Quesitos ~ Vegan (Puerto Rican Cream Cheese Pastry)

January 28, 20245 Comments

Quesitos ~ Vegan & Puerto Rican
vegan ~ dairy-free

Makes: 12
Total Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Author/Credit: Jessica Williams/Vegan Rescue

Quesitos ~ Sweet, Simple, Luxurious.

My my my, here is another Puerto Rican dessert/pastry for you to try. So good! These Quesitos are delightfully vegan. Like Donuts or Danishes, Quesitos complement coffee or tea perfectly. These are so quick to make, about ten to fifteen minutes to prep and twenty minutes to bake. They also make a nice after dinner treat.
Quesitos are a popular dessert in Puerto Rican bakeries; they have such a nostalgic quality about them too. This treat has the perfect balance of sweet and salty. I certainly use Tofutti’s cream cheese in so many recipes, but I prefer Mikoyo’s for this recipe. Mikoyo’s has the perfect saltiness that really holds up to the sweetness, offering a perfect balance. This cream cheese also has a wonderfully fluffy texture. The soft texture of Miyoko’s takes this delicate pastry to the next level.
There are so many variations of Quesitos, some have a glaze made with sugar/corn syrup or are topped with powdered sugar or honey. I know honey is a hot topic for vegans, but if you are a vegan who eats honey – be sure to buy your honey locally.
The simplicity of this Puerto Rican cream cheese pastry is sure to satisfy.
Estilo Boricua ~ Enjoy!

Check out Vegan Rescue on Instagram (@veganrescue) for a video of this recipe ~ Remember to Like/Share/Follow.

Ingredients:
1 (17.3 oz) Package Puff Pastry (contains 2 sheets)
1 (8oz container) Vegan Cream Cheese (I use Miyoko’s)
1/4 Cup Raw Cane Sugar
1/4 Cup Raw Honey/Agave (or Glaze-Corn Syrup/Sugar)

Directions:
-Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Remove thawed puff pastry from wrapper onto a lightly floured surface or onto parchment paper. The package I use comes with two sheets (I use both in this recipe).
-Lightly flour pastry sheet and roll out into a thin sheet. I will typically do a few passes with the rolling pin to bring the thickness down about half.
-Cut the sheet into thirds, then cut each third into half. Makes six pieces per sheet. This recipe makes twelve in total.
-Towards the base of the cut pastry, add about a tablespoon of cream cheese lengthwise. Note: Since I’m using Miyoko’s cream cheese, which is a bit softer, I typically score the cream cheese in the container to be sure I end up with even portions. If you are using a firmer cream cheese you can empty the container and cut it into twelve even portions for the filling.
-Beside the cream cheese (towards the center of the cut pastry), add about one teaspoon of raw cane sugar lengthwise. -See pictures below.
-Fold up the base over top of the cream cheese/sugar and roll up, folding the sides along the way.
-Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Place rolled Quesitos on lined baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.
-Allow Quesitos to cool for about 5-10 minutes. -Then add about a teaspoon of glaze to the top of each Quesito, whether using honey/agave or a sugar glaze.
-Enjoy! The Quesitos should still be nice and warm.

Puerto Rican Vegan Quesitos

Makes: 12
Total Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Author/Credit: Jessica Williams/Vegan Rescue

Ingredients:
1 (17.3 oz) Package Puff Pastry (contains 2 sheets)
1 (8oz container) Vegan Cream Cheese (I use Miyoko’s)
1/4 Cup Raw Cane Sugar
1/4 Cup Raw Honey/Agave (or Glaze-Corn Syrup/Sugar)

Directions:
-In-Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Remove thawed puff pastry from wrapper onto a lightly floured surface or onto parchment paper. The package I use comes with two sheets (I use both in this recipe).
-Lightly flour pastry sheet and roll out into a thin sheet. I will typically do a few passes with the rolling pin to bring the thickness down about half.
-Cut the sheet into thirds, then cut each third into half. Makes six pieces per sheet. This recipe makes twelve in total.
-Towards the base of the cut pastry, add about a tablespoon of cream cheese lengthwise. Note: Since I’m using Miyoko’s cream cheese, which is a bit softer, I typically score the cream cheese in the container to be sure I end up with even portions. If you are using a firmer cream cheese you can empty the container and cut it into twelve even portions for the filling.
-Beside the cream cheese (towards the center of the cut pastry), add about one teaspoon of raw cane sugar lengthwise.
-Fold up the base over top of the cream cheese/sugar and roll up, folding the sides along the way.
-Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Place rolled Quesitos on lined baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.
-Allow Quesitos to cool for about 5-10 minutes. -Then add about a teaspoon of glaze to the top of each Quesito, whether using honey/agave or a sugar glaze.
-Enjoy! The Quesitos should still be nice and warm.

Apple-Maple Bundt Cake

September 25, 2022October 1, 2022Leave a comment

Apple-Maple Bundt Cake

When your apples have seen better days… bake a cake.

I recently created a recipe that became a new family recipe of ours. It was instantly personal… a recipe that had evoked memories, tears, and emotions. I named it the Apple Darlin’ – after Seth’s Pop-Pop’s nickname. I never posted it since that recipe became one of our personals. But I still wanted to create a blog post using apples with this delicious maple syrup that our youngest son brought home. He had gone to Vermont for vacation over the summer and surprised us with this Vermont Maple Syrup when he returned.
So, I began running through ideas in my mind before deciding to create this cake. My first thought was to make apple fritters, but I had just made pancakes for breakfast… and honestly, I was not in the mood to stand at the stove again, this time to fry up some fritters, lol. Plus, I love making those cakes that you can eat for breakfast or dessert 😊. Also, when I realized that my Bundt pan was not packed away, I exclaimed…it was meant to be.
This cake is moist and flavorful. It will go great with coffee or alone as a dessert.

Ingredients:
3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled/cored and diced
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
1/3 Cup Raw Cane Sugar
1/3 Cup Pure Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup (1/2 stick) Earth Balance Butter
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
–
2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Cup Applesauce
1/3 Cup Canola oil
1/2 Cup Warm Water
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Powdered sugar for topping, optional

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a Bundt pan with Earth Balance (vegan butter) plus a dusting of flour (remove excess flour), or you can just use cooking/baking spray, if you prefer.
-In a small saucepan, combine apples, brown/cane sugar, maple syrup, earth balance and cinnamon. Heat over medium and cook for two to three minutes, stirring occasionally.

-In a mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients for the cake together: flour, baking powder, salt, vinegar, applesauce, oil, water, and vanilla. Stir together to combine.

Note: This cake batter may look thick as you are mixing, but don’t worry; once you add the apples it will balance out the moisture.
-Next, add the apple mixture from the saucepan into the cake batter and stir together to combine.

-Pour cake mixture into Bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes at 350. After 45 minutes, check the cake with a toothpick to be sure it comes out clean.
Bundt cakes are tricky like that, if it is not baked all the way through, it will collapse.
-Allow the cake to cool for 20-30 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When you let the cake cool while still in the Bundt pan first, before inverting it, it helps for it to firm up.
-Lightly dust with powdered sugar to top or leave as is like pictured below.

Enjoy!

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

God, may you bless and always protect our daughters. Thank you Lord for Megan, Hailey, and Jasmine. We recognize them not only on this National Daughter’s Day, but every day. Daily you occupy our hearts, prayers and thus our home. We love you ladies, and you are each truly a blessing to us. We are so proud of each of you. Our love will endure forever. Love always.

Apple-Maple Bundt Cake

Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:
3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled/cored and diced
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
1/3 Cup Raw Cane Sugar
1/3 Cup Pure Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup (1/2 stick) Earth Balance Butter
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
–
2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Cup Applesauce
1/3 Cup Canola oil
1/2 Cup Warm Water
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Powdered sugar for topping, optional

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a Bundt pan with Earth Balance (vegan butter) plus a dusting of flour (remove excess flour), or you can just use cooking/baking spray, if you prefer.
-In a small saucepan, combine apples, brown/cane sugar, maple syrup, earth balance and cinnamon. Heat over medium and cook for two to three minutes, stirring occasionally.
-In a mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients for the cake together: flour, baking powder, salt, vinegar, applesauce, oil, water, and vanilla. Stir together to combine.
Note: This cake batter may look thick as you are mixing, but don’t worry; once you add the apples it will balance out the moisture.
-Next, add the apple mixture from the saucepan into the cake batter and stir together to combine.
-Pour cake mixture into Bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes at 350. After 45 minutes, check the cake with a toothpick to be sure it comes out clean.
Bundt cakes are tricky like that, if it is not baked all the way through, it will collapse.
-Allow the cake to cool for 20-30 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When you let the cake cool while still in the Bundt pan first, before inverting it, it helps for it to firm up.
-Lightly dust with powdered sugar to top.
Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls (Buns)

October 23, 2016October 23, 20165 Comments

Cinnamon Rolls (Buns)
(Makes about 18-19 rolls) ~ Vegan

A Labor of Love
I made this recipe to redeem myself. Why? Because the birthday cake I made for myself a little over a week ago was a disaster. This recipe also began kind of rough – I had to save it. Guess I’m rusty from not blogging or creating these last couple of months. We have been experiencing a wave of quick recipes in our home, lots of: rice/beans, mashed potatoes, pastas, veggies and meatless products (i.e. Gardein/Tofurky) – our convenience foods.
About my birthday cake… It was rather laughable. The original recipe I had written out turned out very liquidy or smoothie-like. So I tried to save it but the result was a dry sponge. We joked so much at the table as we tried to eat it. We wondered if we could cut the cake into slices and wash the dishes with it or wipe down the counters with that cake. Hehe. The next day I made a vegan pudding and broke up/crumbled the cake and layered it into a trifle.
Saving the cinnamon bun: Make sure you gradually add the flour and/or reserve a portion for flouring the surface. I made the mistake initially by only reserving about 2 Tbsp to flour my surface. Quick Tip: If you add too much flour and your ball of dough as you’re kneading becomes rough just add a bit more liquid or in my case honey! Honey is a great way to bring your ball of dough back to life.

Ingredients:
Yeast/Flour Mixture (#1):
1 Pkg Active Dry Yeast
¼ Cup Warm Water
¼ Tsp Sugar
#2
¾ Cup Non-Dairy Milk (I used almond/coconut blend)
1/3 Cup Sugar
½ Cup Earth Balance (Vegan Butter) or 1 Stick
#3
4 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Salt
1 ½ Tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer, optional
2 Tbsp Honey, optional
Filling (#4):
½ Cup Earth Balance or 1 Stick, melted
1 ½ Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
¼ Cup Light Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Sugar
Topping/Glaze (#5):
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Non-Dairy Milk (I used almond/coconut blend)
¼ Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Directions:
-Proof your yeast. In a small bowl dissolve yeast with warm water and stir ¼ Tsp Sugar. Let this stand for about 5 minutes. (#1)

-In another glass bowl, microwave: milk, earth balance and sugar (#2) for about 2 – 2 ½ minutes. You will want to take the chill of the milk and melt/soften the earth balance.
-In a separate bowl whisk together (#3): flour, salt, egg replacer to combine. Typically one may sift these ingredients together but I don’t own a sifter and probably would just continue to use a whisk since it seems easier. 😊

-To the bowl with milk/butter bowl add about ½ of the flour mixture. Stir together to combine. Add in yeast mixture and stir again to combine. Add in remaining flour, however, be sure to reserve some for flouring your surface. (Initially I only reserved 2 Tbsp for my surface but my dough ball started to break apart. I added the honey here, during the last 2 minutes of kneading, to revive my dough ball during kneading.)

-Knead for the dough for about 10 minutes.
-Grease a large glass bowl (with oil or non-stick cooking spray) add your ball of dough. Cover and let rise for about 1 ½ hours. Dough should double in size.
-Punch down the dough or remove and fold out to remove the air.
-Flour your surface again and roll out your dough into a rectangular shape, about ¼ inch thick.
-In a glass bowl, combine filling ingredients (#4): Earth balance, sugar(s) and cinnamon. Microwave for about 1-1 ½ minutes to melt. -Pour into your dough and spread evenly, leaving about 1-inch from the edge.

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees F.
-Roll up dough with filling carefully pinching the final piece to secure.

-Grease (2) two (9-inch) round pan – Earth Balance (Vegan Butter) or cooking spray, if you prefer.
-Cut dough log into 1-inch pieces. I was able to cut into about 18 pieces, which included the two ends that were a bit teeny.
-Add pieces to prepared pan and let these rise for about another 25 minutes.

-Bake for 30 minutes.
-While your rolls are in the oven combine ingredients for the glaze (#5). Just whisk together to combine.

-Remove from oven and let them stand for about 10 minutes before glazing. You can let them cool longer if you can wait. 😊 Enjoy!

Whew…
Well I did say it was a labor of love, right? ❤ But really it wasn’t so bad. If feels like a long time and really it was but I did other things to break up the time. During the initial 1 ½ hours while the dough rose I went off to the grocery store to do my weekly (or 2-day) shopping trip. During the rest of the time in between prepping I made breakfast. J You really can get a lot accomplished during this time, don’t be discouraged – these are delicious and well worth it.

Cinnamon Rolls (buns)

Servings: 16-18
Time: 2hr 30mins
Difficulty: Intermediate
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Directions:
-Proof your yeast. In a small bowl dissolve yeast with warm water and stir ¼ Tsp Sugar. Let this stand for about 5 minutes. (#1)
-In another glass bowl, microwave: milk, earth balance and sugar (#2) for about 2 – 2 ½ minutes. You will want to take the chill of the milk and melt/soften the earth balance.
-In a separate bowl whisk together (#3): flour, salt, egg replacer to combine. Typically one may sift these ingredients together but I don’t own a sifter and probably would just continue to use a whisk since it seems easier. 😊
-To the bowl with milk/butter bowl add about ½ of the flour mixture. Stir together to combine. Add in yeast mixture and stir again to combine. Add in remaining flour, however, be sure to reserve some for flouring your surface. (Initially I only reserved 2 Tbsp for my surface but my dough ball started to break apart. I added the honey here, during the last 2 minutes of kneading, to revive my dough ball during kneading.)
-Knead for the dough for about 10 minutes.
-Grease a large glass bowl (with oil or non-stick cooking spray) add your ball of dough. Cover and let rise for about 1 ½ hours. Dough should double in size.
-Punch down the dough or remove and fold out to remove the air.
-Flour your surface again and roll out your dough into a rectangular shape, about ¼ inch thick.
-In a glass bowl, combine filling ingredients (#4): Earth balance, sugar(s) and cinnamon. Microwave for about 1-1 ½ minutes to melt. -Pour into your dough and spread evenly, leaving about 1-inch from the edge.
Pre-heat oven 350 degrees F.
-Roll up dough with filling carefully pinching the final piece to secure.
-Grease (2) two (9-inch) round pan – Earth Balance (Vegan Butter) or cooking spray, if you prefer.
-Cut dough log into 1-inch pieces. I was able to cut into about 18 pieces, which included the two ends that were a bit teeny.
-Add pieces to prepared pan and let these rise for about another 25 minutes.
-Bake for 30 minutes.
-While your rolls are in the oven combine ingredients for the glaze (#5). Just whisk together to combine.
-Remove from oven and let them stand for about 10 minutes before glazing. You can let them cool longer if you can wait. 😊 Enjoy!

Cranberry & Almond Scones ~ Vegan

November 17, 2015November 17, 20159 Comments

Cranberry & Almond Scones
(Makes 8 scones) ~ Vegan

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I’ve been trying to think of new and creative recipes to explore or create this year. Note to self: don’t develop Thanksgiving recipes before breakfast… 🙂 because the outcome will be breakfast, lol. The good news is that this recipe is a fantastic breakfast recipe. A Thanksgiving Day tip, if I may, don’t forget to eat! Keep your appetite and stomach primed for the big feast. How many times have you been in the kitchen for hours, losing tracking of time and by the time you go to eat…you’re not really that hungry? Try this one on for breakfast, it’s light, not too sweet and is excellent with coffee or tea. Enjoy!

Cranberry & Almond Scones

Servings: 8
Time: 30mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

Ingredients:
2 ¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
½ Tsp Salt
½ Tbsp Baking Powder
¼ Cup Applesauce
½ Cup Earth Balance (Vegan Butter)
½ Cup Non-Dairy Milk (I used almond/coconut blend)
½ Cup dried Cranberries
½ Cup Sliced Almonds
Vanilla extract, optional (I would’ve used some but ran out)

Directions:
-Preheat oven 450 degrees F. -Combine dry ingredients by whisking together: Flour, Sugar, Salt and Baking Powder.
-Cut Earth balance into flour mixture, I just used my whisk or your hands will work here too in order to incorporate ‘butter’ throughout the mixture. -Add Applesauce and Almond Milk then stir to combine. Stir in Cranberries and Almonds to incorporate.
-I press into 9-inch baking pan – you can then turn out onto parchment paper before cutting and bake on baking sheet. Or you can just bake in 9-inch baking pan as I did then cut afterwards. After all, a scone is defined as a biscuit-like ‘cake’ right?.. Bake for 20-25 minutes and Enjoy! 🙂

In my living room taking ‘scone’ pics and my camera would not focus on the scone, but instead on a picture of Cameron. 🙂 We love and miss you both so much Cameron and Hailey. [xoxo] Cam just as the light shines in from the window on your photograph remember that…

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Vegan Rescue

Uncover the Vegan within.

Tag: baking