Author: PatagoniaLlami

Directions

1. For the vanilla bean cookie dough – Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla bean until light and fluffy (about 5-7 minutes).
2. Combine cornstarch and water and add to the butter mixture. Mix well.
3. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then add to the butter mixture. Mix until the dough comes together in big chunks, then wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
4. For the chocolate cookie dough – Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5-7 minutes).
5. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt and add to the butter mixture. Mix well, then add the orange juice and mix until creamy (about 1 minute). Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
7. Unwrap both cookie doughs. Break the cookie doughs into chunks, then reassemble the doughs together alternating chocolate and vanilla.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll the cookie dough out to about 1/2″ thick, then use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Continue patting the dough back together, rolling out, and cutting out cookies until all the dough is used up. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
9. Bake 13-15 minutes until the cookies are set and lightly browned along the edges.

Directions

1. Add flour, cornstarch, almond flour and salt to a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. Set aside.
2. Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Zest 1 1/2 lemons into the bowl, reserving the remaining 1/2 of un-zested lemon for the glaze. Cream the butter, sugar and zest on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add vanilla and lemon extracts and beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping the bowl as needed.
3. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and beat on low speed until combined. Scrape the bowl and fold a few times to make sure everything is well combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and chill until firm, at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.
4. Place oven racks in lower-middle & upper-middle of oven, then preheat to 350 degrees. On a flour-dusted parchment paper (especially helpful for dough in warmer environments), roll shortbread 1/4” thin. Don’t worry about using a lot of flour, you can dust off excess later after they’re chilled. Cut out cookies with a 2” round cutter and knead together the scraps to make a few more. Chill the cookies on a baking sheet in the freezer until very firm, at least 10 minutes. Dust off the excess flour if needed.
5. Bake until cookies just start to turn light-golden on the edges and golden underneath (about 18 to 22 min.) switching the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time. Make the glaze while the cookies bake, zesting 1/2 of reserved lemon into a small bowl and combining remaining ingredients with a whisk until smooth.
6. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, and transfer to a wire rack set over a parchment or silicone mat on a baking sheet. Pick up a cookie and using the back of a small spoon, spread a generous teaspoon of glaze on a cookie, letting any excess drip onto the next cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are glazed. Cool completely and let the glaze set. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Enjoy!

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the coconut milk over a medium-low flame until it’s just beginning to simmer around the edges. Turn off the heat, and add the finely chopped chocolate. Stir to combine. There should be enough residual heat to fully melt the chocolate as you stir, but if you need to, turn the flame back on very low for just a minute or so to get everything smooth, creamy, and fully combined—but it shouldn’t become hot to the touch.
2. Once the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy, transfer to a medium bowl, and add the peppermint extract and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine, then set uncovered in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours, until just fully solidified, but still pliable. (There should be no puddle of melted chocolate in the center, as Minimalist Baker notes.)
3. Grab a tablespoon (or a tablespoon-sized scoop). Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the chocolate, and use your hands to gently roll it into a round ball. Set aside on a parchment-lined dish. Repeat until you’ve scooped and shaped all of the balls. You should get about 16 truffles.
4. If you’d like to decorate them, set the cocoa powder on a large plate, and roll the truffles around in it until they’re coated. Press a small pinch of the crushed peppermint candy into the top of each one.
5. Enjoy truffles immediately, or store covered in the fridge for up to 1 week. To serve, let them come to room temperature for maximum smooth creaminess.

Directions

1. In a pan or insta pot saute mode add oil and het it up. Add Asafoetida .
2. Add cut onions and saute till the onions are translucent.
3. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute or 2.
4. Add cut tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt and saute till tomatoes are nice and mushy.
5. Add turmeric powder , red chilli powder , pav bhaji masala and adjust salt to taste. Mix well. Saute for another couple of minutes.
6. Insta Pot Method –
   Add all the cut vegetables . Mix well.
   Add 2 cups water and mix well.
   Close the lid . Vent closing. Pressure cook for 20 minutes.
   Let the steam release naturally.
   Mix well. Put the saute mode on . Mash the vegetables using a potato masher. Saute for a couple of minute.

   Garnish with cut cilantro and vegan butter of your choice.
   

7. Kadai Method.
   Boil all the vegetables in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles. Once cooled doen , mash using a potato masher.
   Add the mashed vegetables to the masal made above. Mix well.
   Add water to adjust consistency.
   Close the lid and cook for 10 minutes.
   Garnish with cut cilantro and vegan butter of your choice.

We tell stories with our food. Some of those stories are simple, straightforward: I want to eat cake. And others might be a little more layered. Growing up, we rarely got to eat American food. But every birthday, my mom would head into the city and pick up a cake from a famous bakery, Lutz. I knew from the way my mom emphasized the word “Lutz” that there was something special, something rich about a “Lutz cake.” Untying the string around the glossy white box to unveil the dreamy strawberries and cream confection inside was a present all in itself. Once, my mom took me with her to the bakery, with its golden chandeliers. I pressed my nose right up against the glass display, dazzled by strawberries the size of my face. And it was then, as a little girl, that I realized that it wasn’t just about the cake. It was about a whole other world out there, with tinkling glass and amber lights, four pronged forks and English words rolling off tongues like silky fondant. That’s what my mother tried to bring home to me, every birthday, in a white paperboard box, tied up with a piece of string.

This is a vegan version of the storied strawberries and cream cake I used to eat on every birthday. —The Korean Vegan

Directions

1. Vanilla Cake
2. For the cake: Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line two 7-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray them generously with cooking spray.
3. Add the white wine vinegar to the plant milk and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, add together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a whisk to avoid any clumps.
5. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer). Using the whisk attachment, mix on high until the butter and sugar are completely incorporated (about 2 minutes).
6. Add the sour cream, the milk + vinegar mixture, and the vanilla extract to the butter and sugar. Mix on medium until combined (about 30 seconds).
7. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 batches, stirring on medium each time, until just incorporated (there will still be flour on the sides of the bowl).
8. Using a spatula, incorporate any residual flour into the batter.
9. Evenly divide the batter into your cake pans (I used a scale) and bake in a preheated oven for about 24 to 26 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

1. Whipped Cream Frosting
2. For the whipped cream frosting: Add the aquafaba, granulated sugar, and the agar agar to a small pot and bring it to a gentle boil for approximately 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove the mixture from heat to allow it to cool to about lukewarm temperature (cool enough where you can touch it).
4. Add the mixture to your stand mixer and using the whisk attachment, mix on high until you achieve stiff peaks (about 7 to 8 minutes).
5. Add the cream of tartar, the powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on high until your frosting is stiff and glossy (about 3 to 5 minutes).
6. Frost the bottom layer and add half your quartered strawberries, pressing them into the frosting. Add more whipped cream frosting over the top of the strawberries, before placing the second layer.
7. Frost the second layer and top with remaining strawberries.