PINK PEARL VEGAN SCONES

Happy Thanksgiving!! I am SOOO excited to share this recipe with you!  I love vegan baking and making whole grain vegan baking is very simple. 

I love scones! 

Perhaps it is my British background but scones are my favorite pastries. 

And Pink Pearl apples are seriously the highlight of Fall! I literally count the months waiting for them to be  in season. Pink Pearl apples are life changing! They are pink, tart, unlike anything you have ever tasted. 

My husband raved about these scones and took them to his office,  he has become such a foodie that I know if he keeps talking about something I bake it’s guaranteed to be a great recipe!

I am so glad I created them just in time for Thanksgiving tea time, or brunch with coffee.

Make sure you make yourself a killer cappuccino with Milkadamia’s new Latte Da which froths beautifully! 

Serve with my killer salted caramel or cold coconut cream or coconut yogurt. 

This is a sponsored blog post!

Thanks to my friends at Milkadamia!

I love their macadamia milk and it’s the only one we have in our house! Try it with coffee, cereal, Rooibos Chai Tea OMG! 

When Milkadamia asked me to create a recipe using their new Macadamia Spray I was jumping with excitement because the options for using this amazing oil are endless!

Spray it on anything! Cake pans, on top of these scones, vegan breads, veggies, anything that will be baked, grilled or air fried!

All opinions expressed are my own, thanks for supporting the brands I love! Happy Thanksgiving! When you bake these scones please tag me @chefvanessamusi on Instagram and tag @milkadamia also! We love seeing and sharing your creations. 

Pink Pearl Scones

5.0 from 1 reviews
PINK PEARL SCONES
 
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These flaky vegan whole grain scones are perfect for Thanksgiving brunch or coffee. The Pink Pearl apples make these something to look forward to every year! The maple glaze is sweet yet salty. I can't wait for you guys to bake and try these! They are my new favorite recipe! Thanks to Milkadamia for inspiring me to create these!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 8 large
Ingredients
  • 200 grams spelt flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
  • 80 gr all purpose organic flour
  • 55 grams evaporated cane sugar (can sub for maple sugar)
  • 10 gr baking powder such as Rumford
  • 4 grams fine sea salt
  • ⅓ cup Pink Pearl apple (peeled and sliced and cut into small cubes) can sub for Granny Smith apples
  • ¼ teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 90 grams vegan butter cut into pieces and very cold (I keep mine in the freezer) I used Miyoko's unsalted
  • ¾ cup coconut milk (mix well, chill then measure)
  • 40 gr apple puree (I made my own: peel 2 Granny Smith or Pink Pearl apples, cut into chunks, add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and microwave for 3 mins then puree)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract such as Nielsen Massey
  • To glaze before baking:
  • Milkadamia oil spray
  • Milkadamia unsweetened
  • Maple glaze:
  • 60 gr coconut milk powder, sifted I used Terrasoul
  • 30 gr powdered sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon pure maple extract such as Frontier
  • 1-2 tablespoons Milkadamia unsweetened milk
  • Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with a whisk until thick. If needed add more coconut milk powder. The glaze must be very thick.
  • Salted Caramel:
  • ½ cup Brown rice syrup
  • 14 gr vegan butter I used Miyoko’s
  • ¼ teaspoon Maldon Salt
  • ⅛ cup coconut sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup coconut cream (mix a can of coconut cream and then measure)
  • Cook all caramel ingredients in a medium stainless steel pot at medium heat whisking constantly until thick. Remove from heat (it will thicken more as it cools). Serve warm
Method
  1. METHOD:
  2. Prepare a perforated baking tray with a Silpat. Mix apples with cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
  3. In a Thermomix or food processor: put the flours, baking powder, salt, sugar and mix at medium speed for a few seconds until incorporated. Then add the cold vegan butter and process for about 15 seconds at medium speed until the butter is crumbly and look like small lentils. Don’t over process the butter or scones won’t be flaky. Put this mixture onto a large bowl. Add the apples, apple pure, vanilla + coconut cream and mix with a spatula just until integrated. Use your hands to check the dough so it is moist enough. Don’t over mix.
  4. Put the dough onto the baking tray and form into a round ball, without overworking the dough, press roll the circle to form a 2″ high round circle with a rolling pin. With a metal pastry scraper: cut into 8 triangles and freeze for 30 mins (this is so that the scones keep their shape are flakier). Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray the frozen scones with Milkadamia oil on top and brush with the macadamia milk and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Time will depend on your oven, baking tray and thickness of scones. They must be crunchy on the surface and moist inside. Cool on a perforated tray. Decorate with the dreamy maple glaze.
  5. These keep well for 2 days at room temp in a recycled salad container or freeze unbaked for longer storage and bake as needed (do not thaw before baking, bake frozen: they just take longer to bake).
Notes
Gluten Free flour blend: mix then measure what the recipe requires
¾ cup brown rice flour must be superfine (I use Bobs Red Mill)
¼ cup potato starch
⅛ cup white rice flour must be superfine (I use Bobs Red Mill)
⅛ cup tapioca starch

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CHOCOLATE VEGAN GLUTEN FREE DONUTS

My Chocolate Donuts have been really popular in my classes and workshops!

I literally made 10 recipes to develop these vegan gluten free donuts to achieve the perfect texture. Imagine the Hershey’s Chocolate Cake we all loved growing up? Does a Devil’s Food Cake ring a bell? 

Well I tried the vegan chocolate donuts from Mr Natural in Austin at Flat Track one of my favorite Coffee Shops and I fell madly in love with them. The moist, spongy texture and the dreamy glaze blew me away. I just wanted to make something similar with great ingredients. I hope you love them as much as me, my husband and everyone who tried them. Remember to share your creations with me on Instagram and tag me @chefvanessamusi so I can share them!

So many of you have asked me to share more Thermomix recipes so here is one I adore! 

You will need a Thermomix to make these (to chop the chocolate and make the batter and glaze). It is the best investment you can make! Also I used this donut pan and baking tray. 

Also I recommend this pastry bag to fill your donuts. Definitely get my favorite cocoa for best results.

Please note these are NOT my #keto donuts (those I only share in my workshops).

 

5.0 from 4 reviews
Chocolate Vegan Gluten Free Donuts
 
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Spongy, light donuts, this recipe is a winner!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 6 large
Ingredients
  • 70 gr avocado oil or coconut oil, organic, refined and melted (must be warm)
  • 112 ml Forager Project cashew milk (or any vegan unsweetened milk)
  • 112 ml Forager Project sour cream (or any vegan unsweetened yogurt)
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar such as Braggs
  • 126 gr coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 168 gr gluten free flour Bobs Red Mill 1: 1 (blue label only)
  • 28 gr vegan cocoa (I love Santa Barbara Chocolate)
  • 1 teaspoon gluten free, aluminum free baking powder (at high altitude use ½ teaspoon)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda (at high altitude use ¼ teaspoon)
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 56 gr finely chopped 72% organic chocolate Santa Barbara: use code CHEFVANESSA to get 10 % off (I chopped mine in Thermomix at speed 8 for 1 min to chop really finely)
Method
  1. Prepare a donut pan: I use a silicon mold (place this on a perforated tray). Preheat oven to 350 C/170 C.
  2. In the bowl of your Thermomix: mix at speed 2 combine the Forager Project cashew milk, Forager Project sour cream and apple cider vinegar. Add coconut sugar, vanilla, oil and mix 30 seconds at speed 4.
  3. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix 20 seconds at speed 5. Scrape the bowl with the spatula.
  4. Add chopped chocolate and mix 10 seconds speed 3. Put batter into a pastry bag.
  5. Put the batter into the prepared donut pan filling the donuts ⅔ full and bake 12 minutes aprox (or until a toothpick comes out clean) in a convection oven. Take out and let cool. Un mold, cool, freeze (so it’s easier to glaze) and decorate with chocolate glaze:
Notes
Chocolate glaze:
⅓ cup Organic powdered sweetener
⅛ cup Santa Barbara vegan cocoa
½ teaspoon vanilla
60 gr 70 % chocolate chopped in Thermomix
3 tablespoons water
Melt everything in the your Thermomix at 60 C and mix until combined at speed 1 until shiny.

 

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Nutella

Nutella!

Everyone LOVES it right? Except it’s always so sweet and full of crappy ingredients. So why not make an equally delicious and healthier recipe? I literally got my melanger just to make this! I played a lot with Nutella recipes and I always felt that they where grainy and not smooth like the real product. Which is why you need this machine. Now stay with me because it has gotten great reviews and is my most commented appliance (after Thermomix). Hey I even got guys commenting on my Instagram stories asking me for this recipe. 

What to make with this killer nutella? Dip your chocolate chip cookies in it, decorate your donuts with this (just warm it in the microwave a bit). Spread it on toast, eat it by the spoonful, drizzle it on pancakes or on my brownies or vegan cake

Thanks to Chocolate Refiners for my melanger which I am madly deeply in love with.  

Why is this recipe amazing?

  1. It’s smooth (not grainy) please note you DO need to have both appliances (the Thermomix alone will not make this as smooth as it is)
  2. It’s low in sugar, so you can really taste the great chocolate and hazelnuts
  3. It is vegan and all ingredients are simple and clean
  4. It is really easy
  5. It has so many applications

If you make this recipe please share and tag me on Instagram @chefvanessamusi so I can share your creations on my Instagram stories.

NUTELLA
 
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Best nutella, smooth, creamy, easy to make, simple ingredients. A great recipe! Feel free to double, triple or quadruple the recipe. This is a vegan, gluten free recipe. It makes a great foodie gift.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 1 cup
Ingredients
  • ½ cup hazelnuts
  • ¼ cup cocoa nibs Santa Barbara Chocolate or Dandelion or Valrhona
  • 2 tablespoons coconut sugar or maple sugar (adjust sweeteners to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons Lakanto Golden Monk Fruit or cane sugar or sweetener or sub for more coconut sugar (sugars must be ground)
  • 1 pinch Maldon salt
  • 1 large pinch vanilla powder
Method
  1. Peel hazelnuts: preheat oven to 350 F (170 C). Put hazelnuts on a baking tray with a Silpat and bake until the skins crackle and pop and the hazelnuts are golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Process the hazelnuts until a flour is formed in a Thermomix. Put all the ingredients in the refiner until smooth, make sure the paste is fluid and smooth. Check the taste and adjust sweetness as needed. Store in a sterilized Mason jar. Keep in a cool and dry pantry for about 6 months. Note: it will set as it cools, to use bring to room temp or warm lightly in the microwave.

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Vegan Chocolate Cake

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Father’s Day is here!

If my Father could eat I am sure he would love this recipe as much as I adore it! My Father has had diabetes for years and he is fed through his stomach because he can’t swallow. It has been devastating and one of the hardest things I have been though and we have as a family, I cannot imagine how he feels. So I made this cake in his honor and because it is also my husband’s favorite. When Santa Barbara Chocolate asked me to make a recipe for them using their 72% chocolate I immediately thought of this killer vegan chocolate cake which I have also made #glutenfree and #wholegrain. I love Santa Barbara Chocolate products and I am featuring their 72% chocolate which is organic, soy free and super creamy and comes in callets! I use it in all my #paleo recipes. They also make the best cocoa in the planet seriously. Use code: CHEFVANESSA to get 10 % off any of their amazing products.

Such a simple and elegant recipe, low in sugar, great texture and a crowd pleaser. I have made it 4 times in 4 weeks, I love it that much. Plus I get to use all my favorite ingredients from Santa Barbara Chocolate one of my all time favorite brands.

Huge thanks to Santa Barbara Chocolate for sponsoring this post, and thank you all for supporting the brands I love. All opinions are my own. #sponsored 

This recipe is adapted from Thermomix and I have given it my twist. If you are vegan and #glutenfree and #nutfree this is a great recipe! It would also make great cupcakes! You can also make a smaller cake and bake it into 2 layers and fill with raspberry jam or drizzle with my new nutella

As usual, I recommend you scale this recipe BEFORE making it: a great mise en place makes a successful recipe. Use the scale I recommend.

Be sure to get your Thermomix to make this killer recipe! And definitely get the new Thermomix TM6 

5.0 from 2 reviews
Vegan Chocolate Cake
 
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This Vegan Chocolate Cake is to die for! It is a perfectly balanced recipe. I adapted it from Thermomix and added my twist. You can make a #glutenfree version and a #wholegrain version. This chocolate cake is perfect for any BDAY party and a tried and tested crowd pleaser.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 1 medium cake
Ingredients
  • 70 gr avocado oil (I use Ahuacatlan in Mexico and Chosen Foods in the US)
  • 224 ml almond milk, unsweetened (for #nutfree use coconut milk)
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar such as Braggs
  • 126 gr coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 168 gr organic flour or gluten free flour Bobs Red Mill 1: 1 (blue label only) or spelt flour (same amounts)
  • 28 gr vegan cocoa Santa Barbara: use code CHEFVANESSA to get 10 % off
  • 1 teaspoon gluten free, aluminum free baking powder (at high altitude use ½ teaspoon)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda (at high altitude use ¼ teaspoon) I use Bobs Red Mill
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 56 gr chopped 72% organic chocolate Santa Barbara: use code CHEFVANESSA to get 10 % off
  • GANACHE:
  • 112 gr 72% chocolate Santa Barbara use code CHEFVANESSA to get 10 % off
  • 52 gr almond milk, unsweetened (for #nutfree use coconut milk)
  • 14 gr pure maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Method
  1. METHOD:
  2. Prepare Cake: grease and line the base of a 9 inch cake pan. Preheat oven to 350 F (170 F).
  3. Put the almond milk and apple cider vinegar in the Thermomix and mix 1 min at speed 1. Rest 5 mins.
  4. Add coconut sugar, vanilla, oil and mix 30 seconds at speed 4.
  5. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix 20 seconds at speed 5. Scrape the bowl with the spatula.
  6. Add chocolate and mix 10 seconds speed 3.
  7. Empty the batter into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes aprox (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Take out and let cool. Un mold Cool and decorate with chocolate ganache.
  8. Once cake is cool: Prepare Ganache: Put the chocolate in the Thermomix and process until finely grinding at speed 10 for 10 seconds.
  9. Scrape the bowl and add milk and maple syrup and cook 2 mins at 55 C speed 2.
  10. Remove and let cool slightly. Put the ganache onto the cold cake. Decorate with cocoa nibs and roasted peeled and chopped hazelnuts.

 

MY FAVORITE CHOCOLATE MADELEINES

Do you LOVE chocolate cake? I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t.  And I get a TON of requests for vegan and gluten free chocolate cakes or pastries that taste the same as traditional cakes, so I went on a quest to create the chocolate vegan gluten free madeleines of my dreams. And voilà here they are. 

Really! These are delicious and so easy to make. They are like that little black dress that you can dress up or down. The texture is just perfect. I developed this recipe for one of my favorite brands: Flexipan for their launch of their new line of Silpat molds they made exclusively for Williams Sonoma (they are beautiful and very functional). Thanks to Flexipan by Demarle for sponsoring the molds for this recipe. 

This recipe is a perfect example of how important a well balanced recipe is: and how great baking is all about proportions. Plus this chocolate glaze is the bomb! And it’s a timeless recipe I learned from one of my favorite Pastry Chefs: Sarah Kosikowski from Valrhona. 

Save this glaze recipe because it is the perfect back pocket recipe and you can have it made beforehand. It is life changing. 

Chocolate glaze:

134 gr 75 % chocolate, chopped (use the best quality such as Valrhona)

41 gr avocado oil

11 gr cacao nibs

In a glass bowl: melt chocolate in a microwave, add the oil and cocoa nibs and mix well. Use warm

 

MY FAVORITE CHOCOLATE MADELEINES
 
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Soft, moist, tender madeleines that are seriously divine! Plus they are vegan and gluten free and low in sugar!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 16 large
Ingredients
  • 135 gr my gluten free flour blend (see recipe bellow)
  • 30 gr red cocoa (I love Santa Barbara Chocolate!)
  • ½ cup organic cane sugar/ or coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda (at high altitude use ½ teaspoon)
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ⅔ cup almond milk, unsweetened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon coconut yogurt, unsweetened
  • 1 tablespoon applesauce, unsweetened (I made my own in Thermomix using Granny Smith apples
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (or avocado oil)
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Put a Madeleine Silpat mold onto a perforated tray. In a bowl, sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add sugar, mix. Add almond milk, vanilla, apple sauce yogurt, oil and vinegar. Mix with a whisk by hand until integrated. Put the batter into a pastry bag fill the madeleine mold ⅔ -¾ full. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean aprox 15 mins depends on your oven. Remove and un mold. Let cool. Freeze madeleines and decorate with Chocolate Glaze
Notes
My all purpose gluten-free flour
672 gr glutinous rice flour: buy in oriental stores
672 gr brown rice flour: (Bobs Red Mill brand preferably)
672 gr white rice flour: (Bobs Red Mill brand preferred)
2 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum
Mix well all the flours in a bowl with a balloon whisk, store the flours in a closed container in a dry, cool and dark place preferably. Use what recipe calls for

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HEALTHY CONDENSED MILK

Paleo, vegan, keto, healthy?

Even more than that I believe 95% of the time that health tastes better. I know that is hard to envision and taste but ever since I can remember healthier ingredients and wholesome products have always tasted better, not to mention that they make me feel better. And being such a FOODIE that is a big claim. Because I do savor the world: ALL THE TIME. I honestly have met few foodies like me.

And sometimes I wake up dreaming about a recipe like this one! I literally dreamt about it..  formula and all.. So I had to make it ASAP. Which I did because when you follow your gut magic happens ALWAYS. Plus I am loving my Thermomix and using it for everything because it makes life easier and I can multitask more and I only need one appliance. If you haven’t gotten on the Thermomix band wagon you are missing out! It has been called a GENIUS FOOD PROCESSOR by Dr Oz, the next frontier of cutting edge technology.  Which I kind of saw coming 13 years ago since I bought my first.

So if you cook and bake you need a Thermomix ASAP! Get yours here: and when you add it to your cart be sure to select the 6 month interest free option with PayPal

 

HEALTHY CONDENSED MILK
 
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Healthy condensed milk! So perfect! Just 3 ingredients. So simple! Vegan, Paleo, Keto, Low Carb, no added sugar.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 1 cup
Ingredients
  • 2 cups coconut milk powder I used Enature brand (you can buy a dairy free vegan creamer powder also: just check the ingredient list so that there are no funky ingredients) most can be found on Amazon
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 generous pinches of Maldon Salt or any flaky sea salt
Method
  1. Sift coconut milk, put in a Thermomix and add water, salt and vanilla and mix at medium low speed. Cook at 80 C until thick. Put in a sterilized Mason Jar. Alternatively you can make this in a stainless steel pot and mix at medium heat. But making it in your Thermomix is so much easier, faster and you can almost forget about it while you do something else.

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