I’m also proud of the outreach projects I was able to accomplish this year, including launching the Treat of the Month Club in Toronto, participating in Toronto’s Vegetarian Food Festival and publishing my first ebook with the beautiful and always inspiring Lisa. The support we have received through the sale of Tiny Treats has left my heart bursting with joy. Since September, we have raised enough money to help feed 12 elephants in 2013—but we’d love to continue sending help to those precious animals on an ongoing basis. Let’s hope we can continue the momentum.

Blog-wise, I have a number of favourite recipes I was able to create and share here on ADC, most of which are dessert-inspired creations. This blog is always a work in progress and a means of growth for me, and although I’ve always enjoyed working on my baking and raw dessert-making skills, I recently became inspired to start sharing more savoury recipes and I’m super excited to change things up a bit around here. It’s also better to start the new year with a salad rather than a dessert, right?

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for visiting, inspiring me on a daily basis and for making the world a better, more compassionate and healthful place.

To wrap up this year, here’s:

ADC’s Best of 2012

Sunshine in a jar

Lemon meringue pie in a jar? Yes, please.

Maple cinnamon multi-seed butter

This was created out of a desire to get my nut butter fix, without the nuts.

Best-ever butter tarts

A gluten-free and vegan version of butter tarts that remind me of my grandmother’s.

Sprouted buckwheat bites

Bite-size goodies inspired by one of my favourite, locally-made snacks.

Easy macadamia caramel

Super simple, super sweet syrup that can be drizzled on almost anything.

Gluten-free chocolate avocado cupcakes

My go-to cupcake recipe.

Tiny Treats

A new ebook that contains healthful, whole-food-based dessert recipes.

Dark chocolate mousse cups

These knocked the socks off my dinner party guests.

Enjoy!

The winner is Shani! Congratulations. Please email me at nicole [at] www.adashofcompassion.com so I can get you set up.

While I’m here, I thought I’d share a quick and easy recipe that is great for holiday parties and gifts. These were included in October’s Treat of the Month Club. I hope you enjoy them as much as our club members did!

This particular granola, with its golden hue and warming spices, has been my comfort food during this otherwise dismal and very hostile transition to winter. I spend late evenings wrapped up in a thick, cozy comforter on the couch, hands wrapped around my favourite blue and black cereal bowl that is tucked up against my chest, perhaps subconsciously filling an emotional void, a fear of what’s to come when winter hits and the frigid, dark days become the norm.

Warming vegetable soups, maple-kissed oatmeal and spiced tea are my salvation until next spring. As is this granola, sometimes eaten straight up but most often drowned in a sea of almond milk and topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I’ve made many granola adaptations over the years, but this is the first time I’ve added pumpkin puree to the mix. I wish I had thought of this earlier, because it makes for a fantastic binding agent for the oats and other dry ingredients. This is a very versatile recipe, so feel free to swap out the buckwheat, seeds or fruit for whatever you have on hand.

To celebrate, I thought I’d share my latest fudge recipe, which was actually one of the contenders for inclusion in the Tiny Treats ebook but it didn’t make the cut for two simple reasons: we already had quite a few chocolate recipes, and I felt at the time that it wasn’t quite perfect. Since then, I’ve played with ingredient selections and varying ingredient amounts–the Treat of the Month Club members have received test samples over the last two months–and I have finally come up with what I think is a pretty damn fine fudge. And it’s made with only five ingredients to boot.

In honour of World Vegan Day, this is my thanks to you for all you do to help the animals. There are so many fabulous organizations and people doing amazing work every day, and I feel so grateful to be a part of such an inspiring and compassionate community. A perfect example of this arrived in my inbox last week in the form of a media release: vegan bakery Allison’s Gourmet is holding it’s first Allison’s Gourmet Benefit for Animals fundraiser, starting today. During the entire month of November, the award-winning bakery will donate 10% from every sale to charity! Customers can select between three organizations to send their donation: The Gentle Barn, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Founder and owner Allison Rivers Samson says: “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to support some of my favourite animal organizations in such a direct way. People get to have their chocolate and eat (or give!) it too, all while doing extra good for animals.”

This is why I love vegans.

Oh, and don’t forget, Lisa and I are still raising money for the elephants.

So, to help develop your repertoire of fabulous vegan deserts, I thought I’d highlight my six favourite go-to recipes, all involving important techniques or ingredients that will help you improve your vegan baking.

Mastering these vegan dessert basics will make all the difference when creating sweet treats for your friends and family. These basics–from a simple raw chocolate brownie to a vegan lemon curd–are well worth the time to whip up, and play an important supporting role in adding a fancy finish to many a luxurious dinner party.

Best-ever raw cheesecake–Skip the traditional dairy-laden ingredients and instead make use of raw nuts, coconut and lemon to create this stunning and sophisticated raw cheesecake. The secret to success? Use soaked cashews and fresh lemon juice and puree in your blender until you obtain a silky smooth texture.

Lovely lemon curd–Fill jars or tart shells with this lemon filling to create a simple yet luscious dessert. Agar flakes used to set the curd are vegan bakers’ gelatin of choice.

Easy vegan caramel–No time or interest in making traditional caramel with sugar and butter and cream? This super simple raw caramel makes use of only three ingredients: macadamia nuts, maple syrup and agave. Since macadamia nuts are soft enough to blend smoothly without pre-soaking them, your prep is less than 10 minutes.

No-bake apple tart–No time to make a pie crust? Whip up this easy, no-bake version with nuts and dates in your food processor and fill the crust with fresh apples and spices for an irresistibly homey fall dessert, or any of filling of your liking.

Raw chocolate brownies–This simple yet sophisticated chocolate dessert is one you’ll want to make over and over again. These brownies can’t be compared to the traditional baked version, but you’ll love how easily they come together in your food processor…and the smooth chocolatey frosting can’t be beat!

Flourless cookies–It is possible to make delicious, healthy cookies without flour! These almond ginger cookies are soft and chewy and full of goodness. The almond meal is the flour substitute in this recipe. I also recently created a flourless mocha bean cookie made with black beans and chickpease that are also a must try.

If you’ve never attended the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival (the world’s largest veg fest) then this video created by the Toronto Vegetarian Association is a great sneak peak.

This fantastic festival is a great opportunity to catch up with friends in the vegan community, sample all the new vegan products and hear inspiring speakers from around the world.

As part of the festival presentations this year, Lisa and I collaborated on a food demo. Instead of begging Lisa’s food processor to make banana soft serve for 200 again, we thought we’d focus on sharing some tips and tricks that make eating vegan easier for us. Since Lisa has been following a vegan diet for 28 years and I have been for 12, we’ve learned a few shortcuts along the way to save time and money, without sacrificing flavour and fun.

Just in case you weren’t able to make it down to join the enthusiastic crowd that filled the Lakeside Terrace, we thought we’d post our recipes and tips here too.

1. Get Down With DIY–Celebrate your pioneer spirit and learn to make your own milks, flours and nut butters.

2. Value Versatility–Unleash your creativity with versatile pantry staples like almonds, cashews, oats, avocados and bananas.

3. Pass Over Packages–Don’t waste your money on plastic or cardboard; seek out farmers markets, CSAs and bulk bins. Save your dollars for those awesome ingredients.

4. Trust Technology–Invest in good quality appliances like a food processor and/or blender. The one-time investment will save you time and money every day.

5. Buy in Bulk–Use your negotiation skills to get great deals on produce, dry ingredients and hard-to-find favourites.

6. Grow Your Own–Make a hobby out of growing your own vegetables, sprouts or potted herbs. Use them in delicious recipes like tahini herb dressing.

7. Embrace Cultural Cuisine–The kitchen is an excellent platform to unleash your creativity. Try vegetarian Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, Mediterranean or South East Asian recipes to keep your meals diverse and delicious.

8. Stock Snacks–Be prepared. Stop worrying about finding fantastic food while on the go–travel with treats!

9. Double the Fun–Make big batches of beans, grains, dressings and dips to save time all week.

10. Feed Your Friends–Nourish your friends and your soul with delicious, health-promoting fare. Nothing says love like feeding people.

Along with these helpful tips, we showed the crowd how to make your own nut butters, instant almond milk, tahini, tahini herb dressing and snack bars with frosting. Here are two of the recipes!