BitterSweet

Not So Angelic

Considering how many dozens of times I’ve tried and failed to make a vegan angel food cake, it’s a miracle in itself that I still haven’t given up hope that it might one day work. The resulting rejects could very well satisfy a voracious sweet tooth for months on end, but only if they could stomach a soggy, leaden crumb more suited for dish sponges than cakes. Anyone in their right mind would know when to say “uncle,” but each flat frisbee that emerges from the oven only fuels my desire to crack the angel food conundrum.

Needless to say, I’m not alone in this quest; Vegans have been trying to recreate this ethereal cake since the beginning of time (or at least the beginning of veganism) to varying degrees of success. And in case you’re wondering, no, a block of tofu plus a half cup of oil does not angel food make. Yikes, and I thought my own experiments were pretty far off the mark…!  Tireless research lead to only one existing recipe worth exploring, and so like a ravenous lion, I pounced upon Bryanna Clark Grogan’s angel torte.

As you can see, the crumb is still considerably more dense and moist than a traditional angel food cake.  The flavor?  Well, it’s… Sweet, that’s for sure.  Admittedly, I did pass on the almond extract, but knowing that the recipient is a purist, known to turn up his nose even at the addition of lemon zest or innocent little chocolate chips, I knew that such additions just wouldn’t fly.  So it’s perhaps a bit closer to the target, but still not quite right.  The quest for angel food is still not over, but  for now, I’m happy to at least have something to serve to my dad on his birthday [today!], since angel food is the only sort of cake he truly enjoys.  Happy birthday, Dad, and here’s hoping that I’ll be able to make the perfect rendition for you one of these years!

Little Time, Little Plates

Time flies, whether you’re having fun or not. Thankfully, most of my time has been occupied by enjoyable things, but the past week or so seems to have completely escaped my grasp. Planning is clearly not my forte, judging by the lack of posts recently, but at least I had the forethought to make my entry for the Daring Bakers early on before this whirlwind of activity picked up and carried off my free time.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that this was in fact, not a challenge due to schedule constraints, but part of me deeply misses the old days of crazy recipes, near-disasters that force one to think outside of the box, and rising to the occasion, ultimately finding an even better result than anticipated. Cheesecake may present some difficulties and potential pit falls, with the threat of cracked tops or dense fillings looming, but once you make one, you can pretty much make a million. With you eyes closed. While twittering. And preparing dinner at the same time.

Regardless, a plated presentation was definitely in order, being one of my favorite things at the moment. The whole she-bang starts out with a key lime cheesecake made in a silicon hemisphere mold, baked for only a few minutes to set and then frozen. Once each half sphere is popped out, they’re placed on top of tender graham cakes, imitating the flavors of a traditional cheesecake crust. Beneath that, for a satisfying crunch, is a thin layer of almond shortbread, anchoring the whole dessert and adding a nice nutty flavor beneath it all.  Crowned with some candied key limes and sugared mint leaves, it was a rich but refreshing dessert, perfectly suited for this heat wave we’re experiencing on the east coast.  If only I still had one of these little plates left now!

Edible Animals (That are Still Vegan!)

As any vegan can tell you, there will be people out there who are just out to press buttons and ask antagonistic questions about your choices. From the standard, forgivable “where do you get your protein?” to the completely inane “what would you do if you were stranded on an island with only animals to eat?”- Proving that really, there are stupid questions, no matter what some encouraging teachers may say. One particular query that I recall came while standing by the vending machines in school one day with friends, examining the limited options. “Hey, what about animal crackers? Are those vegan?”, some wiseguy taunted, thinking he was being so clever. “Nope, not vegan- But only because they have whey in them!” I quickly responded.

While it may still be a bit weird to consider eating food shaped like animals, even if it contains no actual animals, there is something about these cute crackers that is just irresistible. Luckily, it’s not at all hard to create these cute cookies at home, and without all of the questionable ingredients too. You can even take a few liberties with flavors and get creative! These zoo creatures above may look just like the classic, but there is a secret that will only reveal itself once it hits the palate…

Curry! That’s right, a pinch of curry powder adds not only a rich yellow color, but a nice warm, slightly spicy flavor. Definitely a more grown up version of the original, these animals are some of the few that are actually fit for consumption.

Animal Crackers with a Kick

1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds
1/4 Cup Water
3/4 Cup Margarine
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Mellow Curry Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Powder
Pinch Tumeric
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Begin by grinding the chia seeds into a fine meal using a coffee or spice grinder, and then add the water, pulsing to combine. Let sit for 5 minutes for the liquid to absorb.

Meanwhile, cream together the margarine and sugar in your stand mixer until smooth and homogeneous. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, and tumeric. Whisk briefly to combine. Add half of the dry ingredients into the mixer, and mix until smooth. Next, incorporate the chia mixture, and the second half of the dry goods. Add in the vanilla, and allow the mixer to continue working until the dough comes together. It may seem very dry, but just be patient and resist the urge to add more liquid.

Once you get a smooth dough, divide it into two pieces and wrap each up in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before proceeding.

When the dough is thoroughly chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.

Take one ball of dough and roll it out very thinly, to about 1/8th of an inch in thickness. Lightly flour the surface and rolling pin if necessary to prevent sticking. Use the cutest animal cookie cutters you can find, and cut out your shapes, transferring them to the silpat or parchment paper. Quickly slip the sheets of unbaked cookies into the freezer for 15 minutes before moving them into the oven. This will help to prevent the shapes from distorting or spreading. Bake for 9 – 15 minutes, taking into a account how small or thin the animal shapes are and keeping an eye on the cookies so that they don’t burn. Let the cookies cool on a rack before storing in an air-tight container.

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Beyond Expectations

Passover is in full swing now, here to torture those observing for a full week.  Seder plates have been washed clean and the “festive meal” consumed, but the real observance has just begun.  Like I said earlier, I don’t keep kosher, and I had hoped to just suggest a few sweet recipes appropriate for the holiday, maybe give a few pointers to those confused about chametz, and then wash my hands clean of this whole thing.  Yep, that was the plan… But here you sweet people have guilted me into thinking about this more, and ultimately working to create something else to share for this time of year.

Really, it’s the challenge of meeting such strict dietary guidelines that gets me. Taking the opportunity to create something else to add to me repertoire of gluten-free recipes, it seemed only appropriate to go for a staple sweet, something that I know I would miss dearly if abstaining from wheat for any reason.

Brownies. Yes, plain, classic, standard brownies. But much to my surprise and delight, these chocolate morsels turned out even better than I could have expected; Quite possibly even better than my original recipe for gluten-ful brownies, too! Dense but not heavy, full-bodied and intensely chocolatey, these straddle that fine line between cakey and fudgey, these simple bars possess what I consider the ideal texture for this crowd-pleasing baked good.

No compromises here! In fact, forget about Passover, because this is one recipe you’ll want to whip out all year round!

Gluten-Free / Passover-Friendly Brownies

2/3 Cup Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
1/3 Cup Potato Starch
1/4 Cup Sweet White Rice Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Margarine
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Walnuts, Chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, potato starch, rice flour, salt, and sugar. Melt the margarine and stir in the pumpkin puree and vanilla until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir well. No need to worry about over-mixing here, as there’s no gluten to make the brownies tough, so just make sure to get all of the lumps out. Add in the walnuts, and mix to evenly distribute them throughout the batter.

Smooth the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for approximately 20 – 24 minutes. The top should no longer look “wet,” and a toothpick should come out mostly clean, with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan before cutting.

Haste Leads to Waste… And Pain

Baking and cooking can be many things to many people; A way to relieve stress, get out aggressions, or soothe sadness. The simple act of slowing down and creating something from scratch with your own two hands can just be such a catharsis in this busy, maddening world. It isn’t, however, something to plow through, rushed and uninterested in the process itself, eyes only focused on the end result. Baking is less about the cakes and the cookies that come out of the oven, but more about the sifting of the flour, careful measuring, and skillful work with the knife. Or in my case, disastrously clumsy and painful use of the knife.

Waking up late and hastily throwing together the base for my Passover dessert to be served at seder later that night, everything was going as planned… Until I pulled out those fateful oranges. Without thinking, I began hacking away, paring off strips of zest when the blade slipped and… Well, I think you can guess what it began paring after that. This was quite possibly the worst injury I’ve sustained in the kitchen yet, and yes, it was all from a careless mistake.

Things kept going downhill from there- The crust for my tartlettes fell apart in the oven, and my iSi cream whipper refused to work in more than spurts and splats, making for a rather Picasso sort of presentation. Taking a deep breath, slowing down a bit, and thinking things through more was the only way out of this mess.

The orange curd meant to fill my tartlettes went into the bottom of some clear glasses instead, to be topped with chopped strawberries and strawberry mousse. Much simpler than my original plans, but working with only one hand definitely limited my options this time around. At least there will still be a dessert to serve tonight… And I don’t think I need stitches, I consoled myself at the time.

Thank goodness those verrines were so well received after all of that drama! It’s one thing to be able to think on your feet, but another to think ahead enough so that you don’t need to. Just in case you’re thinking about speeding through your next culinary endeavor, consider how much less time and pain it may take if you go about it mindfully in the first place.

Bunny Love

Easter means two things to me: Cute, fluffy bunnies, and candy.  Since I would hate to pass up the opportunity to celebrate pretty much any holiday, despite my pitiful lack of knowledge about it, I set about making the most festive sweet treat I could muster.

Thank goodness I still had a marshmallow kit from Angel Food, which had admittedly expired six months ago, but still worked just as promised.  Thick, billowing clouds of marshmallow-y goodness were soon whipping around the beater of my mixer, dyed a pastel pink thanks to the pomegranate juice I substituted for water.  Peeps are pretty much the epitome of Easter to me, but it would be a stretch to try piping out those iconic shapes, so instead the mallow was set in a baking dish, to be cut out later into appropriate shapes.

Lightly dusting the counter, knife, cookie cutter, and entire kitchen with powdered sugar, tiny pink bunnies were soon taking shape.

Carefully poking those microscopic ears and tails out of the metal form, it seemed like a task that would last me all day. Little did I know that like the real thing, this rabbits can really multiply in no time…!

The Passover Problem

Every year, it’s the same thing; Endless sheets of dry, bland matzo, and very little else. Passover is not a fun holiday by any stretch of the imagination, having much more to do with loss and suffering than celebration, but I still don’t see why it must always be a miserable week to endure. I’m far from religious, and will readily admit that I do not keep kosher for the whole week, but I do participate in the family Seder and as always, am responsible for an appropriate and delicious dessert. In this case, it means no barley, wheat, rye, oats, spelt, corn, rice, peanuts, legumes, and leavening in general. As if it wasn’t tough enough being a vegan at a family dinner! This is why I don’t continue to observe beyond that one meal, because I value my health and personally can’t maintain a balanced diet with such limitations.

But, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, and it’s certainly easy enough to brainstorm a solid sweet ending for Seder. In my case, I’m planning on making tartlettes with a toasted coconut crust, and filling them with the lemon curd from My Sweet Vegan, but more on that later. Your best bet is to rely on fruits and nuts- Go very simply with poached pears, or try some variation of panna cotta subbing in coconut yogurt for the soy (and the sky’s the limit when it comes to flavors) which you could pair with a fresh fruit sauce. Whip up a simple mousse in no time, or a frozen delight like pumpkin ice cream is sure to end the dinner on a sweet note.

If all else fails, many candies are very simple and naturally kosher for Passover, such as peanut butter and peppermint cups, fudge, or an all-time favorite in my household, the matzah toffee, as pictured above, from my cookbook. So simple and crowd-pleasing that even my omnivore mom volunteered to make it this year, it’s one sweet treat that we always have on hand to beat the Passover blues.

While it may be trying to keep kosher, everything will be just fine if you can whip up a batch (or two, or three…) of this stuff. Even if you don’t celebrate Passover, you may want to pick up a box or two of matzah while it’s on the market now; You’ll want to make it all year round!

Matzah Toffee

Matzah, to fit pan
1 Cup Margarine
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
12 Ounces (2 Cups) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and line a 15 x 10 inch jellyroll pan, or other shallow pan, with matzah boards. Fit them to cover the bottom evenly, without overlapping; you may need to break them to do so.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the margarine and brown sugar together and bring them to a slow boil. Maintain a gently boil without stirring for 3 – 5 minutes, until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat a spoon. Pour the sugar mixture over the matzah and spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 4 minutes and remove carefully.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the matzah, then return the pan to your oven for another 30 – 60 seconds. After it comes out of the oven this second time, gently spread the melted chocolate so that it covers the top as completely as possible.

Let the matzah toffee cool at room temperature until it has completely solidified. Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container.

Makes about 2 pounds of candy.

Whey Cool

So, after making your cheese, you’ve got a big pitcher full of this strange, yellowish whey and I’m sure you’re wondering, “Well, now what do I do with this stuff?”

How about making a loaf of bread, for starters?  Simple enough, as any bread can be made with leftover whey- Just replace the water in an equal amount, and it should work as well, taste as good, but have a nice nutritional bonus.  Additionally, I’ve found that it makes for a softer, more tender loaf, just like whole soymilk would too.  Of course I had to make a whole new recipe for bread just to see this in action, but don’t fret if you don’t have any whey to make it; the inverse of my suggestion is true, and you could use water instead.

Should you find yourself with even more whey, (and you probably will, since 4 cups of soymilk yield only 1 cup of solids) there are still plenty of ways to make use of it!  Try making sauerkraut with it, using it in marinades that might otherwise call for water, soaking beans and grains in it (the enzymes help to make both more easily digestible), feeding it to your plants, and if all else fails, feeding it to the dog.  Some people have suggested sweetening plain whey and just drinking it straight… But I might suggest blending it into a flavorful smoothie instead, as the whey isn’t exactly a delight for the taste buds all by itself.

In the mean time, how about a bread that will go beautifully with the cheese spread that the whey came from?  Flecks of caramelized onions add a unique sweetness to this undeniably savory loaf, complimenting the wholesome grains that support them.  Excellent for sandwiches, toast, and eating plain, you may find that excess whey isn’t a problem when it can go into this recipe!

Onion Whey Bread

2 Tablespoons Margarine
1 Medium Sweet Onion, Chopped
1 Cup Whey
1 1/2 Teaspoons Granulated Sugar
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 – 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Oat Flour

Set a skillet over medium heat and melt the margarine.  Add in the onion, reduce the heat, and allow it to cook gently until golden brown and nicely caramelized, about 20 minutes or so.  Let the onion cool before proceeding.

In the mean time, combine the whey and sugar, and heat for just 1 minute in the microwave to warm it through, but not get it hot.  Sprinkle in the yeast, and allow 5 – 10 minutes for it to reactivate and become frothy.

In your stand mixer with the hook attachment installed, stir together the salt, whole wheat flour, 1 cup of the AP flour, and the oat flour. Mix in the caramelized onion pieces and coat them thoroughly with the flour before pouring in the whey mixture. Stir well, and add in more AP flour as needed, and continue mixing until you achieve a smooth and tacky but not sticky dough. Kneed for about 10 minutes by hand on a floured surface before placing it in a lightly oiled bowl and letting it rise for 1 – 2 hours, until doubled in volume.

Press the dough out gently but firmly with your knuckles, and shape it into a rough rectangle. Roll up the rectangle so that it is as long as an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. Lightly grease the loaf pan, and place your dough inside, seam-side down. Let rise again for another 1 hour or so, until it’s just about peeking over the edge of the pan.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until nicely browned on the outside. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then on a wire wrack for at least 30 before slicing.

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