One of the benefits of Vegan Butter is that since you’re building it up from scratch, you can have full control of what you want it to be. It doesn’t have to go down the route of completely replicating traditional butter if you don’t want it to. Why would you want to replicate the texture of butter but not necessarily the flavor? Frostings and short doughs such as tart dough, pie crust and shortbread come to mind. You have much more variability in your end result if you can control flavor through your actual fat in addition to other ingredients. Imagine chocolate croissants where the butter is replaced with a fat that has the texture and flavor characteristics of both chocolate and butter. This is the reason I developed Chocolate Vegan Butter. Oh and you can spread it on toast too.

Traditional bakers have been able to create a vast variety of foods over the last several hundred years of baking evolution. It’s surprising when you realise that everything form puddings to cakes to cookies vary little in the range of ingredients used. Versatile ingredients such as flour, sugar, fat and eggs make this sort of variation possible. These are the building blocks of pastry. Vegan baking is easy when all you have to worry about is manipulating flour, sugar and fat. So what are we do to do in regards to replacing the almighty egg? There is a legend that the Romans believed in chicken eggs so much, they mixed them into their concrete. To first understand what we need to replicate this building block we need to understand what an egg does in the world of baking.

The more I learn about pastry, the more I realize that European pastry is on a completely different level compared to classic American pastry. My impression is that European pastry is all about introducing flavor depth through manipulating eggs, butter and technique. Croissants, strudel and danish pastries come to mind. American pastry, on the other hand, tends to build off bold flavors with a strong sugar backbone accentuated by spices. Apple pie, cupcakes and cookies come to mind here. 

When I began making bread weekly in December 2011, the unvegan version of this bread was the first recipe I tried.  After experimenting with serveral other recipes, this was by far my favorite and easily became my go-to weekly recipe. When I went vegan, I knew I had to veganize this one! I am so pleased with how my vegan version turned out and hope you will be too.

This vegan Apple Pecan Granola recipe brings on the apple flavor with the help of both apple chunks and apple sauce. Cashew butter forms it's base and packs extra protein so you'll have sustained energy throughout your morning. I go low on the sugar for this same reason and to give the other ingredients a chance to contribute flavor. Nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon work to highlight the apple. Chopped pecans toast during baking and add a welcome nutty crunch. Once you've chosen your preferred apples and baked this granola to perfection you can add it to ice cream, splash it on non-dairy milk or top it with a dollop of non-dairy yogurt.

I couldn't find the Imagine brand Wild Mushroom Gravy we used last time for our Shepherd's Pie, so I decided to make my own! This gravy is absolutely delicious (and FAT-FREE!).

These cookies are a perfect fall treat. They're fabulous, delicious, vegan AND can be made gluten-free. Also, baking them makes your whole house smell festive and cozy. Definitely best enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee or tea.

Oh my. I LOVE peppermint+dark chocolate. But it's hard to find a great vegan version. Good things these are super easy to whip up... almost TOO easy.

Several years ago, one of my favorite restaurants, Millennium, in San Francisco had a particular bread spread they would serve with fresh bread, just as you were seated. This particular spread wasn't buttery, but it had a particular creamy buttery oomph that actually made it taste better than butter when it was slathered on your crusty slice. And since it obviously wasn't butter, you could spread on even more without getting funny looks from your Mom across the table. You could run out of it and confidently ask for more, again and again! Then one day they switched over to a fava bean-based spread that was sadly sub par and the bread spread I loved oh so much mysteriously disappeared from existence. This savory bread spread made a lasting impression on me and I knew that one day I would rise to the challenge and create my own rich version.

These super easy truffles will satisfy that late night chocolate craving without the excess sugar and empty calories of other desserts. This perfect blend of coconut and chocolate and almond will keep you coming back for more.

Ok so I found this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe online and it was a HUGE hit with my family and friends. It was quite easy to make as well! I've never really been a cake person, in fact I detest the stuff for the most part; but this cake made even me nod in approval. The blend of coffee that I put in the recipe adds to the chocolaty goodness and taste. It's very moist as well. There is a glaze that goes with the cake, but I personally never use it. I think the cake is just fine alone. However, I will add the directions for the glaze in case you guys want to try it.... Enjoy!

Orange Icing is perfect for doughnuts, cookies or cakes such as Rosemary Olive Oil Semolina Cake. It features fresh orange juice that lends a bright burst of flavor, coconut oil to allow it to solidify properly and a touch of vanilla extract for depth of flavor.

These are an incredibly delicious biscuit with just the right amount of sweetness and lots of rich flavours from the almonds and vanilla. My choice of coconut oil for this (and most of my cooking) is the more refined kind, which is refined by filtering it through clay to remove the coconut taste and smell. This gives a ‘buttery’ flavour and texture to the baked good with all the goodness of coconut oil, but without being overwhelmed by coconut flavours.