No-Bake Pecan Chocolates

These decadent jewels are from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

If your sweet tooth is calling you, these will definitely answer! I had a jar of brown rice syrup which I never use and found this recipe. Ooh, dangerous. Only five ingredients; pecans, brown rice syrup, salt, vanilla and chocolate chips; and you've got a chocolatey, nutty, chewy, caramel confection. They do need to be refrigerated as they are kind of sticky. 

Chocolate Coconut Chia Pudding

I've had a bag of chia seeds in my fridge for awhile now. I've been trying to find new ways to eat them.

Found this great recipe from Dreena Burton for pudding!  It's sweetened with dates and then you stir in unsweetened coconut and mini chocolate chips. The chia seeds and dates thickens it up almost instantly and could be served right away but it tastes even better chilled.

Yum!

Chocolate-Orange Cake

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

 

I bought this awesome Yule log pan by Nordicware and wanted to make a cool Yule log cake for the Winter Solstice Friday. It looks beautiful but I think you could actually sacrifice this Yule log cake on the fire as a real log! Hee, hee-I need to figure out how to bake in the pan next time. The cake flavors are wonderful but I had to bake it for over an hour to get the middle of the cake done. By then the outside was brick hard. Someone told me to wrap wet terrycloth around the pan to keep the edges from getting so done. I'll have to do a little research and try it again. I do want to make the cake recipe again using a regular Bundt pan. I love orange and chocolate together.

Chocolate-Walnut Loaf~pg. 240

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I started off this morning making a late breakfast of Freedom French Toast from LDV topped with applesauce and maple syrup~mmm mmm.

 

Then it was off on a bike ride. It feels great easing back into being active again after my back surgery. I then decided to make this decadent chocolatey loaf. It is moist and yummy and is on my "make again" list.

 

 

After baking this delicious loaf it was time for a swim at my brother and sister-in-law's house. They live just around the corner from me. We had a great time with our 'water therapy'; it's a nice, safe environment to float around and talk about life!

 

By the time I got home and visited with my mom who lives across the street I realized it was too late for lunch (good excuse) so I had a slice of chocolate-walnut loaf. So it's on to making dinner now!

Siue's Chocolate Chocolate Brownie "Cheesecake"~pg. 243

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I was craving something sweet and chocolatey so I thought I'd make one of the desserts I hadn't tried yet from the LDV challenge. I had all the ingredients so it was easy to whip up and bake.

Unfortunately this is not a dessert I could serve to guests. I baked it for the required time and chilled it in the fridge but it still had a thick, puddingy, chewy texture. I had to scoop it out with a spoon to eat it. Even though the consistency wasn't good, I still ate it! It was sweet and chocolatey but not the 'cheesecake' I was looking for. Wolffie's Pumpkin Tofu 'Cheesecake' on page 244 is much better. Of course this morning I have a sugar hangover and headache~ugh!

Peanut Butter Pecan Bark~pg. 205

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I was craving something sweet; probably because I haven't been able to exercise and get my endorphins going (good excuse)! This was really easy to whip up and satisfy the sweet tooth and it didn't make very much either.

I used my double boiler so I wouldn't accidently burn the mixture. The recipe said to chill in fridge for at least an hour and then break apart. I don't know what the consistency of 'bark' is supposed to be but I just used a knife and sliced it into little nuggets of sweet deliciousness! Let's just say between my hubby and me these didn't last long.

Chocolate Puddin' Cake~pg. 251

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I'm glad I baked this on a cookie sheet or my oven would have been a mess! For the 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder I used 1 Tbsp. Dutch cocoa and 1 Tbsp. black cocoa powder. It gave it a rich, dark chocolate taste.

This cake is definitely a bowl and spoon eating cake. It tastes better warmed up in the microwave.
Finally, I finished all of March's recipes except for one which involved those darn allergy-producing raw bananas.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies~pg. 218

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Cookies always make you feel better when you're sick and these definitely did the trick! Chewy, chocolatey, and coconuty. Very easy to whip up and very easy to eat!

Fudge Pecan Pie~pg. 256; Crust to Love Basic Pie Crust~pg. 262

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I've made this pie before so I knew it would be delicious! This time I added a heaping teaspoon of espresso powder to make it extra rich. I tried a different pie crust this time. This one was kind of hard to roll out; it kept falling apart even after I chilled it. I had to just mush it into the pie plate but it tasted better than the All-Purpose Crust I've used before.

Wolffie's Cocoa Cake~pg. 250; Chocolate Fudgey Frosting~pg. 259

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Well, I've been trying to cut out some sugar in my diet but I just had to make this chocolate cake. Whoo, does it have some sugar in it. My in-laws will be visiting tomorrow so they can help us eat it!

I added 2 tsp. espresso powder and used dutch cocoa to make it extra rich and delicious.

My frosting was more like a glaze, maybe I didn't cook it long enough. But it was still rich and chocolatey.

Chocolate Pecan Cookies~pg. 216

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I'm sad and disappointed :(  After skipping the last two dessert/sweets recipes I thought I would make this cookie recipe since it sounded so good. Well, I think there is something wrong with the recipe. I noticed the consistency of the dough was like cake batter but I baked them anyway. They turned out all rubbery and gooey. Ugh! What a waste of pecans and chocolate chips. I ended up throwing them away. I wonder if anyone else had the same problem.

Banana Chocolate Peanut Butter Strudel~pg. 227

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I tried just a little taste. I wasn't sure if the bananas were cooked enough for me since I'm allergic to raw bananas. I think my bananas weren't ripe enough; not much banana taste. I sent some home with my daughter and my husband ate the rest. This was too messy to make and now what do I do with the rest of the phyllo dough? At least I can refreeze it.  Not adding this to my 'sweets' list!

Nikole's Boss's Mom's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake~pg. 248

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Just what I love-peanut butter and chocolate!

The vegan cream cheese and peanut butter mixture swirled into the batter made this cake extra moist and delicious.

Tara's Chocolate Cake~pg. 250; Toronto Tara's Chocolate Frosting~pg. 261

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I'm glad this recipe only made a small cake! When I was making the frosting I substituted coffee extract for the vanilla extract. Wow! It is some chocolatey mocha deliciousness!!

Vesanto's Choco-Currant Cranberry Squares~pg. 64

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

No, I did not use currants in my recipe! I can't find currants anywhere so I used raisins. Here is the difference in raisins, sultanas and currants. Now ya know! (from about.com) 

• Raisins are dried white grapes. They are dried to produce a dark, sweet fruit. The grapes used are usually Moscatel.
• Sultanas are also dried white grapes but from seedless varieties. They are golden in color and tend to be plumper, sweeter and juicier than other raisins. Also referred to as Golden Raisins in the US.
• Currants are dried, black, seedless grapes. They are dried to produce a black, tiny shriveled - yet packed with flavor - fruit.

I liked the flavor of these squares but they were very fragile and fell apart easily. The cornflakes make them a little chewy, too. Next time I'll just use rice crispies.  Happy Winter Solstice/Yule!!

Mama Mayhem's Perfectly Easy No-Bake Cookies~pg. 220

Not much to say about these. They were so-so; won't be making these again.

Double Chocolate Muffins~pg. 236

These definitely didn't need chocolate frosting as was suggested in the recipe. One cup of cocoa powder and one cup of chocolate chips made these delicious and moist on their own.

Hal's Maple Chocolate Flax Brownies~pg 212

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I have made these brownies before and I had noted that they didn't have much flavor and were too dry. Well, I thought I would doctor them up this time with some vegan vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup! They definitely aren't as good as Wolffie's Chocolatey Moist Brownies (pg 211) but they make a good base for Brownie Sundaes and anything you put chocolate syrup on tastes good!

Wolffie's Chocolatey Moist Brownies~pg 211

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

These are heavenly, delicious, chocolatey, moist and sweet! No need to add the "Buttercream" Frosting and ruin them. I am going to use the Frosting (pg 261) on my Yella Cake that I make on July 8, 2012; so I guess I'll have to wait awhile to taste that!

Day 10 Espresso Chocolate Cake-pg 247 & Chocolate Glaze-pg 260

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Before the taste test!

I used 1 1/2 tsp. espresso powder dissolved in 1.5 oz of hot water for my "shot" of espresso.

After tasting I could have used more and added some to my glaze, too. This cake is rich and delicious!

I apologize  for the glare and bad photos; not a professional photographer.

But I must say I could be a professional eater and I am really glad this recipe only made a small cake!