I call these spring-clean cookies because I baked these to use up the health foods/ baking ingredients I have haha. I recently packed my kitchen cupboards and realised that I have lots of ingredients bought over the years. Lots of which are impulse buys from iHerb lolol ^^; 

They've been untouched for many months/years (oops) and now I'm trying to use the still-working ones up within the next 2 months because I'll be going to Brisbane to study in February.

(Also by the way I still have a couple posts left for Tokyo hahaha omg but I was busy the last few weeks and it's been so long since the trip so I don't have any more feel to write them)

These cookies are inspired by livelearnloveeat.com and heavily adapted. The main point of these is to use up a recently-bought-but-neglected bag of wheat germ in my freezer haha. I also managed to clear some whole wheat flour, date paste, cacao nibs and Sweet Williams chocolate spread with this ^^

I think these tasted decent but it'll be better if I used chocolate chips/ sweet cacao nibs instead of regular cacao nibs! Also, thankfully my wheat germ wasn't bitter or rancid - if it is it should be thrown away because it's more harmful than beneficial.

 I used a cookie dough scoop for this - the mixture didn't expand at all lol. The texture is dense, as you'd expect from a oat cookie.

I made large cookies too ^^

Cacao Wheat Germ Cookies

Makes 24 3-bite cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1 cup quick oats (or rolled oats pulsed in food processor)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup cacao nibs/chocolate chips/dried fruit
• 3/4 cup date paste*
• 1/2 cup tofu puree** (blend silken tofu until smooth)
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk/water
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Optional: chocolate drizzle

*Date paste/jam: Soak pitted dates in hot water for 10 mins. Blend drained dates until a smooth paste is formed. Store in the fridge or freezer.

**If you prefer more fat in your cookies replace some/all of the tofu puree with oil.

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together wheat germ, oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and cacao nibs.
2. In a food processor, blend date paste, tofu puree, non-dairy milk and vanilla extract until homogeneous.
3. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Stir until uniform or use a food processor.
4. Scoop dough onto a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 150 deg C for 13-15 mins.
5. Leave to cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.
6. Drizzle chocolate sauce onto cookies if desired. Enjoy!

I've not perfected this recipe yet, so it's 'inspiration' haha. It's made with oat flour (rolled oats pulsed in food processor) and it turned out a little too dense! It's just oat flour + mango + raspberries + water/mylk + baking powder + stevia.

It tasted good though - especially with the tart raspberry bits and sweet mango chunks! Perhaps I'll try it again next time with a flax/chia 'egg'.

Whoops I've not been churning out many blogposts in the last few months! Haha okay here's some updates of my life:

1. I'm going to New York City next week!!! Omg so excited to eat lotsa vegan food and go to the supermarkets (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods) and farmer's markets!!! I've been wanting to go for years (since I started my Instagram account and saw the vegan food in America!!) - back then Mum said that we can go after I finish poly - and wow can't believe I'll be there in 10 days!!!

2. I've started working! I've got 2 part-time flexi jobs - one at MyMaha as a Business Development & Community Assistant and another at Brownice! Both jobs are enjoyable - at least much more than the jobs I used to have years ago. Lol how did I get such bad jobs last time HAHA

3. I've started on my eCornell Plant-based Nutrition Course! Actually I've just started on the intro so I can't really tell if it's fun or helpful. I've got to put in quite a few more hours before my trip! I feel quite a lot of resistance to start studying because the last time I had to study for an exam was like.. half a year ago?

Oh and I'm also very happy watching Korean dramas and variety shows. My recent favourite is Healer, which is more action-packed and exciting than the usual love triangle/rectangle kinds!! Like City Hunter that type. I like it so much that it's one of the few that I don't mind re-watching! And I've recently finished watching Empress Ki - marathoned 51 episodes in 1 week lolol. So many things happened in the drama and the ending was sad D': Well I guess a sad ending is more refreshing and unusual than the typical happy endings!

Okay that's all for now! I'm off to do something productive (hopefully lolol).

My friend and I baked these last weekend for our supervisors/colleagues, since it was the last week of internship! :) This uses the same recipe as the Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake baked on Mother's Day, but it's more like the original recipe than my healthier version (..which you can eat for lunch and feel zero guilt haha!).

So yes this is intentionally unhealthy.

Everything was mixed in a food processor so it's really easy to make! 

For 30 tiny muffins: 2 1/2 cups plain flour + scant 2 cups sugar + scant 1 cup cocoa powder + 2 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp salt .....

Pulse until combined .....

 + 2 tsp vanilla extract + 2/3 cup olive oil + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar + about 2 cups water

Blend until it's smooth. It's thick and smooth like chocolate ganache! Tastes really good like this too hehe. It's very slightly salty but you won't be able to taste the salt after it's baked.

I used tiny souffle cups! Don't fill them up this much :x

We added a piece of dark chocolate on each one too!

It takes longer to bake than you'd think, probably because the batter is thick!

And it's done after baking for about 25 mins!

Some of them exploded haha

It turned out fluffier and less dense than my healthier version! And of course it's sweeter too hehe.

Baked it again for my other supervisor and a nice cleaner uncle! This time I pushed the piece of chocolate in a little with a chopstick, so it won't melt everywhere.

Baked some in slightly bigger sized souffle cups.

Note that the the texture of the cake will change a little depending on the type of sugar you use - coarser-grained sugar will give you a less smooth 'muffin top' than fine-grained sugar. Also, since there's more space between grains (lol how am I supposed to say this?) when you measure out coarser-grained sugar, it'll probably amount to less sugar - so don't add all the water at once lest the batter becomes too watery!

People liked it! ^^

It's scary how much sugar there is in this! There's like almost as much sugar as flour wow. And some of those who tried it said that it's not so sweet (though maybe the cocoa powder balanced it out). Imagine how much sugar they put into commercial cakes omg!!!!!!!

Easy Peasy Vegan Chocolate Muffins

NOTE: This recipe uses a 200ml = 1 cup measurement. If using a 250ml = 1 cup measurement, increase the baking soda, salt, vanilla extract and vinegar

Make 30 tiny muffins or about 18 medium muffins 

Recipe adapted from Instructables

For my healthier version & instructions for making this without a food processor, view this post

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cup plain flour
• scant 2 cups sugar
• scant 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups water at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or coconut vinegar)
• Optional: vegan dark chocolate

Method

1. Add the first 5 ingredients into a food processor/mixer. Pulse until combined.
2. Pour the last 3 ingredients and 1 cup of water into the processor. Blend.
3. Add more water until it reaches a thick and smooth consistency. 
4. Lightly oil muffin cups and fill each one about 3/4 up. Top with a piece of chocolate (optional).
5. In a preheated oven, bake at 150 deg C for 25-30 mins, or until a skewer poked into the center comes out clean.
6. Once done, remove from oven and leave to cool. 
7. Demolish.

PURPLE BREAD!

I love sweet potatoes. And bread. And naturally-coloured food.

This bread is slightly sweet, and more moist than my Anyhow Wholewheat Bread. (But if you want pillow-soft fluffy bread this isn't the recipe for you!) I did most of the mixing in my food processor, so it was really easy to make! My food processor comes with a plastic blade (for mixing and kneading bread) but I couldn't find it, so I just used the regular blade. Not something I'd recommend to do often since it might damage the blade, but it does the trick!

I've had this recipe printed out and kept in a folder of recipes. I think it's been there for at least 3 years LOL. And I finally used it yay!

I made lotsa changes - omitted the oil, used only wholewheat spelt flour, swapped honey for coconut sugar etc. But tell me if this recipe is originally yours and I'll credit you!

How coincidental that I printed this in purple ink. ^^

I steamed 3 small purple sweet potatoes and pureed them (with the skin). Added quite a bit of water to get it smooth, but it was still really thick!

This is what it looks like before the second rise.

Done! It's a small loaf.

Super happy with how it turned out! It wasn't mushy in the middle as I'd feared it'd be. :) I could've added more beans though!

Purple Sweet Potato Bread with Adzuki Bean Swirl

Makes one small loaf
Note that I used a 1dl cup (100ml) for measurements. It's alright if you don't have a food processor - a spatula and a pair of hands will work fine!

• 100ml lukewarm water or adzuki bean soup

• 2 tsp coconut sugar (+ more if desired)

• 2 tsp quick rise yeast

• 400ml wholewheat spelt flour (+ a little extra for dusting) 

• 100ml puréed purple sweet potato (made from about 1 small sweet potato + some water)

• pinch of sea salt

• handful of boiled adzuki beans

1. Combine water, 2 tsp coconut sugar and yeast in a food processor and pulse once to mix. 

2. When mixture gets slightly foamy, add in the salt. 

3. Add in the flour, 100ml at a time, processing after each 100ml.

4. After all the flour has been added, the dough should ball up in your food processor when processing.

5. Place the dough ball in a lightly floured bowl and cover. Allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

6. Punch the dough down after the first rise. Flour your hands, knead the dough a few times, and spread it out into a rectangle.

7. Press the adzuki beans into the dough. Cover every inch of available space with beans (but leave about a 1" wide strip at the edge furthest from you) for a more distinct swirl. Add some coconut sugar if you'd like a sweeter bread.

8. Roll the dough away from you and pat the left and right sides in. Place it seam side down into a lightly greased small bread pan (the one I used is from Daiso, 18x8.8x6cm or 7.1" x 3.5" x 2.4")

9. Cover and allow the dough to rise again.. until it looks like it won't rise anymore. About 45 mins to 1 hour.

10. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for about 30 mins. Leave to cool completely (I left mine to rest overnight) before slicing. Enjoy!


If you're interested in swirly bread, here's a Chocolate Sea-salt Cinnamon Swirl loaf recipe. :)

Who needs magnums when you can have these.

If you're shocked to find that these brownies are made of beans, then I'm shocked that you've not heard of them before. They're as common as cauliflower crust pizzas. Or chickpea blondies. Or kale chips. Lol. Anyway, you really don't taste the beans, trust me! :)

I've made black bean brownies quite a few times before, and they always turn out moist and fudgey! Previously I always used banana in the batter, but this time I used a very ripe pear and more medjool dates. If you have a food processor or blender, making it will be a breeze. This time I used a food processor (which I didn't have back then) and I didn't need to use as much liquid to get the blades turning. But the blender version is still good! ^^

View this post to see my other black bean brownie creations!

For these brownie pops, I simply poked a ice cream stick into each piece, froze it overnight, and added the toppings the next day. The drizzle of homemade chocolate hardens in to a crackly hard-shell once it touches the brownie. ^^

This first one on the left is topped with blueberries and strawberry bits. As you can see. Haha. The tartness of the berries complements the brownie well!

The middle one has banana bits, raw tahini and hemp seeds. Banana and chocolate is always a great combination; banana, chocolate and tahini is even better!

The third one is with a small scoop of Soyato's green tea ice cream! The ice cream tastes not bad, but my favourite will still have to be the Wickedly Chocolate flavour.

I feel so pleased with how my watermark (?) fits so perfectly on the ice cream stick. LOL.

I can't decide which my favourite topping is! They're all so easy to prepare too. :) Maybe I'll try a savoury topping next time hmmm.

Black Bean Brownies
Makes about 18 brownies

• heaped 1 1/2 cup cooked black beans (a 15 ounce can should work fine too, though I've not tried it)
• 1 medium (ripe) pear (or 1/3 cup applesauce or 1 medium banana)
• 8 large medjool dates, pulsed into a thick paste (add 1 tbsp water if needed)
• 3/4 cup black bean 'soup' (the water the beans are boiled in) or non-dairy milk or water
• heaped 1/4 cup raw cacao (or unsweetened cocoa)
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup oat flour (rolled oats pulsed in a food processor)
• Optional: chopped nuts/dried fruit

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Lightly oil an 8x10" pan and set aside.
2. Combine all ingredients, except oat flour, in a food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Add in oat flour and continue blending. Add nuts/ dried fruit (if using) and pour batter into pan. 
4. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
5. For frozen brownie pops, poke half an ice cream stick into each slice before placing in the freezer overnight. Top with desired toppings and enjoy.

I was bored one day at work last week and I chanced upon a Buzzfeed post on things to do with jars. JARS!! I have so many of them. So of course I had to read it. Hehe.

And I actually found something useful! Like after reading tons of articles and lists from time-wasting websites, this was the first idea I've actually used. LOL. This recipe for Single Serving Pie in a Jar from Our Best Bites looked so cute! I didn't exactly read it before I tried this though, the pictures were informative enough.

Plus I have so many jars that I've been too lazy to continue selling.. though if you still want to buy any from me you still can. ^^

I'm using 4 oz (120 ml) jars!

For the crust, I used leftover vegan puff pastry. The corners and unwanted bits.

This puff pastry tastes SO GOOD. Like SO GOOD. 

I've used it in Curry-Seaweed Twists and Chia Tarts.

I mixed the dough together before re-rolling it out, because I thought that the dough will rise. But now I know that even if I used fresh sheets, it wouldn't rise much since the fillings are so heavy and moist.

All you need to do for this step is to pinch off bits of dough and flatten it onto the inner walls of the jars. It's like playing with clay or playdoh hehe! There's not really a need to poke the base of the dough, though I did try to minimize the air bubbles.

After baking, the crust kinda stuck to the jar, especially the upper edge near the rim! Oiling the jar first might help, but then the dough wouldn't stick properly. Maybe having a thicker crust would help? ...or you could always scoop some ice cream into the jar as you eat and it can help to soften the crust. ;)

Some of the fillings for the pies! I chose to go with three flavours - Apple, Pumpkin and Blueberry Pear. Next time I'll try making savoury ones!!

Btw the amount of blueberries you see here is what went into one jar.

For the pumpkin pie I filled it with roasted pumpkin puree. I roasted about 300g of pumpkin in the oven for 40 minutes at 180 deg C, and then pureed it with 1/4 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

I didn't add any water or milk so it's really thick and concentrated! :)

Now for the assembly!

The apple pie mix has raw apples, oat bran, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. 

The blueberry-pear pie has alternating layers of blueberries and pear slices.

I ended up adding more pumpkin puree for the pumpkin one.

I didn't have enough defrosted dough to make a proper upper crust, so I made shapes and my very first lattice! Lols the widths are very uneven because they were really the last few long bits of dough I had left.

So handy to store for another day.

It's good to label them too!

The pumpkin pie turned out well! I'm glad that my lattice kinda survived heh. The top was crispy and the insides were smooth and thick. Nextime though, I'll add something else to the filling so that there'll be different textures. Maybe raisins, dried cranberries, nuts or pumpkin chunks.

This was the only pie that expanded..

Meh my apple pie sank. It looked quite good in the oven but it went down as it cooled. -_- Maybe I should pile on the apples next time.

This pie actually rose a lot in the oven until it was bubbling over, but after cooking it sank substantially. I guess that this really needs an upper crust then!

Still, mum really enjoyed this!

 She was surprised that all I added to the filling was blueberries and pear, because there was so much 'sauce'! Yum yum it was like blueberry jam!

The apple pie was good too! The apples got nicely soft and the oats added a nice texture. ^^

These pies were fun to make and I'll definitely try them again! It wouldn't hurt to make them in a larger jar too - that just means more filling yum yum!

Pie-in-a-jar

Ingredients
frozen vegan puff pastry, thawed OR other pie crust dough

Apple pie (enough for 3-4 4 oz jars)
- 1 medium apple, chopped
- 2 tbsp oat bran/ roughly pulsed rolled oats
- ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger

Blueberry-pear pie (enough for 2-3 jars)
- about 1/2 of a 150g box blueberries
- 1 small very-ripe pear, sliced

Pumpkin pie (enough for 4-5 jars)
- 300g thick pumpkin puree
- 1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger (or more)

Method

1. Press pastry dough into jars (all the way up to the top) until the inner walls are completely covered.
2. Prepare the fillings. Just mix the ingredients above together!
3. Add in filling to the top of the jar (and more for the apple pie if you don't intend to freeze it). 
4. Top with more puff pastry if desired. Remember to poke some holes for steam to escape if you intend to cover it completely.
5. Store in the freezer, or bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 40 minutes. I froze mine and left it to defrost slightly for 30 minutes on my kitchen counter before baking at 180 deg C for 45 minutes in a non-preheated oven.
6. Leave to cool slightly (careful you don't burn your fingers off - the jar will remain hot for quite a while even after taking it out of the oven) and devour.