Banana Pudding with Vegan ‘Nilla Wafers

When I step into a bakery, I often look right past the popular cupcakes and cookies and opt instead for a cup of banana pudding. Smooth and creamy with a bit of crunch from the vanilla wafers…what could be more satisfying? This version is 100% vegan with soy milk, soy whipped cream, and vegan vanilla wafers. It makes about four servings.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tbs corn starch

about an inch of a vanilla bean (recommended) OR 1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups soy milk

1 tbs Earth Balance

2 ripe bananas

about 2 cups Soy Whip

about 1 cup crushed vanilla wafer cookies

(Lots of supermarkets sell store-brand ‘nilla wafer cookies, and I know I’ve seen vegan versions before. Of course, things like that have a way of becoming much harder to find when you actually need them, so I ended up making some from scratch. I modified this recipe, substituting an Ener-G egg for the real egg and Earth Balance for the butter. The vegan batter was a bit crumbly, so I rolled them into balls and flattened them with my palms, rather than piping them onto the baking sheet, as suggested. They came out great!)

Directions:

Combine the sugar and corn starch in a small mixing bowl. If you are using a real vanilla bean, cut it in half the long way, scrape out the inside, and add that to the sugar mixture.

Heat the soy milk in a small saucepan. If you are using vanilla extract, add it to the soy milk.

Stirring over low heat, slowly add the sugar mixture to the soy milk, mixing to combine.

Continue heating and stirring. The sugar should dissolve and, after a few minutes, the mixture should thicken to almost to a pudding consistency.

Take the pudding off the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes, then move it to the refrigerator. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

If you haven’t already, crumble the wafer cookies. I put mine in a ziplock bag and hit them with a rolling pin.

Cut the bananas into thin slices.

When the pudding is completely cool, take it out of the refrigerator and add about two cups of soy whip. Mix to combine.

Assemble the pudding in individual glasses or in a larger glass bowl.

Begin by spooning in a layer of the pudding:

Then add a layer of banana:

and a layer of cookie crumbs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add a second layer of each:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a final layer of pudding:

I topped mine with a bit more whipped cream and some cookie crumbs. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Fortune Cookies: Take Two

I tried making fortune cookies again today, and I’m much happier with this version of the recipe. The only difference is that I used Earth Balance instead of canola oil, and I used a tablespoon more of it. The extra fat gave the cookies smoother, less cake-y texture, and I think the added saltiness of the Earth Balance helped tone down the sweetness of the recipe.

Just a note: don’t expect these cookies to be exactly what you get at Chinese restaurants. They’re a little moister and chewier. To me, that’s a good thing, but it’s really a matter of personal preference.

Here’s the new version. Like the old one, it makes six large cookies.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Earth Balance

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup soy milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the Earth Balance and sugar. Add the soy milk and extracts.

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly.

The baking and folding processes are just as described in my previous post. I hope you enjoy these, blogosphere!

Fortune Cookies: Take One

This was my first attempt at a vegan fortune cookie recipe. I’m not 100% happy with the result…the cookies were a little bit too sweet for my taste and a little bit too cake-y for a fortune cookie. I’ll make some changes and try again in a couple days, but I thought I’d post this in the meantime. Clearly, I’m in the over-enthusiastic early stage of blogging. Also, my mom really liked them.

This recipe makes six large fortune cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup soy milk

3 tbs canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

You will also need paper, scissors, and a pen, for writing the fortunes.

Directions:

First, write your fortunes. Don’t use regular printer paper, because you will be folding it into a warm cookie and the moisture would ruin it. You could try using ribbon or parchment paper. I used vellum, which is a plasticized paper that you can buy at most craft stores. I cut it into 6 inch by 1/2 inch rectangles, and then I wrote the fortunes on with a regular old pen.

Next, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and make the batter. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Add the wet to the dry and mix thoroughly. It should be pretty thin and soupy.

Prepare your baking sheets. I used a silpat, but you could also use parchment paper or cooking spray.

Pour the batter slowly onto the cooking sheet until it spreads into a circle with about a 5 inch diameter. Since you won’t have much time to fold each batch of cookies after it comes out of the oven and before it cools, only put two cookies per sheet.

Place your cookie sheet in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown. Let the cookies cool for about one minute. If you let them cool too much longer than that, they will become too crispy to fold.

Turn your cookie upside down on the counter and lay a fortune across the top. Now you’re ready to fold it into a fortune cookie. Be prepared to mildly singe your fingers; no big deal. There are two steps to folding your cookie. First, roll it into a tube with the ends slightly overlapping:

Second, gently fold the tube by pushing the ends away from you with your thumbs and pushing the middle towards you with your other fingers. Hopefully, these arrows help:

After the second fold, it should look like this:

Repeat with the second cookie on the sheet, working as quickly as you can. As they cool, these get much crispier and harder to fold. At this point, if you haven’t already, you can put your next pair of cookies in the oven to bake and fold.

These cookies are best served the same day that you bake them.