Is your sweet tooth aching for a delicious dessert but you’re not feeling up for a quick dash to your nearby vegan patisserie? Going vegan/ choosing to eat healthier does not mean giving up on all of the desserts that your childhood self craves. Replacing unhealthy ingredients for better ones, especially superfoods, can make all the difference. The secret lies in making the right choices and indulging with awareness. Let’s shed light on the following three-ingredient vegan delicacies that might just be the quick-fix that you are looking for.
Banana Pancakes
Monday-morning-blues spare none. And while your boss may be bitter to you, your breakfast doesn’t have to be. Bananas and whole wheat, together, are a great source of fibre, iron, calcium and vitamins, and what better way to have them than a quick, delicious stack of pancakes – combining the nutritive value of a healthy meal and the joy of a childhood favourite.
Make use of those overly-ripe bananas sitting stagnant at the bottom of your fruit bowl. Mash them in a wide bowl with the back of a fork and add whole wheat to the mixture. Next, add vanilla or chocolate-flavoured vegan milk, constantly whisking the batter.
Tip: Use a hand-blender instead of a whisker if you want your pancakes to be light and airy. To make the pancakes even fluffier, add baking powder to the dry batter (whole wheat). If baking powder is added to a wet/ semi-liquid mixture, it will turn lumpy and not mix well.
Dark Chocolate Mug Cake
Baking sweet goods from scratch is no piece of cake, so if you want something to get a nice, warm dessert to accompany your cosy, late-night movie binge after a hard day’s work, try your hand at this mouth-watering animal-friendly dish.
Start with oat cookies. Roughly grind them, and set the granulated powder aside. Next, warm some almond milk. Other plant-based alternatives, like oat milk and soy milk work just as fine. Make sure that the milk is not too hot.
Break a nice portion of a dark chocolate slab and mix it in the milk, stirring and heating as required. When the dark chocolate and milk turn into a lovely, runny, silk-textured, ganache-like consistency, pour it into the deconstructed cookies. Empty the entire mixture into a thick mug, and microwave it until it rises. Well, that’s it! Your dark chocolate mug cake is ready to be devoured!
Tip: You may add some CBD products like infused dark chocolate to the batter to further exploit the calming properties of dark chocolate. As an alternative, you can just add a few drops of oil to receive CBD benefits. Not only will it work as an antidepressant (and thereby, make for a soothing midnight treat) but it will also act as a pain reliever, helping you relax mentally as well as physically.
Blueberry Muffins
Consistency-wise, bananas (especially alongside baking powder) are a great replacement for eggs. For these fruit-loaded vegan muffins, nicely mash half a dozen of bananas and add a few spoonfuls of organic, dairy-free nut butter to the batter. This is a high-calorie, slow energy-releasing mixture – which makes it perfect for a low-guilt indulgence.
When the two ingredients have been blended to a glossy paste, add a handful of fresh blueberries and gently fold the batter. Drain it into greased muffin moulds and place them in a preheated oven on a low-temperature setting. Your iron-laden, antioxidant goodies are ready! Just don’t forget to let them cool down. While burning calories may be on your agenda, your fingertips can be spared.
Tip: Add fresh vanilla beans/ dairy-free cocoa powder further to enhance the flavour and fragrance of the muffins. You may also add a dash of cinnamon, which acts as natural, powdered insulin, to accelerate your metabolism and burn calories faster.
Oatmeal & Avocado Cookies
Cookies get a bad reputation for being high in fats and carbohydrates. While there is a lot of truth to this rumour, they definitely can be made significantly healthier, if the ingredients are sought more consciously.
Swap the usual dairy products, butter and milk, for avocados and naturally-sweetened (with honey or stevia) almond milk. Chop two avocados and toss them in the blender, adding about half a cup of milk to the jug. Blend it until the green liquid runs even and sift three cups of ground dried oats, only again processing the batter. Keep adding oats until the mixture is dough-like – pliable and squishy.
Beer in mind that the cookie-batter needs to be chunky and lumpy for the crisp, crackling texture. Scoop out the cookie-batter onto a buttered baking sheet, and slide the tray into a preheated oven. And… well, that is all, enjoy!
Tip: Vegan dark chocolate chips can be sprinkled on top of the scooped-out dough-balls. Alternatively, white chocolate chips can be used, too.
