Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe - Delicious and Easy

About a month ago, Steve and I invested in a really fantastic juicer called the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite. It can hammer through fruits and vegetables like you wouldn’t believe, grinding pulp into tiny particles on one side, while efficiently spouting juice into the pitcher on the other side. Every weekend, we stock up on all sorts of yummy veggies and fruits and juice away, leaving our fridge full of fresh juice and smoothies (that I make with the juicer-juice, cut up fruit, nuts, coconut milk, and wheat grass) for the week.

Last Sunday after blasting through roughly ten pounds of carrots, Steve showed me the pulp container and commented on what a shame it was to not use all of that bright orange goodness. I agreed and set off to find a recipe that could incorporate our pulp and not put it to waste. After some adjusting and vegan-izing, this is what I arrived at. Judging from how quickly it got gobbled up (and requested to bake again), I do believe that it was a hit.

**You don’t need a juicer to make this recipe - just shred up your carrots and use store-bought carrot juice instead.

Ingredients

• 15-20 carrots (or enough to produce 3 cups of carrot pulp & 1 cup carrot juice) - shredded & juiced
• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 “eggs” (using Ener-G Egg Replacer)
• 2 cups sugar 
• 1 ½ cups canola oil
• 4 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds (or any nuts you prefer)

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.

3) Mix egg replacer.

4) Combine "eggs," sugar, and canola oil in a separate bowl.

5) Add flour mixture alternately with pulp and carrot juice.

6) Add vanilla and sunflower seeds. Stir to combine.

7) Pour into well-greased 9 x 13” baking pan.

8) Bake 45-50 minutes or until center is baked.

9) Enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe: No Dairy No Egg

Back when I had my site on blogger I posted this recipe, but after making these cookies for my daughter to take to her Day of the Dead celebration party for Spanish class, I thought I would snap some shots of the process and re-post it in case you missed it before. These are super yummy and contain no animal products. I hope you dig them as much as our family does!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

**I always quadruple the recipe; below is the one batch version

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 cup unrefined sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1⁄3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1⁄4 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1⁄4 cup canola oil 
• 1⁄3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350°F.

2) In a bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined.

3) In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined.

4) Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir until well combined (do not over-mix).

5) Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a greased baking sheet.

6) Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out).

7) Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack.

*Note: If, as you are mixing together your batter it appears floury and thick, mix in a few teaspoons more canola oil and maple syrup and incorporate it into the batter. Sometimes humidity, type of flour used, and other factors can affect the density of the batter and so a little more liquid may be necessary.

8) Enjoy!