V.K.Rees Photography

This post is about a gourd that has ruined all other gourds for me. Kabocha squash. Remember how I said I have 10 recipes that I rotate over and over? This is one of them.

Kabocha squash used to fall under the category of vegetables that I’d walk by in the grocery store and think “what the hell is that?” I eventually bought one on a whim and now I eat it all the time. Kabocha squash has a very starchy texture (almost like a potato) and, most importantly, the skin is not only edible, it’s delicious. I hate peeling squash. I have recipes for kabocha soup, kabocha ice cream, kabocha gnocchi, kabocha salad dressing, kabocha “cheese” sauce, etc. I’m sure I will share all of those at some point but first I want to post my favorite way to eat it –  steamed.

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I went to a birthday party on Saturday and wanted to bring the birthday lady something tasty. She is allergic to chocolate so that eliminated some of the obvious choices and I had just bought a donut pan sooooo, yeah, donuts! I didn’t have high hopes. When I think of baked donuts (opposed to fried) I imagine them to be dry and crumbly.

False.

These were gooey and delicious. Thank you Vegan Yum Yum for posting the original recipe. Here is how you make em:

What you’ll need:

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp (scant) Nutmeg
• 1 tiny pinch or shake Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Soymilk
• 1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• Egg Replacer for 1 Egg (I used a flax seed egg but I recommend using Energ egg replacer if you have it around)
• 4 Tbs Earth Balance

Glaze & Sprinkles:

• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 2 Tbs non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
• Bowl full of sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Combine dry ingredients with a whisk.
3. Combine wet ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and mix until earth balance is melted. The mixture shouldn’t get too hot. You should be able to stick your finger in the mixture w/o burning yourself.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until it has a spongy texture.
5. Bust out your donut pan and grease it lightly.
6. Put about 2.5 tablespoons of batter into each donut hole (the batter should not go over the rim). Smooth the batter out with your finger so it cooks evenly.
7. Bake for about 12 minutes.
8. Turn the pan over to release the donuts. Let them cool completely.
9. While the donuts are cooling, whisk together 1 cup  powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk (I used almond).
10. Stick the top of the donut into the glaze. Put the donut on a paper towel to let the excess drip off. Pour the sprinkles onto the donut immediately after dipping it into the glaze.

Done. Super easy.

Remember Cookie Dough Bites? I used to love them as a kid. I made a healthier, gluten free, vegan version of them and they are just ridiculously good!

Do you know Chocolate Covered Katie? She came up with the brilliant idea of using chickpeas as the base for cookie dough. If you ate them without knowing they were made of chickpeas you would have no idea. I adapted Katie’s recipe to make these. Thanks Katie!

So, here’s what you’ll need:

• 1.5 cups chickpeas (1 can or 250g)
• 3 Tbs Agave Nectar  or some other kind of sweetener (add more if the dough is not sweet enough for you)
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 3 Tbs nut butter (I used tahini)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 0.5 lb (2 bars) semisweet baking chocolate

1. Combine all the ingredients except the chocolate in a food processor or blender and transfer to a medium size bowl.
2. Finely chop up roughly 2 Tbs of chocolate and fold it into the chickpea batter.
3. Taste the batter to decide if you need to add more sweetener. Keep in mind that it will be covered in chocolate so it doesn’t need to be too sweet.
4. Roll the chickpea batter into balls the size of blueberries and put them in the freezer until they are hard.
5. Temper the remaining chocolate.
6. By the time you are done tempering the dough should be frozen. Take 5 balls out of the freezer and stick a toothpick in them. Dip the ball into the warm chocolate and tap the toothpick on the edge of the bowl to get the excess chocolate off. Find somewhere to put the ball until the chocolate sets. I turned my colander upside down and stuck the thoothpick in one of the holes. Repeat this until all of the balls are coated in chocolate.
7. Once the chocolate has hardened you can take out the toothpick. This is totally optional. I kind of liked the toothpick.  =)

My cat Marshall chills with me when I take food photos. xx.