Vegan Cinnamon Crumble Coffee Cake

It's my birthday! In lieu of birthday cake, I thought I'd share with you my recipe for coffee cake that recieved rave reviews at a business meeting this week. It has a lot of ingredients, but I'll bet you have most of them in your pantry. Plus, with whole wheat flour and applesauce in place of oil, it just doesn't feel entirely right calling this a "cake."

Crumbley topping ingredients:
1/2 cu whole wheat flour
1/4 cu brown sugar
2 T buttery spread (I use Earth Balance, you could also use the same amount of canola or vegetable oil)
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/4 t salt
1/4 cu chopped or crushed walnuts

Cake ingredients:
The Wet:
1 cu almond milk
1/2 cu applesauce
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T vanilla extract

The Dry:
1 cu whole wheat flour
1/2 cu white sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger (I love ginger!)
1/4 t salt

You will also need:
A bundt cake pan
Non stick cooking spray
3 bowls
A spatula and/or whisk

The dry. The wet. The muffin method.

Delicious cake in 10 easy steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Mix the wet ingredients listed above in a medium bowl and set aside to rest for 10 minutes. This will effectively curdle the milk and give the cake a tangy flavor, but you will not taste the vinegar. Don't skip this step!
3. Melt the butter and mix with other topping ingredients. Mix until nice and crumbly. Pour into the bottom of a well -reased bundt cake pan. (It must be well-greased or you are not getting this thing out!)
4. Mix the dry ingredients listed above. in a large bowl Use a spatula or whisk to ensure that the baking soda, powder, and spices are well integrated with the flour. 
5. Add the wet to the dry and use a spatula to just mix the ingredients. Some lumps are okay.
6. Pour into the bundt cake pan overtop of the crumbly topping.
7. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes at 350° F until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
8. Let cook in the pan for 5 minutes.
9. Invert pan onto a plate and allow to cool for at least 10 more minutes.
10. Enjoy!


NOTE: If you don't have a bundt cake pan, you can make this in a regular square or round cake pan, but you will want to pour the cake batter in first and put the topping on top.

Vegan Peanut Buttery Cookies

I’ll bet you have everything in your pantry to make these right now.

Robert’s favorite food is peanut butter, but so many peanut buttery treats are non-vegan. So, here’s my recipe revision for Peanut Butter Cookies!

Ingredients:

1.5 cu flour (I used whole wheat)

1 t baking soda

1 T ground flax seed

3 T water(in place of the flax and water you can use one egg or any substitution for one egg)

½ cu peanut butter

½ cu brown sugar

½ cu butter or butter substitute (I used Earth Balance)

1 t vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° F.

In a nonstick skillet over medium heat whisk together the 1 T flax seed and 3 T water. This is your egg replacer. Add this to your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add in ½ cu peanut butter, ½ cu brown sugar, ½ cu butter substitute, and 1 t vanilla and mix on medium speed until creamy. Slow mixer to low and gently add in flour and baking soda. Mix until just combined.

Dish out onto baking sheet lined with silicone mat or parchment paper. (I used my #70 disher – portion control!) Roll each portion into a ball then flatten with fork into a crisscross pattern.

The crisscrossing is my favorite part.

Bake at 375° F for 4 minutes then flip and rotate the sheets for even cooking. Bake for another 2 – 4 minutes until puffy and mouth watering. Let cook on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. Allow to cool if you can stand it! Enjoy! I made 3 dozen cookies from this recipe!

What is your favorite cookie? Let me know and I’ll try to veganize it!