This year, a group of vegans from Austin decided to participate in the World Wide Vegan Bakesale. It was held at monkeywrench books, and we raised around $400, which was split between Austin Pets Alive and Austin Food Not Bombs. As always, I waited until the last minute to do something, so I decided to play it easy and make some caramel apples. The caramel is the same recipe I used for the butternut bars, and was an easy choice because I basically just boil it for 30ish minutes, let it cool for 5 minutes, and then dip the apples. Here’s how they turned out:

and my loot: coffeecake from Vegan Brunch, Pineapple right side up cake, and a brownie cupcake!

For more pictures, check out Wes’ Photos!

Well, I started thinking about how I’ve been on this kick of veganizing popular recipes and foods (it seems to be the challenge that I need), and I remembered that a few months back, I made some vegan peanut butter cups from vegweb.com that taste just like reeses! mmm.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter (creamy)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of vegan chocolate chips
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 cupcake liners

Directions:
Cut the top half of the cupcake liners to where they are about half the original height. Microwave the chocolate chips for about 2 minutes at 50% power in a glass or microwaveable bowl. Stir until creamy, you might need to microwave them a little more. Make sure you do not overcook them. Using a spoon or paint brush spread the chocolate evenly within the muffin cups making sure you fill the crevices on the sides. Place the coated muffin cups in the freezer so that the chocolate hardens. In a separate bowl combine the peanut butter and salt and fold in the powdered vegan sugar. When the chocolate cups have hardened put the peanut butter mixture into the microwave for 1 minute. Wait a minute for it to cool and then bring out the chocolate cups. Spoon the peanut butter into the chocolate cups leaving a little room for the top layer of chocolate. Allow the peanut butter to harden in the freezer, and then spoon the top layer of chocolate on. Place the cups in the freezer and wait an hour.

makes about 12 peanut butter cups.

About two days ago, I decided to give melisser’s recipe for Vegan Candy Corn a try… the first time i tried it, the dough turned out too firm and crumbly. after about ten minutes of letting the dough cool, i knew it went wrong, and ended up throwing it away. the second time, I decreased the powdered soy a bit, and boiled it over low heat (instead of medium), and it turned out great! They still didnt firm up as much as store bought candy corn, but it was pretty good. and everyone who ate them commented that they were actually better tasting than regular candy corn. It was very time consuming to make these (about two hours), and you don’t get much in return (about 80-100 pieces) for your labor… but it’s pretty cool to say you made homemade candy corn (and vegan, at that!). besides, it’s not like I needed a million candy corns laying around the house… i generally can only eat about five before i feel like i’m going to hurl. HALLOWEEN RULES!! ;)

if you’re curious, here’s the recipe:

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup (preferably organic, avoid high fructose corn syrup!)
5 tablespoons Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup powdered soy milk
a pinch of sea salt
Red & yellow food coloring

Instructions:
In a large saucepan, bring the sugar, corn syrup, Earth Balance, & vanilla to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium (i did low heat here) & boil the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 5 minutes, remove from heat. Sift the powdered sugar, powdered soy milk, & salt into medium bowl Add the powdered sugar mixture to pan & stir to combine. Let the mixture stand until slightly warm to touch, about 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Consider putting on rubber gloves, so you don’t stain your hands. Add several drops of yellow food coloring to one piece of dough & knead food coloring into the dough until smooth and color is even. Repeat using red & yellow food coloring (for orange) with the second piece & leave the last piece white, but knead it until smooth. This isn’t an easy task & could take up to 15 minutes! Roll each piece into ropes of equal length (don’t roll too thin or the dough will break) and push the three ropes together to form a long rectangle. Using sharp knife, cut the ropes into triangles. Some will be white tipped & some will be yellow tipped