These can well be my new favorite sweet treat – the batter itself bakes into a fudgy center and caramelized edges, and the occasional bite into super-dark chocolate balances out the sugary experience.
I use white whole wheat flour all the time now that it’s finally available here, and it works very nicely in heavier baked [...]
We really loved these spicy treats: they are simple to make and packed with flavor. Somehow the addition of chili in sweet things makes them more satisfying, and a smaller bite is needed to satisfy my sweet tooth – the advantage being that one batch lasts longer. And these treats actually even improved in the [...]
Tofu chocolate mousse has recently been embraced by a number of mainstream culinary authorities, but for many vegans it’s been basic fare for years – either as a pie filling, cake topping, or simply as a decadent dessert. This is my latest twist on the classic, with a dash of espresso and whole cane sugar [...]
The most typically Finnish pastry is pulla, a yeasted sweet bread that comes in various shapes: small round buns, swirly cinnamon rolls, and braided loaves and knots. The dough has plenty of cardamom in it and the rolls are often topped with slivered almonds or pearl sugar for some sweet crunch. The smell of cardamom [...]
I baked these cookies for dessert over the last weekend when my dad and step mom came over for dinner. The whole idea of freshly baked cookies served with ice cream for dessert makes so much sense now that I can’t believe I haven’t though of this before. I made the dough the previous evening [...]
When our dinner involves heating up the oven I often bake an impromptu batch of cookies for dessert. These crumbly chocolatey cookies are a result of one such occasion, whipped up in no more than 15 minutes, thus being very good value for the time spent. Balsamic vinegar and muscovado sugar enhance the cocoa flavor [...]
I love this dessert – it is a breeze to make, and its flavor has the perfect combination of tart and sweet with a little bit of nutty rye and some vanilla thrown in. Probably even better than the other trad Finnish dessert, whipped semolina-lingonberry porridge, and definitely quicker to make. We get lingonberries from [...]
This was our Valentine’s treat – simple yet still somehow festive. We don’t own a candy thermometer so tempering chocolate or finding the perfect caramelization point are out of bounds, making the choice of homemade candy somewhat limited around here. Luckily the simple elegance of a drop of chocolate speckled by crushed pink peppercorns is [...]
I purchased organic dried cherries and macadamias on a whim from the bulk bin of the local organic store, and only at the cashier did I realize how costly they were. I had tried to skimp as much as I could and only take enough for one baking project, and even as I resorted to [...]
I enjoy experimenting with different sweeteners, and lately I’ve used a lot of whole cane sugar in baking. It has the most flavor of the options I have tried so far, but I am still waiting for the perfect moment to crack open that jar of black treacle! There is a definite liquorice undertone in [...]
I found a recipe for non-vegan cheesecake brownies through tastespotting, and it didn’t take me long to veganize it. I used my trusted brownie recipe and added a topping made with silken tofu, oat cream, and agave syrup, and the end result was really just deliciously decadent. The topping is more like a creamy custard [...]
I can’t believe how quickly the first half of November went this year! I caught a cough, we were both busy with work, and suddenly I noticed it wasn’t October anymore… But I also love how time decides to jump ahead sometimes, as confusing as it is – it’s a good reminder of how little [...]
We’ve had a bit of an unintentional blogging break, but here’s a sweet treat to make things right again! Chocolate and apricot are such a classic combination, and the addition of cardamom in the mousse topping added that little extra something in these birthday cupcakes.
I baked these for the birthday party of a niece, and [...]
We spent a very relaxing weekend at the cottage with my little wonder of a godson and his parents. It was full of raking leaves and picking mushrooms, knitting on the porch in the autumn sun and watching the little guy play with the toys me and my brothers used to have as kids. Indescribably [...]
Chokladbollar are a Swedish delicacy, and we’ve noticed on our trips to Stockholm that they’re available at almost every grocery and coffeehouse over there. They are often vegan, and boy are they delicious! I envy Swedes for their abundance of chokladbollar, since although a certain brand of them is sold in some Finnish supermarkets, they [...]
My ultimate team celebrated its fifth year with a late summer potluck picnic about a month ago. We made these muffins in the morning of the day of the picnic. Most of my teammates are omnivores, so in order to promote veganism I aimed at maximizing the decadence of the muffins. They are based on [...]
Whipped semolina porridge with lingonberries, or vispipuuro as we call it, is a very traditional Finnish dessert. The semolina is first cooked with crushed lingonberries, then the porridge is cooled down, and finally it’s whipped, which gives it the right velvety texture and a pretty pink color. The resulting concoction is really more like a [...]
This is a moist and decadent chocolate cake that owes its wonderful texture to silken tofu and a large amount of chocolate. Not very cakey at all, Heikki described this cake as a blend of cake batter and chocolate frosting baked into one wonderful concoction. Only for those who love fudgy cakes and moist centers!
I [...]
I’ve always thought that you need an ice cream maker if you want to have home made ice cream, so I was delighted that the ice cream Anni made turned out so good. The next step, of course, was to make ice cream of my own. I wanted to try coconut ice cream, since it [...]
We got to pick a few containers of fresh raspberries last Sunday, and I wanted to bake something pretty with them. I decided to use up our stock of hazelnuts for the crust, and whipped up a light mousse filling with soy yogurt and agar agar powder. Delicious and relatively easy to make, these were [...]
We are finally back from holidays – well rested and happy to be in our own kitchen again! This ice cream, which actually was my first homemade ice cream ever, is something I’ve had in mind for a few months now. We don’t have an ice cream maker, and without one the process requires a [...]
These thin caramelized oat biscuits are often the first baking project Finnish kids learn – they’re so easy to make and the results are delicious. The two tricks are to leave enough room around the dollops of batter before baking, since they spread out a lot, and not overbaking them, since they burn very quickly.
These [...]
The idea of combining chocolate with pink peppercorns, cinnamon, and nutmeg came to me when I read the newspaper the other day, and found an interview with Senyor Marc Escudellers, a chocolate shop keeper from Barcelona. He stated that these are some of his favorite cocoa flavorings, and I absolutely agree – I’ve already baked [...]
I’ve made my version of the Key lime pie several times and it has always been a success: it’s quite easy to make, and the silky soy whip filling is just heavenly. This recipe is just one of many versions – I’ve used soy cream cheese instead of the soy whip and added more yogurt, [...]
I wanted tosca cake and Heikki wanted cupcakes, and thus the tosca cupcakes were created. I seasoned the cake part with cardamom, and it came out quite light and moist in texture, contrasting nicely with the crunchy almond topping. The humble appearances of these cakes are deceiving, since they do taste divine!
I made this recipe [...]
I literally couldn’t stop spooning this sauce into my mouth until it was all gone, so delicious it was. We had this over a mint chocolate cake that was quite simple, just the Fragrant citrus cake with cocoa powder instead of ground almonds, and mint extract in the place of all the citrus. The [...]
We love the combination of raspberries and dark chocolate, there’s something about the tart berries and bitter cocoa flavor that makes them a perfect match. The construction of this pie is quite like my mocha pie, but this is as delicious straight out of the oven as it is after chilling. Served warm with a [...]
This carrot cake is based on a trusted recipe from a friend’s cousin, a recipe that was veganized 10 years ago, and has been served to many party guests over these years. To make it more suitable for a weekday tv-night with friends, I cut the oil by more than a half, substituting a part [...]
This gentle custard filling would have been even better made with fresh mango fruit, but since those aren’t a staple around here, I resorted to the puréed variety from our Asian grocery. The color isn’t as vibrant as the real deal, but most of the mango taste is still there! We both loved the texture [...]
This is a great recipe I snatched from Celine’s inspired blog Have cake, will travel. The original recipe makes use of whiskey, but we didn’t have that, so I used coffee liqueur and soy milk instead. This isn’t a toffee-like fudge, but the consistency is more like a chocolate truffle – and since no [...]
Pasha is a lovely Easter dessert that has traveled to Finland from Russia. It’s a rich and flavorful concotion seasoned with almond, vanilla, orange peel, and dried fruit, traditionally prepared for the celebrations at the end of Lent by the Eastern Orthodox Christians. For pagans like me and Heikki pasha is a perfect way to [...]
This time of year we rarely see fresh berries, but frozen ones are quite good and easy to use. This dessert is ready practically in the time it takes to measure up the ingredients!
This sorbet melts really quickly, since its texture depends on the icy frozen berries, so it must be served immediately after making. [...]
This cake was soft and moist and full of sweet coconut flavor, beautifully counterbalanced by the tart raspberry sauce made with only two ingredients: frozen berries and agave syrup.
This cake was especially good right after baking, steeped in the raspberry sauce, but went well on its own with a cup of tea on the [...]
When I created the recipe for this mint chocolate cake, I thought it wouldn’t rise very much during baking, and I’d end up with a small amount of cake. Well, it did rise, I had to cut it in two layers, and we ended up with five mini-cakes instead of the two I’d planned to [...]
We whipped up this pie 20 minutes before a friend came over, and it had almost firmed up after spending 2 hours in the fridge, when we were ready to have dessert. The photo is from the next day, and I do recommend refrigerating this pie overnight to let the filling firm up completely – [...]
Today is the day of the Finnish national poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, and a great number of these little cakes are enjoyed all over the country. They were baked by Johan Ludvig’s wife Fredrika in the 19th century, and there’s a story that the poet enjoyed them with his morning Punsch. He probably wasn’t the [...]
A happy coincidence: I needed something productive to do, and we had two perfectly ripened organic kiwi fruits.
I used all kinds of green things in these cupcakes; an apple, melon seeds, kiwi fruits, and green food coloring for the icing (had we had frozen parsley, I would have squeezed out its juice to be used [...]
I occasionally get serious apple cravings, but because of my allergies, I can’t have raw apples. That’s when I have to start baking, and these muffins definitely satisfied my apple tooth: they are both filled and topped with yummy apple cubes. Walnuts, cinnamon, and a hint of ginger added a wintery spiciness to these soft [...]
We buy organic spelt flour form a local farm, and I’ve been experimenting with it lately, adding it to all kinds of baked goods. Spelt flour has a lot of flavor and a great texture, and I think it should be much more widely used than it currently is. I used only spelt four in [...]
This is another muffin recipe I engineered after the holidays, when I wanted to bake something that would be good for the tummy and still have a lot of flavor. The delicious, subtly sweet spiciness of these muffins makes them a desirable snack any time of the day.
Maple syrup is a little bit of a [...]
These muffins are filled with jam made of raspberries and blueberries, a combination known as the Queen’s jam in Finland, although we don’t have a queen. We do have a female president, but as conservative as it may seem, I don’t think that President’s muffins sound nearly as appetizing as Queen’s muffins do. These are [...]
This cake was our dessert on Christmas eve, along with a refreshing citrus fuit salad. The fragrance that came from the oven during baking was intoxicating, and the cake itself didn’t let us down; it was sweet and moist and delicious, with just enough spice and a decadent accent of cognac from the [...]
Marmalade confections are very popular in Finland around Christmas, and they’re naturally vegan – what could beat that as Christmas gifts for friends and family. My family isn’t religious at all, but Christmas is my favorite holiday, traditionally celebrated in Finland at the time of year when the darkest day of the year had passed. [...]
…that I’ve tried so far. This is actually the Basic Cooked Buttercream Frosting recipe from Veglicious, another fun vegan food blog, and I only made a few very minor alterations. I used a little less margarine and sugar than the original recipe called for, but otherwise this recipe is exactly the same. Fluffy and filled [...]
The crunchy chocolate crust and the layer of dark chocolate shavings on top are a nice conrast to the tofu-creamy mocha filling of this pie.
I got this recipe from a friend, who had tried and liked the original non-vegan version. My filling has silken tofu and soy yogurt instead of eggs and cream, and I [...]
The fragrance of this moist cake comes mainly from Grand Marniér liqueur, and there are three citrus fruits involved in the recipe; lemons, oranges, and limes. We had a few slices of this cake with black Assam tea on a gloomy November afternoon, and it seems to be a pretty good antidepressant. This is an [...]
Cashews in the batter, creamy cashew frosting, topped with caramelized cashews: these cupcakes are a celebration of our favorite nut. We made these for Heikki’s dad on the Father’s day. These are cupcakes for fathers, not sons, and are probably more devoured by adults than kids. We’ve learnt that both Heikki’s nephew and my [...]
