The Spicy Spatula

Hey You! How’s it going? Are you managing to stay cool this summer? Oh, wait…is there a heatwave where you are? Tell me in the comments!

Speaking of heat wave, it’s been hot. Really and ridiculously hot. Not too hot for me to avoid going outside but definitely hot enough to complain about! What can I say, it’s one of my specialties.

No, but seriously it’s been really hot and when it comes to staying cool, my summer vegan sweet treats list is usually pretty short: pops. As in popsicles or freeze pops or whatever you want to call them. I love them and I make them often.

Why Pops?

Easy, because it’s hot and the pops are really, really cold. Also because when I make them myself I’m in control of how much sugar goes in them as well as the flavor combinations, two things that weirdly matter a lot to me.

Fruit is my usual go to for pops because it’s like double the water with plenty of natural sugars. Also because I don’t eat a lot of fruit, especially the pectin-heavy variety so this is a good way to get some in.

But I also like to mix it up, with bananas and chocolate, or coffee and coconut milk. If this heat gets any hotter I’m going to invest in another set of popsicle molds.

How to make vegan popsicles: place all ingredients into a blender, run until smooth and then taste. Add more sweetener or fat and blend or stir again. Pour into molds for 4 to 6 hours or overnight and ENJOY!!

Something New

Recently though, I’ve gotten into another type of vegan summer dessert that’s harder to describe. It’s more of a no-bake cheesecake style parfait? Although parfait has granola so I guess it wouldn’t be that either…anyway, it’s cool and delicious.

Oh, maybe it’s a trifle!

Okay let me explain: you’ll need biscuits (cookies, think le petit beurre), fresh fruit, vegan yogurt or vegan sour cream, sweetener and a refrigerator. That’s it.

This is a layered vegan dessert so think of it like a…TIRAMISU! That’s it, what’s what it’s most like except with ground up cookies instead of lady fingers but if you have access to vegan lady fingers or you want to make them, go right ahead.

The bottom layer is biscuits, mixed with a sweetener or not. All of the vegan varieties I’ve found are pretty neutral, borderline bland but instead of adding sugar or agave, I add some cinnamon and nutmeg to enhance the sweet taste found in the cream and the fruit.

Next comes fruit, fruit compote or even fruit preserves. For the blueberry one, I just mix blueberries and lemon zest but for the strawberries, I added compote between the biscuits and the cream layers for another pop of color and sugar. I’m not big on sweets and I only had a few spoons of it, but Cos loved it and has requested more of them for the summer.

And then the most decadent part of this dish…the creamy center! The first time I made this (strawberry) I used Meggle brand vegan cream which is kind of like vegan mascarpone, very thick and creamy…and caloric. There, I said it. We were all thinking it and someone had to put it out there. It’s nearly 300 calories per 100 grams and if you weigh your food/ingredients you’ll know that 100 grams of this stuff is…nothing. The next time I made it (blueberry), I used vegan sojagurt which is 46 calories per 100 grams. It wasn’t as thick or as sumptuous, but as my husband says, “You can eat more of it which is a solid compromise.”

Mix the cream with a sweetener if necessary, such as sugar, agave syrup, maple syrup or whatever else you use. Even preserves would work here. Mix well and spread into a thin, even layer.

Layer until the ingredients are all gone and then refrigerate for a few hours. It’s fine if you don’t but it’ll bring everything together nicely and honestly I found that it was more flavorful after it spent some time in the fridge.

So that’s it, that’s my new vegan desserts for summer. They’re both easy and lend themselves very well to variety so you can use what you have, what’s in season and what’s on sale!

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