Being vegan does not mean boring meals. In fact, there are many, many delicious vegan meals and treats that your whole family will really enjoy.

Here are a few favorites:

Banana Cake:

Deliciously moist no one will ever guess it’s vegan friendly.

5 very ripe bananas (mashed0
½ cup 100% natural sugar
½ cup vegan margarine (melted)
2 cups unbleached flour
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Mix the margarine, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and mashed banana in a large bowl. Then sift in the flour. Mix thoroughly and pour batter into a non-stick, lightly oiled 13×9 inch cake tin. Bake at 350F for approximately 30 to 40 minutes or until the cake is golden and baked through.

Peanut Butter Drops:

2 tablespoons 100% natural brown sugar
½ cup granola
¼ cup shredded coconut
¾ cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, granola and coconut in a large bowl. Mix well. Heat the peanut butter over low heat in a non-stick pan for about a minute. Add the warm peanut butter to the other ingredients and mix together well. Once slightly cool roll into balls and place on a non stick baking tray. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes (or longer – they will keep well in the fridge) and enjoy.

Cinnamon and Sugar Fruit:

Use a variety of fruits such as bananas, mangos, pears,  and apples and cut them into bite size pieces. Place cut fruit on a serving platter and serve with a small bowl of 2 parts 100% natural sugar and 1 part cinnamon. Then let the kids dip their fruit pieces into the mixture!

Carob Nut Clusters:

2 cups carob chips
½ cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup pecans
½ cup walnuts
½ cup almonds
½ cup sunflower seeds
In a non-stick pan melt the peanut butter and carob chips gently – stirring the whole time. Remove from heat and add the vanilla, nuts and seeds. Mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a non-stick baking tray or waxed paper and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm (you can also store these in the fridge).

Article Written By J. Foley

BY Tracy Miller
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

When it comes to vegan-friendly dining, New Yorkers have it relatively easy, with a host of specialty stores and restaurants offering options for those who don’t eat animal products. As veganism becomes less of a mystery – and talented vegan cooks multiply – even staunch carnivores are starting to see the appeal of embracing a plant-based diet, if only for a meal or two.

But despite all the tasty vegan breakfasts, lunches and dinners out there, there’s another course that’s a little more perplexing: dessert. How is it possible to make crumbly cookies and light, fluffy cakes without butter, eggs, milk or refined sugars — and still have them taste like, well, a treat?

“If it’s done right, something vegan should still taste good,” says Pete Solomita, whose Little Buddy Biscuit Company provides coffee shops around Brooklyn with delicious cookies and cupcakes, including some vegan varieties (he’s opening his own storefront bakery this summer in South Park Slope). “And it should taste good enough for someone who’s not vegan to eat it as well.”

No matter what meal you’re cooking, making a vegan dish that’s both healthy AND mouthwatering involves a dash of culinary science – in the form of thoughtful subsitution of a few key ingredients.

“If you’re going to eat a vegan dinner, you might have to look for a protein that replaces meat. If you’re looking at a baked good, most have butter, eggs, and could also have milk and cream,” all of which must be replaced for a dish to be considered vegan, Solomita says. To show us how it’s done, he started with a traditional recipe for apple sauce cake and substituted the butter, eggs and refined sugar for vegan-friendly counterparts. He explains:

“I replace the butter with only 2 ounces of canola oil, and you don’t miss the extra fat. The egg is replaced with xanthan gum, which is a natural stabilizer or thickener. I also add more apple cider to replace the volume lost from the egg.

“When you don’t have eggs and butter in a recipe, you can of course be losing richness or texture. In this recipe that is less apparent because of the strong apple flavor from the apple three ways (cider, dried apple and apple sauce) and the moistness of the recipe.

“I also substitute white sugar with maple sugar, which is more healthful and adds nice flavor to the apples.”

Ingredients

2 ounces of dried apples, cut into small pieces
1-1/4 cups of apple cider
1-1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour (7 ½ ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (sold at health food stores)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4-3/4 ounces of maple sugar (ground)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
1/4 cup of canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.

2. Bring dried apples and 1 cup of cider to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat; cook until liquid evaporates and mixture appears dry, about 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt in a medium bowl to combine; set aside. In a second medium bowl, whisk maple sugar and spices. Set aside 2 tablespoons of sugar and spice mixture in a small bowl to top the cake.

4. In a food processor, process cooled dried-apple mixture and applesauce until smooth, 20-30 seconds, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.  Add remaining 1/4 cup of cider and process the mixture more until blended.

5. Whisk oil and sugar mixture until combined. Add applesauce mixture and continue to whisk until well combined. Add flour and fold gently with a spatula until you don’t see flour anymore and batter is evenly moist.

6. Turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with a rubber or offset spatula. Sprinkle reserved maple sugar and spice mix evenly over the batter. Bake until wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool on rack to room temperature, about 2 hours. Run knife along cake edges without parchment to release. Remove cake from pan by lifting the parchment overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut cake and serve. Cooled leftovers can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

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