Pastelitos de Guayaba

When I was in Jacksonville this past weekend with Marc we ended up buying a guava tree, even though he never had guava before. This inspired me to recreate the guava and cheese pastries of my past. My love for guava stems back to my childhood when my dad would bring home guava stuffed churros from Miami on his way back from work. My brother and I would fight over them like a bunch of rabid animals. And for my birthdays I would ask for a tray of guava and cheese pastries instead of the traditional birthday cake. Guava just tastes like my childhood, you know?

The guava tree we planted

1 package puff pastry, most brands are surprisingly vegan!
1 package guava paste, found in the Latin specialty foods aisle of the supermarket
1 container vegan cream cheese, yes- they now sell this stuff at most Publix Supermarkets!*
Almond milk, or any other preferred plant-based milk
Flour
Sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

On a lightly floured surface lay out the puff pastry sheets, let them thaw out until they're soft, it may take 15 minutes if they came straight from the freezer. Cut each sheet into quarters, so you'll have eight squares as there are two pastry sheets.

You want to add about a heaping tablespoon of each the guava paste and cream cheese to the corner of each square of pastry dough. It's sort of hard to measure since it's difficult to mold as it is very sticky, but just eyeball it. The first time around (as pictured below) I didn't use enough guava or cream cheese. The second time around I cut about 1.5 inch long by .5 inch wide rectangles of guava and used a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese, which turned out perfect.

Moisten the edges of the dough with almond milk before folding into triange and crimping with a fork. Brush the tops of the pastries with almond milk and sprinkle with some sugar.

Place pastries on a greased baking sheet and back for 27-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Allow to cool slightly before eating as the inside filling will be molten-lava hot.

*If you want to skip the vegan cream cheese just double up on the guava, I've made them with and without the cream cheese and they're both great.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last week my boyfriend's best friend, Chris, got a job promotion. Every time I see Chris he asks me if I baked him anything. I don't usually... but given the circumstances of a promotion I felt like cookies were in order. I called Erica, my right hand lady when it comes to baking, and asked her for a peanut butter cookie recipe. We decided on a more 'classic' peanut butter cookie- rich, with a slight crunch around the edges, and some chocolate chips thrown into the mix. I went over to Erica's, peanut butter in hand, with every intention of making these cookies. But within three seconds flat she had all the ingredients in a bowl and I quickly knew my place in this kitchen, off to the side. I did, however, slightly flatten each cookie before baking, which is a crucial step in the cookie making process. No flattening=no cookies.

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened plain almond milk
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 heaping cup sugar
1 1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon agave
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips + extra  (Ghirardelli semi sweet chips are vegan but the bitter sweet are not)

Preheat your oven to 350 F

In a small bowl whisk together the flax, plant-based milk and vinegar. Allow it to sit for ten minutes so the mixture thickens and curdles a bit. This will act as the egg replacer.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate medium sized bowl: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until well incorporated.

In another bowl whisk together the sugar, peanut butter, coconut oil. Once well incorporated mix the flax meal contents into the bowl along with the vanilla and agave. Slowly add in the flour mixture, using clean hands mix to incorporate as the forming dough will become pretty thick. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Prepare a large baking sheet by spraying it with non stick spray.

Form the dough into 1 inch balls that are slightly flattened, about 2 inches apart from one another. Press a few chocolate chips into the tops of each flattened cookie and bake for 15-17 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through.

Makes between 2-3 dozen

Recipe adapted from Vegan Baking

Chocolate Truffles

A cook opens up the pantry and sees no dessert options in site, a baker opens up the pantry and the options are endless. This is basically how it went down when my friend came over for girl's night and we were craving something sweet. I had nothing on hand, since I don't usually bake. But she whipped through my pantry, pulling out a few ingredients, and lo and behold- chocolate truffles!

1 cup dark chocolate chips (make sure they contain no milk fat/solids)
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 tablespoon melted plant-based butter

Topping Suggestions:
Sweetened coconut flakes
Black sesame seeds + cinnamon
Brown sugar + coarse sea salt+ vanilla beans

Place the chocolate chips in a bowl, set aside. Boil the coconut milk, then remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips- allow it to sit for 1-2 minutes before stirring until it's smooth. Add in the melted butter, stir until combined. Once at room temperature, refrigerate over night (or place in freezer until hardened, 1-2 hours). Now that the ganache has chilled, prepare a baking sheet with wax paper. Using a 1/2 tablespoon scoop, roll the ganache into balls. Place back into the refrigerator for another 15 minutes to re-harden (your hands will soften them up as you're shaping them).

Once the truffles have reset in the fridge, roll them in your desired toppings. We rolled a 1/3 in sweetened coconut, another 1/3 in a black sesame seed cinnamon mix, and dusted the last 1/3 in a mixture of brown sugar, coarse sea salt, and vanilla beans. They all came out excellent!

Banana Bread

This recipe can be thrown together from start to finish in under an hour. On a whim I decided to add this to the list of things to bring to my Uncles house for Christmas Dinner. It made the whole house smell so delicious while baking.

1 heaping cup mashed ripe bananas, about 4-5
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light olive oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl using a potato masher, mash together the bananas. Add the sugar, oil, cornstarch, extract, and optional chips to the bananas and mix until completely incorporated. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the sifted mixture into the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into a loaf pan that has been prepared with non stick spray. Bake for 40-45 minutes, test it to make sure a toothpick comes out clean. You can leave it under the broiler for a minute to get a nice tanned top. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.

*I added a handful of chocolate chips to the bread and regretted it, it didn't do this banana bread justice.

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

A friend of mine passed this recipe on to me. It's super easy to make and had a couple of our friends fighting over the last piece. I decided to make this instead of a traditional pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, I love the idea of traditional, but in an nontraditional manner- so this fits the bill perfectly.

Whoops, left it in for 2 minutes too long and it got a little brown on top- amateur move! haha

1 1/2 cup almond milk (or any other non-dairy milk)
1/4 cup coconut creamer (or any other non-dairy creamer)
1 pack vegan vanilla pudding mix (I found mine at Whole Foods)
3 tablespoons cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
12 oz vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti brand because a friend said it worked great with the recipe, I'm curious to see how Daiya would do!)
2 tablespoons vegan mayo
Dash of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw Brazil nuts
1 tsp pumpkin spice
1 dash cayenne
1 16-ounce can pumpkin puree- BPA free!
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
One pre-made vegan graham crust 

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

In a medium sized pot on the stove top over medium heat add the milk, creamers, pudding mix, and salt. Stir until pudding mix is completely dissolved, then stir in the cornstarch and whisk. Add in the cream cheese, vegan mayo, and sugar- stir until the cream cheese is melted into the mixture and the filling is thick and bubbling. 

Remove from the heat and pour into the blender, adding the cashews and the Brazil nuts as well. Carefully blend (hot liquids steam and can explode in the blender, so using a towel to cover the top of the blender is a good idea), until it is perfectly smooth. Pour 8-10 ounces of the white filling into a seperate container. 

Add the maple syrup, vinegar, pumpkin, and spices into the blender with the remaining white filling and blend until smooth. 

Pour the pumpkin filling 3/4 of the way into the graham cracker crust. Next take the white filling and pour into the center of the pie- use a toothpick or fork to swirl the two together. Bake in the oven for 28-32 minutes, until the top is slightly browned. Allow to cool in the fridge for several hours before serving. 

Recipe adapted from the original  

*There is a bunch of extra batter with this recipe, I used it and made mini cheesecakes by making a graham cracker crust (just graham crackers and butter in the food processor) and I patted it into a lined mini muffin tin, then layered on the leftover filling. I baked them for about 8-10 minutes.

Bourbon Roasted Figs with Cream Cheese Dollop and Honey Drizzle

Tucked away inside my beautiful box of produce that was delivered by my local co-op was a lovely box of figs. The second I saw them I knew I wanted to make a dessert with them by tossing them in some liquor and roasting them off. A friend of mine, who also gets the same co-op box, texted me when she saw the figs and we immediately started bouncing recipe ideas off eachother. We both ended up with some truly inspirsed, and absolutely beautiful desserts.

5 ripe Brown Turkey figs
2 tablespoon bourbon
2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey/agave)
1 pinch cinnamon (or preferred spice)
1 teaspoon Diaya chive and onion cream cheese style spread
6 walnuts, roughly chopped
Honey/agave, to drizzle

Wash the figs, then slice them into quarters and toss them with the bourbon, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Layer them in a glass baking dish (pouring any excess sauce over top), and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, then turn on the broiler and continue to cook for another 5. You want the tops to get slightly browned in some areas. Divide the figs into two small dessert bowls and arrange neatly, spooning over any excess baking liquid over top of the figs. Add a small dollop (roughly half a teaspoon of Diaya cream cheese) to the center of each fig arrangement. Add some chopped walnuts, drizzle with honey and serve warm.

Makes 2 delicious servings