Buckeye Candies for One

There are times when you want a little sweet, something special, and something you don’t have every day. Well, these everyday ingredients go together in the nicest way. Here’s a shout out to my friends in (and from) Ohio!

1/4 cup peanut butter

4 teaspoons vegan butter, softened

Dash of vanilla extract

2/3 cup confectioners' sugar

4 TBLSP vegan chocolate chips

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Line a dinner plate with parchment or waxed paper.

1. In a small bowl, combine peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners’ sugar. You will need a little muscle for this.
2. Shape the resulting glop into 1-inch balls. You should get somewhere between a dozen and 16 balls, depending on their size. Place the balls on the prepared dish and refrigerate them.
3. Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a double boiler (or microwave the chips and add the oil to the hot chips).
4. Using a toothpick, pick up the peanut butter balls one at a time and dip them into the chocolate. You’ll only want to go part-way up the sides. Wipe off any extra on the edge of the chocolate bowl before placing on the dish so you don’t waste chocolate with big puddles underneath the buckeyes.
5. Refrigerate the resultant cuties for 30 minutes, or, even better, stick them in the freezer. They’re particularly yummy when they’re half frozen! Eat them when the chocolate is a nice hard shell.

If there’s leftover chocolate, toss some dried fruit (apricots, raisins, cherries—whatever you’ve got) or nuts in there and put ‘em on a plate in the freezer too. Yummmm.

Chocolate Tofu Cake with Peanut Butter Drizzle for One

This cake is moist, VERY chocolatey, and has just the right amount of sweetness to make any dessert-monger happy without making your dentist nervous. You might want a more traditional frosting—I liked the lumpy bumpy glaze-style frosting because I’m not very good at frosting cakes, and this way, it could be the glaze’s fault.

For a Single-Layer Cake:

7 TBLSP all-purpose flour

6 TBLSP granulated sugar

3 TBLSP cocoa powder

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

¼ block silken tofu (about 4 ounces)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 TBLSP water

For the Drizzle:

1 TBLSP peanut butter

1 TBLSP non-dairy milk (I like almond, but any will do)

6 TBLSP confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of a 5-inch cake pan (I use a single-serving casserole pan or a mini-loaf pan) with parchment paper and mist lightly with cooking spray. Don’t forget the sides!

Make the Cake:

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
2. Blend the tofu into the flour mixture with a fork, crumbling it up. The batter will be wet but very thick.
3. Add in the vanilla and water. You might use more or less water, depending on how batter-like the mixture is. Dispense the batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Make the Drizzle:

1. Put the peanut butter into a microwave-safe bowl and nuke it for 30 seconds. (You can heat it on the stove just as well.)
2. Blend in the milk until the mixture is fairly smooth (if you’re using chunky-style peanut butter, you just have to be able to tell which lumps are peanuts and which need to be addressed.)
3. Add in the powdered sugar, half at a time, until it reaches a loose glaze consistency. You can make it thicker with more peanut butter and thinner with more milk, depending on whether you like it to be more like frosting or more like glaze.

Assemble the Darling:

1. Plate the precious cake and drizzle the peanut butter goodness over the top. Be as tidy or as neat as you like. I melted a few chocolate chips in the microwave, sloshed in a tiny bit of almond milk, and made a happy little hat with peanuts for my two-layer cake. Yummm.

Variations: 

• Make a layer cake. Double the batter (as described below) and split it into two pans. Bake for a little longer and level off the tops of the cakes when they’re properly cooled. Make the much larger amount of Drizzle (as described below) and slather it on the top of one cake. Perch the other one on top and slather or drizzle on top of that.

For a Two-Layer Cake:

¾ cup plus 2 TBLSP all-purpose flour

¾ cup granulated sugar

6 TBLSP cocoa powder

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

Pinch salt

½ block silken tofu (about 7 ounces)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup water

For a Two-Layer Drizzle:

3-5 TBLSP peanut  butter

2-3 TBLSP non-dairy milk

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Follow the directions as written, although you’ll want to adjust the cooking time by a few minutes because the cakes are larger.

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Ganache for One

It’s birthday season, and I’m in the mood for cake. The hardest thing about making this cake is waiting for it to cool—other than that, it’s easy-peasy! (Yes, yes, I know. My frosting skills need a lot of work. But practice makes perfect, right? I’ll get there.)

For the Cake:

¼ cup wheat flour (or all purpose)

¼ cup all-purpose flour

2 TBLSP cocoa powder

1/3 teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup powdered sugar

Pinch salt

6 TBLSP non-dairy milk, divided

1 ½ TBLSP chocolate chips

1 TBLSP vegetable oil

Slosh of apple cider vinegar

Slosh of vanilla extract

2 ½ teaspoons maple syrup (or agave nectar)

For the Ganache:

2 TBLSP non-dairy milk

2-3 TBLSP powdered sugar

3 TBLSP chocolate chips

Slosh vanilla extract

1 TBLSP smooth peanut butter (almond or other nut or seed butter will do nicely too)

2 TBLSP apricot preserves (or raspberry, strawberry, cherry, etc.), divided

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line two 5-inch cake pans (I use single-serving casserole dishes) with parchment.

1. Place the flours, cocoa, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and whisk it together to combine. 
2. In another bowl, heat ¼ cup of the milk and the chocolate chips until just hot. You can use the microwave or a Bain Marie on the stove. Whisk until the chocolate is melted.
3. Add the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and maple syrup to the chocolate and the remaining 2 TBLSP of milk, and mix until it’s smooth.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until the batter is smooth. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans.
5. Bake for 30-34 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool on the rack completely. This may take a couple of hours. Cover with a towel if you’re worried about it drying out. You might try placing the cakes in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes if you’re impatient.

Make the Ganache:

1. In a small pan over medium heat, heat the milk and sugar until it’s hot through. Don’t let it boil, and stir constantly to prevent the sugar from burning.
2. Add in the chocolate chips, and take the pan off the heat. Keep stirring until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
3. Add in the vanilla and peanut butter. Mix until smooth.
4. Let it rest in splendor in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, until it thickens to a spreadable consistency.

Festoon the Cake:

1. Settle a cake plate on top of a mug or glass to get your little art project up high enough that you can see what you’re doing, and put one of the darling little cakes in the middle of it. You might want to slice off its little head, if it’s mounding up, so that the second layer will lie flat on it.
2. Plop some of the ganache onto that cake and spread it over the top with an offset spatula or whatever tool suits you.
3. Let that cake and its ganache rest in the freezer for 10 minutes. Don’t put the ganache back in the fridge, though, or it will get too hard to spread and you’ll have to v-e-r-y carefully reheat it on the stove. (Ask me how I know this.)
4. Meanwhile, if you’re using the fruit preserves, heat it in the microwave or on the stove, just enough to make it thinner and more spreadable. About a minute in the microwave is plenty.
5. Take that already-ganached cake out of the freezer and spread about half of the preserves delicately over the top of it. Don’t break the ganache!
6. Settle the other, untouched cake on top of the preserves. Plop the rest of the ganache on that top cake and spread it smoothly over the top and down the sides. You might like the sides bare, in which case, you could freeze the cake for 10 minutes and then make a second top coat of ganache with whatever is left.
7. Refrigerate (don’t freeze) the whole cake for 2 hours before serving. Decorate with fruit, mint leaves, chocolate curls—whatever suits you, or just scarf the whole naked cake down. It’s your cake to do with as you will!

Variation:

• You can avoid the whole nut situation by using 1 TBLSP more of the chocolate chips in the ganache. You might need a little more powdered sugar to make it thick enough. You’ll have to experiment.
• Use any sliced off cake top mounds to cheer up a bowl of ice cream. Or smear peanut butter on it and inhale it. 
• Try smearing some heated (microwave) peanut butter on the first layer rather than fruit preserves. It's a simpler flavor profile, but oh, so yummy! 

Spring Rolls with Ginger-Peanut Sauce for One

I love these little rolls of sunshine. It’s not as hard to make them as it is to decide what to put into them—go crazy! Let your veggies rule the day! 

For the Dipping Sauce:

2 generous TBLSP peanut butter (or almond butter, in a pinch)

2 teaspoons tamari or soy sauce

1 ½ teaspoons brown sugar or maple syrup

1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice (rice vinegar, in a pinch)

Shake or two of garlic powder (or a small fresh clove, diced super small)

Pinch ginger powder (or a small amount of fresh, grated very finely)

Hot water to thin

For the Rolls:

4-6 spring roll wrappers (available in the Asian section of the grocery store)

Crunchy things, including but not limited to:

Mung bean sprouts

1 mushroom, sliced thinly

1 small carrot, julienned thinly

1 inch of cucumber, julienned thinly

Baked tofu, cut into slender slabs

Cilantro leaves, plucked from about 8 stems

Mint leaves, plucked from about 6 stems

2 lettuce leaves, chopped a little

2 green onions, diced

Plum sauce

1/2 Avocado, sliced

Left-over stir-fry

Vegan cream cheese

Alfalfa sprouts

Asparagus, cooked and cut into 2-inch lengths

Green beans, cooked and cut into 2-inch lengths

Pickled red onion

1 mushroom, sliced and sautéed in olive oil or vegan butter

Make the Dipping Sauce:

1. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter with the soy sauce and sweetener of your choice. Thin with the lime juice. (I used rice vinegar when I didn’t have any citrus and it was fine.)
2. Add in the garlic and ginger to taste. Thin with water, if necessary. It should be fairly gloppy, but you want to be able to dip a soft spring roll in there.

Make the Rolls:

Set up a work station like this:

1 dinner plate with cold water in it (nearly to the rim)

1 dinner plate for assembly

1 plate or cutting board with your prepared veggies lined up—everything should be horizontal, to make it easier

1 serving plate

1. Place one wrapper in the plate full of water. Dunk it well, and flip it over. You’ll want to run your fingers all over this one (it feels slippery in the nicest way). The next wrapper will soak while you’re assembling this first one, so you won’t have to stand there impatiently next time. When the wrapper is transparent and very very soft, pick it up by the edges and lay it as flat as you can on the assembly plate. Dunk another wrapper into the water and turn it over to soak while you’re assembling Spring Roll Number One.
2. Lay a pretty veggie (it will show through) on the prepared wrapper. Put it on the wrapper just south of the center. If the wrapper is 6-inches wide, you’ll want to keep your veggies limited to a 2-inch-wide stack in the middle. If your wrapper is larger, you can take up more space proportionately.
3. Layer ensuing veggies on top of the pretty one, being careful to keep everything very horizontal. The stack, when complete, should be 2-inches horizontal, 1-inch vertical, and about 1-inch high. Helpful hint: Mung bean sprouts are wily creatures and you may want to shuffle them like cards before lining them up on the stack.
4. Fold in the SIDES of the wrapper first, snuggling them tightly against the stack of veggies. Over-long or sharp veggies (like julienned carrots) may poke through, so monitor them closely.
5. Now fold the edge closest to you up over the stack of veggies. You can pull on it a bit to get it to completely cover the veggies and most of the far side of the stack.
6. Carefully roll the little darling up, pushing the bottom of the stack over the remaining bit of wrapper. You can tug on the wrapper a bit without tearing it, and the tighter you get the roll, the easier it is to eat.
7. Set the beautiful little roll on the serving plate. Congratulate your self, because it wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be.
8. Repeat steps 1-7 with the remaining wrappers and veggies.

These will keep overnight if you wrap them in plastic wrap, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t just fall on them like a condemned prisoner and devour them at once.