, its mostly soy oil!)

Crush graham cracker with rolling pin, mix with oil and press into pie pan. Bake at 375F for around 8 minutes.

Filling
2-3 ripe avocados
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8-12oz vegan chocolate (watch out for soy lecithin!) , try the products here or here
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Blend avocado until smooth. Add lemon juice and vanilla. Melt chocolate in a double broiler or over very low heat. Add between 8 and 12 oz of chocolate and 1/4 cup confectioners sugar, to taste. Blend well with avocado and pour into crust. Cover and let sit in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.