Dessert

KEY LIME SUGAR COOKIES

June 2, 2019 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

I used to make sugar cookies on the regular. I would do thick, soft, cut-out style cookies and then spend hours decorating them. If I’m honest, I made them in order to escape life’s stress. I was in a miserable, unhealthy relationship. Staying focused on the baking and decorating kept my mind at peace. I felt like I was in a situation that I couldn’t escape physically so I would do so mentally. Some people exercise to escape stress, some people turn to drugs or alcohol… I turned to baking. I did ultimately end that toxic relationship, got therapy and moved on to much happier times. It would be easy to resent those years but that would only keep me locked into the misery. Instead, I think of it as one of the most important life lessons I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t be in the incredible marriage I’m in today if I hadn’t experienced my past. I probably wouldn’t be as thankful as I am for the healthy, loving and supportive relationship I have with my husband.

My love for sugar cookies is still strong but I don’t spend hours baking and decorating unless I’m motivated to do so out of joy. “Escape baking” is a thing of my past. Instead, I choose easier, less time-consuming recipes to satisfy a sugar cookie craving. With summer comes bright citrus – lemon and lime season. When I was looking to make some sugar cookies, I saw key limes sitting on my counter and knew I need to incorporate them. This recipe is easy to make, you don’t even need to chill the dough. Perfect for when you don’t want to wait all day to have a homemade cookie.

Tips:

If you can’t find key limes, go ahead and use regular limes or you could even swap out for lemon if you prefer.
I made the icing somewhat thick so I could manipulate it on the cookies. If you prefer a lighter icing, reduce the amount of powdered sugar.

Key Lime Sugar Cookies

A vibrant take on a classic cookie.

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 30 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons key lime zest
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the icing

2 Tablespoons fresh key lime juice
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda then set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lime zest until light in color. Add in egg, vanilla and salt and beat to combine. Gradually add in flour mixture, stopping to scrape the bowl periodically.
Roll cookie dough into 1” balls then place on parchment covered cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies.
Bake 15-17 minutes or until edges are slightly golden. Let cookies cool completely before adding icing.

For the icing

For the icing: pour lime juice into a small bowl. Gradually whisk powdered into lime juice until fully incorporated and smooth (no lumps). Spoon icing onto cookies as desired.

Keyword Cookies, Dessert, Easy Cookies, Easy Recipe, Homemade Cookies, Key Lime, Key Lime Cookies, Key Lime Dessert, Lime

PEANUT BUTTER CUT-OUT COOKIES

February 9, 2019 by Sarah Baade 4 Comments

In high school I was known for being the girl who was nice to everyone. Not a bad thing to be known for but that doesn’t necessarily make a girl particularly popular. Most people knew who I was and which activities I was involved in. I had a solid couple of groups of friends but I certainly wasn’t getting invited to any big parties on the weekends. In fact, the one time did attend a party with the popular kids, I found the scene to be boring and didn’t understand what the draw was. The get-togethers that stand out in my mind are actually almost juvenile. One of my friends would invite a few of us over at Easter and Valentine’s Day for cookie decorating. Her mom was the one who actually wanted her to host these decorating parties, my friend might have even been embarrassed to have us over for cookies and hot chocolate. I hope she looks back at it as fondly as I do though. I remember there being tons of cookies, tons of frosting, tons of sprinkles, and tons of laughter. There was no pressure to impress boys or to do something that might get us into trouble. It was just pure fun. I’m hoping my daughter will want to host similar parties as she grows up.

Peanut Butter Cut-Out Cookies - Slice of Honey Blog

As I’ve gotten older, I still occasionally spend days decorating cookies but I’ve expanded beyond sugar cookies. Over the past few years I’ve favored gingerbread but February doesn’t exactly feel like gingerbread season. The cooler temperatures still have me thinking deep flavors – I’m just not quite ready for light floral/spring flavors. With Valentine’s Day coming up I still wanted to incorporate chocolate without making it the main event. What could pair better with chocolate than peanut butter?! So, I’ve created peanut butter cut-out cookies. The flavor is traditional but they are just as fun to decorate as a sugar cookie.

Tips:

While you don’t have to refrigerate this dough before rolling and cutting it, you can if you want to. Feel free to make the dough a day ahead, wrap it in plastic wrap and then chill in the fridge. Just be sure to pull it out and get it back to room temperature before rolling it.
I know it can be tempting to dunk the entire cookie in chocolate but try to show some restraint. Honestly, if you cover more than about half of the cookie, the chocolate will overwhelm the peanut butter flavor.

Peanut butter cookies dipped in dark chocolate – the perfect cut-out cookie for Valentine’s Day.

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 36 Cookies

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups creamy style peanut butter
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 oz dark chocolate melting wafers
variety of sprinkles for decorating (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt then set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat peanut butter, butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Gradually stir in flour mixture.
Once flour is fully incorporated, place 1/3 of the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll to ¼” thick.
Remove top layer of plastic wrap and cut dough with cookie cutters.
Bake on a parchment lined sheet pan for 11-13 minutes or until edges start to brown.
Cool cookies completely before decorating.
Melt chocolate wafers according to package.
Dip cookies in chocolate then add sprinkles as desired. Alternatively, drizzle chocolate over cookies.

HAZELNUT ICEBOX PIE

January 27, 2019 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

Lately it seems like I’ve been living in the glorification of busy. I’ve been chasing all sort of new goals. Isn’t that what New Year’s is about? I’ve been reducing and reorganizing the clutter in our house (hello #konmari). I’ve been doubling my workouts which is totally cliché this time of year but there are worse things to strive for in life, right?! I’ve been placing an emphasis on family through dating my husband (sometimes stay at home dates) and playing/reading with our daughter. When you add more to an already full schedule, something else typically suffers. For me, creativity has been a huge struggle this month. Typically, I come up with several recipe ideas each month, some make the cut for this blog and some don’t. However, we are always eating well and trying new dishes around our house. That was, until this month. We all have ruts and I am no exception but I’m happy to say the creativity is coming back and recipe ideas have started flooding in again.

These new routines and activities does not mean creativity needs to laid to rest. Quite the opposite. Creativity can only add to the creation of recipes that are easy to make as well as delicious. When my husband and I do date nights in at home we always include dinner and dessert in our plans. In need of something exceptionally easy to make, I came up with this recipe. This pie is the precisely what the doctor ordered to cure our cravings. Get your sweet tooth ready, you’ll need it if you’re going to hang with this one!

Tips:

You can elevate this recipe a bit by making a homemade graham cracker crust if you want to. Recipe included after the pie recipe.
I used half of a container of whipped topping in this pie. Feel free to use the rest for garnish when you serve the pie.

Hazelnut Icebox Pie

Five ingredients are all you need to satisfy your sweet tooth.

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Servings 8

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese, softened
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
7 oz hazelnut spread such as Nutella
4 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 pre-made graham cracker crust

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and hazelnut spread until combined (a few streaks are fine). Fold in whipped topping then pour mixture into pie crust. Freeze at least 8 hours or overnight.

Homemade Graham Cracker Crust

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Ingredients

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar. Press mixture into pie dish. Bake 7 minutes. Cool completely before filling.

SOFT BATCH CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

October 29, 2018 by Sarah Baade 1 Comment

The other night we were invited to a friends’ house for an impromptu dinner – with no need to bring a contributing dish. What?! These friends were just wanting to love on our family and spend time together in community. How awesome is that??? An evening filled with conversation, kids running around playing and adults catching up on life. This is what sharing a meal is really all about. That being said, I struggle to just show up at someone’s house for a meal without having some sort of food in hand. I looked through the pantry, found some basic baking ingredients and whipped up some chocolate chip cookies.

A classic, simple dessert that is always a crowd pleaser. One of the neat things about chocolate chip cookies is how many variations are out there. And people have strong opinions on what they prefer. Soft batch (like this recipe), chewy or crisp. The way to vary the outcome is through changing the flour, the sweetener and the leavening agent. The other thing I like to do is use more than one kind of chocolate in my cookies just to add a little more depth to each bite. If you’re ever creating your own recipe, play around with these variables and see what you come up with!

Tips:

If you have left your cookies out too long when cooling them and they end up dry, put them in a zip lock bag with a slice of bread. You’ll be amazed at how much moisture those cookies will absorb!
If you don’t need three dozen cookies at one time, you can scoop the dough into individual servings and freeze it. Later on, you can pull out what you need and bake just a few at a time.

Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sarah Baade

This classic cookie is elevated by using maple syrup and two types of chocolate.

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

2 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
4 oz 70% cocao extra bittersweet chocolate bar, chopped into chunks

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar with butter. Add eggs, maple syrup and vanilla. Ingredients will not fully combine just yet. Mix in dry ingredients 1 cup at a time, until all ingredients are fully combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds of cookie dough onto parchment lined baking sheet. Leave 2-inches between the cookies. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove cookie sheet from oven and transfer the cookies from the parchment to cooling racks.

Keyword Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Christmas Cookies, Homemade Cookies, Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

A FOOD LOVER’S TRAVEL GUIDE TO CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

October 18, 2018 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, my friend, Deya, and I spent a few days in Charleston, SC for a girls trip. It had been years since I had gone on a girls trip. Does a trip back to your home state even count as a girls trip?!? Years, it had been years!!! Not only was I overdue, I had a really stressful week leading up to our departure. This could not have been more perfect timing for me to get away. Deya had been dreaming about going to Charleston for a long time and was the one who got the ball rolling. We did our research, had a couple of planning sessions over coffee and ultimately planned the whole trip around food. Don’t get me wrong, we were excited to see some sites too but the itinerary was focused around local restaurants.

FRIDAY

We arrived in Charleston on Friday afternoon with time to relax and refresh from our flight. Our first culinary stop was at The Ordinary, a seafood hall and oyster bar. In a restaurant with a bar this beautiful, I think a cocktail is exactly the right way to start. I had the Raoul Duke and Deya had the Classic Daiquiri. Both rum based drinks, these cocktails were incredibly smooth and just slightly sweet. We ordered the ordinary Hawaiian rolls with sea salt butter as our appetizer. The salt on the butter, and the rolls added so much flavor! These rolls were also our introduction to benne seeds – a type of sesame seed that was brought over from western Africa by slaves in the early 1700’s. We quickly learned that these seeds are a local favorite and are incorporated into dishes at restaurants all over the city. Our second starter was the snapper ceviche with pedron pepper and avocado. When you’re at a seafood restaurant, you order seafood, right?! This dish was incredible fresh and light and served with huge tortilla chips. For our entrees, we shared the New England style fish chowder and the grilled New Orleans Style BBQ white shrimp. The chowder was creamy with huge chunks of fish – exactly what you want from a chowder. However, the shrimp dish is what really won us over. If you’ve never had New Orleans style BBQ you might be surprised to know that it is nothing like a typical red BBQ sauce. Instead, this divine sauce is made up of butter, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce and rosemary. We at a lot of amazing things on this trip but this sauce is what we continued to talk about even after we got home. Friends, do yourself a favor and just order some extra sauce on the side – you’re going to want to dip some of those Hawaiian rolls into it!

The Ordinary, Charleston, SC

SATURDAY

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? We knew we had a full day ahead of us so we wanted something hearty to get us going. We walked from our hotel to Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit on King Street. It is such a tiny little restaurant but it is cute as can be. They offer up a variety of biscuits (living up to the name) along with a couple of sandwich options and a handful of other options. At first glance you might think the menu is limited but let me tell you, when you’ve perfected what you make, there isn’t a need for a huge menu. Deya and I each had the bacon, egg and cheddar biscuit sandwich with a coffee. This sandwich was so thick I could barely get my hands around it, let alone my mouth. The biscuit itself was so rich and buttery!!! That butter is exactly where the love lies in this meal. If you stop in here, get there early. There was a line to the door when we arrived and not an hour later we saw the line curling out the door and down a couple of store fronts. Absolutely worth a little bit of a wait though.

Husk is one of those restaurants we had heard a lot about when we first started doing research for our trip. The best advice I can give here is to make reservations well in advance. Deya made our reservation at least a month ahead and we still were not able to get in for dinner. However, the lunch menu was great and lunch is always more affordable than dinner. Having had such a hearty breakfast, I kept it relatively small for lunch and just had the Charred broccoli with mushrooms, crispy onions, smoked cheddar and Alabama white sauce. I’m a sucker for broccoli anyway but this flavor was incredibly rich, like melt in your mouth comfort food. Deya started with the pickled shrimp dish and, of course, I sampled it as well. I didn’t even know pickled shrimp was a thing (I grew up in a land locked state) but it was absolutely delicious! She had the fried chicken with Carolina gold rice, bacon, cabbage and butterbeans as her entrée. I didn’t taste this one but Deya raved about the rice and bean mixture!

Saturday night dinner was truly a unique experience. Deya found Feast Upon Charleston through AirB&B Experiences. We ubered our way to Chef Christopher’s home and were greeted by his huge smile, smooth jazz, and a choice of rum or gin for a cocktail. The blackberry mule he made with rum was the perfect drink to sip on while getting to know the other soon to be friends attending this pop-up dinner. Once we sat down, Chef Christopher treated us to a four-course dinner. He changes up his menu regularly so I hesitate to spend too much time describing our meal but let’s just say those crab cakes could be famous one day. Not only can he cook, Chef Christopher was able to give us history lessons on both the food and the city of Charleston. What I loved most about this dinner experience, though, was getting to know people we otherwise wouldn’t have ever met. Chef Christopher’s food is delicious but his passion for creating community is what really shines through.

SUNDAY

I love rich, buttery food as much as the next person but at some point, you also need some fresh, lighter fare. Sunday morning, we hit up Butcher & Bee for brunch. Coffee, local beets and ricotta toast for me. Coffee, crispy sweet potatoes and the smoked salmon bagel for Deya. The flavor combinations made with such fresh ingredients – exactly what I needed! This is one of two restaurants on the list that I absolutely wish had a location in my hometown of San Antonio. Lots of vegetarian options in addition to classic options like a burger. Seriously though, go here for the freshness that they put together on their plates!

Our big splurge dinner was at Zero Restaurant + Bar. This place made us feel like we were on an episode of Chef’s Table. So much thought goes into each dish – colors, textures, plating, and of course flavor. This is the type of spot that is best experienced without the distraction of a phone. In other words, no photos for this one. If you’re looking for a romantic spot to celebrate a special event, make the reservation and enjoy every single bite.

MONDAY

If dessert for breakfast is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Sugar Bakeshop has got to be the cutest little bakery I have EVER seen! Jars upon jars of huge cookies plus cupcakes galore. It is absolutely best for my waistline that I don’t live near this shop. We shared all five of the mini cupcake flavors that they had available that day. Coconut, vanilla, honey, almond and caramel. If I could have, I would have tried every single dessert but I needed to save room for one last lunch in the city.

Our last meal was at Basic Kitchen. This restaurant has natural light flooding in from all sides which automatically has you feeling refreshed. Using seasonal and local produce, they strive to fuel your body with food that will keep you going throughout the day. Once again, great vegetarian options abound here. I had the basic bowl which was full of veggies and chickpeas; Deya had the power bowl which was packed with protein from steak, eggs and quinoa. These dishes were so good we didn’t even bother sharing with one another. I also need to take a moment to mention Kellie, the general manager. She took genuine interest in our experience and was more than happy to answer questions we had about the food and the restaurant.

RESTAURANTS

The Ordinary

Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit

Husk

Feast Upon Charleston

Butcher & Bee

Zero Restaurant & Bar

Basic Kitchen

A Food Lover's Travel Guide To Charleston, SC - Slice Of Honey Blog

SIGHTSEEING

Farmers Market

Waterfront Park

Rainbow Row

Charleston City Market

King Street

A Food Lover’s Travel Guide To Charleston, SC – Slice Of Honey Blog

SNACKS

Sugar Bakeshop

Byrd’s Famous Cookies

Jeni’s Ice Cream Shop

COFFEE & COCKTAILS

Revelator Coffee Company

CREAMY CHAI SPICED POPSICLES

September 22, 2018 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

Fall in Texas is not like other places I’ve lived. We’re still hitting 90º temperatures on the regular which makes it hard for me to fully get in the swing of the season. But I’m beyond ready for the smells and flavors of fall. Growing up, my mom would simmer a pot of hot water with spices like cinnamon, cloves and orange peel. These beautiful scents would waft through the entire house and make everything seem just a bit cozier.

I’m ready for fall spices but I also want to keep cool in these crazy warm temperatures. Why not combine the two? My answer to this is a creamy chai popsicle. With just three ingredients, this recipe is one of my easiest to make. Oh yeah, and it tastes so good I’d be willing to be you can’t eat just one 😉

Tips:

After heating everything on the stovetop, I transferred the mixture to a 2-cup measuring cup for easier pouring into the popsicle molds

If the popsicles are sticking to the molds, briefly run them under COLD water, they should loosen right up without actually melting.

CREAMY CHAI SPICED POPSICLES

1 ¼ cup whole milk

2 chai tea bags (paper tags removed)

14oz can sweetened condensed milk

In a medium pot, over low heat, bring milk and tea bags to a simmer. Gently stir constantly for 5 minutes so that milk does not burn. Milk will turn darker in color as the tea steeps – (almost looking like chocolate milk). Remove tea bags from pot. Remove pot from heat and pour sweetened condensed milk. Stir until milks are fully combined. Pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze overnight.

CREAMY CHAI SPICED POPSICLE

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Fall spices in a sweet dessert

: Slice Of Honey

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6 Popsicles

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup whole milk
2 chai tea bags (paper tags removed)
14oz can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

In a medium pot, over low heat, bring milk and tea bags to a simmer. Gently stir constantly for 5 minutes so that milk does not burn. Milk will turn darker in color as the tea steeps – (almost looking like chocolate milk). Remove tea bags from pot. Remove pot from heat and pour sweetened condensed milk. Stir until milks are fully combined. Pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze overnight.

VEGAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

September 20, 2018 by Sarah Baade 13 Comments

Deep down, I’m a competitive person. Candy Land as a little kid, cheer competitions in high school, Scrabble in grad school. It doesn’t really matter the age or the activity, I don’t like to lose. As an adult though, I’ve learned how to internalize the competitive nature and focus on challenging myself rather than competing against others. The benefit of this is that the sky is the limit and I am always working to improve myself in some way or another.

Last month I was inspired by one of my favorite food bloggers and his recipe for a vegan lemon meringue pie. I have several friends who follow a vegan diet and making a delicious dessert that they can enjoy with everyone else is such a gift. Then came the opportunity to create my own vegan dessert recipe along with several other bloggers. Yes! Count me in! After contemplating several ideas, I decided to go with a classic shortbread cookie. Such an easy to make and easy to share treat that is made with easy to find ingredients.

Tips:

I used vegan butter for this recipe in order to give it a more traditional buttery flavor. However, you can sub out for an equal amount of coconut oil if you prefer.
As I developed this recipe, I noticed that the amount of flour needed varied slightly based on the amount of moisture in the air – a rainy day meant I needed more flour to reach that slightly crumbly state you want. If you don’t reach that crumbly state, the cookies will still taste delicious but the cookie consistency will be more like a soft sugar cookie.

VEGAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

For the cookies:

½ cup cold vegan butter, cut into 1” pieces

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup aquafaba (juice from canned chickpeas)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (add more as needed, see tip above)

Cookie Directions:

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until it starts to become fluffy. If mixture starts sticks to sides of bowl, scrape down with a spatula. Add aquafaba, salt and almond extract, mix until ingredients start to blend.

With mixer speed set to low and add flour a ½ cup at a time, beat until fully incorporated. Dough may be slightly crumbly.

Place dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and form dough into a log shape. Fold plastic wrap over dough then roll log on the counter to help smooth it out. Log should be approximately 2” in diameter. Place dough log in freezer for 30 minutes to slightly firm it up.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Remove dough log from freezer and peel off plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife, slice log into ¼” thick rounds. Place rounds on a parchment covered baking sheet, ½”-1” apart. (Cookies won’t spread much so you can fit more onto a sheet than you could with other cookies.) Bake cookies 10-12 minutes or until bottom edges just begin to turn golden brown. Let cookies cool completely before adding chocolate drizzle.

For the chocolate drizzle:

3oz vegan dark chocolate bar, broken into 1” pieces

½ teaspoon coconut oil

Chocolate Drizzle Directions:

Place chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring at each interval, until chocolate is completely melted and is smooth and shiny. Using a spoon or a small zip-lock bag with the tip of one corner cut off, drizzle chocolate over the cooled cookies.

VEGAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

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Easy to make vegan cookies that anyone will enjoy.

: Slice Of Honey

Cuisine: Dessert

Serves: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies:
½ cup cold vegan butter, cut into 1” pieces
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup aquafaba (juice from canned chickpeas)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1¾ cups all-purpose flour (add more as needed, see tip above)
For the chocolate drizzle:
3oz vegan dark chocolate bar, broken into 1” pieces
½ teaspoon coconut oil

Instructions

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until it starts to become fluffy. If mixture starts sticks to sides of bowl, scrape down with a spatula. Add aquafaba, salt and almond extract, mix until ingredients start to blend.
With mixer speed set to low and add flour a ½ cup at a time, beat until fully incorporated. Dough may be slightly crumbly.
Place dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and form dough into a log shape. Fold plastic wrap over dough then roll log on the counter to help smooth it out. Log should be approximately 2” in diameter. Place dough log in freezer for 30 minutes to slightly firm it up.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Remove dough log from freezer and peel off plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife, slice log into ¼” thick rounds. Place rounds on a parchment covered baking sheet, ½”-1” apart. (Cookies won’t spread much so you can fit more onto a sheet than you could with other cookies.) Bake cookies 10-12 minutes or until bottom edges just begin to turn golden brown. Let cookies cool completely before adding chocolate drizzle.
Place chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring at each interval, until chocolate is completely melted and is smooth and shiny. Using a spoon or a small zip-lock bag with the tip of one corner cut off, drizzle chocolate over the cooled cookies.

Notes

I used vegan butter for this recipe in order to give it a more traditional buttery flavor. However, you can sub out for an equal amount of coconut oil if you prefer.

As I developed this recipe, I noticed that the amount of flour needed varied slightly based on the amount of moisture in the air – a rainy day meant I needed more flour to reach that slightly crumbly state you want. If you don’t reach that crumbly state, the cookies will still taste delicious but the cookie consistency will be more like a soft sugar cookie.

As I mentioned above, this post was part of a collaboration with eleven other bloggers. Each of us created a unique vegan dessert. Please check them all out – there is quite a variety!

Coconut-Lime Vegan Tart

Vegan Chocolate Caramel Tart

Vegan Ginger Coconut Pear Cake

Beetroot Brownie

Vegan Lemon Coconut Frangipane Tart

Vegan Banoffee Pies

Blackberry Pie with Walnut Crumble Topping (Vegan)

Vegan Blackberry Pie with Walnut Cardamom Crumble

Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie

Berry & Brie Vegan Strudel

No Bake Vegan Chocolate Salami

Vegan Biscoff Tiffin

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Rhubarb Bread

August 20, 2018 by Sarah Baade 6 Comments

Rhubarb. I feel like I need to admit that prior to this recipe, I had never eaten rhubarb. I’m not a big fan of celery and it just looks like giant pink celery so why would I want to eat it? What is particularly astonishing about this situation is that strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my dad’s favorite desserts. I grew up with this pie being made in my household somewhat regularly. Still, I never tried it. As I sifted through my grandma’s recipe box I knew I needed to get over myself and give this a go.

I feel like you need to know your fruits and vegetables in raw form before cooking with them. So, I did it. I took a bite of raw rhubarb – BITTER!!! Clearly sugar is needed to balance this out, no wonder I’ve only ever seen it in desserts. I also tasted the batter before pouring it into the loaf pans (I know, I was risking salmonella with the raw egg). I was expecting it to be sweet like a muffin or pumpkin bread but it was actually quite mild. My second confession for this recipe is that I was starting to think this might be my first fail of Grandma’s recipe box. I. Was. Wrong! The brown sugar crumbles on top added just the right amount of sweetness to make this bread completely delightful and the bitterness of the rhubarb subsided as it baked. Alright, rhubarb lovers of the world, I get it and I’m now a member of your club!

Tips:

Sometimes your hands are better tools than anything you can buy. I found it easiest to mix the topping ingredients together by hand.
You can grease your loaf pans if you don’t have parchment paper.

Rhubarb Bread

Bread:

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ cups diced rhubarb

½ cup walnut pieces

Topping:

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, slightly softened

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and line two loaf pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together all bread ingredients in order listed. Pour equal amounts of batter into each loaf pan.

In a small bowl, mix together topping ingredients. Sprinkle equal amounts of topping over each pan of batter.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until test until a test stick can be inserted and removed clean. Once loaves are baked, let cool 20 minutes before removing from pans. Slice and serve slightly warm or let loaves finish cooling on a wire rack.

Original recipe source unknown. Recipe has been modified from this version for the purpose of this blog.

Strawberry Float

July 1, 2018 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

Happy Independence Day!!! I have celebrated this holiday from all over the country – Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Alabama… I’ve watched fireworks lakeside, mountainside and from my own driveway. However, my favorite memories of this holiday are from my grandparents’ backyard. As a kid, we would drive down from Kansas to Texas to visit my grandparents. They would have what seemed like an endless supply of sparklers and popper for us to light up after it got dark. All of us kids would line up out in the yard, a few feet in front of Grandpa’s giant vegetable garden, and write our names in the night sky with the sparklers. Aside from summer camp, this has got to be one of my all-time favorite summer memories.

This year, I’m keeping the holiday low-key. My little one is too little to play with sparklers and I won’t be staying up late since I’ll need to be at work the next day. But I still want a festive treat. Making the ice cream ahead of time means all I have to do is scoop and pour some soda for this one. I opted for fresh strawberries since they are readily available this time of year. And in the continued effort to keep things simple, this is a no-churn ice cream. You’re welcome!

Tips:

Make sure the strawberry syrup has completely cooled before you add it to the cream mixture.
The homemade syrup is really delicious – it would also be fantastic poured over any vanilla ice cream for a sundae.

Strawberry Float

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

16oz fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and finely chopped

16oz heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

14oz sweetened condensed milk

Strawberry soda (I used a passion fruit & strawberry Italian soda)

Directions:

Place sugar, balsamic vinegar and half of the strawberries in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid has reduced by half. Set aside to let cool.

In a large, cold bowl, beat heavy cream until soft peaks form. Stir in vanilla, sweetened condensed milk, cooled syrup and remaining fresh strawberries. Pour ice cream into a 9×5 loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Place 2 scoops of the strawberry ice cream into a glass. Fill glass with strawberry soda until ice cream is covered and starts to foam. Serve with a straw or spoon.

Cherry Limeade Popsicles

June 22, 2018 by Sarah Baade 2 Comments

It is now officially SUMMER!!! And I am celebrating with popsicles. We have been reaching 90’s and even into triple digit temperatures for a few weeks already. I can’t even think about how hot it will be by mid-summer. Over Memorial Day weekend we were visiting family and the kids were all hanging out on the back porch sharing popsicles. Sticky hands and faces, bright red/purple/blue lips, and huge smiles all around. I love how such a simple treat can bring pure joy.

I’ve been trying out a few different popsicle recipes ever since my parents gifted me a nice set of molds. I think their goal was for me to recreate a sangria popsicle we had a while back at a restaurant. I’m sure I’ll get to that before too long but right now I’m focused on non-alcoholic popsicles so my little one can partake. This cherry-lime-aide is my favorite flavor so far. I’m sure this could easily incorporate some wine on the next go-round. (Mom, Dad – I’ve got you covered.)

Tips:

I’m going to be honest, I used frozen cherries for this one because they were already pitted – I’m all about less work when it can still create a delicious result!
If the popsicles are sticking to the molds, briefly run them under cold water, they should loosen right up without actually melting.

Cherry Limeade Popsicles

Makes 6 popsicles

1 cup sweet red cherries, pitted

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

Directions:

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, stir together all four ingredients. Continue stirring until all sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and pour fruit mixture into a blender. Blend on high until all ingredients are liquefied. Pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze overnight.