Category: Food

Steven Universe, the wonderfully queer animated show, features a fictitious ice cream sandwich treat called Cookie Cat (shown below.) I attempted to make them. The result was pretty well received. This is how I went about it.

Making a Cookie Cat Cookie Cutter

First I needed a Cookie Cat shaped cookie cutter. I bought a large round cookie cutter for a dollar, then took pliers to them to shape them into the Cookie Cat shape.

Making the Cookie Cats

Then I needed a vegan ice cream sandwich recipe. I went with this one from So Delicious, doubling the amounts. This recipe makes 18 cookie cats.

• 1L Vegan Ice Cream
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup Cocoa Powder
• ½ Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 1 Cup Vegan Butter, Room Temperature
• ⅔ Cup Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• 4+ Tbsp Water

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla.
3. Add ½ cup of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix to combine.
4. Add the rest of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix until crumbly.
5.  Add the water, a table spoon at a time, until the mixture comes together.
6. Make two balls of dough from the mixture. Wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
7. Preheat the oven to 325 °F.
8. Take the balls of dough out of the fridge. Place a ball between two sheets of parchment paper. Press them down into a square, then roll them out with a rolling pin until the dough is ⅛ to ¼ inch thick.
9. Cut out the cookies using the Cookie Cat cookie cutter. Place them on a cookie sheet that’s lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat (eg. silpat).
10. Bake for 6 minutes.
11. Roll out the second ball of dough, cut out the cat shaped cookies, and place them on a cooled cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Bake them for 6 minutes as well.
12. Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the cookie sheet.
13. Once the cookies have cooled, place a dollop of ice cream between two cookies and sandwich them together to make the cat-shaped treat. I had the side of the cookie that was against the cookie sheet face outwards in the sandwich, as it was flatter and made them look more professional.
14. Put the individual completed cookies in the freezer as soon as you make them, or otherwise do what I did and work in a garage in -20 °C weather while questioning my life choices. You just don’t want the cookies to melt away like you hopes and dreams. It’s good to line the container you put them in with parchment paper or something, as the cookies might otherwise stick to the bottom of the container.

I had a guest over this weekend who had a few dietary restrictions, including gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian. I wanted to make a decent dessert for them and came across this recipe.

It turned out to be the best vegan cheesecake recipe I’ve pulled off.  Don’t expect the same taste as an actual cheesecake, but the taste was pleasant on its own merits and the texture spot on.

Vegan Gluten-Free Cheesecake (Original)

Crust

• ¾ Cup Rolled Oats
• ¾ Cup Slivered Almonds
• ¼ Tsp Salt
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• ¼ Cup Coconut Oil, Melted

Filling

• 1 Cup Raw Cashews
• 2 Cans Full-Fat Coconut Milk
• 8 oz Vegan Cream Cheese
• 1 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• ⅔ Cup Maple Syrup
• 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 1-2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• ⅛ Tsp Salt

Instructions

1. Refrigerate the cans of coconut milk. I put mine in the freezer for a bit and then put them in the fridge to speed up the process.
2. Add raw cashews to a bowl and cover with boiling water for at least 1 hour uncovered. Then drain.
3. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
4. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper.
5. Add all the crust ingredients to a ziplock bag except for the coconut oil, and roll over with a rolling pin until granular.
6. Add the coconut oil into the ziplock bag and mix it in by massaging the bag until a loose dough is formed. You should be able to squeeze the mixture between your fingers and for a dough to form, instead for it to crumble. You may need to add more coconut oil.
7. Place the mixture on the bottom of the pan and spread evenly and pack it down.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, then bake for another 5-10 minutes at 375° F. The edges should be golden brown, the surface browned just a bit.
9. Pull from the oven and turn the oven down to 325° F. Let the pan cool slightly.
10. If the cans of coconut milk are sufficiently cool, a thick cream will form at the top of the can. Extract a cup’s worth of that cream.
11. Add all the cream (not the coconut milk left in the cans) and the rest filling ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
12. Mix with an immersion blender until completely smooth.
13. Pour filling over the crust. Tap the pan to remove air bubbles.
14. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. It’s ready when the center doesn’t appear liquidy when you jiggle it. The center should only jiggle slightly.
15. Let rest for 10 minutes, then let cool completely uncovered in a refrigerator to prevent condensation.
16. Cover and leave in the refrigerator for 5+ hours or overnight.
17. When ready to serve, lift the cheesecake out of the pan and cut into triangles.

This weekend I made two macaroni and cheese recipes. They both ended up incredibly delicious. The vegan one is the best vegan variation I’ve ever made, and the goat cheese in the pulled pork version was astounding.

Pulled Pork Macaroni & Goat Cheese

Based on this recipe.

• 3 – 4 lb Boneless pork roast
• 1½ Cups Water
• 2 Tsp Seasoned salt
• 2 Tsp Garlic powder

• 2 ⅔ Cup Balsamic vinegar
• 2 Cup Ketchup
• 1 Cup Packed brown sugar
• 1 Cup Honey
• 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1½ Tsp salt

• 1 lb Macaronic pasta

• Crumbled goat cheese

1. Add the roast to the slow cooker.
2. Top the roast with the 1½ cups water, 2 tsp salt, and garlic.
3. Set the slow cooker on low for 10 hours.
4. Add the balsamic vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, honey, Worcestershire sauce and salt to a sauce pan.
5. Bring the sauce pan to a boil over medium heat. Reduce until thick and syrupy.
6. Drain the juices from the pork roast and shred the pork.
7. Stir in half the prepared BBQ sauce.
8. Cook the macaroni according to the directions on the box (boil water, add macaroni and salt, cook until al dente.)
9. Drain the macaroni. Stir the drained macaroni into the pulled pork BBQ sauce mix.
10. Add some of the sauce you set aside into the mixture if needed.
11. Serve with crumbled goat cheese for guests to top their dish with, as well as with the remainder of the BBQ sauce.

Notes

The portions for the sauce (what’s pictured and half of what I have here) still makes for an incredible meal. I decided to double the portions though to get closer to the consistency that I had imagined when I was coming up with this dish. The crumbled goat cheese was a win, melting in your mouth.

Vegan Sriracha Mac and Cheese

Based on this and this recipe.

• 1 lb macaroni pasta
• 3 Tbsp Vegan butter
• 3 Tbsp Flour
• 2½ – 3 Cups Almond/soy/rice Milk
• ½ Tsp Salt
• ½ Tsp Pepper
• 1 Tsp Garlic powder
• 3 – 4 Tbsp Sriracha
• (Optional) 3 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
• (Optional) Roasted red peppers, minced.

1. Prepare macaroni according to directions on the box. Drain and set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, melt the vegan butter.
3. Add the flour and whisk until the flour is thoroughly incorporated.
4. Cook the flour for 1 minute.
5. Add the milk to the roux, whisking constantly.
6. Boil the sauce and reduce until thick and syrupy.
7. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powde, sriracha and nutritional yeast. Mix well.
8. Add milk if too thick.
9. Pour cheese sauce into the macaroni pot and mix thoroughly.
10. Add the minced roasted red peppers if desired.
11. Serve.

Notes

This is the best vegan mac ‘n cheese dish I’ve ever done. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a vitamix, but I never got the cashew-based recipes to have the right texture. This is also the closest I’ve ever gotten to KD, from any attempt, vegan or not.

There’s a bakery downtown that makes butter tarts in puff pastry and they’re amazing. I decided to make my own version; albeit without raisins as I really don’t like raisins.

The end result was really good. I didn’t make my own puff pastry for this one, I bought some dough from a local French baker. For the grocery store they’ll usually be in the frozen section.

Butter Tarts (Original)

• Puff Pastry Dough (I used store-bought)
• 1/4 Cup Butter, Softened
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
• 2 Tsp Molasses
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Roll out the puff pastry dough.
3. Cut dough into 12 pieces, place in muffin cups.
4. Any dough that flopped outside of the cup it was put in I would roll up a bit, so that the dough made a cup shape.
5. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, maple syrup and molasses.
6. Stir in the egg and vanilla, mix well.
7. Stir in the chopped walnuts.
8. Fill each tart shell with the mixture. Don’t fill more than half way – the puff pastry will expand while baking and it could overflow.
9. Bake for 15 minutes for a runny butter tart or 20 minutes for a firm butter tart.
10. Let cool 10 minutes before removing tarts from pan.

I realize “Peanut-Free Peanut Butter Cookies” is a contradiction. I figured people wouldn’t know what to expect if I called them “Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies.” Nor would those seeking a substitute for peanut butter cookies when someone they know is allergic find this. So Peanut-Free Peanut Butter Cookies it is.

The magic ingredient here is sunflower seed butter. I find it has a very similar taste and texture to peanut butter.

Peanut-Free Peanut Butter Cookies (Original)

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1½ Tsp Molasses
• ½ Cup Sunflower Seed Butter
• ½ Cup Butter
• 1 Large Egg
• 1½ Cup Flour
• ¾ Tsp Baking Soda
• ½ Tsp Baking Powder
• Dash Salt
• 2 Tbsp Sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. In a large bowl, cream the sugar, molasses, sunflower seed butter, butter, and egg.
3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder until mixed.
4. In a small bowl, place the 2 tablespoons of sugar.
5. Make 3 cm balls with the dough and dunk in the sugar mixture. Then place on ungreased cookie sheet, about 8 cm apart.
6. With a fork, press down on each cookie ball to make a criss-cross pattern.
7. Bake 9 – 10 minutes or until light brown.
8. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.

Notes

They really do taste like peanut butter cookies. The base recipe is decent, but I might try to find one so they can be thicker next time.