Fragrant Vanilla Cake

Tag: molasses

  • Vegan Gingerbread Banana Bread 

    Vegan Gingerbread Banana Bread 

    Last weekend Eric and I drove up north to Banning State Park in Minnesota to enjoy the fall colors, and it was honestly some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen this time of the year.  The conditions seem to be just right this year, it stayed warm pretty long, and everything is vibrant right now. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea, it was more packed there than I have ever seen it with lines that seemed like a mile long of cars parked outside the parking lot.  We went on about a 5 mile hike to this waterfall and back and hammocked along the way and it was a fun day but we were both pretty tired for the ride back.  While in the car I had time to think about what I felt like baking on my day off.  There was a chill in the air which had me craving warming spices.

    I had some over ripe bananas at home, so I thought a spiced banana bread might be good. But then I remembered how much I liked gingerbread and decided to make it a gingerbread spiced loaf!  I know gingerbread season is usually a bit later into the holidays but why not make something gingerbread now?!  It was the perfect thing to make, because it is easy, and I knew I would love it.

    I tweaked the base for my Grandma’s banana bread recipe, adding in molasses and spices and even the batter was delicious. I always liked gingerbread in the fall, and in fact when I was in cross country I would make cookies for the team and use my acorn cookie cutter to make gingerbread acorns with a maple glaze that we all loved. Speaking of which, I need to make a veganized version of those!  But for now this banana bread was what I was excited about.

    I added in pecans to give it a nice crunch, and it was ready to go into the oven. It made my kitchen smell amazing!  The aroma of warming spices always makes me happy.  I could not wait to try it! Once it was all cooled and ready to cut I was super excited!  It was sooo good!  Moist and delicious but not too heavy with a sweet banana flavor that was perfect with the ginger and the rich molasses! If you have bananas on hand, now you know what to make next!

    Vegan Gingerbread Banana Bread 

    Makes 1 loaf

    Ingredients:

    • 1 cup maple sugar*
    • 1 Tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp filtered water (allowed to sit 15 min. before using)
    • 1/2 cup oat milk*
    • 2/3 cup mashed ripe bananas
    • 1/4 cup avocado oil*
    • 1 Tbsp molasses
    • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
    • 1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour*
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 tsp ginger
    • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
    • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
    • 1 tsp baking soda
    • 2 tsp cider vinegar
    • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

     

    Instructions:

    1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, and oil an 8×4 inch loaf pan.
    2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flax mixture, oat milk, bananas, oil, molasses and vanilla until smooth.
    3. Whisk in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves then the vinegar until combined.
    4. Fold in the pecans until evenly distributed.
    5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, place in the oven and bake for about 1 hour until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean with a few crumbs attached.
    6. Remove from the oven and let cool before removing from the pan.

     

    Bread keeps at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container or wrapped, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 4 months.

    *Notes:

    Instead of the maple sugar, you could also use coconut sugar or granulated sugar if you prefer those.

    You can use any type of unsweetened plant based milk in this recipe, such as soy, almond or coconut instead of the oat if that is what you have on hand.

    If you would like to make this oil free, use 1/4 cup almond butter ( or your favorite nut or seed butter) instead of the oil.

    If you would like to make a gluten free version of this bread, swap the whole wheat flour for Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour (I have tried this brand and know it works well for recipes like this).

  • Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

    Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

    I used to make gingerbread cookies a lot back in the day.  In fact, when I was a senior in college, I made gingerbread cookie sculptures for my senior art show.  Things like a gingerbread sculpture of my car, my house, and household items like a bed and table with chairs.  I really enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun being able to work with cookies and do art at the same time.  I have gingerbread cookies since then, but I haven’t attempted to make a vegan gingerbread cookie house surprisingly enough.  Maybe sometime when I have a lot of free time which doesn’t seem to happen in recent years around the holidays.  I do like to make gingerbread cookies though.  Now that Thanksgiving is over I thought I would whip up a batch!  Tis the season!  There is snow on the ground, and we are expecting more so it is the perfect time to stay cozy inside and do some baking.

    I admit I usually stay away from cookies that need to be rolled and frosted because I don’t have time to make fussy cookies after work on a weeknight, but since I had the day after Thanksgiving off it gave me plenty of time.  And these were really not all that fussy.  They start with a spiced molasses base with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and it smells amazing.  It is a delicious soft dough.  I should know I tasted enough. I mean eating cookie dough is one of my favorite parts of baking cookies.

    This is almost my original recipe that I made back in the day except for the flax eggs that I swapped in for the real ones. It works just as well, I don’t even notice the difference.  Another change I made is I used Raw Guru coconut sugar instead of the brown sugar I used to use and it tastes just as good.  This dough actually chills a lot faster than the original dough too because I used coconut oil instead of butter like in the original one. It gets hard pretty quick. This is one of the easier doughs to work with so long as you don’t chill it too long (or it will be hard).

    I cut them into cute little gingerbread men, stars and trees because why not?  I haven’t actually made any gingerbread men in a while I opted for stars the last few times.  When they were all cool, I decided to top them off with a cream cheese “icing” I say icing in quotes because it is not made with powdered sugar, it is made with healthier things like cashew butter and coconut butter with a touch of maple syrup.  These cookies turned out sooo good!  If you are in the mood for some classic holiday cookies, definitely give these a try!  In place of the glaze melted dark chocolate piped onto them would also be good if that is more your jam.

    Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

    Makes about 42 cookies

    Ingredients:

    Dough:

    • 3 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour*
    • 1 tsp baking soda
    • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
    • 1 tsp ground ginger
    • 1/2 tsp cloves
    • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
    • 1/2 tsp sea salt
    • 3/4 cup melted coconut oil
    • 1/2 cup Raw Guru coconut sugar
    • 2/3 cup molasses
    • 1 Tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp filtered water allowed to sit 15 minutes before using

     

    Icing:

     

    Instructions:

    1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
    2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, spices, and sea salt.
    3. In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, coconut sugar, molasses and flax mixture until smooth.
    4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth.
    5. Divide the dough into 2 balls, place each on a parchment lined tray, and roll out until 1/4 inch thick (if it is too sticky to roll, pop it in the freezer for a few minutes first.  Place in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes until more firm (but not hard, coconut oil hardens pretty fast), then cut into shapes and place on a parchment lined baking tray. Pop back into the freezer until completely firm, about 10 minutes.
    6. Place in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes or until set (but not dried out).
    7. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

    *If you want to make these gluten free, swap the whole wheat pastry flour 1:1 with Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour.  I have tried this brand and know it works well (I can not say the same for all other brands as I have not tried them).