Valentine Peppermint Truffles

These are surprisingly similar to those famous "York Peppermint Patties", except they're entirely vegan. My kids and I love making them together because they're messy, sugar-y and covered with chocolate - what kid wouldn't like to make something like THAT!?

And if you're looking for a perfect use for last year's red, foil heart-shaped candy-box, try filling it with these babies.

Since it's close to Valentine's, I've been toying with making heart-shaped candy, but haven't actually done so. Yet. Stay tuned. These are SO easy, and really tend to impress the vegan-skeptics out there: another one of those "WHAT!?!?!? THIS is vegan?" type-recipes.

Peppermint Patties

• 1/2 medium baked potato or one small
  (out of the peel of course, mashed up, no butter or salt or pepper added, you need about 2.5 Tablespoons of mashed-up baked potato)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
  (more, if needed, and I usually do. You could use quite a bit depending on factors in your kitchen. Vegan powdered sugar is available at most Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and health food stores, though I admit I'm not one of those overly sugar-concerned vegans. I usually just try to avoid cane sugar which is more likely to be bone-char processed. Beet sugar is not bone-char-processed, and is what most store-brand sugar is actually derived from. Your call. )
• 1 1/2 tsps peppermint extract
  (make sure this is real PEPPERMINT extract, not the nasty-tasting "mint-flavoring" or mint extract that is usually part spearmint and a bit on the bitter side)
• 2 tbsp soymilk powder
  (if you can find it, it makes the finished product drier, smoother and easier to work with - but isn't absolutely essential)

Line a cookie sheet with foil.
Make sure your baked potato is mashed up very smooth, with no small lumps or anything.
Add all ingredients together and mix well until a stiff candy filling (fondant) forms. Add additional powdered sugar until it becomes mold-able like playdough. The sugar amount can vary a bit. When the fondant is holding shape, take about a tablespoon of the mixture at a time and form into balls. Place them on the cookie sheet and press them down into a patty shape. When all are formed, place in the freezer for a few minutes until firm.

Chocolate coating

2 cups chocolate chips, or finely chopped dark chocolate of your choice
2 tbsp. Earth Balance

Melt the chocolate with the margarine in a double boiler or a small pan balanced in a large pan of boiling water. Don't let ANY water get in the chocolate.

Remove patties from the freezer. Dip the patties in the chocolate and place back on the wax paper. (For the dipping, I take a wooden skewer, poke the candy onto the end of it and then dip and remove with a flick of the finger. You have to figure out what method works for you. It is the only difficult part and MUCH easier to actually DO than to explain).
When all are coated, place in the refridgerator until chocolate is set. Keep stored in the fridge.

Red Devil's Food (or Red Velvet) Cupcakes

Hello, Happy Valentine's and a million "absent-blogger" excuses I'm not going to bore you with.

No long introductory story, here's the cupcakes we made for my daughter's school Valentine's party yesterday.

She really wanted Red Devil's Food cupcakes, but being without a recipe, I improvised. This is a regular vegan chocolate "buttermilk" cake recipe that I combined with my old (not-vegan) Red Devil's Food Cake recipe. Turned out pretty good!!

I suppose everyone made these for Valentine's, so we aren't real original, but they were festive and fun. Enjoy!

Red Devil's Food (or Red Velvet) Cupcakes

2-1/2 cups white flour

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1/4 cup magarine

1/4 cup oil

1 cup non-dairy milk

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

4 tablespoon cocoa powder unsweetened

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon vinegar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 ounces red food coloring (or I've heard of people using beet juice but I've never tried it)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a cup pour the non-dairy milk and lemon juice.

Let sit for a while, this is like your "buttermilk".

Cream together the oil, margarine and sugar, then add applesauce.

In a small bowl mix together cocoa and food coloring until it's paste-like. Add it to the creamed mixture.

Mix the salt and flour together and add it to the batter alterately with the 'buttermilk' in a couple batches. Add vanilla extract.

Mix in baking soda and vinegar. Stir well.

Pour batter into greased or papered cupcake tins and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Frost when cool.

Frosting:

1 - 2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar

8 oz. vegan "cream cheese" (I use Tofutti brand)

1/4 C vegan margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 non-dairy milk

Chopped nuts or sprinkles as desired

Mix cream cheese and softened margarine together. Add 1 cup sugar to start, and vanilla and milk.

Mixture will be very soft, add more powdered sugar as needed to make a spreadable consistancy. Spread on cooled cupcakes. Garnish with chopped nuts or sprinkles if you want.

Hope your Valentine's was fun, and spent with people you love.

Shortbread Cookies

<-- My littlest Sprout takes cookies in to school tomorrow for a Valentine's party.

Instead of something more traditional (well, OK, I'm not exactly sure what would be considered "traditional" treats for Valentine's anyway - pink cupcakes? blechh...yeah...) she wanted to make shortbread cookies.


So naturally I hadn't tried "veganizing" my shortbread recipe yet, and didn't have time to experiment, but we tweaked it only slightly and it turned out GREAT. Here ya go...

VEGAN SHORTBREAD CUT-OUT COOKIES

-- 3/4 cup of margarine (the kind in cubes, like Earth Balance Buttery Sticks - NOT the softer tub-style)
-- 2 TB (or a bit less) coconut oil
-- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
-- 2 cups flour (sometimes I use whole wheat pastry flour)
-- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla (oh please use real vanilla!)

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Cream margarine and sugar very, very well.
3. Add vanilla.
4. Add flour slowly.
5. When well incorporated and forming a dough, roll into a ball and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, to overnight. (We couldn't wait much longer than 20 min!)
6. Flour surface and rolling pin, and roll out a 1/4 of the dough out a time to between 1/4 and 1/2 in. thick. (Thicker will be more dense and shortbread-like, thinner will be more crisp, we made ours pretty thick!) Cut out using cookie cutters of choice.
7. Bake until the edges begin to brown, 6-10 minutes. Keep an eye on it, depending on how thick you roll the dough.