Introduction:

 

The holiday season has always been, and continues to be, my absolute favorite time of the year. While I love cooking and entertaining all year round, during the holidays these activities exude a special magical ambiance for me, and hopefully, for my family and friends as well.

 

I enjoy having my kitchen aromatically scented with the woodsy, rustic aromas of autumn and winter from Halloween to New Years. And, since I always believe in cooking with love, I thoroughly enjoy sharing my love and vegan holiday fare with family and friends as often as possible, with frequent holiday season get-togethers.

 

In the not-so-distant past, food item selections at gatherings were often lacking for vegetarians and vegans, especially during the holidays. If there were any vegan food options available at a holiday gathering, they were typically highly limited, and often disappointing. Thankfully, this no longer has to be the case. With much more awareness to dietary preferences these days, dinner and party hosts are willing to accommodate their guests with a range of vegetarian and vegan menu items. And, vegan holiday recipe collections, such as this one, help make vegan holiday cooking a hassle-free experience. So, whether you are a vegan yourself, or, you have family member or friends who are, this holiday vegan recipe collection will help solve the ‘What am I going to cook for the holidays?’ dilemma.

 

On another note, while I often recommend that you feel free to mix and match and swap out ingredients as you desire or need to for most of my recipe books, with this particular recipe collection, I recommend that you stay closer to the original recipe ingredient recommendations. While I do give substitution alternatives to recipes when applicable, many of the spices and herbs used in these recipes create very unique flavor profiles, and, altering them too far will significantly also alter the outcome of the dish. So, please keep this in mind when contemplating an ingredient swap.

 

Additional Tips:

 

When baking and cooking, I always recommend using raw sugar over sucanat. Many people think that raw sugar and sucanat are the same, but they are not. Sucanat (which stands for sugar cane natural) is a minimally processed cane sugar product and has a lesser effect on blood sugar than regular full-processed sugar. However, when it comes to cooking and baking with it, I have found that sucanat tends to absorb too much moisture from the liquid components in a recipe, and has the tendency to cause a dish to become too dry. Additionally, sucanat doesn’t always dissolve readily. Raw sugar on the other hand, is very minimally processed, doesn’t overly absorb moisture from a recipe, and does dissolve readily in liquids.

 

For recipes calling for pure maple syrup, do NOT substitute with pancake syrup. Real maple syrup comes in ‘grade A’, ‘grade B’ and ‘grade C’, and any of these grades of maple syrup will work just fine in these recipes.

 

When recipes call for sea salt, do NOT omit it. Sea salt is not the same thing as commercially processed salt, which you should avoid like the plague. The purpose of sea salt in recipes is to act as a flavor enhancer, helping to showcase and meld flavor profiles from individual ingredients together. Additionally, adding sea salt to dessert recipes helps to ‘cut’ and balance out any acidic flavor tones, and when added to baked dessert recipes, sea salt also acts as a leveling agent.

 

When recipes call for vegan margarine, I will sometimes specify to use vegan margarine in stick form instead of tub form. The reason is because tub margarine is whipped and has a high air content, whereas stick margarine is more dense, and in certain recipes you specifically need the density of the stick margarine. You can always use either, but it may affect the final outcome of your dish.

 

And, lastly, have fun! Cooking and baking should always be fun, expressive and infused with lots of love.

 

Happy Holidays and Bon Veggie Appetit!

 

Gina ‘The Veggie Goddess’ Matthews

Chapter 1 – Halloween Treats

 

Count Chocula-Peanut Butter Popcorn

 

Ingredients:

3 cups air-popped organic popcorn

3 tablespoons natural peanut butter (smooth variety – can substitute with almond butter)

3 tablespoons vegan margarine (use the stick variety for this recipe, NOT the tub kind)

3 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

½-3/4 cup peanuts or almond pieces (optional)

 

In a saucepan over medium heat, slowly melt together the peanut butter (or almond butter) and vegan margarine, while whisking frequently. Once melted, add in the sugar and continue cooking and whisking until sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. In a large mixing bowl, combine the popped popcorn with the melted peanut butter mixture, and stir with a large spoon until all ingredients are evenly coated and well blended. Let cool slightly, and then stir in the vegan chocolate chips. If you are adding nuts to the recipe, stir them in also at this time. Transfer to a festive Halloween bowl, or add a few spoonfuls each into some large foil cupcake liners and serve.