Sweets & Treats

Cookie S’mores

Easy s’mores made with vegan marshmallows, dark chocolate, and your favorite homemade or store-bought cookies. Perfect for a fun summer dessert.

S’mores lovers, this one’s for you.

Camping this summer I had my first ever campfire s’mores at the age of 33.

My friend Anna, camping boss that she is, walked me through the whole process.

From selecting the perfect campsite twigs to the perfect level of marshmallow “burned-ness”, to putting it all together.

There’s photographic evidence of me biting into one, a look of dreamy satisfaction washing over my face, my features lit up from the flash against the dark behind me.

But who says s’mores have to be made with graham crackers?

These Cookie S’mores are a fun twist on s’mores with a cookie encasing with the same gooey good stuff in between.

Make them around the campfire or out of the comfort of your own home this summer!

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Cookie Layer Bars

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

No-bake cookie bars made with a crushed cookie crust, dark chocolate center, and sweet almond butter fudge topping. Perfect for a fun dessert to share!

A few weeks back M and I had a dinner party at a friend’s house.

Whenever I have a group event coming up, I like to recipe test to pawn off the leftovers on my friends’ unsuspecting tastebuds.

On this particular event, I must have been feeling brave, because I brought these Cookie Layer Bars without even taking a bite first.

After wine and my first experience with the Impossible Burger, my girlfriend cut into the frozen slab and took a bite.

“Oh my god”, she said. “It’s amazing.”

At first, I thought she was just being nice, complimenting the recipe testing food blogger on her first Frankenstein.

But as more of the guests grabbed first and seconds, I started to realize that, hey, this stuff must be pretty good.

Since then, I’ve received several requests to make more in exchange for payment.

Just saying.

But today, I’m giving you guys the recipe for free!

These Cookie Crack Bars are made with a crushed cookie crust, dark chocolate center, and sweet almond butter fudge topping.

They’re the perfect fun dessert to share, or to win some popularity points at your next dinner party!

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Date-Sweetened Donuts with Chocolate Frosting

By Flora & Vino 4 Comments

Vegan cake donuts made with oat flour and sweetened with Medjool dates, topped with a two-ingredient dark chocolate frosting. Perfect for a healthy dessert!

Hi, friends.

It’s been a while since we last chatted.

June has been an absolute whirlwind for me and I can’t quite believe just *how* much has changed in the past two weeks.

For one, I’m moving!

I’m in the process of packing boxes and making plans to move to Maryland with M.

Secondly, I’m reconnecting with friends and family in a major way; scheduling dinners and hikes and hugs.

After a *very* trying 2020, all of this feels like a new beginning, a clean slate, a fresh start.

But between all of the positive changes in life, summer keeps running on, hot summer days spilling into cool summer mornings.

And what do you know, this weekend is dad’s day!

Let’s put all of the busy-ness aside for a second and celebrate dad, OK?

These Date-Sweetened Donuts with Chocolate Frosting are just what any man in your life needs this Father’s Day.

They’re totally vegan, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free with a cake-y interior and a 2-ingredient chocolate ganache!

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Strawberry Banana Bread

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Strawberry banana bread made gluten-free with almond flour, oats, and almond butter. It’s naturally sweet from maple syrup and applesauce!

This week I had my first in person game night since, pre-COVID 2020.

It was the first time I saw my sister and cousin up close and in person in over a year.

When I opened the front door and saw them standing on my welcome mat, I squealed with delight.

It was special and surreal and weird and wonderful all at once.

Yeah, we didn’t play any *actual* games, but we sure did do a lot of hugging.

Which is fine by me!

Who wants to play board games when you could choose a cuddle puddle?

This Strawberry Banana Bread is made in one bowl is almost as cozy as a cuddle.

It’s made with vegan, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free with oats, almonds, and plenty of strawberries!

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Vegan Raspberry Sorbet

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

Vegan raspberry sorbet made with coconut milk and frozen raspberries naturally sweetened with maple syrup. Enjoy in a cup or smashed between cookies!

Everything is changing– do you feel it, too?

The world is opening, blossoming, and inviting, and I don’t know what to do or where to go first!

Part of me just wants to stay indoors, maintaining the cozy COVID-bubble that I created with M.

The globe suddenly feels huge and I want to cling to the things that made me feel safe the past 15 months.

But as M said last week, change is good.

Change encourages momentum, clarifications, and answers to the questions I’ve been holding onto, like, what’s next?

COVID normalized a unified sense of “stuckness”, the world united by the fact that all of our plans, travels, and careers had changed or paused.

So who are we when we get “un-stuck”?

Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like the same Lauren that hunkered down last March.

I learned how to slow down, I grew out my hair, and I fell in love.

So maybe it’s all just about integrating our pandemic progress with our still relevant hopes and dreams of the past.

Kind of like smashing Vegan Raspberry Sorbet between cookies for a warm weather treat.

This Vegan Raspberry Sorbet is made no-churn with just 3-ingredients without any weird ingredients or fancy equipment!

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Cashew Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

//#ad This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Light and easy stuffed strawberries made with a homemade cashew cheesecake whip and fresh berries. Perfect for a sweet summer side!

Memorial Day is upon us, friends.

For those of you who’ve been following me on Instagram, you might know that I haven’t seen my parents since before COVID.

I’ve waved at them from behind their sliding glass door several times for gift exchanges, but I haven’t wrapped them or my sister in a big bear hug since 2019.

We’re planning some sort of a cookout to reunite on Memorial Day weekend– the first weekend two weeks after all of us are fully vaccinated.

Hurray!

So I’m *really* excited to begin making food to share this summer, starting with these stuffed strawberries.

These Cashew Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries are perfectly presentable for spring and summer entertaining this year.

They’re light and easy, made with a homemade cashew cheesecake whip and fresh berries, perfect for a quick and creative sweet summer side!

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Strawberry Sangria

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

Refreshing strawberry sangria made on the spot with oranges, strawberries, and a kombucha flair. Perfect for outdoor summer entertaining!

One of my favorite wineries in the area used to sell the *best* Sangria.

It was perfect to drink on warm summer days, the wine glass cold and sweating while I laughed with friends and family.

When the glass contents were gone, I sucked on ice and fished out wine-soaked orange and apples wedges.

At some point the winery stopped selling sangria, and I never really ordered it anywhere else.

After making mulled wine this winter, I decided it was time to try something chilled with wine, too.

My version is special because it’s got a definite strawberry flavor with a kombucha twist.

It’s also naturally sweetened with orange juice and and fresh fruit and no-added-sugar.

This Strawberry Sangria is made with just 7 ingredients that are easy to throw together in less than 10 minutes for a refreshing fruity drink!

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SunButter & Jelly Brownies

By Flora & Vino 4 Comments

Grain-free vegan brownies with a decadent SunButter & jelly swirl made with organic sunflower seed butter and homemade strawberry chia jam.

OK, let’s catch up because it’s been a minute since we’ve chatted.

Since I last wrote to you, I submitted my third round of cookbook edits and the manuscript is officially out of my hands and in the very capable hands of copy editors.

Woo-freakin-hoo!

I also received my second COVID vaccine and was totally wiped out for the following day.

Feeling shaking and immobile, I spent most of the day curled up in my favorite recliner, journaling, brainstorming, and dreaming of the future for me and F&V.

Thinking beyond my daily TO-DOs, beyond the cookbook, beyond the pandemic.

What’s next?

Well, these SunButter & Jelly Brownies are next for you, boo.

They’re entirely grain-free and refined-sugar-free with a swirly SunButter and homemade jelly top.

I mean, what’s better than combining PB&J and brownies?

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Everything Granola Bites

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Everything Granola Bites with SunButter, chia seeds, coconut, cacao nibs, and a hidden granola crunch! Perfect for a quick portable snack!

This past week M and I built a tent in my living room.

A mass of lime green nylon, woven mesh, and sturdy poles erected into a dome in under ten minutes.

As the weather gets warmer, I’m dreaming of summer adventures.

It’s been forever since I slept away from home, and I’m itching to pack up the car with my new camping gear and explore.

Do you like camping?

M will tell you that I’ve never *really* been camping, which is partially true.

I guess I’ve been *glamping*, i.e. sleeping in a camp cabin, with four walls and a roof and a screened in door.

So maybe I’m romanticizing all of it– sleeping under the stars, s’mores, and basking in forest sunlight.

But I think there’s the chance to make a camper out of me, yet.

Everything is starting to feel more and more possible– as people become vaccinated, as the book comes closer to a close, as my camping set is complete.

I’ve also been thinking about easy food to make while in the great outdoors, starting with easy snacks.

These Everything Granola Bites are a great portable snack to make in advance for all of your adventuring this year.

They’re made no-bake with simple ingredients that will fuel all of your summer fun!

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Raw Walnut Cashew Butter

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

#ad// This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

2-ingredient homemade raw walnut cashew butter made super creamy in under 10 minutes Serve it with Bare Snacks Banana Chips for an easy snack!

Did you pull any epic pranks on April Fools Day?

After one of my aloe plants fell out of it’s pot for the fourth (or fifth?) time last week (it was poorly potted and in a precarious position), I had a plant funeral and buried the evidence in my trashcan.

RIP, aloe.

As part of an April Fools day joke, I purchased a new plant and propped it up on the late aloe’s plant stand on April the first, waiting for M to notice.

I smirked while he ate his breakfast, finally asking, pointedly, “So, do you notice anything different???”

After doing a lingering living room scan, he finally picked out the monstera deliciosa sitting pretty near the window sill.

I laughed, assuring him I would keep my plant murderess tendencies contained.

I’m so infatuated with this little green plant and it’s smooth heart-shaped leaves already turning towards the sunshine.

Let’s see how long it survives…

Hopefully longer than this Raw Walnut Cashew Butter that I made last week and served with banana chips.

It requires just two ingredients and a blender without any added sugars or oils.

It’s true: I wouldn’t kid about something as serious as nut butter, not even on April Fools!

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Sweets & Treats

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