A simple spring & summer dessert when berries are in peak season! Made with vegan coconut cream.

summer / vegan

Our 4th of July ended up being a quiet day, just the two of us. Jack grilled up some stuffed mushrooms & poblanos and then whipped together this juicy little dessert.

We have a new annual tradition – which is not the 4th of July – but rather the annual “Jack cooks because Jeanine’s hand is all busted up from trying to break up yet another dog fight.” Yes, this has happened before, and no, I’ll never learn. Everyone’s fine, by the way, but lets just say our little Annie is looking much more disheveled than this guy.

But back to the dessert… who doesn’t love berries on the 4th of July? To make this simple dessert exciting, we added fresh vanilla bean paste, toasted pecans and a dusting of cinnamon. The coconut cream is super simple to make, the hardest part is remembering to put your can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight. (I’ve gotten into the habit of just always keeping one in there).

Now if I could just get into the habit of keeping my hands out of the dogs teeth…
Expert dog-breaking-up tips are totally welcome, btw.

berries & coconut cream

  PrintAuthor: Jeanine DonofrioServes: serves 4Ingredientsfor the coconut cream:

• 1 can of full fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
• ¼ cup powdered sugar (or sweetener of your choice)
• pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon lemon oil (optional, but delicious)

for the berries:

• a few cups of mixed fresh berries
• a few teaspoons granulated sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon vanilla bean paste (scraped from 1 pod), optional*
• pinch of salt

serve with:

• chopped & toasted pecans, or this no-bake crumble
• cinnamon, for dusting

Instructions

Refrigerate your can of coconut cream overnight (or longer).

For the berries: slice and place them in a bowl with some sugar, the vanilla bean paste, and a tiny pinch of salt. Let them sit for 20 minutes or longer at room temp. The juices will extract and the berries will sweeten and soften.

Open your chilled can of coconut milk and scoop only the solid part off the top, be very careful not to mix it with the watery part underneath. Save the watery liquid for another use and place the solid part into your mixing bowl. Using a stand or a hand mixer, mix it until it's whipped. It should take less than a minute. Sift your powdered sugar to remove any lumps and mix it into your cream along with a pinch of salt, vanilla, and lemon oil.

Scoop berries into bowls, top with toasted pecans, a dollop of cream, and a dusting of cinnamon.

Notes*if you don't have vanilla bean pods, I don't recommend subbing in vanilla extract. Instead try some lemon zest, orange liquor, a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar, or just omit.

store any leftover cream in the fridge, it'll stay good for at least one more day.

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