Knead to Cook

Food & fitness obsessed girl.

One bowl Pumpkin bread. Vegan.

by Filed Under: Breads, Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Nuts, Quick Bread, Vegan

With listing & selling our house last week, I’ve had no bandwidth for recipe testing to be quite honest. I wanted to make something different and landed on this lovely recipe from Nora Cooks. I made this oil free and adjusted a few things from her original. See notes below.

Ingredient:
1 tbl ground flax or chia seeds
3 tbl water
1 can 15 ounce of canned pumpkin puree
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of applesauce (I used pumpkin apple sauce from Whole Foods) or 1/2 cup of coconut or other neutral oil
1/4 cup of plant based milk
1 and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbl ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin spice

Optional:
1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips or walnuts for mixing in
For topping: walnuts, pecans, hemp hearts, pepitas etc.

Method:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray you loaf pan with oil and set aside. In a small bowl or measuring cup, add your ground flax or chia seeds with 3 tbl of water. Stir and allow to congeal for 6 minutes or so. It will thicken up and replace the need for eggs.

In a large bowl, add pumpkin puree, sugar, oil and milk. Whisk to combine. Sift, flour, powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin spice into the wet mixture. Whisk to just combine.

If wishing to add chocolate chips or nuts, add to the batter. Pour into your prepared pan. If using pepitas, walnuts etc. – add to the top of your batter. Bake for 75 to 85 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Every oven is different, I baked closer to 77 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for 30 minutes prior to slicing.

Happy weekend!

— Knead to Cook

Upside down apple cake bake. Vegan.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Snacks, Vegan

When the world leans toward pumpkin, mad respect & I do love it, I’m leaning towards apple. I love apple things. So good. Plus having an abundance of them in my produce drawer… this was a no brainer for me. I made it in my cast iron pan I use for everything & legit it was gone in 2 days! Bill and my dad couldn’t stop. Not a big fan of chatting forever or wasting time so let’s get to it…

Ingredients:

6 smaller Fugi and honey crisp apples, peeled and diced pretty thin
1/3 cup of brown or coconut sugar
2 tbl of vegan butter
1 tbl ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg

Cake batter recipe:
1 cup of whatever plant based milk you prefer
1 tbl of apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup of oil (avocado, coconut or olive work great)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda


Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray your baking sheet with oil & set aside. If using a cast iron pan to bake in omit spraying with oil and just move forward to heat over medium flame to heat up the pan. Add your butter and allow that to melt. Once melted, add your apple slices, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook for about 4-6 minutes, stirring gently. This will allow the sugar to melt, flavors to combine and apples to soften. Set that aside. If using a baking pan, cook the apples in a separate pan. Then add them to your prepared pan and set aside.

Grab 2 mixing bowls. You’re going to mix your wet ingredients first. So add your milk and apple cider vinegar together and stir. Allow that to “curdle” for 1 minute. Then add your oil and vanilla. Whisk to combine.

In your separate dry bowl, add your flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder. Whisk to combine. Then add your dry mixture to wet and blend until just incorporated.

To prepare to bake,
Add your cooked apples to the bottom of the pan or if using cast iron just leave the apples in the pan. Spoon the batter over top carefully. Bake for 38-40 minutes or until set when you touch the top of the cake.

Serve warm or room temp. I left this covered on my countertop until the boys devoured the entire thing in 2 days.

Look at that steam rising. So good and perfect served with vegan ice cream.

Hope you enjoy and happy almost weekend!
~ox

— Knead to Cook

The best chocolate chip carob cookies EVER. NY Times.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Cookies, Holiday Baking Ideas, Snacks, Vegan

You know those cookies…. the ones you grew up eating. Nestle tollhouse, hot-from-the-oven, ooey, gooey circles of perfection? Yeah… the NY Time nailed it in this kicked up VEGAN version. I morphed it so that my chocolate-allergic (I know, smh) husband could eat using carob chips. But how has this recipe eluded me? I feel like I’m a chocolate chip cookie connoisseur. I mean really, who doesn’t love this all-American staple? Well these cookies, needless to say are heaven. I made them huge! Perfect to be used in ice cream (vegan, of course) sandwich. Warmed up with a matcha latte or coffee. Or frozen…. yep! The original genius recipe can be found here. Okay, let’s get started!

Ingredients:

225 grams or 1 3/4 cup of all purpose flour (I highly recommend organic)
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
140 grams or 5 ounces of vegan butter (I used Earth Balance sticks) room temp.
125 grams or 1/2 cup organic sugar
125 grams or 1/2 cup of brown sugar (coconut sugar doesn’t add as much to the flavor as brown does)
1 flax egg (1 tbl flax meal mixed with 2 tbl water -stirred and allow to thicken for 3 minutes or so)
2 tsp of vanilla extract
12 ounces of vegan chocolate chips or carob chips
Maldon flaked salt (I used smoked salt) but this is optional


Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheet with a baking mat or parchment.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. Into your stand mixer, cream the room temp butter with both sugars for about 3 minutes. While that’s working, make your flax egg. Then add it to the sugar/butter mixture. Add vanilla. Then add your flour mixture. Blend until JUST combined. Avoid over-mixing. Then add whatever chips (chocolate or carob) to the mixture and blend by hand. I used a large scoop and scoop out each ball of dough, add to your prepared pan. Then I add a pinch of Maldon salt to the top of each one. I gently push the cookies down a bit. Then bake for 15-16 minutes. I prefer a bit underdone but you do you. If making smaller cookies, adjust the time to 8-10 minutes or so.

When the cookies are done baking, remove the sheet pan and allow to cool and firm up for about 4-5 minutes.

Crunchy exterior, chewy interior.
Devour.

Hope you enjoy! ~ox

— Knead to Cook

Whole Wheat Carob Chip Cookies. Vegan.

by Filed Under: Cookies, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Vegan

My friend was sharing a recipe with me and it turns out it is from one of my favorites Cookie and Kate (here is the original recipe). I modified it a bit and they came out perfectly! Plus using carob chips made this allergy-friendly for my sweet hubby who is allergic to chocolate! However, this recipe would clearly work beautifully with whatever chocolate chips you have on hand. They are the perfect soft and gooey on the inside, crunchy on the outside cookie. Heaven! Okay, less talking and more baking! Let’s go!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of all purpose (try to buy organic whenever possible for your flours)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping tsp of course sea salt
1.5 cups of carob chips
3/4 cup organic white sugar
1/2 cup of coconut or brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tbl of walnut oil (you can use coconut as well)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbl of water
Optional: top with sea salt before baking

Method:

Into a stand mixer, paddle attached, add your flours, baking powder and soda and salt. Blend to combine. Then add the remaining ingredients – I hold off and add the carob chips last. Blend until just incorporated.

Scoop onto a prepared cookie sheet (lined with a silpat liner) and freeze for about 20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and once the cookies are chilled, bake for 16 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Enjoy!

Enjoy! ~ox

— Knead to Cook

Matcha Lemon Muffins. Vegan.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Easter, Holiday Baking Ideas, Muffins, Snacks, Vegan

While surfing for dinner inspiration, I came across this recipe and was ready to dive in. I of course put my own spin on it and used what I had on hand. These came out so beautifully, I mean look at that color! They taste great, super moist… quite lovely with a cup of tea.

Ingredients:

2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of matcha powder (I prefer Encha)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 good pinch of salt (1/4 tsp)
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 container of Culina Bourbon Vanilla yogurt (or 2/3 cup of whatever yogurt you have on hand)
1 cup nut based milk
Juice of one whole lemon
Zest of 1 lemon

Method:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray or line your muffin tin. This recipe made 11 muffins for me.

Into a bowl or stand mixer, add you dry ingredients. Blend well. Then add the remaining wet ingredients. Blend well but be mindful not to over-mix. Add to your muffin tins, 3/4 of the way filled. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

~ox

— Knead to Cook

Easy Tahini Granola. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Holiday Baking Ideas, Nuts, Pantry, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free

Meal prepping on Sundays often includes me making breakfast for the week. Granola serves so many purposes for us. I tend to snack on it or add it to my smoothies or yogurt. Bill eats it for cereal in the morning. Granola is so incredibly easy to make and stores perfectly in your pantry. One batch of this granola will easily last a week or two! I prefer to store it in glass containers or my OXO plastic cereal container.

This recipe is super flexible so don’t stress if you’re missing an ingredient or if you wish to add something else you love.

Ingredients:
3 cups of organic rolled oats
1/2 cup of the following nuts: cashews, pecans, pepitas and walnuts
2 tbl each of chia, sesame seeds and hemp hearts
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup of maple syrup
2 tbl oil (olive or coconut)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Either line your sheet pan or spray with oil to prep. Set that aside. Into a bowl add the oats, nuts, seeds, salt and cinnamon. In a bowl or small pot, add tahini, maple syrup and oil. Warm in a microwave or on the stove until blended. Pour over your oat mixture. Stir well.


Spread out on an even layer on your baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, then stir. I baked for an additional 10 minutes or until golden. Keep a watchful eye because it will burn quickly.

Allow to cool on the baking sheet then store in your container. No need to refrigerate. Enjoy with your favorite plant-based milk, over vegan yogurt or as a snack.

— Knead to Cook

Tahini Medjool Date Cookies. Vegan. Gluten free.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Cookies, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Snacks, Vegan, Wheat Free

I was seeking & searching for a unique cookie. Bill was sick last weekend with bronchitis. We had a winter storm. I was tired of being stuck in the house so my go-to was reading alternating with baking. I found this recipe on Feasting with Fruit. I tweaked a bit and they were truly heavenly. Everyone loved them. A little bit savory with a hint of sweetness from the Medjool dates. The perfect combination.

This recipe made a lot of cookies, which was great for the week! I used a tiny scoop so it made about 36 cookies or so.

Ingredients:
2 cups of rolled oats
1/2 cup of oat flour
1/2 cup of almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of salt
1 cup of tahini
1/2 cup of maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp of almond extract
12 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
Sesame seeds for rolling, optional

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.
Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Then in a separate bowl, mix your tahini through extract of choice.
Add the wet ingredients to dry and blend. Then proceed to add the dates.
Scoop out the cookie dough and roll into your sesame seeds and then place on to your baking sheet.
Bake for 11-12 minutes or until golden around the edges. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
I put under my cloche for one week or until devoured.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

— Knead to Cook

Banana Blueberry Muffins. Vegan. Gluten free.

by Filed Under: Breads, Breakfast, Brunch, Fruit, Gluten Free, Holiday Baking Ideas, Snacks, Vegan, Wheat Free

Being inundated with blueberries this time of year, they inevitably end up in breads, muffins or pancakes. I absolutely love berries and all the fresh fruit. Blueberries are a great source of fiber, vitamins A, C, K1 and manganese. Along with being antioxidant rich, they encompass the following plant compounds:

Not only are they packed with healthy goodness, they are the perfect summer treat! This recipe yielded 13 average-sized muffins.

See recipe below…

Ingredients:

2 large bananas, mashed till creamy
1 flax egg (1 tbl ground flax mixed with 3 tbl water – allow to sit 5 minutes until thickened)
1/3 cup of a neutral oil (avocado, refined coconut etc.)
1/3 cup of a nut based milk
2 heaping cups of oat flour (make sure they are certified organic)
1/4 cup of coconut sugar
1 1/3 tbl of baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup of blueberries (see notes)
1/3 cup of walnut pieces

Method:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line your muffin tins with a liner or spray with oil.

Into a bowl add your bananas and mash until a creamy consistency. Add your flax egg, oil and nut based milk (I used almond and oat and both worked nicely). Mix until incorporated. Then proceed to add your oat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend. Wash your blueberries and toss with a tablespoon of oat flour – this will help suspend the blueberries in the muffins v. having them sink to the bottom. By hand mix and proceed to add the walnut pieces (I normally top each muffin with additional walnut pieces). Spoon into your muffin tins (3/4 of the way full). Bake for 24-28 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool before eating.

Life remains really busy between work, family, home and working out. I’ve been enjoying weightlifting, limiting my cardio and hot power yoga. Although limited in some moves with my knee, I’m embracing all that I can do along with looking inward and challenging myself.

I hope you’re enjoying summer and embracing all the lovely fruits and veggies that come along with the warm weather. Sending you all my love,

— Knead to Cook

Double chocolate Chobani muffins. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fruit, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Muffins, Product Review., Quick Bread, Sponsored, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Wheat Free, Yogurt, Your Life Edit Foundations 2 Comments

Hello dear friends! A few years ago, I worked extensively with my favorite yogurt brand, Chobani but then I migrated to my plant-based diet. With that, I moved away from dairy based yogurt and that included Chobani. Well, much to my wonderful surprise, they reached out to me a few weeks ago asking if I would be interested in trying their new plant-based yogurt… ummm hell yes please & thank you! Well it arrived last week, amidst my crazy work schedule, and I couldn’t wait to try it & bake with it.

The yogurt and drinkable yogurts are coconut-based. They aren’t overly sweet yet perfectly balanced. The flavor options are heavenly and seriously, this is the best plant based yogurt I’ve eaten yet! They didn’t disappoint.

So today, being a day off, I jumped at creating a new recipe using their yogurt. First, the flavors are insanely awesome! I’m obsessed. Elated. In love. Smitten. You get the point. Then I baked this recipe up & the muffins are so moist and soft. Packed with healthy goodness. Seriously, these aren’t going to last very long. I hope you get to try these as soon as you locate some vegan Chobani in your area.

Ingredients:
Wet ingredients…
2 flax eggs (2 tbl ground flax meal plus 6 til water – mixed & allowed to sit for 8-10 minutes)
2 medium, spotty bananas
1 container of vanilla Chobani vegan yogurt
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry ingredients…
2 cups of oat flour, gluten free
2 tbl of raw cacao powder
2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt (1/8 tsp)
By hand: Add 1/3 cup or more of vegan chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray your muffin wells or use liners. Into you stand mixer, paddle attached, add your flax eggs, bananas, Chobani yogurt, syrup and extract. Blend well. Then add your oat flour (blend oats in your blender until a flour is achieved), cacao, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt. Blend again until incorporated. By hand, blend your chocolate chips. Spoon into your prepared muffin pan. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely for 15 minutes.


Drinkable and conventional dairy free yogurts are brand new from Chobani.


The yogurt I used in this recipe.


Thanks Chobani for sending me this epic care package. I wholeheartedly love this yogurt and plan on enjoying this often. I haven’t found this in any local stores yet but I’m keeping my eyes peeled.

-ox


— Knead to Cook

Vegan Eggnog Bread with a Spiced Rum Glaze.

by Filed Under: Breads, Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Lucy Let's Go Post, Quick Bread, Snacks, Sponsored, Vegan 14 Comments

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Eggnog bread was a creation of mine from about 15 years ago-  long before I was plant based or an athlete.  Truth be told, it was my go-to holiday food gift for friends/teachers & neighbors for years.  Everyone I shared it with clamored over the flavor and moist texture of this treat.  Plus, it was a nice disparity from the sea of cookies everyone had in their kitchen.  You can find the original, vegetarian recipe here.

As time has passed, I’ll admit, I hadn’t made this treat in several years.  Going plant-based, I never quite found an equal counterpart to a traditional eggnog until now.  I’ve tried this recipe with several vegan eggnogs and I found success with most brands.  I’ve suggested the versions below, in the recipe, that worked best in my opinion.  I prefer to make small loaves for gifting.  They are the perfect size and let’s face it, most people are drowning in other holiday sweets & treats.  However, this recipe would work perfectly in a regular size loaf pan.

This recipe can be subbed out with traditional products like butter and eggnog but I wanted to take a healthier approach as much as possible while keeping with the integrity of my original recipe. I hope you give this recipe a try.  Also perfect on Christmas morning amidst the wrapping paper flying and children giggling for a fun and easy breakfast or brunch idea.

Happy holidays!

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— Knead to Cook