Vegan with a Vengeance

minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. After about 15 minutes, move it to the fridge until fully cooled. Cut into twelve squares, place a few slices of banana on top of each portion, and serve.

Macadamia Blondies with Caramel-Maple Topping
    MAKES 16 BLONDIES
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    Macadamias make these blondies rich and buttery. They are great unfrosted if you don’t want something too sweet but the caramel-maple topping makes for a decadent treat.
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    FOR THE BLONDIES:
    2¾ cups all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    Â½ teaspoon salt
    6 ounces firm silken tofu (this is half a package of the vacuum-packed kind)
    Â¼ cup rice or soy milk
    â…“ cup canola oil
    2 cups sugar
    2 tablespoons vanilla extract
    1¼ cups raw macadamias, partially chopped and partially ground (see Punk Points on next page)
    FOR THE TOPPING :
    Â¼ cup nonhydrogenated margarine
    2 tablespoons turbinado or other brown sugar
    Â¼ cup pure maple syrup
    1 cup raw macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
    Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 × 13-inch baking pan.
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    To prepare the dough:
    In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
    In a blender, whiz the tofu with the rice milk until smooth. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla, and blend again. Pour the tofu mixture into the flour mixture and use a firm wooden spoon to combine everything well. Fold in the macadamias. The batter will be thick and have a cookie dough consistency. Spread in the baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the topping.
    To prepare the topping:
    In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the margarine, turbinado sugar, and maple syrup, and heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to bring to a boil for 1 minute. Stir in the nuts. Remove from heat.
    Remove the blondies from oven and pour the topping over them, return to oven, and bake for 10 more minutes.
    Let cool completely before serving, the topping should harden to a caramel-like consistency. I cut these into sixteen squares but they are also cute as triangles.
    PUNK POINTS
    The macadamias should be partially ground and partially chopped, which is easily achieved in a food processor with about 30 pulses. If you don’t have a food processor then chop all the macadamias, put half of them aside, and continue to chop the others or grind them in a blender until they resemble coarse crumbs.

Raspberry-Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars
    MAKES 16 BARS
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    These are blondies topped with a raspberry spread and chocolate chips, then finished off with some of the blondie batter dropped on top. They’re tantalizing and cool looking and kids seem to really enjoy them. If you are low on time you can use 1 cup of raspberry preserves or raspberry jam in place of the raspberry layer.
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    FOR RASPBERRY LAYER:
    2 cups frozen raspberries
    3 tablespoons tapioca starch (you can substitute arrowroot or cornstarch)
    Â¼ cup cold water
    â…“ cup sugar
    FOR THE BLONDIE LAYER:
    3¾ cups all-purpose flour
    1¼ teaspoons baking soda
    Â½ teaspoon salt
    1 (6-ounce) container plain or vanilla soy yogurt
    Â¼ cup rice milk
    Â½ cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
    2 cups sugar
    1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    1 cup chocolate chips
    Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 × 13-inch baking pan.
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    Prepare the raspberry layer:
    In a saucepan combine all raspberry layer ingredients and stir until the tapioca starch is dissolved. Bring to a boil and then lower to a low boil, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat.
    Prepare the blondie layer:
    In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the soy yogurt, rice milk, oil, sugar, and vanilla. In batches, mix the dry ingredients into the wet to form a dough. Set aside 1 cup of the dough and
spread the rest in the prepared baking pan. Spread the raspberry layer over it (or use 1 cup of raspberry preserves). Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips over the raspberry layer. Drop the remaining dough over the chips and raspberries; sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips over that. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Date-Nut Diamonds
    MAKES ABOUT 20 BARS
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    Okay, you don’t have to cut these into diamonds, but they look cute if you choose to. These bars are very Home and Garden.
    1 cup all-purpose flour
    â…› teaspoon salt
    Â½ cup nonhydrogenated margarine
    Â¾ cup dried dates, roughly