Showing posts with label pastries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pastries. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Happy National Pastry Day!

Blogger of the Day: Jean at My Recession Kitchen

It takes a brave baker to take on pastry challenges from classic croissants to tiered tians...even braver if you're vegan! Jean has risen to the challenge time after time with squealingly delicious success! She is one of the best of The Daring Bakers, a supercreative group of bloggers who bake up the monthly posted recipe, each in their own way, then blog about it. Jean's entries are always a pleasure to read, complete with clearly written instructions, stepbystep photos, goof ups, triumphs, suggestions and a flood of inspiration. Jean makes all this marvelousness in her charmingly tiny kitchen nestled in San Anselmo, CA. From her sunny windows she looks out on a backyard garden filled with fruit trees, berry bushes and beds of veggies galore, and puts together fresh wholesome salads, savory soups, flavorful mains and of course an abundance of sweet treats like Lemon Poppy Seed Pinwheels, Pear & Chocolate Scones, Apple Cinnamon Cake and more!  :)













Do you make your own pastries or do you live near a vegan bakery? Do you buy sweet treats online? Which pastries would you like to see veganized?  :)

Celebrate some more with our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Happy Baklava Day!

Blogger of the Day: Beverly at The Vegan Chef
Pubs:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Cooking
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Slow Cooking
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Gluten-Free Vegan Cooking with Julieanna Hever
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living, 2nd Edition
Vegan Bites: Recipes for Singles
Chia: Using the Ancient Superfood
Eat Your Veggies! (pdf)

Baklava is a syrupsoaked flaky pastry layered with chunky nuts and spices...once you've tried it you crave it forever because it's as close to ambrosia as you'll ever get! It's headsmackingly simple to make...layer/brush/sprinkle, layer/brush/sprinkle, layer/brush/sprinkle, and so on. My wonderful joyful phylloflipping aunt taught me to make it as a kid so if I could do it, anyone can!  :)

A few tips...
• Oil/butter your pan first...using a brush is an easy trick.
• Keep your phyllo covered with a wet towel and just take out a sheet or two at a time.
• Cut the baklava with a wet knife before baking.
• Let the baklava cool completely so the syrup can totally deliciously soak in.
• Check out some videos like this one (ignore that it's not vegan) to see how it's done.
• Play with it! Experiment with other nuts (pistachios are my favorite!), use flavored oils or melted vegan butter, mix in different spices, add cocoa or coconut or finely cut dried fruit...whatever spins your pinwheels.  :)

Beverly's baklava is a breeze! She's one of the vegan community's most cherished chefs because of her extraordinary culinary talents and her dedication to spreading the veganlove. The cookbooks she writes solo, with partners and with her husband Ray are easy-to-read bestsellers, filled with helpful tips, recipes and resources for almostvegans and experienced vegans alike. Drop in on her website, or her section at VegNews or VegKitchen to meet her and discover dozens more yumful recipes!


Photo by Hannah Kaminsky


Photo by Andrew Schmidt


Photo by Hannah Kaminsky



Photo by Hannah Kaminsky




Have you baklava'd? What formula do you follow? Which fillings are your favorite?  :)

Find more feasts in our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Happy Hamantaschen Day!

Blogger of the Day: Isa at Post Punk Kitchen
Pubs: The legendary list includes...
Isa Does It
Appetite for Reduction
Vegan Brunch
Vegan with a Vengeance
Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Vegan Pie In The Sky

If you don't know who Isa is then you're not a true vegan yet! That's like not knowing who Amelia Earhart was or Katherine Hepburn or Julia Child...these women changed the game! Isa's been leading the vegan way for years through her superamazing recipes and books and cooking advice, her blog and forum and video series, and through her alwaysfun interviews and appearances. The girl is out there veganizing the world! Follow her example and spread the love about what living vegan really means and how superyumful it can be...but bake yourself a treat first!  ;)

Hamantaschen are pillowy pastry triangles filled with fruity or seedy jams, usually used to celebrate Purim but perfectly delicious any time you want a fig newtonesque twist!












Discover more Hamantaschen happiness!

Have you tried hamantaschen? What flavor would you fill them with? What's your favorite Isa recipe? What are you doing today to spread some vegan love?  :)

Find more feasts in our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Happy National Croissant Day!

Blogger of the Day: Helen at Paris Vegan

Helen's livin' the dream...a British-born vegan teaching English in Paris, she reviews restaurants and products, offers handy tips like how to choose French bread and how to eat cheap or posh in Paris and of course creates superyumful recipes!

Croissants aren't the easiest things to veganize since they're butter-based but Helen's short-cut version uses store-bought puff pastry so it's a snap. Go ahead and experiment with different fillings and you'll have an impressive spread for your Superbowl Sunday fans!  :)

Note: Pepperidge Farms frozen puff pastry is technically vegan because it's made with oil instead of butter but look for organic versions if you can find them.













Do you like plain or filled croissants? Have you been to Paris? What's your dream job?

Find more feasts in our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Ready, Aim...Pastries!

Happy National Pastry Day!
There's a thick sloppy spread of new snow out there today...hello snowball fight! As a kid I was a wickedgood snowball sniper...I didn't have a power arm but I had dead on aim. Jimmy the neighborhood bully got nailed every time...HA!

My all time fave aftersnowball snack was hot chocolate with marshmallows and a blueberry Pop Tart. I always ate it straight from the toaster and always burned my mouth cuz I couldn't wait for it to cool off. Snowball champs are tough like that.  ;)

I don't eat boxed Pop Tarts anymore...according to PETA's Accidentally Vegan Food List, Kellogg's Unfrosted Blueberry, Strawberry and Brown Sugar Pop-Tarts are vegan, but reading their ingredient lists makes my head hurt. So it's homemade blueberry pastries FTW!  :)

from Jessica at Desserts With Benefits

from Sariea at VegWeb, photo by Chicyuna

from Kim at Welcoming Kitchen

from Chocolate Covered Katie

from Vanessa at PETA

from Mo at Mo Betta Vegan

from Hannah at House Vegan

from Kelly at Hidden Fruits and Veggies

from Tiffany at Bread Without Butter

Mix and match the pastry recipes and the fillings...I'm thinking blueberry cream cheese, apple cashew butter, pear maple pistachio, banana caramel and vegan nutella all need to be pastried up!

What fillings would you like to try? Did you eat Pop Tarts as a kid? What's your favorite aftersnowball snack? How good is your aim?  ;)