Recipes, mostly

[rusty_halo]

I had a nice Thanksgiving. My coworker and his girlfriend held a vegan Thanksgiving at their place. drujan came with me, and several of my coworker's friends were there as well. The meal was at about 6, and then we hung out chatting and drinking coffee/eating desserts until around 1:30 am. It was fun.

My coworker and his girlfriend cooked everything from scratch. I thought it turned out really well; they even made a homemade tofu turkey, which was about a million times better than the storebought types. Even drujan liked it, and she was very skeptical of the whole vegan thing. And everything else was great--salad, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, veggies, etc. I brought desserts: two pies (pecan and shoofly) and brownies. I was happy with how they turned out; the pecan was particularly popular.

The weekend was less fun; I visited my parents. But I'm repressing, so not going to talk about that.

claudia_yvr asked for my vegan pecan pie recipe a while ago, but I'm just now getting to it. Sorry for being so slow. (I'm also anywhere from a couple weeks to several months behind on my email, btw. If you're waiting for a response from me on something, don't worry, it's not personal, just me being slow, and I'm sorry.)

Pecan Pie

1/4 c. Non-dairy margarine, melted
1/4 c. Cornstarch or arrowroot
2 c. Vegan milk (soy, rice, etc)
1/2 c. Genuine maple syrup
1/2 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Chopped pecans, toasted in 4 teaspoons of margarine
1/2 c. Pecan halves, toasted in 2 teaspoons of margarine
1 10-inch baked pie shell

Combine the margarine, cornstarch (or arrowroot), "milk," syrup, Sucanat, and vanilla in a blender and blend until smooth. Cook in a saucepan until thickened, stirring constantly--5 minutes. Stir in the chopped pecans. Pour into the pie shell and top with the pecan halves. Let cool.

And I'll throw in some others. Apologies for any typos:

Pumpkin Pie

1 16-oz can pumpkin
1 c. & 2 T. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
1/4 c. Tapioca
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Powdered ginger
1/4 tsp. Ground cloves
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1 3/4 c. Vegan milk (soy, rice, etc.)
1/4 c. Genuine maple syrup
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Mix pumpkin and the dry ingredients. Add the "milk" and syrup and heat. Pour into the pie shell. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Turn down to 300 and bake for 55 more minutes. Cover the edges of the crust with foil after 35 minutes to prevent overbaking. Let the pie cool completely. Then combine:

3/4 c. Chopped walnuts
6 T. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
3 T. Genuine maple syrup
2 T. Non-dairy margarine, melted

Spread this over the top of the pie. Broil about 5 inches from the heat source for 3 minutes or until the topping is bubbly.

Caramel Apple Pie

1/2 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
1/2 c. Genuine maple syrup
2 T. Unbleached white flour
1 1/2 tsp. Lemon juice
1/2 tsp. Lemon peel, grated
1/3 c. Vegan milk (soy, rice, etc)
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
5 1/2 c. Apples, peeled and cut into about 16 slices per apple
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

Combine all the filling ingredients except the apples, and stir to combine well. Add the apples and stir well again. Pour into the pie shell. Cover entire pie lightly with foil. Bake at 375 for 1 hour or until the apples are soft. Remove the foil, bake 10 to 15 more minutes--enough to brown the crust. Take from the oven. Spoon the liquid that has settled at the bottom over the apples to coat them. Cool on a rack.

Shoofly Pie

1 c. Unbleached white flour
3/4 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Ginger, powdered
1/4 tsp. Cloves, ground
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
3 T. Non-dairy margarine, softened and cut into bits
1/2 c. Barbados molasses
1/2 c. Boiling water
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1 Unbaked pie shell

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, Sucanat, spices, and salt. With a fork, work the margarine into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. In another bowl, dissolve the molasses in the boiling water. Sprinkle in the baking soda and stir until it dissolves. Add about two-thirds of the crumb mixture and stir together until the crumbs are moistened, but the mixture need not be smooth. Pour into the pie crust and top with the remaining crumbs. Bake at 375 for 30 to 35 minutes or until the crust and crumbs are golden and the filling is set. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Custard Pie

1 Lemon, quartered, seeds removed
1/2 c. Water
2 c. Orange juice
1 T. Oil
1 1/4 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
1/4 c. Cornstarch
1 Baked pie shell

Place the lemon in a blender--peel and all--with all the other ingredients and blend until it is finely ground. Place in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into a baked pie shell and chill.
Variation: Use 3 oranges, peeled and with seeds removed, instead of the orange juice. They should be blended until fine with the lemon.

Cherry Pie

1 1/3 c. Liquid from canned cherries, or water if they are fresh
1/4 c. Cornstarch
1 1/3 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
4 C. Cherries, pitted (if canned, save liquid and use in recipe)
2 T. Non-dairy margarine
1 Unbaked pie shell

Mix some of the liquid with the cornstarch. Heat rest of liquid to boiling. Add cornstarch mixture, stirring with a wire whip. Cook until thick and clear. Stir in the Sucanat and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring, Remove from heat. Add cherries, mixing gently. Cool thoroughly. Put in unbaked pie shell. Dot the top with the margarine and put on the top crust, cutting ventilation slits in it. Bake at 425 for 1 hour or until well browned.

Pie Crust

I've just been using storebought pie crusts--they sell nice frozen vegan ones at most health food stores here. But if you want to make your own, it's easy; just be sure to use vegan margarine. (I think the best is probably Willow Run's soy margarine.)

The secret to this recipe is for the margarine and water to be as cold as possible.

6 c. Unbleached white flour
1 T. Sea salt
1 1/2 c. Non-dairy margarine, cold, and cut into bits
1 c. Ice water

Sift the flour and salt together. Add the margarine and stir with a fork until all is crumbly. Add the water slowly, kneading it at the same time until all holds together--then stop. Divide into balls. Roll out about 1/8-inch thick. Put in a pie pan or dish. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

There's a bunch of other pie recipes, if anyone is interested. I don't mind typing them up if you have a specific request. There's also cakes, cookies, etc.

All of these are from the book Simply Heavenly! The Monastery Vegetarian Cookbook by Abbot George Burke, which is sadly out of print. If anyone has a clue as to how I could get in touch with the author, let me know. The publishing company where I work would love to republish it, if we could find the guy.

Comments

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

The secret to vegan cake is baking soda and vinegar. You know how you mix them together and it bubbles up, like in a grade school volcano? In the recipe it bubbles up and makes the cake rise, nice and fluffy. You should also use oil instead of margarine, since the margarine weighs it down.

Here's a sample recipe:

Chocolate Cake

3 c. Unbleached white flour
2 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
1/2 c. Cocoa powder
1 tsp. Sea salt
2 tsp. Baking soda
2 T. White vinegar
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 c. Water
3/4 c. Corn oil

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the vinegar, vanilla, water, and oil. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

You can do a lot of things with this basic combo. For example, add mint oil to make a chocolate mint cake, or coffee to make a mocha cake. You can make it a vanilla cake by replacing the cocoa with flour and doubling the amount of vanilla. You can add lemon to the vanilla cake to make a lemon cake. And so on.

Another option that some people use for replacing eggs in cake recipes is flax seeds. Put 1/4 c. flax seeds in a blender and grind. Add 3/4 c. water and continue to blend. 1/3 c. of the result equals one egg.

An example of what you can do with that:

Orange Gingercake

2 c. Unbleached white flour
1 1/2 tsp. Ginger, ground
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1 1/3 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
2 T. Barbados molasses
6 T. Non-dairy margarine
4 T. Vegan milk
1 N'egg (the flax seed egg mentioned above)
1 Orange-grated rind
2 T. Orange juice

Oil and flour a cake pan. Put the flour, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Heat together the Sucanat, molasses, and margarine until the margarine is melted. Combine all ingredients, beat well, and pour into the pan. Bake at 325 about 1/2 hour, or until just firm to the touch. Cool in the pan.

Or...

Lemon Cake

8 T. Non-dairy margarine
3/4 c. Sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
1 Lemon--its juice and its ring, grated
1 N'egg (flax seed egg, described above)
1 c. Unbleached white flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder

Oil and flour a square cake pan. Heat margarine and 1/2 cup of the Sucanat over low heat until the margarine is melted. Take off the heat and stir in the lemon rind. Beat the n'egg into the Sucanat mixture. Fold in the flour and baking powder and turn the mixture into the pen. Bake at 350 about 30 minutes or until it is just firm to the touch. Warm the lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the Sucanat and mix together. Prick the cake all over with a fork or toothpick, and spoon the syrup over it. Leave in the pan to cool.
Variation: Use a small orange--juice and ring--instead of lemon.

[ladyanne04.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much - that's exactly what I needed, I'll try one of them over Christmas.

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

Have you ever had a bad experience with flax seed? I tried it once, and it seemed to make the cake very greasy- it leached liquid onto the cake board and looked just terrible, and it had a very wet, dense (not GOOD) flavour.

I will try your vingar/baking soda approach, however, and hope it works out. I do alot of cakes for vegetarians, but vegans are always so disappointed when I tell them I won't do a cake without eggs because I cannot guarantee the results.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Have you ever had a bad experience with flax seed?

I haven't had any problems, though I've only tried it in the recipes above. It worked well and tasted good.

To be honest, though, I pretty much stick to the first recipe and modifications thereof. It tastes great, works wonderfully, and is so versatile. In my experience, it's been 100% reliable, and indistinguishable from "normal" cake.