Yummy vegan desserts
No one would ever guess that they are vegan! No weird ingredients required.
If you give me the choice of salty or sweet, I will choose sweet nearly every time. I love a good dessert, preferably with chocolate. Vegan treats are remarkably easy to make, which may seem surprising. Baking is a science, and sweets that rely on eggs and butter can be made just as well with the correct proportions of other ingredients that leaven and add fat and richness (like baking soda, vinegar, and oil). I love to bring a dessert to share and surprise everyone when I say that it is vegan (and sometimes even gluten free too!). These are some of my tried-and-true baked goods. I will not claim that they are healthy—they all contain a decent amount of sugar and fat—but they are free of animal products and will suit a number of different dietary preferences.
Easy vegan fudge
This one is dangerously easy to make. It is decadent, gluten free, and comes together with three ingredients in just minutes in the microwave.
Microwave 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 can of sweetened condensed coconut milk on high for 1 minute. Stir for at least a minute and microwave again for 30 seconds if the chocolate chips do not fully melt. Stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla. Spread into an 8 X 8 pan lined with parchment paper and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
*To make sure that semi-sweet chocolate chips are vegan, check the ingredient list. Some brands contain milkfat, so you will want to steer away from those. Trader Joe’s and Enjoy Life make dairy free chocolate chips, and Nestle Toll House recently has come out with a dairy free line of chocolate chips.
**You could also use sweetened condensed oat milk. Whole Foods generally carries dairy free sweetened condensed milk, but I also order mine on Thrive Market.
Classic chocolate chip cookies
The key to this recipe is to refrigerate the dough before baking the cookies. I like using two different kinds of chocolate chips (mini and chunks) to add texture. The same note that I mentioned above applies about the chocolate chips.
Quick breads
Nothing feeds a crowd like a good quick bread! I have several recipes I return to again and again, depending on the season. These are straightforward. No eggs are needed because the baking soda and/or baking powder act as the leavening agent. (I would not recommend leaving out the eggs in a traditional recipe, however, because the proportions of ingredients in these recipes have calibrated appropriately.) Be careful not to overmix!
For spring/summer: coconut zucchini chocolate chip bread
For fall: pumpkin walnut bread (sometimes I substitute pecans for a southern twist)
For all seasons: banana muffins
Super fudgy brownies
If you love a fudgy brownie, these are the best, hands down. These brownies are not cakey at all but gooey and rich. Do not be afraid to underbake these slightly because they will set up overnight. I love these straight out of the freezer. You could add nuts or chocolate chips, but they are delicious on their own. (Scroll down to the second recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero)
Cookbook recommendations
Most of my favorite baked good recipes come from cookbooks, not online sources. These are the books that I reach for most often:
Chloe’s Vegan Desserts (Chloe won Cupcake Wars with her vegan cupcakes)
Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
The Oh She Glows Cookbook (This only has a dessert section, and the desserts are on the healthier side, but they are delicious, whole foods options)
These are recipes I make over and over again—so much so that I pretty much have the instructions and measurements memorized! Do you have any dessert recipe requests—I bet I have a vegan version!