Posts filed under 'baked goods'
I’ve been looking for the perfect vegan crumb topping for a while now. Before today, my crumb toppings had always been sort of soggy, sort of greasy; more crummy than crumby. I wasn’t sure how to fix the problem.
About a month ago, I subscribed to Cook’s Illustrated. My mother used to get a subscription years ago that I loved, and but it’s taken me this long to finally get my own. Along with the magazine, they sent me their new cookbook The Best of America’s Test Kitchen: Best Recipes and Reviews 2008, and in it is a recipe for crumb cake. I read a little closer, and saw a technique for crumbs that I’d never tried before. I ran into the kitchen to try it out, and oh my, it worked! Perfect crumbs!
This is a veganized version of the recipe found in The Best Of. It’s easy to throw together with few simple ingredients (no specialty egg replacers), making it perfect for a weekend treat or a quick dessert or teatime cake for guests.
Crumb Cake
Serves 9 (8×8″ cake)
Crumb Topping
8 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine, melted
2/3 Cup Granulate Sugar*
1 tsp Molasses
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1 Pinch Salt
1 3/4 Cup Flour (cake flour or all-purpose)
*The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1/3 cup brown sugar. I was out of brown sugar, so I used only granulated sugar with added molasses. Afterall, that’s how brown sugar is made commercially–they simply add molasses back into the sugar after processing.
Cake
1 1/4 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/3 Cup Canola Oil, or 6 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine, softened
1/3 Cup Soymilk + 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (or lemon juice)
1 Tbs Cornstarch mixed with 1/4 Cup Water
1-2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Powdered Sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350º F.
Whisk the still-warm melted earth balance with the sugar, molasses, cinnamon and salt. Mix in the flour with a spoon, or your hands, until a thick dough forms, similar to the texture of cookie dough. Let sit to cool for about 10 minutes. It should be ready when after you’ve put together the batter for the cake.
Line an 8×8 pan with aluminum foil (two sheets in a cross formation, leaving excess draped over the edges to help you remove the cake later). Spray with vegetable oil. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add oil, soymilk mixture, cornstarch mixture and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth, but do not overmix.
Add the batter to the lined pan. Begin to break apart the crumb mixture into smaller, pea sized pieces. You want to take chunks from the bowl and gently break off the crumbs, like so:
Cover the batter evenly with all the crumb mixture. It will seem like a lot! When I thought I had enough, I wasn’t even half-way through the mixture. Use it all, as the cake will expand and the crumb mixture is tasty. After all, this is crumb cake. Don’t be shy!
Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350ºF, or until the crumbs are slightly browned and a toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean. Use the toothpick to push over a crumb or two in the middle an make sure the top doesn’t look gooey (I went the whole 50 minutes). Grab the aluminum foil and gently lift the cake out to cool for 20-30 minutes on a cooling rack. Give it a nice dusting of powdered sugar, slice and serve.
Wrap up any leftovers in plastic wrap. If there are any leftovers!
June 19th, 2008
I know it’s not fall, but I saw a photo of an apple tart a few days ago and have been craving it ever since. I just had to have one.
If you’re looking for an easy, no-fail dessert, this is for you. It’s perfect for a special after dinner dessert, or for company, or as a gift for the next host or hostess that invites you into their home. It’s straightforward, pretty, travels well, and can be served cold, room temperature, or hot. And did I mention it’s yummy?
If you haven’t made your own pie crust yet, this is the recipe to jump in with. It’s a basic pate brisee, which is a standard flaky crust made with flour and fat. I like to use a mixture of half shortening and half Earth Balance margarine, but you can use all Earth Balance if you prefer.
I used granny smith apples because I like a tart tarte, but if you’re looking for something a little more mild, give golden delicious a try. Any apple that keeps its shape during baking will work, and you can even mix and match varieties to your liking.
A tarte pan isn’t required. Feel free to use a regular pie tin. Or, make a rustic galette-style tarte by simply piling up the apples in the middle and folding the edge of the dough over the top. I was about to do it this way myself, but I couldn’t withstand that pretty, polished, fluted tin. What can I say? I’m easily distracted by shiny things.
Tarte aux Pommes
Makes one nine inch tart
4-5 Granny Smith Apples (or sweeter Golden Delicious)
1 Lemon, juiced
2-3 Tbs Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 Pinch Nutmeg (optional)
1 Pinch Allspice (optional)
2-3 Tbs Melted Earth Balance
Your favorite jelly/jam, for glazing
Pate Brisee
1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 Cup Non-Hydrogenated Veg. Shortening
1/4 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
2-4 Tbs Ice Water
Add the flour, salt, sugar, and fats together in the work bowl of a food processor.*
Pulse until the mixture looks like wet sand, with pea-sized lumps here and there.
Slowly drizzle in water while running the machine until the dough forms a ball. If in doubt, add less water as opposed to more.
Turn out the dough onto the counter and press to form a disc. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.
Preheat your oven to 400º F. Juice your lemon and place the juice in a small bowl. Peel the apples, brushing them with lemon juice as you go to prevent discoloration.
Slice the apples in half and core them. I use a 1 tsp measure to core my apples, it works just like a melon baller would.
Don’t forget to brush the insides with lemon juice, too.
Roll out your pate brisee on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. The dough should be 1/8″ thick and should be larger than your tart tin on all sides.
Invert the dough (using the parchment as support) over the center of the tart pan. If you’re making a pan-less galette, skip this step and move on to arranging the apples.
Gently work the dough into the pan and start arranging your apple slices in rings, starting at the outside and working in towards the center. It won’t really matter what it looks like once it’s baked, so don’t freak out about aesthetics. Just make sure to jam a bunch of apples in there, since they’ll cook down as it bakes.
The color is off, because at this point a huge thunderstorm had rolled in and messed up my lighting. The humidity and heat even wreaked the dough a little, but it still turned out just fine! If your dough gets too warm it may break apart (like mine did), but just mend it and soldier on. You won’t notice after it’s baked.
Once the apples are all in there, coat the top with the sugar and spices. Fold over the edges of the dough towards the center (they won’t cover the top completely–I don’t have a picture of this step because by this time the storm was so bad I couldn’t photograph anything at all).
Brush the entire tarte with melted Earth Balance and sprinkle with more sugar. Pour any leftover earth balance over the apples.
Bake at 400º F for 45-55 minutes, or until the tarte is golden brown and the apples have color on them. Glaze with warmed jam. Let cool most of the way before slicing.
*A food processor isn’t required, it just makes your job a lot easier. If mixing by hand, be sure to work the fat all they way into the dough before adding the water.
May 27th, 2008
I’ve baked bread for four days straight. In fact, the only reason I’m not baking today is, well… I ran out of flour.
I’m not exactly sure what came over me. I’ve always liked baking bread, but I usually only do it a few times a year, and I never spent too much time thinking about it. Make the dough, put it in the oven, and eat, right? And it might not be the best bread ever, but unless I really messed it up, fresh bread is always edible, even if it’s not exceptional.
But I started thinking about bread, and whole grains, and I decided to buy a grain mill. So I can grind my own flour. Thank goodness I live on the third floor of a house in a city with no yard or I might try to grow my own wheat. Somehow I don’t think the second bedroom is up to the task.
To prepare for the mill (It’ll be three weeks or so before it arrives), I finally purchased the two books I’ve been coveting for a while: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, and Whole Grain Breads both by Peter Reinhart. I’ve been working from the former over the past few days. I figure I should get comfortable with white flour before I move on to whole wheat. I must say, I’ve been more than delighted. These books will be–and already are–indispensable. If the idea of being a HUGE breadgeek who makes the tastiest baked goods in town is appealing to you, definitely drop $40 on these two beautiful, huge, detailed hardbound books.
I’m going to share the Poolish Focaccia from Bread Baker’s Apprentice with you, because it’s one of those breads that isn’t that hard, but involves enough new skills for a green baker without being over-challenging. It does require a lot of time to make, but if you’re looking to expand your baking skills, and have a LOT of really tasty, perfectly golden brown, deliciously herbed focaccia when you’re done, than this recipe is for you! It’s a perfect weekend project.
I’m going to share a ton of photos, so before I get bogged down in the details, here’s the overview:
Day One: The night before baking, you make the poolish. All this requires is mixing flour, water and yeast and letting it ferment on the counter for a few hours, or even overnight. You can make focaccia without this step, but I think it gives it extra flavor, and it’s a good trick to learn for other breads. Taking a few minutes to do this before you go to bed really gives a great boost to your bread the next day. You can make the herb oil on either day.
Day Two: Mix the poolish with flour, water, salt, oil and yeast to make the dough. Turn the dough out on the counter and fold it. You’ll fold the dough three times, with rising in between foldings. After the dough has risen, you plop it onto a baking sheet and shape it, let it rise, then shape again before baking. A generous total time estimate would be 4-5 hours, but most of that is rising time.
Poolish
2 1/2 Cups (11.25 oz) Unbleached Bread Flour
1 1/2 Cup (12 oz) Water, room temperature
1/4 tsp Instant Yeast (Like RapidRise)
Poolish Focaccia
3 Cups (20 oz) Poolish
2 2/3 Cups (12 oz) Unbleached Bread Flour
2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Instant Yeast (RapidRise, for example)
6 Tbs (3 0z) Olive Oil
3/4 Cup (6 oz) Water, 90-100º F (lukewarm)
1/2 Cup Herb Oil
Herb Oil
1 Cup Olive Oil, warmed to 100º F (ish)
Any herbs, 1/2 Cup fresh chopped or 2-3 Tbs dried, or a combination
The Night Before: Make the poolish. With a wooden spoon, mix the ingredients together until all the flour is hydrated, and you’ve got a smooth, sticky mass. It’ll look like very thick pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap. You can leave it out on the counter for four hours and then refrigerate, or leave it out all night. I left mine outside overnight where it was warmer than the fridge, but cooler than the house, so the poolish would have a nice, steady but slow ferment. Either way, it should be nice and bubbly after fermenting, like the photo on the left. It will have a super cool springy/stringy/stickty consistency, too.
(You can also make the herb oil this same night: Mix the herbs with the warmed oil. Turn off the heat and let the herbs infuse the oil at room temperature. The oil can also be made the next day, and this is noted later on in the directions.)
Make the Dough
If you refrigerated your poolish, take it out and let it sit for an hour to warm up. Once warm, it’s time to make the dough.
Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl (or in the work bowl of a stand mixer). Add the poolish, water, and oil. It’ll look something like this:
If mixing by hand, mix to combine all the ingredients and then get in there and beat the hell out of it for 10 minutes. The book suggests 3-5 minutes, but it took me longer. It’s done when the dough is smooth, crazy sticky, willing to pull off the sides of the bowl but not the bottom, and your arm aches. This is what it looks like halfway through mixing – here it’s still rough and bumpy. It’ll be too wet to knead.
If mixing by machine, start with the paddle attachment to combine at low speed for 2-3 minutes, then switch to the dough hook. Beat at medium speed for 5-7 minutes. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom. Add more flour or water if needed to achieve this.
Stretch and Fold
Prepare a bed a flour on your work surface. Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto your flour bed. Sprinke the top of the dough with flour.
Pat the dough into a roughly rectangular shape. The patting serves three purposes: it pushes the dough out into a rectangle, distributes the flour over the top, and removes excess flour. There should be enough flour that the surface of the dough is no longer sticky, but just enough to accmplish that. Patting removes the excess. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
Now you’ll be folding the dough like a letter. Pick up one side of the dough. As you do this (it’ll be hard to hold on to, do the best you can), stretch the dough out and fold it over towards the middle. The quicker the movement, the easier it will be. If the dough is sticking to the table, no worries. Use a dough scraper to lift up the edges of the dough to put more flour underneath, seen here.
Repeat with the other side, again, just like you’re folding up a letter.
The dough, having been folded in thirds, looks like this. The dough should stay about the same dimensions after each fold. You’re not folding it into smaller and smaller rectangles, but stretching the dough out and then folding it back in on itself to make similarly sized rectangle. If that makes any sense?
Brush or spray the dough with oil, cover in plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes. You’ll the fold it again, oil, cover, let sit for 30 minutes, then fold it a third time. Each time you fold, the dough will be easier to work with, a little firmer, a little neater. Fold in the opposite direction then the last. For example, if you folded left to right, the next fold will be top to bottom. This is the second fold:
Rising and Shaping
After the third fold, let the dough sit covered on the counter for 1 hour. The dough will rise, but not necessarily double in size. If you didn’t make it the night before, you can prepare the herb oil during this rise. Mix the herbs with the warmed oil. Turn off the heat and let the herbs infuse the oil.
Prepare a 17 x 12″ baking sheet (with sides, like a jelly roll pan) by placing a layer of parchment paper down across the bottom. Oil the parchment.
As best you can, move the dough from the counter to the baking sheet, trying to maintain the rectangle shape. Don’t worry if you can’t get a clean move, the dough is soft and unwieldy, so just move it the best you can.
Pour about 1/4 Cup of Herb Oil over the top.
Using only your fingertips, begin to press into the dough to distribute the oil and flatten the dough out. The dough will gradually spread out in the pan, but don’t worry if it doesn’t fill the pan, it’ll get there after rising again. Just remember that you’re only allowed to use your fingertips, pressing down. You want to keep the majority of the air bubbles that have been forming in the dough all this time, so kneading or pressing the dough flat with your hands would destroy all your hard work.
Make sure the dough is completely covered in oil, then cover and let it rise for two hours. It will be very puffy, and if it hasn’t completely filled the pan, it’ll be close to doing so. Nearing the end of this rise, preheat the oven to 500º F, making sure the rack is in the middle.
Add another 1/4 cup, or more, of the herb oil.
Spread the dough out to its final size using the same fingertip technique as above. You’ll see all sorts of fun bubbles! You want an even distribution of bubbles and fingertip dimples. You might want to break any huge bubbles since they’ll just explode in the oven anyway. Sprinkle the top with salt as desired.
Baking
Let the dough rest for another 10-15 minutes. Place the dough in the oven, and turn the temperature down to 450º F. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the sheet for even baking, then bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until golden brown. If you have an instant read thermometer, the dough should be 200º F in the center of the pan.
Cooling and More Ideas
When the focaccia comes out of the oven, remove it from the pan and place it on a cooling rack. Let the focaccia cool for at least 20 minutes before gorging yourself.
Feel free to top your focaccia with other things besides just herbs! Olives are nice, as well as sliced onions, garlic… I’ve seen sweet focaccia with grapes or apples and cinnamon and sugar… the possibilities are endless. Depending on the topping, you may want to add it in the last five minutes of baking to ensure it doesn’t burn.
Enjoy your ridiculously huge loaf of focaccia. Bring one to the next party you attend and you’ll be everyone’s favorite person.
May 21st, 2008
Even if you don’t know what a tuile cookie is (pronounced “twill” or “tweel”), you’ve probably eaten them before. They’re delicate and sweet and often stuck into desserts, especially ice cream, at fancy restaurants. The great thing about tuile cookies is that they come out of the oven soft and pliable, allowing you to shape them whatever way you want before they cool and harden. They’re crisp and sweet and buttery–like the most delicate, most delicious ice cream cone you’ve ever had. In fact, ice cream cones are what got me thinking of tuile.
It’s 80 degrees here today, so I started thinking about making some ice cream. Then I thought about making my own ice cream cones. Then I thought about tuiles. And since there doesn’t seem to be a recipe for vegan tuile cookies on the internet, I decided to make up my own. And it worked! Perfectly. (I know, I’m just as shocked as you are. Apparently you really can learn how to make fancy things just by watching a lot of cooking shows on tv. My sister and I used to come home from school watch Great Chefs on PBS before the Food Network ever existed. Remember that show? I’m pretty sure that’s where I learned about tuile.)
So anyway. Tuile cookies aren’t hard, but they do require a few tools, some concentration, and the willingness to lightly burn your fingers. Since I don’t mind sacrificing myself for cookies, this wasn’t a problem for me. Just be forewarned. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- A silpat, or non-stick mat, or waxed parchment paper
- An offset spatula
- A clean piece of cardboard (not super thick) or tuile template
- Molds (bowl, rolled paper, whatever)
Let’s get to the recipe, I’ll explain in more detail as I go.
Vegan Tuile Cookies
Makes 1-2 dozen depending on size
1/2 Cup Earth Balance, softened
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Tbs Flax Egg*
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
Flax Egg
1 Tbs Flax Seed
1/4 Cup Water
Grind the flax seed to a powder in a spice grinder. Whisk with water and set aside. Use 2 Tbs of this mixture for the tuile cookies, you’ll have a little left over
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Whip the Earth Balance and sugar until light and fluffy, so it looks like the photo above. Once the Earth Balance is soft enough it should whip up just fine.
Add flax egg, extract, and salt. Whip until you see medium to stiff peaks like above. Gently fold in flour and mix until well combined. Your batter is ready, so prepare your workstation.
You can buy specialized tuile templates in lots of different shapes, but a piece of clean cardboard works just as well. I traced a glass and cut the circle out with an x-acto knife for my template. You can do circles, squares, rectangles, flowers, stars – anything!
Put your template down on your silpat and add a glob of batter. Using your offset spatula, carefully spread the batter out to fill the template, remove the excess batter.
Lift the template up to remove it. You’re cookies are ready to go in the oven. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. You may need to experiment with baking time to reach the ideal balance between strength and pliability.
I recommend not making more than 2-3 cookies at a time. You’ll need to shape them immediately after they come out of the oven, and since they harden quickly, it’s difficult to shape more than 2 or 3 in one go.
It’s also important to completely cool the baking sheet between each batch. Dump the hot baking sheet in the sink and spray it down with cold water. Dry thoroughly before the next batch.
When they come out of the oven, let them sit on the cookie sheet for 15-30 seconds. Gently remove them with a spatula and shape them immediately (this is the part where you might burn your fingers). You can make all sorts of shapes. If your template was circular, here are some ways you can shape them. I’m in the process of forming bowls in this picture, and I had already made cones, cylinders, and tacos.
I used regular paper, rolled into cylinders and cones and taped, to make the other shapes. Once cool the shape will set.
Now you can use them whichever way you want! I filled mine with almond soy pudding and fresh strawberries. You can add them to ice cream, fill them with vegan pastry cream, stuff them with berries or custard, dip them in chocolate–whatever. If you want to make the cookies ahead, I recommend not filling them until the last minute to prevent the cookies from getting soggy.
And I haven’t forgotten about ice cream. I actually bought an ice cream machine today, so I’ll post a recipe for vegan ice cream in the future, now that I know how to make the cones!
April 23rd, 2008
American scones are different than British scones. Up until today, when I pictured a scone in my head, it was triangular, fairly large, dry, crumbly and sweet. And tasty.
Imagine my surprise when I did a google image search and saw photo after photo of things that looked like biscuits. After some research (thank you wikipedia), I realized that British scones are indeed different than their American counterparts. They’re less sweet, smaller, and fluffier–and indeed fairly similar to the US biscuit. I had to make some. And I had to eat them with clotted cream.
Now, I’ve never had clotted cream. Despite the fact that it’s definitely not vegan, it’s made with unpasteurized milk which is simply unavailable in most areas–it’s actually illegal in 25 states. From what I’ve read, clotted cream is slightly sweet, has a light tang, and is at least 55% fat. It’s usually served on scones for cream tea (tea served with scones, clotted cream and jam), so I decided that I needed to make a vegan version. Like, immediately.
Usually scones are served with strawberry jam. I decided to go with fresh, organic blueberries because I had them on hand, but any fresh berry or your favorite jam will be perfect for these. They’re really quick to throw together, so it really is a nice thing to make fresh for afternoon tea or a nice weekend breakfast. They’re best served warm, but I hear you can freeze them if needed.
These scones are very lightly flavored. I love the combination of lemon and maple, but since I was trying to emulate British scones, the flavoring is delicate. They’re good on their own, but spectacular with the clotted cream and berries. Does the vegan clotted cream tase anything like the real stuff? I have no idea, but my best guess is no. But even if it’s not the same, it’s really, really tasty.
Lemon Maple Scones with Clotted Cream
Makes 12-15 2″ Scones
2 Cups All- Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
Zest of 1 Lemon
1/3 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
3 Tbs Maple Syrup (or regular sugar)
1/2 Cup Soymilk
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
Clotted Cream
4 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine
4 Tbs Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
2 Tbs Powdered Sugar
Whisk the ingredients for the clotted cream together. It takes some elbow grease, but it will soon be a thick, smooth cream. Let it sit out to soften a little if needed to ease mixing. Set aside at room temperature; refrigerating will make the cream stiffer.
Preheat oven to 400º F.
Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl (flour through zest). Mix the wet ingredients together (syrup, soymilk and lemon juice). Using a pastry cutter or a fork, blend the Earth Balance into the dry ingredients until there are no chunks of margarine left and the mixture looks like damp sand.
Pour in the wet ingredients and mix with your hands to form a soft dough. Only mix until just combined, adding more flour if the mixture is too wet. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to a slab 3/4″ thick. Using a biscuit cutter or a glass with about a 2″ diameter, cut out your scones. Press the scraps of dough together, roll out again, and continue cutting scones until you’ve used up your dough.
Transfer scones to a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, or a non-stick mat. Brush the tops with a mixture of soymilk, powdered sugar and lemon juice.
Bake at 400º F for 12-15 minutes. If the scones aren’t lightly brown after 15 minutes, transfer to the broiler for 1-2 minutes, watching carefully, to brown the tops if desired. Remove to a cooling rack.
While still warm, split and slather each side with clotted cream. Add berries or jam to the top and serve with your favorite tea.
March 20th, 2008
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