Discovering Delicious Food With "Easy Vegan Home Cooking"By Laura Theodore

Sometimes we find ourselves finding pleasure in simple things, for example, In my free time, I enjoy discovering new vegan recipes. Lately, I have been gravitating toward vintage comfort foods popular during different decades.

At the time I was looking for a plant-based version of a classic meatloaf recipe to make for my parents when I had the pleasure to review Easy Vegan Home Cooking, by Celebrity chef Laura Theodore. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, as I would soon realize this book would become the most useful ones I have come across this year. The book contains 125 Plant-Based and Gluten-Free homestyle recipes designed to please even the pickiest of vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike. Most of the recipes involve fewer than eight ingredients making them simple to obtain and easy to follow.

I can honestly say Laura’s cookbook brings back the wholesome family-style recipes that we remember as a child.

Below is a recipe for Date-Nut Snowballs.

Enjoy!

Date-Nut Snowballs

Makes 10 large truffles or 16 small truffles

Prep Time: 25 minutes / Refrigeration Time: 1 to 24 hours

Ingredients

2½ tablespoons unsweetened shredded dried coconut

2 tablespoons vegan confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

½ cup pecan halves, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons maple syrup

12 large Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

⅛ rounded teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see Chef’s Note)

Directions

Line a small, rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper. Put the coconut and sugar in a blender and process into a fine powder. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and set aside

Put the pecans, maple syrup, dates, and pumpkin pie spice, in the order listed, in a high-performance blending appliance and process (by pulsing) to the consistency of soft dough. (You will need to stop the blending appliance once or twice to scrape the sides down.)

Transfer the date mixture to a medium-sized bowl. (It will be very, very sticky!) Spoon out some of the date mixture, and roll it into a ball. Continue in this manner to form 10 large or 16 small “snowballs.”

Roll each “snowball” in the coconut/sugar mixture until thoroughly coated and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Loosely cover and refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours. Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, “snowballs” will keep up to 4 days.

Images and Recipe Courtesy: From Easy Vegan Home Cooking by Laura Theodore, published by Hatherleigh Press.