Baking. We know it's not always the easiest thing to master, but we've found a couple of recipes on Vital Juice that are fairly simple, and they are vegan as well! We apologize to your diets in advance, but these just sound too delicious not to share!
French Toast Apple Cobbler:
Topping
What you will need:
1/2 cup of whole unroasted cashews, soaked in water for two to eight hours, or until very soft.
2 cups of plain soy milk
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tbsp of earth balance vegan margarine
4 tsp of cornstarch
1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of maple extract
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
6 slices of slightly dry, soft sandwich bread, cut into 1/2'' cubes
Filling
What you will need:
2 1/2 lbs of Granny Smith or other tart baking apples
2 tbsp of lemon juice
2/3 cup of sugar
2 tbsp of all purpose flour
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
Garnish
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
2 tbsp turbinado sugar
vegan whipped topping
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Drain cashews and combine them in a blender with soy milk, brown sugar, margarine, cornstarch, vanilla extract, maple extract, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Blend until smooth.
Peel and core the apples and slice into 1/4'' slices. In a 9x13'' ungreased baking dish combine apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes or until apples are soft and juicy. Remove from oven, discard foil and reduce heat to 350 degrees.
Add bread pieces into a large mixing bowl. Pulse topping mixture one more time, and pour over cubes. Let stand for 15 minutes, occasionally stirring the cubes to absorb more liquid. SPread over baked apples and pour remaining soy milk mixture evenly over cobbler.
Stir together remaining 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon and the sugar and sprinkle over the top of the cobbler. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until the top os golden and apple juices are bubbling. Remove the cobbler from the oven and let it cool for 20 minutes before serving warm. Top with whipped topping.
Chocolate Galaxy Banana Cheesecake:
Graham Cracker Crust
What you will need:
1 3/4 cups of finely ground graham cracker crumbs
3 tbs of sugar
2 tbsp of melted earth balance margarine, coconut oil or canola oil
1 tbsp of plain soy or almond milk
Heat over to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9'' springform pan with cooking spray. Ina mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Drizzle in melted margarine or oil. Use a spoon to blend the mixture throughly. Add in milk and stir again to creat a crumby dough.
Pour crumbs into plate, press firmly into pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until firm. Move to a cooling rack.
Filling
What you will need:
1/2 cup whole unsalted cashews, soaked in water for two to eight hours, or until very soft
1/2 cup of mashed banana (about 2 medium sized bananas)
1 (12-14oz.) package of silken tofu, drained
2/3 of a cup of sugar
2 tbsp coconut oil at room temp
4 tsp of cornstarch
1 tbsp of lemon juice
2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp of almond extract
1/4 tsp of sea salt
2/3 of a cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
Drain cashews and blend with the banana, tofu, sugar, canola oil, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts and sea salt. Blend until completely smooth.
Set aside 1/3 cup of batter and pour the rest into the crust. Melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in a glass bowl in the microwave. Stir melted chips with a spatula until smooth. Add reserved batter and stir until smooth.
Randomly spoon dollops of chocolate batter into cheesecake. Poke the end of a chopstick into chocolate batter dollops and swirl.
Bake cheesecake for 50 to 55 minutes until top is slightly puffed and the edges are golden.
Remove cake from oven and cool for 20 minutes. Move to the fridge to cool for 3 hours or overnight.
