Erica

Black Sticky Gingerbread

December 12, 2012 by Erica

Happy 12/12/12! I was tempted to publish this post at 12:12, but I resisted. I will smile inwardly every time I type the date today, though!

Now I hate to disappoint you… but this is not a thumbprint cookie recipe. I have never had a thumbprint cookie. What is it with those this year? Do they dominate the internet every holiday season, or is it just a recent Pinterest trend – this month’s version of pull-apart breads? Someone please fill me in on the thumbprint phenomenon.

OK, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, it’s gingerbread time.

I think most people (including myself before this weekend) have only ever had gingerbread in cookie form. And dare I say this is better than gingerbread cookies?

Chewy, gooey, and moist desserts tend to be my favorite. That’s why gingerbread cookies to me are… meh. While this actual gingerbread, on the other hand, is amazing. It is dense, sticky, and the edges get perfectly caramelized in the oven. Mmmmm.

I made this this weekend (during my holiday multi-tasking!), then proceeded to force it on everyone who walked through the door for the next few days. “Hi, how are you, eat some gingerbread!” This recipe really makes quite a bit! Perfect if you have lots of holiday house guests. Not perfect when you’re home alone in your sweatpants staring at a huge tray of your new favorite dessert. I had to get the rest of it out the door! I was only partially successful… my hands are sticking to the keyboard as I type this.

Have you noticed a pattern to my recipe posts? “I made this this weekend. It was really good. I ate way too much of it.” Rinse, repeat. Sounds about right.

This recipe comes straight from 101 Cookbooks. Take a look back at the original post – I echo everything Heidi says!

Black Sticky Gingerbread

From 101 Cookbooks

Makes 20 hearty squares

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses
3/4 cup honey
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated or finely minced

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 13×9 baking dish (I used glass) and line with parchment paper so that a few edges of paper hang over the sides.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the butter, water, molasses, honey, and sugar. Heat until the butter is just melted, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, pour into a large bowl, and set aside to cool.

In the meantime, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Once the molasses mixture feels just warm to the touch, add the eggs one at a time. Stir will to incorporate after each addition. Stir in the milk, then the dry ingredients. (Heidi says not to be too concerned if you can’t get every lump out. I found that my batter was somewhat lumpy, but Heidi was right – that was no big deal.) Stir in the minced ginger.

Pour into your prepared pan. The batter will be very thin. Don’t worry if some of it escapes the edges of the parchment paper. As long as the parchment paper is covering 2 sides of your pan, you should be able to remove the cake later with no problems. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the center of the cake springs back when pressed. (Like Heidi, this took me about 55 minutes.)

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes on a baking rack. At this point, use the parchment paper to remove the cake from the pan, and let it cool completely by itself on the rack.

Store in the refrigerator. Texture will be denser when cold and more cake-like when brought up to room temperature.

Christmas Chili Crostini

December 11, 2012 by Erica

Bah humbug.

Just kidding. Red and green appetizers – they’re pretty much the most festive thing EVER.

The truth is, I often feel Scrooge-like at this time of year. It starts the day after Thanksgiving, when stores have put up Christmas decorations and started playing Christmas music inappropriately early (if you ask me). Friends who are really into Christmas start getting excited, everyone makes a big deal of Black Friday, and I’m like LET’S RELISH THANKSGIVING. I love Christmas, but I’m not really into the commercial holiday thing as much as some people are, so it takes me a few weeks after Thanksgiving to warm up to the idea of it.

But I’m happy to say that time has arrived! I made these appetizers this weekend while ordering Christmas gifts and listening to my “All I Want For Christmas Is You” Pandora station with gingerbread in the oven. It was a lot of Christmas multi-tasking (’tis the season) and I’m now officially in the holiday spirit.

(Please excuse the avocado under my fingernails. Note to self: cooking + hand modeling = not a match made in heaven.)

So I ended up making these 4 times this weekend… suffice it to say we liked them! But what’s not to like about some spice, avocado, and a schmear of cream cheese? (Not vegan.)

These are definitely my new go-to holiday appetizer. They would be perfect to bring to a friend’s house for a holiday cocktail party, or to serve at your own party.

So crank up the Mariah Carey and get cookin’!

Christmas Chili Crostini

Adapted from Small Bites by Jennifer Joyce

Makes about 24

Time: about 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 baguette, sliced (about 24 slices) –> I like to buy them pre-sliced from the grocery store to save time!
olive oil
1/4 cup cream cheese
2 large (or 3 small) avocados, halved and carefully sliced crosswise
1/4 cup sweet Thai chili sauce
2 red jalapeños, seeded and thinly sliced (sometimes called red Fresno peppers, or use green jalapeños if you can’t find these)
6 green onions (green parts only), thinly sliced

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice baguette (if not using pre-sliced!) and spread on a baking sheet. Brush the top of each slice with olive oil. Bake at 400 for 6 minutes. (You may be tempted to leave them in longer, but don’t! They get crunchy quickly, and you don’t want to serve little bricks to your guests.) Remove baguette slices from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on each baguette slice. Lay a slice or 2 of avocado on top, followed by a quarter-sized dollop of Thai chili sauce (exact measurements here!). Garnish with a slice or two of jalapeño and a sprinkle of green onions.

Voila! Ready to serve!

Healthy Balance

December 10, 2012 by Erica

There are a couple things I’ve made lately that haven’t appeared on the blog.

White wine cake.

Rosemary and cheddar scones.

Vegan brownies.

Why haven’t I posted them, you ask?

Because they tasted terrible.

Over the past several months, a few vegan baked goods have come out well enough for me to be proud of. But the three above – in their non-vegan version – happen to be some of my favorite treats in the entire world. And try as I might, I just can’t make them taste good without butter or eggs.

Baking has been one of my favorite things since childhood, long before I ever enjoyed savory cooking. I love the certainty that following a recipe will produce a delicious end result… the smiles and exclamations from friends/family/co-workers when they eat something amazing I’ve baked… not to mention the fact that I love the taste of baked goods. So you can imagine my dismay when recipes don’t turn out and my friends/family/co-workers and I are unimpressed by something I’ve spent so much time on.

Can you guess where this is going?

It’s going in the direction of butter and eggs.

No more vegan baking, guys. A step back from this vegan thing in general.

This is really no big deal. I still plan on eating mostly plants, and when something can be made vegan or healthier without compromising flavor, that’s what I’ll do. But I’ll also start posting non-vegan and even non-vegetarian recipes and baked goods with eggs, butter, etc. I like making that kind of thing, so I want to share it with you as I go back a little toward the meat-eating side. We’ll see how it goes.

Is this just a holiday cop-out so I can eat my mom’s turkey meatballs and mint meringues when I go home for Christmas? Maybe.

I love that the “whole foods, plant-based diet” advocated in The China Study has given me a new framework for considering what’s healthy and what’s not. Those turkey meatballs are probably more of a splurge than pre-vegan me would have thought. And I love all the healthy new dishes I’ve been trying (and sharing here) because of my 6 months of veganism. Plant-based cooking is way more delicious than I ever could have thought, and I’ve fallen in love with many new veg-based meals. This is not the end of that story!

But let’s move more towards “healthy balance.” A lot of plant-based dinners and healthy snacks, and also some of the awesome desserts that I love sooooo much.

Phew, I’m glad to get that off my chest! Now I can start sharing my Christmas dishes tomorrow (some vegan, some not) guilt-free!

Noodles in Spicy Lemongrass Broth

December 7, 2012 by Erica

Things I want to do before Christmas:

1) Take a week off from work and wander around Whole Foods.

2) Take a week off from work and bake Christmas cookies.

3) Take a week off from work and make Asian soups.

Shoot. I don’t even have enough weeks before Christmas, never mind vacation days. Will someone pay me to do those things? Great.

Well, I may not have started on the Christmas cookies yet (or my Christmas shopping – eek! – which sadly cannot be done at Whole Foods), but I’ve been making my fair share of Asian soups lately because:

1) I just finished Lisa See’s Dreams of Joy, which left me craving Asian food (which is odd because there is a lot of starvation in the book as well as, uhhh, cannibalism).

2) I am fighting off a cold and want to eat ramen noodles all day long. (Why is that? It’s uncontrollable.)

3) OK, three things. Did I mention it looks like this outside?

Fortunately, this soup contains only plants and is healthier (and MUCH spicier) than ramen. You can cut back on the chilies very easily, though, and it will still be plenty flavorful with the lemongrass, ginger, etc.

Basically, you add a bunch of flavorful Asian things to a pot (or Dutch oven if you haven’t done your dishes recently!) with some broth:

And simmer until it looks like this:

Then strain the solids out. Get your bowl ready with noodles, tofu, and veggies!

And then pour in as much broth as you like! I didn’t use much here, as you can see, but you can certainly fill your bowl to the brim.

Then slurp, slurp, slurp!

I love this broth and can’t wait to make it again soon. It’s perfect for that pea soup whether we’ve been having recently, not to mention colds.

Have a great weekend! Next week, Christmas recipes – I promise. Plus an announcement!

Noodles in Spicy Lemongrass Broth

Adapted from Sunset

Serves 3

Time: about 40 minutes

Ingredients:

3 stalks fresh lemongrass (10 to 12 inches long)
1/2 bunch cilantro, rinsed
1/2 cup chopped green onions (including tops)
6 thin slices (quarter size) peeled fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 fresh red Thai chilies, rinsed, stemmed, seeded, and quartered (if you can’t handle spicy food, I recommend cutting the chilies down to 1 or skipping them altogether and serving sriracha sauce alongside the soup)
1/4 tsp ground pepper
5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
4 oz thin rice noodles
7 oz firm tofu, cubed
3 baby bok choy, rinsed and chopped

Instructions:

First, prepare the broth. Rinse the lemongrass and cut off and discard tough tops and root ends. Peel off and discard the coarse outer leaves. With the flat side of a knife, crush the inner lemongrass stalk. Chop cilantro leaves and set aside for garnish. Reserve the stems – these are what you will use in the broth.

In a pot, combine the crushed lemongrass, cilantro stems, 1/4 cup green onions, ginger, chilies, garlic, ground pepper, and vegetable broth. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Pour through a strainer over a large bowl and discard the solids.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Divide noodles between two to three soup bowls. Top with tofu and 1 baby bok choy per bowl. Ladle broth over noodles. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves and remaining 1/4 cup green onions.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Pancakes

December 6, 2012 by Erica

Yep, that’s right. It’s The Week of the Sweet Potato over here. Yesterday in sushi bowls, today in pancakes. What can I say? It’s the sweet potato time of year.

Now, about said pancakes. I have a question for you: How would you rank pancakes, waffles, and French toast in order of your favorite?

For some reason this became a big topic of discussion at my last job. In a very scientific study (involving asking everyone whenever it came up), we determined that men almost always liked pancakes the most, while women usually preferred waffles or French toast.

Now, I have to admit that French toast comes first for me, followed by waffles, and pancakes come in last (unless it’s my mom’s German pancakes, which always come in first). Buuuut throw some sweet potato into the mix, and I may have to change my mind. Because these are pretty delicious.

Be warned: I like a lot of spices in my pancakes, baked goods, etc. (and that’s probably why I like these guys). If you prefer more subtly spiced cakey things, you might want to cut down on the cinnamon and nutmeg. Also, the spices don’t really come through in the uncooked batter, soooo no matter how much spice you choose to add, you’re not really going to know how they taste until they’re cooked!

If you have a man in your life, studies show he probably loves pancakes. Maybe make these for him this weekend?

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Makes 10-12 pancakes

Ingredients:

1 medium to large sweet potato, cooked, peeled, and mashed (about 1 ½ cups)
1 cup spelt flour*
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour*
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch of ground clove
pinch of salt
2 ¼ cups regular unsweetened almond milk
vegan butter or coconut oil for the pan

Suggested toppings:
apple sauce and maple syrup mixed in a 4:1 ratio (lower calorie and less sweet!)
toasted chopped pecans
leftover cranberry sauce

*Flour note: This is what I used, but you could use all spelt flour, all whole wheat, or even all white flour. I’m sure whatever you have in the pantry will work!

Instructions:

First, bake your sweet potato at 375 until soft when squeezed, about 45 minutes to an hour. (This is best done ahead of time.) Pull the skin off and mash the potato.

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Whisk in the almond milk and sweet potato.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Once hot, add a pat of vegan butter or coconut oil and swirl to coat. Ladle a scoop of the pancake batter into the center of the pan. Cook until bubbles start to form in the center of the pancake. Flip only once, and cook on that side until browned.

It’s pretty much a rule that the first pancake is an ugly duckling. See how it looks when you cut into it (then eat it yourself!). The sweet potato adds a lot of moisture, so the middle may still be a bit mushy even though the outsides are nicely browned. If this happens, add more milk to the batter, 1/4 cup at a time. This will make thinner pancakes that cook more quickly on the inside. You may also have to turn the heat down as you go along and the pan heats up more, especially if you have electric burners.

Top with apple sauce, maple syrup, pecans, cranberry sauce, or your favorite pancake toppings.

Enjoy!

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