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MAKES 12 CUPS With this in the pantry, you’ll have no reason to deny yourself a chocolate fix when the mood strikes. If you’re looking for that perfect chocolate cake—rich, complex, but light— look no further. How about deep, fudgy brownies (pictured opposite)? It’s right here. Or almost guilt-free and oil-free chocolate muffins? Got those covered, too. Best of all, if you have kids like mine who tell you at ten o’clock at night that they need a treat to take to school the next day, you’ll be the supermom who can whip out amazing desserts “from scratch” in moments.
The The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples
by Miyoko Schinner is the book you need to start cooking vegan staples at home. All of building blocks as home made soy milk, your own tofu and tempeh, baking mixes, pan cake mixes, mac and cheese mix, glorious butterless butter (palm oil free). Dressings and sauces such as eggless mayo, brown sugar mustard, ketchup, teriyaki sauce, vegan oyster sauce, vegan fish sauce, ranch, no-oil caesar and many more. Basic pizza, rolls, biscuits, pastas, gluten-free polenta crackers, cake mix.
The book also uses some of these in recipes for soups, pasta, cakes, brownies, cookies. There are vegan subs for unribs, unchicken, and obviously amazing cheeses like oil-free cheddar and mozzarella, almond feta and many many more.
Chapters include
Condiments (sauces, dressings, jam),
dairy and egg-free goodness (cheese, yogurt, milks),
all you need is soup (broth, stock, soups),
the meat of the argument (tofu, yuba, yuba bacon, unfish, unchicken, unribs, neatballs),
magic and pasta (marinara, vodka sauce, mac n cheese mix),
the grains of truth (pancake mix, pizza dough, dinner rolls, pastry dough, granola)
sweet endings (cake mixes, buttercream, ice cream)
The publisher is giving away a copy of the book to one of the blog readers (US only). Please see the end of the post to enter.
I had to make the glorious butterless butter and it does not disappoint. Its not a good idea to have this one lying around in my house this summer :). I added some cayenne, garlic and cumin which makes the butter even more awesome. Get the butter recipe here.
I made the soymilk was surprised by the pleasant flavor. Miyoko’s recipe will give you less beany soymilk. I have made Miyoko’s cheese recipes from Artisan Vegan Cheese book and cannot wait to try the versions from this book!
So often the easily available staples are not a great choice for everyday meals because of the processing and innumerable ingredients. Miyoko makes it easy for anyone to make some of those with amazing results with some patience and practice.
Other recipes from the book, these popular Unribs, the creamy non beany tasting soymilk.
I made the chocolate cake mix and decided to use it to make chocolate doughnuts. The cake mix uses baking soda and coconut sugar. The mix is mixed with boiling water to make such a silky batter which flows beautifully into the doughnut pan. Bake, cool, glaze, serve!
The book is hardcover and absolutely beautiful with elegant photos, great paper, pleasing, and gorgeous on the coffee table. Like most well designed and gorgeous books, I found that the design was given more preference over usability. The fonts could have been bigger and the instructions in paragraphs are hard to keep track of. Some breaks in the longer instructions would have helped for sure. The pages which are pastel colored with black writing on them are hard to read while cooking. This is just my preference though and my eyesight isn’t the best. I understand that it is hard to balance out everything with trying to fit things in pages and such. And eventually I get used to it after cooking for a while from the book. Plus, there is always the kindle version in which everything can be adjusted!
Vegan Chocolate Cake Mix from The Homemade Vegan Pantry. Book Review + Giveaway
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 4 1/2 cups coconut sugar, or 4 cups organic sugar
- 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder, not Dutch-processed
- 6 tablespoons very finely ground coffee, espresso grind
- 2 tablespoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
Instructions
- Sift together all of the ingredients into a large bowl, then using a wire whisk, mix well until the mixture looks perfectly combined. Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer or food processor. Store in an airtight container or ziplock bags at room temperature for 3 to 4 months.
- For the doughnuts: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180ºc. In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup boiling water with 2 tbsp oil, 1 tsp vinegar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Add 1 cup + 2 tbsp of the cake mix and whisk for at least 30 seconds. Pour the batter into greased doughnut pan and bake for 14 to 16 minutes. Cool slightly, then remove from pan. Cool completely and glaze.
- The glaze I used is vegan chocolate melted in a little coconut milk. Double dip and let set.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Miyoko has been a source of endless cooking inspiration to me. I ve learned so much from her about cooking the kind of thing that makes you slap your forehead and think, Of course!
Good creamy oil free salad dressings are very difficult for me to make…
Tofu skin and how to use it.
I’m so excited about your book & it will make a great gift for my vegan curious friends!
Thank you!
I am new to veganism so this would be a helpful springboard. I am particularly interested in no oil options. I love the oil but am trying to reduce my consumption!
Asian food sauces 🙁 Thai is my favorite food and when I make it it’s so bland!!!
I find it difficult to make restaurant-style crispy tofu or tempeh. Never get the same results – have tried marinating, deep frying and everything else in between.
Btw, the chocolake cake mix sounds so easy and yumm!
I would love to make my own tempeh, it gets to be so expensive in stores!
Good tasting cheese. And good GF breads and analogues.
Probably cheeses…although there are tons out there, they are all either too expensive or way too processed and making homemade vegan cheese is definitely an art
It was a huge struggle 4 yrs. ago when I found out I’m highly allergic to milk (all dairy), soy, egg, beef, gluten (wheat), banana, mushroom, and peanut. I haven’t been out to eat since and have to fix all that I eat. My husband won’t do without any of them which makes it harder. At least 1 of the first 3 are in absolutely everything you can buy except fresh produce and nuts. I would love to find, or be able to easily make, ranch dressing, yogurt, soy-free miso, gouda, egg rolls, pizza, bread, and marshmallows that I can eat.