Peanut Butter Cup Vegan Cheesecake

I've been having a ridiculous amount of fun making vegan cheesecakes... nutcakes? Hmm.. we need to coin a term for these beauties. Creamcakes? I dunno, I'll stew on it. (Mmm, stew...)

If you've never made one before, they usually consist of a nut and date crust that is then topped with a cream filling made with soaked cashews and coconut oil/butter. The result is nothing short of genius.
After trying this basic recipe from food blogger Chocolate Covered Katie, I was interested in playing with flavors and textures. Well I may have gotten a bit ambitious when I saw this Create N Plate recipe on Pinterest, but it looked sooo goood. And it is. I adapted it slightly to get more of the peanut butter flavor.

I decided to make them into cupcake size ones so that they would be easier to transport.. because I'm nice and I actually do share my food with other humans. Usually. Not gonna lie though, I thought twice about that gesture with these. 

Cheesecake Crust:

-1 cup dates (about 10 dates) 

-1/2 cup almonds or other nut

-1T PB2

-2T Peanut butter

-Pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until it forms a sticky crust. Press into parchment lined 6" springform pan, or cupcake molds in this case, and place in freezer until your filling is ready. You can adjust measurements to get the right consistency. I added the PB2 and Peanut Butter to get the flavor, but you can omit them if you want just a regular crust. 

For the filling on these, I wanted to try to get a creamier texture so I liked that this recipe called for bananas instead of the usual coconut oil. I changed it slightly because I didn't want a strong banana flavor, and after tasting them I think I would omit the banana completely and just use coconut butter. But it's good to know that I can use banana in the base. I also think it would benefit from a little bit of vanilla. 

Filling:

-2 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least two hours in water, then drained

-1 banana

-1/4 cup coconut butter

-3T cacao powder

-2T real maple syrup 

Mix all ingredients in food processor until creamy. Will take about 5 minutes. Spoon and gently press filling onto prepared crust, then place in freezer again for a while until it sets. 

The fun part about this cheesecake recipe? The toppings!! 

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

-1/4 cup plus 2T coconut oil, melted

-1/4 cup cacao powder

-2T agave or maple syrup

-Natural peanut butter

Combine oil, cacao, and sweetener, and spoon enough into mini cupcake molds with liners. Place in freezer until set, about 10 minutes. Drop a bit of peanut butter into the center of each one, then top with more chocolate to cover. Freeze again until set. Store in fridge, and keep cool as the chocolate will melt easily. You can also use the leftover chocolate mixture as a drizzle topping. 

Peanut Butter Sauce

-2T coconut oil, melted

-1/2 cup peanut butter

Combine and drizzle over cakes (or ice cream!).

And there you have it, a delicious Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake. No milk, no weird ingredients, just pure love and deliciousness. 

Nom on that my sweet friends!

Amanda

Veggie Spring Rolls

 Thai style... they could be sweet, savory, spicy, bold. They could be well thought out and complex, or just whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge.

There is a new blog I started following called Plant Based Travelmust say I am quite enjoying following this girl's vegan adventures in Berlin. Food and foreign sights?! Gives me really bad wanderlust, but I love it! A few days ago she posted her first attempt at spring rolls, and it inspired me to not only have them for dinner tonight but to also share a little about how to make your own.

The first thing you want to do is get all your ingredients and chop everything pretty thin. This will help in the rolling process. I like to have some sort of creamy ingredient like avocado, hummus, mango, etc., so it's not all crunchy stuff, but the cool thing about spring rolls is that you can put whatever you want in them!

For assembly, start with a flat work surface to roll on, and have a plate ready to set finished rolls. Run your rice paper circle under water for a few seconds, getting both side wet, then let the excess water drip off. Place your paper on the flat surface, and start laying out all the stuffing ingredients. Remember not to put too much stuff or you will have trouble sealing the ends.

By the time you are done placing the filling, the paper should have gotten soft and a bit stretchy. Start by rolling the bottom up and over the filling, then fold the sides, then just roll that baby up like a newborn in a blanket. These are best eaten immediately, as the paper keeps getting softer and falls apart if left too long. ( One time I tried making spring rolls as a pack out lunch for work and ended up eating them all with a fork because the paper had disintegrated by lunch time.)

These ones took on a sort of Mediterranean flavor, since I didn't have any avocado so I used some hummus. I also put red bell pepper, green onion, shaved carrot, tomato, and some leftover spaghetti squash I needed to use up. But like I said, you can put whatever you want in them. Have fun with it!

I find peanut sauce quite disgusting, but here is my go-to sweet and spicy sauce for when I make spring rolls...

Sweet and Spicy Thai Dipping Sauce:
1 T sriracha or chili sauce
2 T agave
2 T rice vinegar
Mix together, makes one or two servings.

What are your favorite ingredients to put in spring rolls??

Amanda

Banana Chai Smoothie

I'm a bit of a chai snob. Okay, I'm a huge chai snob. I like my chai spicy and bold, not too sweet generally. I find Starbucks chai way too sweet, but Pete's chai very bland. Usually I will brew a cup with a spoonful of honey and a touch of almond milk. Mmm, perfect.

I've been looking for a good chai for a while. Some don't have a strong enough flavor and I end up having to brew 2 or 3 tea bags to taste anything. Some are just laden with cinnamon oil and taste like I brewed a pack of cinnamon gum, bleh.
On my trip to India this past January, I loved going to my brother-in-law's family's house and being greeted by their warm smiles, and hot cups of chai. It was bold, flavorful, not too sweet.. just right. I managed to find a can of loose chai tea in one of the shops, and couldn't wait to bring it home and start brewing! This one has good flavor, but also gets muted by the milk. Maybe I should just skip the milk!? Nah.. that's borderline blasphemy.

Today I had a ripe banana that my mom wouldn't eat (she's one of those crazy people who only eats green bananas... ewww) so I took it and thought, "why not?" and blended it with the cup of chai I had been thinking about all morning, and the result was nothing short of heavenly.

Banana Chai Smoothie:

- 1 ripe banana plus 1 frozen banana

- 1/2 cup brewed chai tea

- splash of almond milk (or other plant based milk)

- dash of cinnamon and ground ginger (optional, to taste)

Blend all together and enjoy! 

It was a nice pick-me-up on this warm and cloudy day. Went perfect with a piece of chocolate on the side! 

What is your favorite brand of chai? 

Amanda