Creamy, cold, dairy free, vegan, gluten free, soy free and nut free. Perfect for me and my allergy challenged peers. "Nicecream", also known as "banana ice cream", is healthy and just plain incredible. Seriously -- nicecream has been one of my favourite vegan food staples for years. If you haven't tried it yet you need to, now.

Vegan ice cream made of whole food ingredients -- who would have thought it was even possible? Well consider me a believer! You can make nicecream with just frozen bananas if you want but I love jazzing it up with different flavours like today's recipe for Salted Caramel Nicecream. 



Sweet, salty, creamy and gooey -- this Salted Caramel Nicecream Bowl recipe is a winner. Its also a totally acceptable breakfast! What ice cream sundae can you say that about? If you own a food processor or a blender you can make this recipe in a few minutes at home. The salted caramel sauce is worth its weight in gold (IMO). All you need to make it is three ingredients, a bowl and a spoon. Brown rice syrup gives the sauce a thick, goey texure and subtle sweetness, tahini (no I'm not crazy!) makes it rich and creamy, and maple syrup unites all the flavours. A touch of sea salt makes it perfection. Drizzle the whole batch over a bowl of banana ice cream and thank me later.


 SALTED CARAMEL NICECREAM BOWL


SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE:

• 2 tbsp brown rice syrup
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix very well by hand until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to swirl into your nicecream.

I get it, its nearly New Year's Eve and you want something sweet to round out the night. Make one of these easy desserts to ring in a delicious New Year.


SOMETHING CHILLED...



Raw Key Lime Cups
If you like sweet and tart desserts or key lime pie, this easy recipe is perfect for you NYE celebration.

Fruity Nice Cream Sundae
Sweet and tart, this easy to make dessert can be made in minutes in your food processor with fruit from your freezer.



Chilled Chocolate Peppermint Parfait
This delicious and decadent raw dessert is easy to make but make it a few hours ahead so it has time to chill.


SOMETHING BAKED...


Cardamom Apple Cookie Crumble
Sweet, spicy and easy to prepare, this Cardamom Apple Cookie crumble puts an Indian twist on Apple Crisp.



Wholegrain Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chocolate chip cookies are fairly low in fat, vegan friendly and delicious.



SOMETHING NO-BAKE...


PB Mousse Jars with Chocolate Shell
These are so easy to make, cute for guests and irresistible if you like chocolate with peanut butter.



SOMETHING RAW VEGAN...


Raw Donut Holes
These little bites of bliss are irresistible, easy as pie to make, and raw vegan.




Raw Avocado Chocolate Mousse
This version of  chocolate avocado mousse took me years of experiments to perfect.




SOMETHING STEAMED...


Steamed Chocolate Molten Cakes
These little chocolate molten cakes are made in your steamer. They come out light and chocolatey with a molten chocolate centre in minutes.




SOMETHING GRAIN-FREE...


 Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chocolate chip cookies are so delicious and free of grains.



Grain-Free Elvis Muffins
These delicious banana, peanut butter and chocolate chip muffins are perfect for New Year's day. They are flourless but you'd never know it!






Grain-Free Tuxedo Cupcakes
Rich, chocolaty, fluffy and light with a vanilla cream frosting, these cupcakes are all dressed up to party.

Ok so show of hands how many of you folks reading this post are renters? Homeowners? Well my husband and I are renters, long time renters. This is our first home together and we like it just fine. More than that, we love it. Often what takes a rental from nice to fantastic is a great landlord. In our case we have two great landlords. They have become our friends since we moved in. They are interesting, artistic and incredibly friendly and considerate. I have been driven crazy by a couple former landlords so finding two awesome and supportive landlords is priceless. To show our appreciation my husband and I occasionally have them over for drinks,  food or both. They live close by so casual get-togethers are not too difficult to arrange.

For those of you outside of Britain or Canada, this weekend is a long weekend in celebration of Queen Victoria. It's the first big weekend of the Canadian summer roster and often means barbeques, family get-togethers, picnics, concerts and camping. We are trying to tick as many of these fun ideas off our imaginary list before Tuesday morning. So far we've had a little get together with our friendly neighborhood landlords and are in the process of trying to get out of town and down by a lake somewhere.

Since I created Baking Backwards a couple months back I've become pretty obsessed with making vegan and gluten free desserts using as little or no refined sugar as possible. This little get together at our place  last night was the perfect opportunity to test out some recent dessert ideas on my unsuspecting landlords/friends, let's call them L and T. I say unsuspecting because these folks love food, I mean really love food. Not just that, they know their stuff. Self-proclaimed foodies and avid-travelers they have experienced different cultures and cuisines the world over and don't restrict themselves when it comes to fine dining. They have no allergies and are not on special diets. To me they are the perfect people to taste test my creations. They are unbiased and enjoy "normal" desserts so they can honestly let me know if something falls flat or knocks their socks off. Last night I took the opportunity to test out three desserts on them which I served in small quantities. They loved them! To me this meant a major success on my part.


I also used our dessert party to try pairing gluten-free alcohol with dessert. L and T really enjoy nice alcohol, particularly fine wine from around the world. I enjoy wine as well and I have particular favorites but I don't pretend to know a lot about wine, honestly that's like saying you know a lot about food. There is so much to "know" out there I don't pretend to be an expert. I am getting more and more into making boozy desserts.
Exhibit A is my Instant Whiskey-Banana-Date-Raspberry Ice Cream, otherwise known as my new favorite ice cream flavor! When I was a kid I really hated alcohol, particularly when it ruined a nice dessert for me (fucking rum balls). My husband still detests most booze-filled desserts but has taste tested and loved all of the ones I've made lately. For last night's dessert I decided to try and find anther alcohol to pair well with fruit and chocolate.  


I went to the local liquor store near my house and asked one of their very knowledgeable staff to help me pick out the right liquor for the job. The very friendly man informed me that Port would be perfect to serve alongside or accent chocolate and fruit.  He even found me a great bottle for around $15.  So Port it was! I did some research to see if port was ever used in ice cream and it was, often on top of it as a syrup or blended right in. I opted for the latter and decided to make an instant raspberry and port ice cream to pair with my chocolate main course.  



The Zucchini Mini Molten Cakes were similar to the molten cakes I made last week only even more healthy as they are full of zucchini and not just fruit. I think I prefer them to my original recipe as they get a little firmer the next day and taste a bit more intensely chocolatey. The little milkshakes were lovely and provided a bit of a palate cleanse from the chocolate overload. The ice cream paired really well with both the port we drank and the little chocolate cakes.

Overall it was a great way to start the long weekend! I hope you give these recipes a try. They're all winners whether you're gluten intolerant, avoiding refined sugar, or just want to make a great dessert.

 Zucchini Mini Molten Cakes:


Makes 7 or 8 mini-mason jar cakes

• 1/3 cup + 2.5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cup pitted Sayer dates
• 1 cup finely grated zucchini
• 2.5 tbsp amaranth flour
• 2.5 tbsp millet flour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp pear sauce (unsweetened)
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2.5 tbsp Danielle's Vegan Butter (recipe coming soon!) OR frozen olive oil OR vegan buttery spread
• 1 tbsp frozen olive oil
• 1 cup + a little over 1/2 cup water
• 2 dashes coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vinegar (apple cider or rice vinegar)
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1.5 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 5 mini mason jars (tiny jars) with a piece of parchment paper and a little frozen olive oil.

Pulse then blend first 1 cup of water with all ingredients except millet and amaranth in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides and blend again. Add millet and amaranth flour and blend until smooth. Add additional 1/2+ cup water and blend thoroughly. Taste! Add extra tsp cocoa if not chocolatey enough. Add extra water if too thick. Add extra dates if too bitter. The batter should be the texture of thick chocolate pudding.

Carefully spoon cake batter into mini-mason jars and fill each jar 3/4 full. Wipe the edges clean if you get batter on the rims of the jars to avoiding burning. Place mason jars in a DIY bain marie and bake 25 minutes in 350F oven until the top forms a dark crust but the middle is loosely set. They should look risen but not quite baked like a cake. DO NOT OVERBAKE!  Serve immediately with a scoop of homemade ice cream (raspberry-port ice cream recipe below) and a tiny raspberry shake.






Tiny Raspberry Shakes
Makes 4-6 tiny raspberry shakes

• 1 package frozen raspberries (2 1/2 cups)
• 2 large frozen bananas
• 2 tsp chia seeds
• 2 dash coarse sea salt
• 4 pitted Sayer dates (about 30g)
• 2 cups water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 dashes cinnamon
• pinch baking soda
• pinch baking powder
• tiny squeeze of lemon juice

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until very smooth and creamy. Pour into mini glasses and serve with fun straws!










 
Raspberry 'N' Port Ice Cream
Makes 4 servings

• 1 package (about 2 cups) frozen raspberries (or another dark berry)
• 2 large frozen bananas
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• dash coarse sea salt
• dash cinnamon
• 1.5 tbsp chia seeds
• pinch baking soda
• pinch baking powder
• 4 + 3 extra pitted Sayer dates (about 40g)
• 1/3 cup Port or Creme de Cassis Liquor or Framboise Wine or Chambord
• 1 heaping teaspoon veganaise

Blend all ingredients except the extra 3 dates together until very smooth and thick in a food processor. Add the 2 extra dates and pulse to incorporate. You want the dates to dot through the ice cream in visible pieces. Scoop and serve immediately or chill in freezer up to 30 minutes before serving.

Today's the big day! Today my blog is part of a global conversation. Virtual Vegan Potluck! 

What does that mean exactly?

Virtual Vegan Potluck is the beautiful brainchild of Annie of the blog An Unrefined Vegan, Somer of the blog Vedged Out, and Jason of the blog The Veganauts. 

It is a blog-linking phenomenon that takes place only a few times per year. Hundreds of vegan bloggers from around the globe are participating today, including me! 

Each blogger signs up to prepare a dish (or dishes) for a particular course of the virtual potluck meal. They share their plant-based recipe with the world on their own blog, linking to the next REGISTERED blog offering at the end of their post. This creates one massive chain of blog posts and one incredible virtual meal!

Predictably, I signed up Baking Backwards to share a DESSERT.  Ahem, DESSERTS!  
 






 I tried to pick just one recipe to share today but I couldn't make up my mind at all. In fact I've been racking my brain for weeks trying to choose what to make today. Once it was confirmed that I was participating in this virtual event, I knew I needed to step up my game a little and share a few recipes to please different palates. 

I did a little research to see what some of the most popular desserts are. Several online sources say that the top 10 most popular desserts (in order) are:

1. Fudge
2. Chocolate cake
3. Chocolate chip cookies
4. Brownies
5. Ice cream
6. Apple pie
7. Carrot Cake
8. Jello
9. Cupcakes 
10. Cheesecake
  
I actually only enjoy about half of the desserts on this list. Fudge is #1? Really? There was no way I was going to make them all but I took some cues from this list for sure.

The weather in Toronto this week was balmier than usual. It was in the 20s Celsius and everyone has been walking around in shorts and tees. Ice cream season has arrived and the thought of turning on the oven for long periods of time in my tiny kitchen is not too appealing.


Those of you who know my blog already know that all of the above are pretty standard descriptions of my recipes on Baking Backwards. That all being said, these recipes are healthy for you and delicious too! They even taste decadent.

The recipes below are designed as ideal potluck desserts -- served in small and pretty portions. I designed my desserts today in this way so that guests could hypothetically taste several desserts without having to make tough choices or leave the party too full. These desserts are all light enough for Spring and Summer menus.

Welcome to My Virtual Dessert Table:


                                                         


Molten Cakes in Mini-Mason Jars (gluten free and fruit-sweetened)
Mini Molten Cake Batter Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup and 1 heaping tsp cocoa powder
• 1 heaping cup pitted Sayer dates
• 3 tbsp amaranth flour
• 3 tbsp millet flour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp chocolate extract
• 3 tbsp pear sauce (unsweetened)
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 4 tbsp frozen olive oil or vegenaise
• 1/2 cup + a little over 1/2 cup water
• 2 dashes coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vinegar (apple cider or white)
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1.5 tsp baking powder

 Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 5 mini mason jars (tiny jars) with a piece of parchment paper and a little frozen olive oil.

Pulse then blend first 1/2 cup of water with all ingredients except millet and amaranth in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides and blend again. Add millet and amaranth flour and blend until smooth. Add additional 1/2+ cup water and blend thoroughly. Taste! Add extra tsp cocoa if not chocolatey enough. Add extra water if too thick. Add extra dates if too bitter. The batter should be the texture of chocolate pudding.

Carefully spoon cake batter into mini-mason jars and fill each jar 2/3 full. Wipe the edges clean if you get batter on the rims of the jars to avoiding burning. Place mason jars in a DIY bain marie and bake 20 minutes in 350F oven until the top forms a thin crust but the middle is only loosely set. They should look risen dark tops with  but not quite baked like a cake. DO NOT OVERBAKE!  Serve immediately either plain or with a scoop of homemade ice cream (2 homemade vegan ice cream recipes below).


Note: These little molten cakes are best baked in a bain marie. A Bain Marie is a good idea when you are baking small portions of something delicate or finnicky as the water bath creates even heat. To create a bain marie grab a large lasagne dish and fill it bottom of the pan 1/2" high with water. Place your cake batter-filled mason jars in the large water dish and then carefully place the lasagne dish into your preheated oven and bake. You want to be careful not to splash the water into your jars as you transfer the bain marie to the oven. If the jars slide too close together as you transfer them to the oven rack, space them out once you set the pan down in the oven and bake. Bain maries are very useful when preparing desserts such as souffles and cheesecakes.


Instant Whiskey-Banana-Date-Raspberry Soft Serve

• 1 package frozen raspberries, about 220g ( I like Stahlbush Farms)
• 1 very small cans of coconut milk, chilled in fridge
• 2 frozen bananas
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 dashes sea salt
• 11 small pitted Sayer dates (I use Parnoosh honey dates), or 5-6 large pitted medjool dates
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• squeeze of organic lemon juice
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp baking soda

Reserve 2 tbsp of frozen raspberries in a bowl. In a food processor, pulse then blend bananas, the rest of the raspberries, dates, vanilla, sea salt, baking soda and baking powder, lemon and chia together until smooth and mixture resembles soft serve, scraping down the sides with a spoon occasionally. Do not shake the can of coconut milk before opening. Open and scoop out thick cream from the top and add to banana mixture. 

DO NOT ADD THE COCONUT  WATER AT THE BOTTOM. Puree until smooth. Add reserved berries and pulse once. Add extra tsp baking soda and puree until smooth. Pour into a plastic tupperware container and seal it. Freeze 1 hour. Put back into food processor and blend until smooth again. Scrape back into tupperware, seal and freeze another 2 hours or longer. Serve.


Drunken Peach Crumble Jars
Recipe Note: Don`t like peaches? Replace them with equal amounts of peeled green or gala APPLES!  This recipe can me made into a great Apple Crumble for National Apple Pie Day, Monday April 13th, instead! I promise it will be just as delicious!

These crumble jars are delicious hot or cold after some time in the refrigerator.



Date Crumble Topping
Remove and spoon on top of prepared peach or apple filling.

• 1 SMALL pack frozen PEACH slices OR 6-7 FRESH small organic peaches (if you don't like peaches, substitute peeled, cored and chopped green or gala apples to make an awesome APPLE crumble)
• 1 tbsp frozen evoo
• tiny pinch chilli powder
• squeeze fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 dash coarse sea salt
• 1/2 cup of my recipe for Date Caramel sauce (You could substitute maple syrup or brown sugar for this but the date caramel tastes way better and is healthier too)
• 1.5 tbsp gluten free whiskey (Jack Daniel's or Maker's Mark are gluten free)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp baking powder

Spoon into small jam jars or mini-mason jars (filling 2/3 full). Top with 1-2 tbsp warm or cold crumble topping. Serve immediately or with a small scoop of ice cream on top. These crumble jars are also delicious cold after some time in the refrigerator.




Chili Chocolate Vegan Milkshakes AND/OR Fudgesicles

• 3 tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 dashes coarse sea salt
• 1.5 tsp chilli powder
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1 small frozen banana
• 5 small pitted sweet Sayer dates (about 35-40g) (I use Parnoosh honey dates)
• 1.5 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp chocolate extract
• 2.5 tsp soy free vegenaise
• 1 small very ripe red Bartlett pear
• 3.5 tbsp pear sauce
• 1 tsp pear butter
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp maple syrup

Add all ingredients to a food processor or high speed blender. Pulse ingredients together then scrape down sides and blend again on high speed until smooth. I blended for about 5 minutes in my food processor. Taste! Adjust sweetness by adding more dates if necessary. Add extra cinnamon and chilli powder if not spiced enough. If not chocolatey enough, add extra cocoa and blend. 

Taste! If satisfied, serve mixture either as 2-4 milkshakes immediately, OR spoon mixture into either 4 large popsicle molds or 8 smaller popsicle molds and chill in freezer until frozen. Enjoy.




IF YOU ARE CONTINUING DOWN THE VIRTUAL VEGAN POTLUCK TRAIL, YOUR NEXT STOP IS BROCOLLI ADDICT BLOG TO SAMPLE ULA'S CREATION.