vegans gone wild runners up :: part 1 of 3

"I generally avoid temptation unless I cannot resist it."
---Mae West

I'm posting the remaining hedonistic recipes in alphabetical order, using chefs' first names. Ladies and gentleman, let the tempation begin....

Bazu's Crêpes Susannah
Sinfully rich vegan crêpes...which get extra points for the flambė fun factor.

Makes 6-8 7"-8" crêpes

Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut milk (full fat, of course!)
1/4 cup soymilk
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup melted Earth Balance margarine
tiny pinch of salt
3 TB brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1-2 TB light or dark rum
more water, as needed
Instructions:

Blend all above ingredients in blender until well-mixed. Scrape the sides a couple of times to incorporate all the ingredients if necessary. Cover and refrigerate (in the blender canister) for at least 2 hours.

After batter has chilled in the refrigerator, give it another whir in the blender to re-blend. At this point, you may need to add a little bit of water to the batter to thin it out . The texture you want is thinner than a pancake batter, but not too runny.

To cook the crêpes, heat a 7-8 inch pan over medium-high heat and spray with canola oil. This process is a bit like making pancakes, you'll have to adjust the temperature constantly, and your first crêpe might be sacrificed to the gods, but this is a very forgiving batter and you will get going fast!

Pour the batter, about 1/4 - 1/3 cup at a time and quickly shake the pan to spread the it around the entire bottom of the pan, making sure the crepe is thin and even. Wait until it has slightly browned on the edges, about 1-2 minutes, and flip to the other side. Daiku and I found this to be a two-person job: I would pick up the crê pe by the edge using tongs, and he would flip them over with his hands. After flipping to the second side, it only takes a few seconds until the crêpes are done. Flip them onto a flat surface (we spread a kitchen towel over our oven rack) and allow them to cool. While crepes are cooling, make your...

Banana-Mango Foster filling
2 TB Earth Balance margarine
1/2 cup light brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon
up to 1/4 cup soy cream
2 small ripe bananas, cut into thick slices
1 small or 1/2 large mango, diced
1/4 cup dark rum

Instructions: Melt Earth Balance in a heavy-bottom pan over medium heat. Add sugar and cinnamon, and stir until sugar melts, about 3-4 minutes. Once sugar melts and starts bubbling, add enough soy cream to achieve a liquid caramel consistency.

Add your fruit. At this point, the cold fruit might make the caramel solidify, but don't worry- it will melt again. Stir constantly, making sure to coat the mango and banana with caramel sauce. Once the fruit has softened slightly (about 3-5 minutes, depending on their ripeness), you get to the fun part!

This part requires some caution! Carefully pour rum into the fruit and caramel mixture. Take the pan off the heat and set the rum on fire using a long torch. Return to the heat, moving the pan back and forth until the flame dies down. You might want to tip it to make sure that all the alcohol is gone. Allow your mixture to cool slightly before assembling.

To fill, spoon some fruit mixture, without a lot of liquid, into the center of the cooled crêpes. Roll them up, and rest them on a plate, seam side down.

Top them with reserved caramel sauce, some vanilla yogurt, and a dusting of powdered sugar. Garnish with a big sprig of mint. Enjoy this luscious, sweet, sinful, dessert while still slightly warm and be transported somewhere far away!


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Dawn from Philly's Hazlenut Truffle Cookies
Philly vegans are way cool--and they know the meaning of decadence. [If you have trouble reading the handwritten recipes, just click it to enlarge.]




Amy's Pumpkin Scones, submitted by Dawn from Philly
I wish my handwriting was this neat. And I wish my scones were this hedonistic.




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Heidi's Wolf Paw Print Chocolate-Truffle Cake with Berry Filling
A cute chocolate and berry cake from a Finnish vegan



Cake
4.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
2 tsp vanilla flavored sugar
3 tsp cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil (rapeseed recommended)
3 cups soy milk
1 tsp strawberry vinegar
1 cup raspberry jam

Also, reserve fresh mashed berries for filling

Preheat oven to 350F (I think this is the US temperature, we have a different system in Finland.) Mix the dry ingerdients together in bowl. In another bowl mix vinegar, oil, soy milk and rasberry jam together and mix together with dry ingredients. Put the dough in oiled springform pan and bake in the owen about 45 - 50 min.

Choco-Truffle Filling
100 g coconut oil (about 3.5 ounces)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla flavoured sugar
1/2 cup soy-cream

Melt the coconut oil. Mix together in bowl powdered sugar, vanilla sugar & cocoa powder. Add soy cream and mix. Mix together with warm coconut fat & mix with mixer untill the fat is cool. Mixture is ready when its color becomes lighter and texture is more "fluffier."

Chocolate Glaze
50g vegan margarine (about 1.75 ounces)
150g dark chocolate (about 5.3 ounces)

Melt margarine and add chocolate. Mix untill chocolate is melt and texture is smooth.

Cut the cooled cake for three layers. Wet each later with soy cream. Then spread the truffle filling on the first layer. Put the fresh, mashed rasberries, strawberries and if you like some other forest berries on top of the truffle filling. Repeat this step with second layer and put the last layer to top and spread chocolate filling on it.

Put cake in the refrigerator and let it rest over night. Then you can do some decorations with example powdered sugar or fresh berries if you want.