The agave syrup in the custard caramelized around the edges, which gave it a very nice burnt sweetness.

The Custard Topping:

• 175 g (half a package Mori-Nu) silken tofu
• 2 dl oat cream (or soy creamer, or any other vegan cream)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 4 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons tapioca starch
• pinch of salt

I combined all the ingredients and blended until completely smooth.

The Brownie Batter:

• 70 g vegan chocolate (semi dark)
• 60 g margarine
• 1 dl plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 2/3 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 and 1/2 dl raw cane sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy milk
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and melted the chocolate and the margarine in a water bath. Once melted, I let them cool down while preparing the other ingredients.

I mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Then I placed the soy yogurt, the soy milk, vanilla sugar, and raw cane sugar in another bowl, and whisked them for about 3 minutes. I wanted the sugar to dissolve, so at this point I took the time to prepare my baking dish.

I covered my baking dish (26 X 18 cm) with parchment paper. Then, I whisked the cooled down chocolate-margarine mixture together with the other wet ingredients, and then added the dry ingredients in the bowl. I stirred with a wooden fork to combine, and poured the batter to the baking pan, spreading it evenly.

Then I spread the custard topping over the brownie batter. The original recipe advices to swirl the brownie with a knife for a marbled effect, and that’s what I did. However, since these vegan brownies are leavened with baking powder, the end result is very different – well, if you look at the picture you see what I mean! But I think our brownies came out pretty too, especially after I decorated them with some cocoa powder, and this way you get nice custardy caves in the brownie layer.

I baked the brownies in 175 degrees Celsius, on the lower rack of the oven, for about 35 minutes, when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out cleanish (with only some custard topping stuck to it). Then we let the brownies come to room temperature and refrigerated them for a few hours before eating.

Well, actually we had a little bite before refrigerating, but I strongly suggest serving these fridge-cold – it improves the texture immensely!

I’ve found that using soy yogurt with whole flours somehow improves the texture of the final product. I checked out a few recipes in cookbooks before improvising this recipe, but I think the idea of using tapioca starch definitely lurked into my mind from the Post Punk Kitchen Blog‘s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from a few weeks back.

The Cookie Dough (20 medium cookies):

• 3 to 3 and 1/2 dl whole wheat flour
• 1 and 1/2 dl walnuts, chopped
• 1 dl canola oil
• 1 dl plain soy yogurt
• 2 dl brown sugar (I used yummy raw sugar from Bolivia)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

First, I whisked together the soy yogurt, canola oil, sugars, and tapioca starch. Actually Heikki helped me with this step when I got tired of whisking – it takes a bit of time until all the sugar is dissolved. Then I combined 3 dl of the whole wheat flour with the baking soda, and Heikki chopped the walnuts. Now, I added the flour mixture to the wet mix bowl, stirred until combined, and added the walnuts. The dough seemed a little too sticky so I added another 1/2 dl of flour, and the dough was ready.

There’s been a lot of talk about refrigerating the cookie dough after an article about perfect cookies appeared in the New York Times, but I didn’t have time for this step. I will try that trick some time soon for sure!

So I just rolled the dough into 20 balls and flattened them with a fork on two cookie sheets covered with baking parchment. Then I baked the cookies one sheet at a time for 8 minutes, until slightly browned on the bottom side. Overbaking makes the cookies dry out, so it’s best to be careful – they didn’t look quite baked enough after eight minutes, but they were!

Soup ingredients:

• olive oil for frying
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• half of a medium rutabaga (about 275 g), diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 teaspoon hot chili powder
• 4 teaspoons of ras-el-hanout
  
• 4 dl (about 275 g) dried split fava beans (you can use whole beans, but they take longer to cook)
• enough water to amply cover the vegetables and beans (about 1 – 1 1/2 liters)
• 3 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• juice of 1 mandarin
• salt to taste

Harissa yogurt ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon harissa
• 1 1/2 dl soy yogurt
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

About 4 hours before starting to cook the soup I speed soaked the fava beans. Speed soaking means I simply rinsed the beans in cold water, put them in a bowl, poured boiling water on them, and covered the bowl. Of course one could soak the beans properly too, overnight in cold water.

After the beans were soaked, we started by chopping the onions and crushing the garlic. While I diced the rutabaga and the carrot, Anni put some olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat, and fried the onion and the garlic until the onion was translucent. We then added the chopped rutabaga and carrot, and fried them for a minute or two more.

Now we added the chili powder and the ras el hanout, stirred the mix for a while, and then added the beans, water, stock powder, sugar, and vinegar. We covered the pot, and simmered until the beans were soft. This took about one hour.

Anni then proceeded to purée the soup using our immersion blender until it was smooth, and adjusted the taste by adding the olive oil, the mandarin juice, and a pinch of salt.

We garnished our soup bowls with some harissa yogurt – the yogurt was simply made by combining and mixing all the ingredients in a small bowl.

This recipe makes 12 muffins. We also halved the recipe a few weeks back, and the results were just as delicious.

The dry mix:

• 4 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

The wet mix:

• 1 dl liquid margarine
• 1 and 1/2 dl sugar
• 2 dl (sweetened) soy milk
• 2 dl plain soy yogurt
• 100 g chocolate, melted
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (or another orange liqueur)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

Additions:

• 1 and 1/2 dl chocolate chips

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, greased our 12-cup muffin tin, and dusted it with cocoa powder.

We mixed all the ingredients of the dry and the wet mixes in separate bowls, and then mixed the two together, stirring with a fork until relatively smooth. Now it was time to add the chocolate chips, and stir a bit more to combine. Then we spooned the batter into the cups of the muffin tin, and placed the muffins on the middle rack of the preheated oven.

In our oven it took about 25 minutes for a toothpick inserted in a muffin to come out clean, indicating that they were ready. I placed the muffins upside down on a wooden rack to cool down for half an hour or so, and then packed them for the picnic.

The tartlets were quite yummy on the day of making, but they actually got even more delicious after a night in the fridge: the crusts absorbed some moisture from the filling, which made it creamier and more flavorful.

The Crust:

• 2 and 1/2 dl hazelnut flour (hazelnuts finely ground)
• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 dl sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons egg replacer powder (we have No Egg – can be replaced with corn/potato starch for example)
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 3/4 dl plain soy yogurt

I mixed the dry ingredients – hazelnut, flour, salt, sugar, and egg replacer – with a fork until combined. Then I added the oil and the soy yogurt and mixed until the dough came together. I divided it in 12 parts and placed them in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Then I greased and floured our muffin tin, and preheated the oven to 175 degrees. I rolled each portion of the dough into a ball, flattened with my hands, and then pressed in the muffin tins. I tried to make the shells as high as possible without making them too thin, and they didn’t quite reach the upper rim of the muffin cups.

Now, I baked the shells 15 minutes on the middle rack of our oven, when they had browned a bit and started to come off the sides of the muffin cups. I let them cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then removed to cool on a rack.

The Filling:

• 2 dl unsweetened, plain soy yogurt
• 3/4 dl plain soy milk
• 1 teaspoon agar powder (not flakes)
• 1/2 dl sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• grated zest of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

I let the soy yogurt come to room temperature before starting with the mousse. This way, it won’t cool down the agar mixture as quickly as cold soy yogurt would, and there’s more time to work with it before it starts to set.

First, I whisked together the soy yogurt, sugar, vanilla sugar, canola oil, and lemon zest. Then I heated the soy milk in a small sauce pan on medium heat until it started to bubble, and then whisked in the agar agar powder. I kept on whisking for half a minute or so until the agar had dissolved, and the mixture started to get very foamy.

Then I quickly poured the agar mixture in the yogurt bowl while whisking it vigorously, and when everything was all combined, I immediately poured the filling in the cooled shells. It settled quite quickly in room temperature, but I popped the tartlets in the refrigerator at this point as we were about to have dinner.

Right before serving, we decorated the tartlets with fresh raspberries.

Waiting for the raspberries.

Baking the beets in the oven instead of deep-frying makes them shrink quite a bit, since the moisture content isn’t replaced by the oil. This batch made a nice light snack for the two of us, but I plan on making a double batch the next time, so good they were. Then I’ll just have to use two baking sheets, alternating their places halfway through baking. To save a little energy, it’s best to make these after cooking something else in the oven, when it’s still warm – it won’t take much electricity to maintain the low temperature required to bake the chips.

The Chips:

• 2 medium-sized beets, peeled and thinly sliced
• olive oil (from a spray bottle)
• salt to taste

I peeled the beets, and sliced them very thinly with a cheese-cutter. I covered a baking sheet with parchment paper, and sprayed a thin layer of olive oil over the paper – you can also brush the paper with a little oil as well.

I arranged the beet slices on the baking sheet, snugly but not overlapping, and sprayed them with some more olive oil. Then I baked them in 100 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes, flipped the chips, and baked for 40 minutes more. At this point they were very crispy and dry, but not yet burnt – I did check on them every 10 minutes or so just to make sure they wouldn’t get charred. After baking, I salted the chips, and let them cool for 15 minutes before digging in.

The Dip:

• 3/4 dl plain, unsweetened soy yoghurt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon finely grated horseradish
• chives for garnish

I mixed all the ingredients and refrigerated the dip while the chips were in the oven, and then sprinkled with the chives right before serving.

Raw beetroot slices.

Agar agar keeps everything together, and I think scant 2 teaspoons is just the right amount – the filling is smooth and creamy, but keeps together nicely when cut. This pie is surely an easy way to impress friends and family! We brought this one to a dinner party, so no inside pics – I feel a little weird about bringing dessert and then taking pictures of my own portion.

No-Bake Graham Cracker Crust:

• 400 g whole wheat Digestives, finely ground
• 5 tablespoons brown rice syrup
• 5 tablespoons melted margarine
• 2 tablespoons soy milk

The crust is easy to make: everything just needs to be mixed together. The mix should have a consistency that keeps together when pinched with two fingers. After making the crust, Heikki covered the bottom of our 22 cm springform pan with a round piece of baking parchment, and then pressed the crust on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Filling:

• 4 limes, zest and juice (about 1 dl of juice)
• 4 dl soy whip cream (or soy cream cheese and more soy yoghurt)
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 dl plus 2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste!)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (or extract)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons agar agar powder

The filling is almost as easy to make as the crust. I started with prepping the limes, and pouring the juice in a small cooking pot. Then I reserved about one teaspoon of the lime zest for garnish, and placed the rest of the lime zest in a mixing bowl along with the soy whip, the soy yogurt, sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt. Then I whipped these together until the mixture started to become a little fluffy.

I heated the lime juice on medium heat until it was at a gentle boil, removed the pot from heat, and sprinkled the agar powder in the pot while Heikki was whisking the juice. He whisked it for a little while, a minute maybe, until the powder had dissolved.

Now, Heikki moved on to whisk the contents of the soy-whip bowl, and I poured the lime-agar mixture in the bowl in a thin stream. When everything was all mixed up, we poured the filling in the crust, leveled the surface, and sprinkled the reserved lime zest over the pie. Then we popped the pie in the fridge and let it set overnight.

The crust came out chewy like an oat cookie, and the vanilla ice cream we served this pie with complimented its tart fruit flavors quite perfectly. The filling would probably go nicely with the no-bake crust I used for the strawberry lime pie as well.

Oat Crust:

• 2 dl rolled oats
• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 tablespoons rum
• 2 tablespoons oat milk

I combined the oats, wheat flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl, and then added the liquid ingredients one tablespoon at a time until the dough came together and was a little sticky. Then I covered the bottom of our spring form pan with a piece of baking parcment, greased the sides with a little margarine, and pressed the crust in the pan. I baked the crust in 175 degrees Celsius for about 14 minutes, until just lightly browned, and let it cool down while I prepared the filling.

The Filling:

• 4 dl mango puree (unsweetened, or pureed fresh mangoes)
• 1 dl sultanas
• juice and zest of one lime
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain soy yogurt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 dl water
• 2 teaspoons agar agar powder

FIrst, I placed the mango puree, sultanas, lime zest, and soy yogurt in a mixing bowl, and let the mixture come to room temperature for about fifteen minutes. This made the sultanas soften up a little bit as well. Then I blended the filling with an immersion blender until the sultanas were all mashed up. Now I seasoned the filling with lime juice and sugar, alternating between a squeeze of juice and a tablespoon of sugar, until the balance was just right – not too tart and just sweet enough.

I heated the water in a small cooking pan, and when it was almost boiling, sprinkled the agar agar powder in the pan, whisking all the time. The mixture thickened almost immediately, but I kept on whisking for a few seconds to make sure all of the agar had dissolved, and then removed the pan from heat.

I scraped the agar mixture out of the pan and poured it in the mango bowl, whisking whisking whisking away as vigorously as I could to avoid lumps. Now, I poured the filling in the crust, covered the pie with plastic wrap, and immediately placed it in the fridge to chill for 5 hours – overnight would be even better. It is important that the pie isn’t moved once the filling starts to thicken, or it won’t set properly.

Once the pie was set, we enjoyed our slices with a generous scoop of vanilla soy ice cream.

The crust is speckled from the coarse muscovado sugar we use.

We made our pasha with Estonian soy quark and soy whip cream, but I think plain soy yogurt, soy cream cheese, and soy sour cream would be great substitutes. We buy our soy quark from an Estonian grocery Eestin Herkut, or from the all-vegan grocery shop Asoka, both in Kallio. Traditional pasha is made in a special pasha mold that has a pyramidal shape, but since we don’t have one, we just used a fine sieve and got a nice round pasha instead.

This is what we used (serves 4-5):

• 2 dl vegan whip cream (GoGreen Vispi)
• 300 g soy quark (SoSoja lemon vanilla)
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 dl almonds, toasted and finely chopped or ground
• 1 dl candied citron (sukaatti in Finnish)
• 1/2 dl chopped sultanas
• grated peel of one orange
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

We first whisked together the soy quark, soy whip cream, and margarine, until the mixture was smooth, and then added the rest of the ingredients and mixed thoroughly. Now, it’s important to check the taste: it should be both tart and sweet, and finding the right balance between the two depends on the soy products used and the sweetness of the dried fruit. The flavors will deepen when the pasha sits in the fridge overnight, but at this point it might be necessary to add a hint of lemon juice if the mixture is too sweet.

Now, we covered a fine sieve with a layer of cheese cloth, and spooned the pasha mixture in the sieve. Then we placed the sieve over a deep bowl and covered with a lid, and placed the bowl in the fridge to let our pasha drain overnight.

The next day, we removed the bowl from the fridge, removed the sieve, and covered it with a serving plate, making sure that no cheesecloth remained under the rims of the sieve. Now we turned the whole thing upside down to plate our pasha. We peeled the cheesecloth, decorated the pasha with citron and sultanas, and devoured it with a cup of strong black Russian tea.

This sorbet melts really quickly, since its texture depends on the icy frozen berries, so it must be served immediately after making. We always use our immersion blender for this, but some blenders might not be sturdy enough for the job, so it’s important to proceed cautiously.

Instant Sorbet:

• 3 dl frozen strawberries (or raspberries, or blueberries)
• 1 to 1 and 1/2 dl soy yogurt (or soy milk, or fruit purée)
• 3 tablespoons agave (or other light) syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or lime zest, or a thin slice of ginger)

We just measure everything in a small bowl, and use our immersion blender to purée until smooth.

The basic version can be varied indefinitely – a sorbet made of strawberries with mango purée and a slice of fresh ginger is especially delicious!