The only thing I like better than flaky, buttery, vegan croissants is flaky, buttery, vegan croissants wrapped around just the right amount of chopped dark chocolate so that it barely oozes out the sides as it's baked to perfection. In these chocolate croissants, also known as  Pain au Chocolat, I used chocolate croissant dough which is made by mixing a little sugar and cocoa powder into the fat block that forms the base of the croissant dough. The result is hundreds of layers of chocolate buttery heaven; an exquisite pastry that elevates chocolate to a whole different level. Be sure to use dark chocolate that is 60% cacao to achieve optimum balance between bittersweet chocolate and the buttery notes of the croissant dough.

I got this recipe first from my grandmother, who is anything but vegan, and tweaked the recipe. These rolls are fabulous, soft, and chewy. Personally, I like to throw fillers in the middle of the rolls, such as dairy-free cheese and jalapenos or veggie sausage. For those who may not look ahead at the steps, these are best if you start making them in the morning because they'll end up rising for a total of roughly 2 ½ to 3 hours.

This month I was lucky enough to ask Shannon Michelle, of Cinnaholic fame, some questions on the ins and outs of starting and operating her vegan bakery.

Mattie: Please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into vegan baking.

Meringue is a perfect example of how eggs act in traditional baking and how difficult it often is to replace them. When an egg is beaten extensively the proteins contained within it unravel and bind together like rebar in concrete, air bubbles are trapped and ingredients are easily able to coexist together regardless of moisture content. Traditional meringue involves beating an egg mixture until it has incorporated a large volume of air bubbles, strengthening this mixture so it holds it's shape, adding sweeteners and flavorings then piping and baking it so it slightly leavens and dries to a crisp. Perfectly baked meringue has a delicate crisp that dissolves in your mouth and leaves behind a slightly chewy but not gummy center. I set out to into the annals of food science to create a vegan version. I ended up uncovering a treasure trove of information that can be applied to other vegan baking applications. There's nothing earthy and natural about this meringue. Order your hard to find ingredients online, put on your extra nerdy glasses and let's make vegan meringue!

What if there was a special day where people around the world shared their favorite vegan eats with everyone no matter where they happened to be? I pondered this question and quickly found that there was no such thing. So after much planning, I'm proud to introduce our day, Vegan Baking Day!

What is Vegan Baking Day?

The last Friday of September (yes, you have awhile to plan) is a day to celebrate the goodness of vegan baked goods. A day to share them with your friends, neighbors and co-workers. A day to revel in the fact that you can have your cake and eat it too. Vegan Baking Day is all about promoting vegan baking and having fun doing it!

How Does it Work?

It's simple: Bake up your favorite vegan eats and share them at work, band practice, school, drama rehearsal, jury duty, the car wash; wherever you find yourself going on the last Friday of September. I guarantee whoever you're around will go nuts because who doesn't love baked delicious goodness? You'll also be promoting vegan baking because once people get wind of the fact that these eats are vegan, there's a good chance they'll be impressed, inspired, or at least happy that they happened to be around to get a free snack.

So what do you think? What would be the ideal thing to make for Vegan Baking Day?

Modified from an oat bread recipe, this recipe is my own creation! This bread has no added sugar, is whole wheat, delicious, soft, and filling! Made with Bob's Red Mill Muesli (which does have 5 grams of sugar- if you choose to go completely sugar-free, or do not have access to Bob's Muesli, I have provided an alternate option below) this bread is plain enough to use for lunch sandwiches, but just sweet enough from the raisins to eat as a snack. It only takes about 40 minutes to prepare, uses no yeast, and only 6 ingredients. Enjoy!

I have this theory that those who don't care for croissants just haven't experienced the the real thing: the flaky outer crust shattering as you sink your teeth in, releasing a buttery aroma and uncovering a heavenly tender, fluffy, rich interior. At the end of the experience you might have to get up and shake yourself off. Many croissants start out this way but after about a day they turn into croisoggies as they quickly stale and don't have quite the same effect on the palate.

A croissant is a variation of laminated dough that starts out as dough wrapped around a buttery core. Samurai swords are made in a much similar way with molten metal being wrapped around a red hot iron core. Coincidence? I think not! This dough is folded and wrapped around itself to the point of where there are several dozen layers of fat and dough. When baked, steam is released and trapped between the layers which provides a leavening lift as well as flaky goodness. These vegan croissants feature a mix of Vegan Butter and shortening to mimic the similar fat content of butter. Do not use tub margarine for croissants if you don't want to waste your time. It's all about having a high-fat Vegan Butter so there's more distinction between the fat and dough layers.

Sweet and savory flavors are brought together in a mysteriously perfect combination in this Sweet Potato Hummus recipe. Thyme along with ginger, cinnamon, cloves and just a touch of cayenne assist with the perfect flavor pairing which allows this hummus to go with almost anything.

This vegan Macadamia Snickerdoodle Cookie recipe utilizes a soft, buttery dough that's designed to leaven fast in the oven then fall. This results in the trademark crackly top that some say give this cookie the origins of it's name; schneckennudeln which means snail noodle in German. Snickerdoodle dough is similar to sugar cookie dough but there is more leavening power and the dough is rolled in cinnamon sugar prior to baking in the snickerdoodle version. The result is a tender cookie that is slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside accompanied by rich cinnamon notes.

I have a new found love for this peanut butter muffin recipe which happened by mistake. I was scouring the internet looking for a recipe for peanut butter bread…there aren’t that many. Don’t ask me why I was so fixated on finding a recipe for such a thing, I just get it in my head sometimes and I can’t let it go. I found this recipe and decided to veganize it. And then I realized that I had misplaced my bread pan… So it became a muffin recipe!

“What's an apple cider doughnut?”, I asked at my recipe club meeting. I think my friends were as surprised as I was that I didn't know of it's existence. Come to find out, I've learned that many other West Coast (USA) natives are unaware of this cake doughnut that's infused with a hint of apples. This is because apple cider doughnuts are mainly a Northeast (USA) phenomenon. In colonial times, doughnuts were served in the Fall months in the Northeast when exotic dough recipes for beignets, imported from France and Holland, started to evolve and the seasonal butchering provided enough fat to fry things. Combine this with the apple harvest being at it's peak in the Fall and you have a food collision course in the making.

This bread is adapted from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". While the rising and baking of the bread takes more than five minutes, the active work is about that. The great thing about this method is that it eliminates the timing aspect of bread - having to be home in x number of hours to punch down the dough and shape it, etc. One recipe of dough lasts up to 2 weeks. I will usually make 3 loaves out of one batch, but you can size the loaves to whatever is appropriate for your household - just adjust the rise time and baking time depending on how small or large your loaf is. I've added additional wheat flour in this recipe but still use some white flour because I find whole wheat flour to be too heavy. And I've deviated from the original recipe in the baking method, instead using an enameled cast iron pot to cook the bread.

What if you could have a fanny pack with a secret stash of caramel flavor that you could just dust onto things like apple cider donuts, fold into apple pies, work into cake batter and sprinkle onto ice cream whenever you wanted? Now you can! Caramel significantly enhances everything from chocolate to apple to vanilla, making this Caramel Powder a great thing to have in your kitchen flavor arsenal, or your fanny pack. Caramel powder is just sugar, water, oil and salt brought up to an amber caramelization temperature of 345F (174C) on the Candy Temperature Chart. If you'd like a slightly deeper caramel flavor feel free to experiment with temperatures up to 375F (191C).

Where Easy Caramel Sauce is good for a quick caramel fix, Golden Caramel Sauce is the no-holds-barred version where flavor and consistency are top priorities. Traditional caramel sauce relies on heavy cream which allows the sauce to be thick and rich due to the solids present in the cream. This vegan caramel sauce recipe relies on cashew cream to supply the extra cream factor and solids, resulting in a silky smooth golden caramel that's perfect for drizzling on ice creams, baking into pies or tucked into brownies. Substitute the vanilla extract for bourbon, rum or brandy if you want an extra layer of flavor complexity.

My healthy alternative to one of my favorites! Baked with no sugar, no sweeteners, whole wheat flour, and polenta, these muffins are hearty, healthy, delicious, incredibly easy and naturally sweet! I use Bob's Red Mill flour and polenta, but you can use the brand of your choice. I also use unsweetened applesauce as an egg replacer- it works perfectly and makes the muffins nice and moist, and personally I don't taste the applesauce. I also made my own vegan cream cheese from silken tofu, which I will include the recipe for, although it does contain one Tablespoon of sugar. If you choose you can omit the cream cheese (or sugar).