Vegan Temptations

Today I tried my first recipe from my new book, "Vegan with a Vengeance": Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondies. Pretty darn good. I did find that I needed to use a smaller pan than the specified 9 x 13 inch pan, which made my blondies a little thick, but the taste was still lovely. The center was fruity and chocolatey at the same time and the crust was nice and crunchy. The sprinkling of chocolate chips really finished it off. Yum!

I'm having a great time reading this book. Isa Chandra Moskowitz is one cool chick and it feels like cooking with your best friend. In a way, Nigella's books make me feel the same, but the difference is that Nigella is less likely to call something "kick- ass". Anyhow, the book starts of with yummy brunch recipes such as Lemon Corn Waffles with Blueberry Sauce, Banana-Pecan Pancakes and Sweet Potato Hash with Five-Spice and Watercress. I'm sure these will go down well with everyone out there, but I'm iffy about offering the Tempeh Bacon or Scrambled Tofu to pickier omnivores. That being said, the rest of the chapters offer lovely muffins and scones, soups, sandwiches, pizzas and pastas, main meals, and desserts which are sure to please all.




Here's the recipe for those blondies!

Makes 16 bars

6 oz container plain or vanilla soy yogurt
¼ cup rice milk
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 ¾ cups flour
1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

For raspberry layer
2 cups frozen raspberry
3 tablespoons tapioca flour (you can substitute arrowroot or cornstarch)
¼ cup cold water
1/3 cup sugar

*or*
about 8 oz raspberry preserves

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350, lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.

Prepare the raspberry layer
In a sauce pan combine all ingredients and stir until the tapioca flour is dissolved. Bring to a boil and then lower to a low boil, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat.

Prepare the blondie layer

In a mixing bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, rice milk, oil, vanilla and sugar. In batches, mix the flour into the wet mixture to form a dough. Set aside 1 cup of the dough and spread the rest into the baking pan. Spread the raspberry layer over it. Sprinkle ½ of the chocolate chips over the raspberry layer. With the remaining dough, drop by spoonfuls over the Crumble the remaining dough, in about ½ teaspoon dropfuls, over the chocolate chips. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over that. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.