Vegan MoFo 2019 Day 5 - Not a Cronut

Welcome to Vegan MoFo Day 5! Today’s prompt is pastry! This presented the perfect opportunity to check another millennial dish off my list - cronuts!

But First, Salad!

I totally ate a nice big salad before diving into this experiment in pastry goodness. Today’s salad was brought to us by Urban Remedy. All of their vegan foods are incredible, but the Tahini Bowl is my favorite by far. The raw falafel seed mix is so so so good. I wish I could add it to everything. I’d eat it by the handful. I also really love the “Made With Care” stickers that they use to seal the container. Definitely give Urban Remedy a try if you ever have the chance!

And now, back to the cronut!

Apparently cronuts are trademarked by the creator and they’re aggressively suing anyone in the country who sells “cronuts” so people have been coming up with all sorts of crazy alternative names. Some of the more popular are Doissant, Doughssant, Crescent Doughnut, and my personal favorite, NotaCronut.

My version is made out of puff pastry, so I’m thinking we should call it a puffnut. Feel free to name yours anything you’d like. I experimented with a variety of methods, but ultimately settled on one adapted from Nish Kitchen. These puffnuts are baked, plus the glaze is made from fresh blackberries, so you won’t even feel guilty after eating one (or two or three!).

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Ingredients

For Puffnut

• 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed (Pepperidge Farms brand is vegan)

• 1/4 cup Just Egg

For Raspberry Glaze

• About 1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp. lemon juice

• 2 tbsp. nondairy butter (I prefer Earth Balance)

Directions

1. Unfold puff pastry sheet on cutting board.

2. Brush with Just Egg and fold sheet back into thirds (like it was packaged). Brush top with Just Egg.

3. Repeat with second sheet.

4. Use a large cookie cutter to cut 3 circles out of each pastry sheet. Use a small cookie cutter (or piping nozzle) to cut out smaller circles from the center of each large circle.

5. Arrange the circles on a lined baking tray. Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes.

6. While baking, prep glaze. In an electric mixer, combine butter and lemon juice and berries (reserve a few for decorating if desired) on medium speed. Turn down to a low speed and add the powdered sugar slowly, a quarter cup at a time.

7. Dip puffnuts in glaze or drizzle glaze over them with a spoon.

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I tried baking the holes too, but they turned into weird little puff fingers. My husband loved them and said it was like eating a cronut cheeto. Your mileage may vary.

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I’ve never had a real cronut so I don’t know how they compare. I personally think this recipe is a keeper though! This was also my first time using Just Egg as an egg wash substitute and it worked brilliantly. I can’t wait to experiment with it in other recipes.

Vegan MoFo 2019 Day 2 - Taste the Rainb-oats

Today’s day 2 of #veganmofo19! The official prompt is “Kitchen tour – Show us where the magic happens!” I don’t know about the other millennials out there, but my kitchen is far from magical. You know what is pure magic though? Rainb-oats! So today we’re tackling our first millennial food - overnight oats.

Everyone knows what overnight oats are, right? You put 1 part oats and 2 parts liquid in a bowl (or uber millennial mason jar) stick it in the fridge and the next morning - bam! You have delicious oatmeal without the hassle of cooking. There are infinite recipes out there, I don’t really think I can reinvent that wheel.

I do have one oat trick up my sleeve though! I’m told us millennials are poor planners. I take huge offense to that and completely disagree, but at the same time… I mean, how am I supposed to know if I’ll want oatmeal for breakfast in 8 hours?! I have no idea what I’ll be craving in 8 hours. I don’t want to be pinned down like that. Committed to a breakfast I might not want? I can’t stand idly by while my tastebuds are trapped by a grain. No! I’m taking a stand. Luckily, there is a way…

Quick cooking oats! You know what that means? They’re quick overnighting too! With these bad boys in your arsenal, you can wake up, decide oatmeal sounds good, and just relax, knowing that you don’t have to waste time you don’t have standing over the stove, or risk exploding oats in your microwave.

Another ruined breakfast. Thanks microwave.

The formula is the same. I do half a cup of oats to 1 cup of liquid. You can reduce it to 6 ounces of liquid if you like your oats less soupy. Just mix them together in your millennial-approved oat vessel of choice, stick it in the fridge and get ready for the day. When you come back in 20-30 minutes - bam! Delicious oatmeal in a fraction of the time. So long “overnight” oats! Hello “while I curl my hair” oats!!

If there’s one thing millennials really love, it’s rainbows. So today’s oats were made with the following:

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Strawberry (pink) = strawberry Califia Farms yogurt drink + 1/2 cup oats

Peaches & Cream (orange) = peach Kite Hill yogurt + 3 oz. vanilla almond milk + 1/2 cup oats

Piña Colada (yellow) = truefruit pineapple in coconut + 3 oz. coconut milk + 1/2 cup oats

Key Lime (green) = lime Kite Hill yogurt + 3 oz. vanilla almond milk + 1 tbsp. key lime juice + 1/2 cup oats

Blueberry (blue) = blueberry Califia Farms yogurt drink + 1/2 cup oats

Blackberry Vanilla (purple) = vanilla Kite Hill yogurt + 3 oz. vanilla almond milk + 1 pint of blackberries (puréed) + 1/2 cup oats

(Add a sprinkle of food coloring if you’re going full rainbow)

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Here you have choices. You could make any one of these. You could make all of them and eat a different flavor each day. Or you could live dangerously and add a little of each to your bowl each morning for a tropical medley of rainb-oats. Of course, that’s what I always do.

I always try to make nice straight lines, but I apparently failed that portion of preschool, so I inevitably just swirl it all together. I tell myself it tastes better that way anyway.

There you have it. Millennial food #1 - overnight oats, made extra fabulous!

Cinnamon Roll Apple Cobbler

If an apple pie

and cinnamon rolls

had a baby...

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They're the perfect partners really. They share a love of cinnamon and sugar, and could pass as breakfast, even though they're most certainly dessert. Try this delicious dessert today.

Or have it for breakfast - I won't judge! 

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Ingredients

5 granny smith apples, sliced
2 cans vegan cinnamon roll *
½ cup  sugar
1 teaspoon  cinnamon
1 tablespoon  cornstarch

* I like Annie's and Immaculate brands

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray a pie dish with nonstick oil.

2. Peel and cut the apples into thin slices and place in a bowl.

3. Add sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch to apples and stir.

4. Pour apple mixture into a colander over a large bowl and let sit 30-60 minutes.

5. Cut each cinnamon roll in half and roll out with flour until thin.

6. Layer the bottom of the pie dish with the flattened cinnamon rolls to create a bottom crust.

7. Bake crust in preheated oven for 8 minutes.

8. Cook the drained apple liquid on the stove until it reduces and develops a glossy sheen, about two minutes.

9. Add sliced apples to glaze and mix well.

10. Pour the apples into the pie crust and layer the rest of the rolls on top to create a closed crust, pinch any holes together with your fingers.

11. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

12. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes uncovered.

13. Allow the pie to cool and drizzle with icing.

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