Archive for October, 2007
Stewart and I went apple picking a couple weeks ago, and in the little farm store we saw pumpkin whoopie pies. Stewart asked if I would make them, and when I said yes, he bought a sugar pumpkin to increase the chances of me keeping my promise.
I’ll be the first to admit that these aren’t perfect. Don’t get me wrong, they’re really really tasty, but the verdict is that they’re not exactly like traditional whoopie pies. I need to work on the batter recipe, because these are more like soft cookie pies than whoopie pies. I think with an even softer, spongier batter, we’ll be in business, but these are perfectly serviceable cookie-whoopie pies if you want to give the initial test recipe a shot.
I used homemade pumpkin puree, but the canned stuff will work fine. The homemade version is easy, but obviously more time consuming than opening up a can. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the canned puree and the homemade is the color. Homemade pumpkin puree is considerably lighter and brighter. I’ll include the preparation for the puree at the end of the post.
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Makes 18-24 Small Pies (36-48 pieces)
1/2 Cup Non Hydrogenated Vegetable Shortening
2 Cups Sugar
2 tsp Molasses
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
4 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tbs Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375º. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Cream shortening and sugar together, using a stand mixer if available. You can also do it by hand. Add molasses and vanilla and beat well. Add pumpkin puree and whip until incorporated (don’t worry if the fat doesn’t mix in completely).
In a separate bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Add this dry mix to the wet until all incorporated. It will make a stiff batter.
I find it easiest to use and ice cream scoop that has a release lever to drop the dough onto your cookie sheet. The scoop I used holds 2 Tbs.
Wet your fingers and gently flatten the dough balls. This will prevent your pies from tipping over by creating a semi-flat surface for them to rest on.
Bake for 10-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, and the tops spring back when pressed in the center.
Remove cookies from the cookie sheet as soon as they come out of the oven to prevent over-baking. Cover them with a towel or plastic wrap to keep moisture/steam in, as this will prevent a hard crust from forming. Prepare the filling while your cookies are cooling.
Cream Cheese Filling
1/2 Container Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
2 Tbs Earth Balance
Whip ingredients together until smooth. Set aside or refrigerate until use.
I put my filling in a zip-top bag and sliced off the corner to pipe the filling into the center. You don’t need that much filling per pie. Make sure the sides of the cookies that were touching the cookie sheet are the side that touch the filling.
Traditional whoopie pies are chocolate. I think these would be awesome with some mini chocolate chips mixed in, or perhaps some melted chocolate drizzled over the top. Store them wrapped in plastic wrap or in an air-tight container to keep them soft.
If you’d like to read about how to make your own pumpkin filling, click the link below the last photo!
Homemade Pumpkin Puree
Makes 3-4 Cups
1 Sugar Pumpkin, 3-4 pounds
1-2 Cups Water
Preheat oven to 400º F.
Slice pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds and strings–if you’d like to save the seeds, place the seedy pulp large bowl and set aside, otherwise discard it. Place pumpkin cut-side-down on a rimed cookie sheet or inside a large roasting pan. Add 1-2 Cups of water and bake for 90 minutes, or until flesh is very soft and the skin has darkened. Scoop out the soft flesh into the work bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.
Tip for Seeds
Place the pulp and seeds in a large bowl and cover with a generous amount of water. Squeeze the pulp to separate it from the seeds. The seeds will float. Use a slotted spoon to skim the seeds from the top of the water. Dry the seeds well and roast and season if desired.
October 26th, 2007
There are innumerable recipes for vegan mac and cheese on the internet. I’ve tried a lot of them. Some of them simply call for “slices of soy cheese” and some vegetable stock to be mixed over pasta. The majority, however, require nutritional yeast, and they usually also require making a roux. The recipe below is from my upcoming cookbook, and it’s one of my favorites. However, if you’ll indulge me for a moment, there are some things about vegan mac and cheeze I want to talk about.
Now, I’m the first to admit “Mac and Yeast” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. That’s why I tend to call it “Mac and Cheeze”. But I’m also the first to admit that these recipes, even the best of them, don’t really taste all that much like mac and cheese. Some get much closer than others, and a lot are downright tasty. But it’s not cheese. Your omnivore or veggie friend/spouse/child may love it as much as or even more than the real stuff (if you’re lucky), but they probably love it on its own merits, not because they really can’t tell the difference.
But you know what? It doesn’t have to taste exactly the same for me to love it.
A lot of people, myself included, are really interested in making vegan food that’s indistinguishable from the “real” thing. It’s a fun challenge, and oftentimes, a challenge where you can really and truly be successful. But there are many instances where you don’t create something identical, but what you do create is actually good. Different, but yummy. While vegan mac and cheese doesn’t taste exactly like non-vegan mac and cheese, it satisfies the same craving. It’s rich and creamy and salty and vaguely cheese-like. It’s a yummy, thick creamy sauce to top noodles with.
I think that sometimes it’s enough to satisfy your cravings with something similar, if you can’t find something identical. After three years of being vegan, I don’t even crave mac and cheese anymore; I crave mac and yeast.
I think expectation is important with food. If it looks like a grape, you expect it to taste like a grape. If I hand you a glass of sparkling wine and tell you it’s gingerale, you might be put off when you take a sip. You might even like wine, but you expected it to be, well, not wine. If I say, “here, try this mac and cheese” and give you mac and yeast, you might be disappointed when you tasted it. If you’ve never tried a mac and yeast recipe before, and you want to try this one, keep in mind that it doesn’t taste like cheese.
It just tastes like yummy. Well, it does to me and the vegans that tested the recipe for me!
Mac and Cheeze
Serves 2-3
1/3 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 Tbs Low Sodium Tamari or Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Lemon Juice, fresh
1 Tbs Sweet/White/Mellow Miso
1 Tbs Tahini
1 Tbs Tomato Paste (not sauce!)
1 1/4 Cup Soy Milk
1/3 Cup Nutritional Yeast
1 Pinch Salt
Black Pepper, to taste
Begin by heating a sauce pan and adding the earth balance. Once melted, add flour and whisk vigorously until a smooth paste forms, called a roux. Be careful not to add flour to a pan that is very hot, or your roux will be lumpy and you’ll need to start over. If you mix in the flour as soon as the margarine is melted and you should avoid any problems.
To this paste, add tamari, lemon, miso, tahini, and tomato paste and whisk until well incorporated. The mixture should still be paste-like. Then slowly pour in the soymilk, whisking constantly, until it is completely incorporated. Add the yeast and mix well. Cook the mixture until it thickens, whisking often. This should take approximately 5 minutes, but it’s flexible. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I like this the most baked. Cook 3 cups of dry, small pasta (like elbows or shells or rotini) and toss with the finished cheezy sauce. Add steamed broccoli (pictured) for a real treat. Top with fresh breadcrumbs and bake at 400º for 25 minutes, or until browned and bubbly.
I’ve spilled so much ink so far (well, pixels) telling you that vegan cheese doesn’t taste like cheese, so I figured I’d close the entry with this: vegan cheese that, to me, tastes like mother forkin’ cheese! It deserves an entire entry devoted to it, so I’ll just leave you with this until part two of my vegan cheese post:
October 17th, 2007
I never know what the hell to do with cabbage. The options always seem to be cole slaw (which I don’t ever want or feel like an entire cabbage worth of), sour kraut (see cole slaw), or some sort of cabbage salad, usually involving ramen noodles (which I like, but only sometimes).
Today I found myself with a cute little organic cabbage in my refrigerator, but not much else. I also had some baked tofu and some carrots, and after looking in the fridge a million times, I had an idea for a soup. Somewhere in my brain lived this soup - a light tomato base, with sweet and sour and spicy flavorings. I can’t think of where I might have tasted something like this in the past, but there it was. Who was I to argue? It used the damn cabbage, didn’t it?
I’m really pleased with the results. It’s a really comforting, warming winter soup. If you have extra ingredients on hand like bell peppers, mushrooms, or zucchini, feel free to add them in. I gave it a billion grinds of black pepper to finish it, and it really brought everything together. Seasoned rice vinegar is the sour flavor here, but if you only have regular rice vinegar, you can make a substitution as follows: One cup of seasoned rice vinegar is the same as 3/4 cup white rice vinegar plus 1/4 cup sugar plus 2 teaspoons salt. That’s what the internet told me, I haven’t tried it myself!
Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup
Serves six?
1 Tbs Oil
1 Small Onion, minced
1 Small Cabbage, about the size of a grapefruit
2 Large Carrots, chopped
1 15oz Can Tomatoes, blended smooth
6 Cups Water
1 Cup Cubed Pressed, Baked Tofu (like wildwood baked)
1/4 Cup Tamari, low sodium
1/3 Cup Seasoned Rice Vinegar (see note on substituting above)
1 tsp Hot Red Chili Flakes
1/2 tsp Salt
Black Pepper, to taste (a lot!)
Heat a large 5 qt soup pot that has a heavy lid over medium heat. Add oil and onion, and saute until golden. Meanwhile, quarter your cabbage, remove the core, and shred the cabbage with a large chef’s knife. Add carrots, tomatoes, cabbage and water to the pot and stir well. Add the tofu, tamari, vinegar, chili flakes and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, then turn heat down to medium low. Simmer for 20 minutes or until cabbage and carrots are the desired tenderness.
Grind a lot of fresh black pepper over the top and serve.
October 16th, 2007
I will be at the Boston Vegetarian Festival on October 20th, giving out free stuff! Come and say hello, and I’ll give you a FREE mini-cookbook which is 12 pages long and features three recipes from my upcoming book. There will also be free buttons and stickers for the masses. I’d love love love to meet you and give you fun, free stuff!
Look for me at/next to the Herbivore table! I will be the short-haired blonde woman looking slightly embarrassed and smiling nervously.
You should also come to the festival to get a copy of Isa and Terry’s new book, Veganomicon. I was a tester for this book, and it’s totally awesome. Everyone needs a copy of it. Last I checked, everyone includes you, so get your butt to the festival!
I really hope to see you there! It would be so neat to meet you.
Oh, I also just updated my About page–it now contains information about my book and links to other places on the internet that mention me, my recipes, or my book. That part is mostly for my mom, though. Have a good weekend!
October 13th, 2007
Is the idea of a fall-food flavored pasta weird? If it is, then I love weird pasta.
In an effort to get excited about autumn, I’ve been doing my best to pick up some new ingredients. Goodness knows I’m not looking forward to winter, so food may be the only way I can actually celebrate the changing of the seasons. One of the ingredients I picked up was a little tub of organic pepitas. Pepitas are pumpkin seeds, and they are usually sold with the white hull removed, revealing a smooth olive green seed. If you decide to use pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins you carve this year, be sure to wash and dry the seeds throughly and roast them in a low oven for an hour or so until dry and toasty. Don’t worry about removing the white hull.
This pasta is flavored with tamari and maple syrup, but only a little of each. This coats the pasta and gives it a nice, balanced sweet flavor without actually being a full-on sauce. The spinach is sauteed with red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, the cranberries add a pop of sweet tanginess, and the crushed pepitas round the whole thing out. It’s really a lovely meal, and what’s more, it’s super easy to prepare. It should only take as long to make this dish as the pasta takes to cook.
I made it for lunch, so this recipe only serves one. It should be very easy to increasing the servings should you want to make it for more than one person.
Pepita Fettucini with Spinach and Cranberries
Serves One
Fettucini for One (which, is it just me, or is that 1/2 the box that “serves 8″?)
1/3 Cup Raw, Unsalted Pepitas
1 Tbs Oil
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
2 Large Handfuls Spinach, torn
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
2-3 Fresh Thyme Sprigs, optional
1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries
Begin by bringing a pot of salted water to boil. While the water is heating, run the pepitas around in your food processor until pretty finely chopped. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add spinach. Use tongs to coat the spinach in the hot oil. Add the red pepper flakes, the tamari and maple syrup, and the thyme if you’re using it. Toss in the cranberries and mix everything up really well. Turn heat to low (or just turn it off and cover it until your pasta is cooked).
Drain pasta and add it to your skillet. Add crushed pepitas and toss well until everything is coated. Taste a noodle and see if you need an extra splash of tamari and/or maple syrup. The noodles should look like they don’t have a sauce on them, but they’ll taste like they do.
Serve immediately.
October 11th, 2007
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