Vegan Sweets & Treats

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a sweet tooth. My dream is to open a vegan bakery someday and I currently run a humble little baking service out of my apartment kitchen. I recently went through the process of re-naming said service, though I haven't revealed the new name and brand because I have yet to find someone to help me do a logo and re-design of the website....soon though, I hope!

In the mean time, I've been doing some research in my home town. Currently, there are no fully-operating vegan bakery store fronts. This is a major-league bummer! There are several bakeries providing a few vegan treats here and there, but for the most part, they severely miss the mark. There are a couple home-kitchen operations making their name out there, the most successful of which seems to be 13th Cookie. Most recently I've tried two treats worth mention: one, because it was incredibly delicious, the other, because it gives vegan baking a bad rap.

Let's start with the good: Sometimes at work I need something sweet. Does it happen to you? You hit this point in the afternoon when the dream of a good cookie and a cup of coffee or tea lure you to the streets. I typically head to Coffee by Design, a local coffee shop gaining reputation for it's wonderfully diverse selections and local baked goods. I was so pleased to recently discover that they are selling 13th Cookie baked goods. So far I've tried the Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie. Although it was a bit greasy (likely due to the almond butter), it was chewy and chocolatey, and almost brownie-like. And I loved that it wasn't one of those giant cookies most places sell - it was just a normal-sized cookie and was the perfect amount to quench my craving. Bravo, 13th Cookie & CBD! Finally, there is a vegan sweet in town that actually tastes good! 

About a year ago, a restaurant opened up in town called Local Sprouts Cooperative. They serve a wide array of food and their menu includes several vegan dishes (hooray!). Connected to the co-op is the Bomb Diggity Bakery. They offer a variety of baked goods, including several vegan offerings, though they are not a fully vegan kitchen. The concept is really cool - check out their website for details - but in short, they provide services for individuals with intellectual disabilities. I really wanted to like their baked goods, really I did. I want to support them so badly...but...so far Justin and I have tried two things from them and man, were they a let down.

The first was a chocolate-chai cupcake sampled at the Portland Public Market. The cupcake was hard as a rock, overly cinnamony (we're talking mouth-full-of-cinnamon cinnamony), and incredibly dry. The icing was flat and sickeningly sweet. Major bummer.

Then we tried a chocolate cookie. First off, it was a "big" cookie and I just object to those in general. I think Americans have gotten far too used to large portion sizes and cookies should be sized to fit in the palm of your hand. The cookie looked very chocolatey at first glance. It was dark in color and lumpy with nuts and other various surprises. It was extremely greasy, so much so that it was all over my hands. On first bite, I wasn't sure what I was tasting - a cross between a granola bar and bird suet, perhaps? Needless to say, the cookie was guiltily chucked in a trash can on the street. I say guiltily because I feel bad - I desperately want their baked goods to taste good, but alas, they just aren't.

I'm happy to say that everyone who's sampled my baked goods has been delightfully surprised that it's vegan. They say, "This doesn't even taste vegan!" Well - I don't think vegan has a taste, it just is! Baked goods are baked goods. They're meant to be indulgent, they're meant to be yummy and I'm certainly glad that mine are. Let me know if you're interested in trying some - I'm always looking for testers :)

Say Cheeeeeeeze, Dr. Kracker!

On Sunday my boyfriend and I went to Whole Foods for their "Vegan Fest." Good job, Whole Foods :) Not only did we learn about a few new products (read further down), but we also heard the representatives at each station giving out some really great info to vegan questioners.

So first, we tried a flavor of Field Roast we had yet to try - Mexican Chipotle. Aside from the fact that my boyfriend nearly choked on it because it is wicked spicy and went down the wrong pipe (a very bad combo), we really liked it and thought it would taste great chopped up and added to our Spicy Rotini recipe.

Although they didn't have samples, as we walked down the frozen foods aisle, my eye happened upon Tofurky's latest creation: vegan pizza. Brilliance. We grabbed the "pepperoni" pizza to give it a whirl on a night we're too busy/tired to cook.

As we made our way to the register we happened upon these last gems: Dr. Kracker and Wayfare's Cheeze. Whoa. My mind was blown. I have tried a lot of soy/fake cheeses and I must say I haven't enjoyed a single one. The texture is always a little grainy and because I love cheese oh so much, it just doesn't cut it. This stuff though, whoa. We bought a little container of the Hickory Smoked Cheddar spread which tastes very much like gouda. It's smooth and creamy and has a light smokey flavor. The crackers they were serving the spread on were equally as incredible. Made with a multitude of seeds, these little squares were a little crunchier than your typical cracker, but I liked it better. Check out the websites for Wayfare and Dr. Kracker; both have other products that certainly look worth a try, like Wayfare's nondairy sour cream.

As if it wasn't enough to discover these two new foods, this station also had info and folks from a local vegan Meet-Up and you can be assured that we signed up. This group goes out to eat once a month at a local restaurant and invites about 20-30 vegans in the hopes that restaurants will start to recognize that vegans are in our city and they should provide options. Right up my alley...I'm sure you'll find me at the next event they hold!

All in all, it was an awesome Sunday afternoon!

Mochi?

I'm going to admit something that is no real secret: I have a major sweet tooth. It's no surprise that I have a little baking service on the side, From Scratch & Sniff. Well tonight, after we had Coconut Curry Rice for dinner (um...yum!) I was craving something sweet. I've done so well on this pseudo diet so far and didn't want to wreck it by eating something totally indulgent, so I pulled a package of mochi out of our fridge.

Mochi was a Whole Foods discovery/impulse buy. It's completely vegan and made by Grainaissance; made from sweet brown rice, filtered water, raisins, cinnamon, and sea salt. The package's description says: "About Mochi (Say: Mo'Chee) Mochi is a traditional Japanese food made from a special short-grain rice. We steam then pound the rice to accentuate its chewy texture and nutty flavor. Bake Mochi - amazing! - it puffs up, creating a chewy muffin with a crispy crust. Mochi is a satisfying whole-grain treat known for promoting stamina. 100% non-dairy and wheat-free" 

Perfect, right? The package even tells you how to make Raisin-Cinnamon Mochi Danishes. So I follow the instructions, doubting in my head that these hard, stick squares will magically puff up in the oven. After 10 minutes, I check on them and they haven't moved. They look like tiles on the baking sheet. So I set the timer for another 5 minutes and check again; now they've puffed up a little but they haven't browned on top. I leave them for another 3 minutes - still not done. A final 2 minutes. So much for the 8-10 minutes in the directions! 

I pull them out and....well in the words of my boyfriend, "Um. They kind of look like dog poop." Not the most appetizing looking things, but hey, we're open minded here! They may have ended up baking a little too long, but I'm not sure. They weren't burnt but they had, perhaps, "over-puffed" (see photographic evidence). So I slit two of them with a sharp knife and stuff some Tofutti, raw local honey, and slivered almonds inside. We each take a bite and stare skeptically at each other. As we chew, we have that "I'm trying to decide what this tastes like/I'm trying to make myself think I like this" look on our faces. The texture was chewy alright. It was sort of like that of fruit leather - not at all what you'd expect from something described as "pastry."

 Fresh out of the oven...?

Raisin-Cinnamon Mochi Danish

Sadly, the mochi found it's way to the trash and we won't be purchasing another package any time soon. I've had a lot of Japanese food, have even been to Japan, but this was certainly a miss for us. Has anyone else out there tried mochi...and did you like it???