!Nutty Vegan Cannolis!

WOW! These are so good - I am in love:) Seriously these are some delicious vegan cannolis....They do take a minute (hahahaha) to make, but when you have some time I recommend trying this recipe out.  Make up a batch with some friends and you'll be done in a flash.  You will not regret trying this one out - trust me!!!




Nutty Vegan Cannoils
 I used a recipe from the Millennium Cookbook, "The Artful Vegan" (thanks carebear;)) to make these, and adapted them so that I used a few different ingredients and they are gluten free!

First, you can work on making the Almond (or Peanut) Butter Mousse:
1. In the top of a double boiler, combine: 2 cups almond milk, 1 cup coconut butter (or equivalent), 3/4 cup Florida crystals or cane sugar, and 1 Tbsp. vanilla.

2. STIR.  Once this is incorporated a little, add 1/2 cup almond butter (or peanut butter if you like).  Keep stirring.  Total, you should cook & mix it all for about 10 minutes.
3.  Remove from the heat and stir in: 3 Tbspn. maple syrup, 1/8 tsp. salt.
4.  Now let it cool for a little bit (as the book says: until it gets down to 100 degrees F.)  - it really does take a while, mine stayed pretty hot! While they're cooling, you can start making the shells  ---recipe below:)
5.  Once cool, put the mixture into a blender and whip for 2 minutes.

Pour into a good container & chill in the fridge overnight.

OR, if you're like me & don't always plan ahead, go ahead and shove it in the freezer.....I did this, because I'm impatient as well.  I kept it in the freezer for 2-3 hours and kept stirring it as the outsides got hard.  It came out delicious!! (seriously, it was hard not to spoon it all in my mouth before stuffing it in the shells!)

Chocolate Shells:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Once hot, toast about 2 Tbsp. cashews (or peanuts) on a baking sheet for 6 minutes, until browned.  After cooled, grind it all in a mini food chopper or food processor.
3.  In a large bowl, combine: 3/4 cup almond flour, 3/4 cup rice flour, 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder,  1/4 tsp. salt, & 3/4 cup Florida crystals or cane sugar.  Set aside.
4. In mixer, combine: 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil, 1/2 almond milk, 1 Tbspn. maple syrup, & 1 1/2 Tsp. vanilla.  Blend on high speed for a minute until well incorporated.
5.  Add this wet mixture into the dry ingredients & wisk to combine.
6.  Brush a baking sheet with canola oil.  (The cookbook recommended using parchment paper, but I tried this the first time and it was a disaster..)  Now you can scoop the mixture onto your baking sheet, making rounds about 1/8 inch thick to form the shells:

Now sprinkle these with the ground up cashews (or peanuts)
7. Bake for 7 minutes, then flip tray & bake for 3 or 4 more mins.
**NOTE that this makes some extra dough - the chef who wrote the recipe said that was for trial and error - and I sure needed it for that...if you have extra they were great as broken up cookie pieces too!**
8.  With a metal spatula, carefully scrape the shells off of the tray.  Pull out of oven & use the end of a wisk to form the cannoli shells.  Just wrap it around the end, and hold for a second or 2 until it stays in place.  You may want to use an oven mitt b/c the shells were kind-of hot.
9.  Once the filling has jelled, you can scoop it in w/ a spoon or use a pastry bag to fill the shells up.

Garnish w/some of the extra sauce & fruit of your choice:

mmmmmmmmm! worth the work!!