vegan epiphany

i've been on a phyllo dough kick recently (what's not to love about flaky, buttery, delicious pastry?), but have yet to use phyllo for a dessert. maybe it's because of all the donut runs...
anyway, this recipe may not be as easy as easy as going on a donut run, but it's definitely as satisfying. and it's vegan, contains chocolate sauce, and undoubtedly an epiphany.

ingredients:

crust-
16 sheets phyllo dough
1/3 cup earth balance, melted
plain bread crumbs for sprinkling

ganache-
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup soy milk (or coconut milk)

topping-
1 cup soy creamer (or coconut milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
slivered almonds for sprinkling

preheat oven to 375 F

for the crust, carefully lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough with the longer side in front of you. cover the surface with the melted earth balance and sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs to prevent the layers from sticking together. layer another sheet of phyllo dough upon the first, spread earth balance on the surface, and sprinkle with bread crumbs. repeat the process until you have 4 sheets layered upon one another. fold the stack lengthwise (you want the longer side to remain the same length, while the shorter side has been divided in 2). make two cuts along the shorter side, so that you end up with 3 equally sized squares. each square should be 8 layers thick, and large enough to fold into a cupcake tin cavity (about 4 or 5 inches squared). repeat the layering process until you have filled a cupcake tin with mini pastry shells. bake for apx 20 minutes or until the edges of the the cups have lightly browned. allow to cool.

meanwhile, prepare the ganache by melting the chocolate chips and soy milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. stir often to prevent burning and remove from heat once the mixture is smooth.

once the shells have cooled, you can fill them with the ganache. start with about a tablespoon for each shell, then disperse extra chocolate where it looks skimpy. my original intention was to purchase soy whipped cream to top the ganache with, but apparently it's not in stock yet ye local grocer, so i decided to attempt to make my own. i failed. i added soy creamer, vanilla extract, and arrowroot powder (a natural thickener) to a food processor, but it just wouldn't thicken. so instead, i popped the mixture into the freezer and made a granita. if your grocery store carries soy whipped cream, you could always opt for that, but if not, a granita is a pretty simple and fun replacement. after sticking the mixture in the freezer, just check on it every 45 minutes or so (for a couple of hours) and give it a good scrape to prevent too large of ice crystals from forming. once it's ready, you can top the ganache with a spoonful of the granita, sprinkle it with almonds, and have an epiphany of your own. enjoy : )