Stovetop Choco-Chai Lattes

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet     chai, chocolate, hot drink, milk, tea, whipped cream, winter

What you’ll need…

6 cups whole milk

1/2 cup dark chocolate (chopped)

1 cup organic liquid chai concentrate

1 TSP cinnamon

vanilla whipped cream (optional)

red sprinkles
(also optional, but cute for Valentine’s Day though!)

Super simple, super tasty, super warming. Could this be a hot beverage superhero? Sounds like it…The Chocolate Chai Lattes are a distant cousins of these guys.

In a medium-sized pot, bring the milk to a simmer. Add-in the dark chocolate, whisk until it has melted completely, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Whisk again, pour into mugs and enjoy! Topping with whipped cream (and sprinkles!), although perhaps slightly indulgent, is worth the few extra calories. You can always go to the gym later…

Wow, that was easy!

Serves 4

Total cook time…8 minutes

Vegan London Fog Crème Brulée

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet, Vegan     deceivingly delicious, dessert, quick and easy, tea, vegan, vegetarian

What you’ll need…

2 cups brewed earl grey tea

1/2 cup white sugar

3 cups soft tofu

1 10 oz can coconut milk

1 TSP vanilla

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 TBSP agar powder

*in lieu of agar, substitute with 1 cup of raw cashews, although the crème will not taste as ‘creamy’*

1/4 cup brown sugar (for topping)

Vegans will rejoice and meat-eaters shall be fooled. This recipe for vegan crème brulée is, dare I say, easier than the original version, and tastes just as delicious. I promise! Aside from the agar powder, all ingredients can be easily found at your local grocery store.

This one’s going to be nice and easy…Start off by placing the brewed tea in a small pot on the stove and add the white sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring mixture to a simmer, and let bubble until it has reduced by half, about 15 minutes or so. In the meantime, place the tofu, coconut milk, vanilla, and icing sugar (and cashews if applicable) into a blender. Puree until smooth. Leave mixture in the blender for now.

Once the tea & sugar combo has reduced, add-in the agar powder and whisk until fully dissolved, about a 1 minute. Now, remove the lid cap of the blender, and pour the hot liquid in while ‘pulsing’. Once the liquid has blended with the puree, pour out into ramekins or small bowls, then into your refrigerator to chill until serving. The agar powder helps to thicken and set the mixture, to give it the same consistency as real crème brulée.

When you’re ready to serve, sprinkle some brown sugar on top of each ramekin, then torch (fun) or place under a broiler (not as fun) to caramelize the sugar. Serve and enjoy. Do me a favour and don’t even mention to your guests that it’s vegan until after they’ve devoured it. Good conversation topic.

Yields 6 desserts (approx. 8oz servings)

Total prep time…20 min (add at least 1 hour for chilling)

Berry, It’s Cold Outside (Cake)

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet     baking, berries, comforting, desserts, holidays, rustic

What you’ll need…

Cake:

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 TSP ground cloves

1 TBSP baking powder

1/4 TSP salt

1 cup softened butter (or vegan margarine)

2 eggs (or egg-replacer equivalent)

3/4 cup milk (soy if vegan)

a handful (or so) of the berries listed below…

Sauce:

1 cup brewed MarketSpice tea (water will do if cooking with tea scares you)

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blueberries

1 cup blackberries

1/2 cup white sugar

This one is for all of those people who pull the ‘I really can’t stay’. No buts, baby, you’re going to stay and have some god damn delicious dessert. This should, perhaps, be titled ‘Rustic Berry Cake‘, but due to our current holiday season I felt as though a Christmas song title should be referenced.

This will be a cake walk…(officially my best joke. ever.) First off, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Using an electric mixer, on low setting, combine all cake dry ingredients. Now, add the softened butter, and let mix until crumbly. Finally, add-in the milk, eggs, and that handful of berries (I favour blackberries, so my handful leans towards those, but a mixed handful is encouraged). Mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Press the dough into a prepared 8″ round cake pan and let bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick poke comes back clean!

Moving on…take all of the sauce ingredients and place them into a medium-sized pot. Give the mixture a few good stirs until the sugar dissolves. Turn to medium-high heat until the pot starts to bubble then reduce to low heat and let simmer for 25 minutes, or until the sauce reduces by 2/3s. Remember to stir occasionally.

Once the cake is out of the oven and the sauce is ready and warm dish it out to your girlfriend/boyfriend/friends/cat/family/whomever you are eating with…Remember to be nice and generous with the sauce. It’s the best part.

** Note: I did let the cake cool, then sliced in half so I could put the berry mixture in the middle and on top. Double down.

Serves 5-6

Total cook time…40 min

The Living Dead: Ginger Zombies

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet     Christmas, cookies, dessert, gingerbread, holidays

What you’ll need…

1 egg (or egg-replacer equivalent)

1/4 cup butter (or vegan margarine)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 TSP cinnamon

2 TSP ground ginger

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 TSP baking soda

1/4 TSP salt

icing/sprinkles

creativity

You say Christmas, I say gingerbread men ginger zombies! The holidays are a happy time, merry, if you will, but if watching The Living Dead has taught me anything it’s the fact that zombie is now the new vampire. It’s true, my ginger vampires of Christmas ’09 proved to be a flash in the pan, err….baking sheet. At any rate…let’s frost!

Ok, this will be simple enough, I promise. First off, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the egg and butter into a large mixing bowl. Gradually add the brown sugar to the bowl, using an electric mixer on low setting, until the mixture looks nice and creamy. Now, still mixing on ‘low’, add-in the cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Finally, slowly add the flour and mix until a dough forms.

The cookie-cutting part can be left up to interpretation. Severe limbs below baking/after, scrap out their middles with a melon baller, create your own zombie shape sans-cookie cutter, you know, something nice and creative!

Pop into your preheated oven for 8 minutes, and voila! Ginger zombies ready to be iced. Of course, let them cool a bit before applying icing so it doesn’t melt. On the other hand, that might give them a neat ‘my face is melting’ kind of look.

Yields 16 cookies (or less if you’re making mega zombies)

Total cook time…20 min

Brown Sugar Apple Cake

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet, Vegan     apples, dessert, tasty, vegan

What you’ll need…

4 medium-sized gala apples

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 cup plain oats

1 1/4 cups butter (or margarine if vegan)

3/4 cup whole milk (or soy/almond milk if vegan)

3 TBSP cinnamon

2 eggs (or egg replacer equiv. if vegan)

1 TBSP baking powder

1 TSP salt

So, this is kind of like if a bear claw was not deep-fried, or covered in glaze, and better for you. Ok, maybe not THAT much better for you, but what did you expect? It is cake after all…

First things first, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. This dough is going to fit into a 12″ rectangle dish, so grease that up before you start making the dough.

Using an electric mixer, mix the flour, white sugar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 2 TBSP of cinnamon, baking powder, and the salt. Now, add in 1 cup of the butter (or margarine) and mix on a medium-setting, until everything is nicely combined. Gradually pour in the milk, and then the eggs (or soy/almond milk and egg replacer). Let it mix until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

*Since soy milk is on the sweet side, you may want to put in a tad less sugar if you’re going this route.*

Before putting the dough into the baking dish, finely chop (core first) one apple. Gently fold the apple pieces into the dough. Now you can flatten the dough into the dish. Slice the remainder of the apples as thinly as possible and place on top of the dough. If cut thinly and placed evenly, this should be about 3 rows.

Now for the topping…melt the remaining butter and combine with the oats, leftover cinnamon and brown sugar, then spread on top of the apples using a spoon or spatula. Place in your preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Topping with vanilla ice cream is deliciously recommended.

Serves 8

Total cook time…1 hour

Stovetop London Fogs

Dan    Recipes, Something Sweet    

What you’ll need…

3 cups whole milk

2 cups water

2 earl grey tea bags

2 TSP pure vanilla extract

3 TBSP white sugar

whipped cream (optional)

It’s getting cold out there! There’s no better way to warm up than sipping on a London Fog. Consider it hot chocolate’s healthier, younger sibling. Did you know that although the drink’s creator is unknown, the name, London Fog, originated in Vancouver! Neat hey?

Alright, let’s warm you up! Place the earl grey teabags in a medium-sized pot and pour 2 cups of boiling water over them. Let the tea steep for 3 minutes and then remove the bags. Add in the milk and turn the burner to high-heat.

After about 5 minutes when the mixture is hot, not boiling, turn down to low heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Stir for about a minute so the sugar has some time to dissolve. Carefully pour into 4 cups and sip away!

If you like your drink on the sweeter side of things add in a spoonful of whipped cream or cool whip if you just so happen to have some on-hand. I usually do!

Serves 4

Total cook time…10 min