Scraps and Snippets ~ Layered Cheesecake Jars

Layered Cheesecake Jars

1 Package (20 ounce) pulverized Oreos or equivalent Jo-Jo's (you just want the crumbs, but I did leave the middles intact so it was a moister crumb and was easier to do since I didn’t have to crack them open and scrape out the middle.

Sprinkle half the crumbs into the bottoms of 12 ramekins or small juice glasses or jelly jars. (I seriously use glass votive holders.) Set the remainder of the crumbs aside.

1 container of Vegan cream cheese (8 ounces)

1 Can full fat coconut milk (cream only after chilling for several days,  discard or reuse water or use Trader Joe’s which is creamy from the get go and has very little water)

¾ Cup of sugar (powdered or regular)

pinch of salt

splash of vanilla

3 TBSP of add in. 

(These are the Add-ins: Peanut Butter, orange marmalade, raspberry, strawberry or cherry preserves or jam, or crushed candy canes. Or cookie dough, or crushed Oreos,  or 2 TBSP melted chocolate chips and 1 TBSP instant coffee, or ???? what have you always wanted to put into cheesecake covered with Oreo crumbs?)

Mix the cream cheese, whipped cream and sugar together with a pinch of salt and a splash of vanilla. When completely mixed, add the add ins and whir away or stir in.

Dollop evenish amounts of the cream over the bottom crumb crusts. Top with the remaining crumbs and chill until serving. Chill at least 2 hours.

Take it to the next level. If you are making peanut butter cheesecake jars  mix together pretzel bits, peanuts and crushed peanut butter cups (a TBSP or 2 each would be plenty) with the Oreo crumbs and top them with the mixture (you could do the bottom crumbs that way, too). If you are using strawberry jam you could dip fresh strawberries in chocolate and set one on top of the crust topping in each cup/jar. If you are using cookie dough add a few little cookie dough balls to the top of the desserts.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Chocolate Fudge Cake Two Ways.

 This is the chocolate fudge decadent cake I made for my brother and sister-in-laws' wedding in October. It was dense, fudge, moist and delicious. All that was left on the plate was a few smears. 

A week or so later the little kids and I whipped up a batch as cupcakes. Delicious. Even after the near misses that happen when 7, 5 and 3 year olds are involved in a baking process. And even though the batch made enough cupcakes we had some several days out. 

Chocolate Fudge Cake and Cupcakes 

27-32 cupcakes (60ish mini cupcakes) or 3 round or 8 x 8 layers

2 1/2 Cups sugar

1 Cup and 2 TBSP of Earth Balance or coconut oil or mix

3 teaspoons baking powder

1+ teaspoon salt

1 Cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 Cups strong hot coffee

1 1/2 Cups milk of choice (chocolate soy or almond adds a nice punch)

1/2 Cup chocolate chips

3 TBSP apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

In small bowl place milk and vinegar, set aside. In an additional small bowl pour the hot coffee over the chocolate chips and stir on and off until they are melted, add vanilla and set aside. Cream butter substitute and sugar together. Add salt and baking powder and mix well. Add the milk and vinegar mixture and incorporate. Pour in chocolate mixture and mix and finally mix in the flour and stir until the flour is fully mixed in. 

Grease and flour pans or line cupcake pans. 

Preheat oven to 350. Pour the batter into the pans equally or fill the cupcake liners almost 2/3rds full. 

Bake 20-25 minutes testing the cake/cupcakes with a knife that should come out clean for cakes. Cupcakes bake for 15-18 minutes (mini cupcakes 12-14 minutes) 

Remove and let cool

Frosting. 

Ratios because I do something different every stinking time: 

Approximately 1 cup vegan butter, vegan cream cheese or shortening to 3 cups powdered sugar (for fudge frosting use 2/3 or to taste cup of cocoa for powdered sugar). A splash of vanilla (about 1 teaspoon) (if you want wedding frosting taste use a half splash of almond extract, too)  Mix well. Add more powdered sugar or cocoa if wet or if too stiff add a TBSP or so of non-dairy milk (or coffee if you are making fudge and want mocha frosting) until you get the consistency you want. 

When the cake or cupcakes are cooled, frost. For the raspberry wedding cake I had washed and dried 2 cups of raspberries and placed them on the frosted cake. I then melted 1 cup of chocolate chips in a heated 2/3 Cup of non-dairy milk. Then drizzle over the raspberries and cake layers. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Caramel Pumpkin Cake Roll

Next cake on the docket: 

Caramel Pumpkin Cake Roll

I found a recipe that I of course had to modify. Here's the original. I did a trial run and thought it was a little thin and I wanted a little more cake body. So I doubled and tweaked it to this. 

1 1/2 Cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch of cardamom   
1 pinch of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 Cup pureed pumpkin
2/3 Cup sugar
2/3 Cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 TBSP oil, melted coconut oil or melted Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the sugar with the oil, pumpkin, vanilla and spices. Blend well. Add salt and baking powder and stir completely. Blend in flour. 

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a 11 x 15 Jelly Roll pan. Place a piece of parchment paper over the pan. Spread the batter evenly over the parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. Poke with a knife and when it comes out clean, it's ready. 

Let cool for a few minutes. While cooling spread 1/4 cup of powdered sugar over the top of the cake and then cover the cake with a towel. Turn upside down and peel the parchment paper off the cake. Roll the cake, carefully, into a spiral. The towel is going to be taking the place of the frosting and it's going give the cake shape. 

Let cool on a cake rack (in the towel) for a couple of hours. The filling and frosting are: 

1/2 Cup Vegan cream cheese
1/2 Cup caramel (vegan recipe)
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 Cups powdered sugar
1 Cup flour (or you can use additional powdered sugar but the flour cuts the sweetness a little bit).

Blend together. 

Cinnamon sugar pecans for topping. 

1/2 Cup chopped pecans. 
1/2 TBSP sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a frying pan toss the pecans and toast over medium heat. Cook approximately 1 minutes and then add the sugar and stir until the pecans are coated. Add cinnamon and stir. 

Unwrap the cake. There may be some cracks. You will frost it so that doesn't really matter. Remove the towel. Spread frosting over the cake. Reroll. Spread the frosting over the top of the roll. Or pipe a design. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar pecans. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ German Chocolate Bundt Cake

I used a favorite chocolate bundt cake recipe from An Everyday Vegan and modified it. I've linked to her recipe and am sharing mine as I made it. Her's is delicious. So was mine. I will make a change next time though. I placed the "filling" on top of the batter thinking it would sink. Next time I'll simply pour in half the batter, add the filling and cover it with more batter. Simple fix. 

2 1/4 cups Whole Wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp vinegar

3/4 cup non-dairy milk

1/4 cup strong cold coffee
1/2 cup unsweetened natural apple sauce

Filling and Topping

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips divided
1 cup toasted coconut (see below)

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 TBSP sugar

1/2 TBSP cocoa

1 Cup non-dairy milk

Preheat to 350 degrees. 

Place coconut shreds on a pan. Place in oven and bake for 8 minutes. Stir and bake another 2, check for golden color. Remove from oven. Separate 1/4 cup for topping. Dump the remainder in a small bowl for filling. Add 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Set aside. Prepare pecans. In a frying pan over med to high heat toss pecans. Stir as you heat them and when aromatic (about a minute or so, add the sugar and cocoa and stir until sugar melts and nuts are coated, about a minute or two.) Let the nuts cool for 5 mins then separate 3/4 cup into the filling bowl and 1/4 (approx) with the remaining coconut for the topping. Prepare your bundt pan with oil/margarine etc, then flour. If your bundt pan is silicone a thin layer of grease should be plenty. 

Mix the vinegar with the milk in a large bowl. Let sit for a few minutes. Add the cooled coffee, sugar, oil and cocoa powder and stir well. Pour in the baking powder, salt and applesauce and incorporate. Add vanilla and stir. Completely mix in the flour. 

Pour the one half of the batter into the prepared bundt cake pan. Using a spoon scoop the chocolate chip/coconut/pecan mixture into the center trying to stay away from the sides. Cover with the remaining batter.  Bake for 40 minutes in the middle of the oven. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes. Turn the pan over onto a plate.

Heat the cup of non-dairy milk in a saucepan. Remove from the heat, pour in the remaining chocolate chips (1/2 cup) and stir until melted. Let sit for 10 minutes or so. Pour over the cooled cake and top with the remaining pecan/toasted coconut mixture.  

Scraps and Snippets ~ Pinterest Inspiration ~ Cookie Pizza (Vegan)

Cookie Pizza. This kind of tastes like the best donut/cookie ever.

Pizza dough for one pizza. (I used Trader Joe’s pre made which was perfect for the job.)

Cookie Dough (Recipe I used below) use your favorite. You’ll need approximately a half batch size. Get creative by using peanut butter, sugar, snickerdoodle, brownie, etc. I used chocolate chip.

Caramel Sauce (Recipe Below)

Chocolate Ganache (Below)

Cream Cheese Icing (Recipe Below).

Preheat oven to 400 - 425 (use temperature your pizza dough suggests)

I used parchment paper with a round pizza pan. I’d suggest that parchment paper is a great choice. If not I’d grease the pan. Press the dough into a circle or rectangle and leave it about a ½ inch thick overall. Press flat but don’t stretch, you want a little bready texture.

Press your blobs of cookie dough directly onto the pizza dough leaving a pizza dough around the outside edge. You want the blobs to be normal cookie dough blobs with less space in between and pressed down a little so they meet.

Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes and check. If cookie dough is semi-baked (you want gooey but not soupy) and pizza crust edge browning, it’s safe to remove it. If not give it another 5 minutes of so and check again.

Remove from oven and let cool ten minutes.

Drizzle with caramel sauce, the ganache, and then squirt on the icing.

Cookie Dough (this is a half recipe)

1/4 Cup room temperature coconut oil or softened Earth Balance

1/3 Cup sugar

1/3 Cup brown sugar

1 egg substitute of choice

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 Cup flour

1 /3 Cup chocolate chips

Cream coconut oil and sugar. Add baking powder, salt, egg and mix well. Add milk and vanilla and stir completely. Pour in flour and stir well.

Caramel Sauce Recipe

2 cups sugar (brown or white)

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup agave nectar or corn syrup

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

1 1/2 T. Earth Balance or coconut oil

pinch of salt

Over medium high heat bring the sugar, corn syrup/honey/agave and water to a boil while stirring very well to dissolve the sugar. Turn heat to low and simmer approximately 11-12 minutes until the color changes. Stir frequently. Remove heat. Add (carefully as the mixture is very hot) the milk, Earth Balance and salt and stir until smooth.

This makes approx 1 and ½ Cups. (You can halve the recipe if you want)

Ganache: Melt 1 cup chocolate chips with ⅓ cup non-dairy milk or full fat coconut milk.

Icing. Mix 2 - 3 ounces of non-dairy cream cheese with 2 cups of powdered sugar (if you want chocolate replace ⅓ cup of powdered sugar with ⅓ cup cocoa powder. Mix until combined. Add a splash of vanilla and stir well. If too thick add a splash of non-dairy milk and mix and repeat to get the consistency you are looking for.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread. Yes. Seriously. OVER THE TOP

Uh. This is pretty easy. And stinking decadent. I mean. It rocks in the worst way, as in it is a sugar slap upside the head and the little cinnamon crunch balls slide down oh so easy. 

Good Morning Sunshine Super Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread (realistically serves 6-10) (If it’s all you are making plan on 6.)

2 Cans of vegan friendly (TJ's) cinnamon rolls (12+ ounces). (You could try homemade rolls with similar results I'm guessing.)

½ Cup melted earth balance or coconut oil

1 Cup sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon together in one bowl. In another melt the Earth Balance or coconut oil.

Prepare a bundt pan with a good greasing. Preheat the oven to 350. Remove the cinnamon rolls. Set the frosting packets aside. Place the cinnamon roll sections on a cutting board. Slice each roll into four segments. Basically cut in half and then in half the other way. Don’t worry. They will start to fall apart a bit. Take each fourth and dip in melted "butter" then sugar and cinnamon mixture and drop into bundt pan. If the sections fall apart that’s okay. When it bakes they will all come together. Keep going until the rolls are all coated and stuck in the pan. If there is butter sub or sugar/cinnamon left just pour over the rolls. Place in oven and bake for 30-33 minutes. If you want, pull out a small piece from the middle after 28 or so minutes. You don’t want overdone but doughy is nasty. You should see bubbling caramelly deliciousness and smell cinnamon sugar. When baked remove from oven and allow to sit 10 minutes. Place plate over pan and flip so the bundt cake slides out onto the plate.

Cool another 5 min then drizzle (cut the tip off or puncture and squeeze) one frosting packet over the top of the monkey bread. Cut the tip off or puncture the second frosting packet and set aside for those who want more frosting.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Caramelly Chocolate Chip Double Layer Brownies

Caramelly Chocolate Chip Double Layer Brownies (These aren't healthy on any front...but they are delicious!!!!) 

1 and 1/2 sticks Earth Balance (3/4 Cup or 3/4 Cup coconut oil)
1 1/3 Cup sugar
2 TBSP egg replacer (I used Ener-G DIY homemade)
6 TBSP water or non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 Cup cocoa
1 2/3 Cup flour
1/3 chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 x 13. Mix Earth Balance and sugar until blended. Add cocoa, egg replacer and water/milk, vanilla and mix well, add salt, baking powder and vanilla and stir. Pour in flour and mix. It will be thick and more like cookie dough. Press into pan. Bake for 23-26 minutes. I believe I'll try it in an 8 x 11 and bake it for 10 minutes more and see how it does in a thicker brownie.

CARAMEL TOPPING LAYER

1/2 Cup plus 1 TBSP room temperature coconut oil (or Earth Balance)
1 1/3 Cup sugar
2 TBSP egg replacer (I used Ener-G DIY recipe)
6 TBSP So Delicious vanilla or original coconut milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 /3 Cup flour
2/3 Cup chocolate chips1 Cup Oatmeal
1 Cup chopped pecans (or other nuts or none at all) 


Cream the sugar, coconut oil, milk and egg replacer. Add baking powder and salt and mix well. Add vanilla and stir. Stir in flour until blended and finally add the chocolate chips and oatmeal. 

Plop caramel/chocolate chip layer on top of brownies.

Bake 35-38 minutes.

Scraps and Snippets ~ German Chocolate Puppy Chow or Poopies (Vegan)

If you like coconut and chocolate and delicious crunch...you might want to make this ASAP... Leave out the pecans if you want and use more coconut for pure chocolate/coconut magic. This is amazing and doesn't feel or taste weird or vegan or healthy. It is decadent. Make sure your ingredients are vegan (i.e. powdered sugar and semi-sweet chocolate chips if this is important to you.) (If your cereal choice is gluten free, these will be, too.)

German Chocolate Poopies (German Chocolate Puppy Chow)  

Serves 4 - 8

3/4 Cup toasted coconut

3/4 Cup toasted pecan pieces

3 1/2 Cups cereal (rice or corn chez or mix of cereals)

¼ Cup coconut oil

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (This can be decreased. I only had about 3/4 of a cup the last time I made it and so I added an additional 3/4 cup of toasted coconut the bag with the powdered sugar...they weren't as well coated, but still tasted amazing.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Dump the coconut and chopped pecans on a baking sheet (lightly oil if the coconut is sweetened) Place in oven and toast approximately 10 minutes. Check at 7 to make sure the coconut is not browning too much. You will be able to smell the nuts. You want the coconut golden.
2. In double boiler or microwave melt coconut oil and chocolate chips. Add toasted nuts, coconut and cereal and stir until all coated in chocolate.
3. Pour powdered sugar into large plastic bag, the chocolate mixture to the bag and shake until all is coated. Place in fridge for an hour or so to harden the chocolate. If there is any left you will want to store it in an airtight container.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Fudgy, Chewy Brownies AKA Panic Brownies

I had about 5 minutes to find a brownie recipe on Friday. My day had gone differently than I had planned and I had just enough time to whip up brownies, get em baked and get out the door. I looked through 5 vegan cookbooks trying to find one. They were in there...but each called for time consuming or unavailable or texture tweaking ingredients like coffee, espresso powder, tofu, two different fat sources, bittersweet chocolate, maple syrup etc.  Sometimes brownies are cake-like anyway so I didn't want to gamble on texture. I grabbed a traditional 1,000 recipe cookbook and spied a blondie recipe. Since I wanted the chewy of a blondie, I thought that would be a definite, but I needed chocolate. 

The blondie recipe was kind of the inspiration for these brownies as the time wound down to nothing. I say inspiration because I changed every single ingredient. Seriously. And this is what came out. And they were delicious. This might be THE brownie go to recipe. A huge plus for this on that particular evening was that they were a thinner batch that didn't need to bake for 40 minutes. 

Panic Brownies

1 and 1/2 sticks Earth Balance (3/4 Cup)

1 1/3 Cup sugar

2 TBSP egg replacer (I used EnerG)

6 TBSP water or non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 Cup cocoa

1 2/3 Cup flour

1/3 chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 x 13. Mix Earth Balance and sugar until blended. Add cocoa, egg replacer and water/milk, vanilla and mix well, add salt, baking powder and vanilla and stir. Pour in flour and mix. It will be thick and more like cookie dough. Press into pan. Bake for 23-26 minutes. I believe I'll try it in an 8 x 11 and bake it for 10 minutes more and see how it does in a thicker brownie.

Frost with failed Easter candies experiment. (Ha. Ha.) That's what I did. Unfortunately,  I'm not able to recreate that easily. Nor do I want to. 

A simple chocolate ganache or frosting would be great.  

Serials and Scenarios ~ Fran Costigan's Vegan Chocolate Cookbook Review

A publisher sent a copy of Fran Costigan's Vegan Chocolate for my review and opinions. This cookbook is gorgeous coffee table art. The photos and recipe titles are drool worthy. 

So much chocolate, so much eye candy. 

I flipped through the book, almost afraid to touch the pages, they are that beautiful. I also set it aside until I felt brave enough to cook from it. 

Seriously, this is a real deal cookbook. Gourmet treatment, serious attention to detail. These are recipes to make when you want to knock someone's socks off. I didn't have an event planned or opportunity coming up that required a beautiful, glorious dessert of this caliber. Just like I look at Julia Child's epic cookbook as above my skill levels, Vegan Chocolate intimidated me. 

Then I got a touch of cabin fever. I've spent the last two weeks doing a whole lot of resting trying to kick a viral hybrid of yuck. And Sunday afternoon I decided I needed to do some cooking. So I flipped through this gem and picked some recipes for which I had the ingredients. This was a challenge based on the whole two weeks virus thing. I haven't been spending much time in the grocery store. 

For my experiences with the recipes and my opinions keep reading. 

Recipe 1... Graham Crackers. Store bought graham crackers are sure nice and convenient when you can find a vegan version. However, they don't touch the flavor of homemade. And honestly, these are delicious. I didn't get fancy and cut disks and make them cute like in the cookbook, I ran my knife over the flat sheet of dough and poked some holes. Nothing gourmet on my end. But this is an easy recipe and one that is the base for her Magic Cookie Bars, Smores and Moon Pies. I can only imagine how off the charts those are going to be based on how great the other desserts were. 

Recipe 2... Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies. I dare anyone to guess these are vegan. No way. These are chewy, crispy, chocolatey and delicious. The recipe doesn't make a huge batch and that is probably good. Just sayin. 

Recipe 3...Almond Cookie Crust. I put this together for a base for a chocolate cream pie made with her chocolate pudding. Let me talk about the crust. Yum. It would be a delicious base for just about any filling you could come up with. Cookieish and pie crustish at the same time and tasty. 

Recipe 4... Okay. The piece du resistance. Almost Instant Chocolate Pudding. Holy moly. Wow. This took me back to 8th grade Home Ec when I struggled over home cooked pudding. The horror of eggs being put in the pudding was replaced by finally getting it cooked without floaty nastiness...once. This Almost Instant Chocolate Pudding tasted so much better with no eggs and it really was easy. Easy. And honestly...so delicious. I consider the price tag on this book worth it for that recipe alone. It set up amazingly as chocolate cream pie. I can't wait to serve it for guests down the road. Off the charts creamy and decadently chocolately. 

With these recipes turning out to be so delicious I can't wait to try others. Yes. This cookbook calls for some ingredients you might not have in your cupboard. Yes there are steps to many of them that seem intimidating. But with results like I got, I am so ready to embrace vegan gourmet chocolate desserts that could absolutely make an omnivore weak in the knees. If you are tempted by this book, I don't think you'll be sorry for hitting "add to cart." 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Marigold Cheesecake Bars

I suggest making this the full day before to let the flavors marry fully and to make the cake the perfect serving texture. This recipe will serve 12 in bar form or 20 in the cupcake version (I suggest silicone cupcake liners. I’m guessing paper will stand up just fine, too, but I didn’t try that scenario out.)  I’m also suggesting possible add-in’s just for the fun of it.

Marigold Cheesecake

10 Golden Oreos (complete) or Vanilla Jo-Jos

10 Golden Oreos or Jo-Jo outside cookies (for a total of 20 outside cookie disks)  (Scrape the middles into a bowl for the filling).

1 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil

In a food processor whir the 10 whole cookies, twenty cookie shells and 1 TBSP of butter or coconut oil.

Press the mixture into a 8 x 11 pan.

Or to go even easier. Place one cookie shell on the bottom of a cupcake liner. Fill 20 cupcake liners. Scrape the middles into a bowl for the next step. In this scenario you only need 10 total cookies.

Filling:

Move the bowl of the cookie middles to front and center. To them add:

8 ounces cream cheese (I use TJ's Not Cream Cheese)

1 TBSP orange marmalade

Zest and juice from 1/2 an orange (you could also replace this with 2 more TBSP of orange marmalade)

1/4 Cup powdered sugar

Whip with mixer or food processor.

Fold in:

2 Cups whipped coconut cream. (1 can full fat coconut without water) (-- if you don't know how to do this it's simple. Get a can of full fat coconut milk (I love Trader Joe's - put in fridge for at least 2 days if using another brand.) Open and scrape out the solid, leaving the water behind for another purpose (smoothies, Thai cooking) Whip into creaminess with your mixer. Toss in a few TBSP of powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla if you desire. That's it.

Spoon over crust in pan or cookie half in cupcake liner  and refrigerate until set. Several hours or overnight is even better.

Additions and Wows: 

Stir in additional broken cookie bits if desired. Or add craisins, or both.  Switch out the crust for chocolate sandwich cookies and add mini chocolate chips to the filling. Make a drizzle out of melted chocolate chips and marmalade or raspberry seedless jam,  2 TBSP chips melted with 1 TBSP jam/marmalade. Place in a zipper bag and cut the corner off and squeeze over the bars/cupcakes.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert...

10 Oreos (whole, including filing) or Trader Joe's Jo-Jos

10 Oreos or Jo Jo cookies (This is 10 whole cookies equaling 20 cookie shells. Scrape the middles into a bowl for the filling).

1 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil

In a food processor whir the 10 whole cookies, twenty cookie shells and 1 TBSP of Earth Balance or coconut oil.

Press the mixture into a 7 x 11, 8 x 11, 9 x 11 or 8 x 8 square pan. 

Filling:

Move the bowl of the cookie middles to front and center. Pop the middles into the food processor or mixer bowl. To them add:

8 ounces cream cheese (I used Trader Joe's Not Cream Cheese) 

3 TBSP Strawberry Jam (I used organic) 

1/4 Cup powdered sugar

Whip with mixer or food processor. 

Fold into: 

1 can whipped coconut cream. I use Trader Joe's again. You don't have to let this one chill as long as other brands and it's mostly coconut cream whereas others are almost 1/3 water. To prepare, Scrape the thick cream into a mixing bowl. Add a couple of TBSP of powdered sugar. Beat until the consistency of whipped cream, make sure to scrape the bowl frequently. 

Spoon over crust and refrigerate until ready to serve. I've decided the day before you are going to serve is perfect because everything sets up fabulously. 

This is a not too sweet dessert. Several omnivores scarfed it down at my house recently. My mother-in-law who lives with a cook who makes all sorts of deliciousness commented that I could bring it to her house anytime because it was delicious. 

I loved it because it was stinking easy to make and satisfying. My daughter-in-law who hates/detests/grosses out over coconut ate every bite. The coconut flavor is a subtle undertone. If you wanted it a little more strawberry or sweet you could add one more TBSP jam. Also I intended to make a strawberry chocolate drizzle (melt 2 TBSP chocolate chips in double boiler with 1 TBSP of jam. Place in a ziploc with corner cut off and drizzle over the dessert. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Sweetheart Mousse Cups (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter or Raspberry

Chocolate Cups

¾ Cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ to 1 TBSP of coconut oil or Earth Balance

20-24 small foil mini-muffin or candy cups or silicone mini cupcake liners

or 1 dozen large (don’t try it with paper or greased muffin tins. Trust me, I tried the muffin tin thing. (I didn’t try the paper but I’m pretty sure that would be real bad.)  You can remelt the chocolate like I did if you don’t take my word for it on the muffin tin thing.)

Or you could use a base of crushed Oreos/coconut oil or Earth Balance... NOTE: these fillings would also work as pie or bars with a cookie crust. I'd suggest making the filling/pie a full day before planning to serve as the coconut cream will stiffen the longer it is refrigerated.

Melt oil over a double boiler, add chips and stir until all melted. Dollop some of the chocolate mixture into each cup and swirl until it covers the sides and bottom of the cup. (Fill about ½ to ¾ full) Place these into the freezer for 20 minutes and then put into the refrigerator.

Then get creative on your fillings.

1 can of full fat coconut milk for starters. (see below)

To make the coconut cream is kind of fun and easy and if you are a coconut fan. This stuff is mildly coconut flavored and decadent. You have to plan ahead or live near a Trader Joe’s. Full fat coconut milk comes in cans. Thai Kitchen makes one as does Geisha, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. You have to chill the can in the refrigerator for three days for the fat part of the milk to separate and harden. (Trader Joe’s usually is so much cream that you don’t have to chill for long.) You will open the can, scrape the white creamy goodness into a mixing bowl. Save the liquid portion for any Thai dishes you might like to cook or smoothies.

You will use the whipper attachment on your mixer and whip the cream into just that, whipped cream. Don’t add sugar yet, that comes next. (If you want to serve plain coconut cream chocolate cups you can add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla at this point and be done.)

Otherwise you can divide the whipped cream into three different containers if you want to tackle all three (I’m giving the ⅓ recipes below but will do the math and do a whole batch or half batch, too)

Peanut Butter Mousse  

⅓ of the coconut cream

1 and ½ TBSP of peanut butter

2 teaspoons of maple syrup or agave

Mix

(whole batch)

Whole can of prepared coconut cream

Rounded ¼ cup peanut butter

2 TBSP maple syrup or agave

(half batch)

Half batch of prepared coconut cream

1 TBSP maple syrup or agave

⅛ Cup peanut butter

Berry or Fruity Mousse

⅓ batch of prepared coconut cream

3 TBSP favorite jam or jelly ( I used seedless raspberry)

Mix well

(whole batch)

Heaped ½ cup favorite jam or jelly

Whole batch prepared coconut cream

(half batch)

¼ cup of favorite jelly or jam

½ a batch of prepared coconut cream

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mousse

⅓ batch of coconut cream

1 TBSP flour

1 ½ TBSP brown sugar

⅛ tsp of salt

¼ tsp of vanilla

1-2 TBSP chocolate chips

Mix well

(whole batch)

1 whole batch of coconut whipped cream

3 TBSP flour

rounded ¼ cup of brown sugar

rounded ¼ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon of vanilla

¼ cup of chocolate chips

(half batch)

Half a batch of prepared coconut cream

1 ½ TBSP flour

⅛ cup of brown sugar

rounded ⅛ teaspoon of salt

⅓ teaspoon vanilla

⅛ cup of chocolate chips

A full batch will make enough to fill all the chocolate cups with a tiny bit left over. Depending on how many different flavors you choose, use quart size or 1 gallon sized zipper top bag and fill them with your flavors. Make a few days ahead if you want. When ready snip the corner off the bag (big enough that a chocolate chip can slip through but not much bigger). Squirt the mousse filling into the chocolate cups.