Tag Archives: earth balance

March 16, 2012

Recap of Expo West + GIVEAWAY! (CLOSED)

After editing entirely too many photos, I’m already overwhelmed by what I’m about to show you in this post! I’m going to try and be brief about each company that I cover; I’m only highlighting a few of the brands that either stuck out to me or that had new products to show. And of course, as you can see by the title, there’s a giveaway at the end filled with tons of goodies that are all vegan!

As some of you may know, I went to the Expo with Jill of Vegan Cuts; if I had gone by myself I think I would have been completely overwhelmed! There was a breakfast sponsored by Earth Balance and Glutino the first day, but it was rather pathetic for anyone that is vegan. There was a smoothie bar where you could get a soy yogurt/milk/blueberry smoothie (not a whole lot of fruit :( ), some soggy tofu and some fried potatoes that I put salsa on. Earth Balance’s new peanut butters were there, but all of the bread wasn’t vegan! Urgh. I just spooned some onto my plate (as seen above), thankfully there would be tons of samples coming our way.

One of the first booths we stopped by was Big Tree Farms. Their raw chocolate was creamy and rich; but the product that we were most interesting in was their powdered coconut water. Coco Hydro is a powdered coconut mixture (some with different natural flavors) that you combine with water when you want to have coconut water on the go. It tasted good and was very interesting, plus the new packaging looks very clean.

Wean Green, a company hailing from Canada, has taken the old concept of Pyrex containers and revamped them to have a secure lid and unbreakable container. Even though their products are targeted toward families/parents with babies and young children they can appeal to a broader audience than that. The colorful lids that snap securely onto the container are brilliant and heavy-duty.

I quickly stopped by the So Delicious booth to check out their new line of almond products, plus pick up some tickets for the Vegucated screening that was going to be happening that night. The new flavors of the almond Greek-style yogurt that I tried were chocolate, vanilla, and blueberry (the also have original flavor); the blueberry was definitely my favorite. Their line of almond milks have added protein in them and taste great, but what really stole the show for me was the new almond ice creams they had. Mocha Almond? Yes, please!
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February 25, 2012

Spiced Cupcakes with Blood Orange Frosting

There’s been a tremendous amount of baking going on in my kitchen these past couple of weeks. I almost feel as those it has surpassed the chaos that was the winter holidays! Oh well, nothing a few green smoothies and extra trips to the gym can’t fix. ;)

This time, I needed to make some cupcakes for my friend Sarah’s going away party. She’s moving to Portland next week, myself and two others will be helping her! I can’t wait to eat tons of vegan food and check some places out, even though I’ll only be there for a couple of days. Back to the cupcakes, I was inspired by some blood oranges that I had picked up last week and was trying to find a purpose for them. I thought back to my standard chocolate/orange combo recipes but thought that I would try something just a tad different.

The cake part of these delightful treats is filled with just the right amount of spice so that it is aromatic, but not overbearing. It’s fluffy and light, with no oil in the batter, while the frosting is creamy and rich with a slight tang from the blood orange marmalade. You can use any orange marmalade that you prefer, I ended up making my own using this recipe.

Servings: 24 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 Cups Organic Sugar
  • 2 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 1 Cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. White Vinegar
  • 1 1/2 Cups Ice Cold Water

——-

  • 2 1/2 Powdered Sugar
  • 3/4 Cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
  • 2 Tbsp. Blood Orange Marmalade
  • 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 1/4 tsp. Salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F, and get two cupcake sheets (2 dozen cupcakes) ready with liners. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt. In a smaller bowl, stir together the applesauce, white vinegar, vanilla extract and water.
  2. Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir together until combined. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full, place in the oven and bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick draws clean.
  3. After the cupcakes are done baking, place them in the refrigerator to cool and move on to making the frosting.
  4. Whip the Earth Balance with a mixer on high-speed, and slowly add in the powdered sugar. Add in the marmalade, vanilla extract, and salt and continue to whip the frosting.
  5.  Add more powdered sugar if you’d like a stiffer frosting, and use 1.5-2 tbsp. of it per cupcake.

Now, here is the perfect dessert to get you excited for the spring with its light texture, but still stands as a reminder of winter with its subtle spices. I wish I could have gotten some better pictures, but I had to rush these straight to the party where they were wolfed down!

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December 27, 2011

#CookieLove Blog Hop: Carob Ganache Linzer Cookies

This humble cookie will reluctantly steal the show at any get together. It’s rich carob ganache and hints of almond pair perfectly with the subtle, flaky butter cookies. They are a little time-consuming, but it is so worth it. I’ve never made Linzer cookies before, so this was an interesting experience. I was extremely pleased with the outcome and the good feedback that I received on them!

These cookies would make a great activity to share with friends and family, getting help putting them together would cut the prep time drastically. If you bundle up these darling Linzer cookies, they would make great gifts or would be fantastic for a cookie exchange. You’ll definitely need to try these out!

  • Prep time: 2 hours – Cook time: 30 minutes – Total time: 2 hours 30 minutes – Servings: 30
Ingredients:
  • 1 cup(s) of Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
  • 1 cup(s) of Organic Sugar
  • 1 Flaxseed Egg (1 tbsp. Flaxseed w/ 3 tbsp. Warm Water)
  • 1 1/2 tsp. of Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 tsp. of Almond Extract
  • 2 3/4 cup(s) of Unbleached All Purpose Flour
  • 1/4 tsp. of Sea Salt
  • 1 cup(s) of Carob Chips
  • 1/2 cup(s) of + 2 Tbsp. Earth Balance Organic Soy Milk
  • 1/4 tsp. of Almond Extract
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. of Optional: Powdered Sugar for topping
Directions:

 

  1. Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Mix in flaxseed egg, vanilla and almond extracts. In a medium-sized bowl combine salt and flour, slowly add to the butter until the dough is crumbly but moist.
  2. Cover dough with Saran wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
  3. Pre-heat oven to 350°F an line two baking pans with parchment paper. Roll dough out to 1/8″ thick, using a 3″ wide circle cookie cutter, cut out as many shapes as your dough will allow. Separate half of the cookies, using a smaller circle or preferred shape cut out the center of those cookies.
  4. Place cookies onto the sheets about and 1″ apart from each other, and bake for 9-10 minutes. You may have to bake these in three different sets depending on the size/quantity of your oven(s), hence the 30 minute cooking time.
  5. While the cookies are baking and cooling on racks, melt the carob chips with soy milk in a small pan over medium heat. Add in almond extract and stir until an even consistency. Take off of heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
  6. When the cookies have cooled sprinkle powdered sugar over the cookie tops (ones with the cutouts), and spread a teaspoon or so of the ganache on the bottom of the cookie bases.
  7. Create a cookie sandwich by putting the tops onto the bases, and fill the center with a little more ganache. After all of the cookies are assembled, refrigerate them so that they can set.
There have been so many great recipes submitted into #cookielove this month! It’s awesome to see everyone participating, and I have another cookie recipe coming up soon ( a healthy one, though!). I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season so far, I know that mine has kept me VERY busy.

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December 19, 2011

Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting

Mondays suck, am I right? Well, let’s make this Monday better with cupcakes! This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite treats, dark chocolate bars with little grains of sea salt in them. Because dark chocolate is not terribly sweet, the sea salt adds a warm tang to the chocolate, emphasizing the subtle sweetness for a tasty dessert.

I had originally written this recipe so that I could submit it to Made Just Right, Earth Balance’s nearly month-long recipe contest; but as I was uploading a photo for the recipe, the site redirected me and the recipe and full instructions were lost. URGH! So, I’m going to re-type them because I love this recipe and I want my lovely reader’s to have a chance to make them!

Ingredients:

-Cupcakes:

  • 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
  • 1 Cup Cocoa Powder
  • 2 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1 Cup Applesauce
  • 2 Tbsp. White Vinegar
  • 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Cups Ice Cold Water
  • 2 tsp. Coarse Sea Salt

-Frosting:

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F, and get two cupcake sheets (2 dozen cupcakes) ready with liners. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda. In a smaller bowl, stir together the applesauce, white vinegar, vanilla extract and water.
  2. Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir together until combined, then fold the grains of coarse sea salt into the batter so that it does not dissolve. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full, place in the oven and bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick draws clean.
  3. After the cupcakes are done baking, place them in the refrigerator to cool and move on to making the frosting.
  4. Whip the Earth Balance with a mixer on high-speed, and slowly add in the powdered sugar. Split the vanilla beans with a sharp knife and scrape out the paste, add it into the frosting mixture along with the additional vanilla extract and soy milk and mix together.
  5.  Add more powdered sugar if you’d like a stiffer frosting, and use 1.5-2 tbsp. of it per cupcake. Optional: for added cuteness, top with finely chopped chocolate and a couple of grains of sea salt.

For the record, I really need to practice piping frosting because I am pretty terrible at it! Regardless, these cupcakes tasted great and have a unique flavor that is addictive. I hope that everyone has a fabulous week!

 

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