heartyspoonful

Truth be told, I'm not a big pie lover. I enjoy a slice of vegan pumpkin pie or apple pie when the season calls for it. (Hello, autumn!) But really, making pie crust petrifies me. I have this weird fear that the crust would turn up all burnt even before I add in the fruits. But I'm slowly conquering my fears in the kitchen one pan at a time. 

Now, I'm still uncomfortable at the idea of baking a pie crust from scratch, but at least I'm willing to make pies in general. So what better pie is there to bake than banoffee pie? If you're not familiar of what this delicious pie is, just check wiki. It's just flavour bomb from the first layer to the last.

Making a vegan version isn't so easy. I needed biscuits for the crust, a substitute for the toffee layer. And how in the world was I going to find a substitute for the dulce de leche? A little research with the help of Google helped a little bit, but a lot of the recipes called for a raw version. I'm not a big fan of a nutty crust (sorry, not sorry). The dulce de leche was usually made of cashews. Again, I only really like cashews when I make frosting for carrot cake. For banoffee pie? I need something lighter. I stumbled upon coconut cream, which is really just whipped chilled coconut milk. Sign me up!

Vegan Banoffee Pie
Makes 8 slices

Crust:

• 13-15 gingerbread cookies/Maria cookies
• 5 tbsp melted coconut oil/vegan butter

Banoffee Layer:

• 1 1/2 cups medjool dates, soaked in hot water
• 2 tbsp peanut butter/almond butter
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of salt

 

Coconut Cream Layer: 

• 1 can coconut milk, chilled overnight
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

• 2 bananas, sliced 

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two small pie tins or a classic pie dish (about 9 inch) with coconut oil.

Process the cookies in a food processor until roughly chopped. Add melted coconut oil and process until the crumbs are finer.

Press the mixture into the pan(s) until the layer is even. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside and let cool.

For the banoffee layer, process all ingredients together in the food processor until smooth. When the crust has cooled, add this layer evenly.

For the coconut cream, scoop out the coconut milk from the top of the can. Discard remaining water. Using a whisk or an electric mixer, mix the chilled coconut milk until it looks like cream. Add maple syrup for a hint of sweetness and whisk some more.

Add a layer of bananas on top of the banoffee layer. Top with coconut cream and add the remaining banana slices.

Chill in the fridge before serving.

Enjoy! xx

Sometimes, I end up being boring or bored, and my creative juices run dry. That's usually when I spend a lot of time on Google, searching for random things. I mean, one time, I ended up discovering this website: LOLMyThesis, which is a website dedicated to summarising thesis using funny and honest one-liners. There's just about a website for anything. Anything, I tell you! 

*Another favourite of mine when I'm bored is 9-Eyes just because, man, you think you're weird and you can hide it, but you can't. You really can't.

This time around though, I think I searched for "medjool dates," "oatmeal," "vegan," and "cookies". Bam! I found the following recipe from Oh She Glows and I was beyond excited of course. As mentioned in my previous post, my aunt bought too many medjool dates, if there's such a thing as too much. I'm not trying to get rid of them or anything, but since my Mama doesn't really eat dates on their own, I have to find creative and delicious ways to incorporate dates in my baking. So, there we go, these turtle cookies with medjool dates and chocolate chips by Angela from Oh She Glows fit the bill. 

I should perhaps also tell you now that even when I'm inspired by another recipe, I still end up making modifications. It's not because I'm fussy or anything like that, it all just depends on convenience. Do I have the ingredients on hand? Will it be too sweet? Is the consistency how I like it? Is it too taxing? Sometimes, I'm just lazy and I want to take shortcuts. Other times, I don't like certain ingredients so I try to find alternatives. Obviously, it can either be a hit or a miss. But, you see, as with anything else in life, baking is about practice and gaining knowledge. Not any other thing is a good alternative, you know.

Not-Your-Boring Oatmeal Cookies (Adapted from Oh She Glows)

Makes 16 cookies

Disclosure: The recipe below already includes my modifications to the original recipe of the Turtle Oatmeal Cookies from Oh She Glows. If you want to see the original recipe, you can click the link above.

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Add walnuts and 1 cup of oats into the food processor and process until there's still some coarse bits. Don't overprocess to the point that the mix is all powdery. 

In a big bowl, mix together the nut and oat mixture, the remaining oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together maple syrup, coconut oil and almond milk. Pour wet into dry and mix until incorporated. 

Fold in medjool dates and chocolate chips. Once incorporated, shape into balls. There was enough for 16 cookies for me. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 

Let cool and enjoy! xx 

The past few weeks have been the saddest and longest weeks I've ever had to experience in my short life. I've never really imagined my dad passing away before his retirement. I don't think any child thinks that of their parents. I know, I've been lucky enough to share more than 2 decades of my life in the presence and guidance of my father, but that's not enough. Not to me, anyway. 

Call me cheesy, but though I've always been wishy-washy about having children in the future, I've always imagined my dad would be there to play with my future child(ren). He was such a gentle and kind father, a wonderful one any kid could ask for, and I've always hoped that any future offspring would be able to learn from him. Though that will never be a possibility now, I promise to keep his memory alive by sharing stories of how funny and generous my father was in the 58 years he lived on Earth. 

Medjool dates weren't really a "thing" where I grew up in Southeast Asia. A few years ago, a family friend gifted us a with a big box of medjool dates from Turkey. My dad and I couldn't stop eating them like candy. Just popping one big date at a time like candy. Actually, the sweet and sticky date reminded my dad and I of caramel, a candy we both didn't quite enjoy. Then my mama explained dates are a delicacy and that they're healthy (at least healthier than candy). And that is how my love affair with medjool dates started. 

When I first transitioned into veganism, I grabbed medjool dates and decided to sandwich in as much peanut butter as possible. My dad was visiting one summer when he saw me eat a medjool date with peanut butter and intrigued, he asked me to give him one. He was sold! Sweet tooth that he was. When he started to feel the weight of cancer, he couldn't eat much anymore, but once in a while, he would ask me to make him a "date peanut butter sandwich" as he lovingly named them. 

My aunt, being unable to properly allocate food to each person (there's always MORE food than is necessary, bought boxes of medjool dates. Mind you, I'm not complaining, but still! The sight of all the dates is enough to give me panic attacks. In turn, I pulled out a little label of ingredients (without measurements) of a date square I purchased at one of my client's cafeteria. It was so sweet and rich, I ended up eating it in 4 hours. It's just not normal. 

To honour my dad's life, I dedicate this recipe post to him, the gentlest and wisest of them all. Your Scarlett loves you forever, Daddy-o <3

Simple Vegan Date Squares

Makes 9-16 squares

Ingredients: