Earth Day takes place annually on April 22, to remember the efforts that have been made so far to protect the planet, and the initiatives that should be taken next. Here are some vegan dessert recipes that you can create at home, while pledging to do your best to preserve planet Earth. These recipes attempt their best to be low waste and are definitely nutrient dense. They are also low calorie and low sugar, so they’re not bad for you even if you take multiple helping. Keep reading to discover three low effort, low waste vegan delish dessert recipes.
Vegan Apple Crumble
To make this recipe low waste, don’t discard the apple peels. Instead compost them, brew a tea with the peels, or homemade apple cider vinegar. You can also make apple peel chips in the air fryer.
Ingredients:
- 60 g flour
- 25 g rolled oats
- 25 g ground almonds
- 100 g brown sugar
- 120 ml coconut oil
- 8 apples, sliced and peeled
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180 C, then slice and peel the apples.
- Place into a serving dish, then add lemon juice, ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well.
- In another bowl, add ground almonds, rolled oats, brown sugar, and coconut oil.
- Mix and top over the spiced apples.
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Enjoy with a side of vanilla yoghurt or vegan yoghurt.
Chocolate Cake
Make the cashew milk at home - this way you’ll have pure, unadulterated quality plant milk that’s also budget-friendly. Don’t discard the cashew pulp, but instead use it up in a crumble recipe similar to the one above or compose it. As for the avocado and its pits, you can plant it in your garden and have your own avocado tree one day!
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 240 g flour
- 150 g sugar
- 50 g Cadbury Cocoa Powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 355 ml cashew milk
- ¼ cup mashed avocado
- 1 tsp lemon juice
For the frosting:
- 1 cup mashed avocado
- 25 g Cadbury Cocoa Powder
- 90 g chopped dark chocolate
- 120 ml cashew milk
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 175 C and prepare your cake tin by greasing it with some coconut oil. We’re not using disposable baking paper here to reduce the amount of waste that goes in the bin post cooking.
- Add all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend well until you get a smoothie-like mixture.
- Pour this batter in the cake tin and bake for 25 minutes or slightly more.
- Then take it out and let it cool.
- Prepare the frosting in the food processor too by blending all of the ingredients. As for the chopped chocolate, be sure to melt it in the microwave before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.
- Once the cake is cool to touch, frost the cake.
Fruit Salad
This is an easy, breezy and beautiful recipe that makes use of seasonal produce. Usually the summer brings with it a bounty of juicy fruits like mangoes, watermelons, musk melons, papayas and grapes. By using seasonal produce in sweet and savoury cooking you’re not only cutting down on carbon footprint by turning to food that requires no long distance transportation, you’re also supporting local farmers.
Ingredients:
- Seasonal fruit
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp natural sweetener like maple syrup or agave nectar (optional)
Instructions:
- Chop the fruits into cubes and toss them in the lemon juice and sweetener of choice.
- You can also season the fruit with some chaat masala if you want to add some twist to the dish.
Chill the fruit salad before digging in.