Love Your Ma'ma!

I know this is super last minute, but...

As a very special treat, I'm actually officially filling orders
for Mother's Day boxes in Los Angeles. If you're interested in
some taste vegan treats and forgot to grab something-- I've got your
back with...

Cake Donuts! : $12 a box - A pack of 6 classic cake donuts, 2 in each flavor:
Vanilla-Lemon
Cinnamon Sugar
and Original Sprinkle







Breakfast Scone Box: $12 a box - Features 4 delightful types of scones:
Orange-Cranberry
Green Tea
Ginger-Lemon
and Savory Sage





Fairy Cakes: $4 for each miniature cake
Raspberry with White Cake
Mango with White Cake
and Chocolate Creme







Order Now while you still can by emailing me misskitchenwitch(at)gmail(dot)com

There are vegan donuts in heaven

Last week for Bake me up LA even/Vegan Bake Sale Day- I decided
my twisted, fatty cravings had gone long enough. I could wait no
longer for another vegan donut.

I am no stranger to making my own donuts. My Dad would make them
when we were little and I made them a few times as a teenager,
but you all know they are pretty scarce for vegans.

The first vegan donut I had was at Voo Doo Donuts in Portland.
Amazing place and one of my all time favorites. Glad I actually
don't live there because I would be a stone or two heavier.

You may not believe me, but I don't make a lot of sweet stuff.
Generally bake sales are my big excuse to splurge on the vegan
sugar-crack attack. I'll get to the point. I made vegan donuts.
They were awesome. They were tiny. They were perfect. I want more.

Mini Vegan Unicorn Donuts

Named for the pink frosting, rainbow sprinkles and I'm convinced
that that is where the hole originated- the unicorn's horn!

*This is a traditional heavy Cake Doughnut recipe! Not puffy!!*

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons lightly flavored oil
1/2 cup non-dairy milk, soy/almond/hemp would be best
1 tbsp flax seed whisked with 3 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Oil for frying

Mix flour, sugar, salt, powder, nutmeg. Add the oil and mix until
it appears crumbly. Add the 'milk', vanilla and flax.

Adding a little extra flour, turn out on to a clean counter-top
and finish mixing by a quick knead. Roll out to a 1/2 inch
thickness and cut out into desired shape/size.

I used a shot glass and the cap off my vanilla bottle to make tiny
donuts and donut holes. The idea was to cut how much I was eating
and to make them more appealing for the bake sale. Donut cutters
are pretty easy to find at any of your typical kitchen shops.
I used to use two different sized biscuit cutters.

You can also roll the dough out into thin ropes and twist together
to make tiger-tails. Cut them into large circles if you're going
to fill them with jelly or into large bars if you want to make
bar donuts.

Ease gently into 375F oil. Use a thermometer if you have one
because it is easy to have your oil to hot and you will end up
with even heavier, breadier donuts than a cake. My first batch
was cooked too hot, so I got out my candy thermometer and the
next batch came out perfect.





The nice ones got sent to the sale and the heavier ones got to
stay home for us! Hee hee, I honestly didn't mean to do that!

Cook on each side for a few minutes, turn and pull out with a
large mesh frying spoon, tongs or (if you're really good with
them) wooden chopsticks.

Dip in your favorite frosting.... Add some sprinkles....






Or roll in some cinnamon and sugar! (be quick about it though)
If you let them rest and cool the sugar and spice will not stick.





The next morning we had the left-overs with some coffee and fruit
for breakfast. Oh my god, I knew as soon as I posted this I would
want to make more. Thankfully, they are easy enough to make your-
self and enjoy, but require enough work to not make everyday!
Just maybe every other day...

Vegan Baked Doughnuts

This is definitely a take-one project. I haven't had a doughnut

in years and years. Seriously, even when I did eat eggs and

cow milk -- I rarely ate doughnuts. My Dad used to make amazing

doughnuts when I was little, but that was also when I was too

young to be concerned about deep-fried desserts.

The whole Dunkin' Cruelty project got me in the mood to make

vegan doughnuts. Yes, I'm trying to prove something here.

I got this recipe ages ago from somewhere online and had it

scribbled on a scrape of paper taped to my sketchbook.

They were pretty tasty. More reminiscent of sweet rolls or

sweet bagels than the bubbly texture of classic doughnuts though.

I'm sure if I had deep-fried them it would have been different.

Also, I am currently staying in very high altitude area and I don't

know how much that effects the rising and baking of the

dough. I'm gonna try a couple more recipes as this one was tweaked

already, so...

The frosting-glaze is only made with rice milk and powder sugar.

What I wouldn't have given for some vegan sprinkles!

Vegan Baked Doughnuts

5 tsp dry active yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups warmed rice milk

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

3 tablespoons agave syrup

2 tablespoons earth balance

2 tablespoons cornstarch

4 1/4 cup flour

Dissolve the yeast in warm water and set aside.

Cream the sugars and butter, add in the warmed rice milk

and combine with the yeast mixture. Slowly sprinkle in the

flour and cornstarch while mixing. Roll out on to a lightly

floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic-y.

Place in an oiled bowl and turn over. Allow to rise until doubled-

at least one hour. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

cut into desired shapes and let rise until doubled again-

about 45 minutes to an hour. I did a bunch of rings, holes,

and a couple twists with the left over dough for 'tiger tails'.

Bake at 375˚ for 8-10 minutes. Glaze immediately.

For the 'tiger tails' brush with a non-dairy milk or earth

balance then roll in turbinado sugar and cinnamon.

Dunkin' Cruelty

I am afraid that quite often my blogging gets caught up with the luxury of eating and cooking, romance or entertaining. I confess that it is a hard subject to constantly be dwelling upon day after day. But this is really why I do what I do. I have committed my life to saving the animals and although it may not always be that obvious, it is what drives every action of my life.

As some of you may already know, I have been keeping up with the Dunkin Donuts Project with Compassion Over Killing : Dunkin’ Cruelty. The project is supported by a number of groups including Farm Animal Rights Movement, Action for Animals, and Vegan Outreach. I was surprised to find that PETA has not yet joined the initiative and cannot imagine why. Though on one hand, I am glad. It seems that lately PETA brings more trouble than support. (ahhh the joy of making mass amounts of enemies..)

Compassion Over Killing is asking Dunkin’ Donuts, the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain, to stop using eggs and dairy in their doughnuts and also to offer vegan menu items. According to the dunkincruelty website there are approximately 6,400 stores in the United States alone and serve over 3 million customers a day. That is a lot of freaking doughnuts.

Supporters of animals rights have been stepping forward to contact Dunkin’ Donuts directly to ask for an end to the cruel practice that is involved in supporting the egg industry. I personally contacted the company by email and snail mail, neither graced a reply. I am not surprised. I am surprised though that alternative products are not being explored. One would think of the savings that the elimination of egg products could bring would spark a look into other options. However, subsidies for animal products are so immense that there is really no point while the right people are in power.

Today, COK came out with breaking news. An undercover investigator working for Michael Foods, the main egg supplier for Dunkin’ Donuts, exposed some horrific footage taken during the month of August. This should definitely make one double think that deep-fried, glazed, hunk of a heart attack breakfast.

Watch the video now

Now consider these facts... There are more than 325 million laying hens in the United States that are confined to battery cages. These wire cages, which are stacked atop each other, are roughly the same size as a filing cabinet drawer and hold typically ten hens. Imagine playing a game of sardines with half a dozen people, except it lasts your entire life. Or living in a 7x7 foot room with 12 people. If you get weak and fall over, you’re trampled to death. You cannot stretch your limbs out without being entirely cramped or touching someone else. Chickens have their beaks sawed off with a hot blade so they will not peck each other to death in a stress induced fever. It cuts through bone, cartilage, and soft tissue. Anesthetic? Are you kidding? Their feet often get caught in the mesh of the cages, debilitating them-- they cannot reach the food and water and die slowly of starvation.

This is only a minuet aspect of the entire industrial egg production process... This is after the culling of the chicks to sex, picking out the females. Males are usually thrown away live, crushing and killing those underneath. Imagine a mountain of dying fluffy first day hatched chicks. Another way to dispose of unwanted males is to put them in live to a meat grinder/ wood chipper machine.

Then the pains of transportation, raising them to laying age, forced molting, problems of osteoporosis, egg bound hens, loss of feathers, pollution from waste matter... and on and on... not even mentioning what happens once they are spent and are no longer laying up to speed. This is usually after only one year of their lives. Chickens can naturally live up to 15 years.

This is heavy, I know. Yet, ignoring the facts will not change the practices that continue to take place every second. The suffering of non-human animals will not disappear when you turn your back. I urge you all to not only support the project dunkincruelty, but to also start to reconsider your own habits. Everytime you eat, every time you spend $ you are declaring your support of something-- food, practices, and companies. So think about it. What do you want to support? Every person counts, just as every animal counts. This is life and death.

http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/eggs/

http://www.animalfreedom.org/english/information/abuses.html#hens

http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming_chickens_egg.asp

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm_animals/poultry/egg_laying_hens/welfare_issues.aspx

http://dunkincruelty.com/