Dessert – SV Blue Sky

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are the perfect little snack. Easy to make and quick (takes about 20 minutes). Warning, you will get messy hands when you press them into cookies, but it’s so worth it.

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsweetened dairy free milk (I use Almond Milk)
3 TBSP Dairy free butter (if you are not vegan, you can use regular butter)
1/3 cup of coconut sugar (alternate Brown Sugar)
1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 TBSP Cocoa Powder, unsweetened
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 1/2 cups rolled oats

Directions
1. Place milk, butter, sugar, cocoa powder and chocolate chips into a medium sized pot.
2. Bring to a rolling boil and boil at rolling for approximately 3 minutes. Stir a few times to ensure the chocolate chips don’t stick to the bottom of the pan before they melt.
3. Remove from heat, add salt, vanilla extract, peanut butter and mix until the peanut butter melts (note: I’ve made the mistake of adding these when it’s doing the rolling boil and it worked out okay)
4. Stir in the oats.
5. Scoop out dollops of the mixture (I get a rounded tablespoon amount) and press them into a ball and flatten slightly and place on a baking sheet or waxed paper. Repeat until you have all the mixture made into cookies.
6. Let sit at room temperature for approximately 1 hour. Move to a plastic bag or container and refrigerate or freeze. I like to keep mine in the freezer as they thaw quite quickly.

CAULIFLOWER BROWNIES

I know it sounds a little strange to have the words cauliflower and brownies in the same recipe title, but trust me on this one, these are fantastic. I’m totally addicted to them. I make them vegan by switching our regular chocolate chips to a vegan version found at Whole Foods. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cacao powder (unsweetened)
1/2 cup (or less – I only use slightly more than 1/4) coconut sugar
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cauliflower, steamed and cooled
1/4 cup almond milk (or vegan milk of choice)
1/3 cup almond butter
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use 1/2 chocolate chips and 1/2 cacao nibs)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350, prepare 8×8 baking tin
2. Place all ingredients except the chocolate chips and cacao nibs into a food processor and process until smooth
3. Stir in chocolate chips and cacao nibs
4. Pour into pan, spreading evenly to make nice thin brownies
5. Bake 25 minutes or until brownies firm up
6. Let cool completely before serving

I like to cut them up and freeze them. This way I can take one piece out at a time, making the whole batch last over a few weeks. Be warned, you may discover you like them frozen too. Enjoy!

APPLE PIE WITH SALTED PECAN CRUMBLE

This pie is so easy to make that even I can succeed at this one. I’ve modified it a bit from the original recipe found online at Myrecipes.com. I made this for Christmas this year as dessert. It is pure delight to the taste buds.

Note: Prepare the Salted Pecan Crumble first so the apples are exposed to the air as little as possible. I used a premade pie crust, but feel free to make your own. If you do make your own crust, do this first.

SALTED PECAN CRUMBLE
Ingredients:
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
2 TBSP kosher salt
½ tsp cinnamon
Dash cloves (optional)
5 TBSP vegan butter
½ cup pecans
Directions:
1. Pulse all dry ingredients in a food processor 3 or 4 times or until combined. Add butter and pecans and pulse until pecans are ground. You should have a crumbly mixture.
2. Transfer to a bowl, cover and chill until ready to add to the pie.

OPEN FACE APPLE PIE
Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
2 TBSP cornstarch
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
Dash of cloves (optional)
Zest of one lemon
5 large Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced/diced
Pie dough
Salted Pecan Crumble

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, add apple slices, tossing to coat
2. Roll out pie dough and place in pie plate
3. Arrange apple mixture over pastry and top with Salted Pecan Crumble
4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown
5. Allow to completely cool before slicing

NO BAKE BLUEBERRY PIE

This recipe is for an open face blueberry pie with filling that is not baked.

It’s rare for me to bake a pie because it just seems like so much work. However, when you use a premade crust, such as Pillsbury Pie Crust, and fill it with no baked goodness you get a delicious summer pie. With blueberry season in full bloom, so to speak, I had to try this. It was a hit and I’ve made it twice. It’s a must try for anyone who loves blueberries.

I’m sure you could make it with other berries too with a little experimenting. If you want to make it vegan, there are a lot of vegan no bake pie crusts online, so I’ll try one of these next time or I may just put the filling into small serving size mason jars for a nice pudding type dessert. Thanks Linda (sv Sapphire) for the recipe.

Ingredients:
3 pints (6 cups) fresh blueberries, washed, rinsed, and drained
1 lemon, grated rind and juice
2/3 cup sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I’ve reduced it and it still tastes plenty sweet)
3 TBSP cornstarch
pinch salt
1 cup water
1 TBSP butter (I use vegan butter)
1 unbaked 9” pie shell

Directions:
-Bake the pie shell according to package directions
-Mix sugar, cornstarch, and water in a pot. Add 1 ½ cups of blueberries with the lemon zest and juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and the color is a deep purple. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Let cool (I stir a few times while it’s cooling to keep it from setting up). Cool at least 30 minutes or until there is no longer steam coming from it when stirred.
-When cooled, fold in remaining blueberries and pour into the baked and cooled pie shell. Refrigerate approximately 2 hours, or until set. I let mine set overnight.
-Slice and enjoy.

Enjoyed fabulous blueberry pie, recipe courtesy of Linda Knowles

CHOCOLATE COCONUT TRUFFLES

We enjoyed these truffles with friends on Rum Runner one night while in Nonsuch Bay, Antigua. I loved that Judy said, ‘Let’s start with dessert’ and everyone raved at the taste. So easy to make as well.

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 oz) package of pitted dates (approx. 1 ¾ cups)
1 (6 oz) package of pecans, soaked 2-4 hours and drained (approx. 1 ½ cups)
1 TBSP organic cacao powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cups dried, shredded coconut (divided)

DIRECTIONS
-Partially chop dates
-Add all ingredients (except ½ the coconut) into a blender or food processor and blend until the mixture forms a ball
-Roll mixture into bite size balls and roll each one in remaining shredded coconut for coating
-Refrigerate until ready to serve