Almond Biscotti

Biscotti are Italian twice baked biscuits (cookies) that are dry and crunchy. They are the classic dunking biscuit (cookie). Traditionally, they are served with espresso or dessert wine, but they can also be dunked in milk. With commercialization, biscotti now come in all sizes, with a variety of additions including chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit and more.

These biscotti are easy to make and crammed packed full of flavor and almonds. You can spruce up this basic recipe by substituting the almonds

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Coconut, Rum & Raisin Ice Cream – Vegan

I can’t believe I’ve been sitting on this recipe for over a month. It needs to be shared!

From around 2000, I’ve always had this thing about coconut ice cream. It was only then, it started becoming readily available within the UK supermarkets. T, a Thai friend of mine, could never understand why I was ranting and raving about it so much. She said that coconut ice cream – blurgh… it’s all over Thailand!

It’s taken me over 10 years to make my own! I grabbed out my vegan scoop ice cream book and modified a recipe accordingly.

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Banana and Hazelnut Muffins – Gluten-Free & Vegan

These muffins were intended to be flavored with banana and walnuts… only I didn’t have any walnuts, so made do with the hazelnuts in my pantry. The recipe was created to use up the bananas in my freezer, and to free up some space in preparation for Christmas/New Year.

The results were awesome! These muffins easy to make, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan-friendly, fluffy, banana-ry, nutty and ~165 calories each! Enjoy them in packed lunches,

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Grapefruit Ice Cream – Vegan

Here’s a not-so-familiar ice cream flavor to tantalize your taste buds: grapefruit.  You never see this flavor when made with dairy. I’m assuming the tartness of the grapefruit would split the cream/custard base. Anyhoo, being of vegan and dairy-free variety, we don’t have that problem. The resulting ice cream is refreshing, creamy and bitterly like grapefruit. It’s a wonderful change from the overly sweet grapefruit sorbets that you may find in shops.

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Real Vanilla Ice Cream – Vegan

As you may have noticed, I’ve been quite engrossed in making ice creams over the last couple of months. Since summer has abruptly ended, and Autumn (Fall) is now here, this has to stop!

The change in season fills me with a little sadness, but also with a little joy. Sadness because the long, warm summer days will turn into long cold, dark and rainy nights, and the abundance of wonderful summer produce is now all but gone. Joy because the autumn brings the most beautiful colors in the Pacific Northwest, the trees are tinged with reds, auburns and yellows;

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Toasted Black Sesame (Goma) Ice Cream – Vegan

Ever since I ordered black sesame jin dui (fried sesame glutinous rice balls) at a dim sum restaurant in Vancouver B.C., J has been slightly obsessed with the aromatic flavor of black sesame seeds. He refused to eat any jin dui stuffed with red bean paste! I, on the other hand, am no stranger to the wonderful aromas of black sesame seeds. One of my favorite desserts is sweet black sesame soup.

When I saw the recipe for “black sesame ice cream” in my latest test book “The Vegan Scoop”, I just had to try it! I adapted the recipe by toasting

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Perfect Pistachio Ice Cream – Vegan

There are so many food items, especially vegan/dairy-free foodstuffs that contain either xanthan gum or guar gum. I used to avoid xanthan gum, because I knew it was most likely derived from corn, one of the highest GMO crops produced in the US. I now avoid both xanthan and guar gum because I have discovered that I am allergic to them.

I have a love for ice cream. It was one of the things I missed immensely when I gave up US dairy (due to allergies to organic dairy). A lot of dairy-free/vegan ice creams

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Dutch Ginger Spice Cake (Gember Kruidkoek)

This delicious loaf is perfect for ginger lovers. It’s not like a traditional cake; it’s more like a chewy bread. It’s dense, lightly sweet, nicely spiced, low in fat and exceptionally gingery, and is perfect for vegan or dairy-free individuals. To serve, the loaf should be sliced thinly and enjoyed with lashings of butter/vegan buttery spread.

J loves this type of ginger cake, as much as the traditional honingkoek. We could purchase

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Dark Chocolate Sorbet – Vegan

I think it’s pretty safe to say that almost everyone loves ice cream. The only problem is that over the years, a lot of people have developed intolerances/allergies towards dairy, or simply choose to be dairy-free. Whichever of these categories you fit into, I’m sure you miss ice cream!

I love ice cream, but as you know, I have developed allergies towards American dairy. Imported European dairy is fine… I can easily eat 100 g (about ¼ lb) cheese in one sitting with no side effects.

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Oaty Banana and Walnut Waffles

This waffle is just begging to be drenched in syrup… can you hear it?

I created these waffles to use up the ripe bananas that were stashed away in my freezer. It was also an excuse to come up with a new waffle/pancake recipe. I have included vegan options below.

It amazes me how many different types of pre-made packet mixes are available these days. They are essentially a mix of flours, where you still need to beat in the wet ingredients. I guess many people think the packet mixes save time, but I really don’t see that.  The good thing when you make your own batter is that you can control what you put into it, and adjust everything to taste.

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