Post Punk Kitchen Forum

i want to make some kind of mix in a jar to give as holiday presents to family, but i haven't encountered any vegan recipes . . . so i am turning to the collective wisdom of the ppk to guide me. none of the potential recipients are vegan, so i very much doubt they will run out to the store to get non-dairy milk in a recipe that calls for 1/3 c of milk or something like that. while i suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world if they used cow milk, i would like to avoid that situation. so! i have two general inquiries:

1) if i use powdered soy milk/ener-g to subsitute for milk/eggs in an existing 'mix in a jar' type recipe, & have them add the appropriate amount of water to reconstitute the amount that was used . . . do you think that would work? i guess another idea would be to just use one of those existing recipes that calls for eggs & milk, but to provide each person with a pre-measured amount of ener-g & one of those juice box-sized boxes of rice milk.

2) can you think of any already vegan recipe that would be easily converted to a jar? i've been through my cookbooks looking for some kind of baked good that would work, but haven't come up with any solid results. i was considering something like the banana everything cookies from vciyc (just add a banana, oil, & vanilla!) . . . but the liquids are supposed to mix with the sugar before all the other dry stuff. would it work if the sugar has already been mixed with the other dry stuff in the jar? maybe the sugar can go in the jar separately, in a little baggie?

Maybe you were thinking sweet, but you could go savory. A soup mix? Maybe a vegan chili or bean soup of some sort?

i'd pack a bag with well mixed dry ingredients and would write on it the right amount of wet ingredients to add, also i suggest you to make this the same day you think to give it.

I don't know if you've seen this, but it might work for you. http://ohsheglows.com/2010/11/14/project-food-blog-video-411/

those look great! my fear is that they'll see the ingredients call for "three flax eggs" and just use three actual eggs, but they look worth trying for my own enjoyment. :)

i did find this though: cranberry chocolate chip cookies in a jar

You can consider actually baking cakes in the jar and then giving them as a present - something like this

oh! that is a cute idea!

How about some kind of yummy vegan cocoa mix? You could use powdered soy milk, sugar, cocoa, and some really decadent mix ins, like a layer of crushed candy canes, or some vegan white choc. chips and top it off with some Divvies! This way, all they have to do is add water or some non-dairy milk.

great idea, but try it first- as we said in the old hot choco thread, some soymilks make a really shitty-tasting hot cocoa (i'm forcing myself to drink the last batch we made).

what about wacky cake in a jar? They'd have to add oil, water, and vinegar.

I like the idea of a bean soup with pretty layers of different color lentils. i would not put anything "weird" in it like fake bacon or TVP. let spices add the flavor. The thing is, alot of omnis are so afraid of "vegan" food, if they realise that something like that is in it, they might never eat it. and that would make me sad. or cake in a jar sounds awesome,especially gingerbread.

Great idea! Wacky cake is perfect.

gingerbread does sound good! do you have a suggestion for a gingerbread recipe that might work in a jar?


i do like the wacky cake in a jar idea, but i would feel a little lame giving that to my husband's family since i actually first heard about that recipe from my mother-in-law . . . and it's the one vegan recipe they all DO make. although i make a variation on it that is orange spice cake instead of chocolate cake . . . so if i give them THAT in a jar, they might never know! bwa ha ha.

I once did breakfast themed baskets and gave everybody a jar of pancake mix and cocoa to everybody. I attached a recipe so they could add the liquid ingredients.

well, the problem with gingerbread is the molasses, which is liquid, and not something everyone has in the house to have to add to a mix. I was thinking about the cake, prebaked in a jar idea and i think the recipe in VCCTOTW would be great for that. and, you could wrap a few pieces of crystalized ginger up to tie with a ribbon on the jar to keep with a ginger theme. or if you did the wacky cake mix for your inlaws, you could put a label on it saying "X familys famous wacky cake" you already know that they are fans of that recipe!

That's a really good idea! I feel like omnis would be receptive to that too, nothing "weird".

What is Wacky Cake?! Sounds like something I should know about!

kdub, I believe wacky cake was invented during one of the world wars because of food rationing. It contains no eggs or dairy because people didn't have any. Just google it and you'll get the recipe. It's easy, light and fluffy, and tasty!

yes! that's where my mother-in-law got it from. her mother used to make it all the time during world war two.