Lemon Lavender Spoon Cream - guest post by Ashlee of The Little Foxes - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 16

I thought my Frozen Basil Seed Pudding recipe would be the last one on my blog for this year's Vegan MoFo. Then, the lovely Ashlee Piper sent me this delicious Lemon-Lavender Spoon Cream recipe as her guest post and suddenly I have a post #16 for all of you. :)

I normally write out a little introduction about guest bloggers so you can get to know them better. But Ashlee here sent me a neat bio about herself and made my work easier. She even sent me these photographs of herself to share. Just look at that beautiful, warm vegan glow! :)

I'm sharing her recipe first and at the bottom of this blog post, you'll find her very impressive bio. Make sure you visit the various links she's shared. Especially her blog, The Little Foxes.

Thank you for being here today, Ashlee. I am very happy to have you as a guest blogger at Veganosaurus. :)

Now, on to Ashlee's post...

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Many thanks to Susmitha for having me on Veganosaurus today!

This recipe is a romantic take on a popular Sweet Vegan Ricotta recipe I debuted a while ago. It’s like the sexier, exotic cousin. Lavender and extra lemon make this mixture a little more viscous and luscious – the perfect complement to ripe, juicy fruit and buttery vegan croissants. I call it “Spoon Cream,” because that’s exactly what you’ll want to do – enjoy this lush dessert or snack by the delicate spoonful.

Lemon-Lavender Spoon Cream
Vegan – Refined Sugar-Free – Soy-Free – Palm Oil-Free – Gluten-Free

Yields: About 2 cups
Prep Time: 30 minutes, including soaking
Cook Time: None! Praise be!

Ingredients:

2/3 cups raw cashews
1/2 cup raw almonds
5 dates, skins on
1 cup of water
2.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dried lavender buds
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp fresh vanilla bean

Assembly:

1. In a medium sized dish, place the cashews, almonds, and dates, and cover with 1 cup of water. Allow to soak for 30 minutes.
2. Once soaked, add the entire mixture (soaking water included), lemon juice, lavender buds, vanilla bean, and vanilla extract in to a high-speed blender. Blend until creamy and thick. The consistency doesn’t have to be completely smooth, but feel free to add more water or almond milk to make the mixture more viscous.
3. If you really want to take this recipe to the next level, pour a generous dollop in to a vegan pastry cup and top with balsamic strawberries. I make this regularly for catering gigs and people always go nuts (pun intended) for the creamy, sweet, sour, and juicy mixture of it all.

Bio:

Ashlee Piper (MSW, MSc, HHC, AADP) is a former governmental strategist turned plant-based health and lifestyle expert (you can read about her professional transition here). She is the owner of All Is Wellness, a boutique holistic health consultancy that assists busy individuals, families, and workplaces in giving their food, routines, and lives a gorgeously green makeover. An award-winning vegan cook, Piper also runs a popular food and style blog, The Little Foxes, and her recipes and writing have been featured in Reader’s Digest, Earth Balance’s Made Just Right, Ecorazzi, TOMS Shoes, Girlie Girl Army, Vegetarian Times, and Our Hen House. Her blog was recently named among the “Top 9 Food Blogs to Watch” by Refinery29 and Ashlee was recently featured on a Fox News segment where she discussed cruelty-free fashion.

She also writes guides on plant-based topics for Vegucated, manages the Vegucated Schoolhouse Community, a free resource where she shepherds over 1,700 in their transition to a plant-based diet, and is the “Vegan for Life” columnist for Cheeky Chicago. Think a cruelty-free, vegan lifestyle is hard? Ashlee delights in showing people that living la vida compassionate is every bit as tasty, stylish, economical, simple, and fun as the status quo (hint: it’s way more fun)!

When she’s not coaching clients or whipping up mouthwatering vegan feasts, Piper enjoys taking her two rescue dogs to the beach, getting bendy at yoga, singing karaoke, and wearing red lipstick and listening to Morrissey with sassy abandon.

Be sure to follow The Little Foxes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest to get the latest deliciousness.