Looking for the perfect cookie

From now until Christmas, I will be on the quest to find my perfect cookie. Or possibly, I am just using this as an excuse to bake and eat a couple truckloads of them! I didn’t grow up in a family who made cookies. Pies and tarts yes, cookies; no. So forgive me, I am just making up the lost time!

Today I started browsing in one of my favorite and oldest cookbooks, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I am very fond of this cookbook because it was my first vegan cookbook, along with the Veganomicon. I love how friendly and accessible it was to me when I had ZERO clue what vegan cuisine was, even less vegan baking. So it made sense to start my ‘cookie trip’ with a recipe out of this book. I randomly picked a recipe with lots of chocolate, since I didn’t have my dose of hot chocolate today, and decided to make the Mexican Snickerdoodles. Many people have NO idea what these are. I find them to be little chocolate cookies with an attitude.

Making these cookies was a blast! The dough was a perfect consistency and didn’t at all stick to my hands, so I experimented with various different sizes and thickness. I found small/ thin cookies to be my favorite. The taste is just FABULOUS! The chocolate is mixed with cinnamon and a hint of cayenne pepper. Just wonderful. I might have slightly overcooked some and they become hard very fast. But dipping them in soy milk does the trick for me. 

For anyone who doesn’t have the cookbook I found this for you guys on the PPK. I think hearing it from Isa herself is much better than me trying to explain how to make them! 

My mission now; find an actual cookie jar!

HAVE FUN!

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Plum Tart

Yesterday we were invited for tea at my grandparents. So I decided to bring them a little tart. I recently had bought some plums so I tried my hand at a plum tart. Plum tarts can be tricky just because plums have LOTS of juice, so you need to put something on the floor of the tart which will absorb the juices, and not let the dough get mushy, and at the same time keep the filling moist. The tart came out wonderful and I was very happy with it!

Ingredients

Pate Brisee (the usual recipe)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup iced water

Filling

1 basket of plums
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
lemon juice

Brushing

1/4 cup soy milk (or non dairy milk of choice)
lemon juice

First you combine the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Then you add the margarine (I dice it up) and mix with a fork until you no longer see any large pieces of it in the mix (you can use a food processor but I find it faster if done by hand). The dough should feel dry, and look flakey. Now, slowly add the water little by little and mix with the fork. Stop when it can hold together and still looks flaky; but isn’t sticky yet. I prefer to keep it a little on the dry side, than have it too moist. Kneed the dough until you can form a rather uniform ball. Again, not too much, better underworked than overworked. Then you shape it into a flat disk. Wrap the disc in plastic wrapper and refrigerate for about 1hour. The dough should be rather hard by then.

While the dough is in the fridge you can prepare the fruit. Wash the plums off very well and dry. Then cut then in half, remove the pit, and slice in half again, so you are left with 4 small slices. Do this to all the plums and let them rest in a colander on top of a bowl – the extra juices will seep out into the bowl.

Preheat oven to 220C.

Once the dough is ready, flatten it out on a piece of parchment paper. Try and make a nice symmetrical circle with it. Keep the dough no more than 5mm fat. I try and keep it around 2mm. Then, very gently place the dough on your pie pan and flatten it out as best you can. Use a fork and make some holes on the floor. Place in the refrigerator about 5-10mins.

Once dough has cooled again, sprinkle the ground hazelnuts, in a uniform manner, on flour of the pan. You want a thin carpet of them. Then take the plums and place them, almost vertically, in the pan. In a decorative way. Sprinkle with lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon.

Add a few drops of lemon juice to the soy milk and leave to curdle (about 1-2mins). Gently brush the mixture to the crust.

Place the pie in the oven and let bake for 30-35mins. Try and take it out before the crust becomes too brown. Let the pie cool about 15mins and remove it from the pan. 

ENJOY!

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Strudel zum Schlemmen

The other day at the grocery store I found phyllo dough for the first time. So I decided to make a Strudel! It was my first time ever making one, but not my first time tasting one! It came out super wonderful! I just made the filling like I would for a pie, and instead wrapped it in the phyllo dough. In a way, it is much less work than making a pie, because you don’t have to make the dough yourself!

Here is an outline of what I did.

Ingredients for the filling

2 apples (I used Boskoops, as they are perfect for cooking)
2 pears (I used some small green seasonal ones)
1/4 – 1/2 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet the fruits already are)
1 tbs all-purpose flour
1/3 cup lemon juice
cinnamon, to taste

1/5 of a margarine box (about 50grams), for brushing

Preheat oven to 200C (400F)

Dice up the apples and pears into little cubes. Add to a mixing bowl along with the sugar, flour, lemon juice and cinnamon (You can also add nutmeg and cloves if you want more holiday spice). Stir gently until all is well combined. Set aside.

Melt the margarine in a small saucepan over low heat.

Place a piece of parchment paper on a countertop. Gently unfold a piece of phyllo dough and spread it out so there are no creases. Use a soft brush to brush a thin coat of melted margarine all over the phyllo sheet. Gently place a second phyllo sheet on the first, brush with margarine as well. Do this will all the sheets you have. I had 4. 

Take the filling and place on the lower part of the phyllo sheets. Leave a bit of space both on the bottom and on the sides. It should cover about 1/3 of the phyllo sheet. Roll the phyllo over the filling, once the filling is closed in, fold in the sides of the sheets under it – so that the ends are now closed. Continue rolling the end of the sheets until you are left with the compact log. 

Brush a bit of margarine on the top and sprinkle some sugar.

Transfer the strudel on a baking sheet, covered with a sheet of parchment paper.

Bake for 20minutes (or however much is suggested on your phyllo dough box), until nice and brown.

Let cool, gently and delicately slice and serve.

GUTEN APPETIT!

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Swimming in Chocolate

We had been feeling chocolaty over the past few days. So I did some research in my cookbooks and found this recipe in The Joy Of Vegan Baking, by Colleen Patrick – Goudreau (p.72 & 230). I am so happy with how well it came out! This was also my first time frosting a cake! It was WONDERFUL! 

I also have to say that this is one of my all time favorite cookbooks! It is so simple to follow, you have TONS of pictures (I get super frustrated with cookbooks that don’t have pictures) and the amount of recipes is incredible. I also like that there is an entire chapter explaining how to replace non vegan baking essentials with various vegan alternatives. I definitely learned some things. The author manages to make vegan baking not only accessible and healthy, but delicious. I am pretty certain that if you ask someone about this cake they would NEVER guess it is vegan.

My boyfriend got super excited when he saw it. He ate 5 slices! (and this was BEFORE dinner)

If you don’t have the cookbook yet, you can find this cake recipe, along with the chocolate frosting recipe on the cookbook’s website, as one of the sample recipes. I also recommend checking out her other website, which is full of great information, especially for aspiring or new vegans. 

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Tea Time

Today was a typical autumn Sunday. Feeling the need of a nice afternoon tea, I decided to make a fall favorite of mine; Apple Pie. Instead of the usual large pie, I decided on making miniature ones; much to my boyfriend’s dismay! 

The dough I used is a vegan alternative of my grandma’s recipe. 

Makes 4 mini pies.

Pate Brisee

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 – 1/2 cup iced water

First you combine the flour, sugar and salt and mix very well (you can use a food processor). Then you add the margarine (I dice it up) and pulse until you no longer see any large pieces of it in the mix. The dough should feel dry, and look flakey. Now, slowly add the water little by little and pulse. You might not need to add all the water. Stop when it can hold together and still looks flaky; but isn’t sticky yet. Kneed the dough a few minutes, just enough to give it a uniform ‘ball’ appearance. Then you divide it into 2, discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrapper and refrigerate.

Apple Filling

3 apples, peeled and cut into tiny squares
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp brown sugar 
1/2 tsp cinnamon

2tbs soy milk or your choice of non dairy milk, for coating

Pre-heat the oven to 220C.

Combine the apples, juice, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

Take out your pate brisee and roll it out on flour sprinkled parchment paper. I try and keep the general hight less than 5mm. Find something a few centimeters wider than your pie pans and cut out 4 circles (I used a mixing bowl). Place the dough circles in the pie pans and flatten them out as best you can. Make sure a bit of the dough comes over the edge so that you can later attach the top part to it. Use a fork to poke a few holes in the dough.

Fill the pans with the apple mix. You want to pile it up a bit because the apples will shrink with cooking.

Now, on top you can either cut 4 more circles and cover the pies, like a traditional apple pie (make sure you add a few vents for the steam). Or you can, like I did today, make the pies look a little like an ‘italian crostata’. This means that the top will have a ‘lattice’ cover. For this you will need to cut out little strips of the dough, about 1cm wide and the length of the pan.

Place the strips onto your pie vertically, one by one, resembling jail bars. Start on one end of the pie and fold back every other strip. Add a horizontal strip. Fold the vertical strips back into place and advance to the next horizontal strip etc. You will want an ‘in and out’ pattern. The space you leave between the strips is up to you. Once you are done you will want to press down the strip ends to the edge of the pie crust. 

Finally, add a few drops of lemon juice to your soy milk (or a few drops of apple cider vinegar). This will make the soy curdle. Use your fingers to lightly coat the lattice. Sprinkle some sugar to the lattice and you are done!

Bake in the over for 30-35minutes until you have a nice light brown color.

HAPPY TEA TIME!

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Welcome to my cozy chalet!

For my first post I wanted to make something SWEET because there is nothing better than vegan baking! So I baked one of my favorite cakes from Chef Chloe Coscarelli’s site – Chocolate Chip Banana Cake. This cake is perfect for this season when we start looking for some holiday spice. The melted chocolate will literally melt all your worries away.

– You can also make it without the spices, and it will be just as delicious and more child friendly.

 

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake: bananas, chocolate chips, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, coconut milk and more.

ENJOY

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