Vegan peanut butter filled chocolate cookies/pillows

Work (work #2) decided to have an Christmas bbq this past weekend and we all agreed to bring a plate or two of goodies. A few of the guests were vegan so we all made an effort to cater to everyone which was fantastic. It was quite a feast!! The usual sausages, burgers (both meat and vegan black-bean based patties), selection of salads, vegan sushi (tofu + veggie filling), crackers, dips, cheeses, vegan quiche (yum). A brilliant gingerbread house was brought and eagerly (sadly) destroyed by the party. I decided to bring some vegan friendly plates - a fruit platter (cherries, green grapes, strawberries, kiwi, watermelon) and some of Post Punk Kitchen's peanut butter chocolate pillows.

Peanut Butter filled Chocolate cookies
Ingredients
makes 2 dozen cookies
Chocolate dough:
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tbsp non-dairy milk (I used vanilla almond)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 + 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tbsp black unsweetened cocoa or more dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Peanut filling:
3/4 cup natural salted peanut butter - crunchy or smooth (my natural PB wasn't salted so added about 1/4 tsp salt but would add more next time maybe 1/2tsp)
2/3 cup confectioner's icing sugar
2-3 tbsp non-dairy milk (I used 2 tbsp vanilla almond milk)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. In a large mixing bowl combine oil, sugar, maple syrup, non-dairy milk and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, black cocoa if using, baking soda and salt. Mix to form a moist dough.

2. In another mixing bowl beat together peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, 2 tablespoons of non-dairy milk and vanilla extract to form a moist but firm dough. If peanut butter dough is too dry (as different natural peanut butters have different moisture content), stir in remaining tablespoon of non-dairy milk. If dough is too wet knead in a little extra powdered sugar.

3. Preheat oven to 157°C (fan-forced). Line baking trays with baking paper.

3. Create the centers of the cookies by rolling the peanut butter dough into 24 balls.

4. Scoop a generous tablespoon of chocolate dough, flatten into a disc in the palm of your hand and place a peanut butter ball in the center. Fold the sides of the chocolate dough up and around the peanut butter center and roll the chocolate ball into an smooth ball between your palm (make sure you don't use too much chocolate dough - you only need just enough to cover the peanut ball otherwise it spreads too much... also note the dough is quite sticky and oily but definitely workable!).

5. Place dough balls on lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and let cookies for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to complete cooling. Store cookies in tightly covered container. If desired warm cookies in a microwave for 10 to 12 seconds before serving.

These were really delish, relatively easy to make and a big hit at the party with both vegans and non-vegans alike. The cookie part is very soft and brownie-like (yum!) and the peanut butter filling was great although I would have liked if it were saltier. I actually added vegan (sweet williams brand) chocolate chips into the peanut butter balls for crunch. I'd love to try these again but with different filling (eg like a coconut bounty-like centre).

Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake

Another birthday bake! Dad requested chocolate and hazelnuts so I settled on Smitten Kitchen's Hazelnut Brown Butter cake. This cake has so many rave reviews so I had to try it. 

Hazelnut Brown Butter cake
Ingredients
142g (about one heaping cup) hazelnuts, blanched or oven-roasted, skins removed
227g unsalted butter (plus 1 tablespoon melted extra for greasing the pan)
1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting the cake
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
5 extra-large egg whites (I used 6 by mistake but it turned out fine)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Ganache
113g semisweet chocolate chips or finely-chopped chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules

 

Method
1. Preheat oven to 150C (fan-forced)

2. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet, and toast 12 to 15 minutes, until they’re golden brown and smell nutty. Let them cool.

3. Cut out a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of a 10-inch round cake pan. Brush the pan with a little melted butter and line the bottom with the paper.

4. Place the rest of the butter in a medium saucepan. Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise down the center, and using a paring knife to scrape the seeds and pulp onto the butter. To make sure not to lose any of the seeds, run your vanilla-coated knife through the butter. Add the vanilla pod to the pan, and cook the butter until the butter browns and smells nutty (about 6 to 8 minutes). It helps to frequently scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan in the last couple minutes to ensure even browning. Set aside to cool. Remove the vanilla pod and discard.

5. Grind the hazelnuts with the confectioners’ sugar in a food processor until they’re finely ground. Add the flour and pulse to combine. Transfer to a large bowl.

6. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the granulated sugar and mix on high speed 4 to 5 minutes, until the mixture forms very stiff peaks. When you turn the whisk upside down, the peaks should hold. Transfer the whites to a large mixing bowl.

7. Alternate folding the dry ingredients and the brown butter into the egg whites, a third of a time. Remember to scrap the bottom of the brown butter pan with a rubber spatula to get all the little brown bits.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour (mine was done after 35min). Cool on a rack 30 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan, and invert the cake onto a plate. Peel off the paper, and turn the cake back over onto a serving platter. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar or cover with ganache (below).

Ganache method
Melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake. Top with crushed hazelnuts, chocolate curls etc as desired and serve with cream, icecream.. but it's perfect on it's own too!

This was a fantastic cake. Dense texture and wonderful hazelnut flavour. The top was slightly crispy which I loved. Make this!!!

Breakfast obsessions and lunch bowls

I have a bit of a backlog of pics due to exam craziness. It's all over now though so relief now for a whole year till final exams. Here's some breakfasts I've been having. Boring really as it's usually the same yoghurt or oats + fruit. Delicious though!!

 Yoghurt with raw oats, fruit and cinnamon

 Oats cooked in almond milk with banana mixed in topped with fruit and a crumbled honey graham + cinnamon.

 Essential study fuel.

And here's some lunches:

 Spinach salad with beetroot, mushroom, pumpkin, seeded mustard, chilli sauce, garlic powder.

Spinach salad with smoked salmon slathered with seeded mustard and balsamic vinegar + pumpkin + tomato + olives. Nice ingredients individually but this mix didn't really work :P

 Steamed broccoli, cauliflower, chickpeas, pumpkin, feta and smokey bbq sauce, chilli flakes.

Curry oats! Weird idea but was quite tasty!! 1/4 cup multigrain oats cooked in water + 1/4tsp curry powder + 1/8tsp tumeric. Added steamed cauliflower, mushrooms, a crumbled vita wheat cracker and some hot salsa + chilli flakes.

Some recipes coming up!

Pumpkin Pie

 I've been wanting to bake, or even just eat/try some pumpkin pie for such a long time! So it probably isn't the best idea to bake something when you don't know what it's supposed to taste like.. but due to the lack of pumpkin pie popularity where I live, I didn't have an option really. So I chose 101 cookbooks Spice-Kissed Pumpkin Pie. The ingredients list won me over, but in hindsight I should probably have made a more traditional pie to start with. It uses coconut milk instead of the more traditional condensed or evaporated milk or heavy cream. True, you can't really taste the coconut (which wouldn't have been a bad thing necessarily), but this pie really isn't very sweet as a result. This may be ideal for some, but I think I would have preferred a sweeter pie. Also, I used a honey graham crust. For some reason I wasn't a huge fan of this! It was quite crumbly and didn't seem to go well with the pie. I would make a more traditional crust for my next pumpkin pie. I made the hazelnut paste layer which was quite a nice addition (although didn't turn out as dark as I expected?). Nonetheless, I enjoyed the flavours and texture and will definitely be making more pumpkin pie in the future.

 

I enjoyed this out of the fridge with ice cream in this picture. I later tried it frozen (I have this weird thing for frozen baked goods haha) and I liked it more than the cold pie. I THEN tried it warmed up in the microwave - this was my favourite way to eat it :)