chocolate spice loaf

Not super-sweet, but still a yummy treat. This was inspired by the Post Punk Kitchen's chocolate pumpkin loaf, with some tweaking. I used cranberry sauce instead of apple sauce, simply because I had cranberry sauce to use up and no extra apple sauce, but I'm sure either would work. If I didn't know there was cranberry in here, I wouldn't be able to taste it anyway, though I do detect a hint. If you're into that flavor combo, maybe throw in some fresh cranberries.



Bring
1/3 cup of water
to a boil in a small pot. Quickly, before it can evaporate, add
1/4 cup cranberry sauce or apple sauce
2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup chocolate chips
and stir until chocolate chips are melted. Turn off heat and add
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup okara
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
and stir until thoroughly mixed.



Add
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
and stir until dry ingredients are incorporated into wet ingredients.

Scrape the batter into a lightly oiled 9-inch bread pan and cook for 55 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the pan and inverting the loaf onto a surface.

cranberry okara muffins (with optional chocolate!)

I had some leftover cranberry sauce, so I made a half-recipe of muffins ... But it turned out to make eight muffins, so that's really a three-quarters recipe.

You can make these delicious muffins for breakfast, or if you want some seasonal dessert muffins, throw in some chocolate chips for extra yumminess!


This is what they look like with the optional chocolate chips.

In a bowl, mix until thoroughly incorporated:
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup okara
2 Tablespoons canola oil 
2 Tablespoons soymilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. orange flavor
4 oz. cranberry sauce



In a separate bowl, mix together
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons white whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
and stir until well combined.



Add dry ingredients to cranberry mixture and stir until just mixed. If using, fold in
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Distribute batter into a lightly oiled muffin pan. This should make around eight muffins (maybe seven if you're omitting the chocolate chips).



Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 23 minutes. Allow to cool for at least a few minutes before removing from pan.


This is what they look like without chocolate chips.

Verdict: I love these. The orange flavor gives it a great boost, but if I had had an orange around I might have zested it and thrown that in and cut the orange flavor by half. It actually could have stood to be more cranberry-heavy, but I like these so much anyway that I won't complain.

single-serving okara brownies

And more single-serving creations: a cakey brownie (I'm still working on a fudgey brownie, as I consider myself to be on the "fudgey" side of the fudgey/cakey divide when it comes to brownie preferences.)



In a small microwave-safe bowl or mixing cup, add
1 tsp. corn starch
2 Tablespoons soy milk
and whisk together until corn starch is dissolved. Add
1 1/4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
0.75 oz. Earth Balance
3 Tablespoons sugar
and microwave until chocolate and Earth Balance are melted. (This took about 90 seconds at 60% power on my ancient microwave.) Stir with a whisk or a fork until mixture is smooth.

Add
2 Tablespoons okara
1/2 tsp. vanilla
and stir until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl or mixing cup, combine
1/4 cup white whole-wheat flour (or any flour, really)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
pinch of salt

Add flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Divide batter evenly into two 8-ounce (1 cup) lightly oiled ramekins. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 29 minutes. Allow to cool.



Run a knife around the edges and invert ramekins to remove brownies (or eat them directly from the ramekins).

pumpkin pancakes

Have a bit of pumpkin to use up? How about a stack of pumpkiny okara pancakes?

Yield: Around a dozen pancakes



In a bowl, mix together
1 cup white whole-wheat flour (or any flour, really)
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder

In a separate bowl, thoroughly whisk
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cup soymilk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons okara



Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until well incorporated.

Grease a pan with Earth Balance or spray with vegetable spray, if needed (maybe you have a trusty non-stick pan and don't do that stuff). Heat over medium-high heat. To see if the pan or griddle is hot enough, flick some water droplets on it. If it sizzles, the pan or griddle is ready to go. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter on the surface for each pancake. The batter will start to bubble. When the bubbling starts to subside, that's about when the pancake should be flipped.



After flipping your pancake, you should cook it on the second side for about half as long as you cooked the first side.



Continue to cook your pancakes in this manner until you are out of batter! I stacked these up and ate them with Earth Balance and maple syrup.



Verdict: I liked these ... a lot. However, the seasoning was a wee bit on the "bland" side, so if you like a lot of spices, you might want to use heaping teaspoons and whatnot. Heck, I might even double some of the spices next time.

sweeter pumpkin pie

Not sick of pumpkin stuff yet? This recipe is tweaked from an earlier pumpkin pie recipe published here. As promised, this version is a bit sweeter.



Throw the following ingredients into a food processor:
1 15 oz. can pureed pumpkin
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. agar powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup okara
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon molasses
3/4 cup soy milk

Blend until thoroughly mixed and pour into an
unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, and then reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for an additional 45 minutes. Allow pie to cool on a rack before eating.

Verdict: This is everything I need a pumpkin pie to be. If you need it to be sweeter still, you can look into vegan whipped cream or this "Rad Whip" I hear tell about.

single-serving peanut-butter brownies

So it's been awhile. That's because I've been trying (and succeeding!) to cut down on my sugar intake. And, unfortunately, most of my okara creations have been baked goods. However, with an investment in some 8-ounce ramekins, I have looked into the possibility of creating single-serving desserts, so that I can have something nice but not keep eating it day after day.

I actually initially sought to come up with a microwave brownie, but all my attempts were gooey and awful. So instead I've been baking these in a toaster oven. Microwave recipes are so imprecise, anyway; the toaster oven is the way to go.



In a small bowl or cup, whisk together
2 Tablespoons unsalted peanut butter
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
until mixture is smooth. Set aside.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together
1/4 cup sugar
1 oz. okara
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 Tablespoon Earth Balance or canola oil
and microwave until chocolate is melted. (On my ancient microwave, this was accomplished by nuking for one minute at 60% power. Your mileage may vary.) Whisk ingredients until mixture is smooth and all chocolate is incorporated. Then add
1 Tablespoon almond milk or soy milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
and whisk together until smooth.

Into the chocolate mixture, thoroughly mix
1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt

When mixture is thoroughly incorporated, divide batter evenly into two 8-ounce (1 cup) lightly oiled ramekins. Then drop a dollop of the peanut butter mixture on top of the chocolate batter.



Using a knife, cut through the peanut butter and chocolate batter to create a "swirl" effect.



Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 27 minutes. Allow to cool. I wasn't able to get these out in one piece (though I came close), so this might be something you want to eat directly from the ramekin.