Chocolate Pots de Creme (dairy free and date sweetened)

My foray into non-Whole 30 foods didn't go quite as well as I previously reported.  A few days after my "cheating" I had a few break outs and gained back a little weight.  I felt even worse after tasting frosting (very little) I made for potluck cupcakes, obviously a dumb idea.  Feeling fuzzy-headed and sluggish were my main complaints. I detoxed by eating tons of raw vegetables for a few days and that has made me feel much better. I just need to figure out what starchy/sweet foods agree with me and which ones don't.  It's all a big crazy experiment anyway since I really don't have any confidence that anyone knows what we should eat.  Sometimes I think about all the people that seem to be thriving on fast food and vending machine fodder and wonder what in the world is the difference between me and them.  Is body chemistry, self control, portion sizes, nurture, nature...?

Anyway, it's Valentine's Day and I knew I would never get through the whole day without something chocolate.  I let Alex stay up late last night because he was thoroughly engrossed in a book, Mousenet, and Penny had fallen asleep super early so I was wasting time reading blogs.  I came across a recipe for Pots de Creme on Pioneer Woman. I usually read her blog only for the photography and homeschooling ideas because the delicious-looking real butter and cheese in her food torture me; but something made me check out this recipe.  I was thrilled to find out that it was already dairy free and so simple!

The amount of sugar in the original recipe is relatively low, coming only from the semi-sweet chocolate, but I wanted to try and make these a little more nutritionally dense.  I took inspiration from the white chocolate both my children love from Organic Nectars.  They use cashews in place of milk powder so I used some cashews to lighten my unsweetened chocolate.  I added my favorite natural sweetener, dates, and changed the flavorings to suit my mood.  Probably these should now have a different name but I have had the real thing and these are better than quite a few that bore that name honestly with real cream.  Be sure to take your time and fully blend the mixture so you get the creamiest texture possible with your blender.  And don't be surprised if you want to eat them all at room temperature once you take a taste.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pots de Creme
Based on Pioneer Woman's Pots de Creme a L'orange recipe
Makes 6-8 servings, halves easily but requires more scraping while blending

6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
3 oz (1/2 cup) raw cashews
6 oz dates or date paste, (~1 cup packed, pitted dates)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup very hot water

-Add the chocolate, cashews, dates, eggs, salt and vanilla to a blender and blend until everything is combined and the cashews and dates are mostly smooth.  You may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times to get everything together.
-With the blender running, slowly add the hot water through the hole in the lid.  After all the water is added, stop the blender and scrape down the sides.  Blend again until very smooth, scraping more as needed.
-Spoon into cups or jars.  Serve either right away because it is pudding-like warm from the blender or chill and eat cold, chilled it is very rich and almost like frosting.

Variations:
You could replace the hot water with hot coffee and/or replace the vanilla extract with Grand Marnier, Chambord or other liquor

After nearly 10 years of product loyalty, I gave up using Paint Shop Pro last fall and have been slowly learning my way around Adobe Photo Shop.  I figured I was finally ready to try using some actions.  Here is Penny with PW's Old West action.  You can download her action sets here.  

Fortune Cookies (gluten and dairy free)

We were invited to a Chinese New Year celebration yesterday and I was determined to bring fortune cookies that Alex could safely have.  Friday night I fought with three different recipes: two that were gluten free by design and one wheat flour recipe with gluten free flour blend as replacement.  All of them were flops and I was fairly discouraged and a bit angry about wasting some of the last of our eggs.  Our chickens and ducks have mostly stopped laying now.  :(   But the next morning I screwed by courage to the sticking place and gave it one more try.  This time I altered a recipe I already knew worked and success was mine!  I was even happier with how my stir fried pork with mushrooms served with sesame cabbage came out.  I will have to make that again since it was Whole 30 compliant and I'd like to post it.  The pork and cabbage helped me survive the challenge of not eating even the smallest taste of fortune cookie.  Thank goodness the kids make great taste testers!

Fortune Cookies (gluten and dairy free)
Adapted from this recipe which came from this recipe
Makes ~18 cookies

57g coconut oil
57g powdered sugar
2 egg whites, room temperature
48g tapioca flour
17g corn starch
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  
-Line a couple of baking pans with parchment paper. If your pans are rimmed I suggest flipping them over and working on the back side so that spreading the batter is easier.  Set out a muffin tin to use while forming cookies and print and cut out your fortunes.  I used a lot from  this list of fortune cookie messages but my favorite is "Your fortune lies in another cookie".
-In a stand mixer, cream the coconut oil and sugar until light in color and smooth.  Add the egg whites and extracts and beat until incorporated.   This will be extra tricky if you don't have your egg whites at room temperature.  
-Add the tapioca starch, corn starch and salt and beat until a smooth batter forms, you will probably need to scrape down the bowl a few times.
-Oil your parchment with spray oil or a little melted coconut oil.  On one half of the parchment take a little less than a tablespoon of batter and spread it evenly with an offset spatula into an ~4 inch diameter circle.  Repeat on the other side of the baking sheet.  If you don't feel confident about this step you can trace a circle in pencil on the reverse side of your parchment paper to use as a guide or you can make a circle stencil out of thin cardboard (think cereal box) and then spread the batter just inside the template.
-Bake for 4-5 minutes until  light golden brown on edges, bake only 2 cookies at a time.
-Immediately after removing from the oven take a fortune and place it on the center line.  Then fold the cookie in half keeping the folded edge flat and not squashed.  Then bend in the two corners and place the cookie inside a muffin tin cup to keep it from unfolding as it cools.  This does some practice and hands that can take some heat.  This image was helpful for me to learn the fold though if you Google other recipes you'll see a lot of people using coffee cups to help fold.  The coffee cup technique wasn't helpful to me but you may be different.
-Repeat with the remaining batter. Be sure to cool off your cookie sheet and reoil your parchment after each batch.  Do not add fresh batter to a warm cookie sheet.  
-After the cookies have cooled store them in an airtight container.  

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Chewy Molasses Cookies (redone grain free)

When I was younger I teased my mother for eating dried dates by saying they look like cockroaches. It had something to do with the translucence and papery skin, which I still find a little eerie, but recently dates have come to my rescue.  In this year's attempt to tackle wheat free baking I have found that dates, and date paste, are my favorite secret weapon for making good grain-free cookies.  This recipe is the first of two cookies that make use of my current favorite method. Using my ever evolving baking strategies I updated a favorite Christmas cookie of ours, the Chewy Molasses Cookie.  The flavor is still there though the sweetness is toned down to match our current tastes.  In my opinion this allows the zing of the spices and molasses to shine brighter.  I suppose I could still compromise and coat the outside of these in sugar but since they were so well received by both kids I think I'll keep them as is.   One experiment I would like to try is to double bake them at a low temperature like biscotti to see if I can get a crisp version as well as this chewy one.

Chewy Molasses Date Cookies 
Makes ~3 dozen small cookies, made using a 1 tablespoon scoop

7 ounces date paste (or ~1 1/3 cup packed pitted dates)*
3 ounces coconut oil (~1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon)*
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 cup almond meal*
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line your baking sheets with parchment.
-It is best to have all your ingredients at room temperature.  Add your dates, coconut oil, eggs and molasses to a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth paste.  If you are using pitted dates double check them for pits and expect this to take a little longer.
-In a small bowl whisk together all your dry ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients to the date mixture and process until combined, scraping the bowl as needed.
-Spoon tablespoons of dough onto your lined baking sheets leaving at least an inch and a half of spreading room.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes until puffy.  Cool the cookies on the baking sheets before removing.  It's best to release the cookies with an offset spatula before removing.  
-Baked cookies freeze well but I have found that coconut flour baked goods like these tend to not store well for long periods at room temperature.

*Ingredient information:  I get my date paste from Country Life Natural Foods.  It is relatively dry compared to most homemade versions I've seen but it's great for baking.  My kids prefer no coconut flavor and so we use the expeller pressed oil from Wilderness Family Naturals.  I've used both Bob's Red Mill and Honeyville almond flour/meal in these and both work fine.

I'm adding these to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays on Simply Sugar & Gluten Free

Easter Ideas

Since we are all still fighting off our latest cold I declared today Easter craft day. I also consolidated some of my Easter treat plans.  This year I think an assortment of filled eggs might be fun to attempt and I plan on trying to use less or unrefined sweeteners.  Here are some more ideas I want to keep track of:

Egg Coloring
With Penny just born, I did eggs the easy way last year and used a kit for my Easter egg colors.  I want to try some new food dyes this year.  Green has been especially elusive but I have a new idea up my sleeve to try that came about because Alex has been studying pond water microorganisms. Here are my previous eggs dyed with food, the links have the ingredients I used for the dyes but no instructions.  I just play mad scientist cooking up potions until I get colors I like. 

from 2009

and 2008

Chocolate Bunnies
There are almost too many choices in this year's Go Dairy Free's Chocolate Bunny Roundup. We've purchased bunnies from both Chocolate Emporium and Premium Chocolatiers.  Alex loves Emporium's white chocolate and the truffle eggs from Premium but really didn't like the bunnies from either.  I'd be happy with a Grocer's Daughter bunny, which is a local company, but Alex isn't a big fan of their dark chocolate. No Whey! Chocolates looks like a promising new choice, with dairy-free milk, dark AND white bunnies!  Or maybe Sjaaks, who make the awesome mint windmill chocolates.

Update:  I went ahead and bought No Whey! bunnies and they look great.  We also tried out some Sjaak's vegan almond butter bunnies because they were available at our local co-op but Alex had a reaction to them.  It's not their fault, they do state "shared equipment".  We had hoped for the best but it didn't work out.

Savory
For this year's Hrudka (Slovak egg cheese) I'm going to try using rice milk so that Penny can give it a try. 

My hrudka is featured with eleven other savory Easter recipes from around the world, maybe you'll get some ideas from there. Easter bread will be the big challenge but I think I might just skip it and hope no one, by which I mean Alex, notices.  I would like to make some dairy-free Bagna Cauda to enjoy with some spring vegetables.  It would have been perfect with the baby radishes we got last week in our 9 Bean Rows share. I just gotta stock up on anchoives.

Candy Basket Fillings
I've been collected recipes to try something different for filled candy eggs.  I've made the egg-free fake Cadbury eggs from Speedbump Kitchen but would like to try a less refined sugar version this year.  This recipe for Healthy Homemade Creme Eggs sounds promising but I'm not sure I want to use the stevia or xylitol.  I thought maybe I could fill them with some maple-sweetened Marshmallow Fluff instead.  If there is time I'd like to try either Homemade Maple Marshmallows or Honey Marshmallows as Peeps.

Crafts
Today we used these Easter Egg Printables to make the eggs for our paper egg tree pictured at the top.  I printed them on cardstock, we painted them and then I made the tree from a grocery bag. I also made some faux cherry blossom branches, which are sorta like these from Martha Stewart.  I used crepe streamer for the paper because I think it looks nicer and is easier to work with.  I also pruned autumn olive branches instead of cherry or apple because I wanted them tall and straight to fill up space on my mantle.  Of course this tortures me somewhat because they now look botanically inaccurate.  John would find that funny. 

*More Easter Ideas from two years ago

Carob Fruit and Nut Bark

Though I'm still full of my typical end of winter griping about dark days and slippery roads, I am noticing that February has been flying by. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I'm still trying to lay off sugar and wheat and grains in general. But that's a topic for another post, which I'm too scatterbrained to write at the moment, so here's a recipe I've been working on.

John and I have been upping the ante with our chocolate lately. I've long been a fan of the dark stuff and look for at least 70% cocoa (the bare minimum) but with my current dietary changes I'm even finding things like these brownies too sweet. So we search for darker chocolate for snacking and that results in eventually even liking unsweetened chocolate, if combined with fruit and nuts. The trouble is that chocolate has caffeine and though my tolerance is way higher than John's a little too much snacking ends with me up all night.

So John suggested carob (yes honey, I'm actually giving you credit) and at first I scoffed. Have you ever had those carob covered nuts from the bulk section? Or a carob bar? They are so insipid and gross with a weird chewy quality but John likes them anyway. I remembered seeing carob powder, also called carob flour, at the co-op so I agreed to give that a try. I had some cocoa butter around to try and make homemade dairy-free white chocolate and thought, "Hey I could make carob chocolate and it wouldn't be an oxymoron!"

For my first attempt I went completely sugar free and it was wonderful! Of course you have to be used to eating very low sugar/high cocoa chocolate but if you are the kind of person who can snack on cocoa nibs than you might really love this and it won't keep you up at night. Plus, carob may have other health benefits and it's much less bitter and therefore requires less sweetness to be delicious. I've played with the recipe further, added a little dried fruit for a smidgen more sweetness and a little coconut oil so that I don't have to worry about tempering the cocoa butter. The variations are endless but I like this Chunky bar homage with raisins and almonds.

Carob Fruit and Nut Bark
This is for super low sugar chocolate lovers. If you can't handle nibbling on cocoa nibs or 90% chocolate then either use a higher percentage of dried fruit or try adding a little stevia. 
Makes about a pound

3 oz (~3/4 cup) cacao butter*
2 oz (7 tablespoons) roasted carob powder*
8 oz (2 cups) almonds, ideally soaked/dehydrated*
3 oz (3/4 cup) raisins*
1/4 ounce (~1 1/2 teaspoons) coconut oil
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

-Melt the cacao butter in a double boiler add the carob powder and coconut oil and whisk until smooth.  You could also melt the cacao butter in the microwave but it seems to take forever so I prefer a double boiler for this.  Of course a double boiler does not have to mean anything more than a heat proof bowl that fits on a saucepan with a little water in the saucepan.
-Add the almonds and raisins and stir to coat.  Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
-Chill in the freezer for 10 minutes and then remove and break apart.

*Ingredient notes:  Cacao butter is the same thing as cocoa butter but be sure not to skimp on this. I've found cheaper stuff that has off flavors and tastes like soap and it's awful!  Carob powder is also called carob flour.  Of course any combination of nuts with/without any combination of dried fruit would be good. 

**Other notes:  I think a variation with some spice would be excellent and there is an interesting Cinnamon Spiced Coconut Bark on Diet, Dessert and Dogs.  Also, I'd love to try some filled chocolates with this carob chocolate mixture and plan on using this recipe for Double Chocolate Hazelnut Candies as inspiration.

***Note to mom: Hey, check out the Russell Stovers Elvis box, that thing has really gotten a lot of reuse!

DB Christmas Stollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Though I do appreciate all yeasted goodies I've never been a big fan of Christmas breads like stollen and panetone.  They are often dry and flavorless and I much prefer the sticky goodness of the much maligned fruitcake, even the brick like kind.  But this year I fully embraced the challenge and fell in love with stollen.

I followed Penny's recipe replacing the butter with Earth Balance tub margarine.  For the fruit I made my own candied tangerine peel with cognac soaked currants and dried cranberries.  I used the spice combination from the Martha Stewart recipe because I have a recent obsession with mace, an extremely underused spice.   To avoid having on giant stollen wreath in the house to tempt me, I split my recipe into three loaves.  Two I froze and later shared one each with my parents and in laws and one I kept to enjoy.

It was fragrant, fruity, yeasty and wonderful and a fitting send off because in our household we're trying out being wheat free.  I made almost all of our Christmas cookies this year wheat free because my husband feels better not eating it.  And I'm personally committing to all of January completely wheat and gluten free to jumpstart my diet and see if I feel better eating that way.  Wish me luck because I know I'll be daydreaming about yeasty deliciousness like this stollen.

Links:
- Here is the complete stollen recipe which can also be found on our host Penny's blog, Sweet Sadie's Baking
-Along with advice from her German friend who bakes Stollen every year, Penny used the information in Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker’s Apprentice and this Martha Stewart recipe for a stollen wreath
-Visit the Daring Kitchen and see more festive breads made this month by browsing the Daring Baker Blogroll.

Slices of stollen

Penny and Fritz with the snow drift after the big snow on December 12th, I love birthday snow!

The ducks still wander around in the snow, but thankfully we've been able to convince them that their nice heated house is the best place to spend the night.

The best Christmas photo I could get this year

A dreamy Christmas Fritz

He like the rest of us is a little sad this Christmas because our oldest dog Roxy unexpectantly passed away earlier this month. We all miss her very much.

Gingerbread House Ideas

Before we move on Penny would like to present a plea on behalf of her mother. Because it's..

Click on the image above or this link and vote for Dog Hill Kitchen: Cherry Pie Lattice Cookies.  

Now that you are finished and have hit your back button, here's my collection of ideas for my gingerbread house for this year.  The culinary school in town had a gingerbread house contest, but sadly I learned of the contest after it was too late to enter, maybe next year.  The following photos are the from the gingerbread contest which was part of the Zonta Club of Traverse City's Festival of Trees.

These rice treat hay bales look super cute and easy.
They'd be perfect with a gingerbread duck house!

John liked the look of the pepita brick chimney.

The banana chips shingles are nice as well.

I loved the goji berry bridge.

Alex is going through a big fish loving phase and thought the poured sugar pond was awesome.

The grand prize winner used a lot of different homemade candy and had a great theme. 

It's a gingerbread Candy Land board.

Links:

• For those who aren't interested in making their own gingerbread, a post on Avoiding Milk Blog lead me to A and J Bakery in Rhode Island.  They sell Allergen Friendly Gingerbread House Kits. The houses are peanut, tree nut, wheat, gluten, soy, egg, dairy, and sesame free and are made in a dedicated nut and gluten free facility.  They accept orders until the 21st of December.
• Lots of ideas to be had at the Flickr group Gingerbread House Showcase.  There are some very talented people there, just look at these cute owls. 
• My 2009 gingerbread house
• My 2008 gingerbread house
• For the times when you need something smaller than a house, my dairy-free Gingerbread Caramels
• This year I plan on using Martha Stewart's Caramel Syrup and Molasses-Gingerbread Cookie Dough
• Martha Stewart's gallery of gingerbread, with user created houses.

We finally got some good snow, Alex loves to eat it!

 

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Green beer is off the menu for me today but I did enjoy a homemade dairy-free shamrock shake with my son Alex today. It's been many, many years since I've had the authentic Mikki D version but these tasted like the ones from my memory. We made them using Temptation home vegan 'Ice Cream' mix (with vanilla extract, peppermint extract and green food color) and Alex had the brilliant idea to add the chocolate chips.
Alex wasn't interested in this but I thought it was the best soda bread I've ever had and it was dairy-free as well. I used the recipe from Everybody Likes Sandwiches for Irish Soda Bread with Fennel and Cinnamon. Vanilla So Delicious Coconut milk yogurt, soy milk and Earth Balance margarine replaced the dairy ingredients. I then swapped in dried cherries for the raisins and cranberries since I do live in Traverse City now.

We've been soaking up all the sun, chasing Fritz the puppy around and it's 8:30pm and the sun hasn't completely set. Spring is on the way!

*Check out more St Patrick's day food at the parade at The Daily Spud.

DB Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I love making a yearly gingerbread house. As it was the designated Daring Baker challenge I made changes to my typical gingerbread MO. I tried the recipe that came from Y of Lemonpi because it was less like the recipes I've tried in the past. I liked how sturdy the gingerbread was but found it got very brittle on the second day. This made for some breakage when I was assembling but I did my best to repair and move on. Instead of the little cottage design I normally make, I attempted to copy a house from a photo I found online that had a more complicated roof. I managed it but just barely. I think I need more than once a year practice to improve my technique. I glued the house together with sugar syrup and used the same syrup to form windows. Royal icing, some candy and I was done. I also made a couple of little dog houses and had my son Alex decorate them. This was a great challenge and I can't wait to get time to take a look at all the other Daring Baker houses.

Links:
-I used the recipe given by Y of Lemonpi which came from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice A. Ojakangas. Another option is the Spicy Gingerbread Dough recipe chosen by Anna of Very Small Anna. This recipe is available on Anna's blog as well as Good Housekeeping.com.
-To glue the house together and make the windows I followed the directions for Martha Stewart's caramel syrup
-My house pattern was based (loosely) on this Victorian cottage photo from Flickr
-I purchase CK royal icing mix from Candyland Crafts. I need a kid safe icing and in the past have found that powdered egg whites either taste metallic or have a off color. This icing mix solves both problems and works perfectly for me every time.
-Challenge yourself in the new year by becoming a Daring Baker, now no blog needed! Visit the Daring Kitchen for more information. There you can also check out all the other gingerbread goodness made this month by browsing the Daring Baker Blogroll.
-Go here to see my gingerbread house from last year

2009's gingerbread house
Alex's gingerbread dog house, he insisted on colored frosting

My cardboard gingerbread house patterns

Gingerbread Caramels (vegan/dairy-free)

At last my Christmas baking and candy making is done! The last batch of cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip) are cooling on the counter as I type. To add something new to this year's line up, I was inspired by an Edible Gifts post on the ultimate vegan sweets blog Bittersweet-- I just had to try my hand at making gingerbread caramels!

After I made the prerequisite batch of my normal vegan caramels for my son Alex, I looked at a few gingerbread variations online and came up with a plan to modify my recipe. I also decided to try adding some toasted walnuts to half the batch, leaving half plain since Alex isn't a walnut fan. This was a halfway good idea...the caramels with walnuts were AWESOME!!! but the plain ones were just good and Alex much prefers his regular caramels. The nut version reminds me of kicked up Wha Guru Chews; which if you've never had are pretty fantastic and highly addictive. I had to add a pack of these to each of my Christmas gift bags to ensure I too many weren't left in the house. Here's the recipe for those interested in giving candy making a try this year.

Gingerbread Caramels (vegan/dairy-free)
A combination of my vegan caramel recipe and the Gingerbread Caramel recipe from Martha Stewart.com.
Makes ~60-75 large pieces of candy

2 cups sugar
2 cups soy milk
1 cup margarine (Earth Balance tub is my choice)
1/2 cup corn syrup (Wholesome Sweeteners brand if you can get it)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts, optional but highly recommended

*Please double check your ingredients to verify that they suit your dietary needs (IE vegan, dairy-free, etc) or the needs of those you are cooking for.

-Line an 8 inch x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl stir together the spices and salt and set aside. Measure out your nuts to have ready as well.
-Add the sugar, soy milk, margarine, corn syrup and molasses to a large saucepan, 4 quart minimum. You don't want this hot sticky stuff boiling over!
-Bring to a boil stirring often and then continue cooking over medium heat while stirring until the candy reaches 245 degrees F.
-Remove the pan from heat and stir in the spice mixture and vanilla. Stir very well to distribute the spices evenly. Then add the nuts and mix them in.
-Pour into your lined baking pan.
-Allow the caramel to cool completely. With a clean and oiled pair of kitchen scissors, snip the caramel into pieces. Wrap each piece individually with cellophane, waxed or parchment paper.
-Give at least two thirds away or you'll end up eating the whole batch!

Vanilla-Bean Sugar Cookies

Just like my trouble replacing the taste of butter in yellow cake, tasty sugar cookies were in the past a troublesome thing to make dairy-free. For me nothing could make up for the lack of real butter in such a simple cookie, but real vanilla beans come to the rescue once again in this Gourmet magazine recipe I adapted. Get baking now if you want these ready in time for Christmas. I've made these several times and giving the dough an extra day or two in the fridge lets the vanilla flavor develop and really pays off.

Dairy-free Vanilla-Bean Sugar Cookies
My dairy-free adaptation of the Gourmet magazine recipe for Vanilla-Bean Sugar Cookies found on Epicurious
Makes 3-4 dozen cookies

1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine*
3/4 cup sugar + more to roll in
2 vanilla beans
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

*If you aren't an EB fan and use another margarine you might want to add a pinch of salt. I use EB in the tub and it's always a little heavy on the salt.

-Beat the margarine with 3/4 cup of sugar and the scraped seeds from both vanilla beans until light in color. Adding the vanilla seeds to the creaming process helps spread them evenly throughout the dough.
-Add the egg and vanilla extract to the creamed margarine mixture and beat to combine.
-In a separate bowl, whisk (or sift) together the flour and baking powder. Then add to the creamed mixture in two or three doses beating just until combined.
-Spoon the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap (or parchment paper) and roll into a log. Make the log approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Add another protective wrap of aluminum foil or a second layer of plastic. You don't want any funky flavors sneaking into these cookies from your fridge!
-Chill the dough, ideally for 2-3 days but at least overnight.
-When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
-Take half a log at a time, the Earth Balance margarine softens quickly so it's best to not work with the whole log at once. Roll the log in sugar to coat the outside and then cut 1/4 inch slices.
-Lay the slices on your cookie sheets at least 1 inch apart and bake for 9-11 minutes, until golden brown on the edges.
-Allow the cookies to cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Yesterday I received my last fall 9 Bean Rows share. New Year's Day will start the winter share and I'm excited to see what it will have. Here's this week's goodies: (clockwise from top right)
red Swiss chard (which was very good last week - I'm growing to love it), kale, baguettes, lots of herbs (rosemary, parsley, oregano and even a sprig of tarragon), yellow potatoes, collards, garlic, red potatoes, apples, salad mix and bok choi
I plan on making a big batch of dairy-free potato pierogies for Christmas Eve, with some extra to freeze, and if I have time in between the rest of the cookie and candy making I'll also whip up a doubled recipe of the Daring Baker Danish Braid to use up some of my apples and feed our post-Christmas house guests.

P.S. Notice the ornament with the cookies? I finally got around to making something with the Michigan-grown heartnut shells from summer '08! My son Alex and I had fun glittering the insides a few weeks back.

This year's Easter eggs

We to celebrate both Easters (Orthodox and Western) because my husband and his family are Greek Orthodox. Though our celebration on Western Easter is more low key, the Easter bunny and multicolored eggs come then. These are my food-dyed eggs for this year: red/pink = beets, purple = blackberries, yellow = turmeric, blue= red cabbage, green = red cabbage + turmeric. I attempted using onion skins for a dark red but they ended up dark brown, as always. I also tried using spinach in water and in oil but neither mixture transferred the color so I went with a double dip to get a greenish color.

Happy Easter/Palm Sunday!

P.S. I'm woefully behind in my blog visiting/reading because I'm packing like crazy for our move. I hope to find some time to catch up soon because I know there are a ton of great food and ideas I don't want to miss!
P.P.S. I didn't get around to trying all the Easter Ideas but I did make the homemade vegan creme eggs and my son Alex LOVED them!! They were the stars of this morning's Easter basket.

Hrudka (Slovak egg cheese for Easter)

The Slovak traditions for Christmas and Easter have imprinted certain taste memories that I can't avoid craving every year. One of the things I wonder why I desire is hrudka. Hrudka is also called cirek, sirets, sirok, sirecz, as well as just Easter egg cheese (by those who have trouble trilling their Rs) and it is basically a ball of scrambled eggs served at Easter. Some people put a slice of it on sandwiches but I always ate it plain with salt.

My family is always generous and I know that there would be a ball of hrudka for me to take at Easter. But this year things are a little crazy with our move coming up and I don't know for sure what our plans will be. Plus, the hrudka my family makes has cow's milk and my son has never been able to taste it. So this year I asserted my independence and made my own. It was fairly easy and the flavor only barely changed with my soy milk substitution. That is it still tasted like a ball of scrambled eggs. What can I say, it's tradition and somehow makes sense to my springtime taste buds.

I also was inspired by the posts on Bittersweet, a vegan blog. There she made soy cottage cheese spread and used the soy whey in bread for the following post. It's probably terrible for me to un-veganize an idea but in this I'm trying to respect the gifts of the eggs and not let any part go to waste. So I used my whey in the traditional paska (Easter bread), now made non-traditional with my dairy-free soy milk. Using the whey is apparently common but it's not something my grandmother did so I didn't know about it before. I'm waiting to taste the bread until Easter morning but it looks gorgeous this year and has a richer smell than my previous versions with just soy milk. Now that I've had my hrudka fix I can start playing with homemade soy cottage cheese!

Hrudka (Slovak Easter Egg Cheese)
Adapted from the recipe found in "Our Best to You", the 1st edition Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic Church cookbook of Livonia, Michigan. The original recipe was submitted by Mrs. Helen Rapasky. Hrudka is served for Easter along with ham, kielbasa, beet horseradish, and paska (Easter bread). Some people put it on a ham or kielbasa sandwich but I always eat a slice plain with a little salt. This savory version is what my family makes but sweet variations are common, some are listed at the end of the recipe.
Makes 1 large ball of cheese, ~1 3/4 pounds

1 dozen eggs
1 quart milk (dairy-free for us, I used soy)
1 teaspoon salt

-Set up a large double boiler or make one using two pans or a pan and a bowl. I used a large stainless steel bowl over a saucepan. Fill the lower pan with an inch of water. Bring the water to a boil and turn down the heat so that it is strongly simmering.
-Off the heat, beat the eggs in the upper pan or bowl and then add the milk and salt. Beat all the ingredients to combine and then place over the pan of simmering water.
-Cook the egg and milk mixture stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until the mixture curdles, this will take approximately 20-30 minutes. You'll see curds separated out and leave a thin, watery whey. Stop once it seems like no more whey is being produced, IE coming out of the curds.
-Line a colander with a square, double layer of cheesecloth and place over a large bowl or pot. Pour the curds and whey carefully onto the center of the cheesecloth.
-Gather the cheesecloth together to form a large ball with the curds. Twist the top and press to remove more whey and then tie with kitchen twine.
-Tie the ball to a wooden spoon and suspend it over a pot to drain further and cool. Other directions recommend tieing the ball to your kitchen faucet to drain.
-When the ball is mostly cooled and not dripping any more whey place it in the fridge to set overnight. You can save the whey to make paska (Easter bread), links to paska recipes follow.
-After chilling overnight, remove the cheesecloth. Store in the fridge wrapped with plastic or waxed paper. Serve slices on sandwiches or on their own sprinkled with a little salt.

Hrudka variations:
I have never had anything but the plain unsweetened hrudka but sweet recipes are common, just Google hrudka recipe. These recipes have anywhere from 1 tablespoon to 1 cup of sugar added to the one dozen egg recipe and most of the sweet versions also have vanilla extract. There are also recipes that call for any one of the following: cloves, caraway seeds, cinnamon, pepper or saffron. For a drier cheese you can bake the drained ball for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Baked ball of scrambled eggs sounds even more bizarre to me.

Paska bread recipes:
My grandmother never used the whey for her paska bread but I like the idea of not wasting it. Plus, since I'm using soy milk in place of the traditional cow's milk I'm hoping it will add more flavor to my bread. I used the paska recipe from the same Sacred Heart church cookbook but only made the plain dough. The plain dough gave me enough for three small loaves. Here is another simple paska recipe that is similar to others from my grandmother's church cookbook. For something different you could try this paska recipe using whey and whole wheat flour.

Cooking the hrudka (counter clockwise from top left): starting cooking the egg and milk mixture, curds begin to form, curds and whey
A closeup of the hrudka curds and whey
The colander and cheesecloth ready to strain the hrduka curds from the whey Hanging the hrudka
This year's paska bread

Crossposted on Michigan Lady Food Bloggers (MLFB)

Spinach and Sardine Cupcakes

I'm been wanting to make a savory cupcake for a while but needed some inspiration to get me started. When my son Alex showed some interest in a can of sardines at the store recently I knew I had to make something special with them. The spinach pasta for the recent Daring Baker lasagna made me think of the perfect combination, spinach and sardines!

For the cake, I chose a simple onion and thyme flavored sponge cake that wouldn't overpower the toppings. The trick was to have just enough sugar to keep the cake tender and yet remain savory. If I made it again I might use caramelized onions in place of the onion puree to give a richer flavor but using sweet onions was good enough for this first try. For the frosting, I would have loved to use whipped cream with spinach puree but with Alex's dairy allergies that wasn't an option. Instead I made up fresh mayonnaise lightened with extra lemon juice to cut through the fattiness of the sardine.

Yes, these will be intimidating for your kids to take the first bite. Encourage them to go for the head first and the brave ones will step up to the challenge. Just think of how packed with minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D these little fish are!

Links:
-Nutritional facts for sardines
-Pacific sardines get a best choice rating from Seafood Watch
-If eating the whole fish isn't for you, try this Sardine Pate recipe on TriniGourmet

Update: Of course, don't really make this recipe. Any cupcake flavor with green frosting will do. The fish on top are fondant with luster dust and black food color and here's how to make them. They did look disgustingly realistic once you bit the head off though. Special thanks to Rachel from one of my favorite sites, Cupcakes Take The Cake for this post. You can't fool all of the people all of the time but fooling even just one on April Fool's Day is the best!

Spinach and Sardine Cupcakes
For Oscar
Makes 12 cupcakes

Cake ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 large sweet yellow onion, peeled
1/4 cup melted margarine (or butter)
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar

Topping ingredients:
1 cup neutral oil (if you prefer you can use a flavorful oil like extra virgin olive oil)
1 egg (to be safest use a pasteurized egg)
2-3 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons smooth pureed spinach
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
canned whole sardines for garnish

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake tin with papers.
-Sift together the flour, baking powder, thyme, onion powder and salt and set aside.
-Take the onion and the melted margarine and process together in a food processor until it forms a smooth pulp. Set this aside as well.
-Separate the eggs for the cake and place the yolks in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar and beat until very light in color and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they foam. Gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar while whisking until the whites form stiff peaks.
-Add the margarine and onion pulp to the yolks and beat to incorporate. Fold the flour mixture into the yolk mixture just until combined. You don't have to be very careful with your folding at this point.
-Take one third of the whipped whites and mix into the yolk and flour combination. Add another third of the whites and carefully fold until only a streak of white is left. Add the final third and fold until no whites are visible.
-Spoon into the cupcake papers filling only half way. These will rise quite a lot.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick entered in comes out clean.
-Cool completely.
-Make the spinach mayonnaise to frost the cupcakes by beating the egg with the salt and half of the lemon juice and then drizzling in the oil gradually until a thick and creamy base is created. Once the mayo is nice and thick add the spinach puree and more lemon juice and salt as desired.
-Frost each cupcake with the spinach mayo and then top with a plump whole sardine. Be sure to pat the sardines off with a paper towel to remove any excess oil before adding.
-Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for later.

My son Alex is fearless and went right for the head.
There was no way to keep Abbie away from these during the picture taking.

Easter Ideas

This year I've amassed quite a lot of ideas for Easter but with the packing I need to do for our upcoming move and the tax paperwork still to do (ugh), I'm not sure what I'll actually manage. So here's a list so that I don't lose any I can't find time for.

Two fellow Michigan foodbloggers made homemade versions of classic Easter candy.
-Melitta from Cafe Chocolata made Homemade Kinder Surprise. I bought some new Lego mini-figures to place in the ones I'm going to make for my son Alex.
-The ultimate Easter treat, Cadbury Creme Eggs, was recreated at the Speedbump Kitchen. Her Egg-free Creme Eggs are egg and dairy-free and don't even require cooking except to melt the chocolate. It's my husband's dream come true!

I also collected ideas from Better Homes and Gardens Easter Recipes and Craft Ideas.
-These Egg-shaped Cereal Treats are the perfect quick addition to an Easter basket. You could make these really colorful with the right cereal.
-The Piped Easter Egg Cookies are so cute! I love that you don't need an egg-shaped cookie cutter to pull them off. I'm going to give them a try substituting dairy-free margarine for the butter.
*The egg cookie photo is not my photo but property of BHG, permission was obtained for it's use.

The allergy-safe Easter candy selection is expanding wonderfully this year.
-Chocolate Emporium is my longtime source for dairy-free white chocolate. I also always buy a couple of their strawberry white chocolate bunny pops because they're Alex's favorite.
-I bought truffles and filled hearts from Premium Chocolatiers for Valentine's Day after reading a review from Alisa of One Frugal Foodie. Their dairy-free milk chocolate hearts were a huge hit with Alex. For Easter they're offering dairy-free milk chocolate bunnies and other Easter chocolates.
-Divvies is another source for dairy and nut-free chocolate bunnies. Alex doesn't care for the dark chocolate in their bunnies but he loves their cookies. We always let him get one when we visit the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City.

I'm hoping to have another go at natural egg dyeing again this year. The photo below is of my Easter eggs from last year and this post has my thoughts on what worked and didn't work for me. I'm going to try the grape juice and orange peel recipes from BHG's Natural Easter Egg Dye Recipes this year.

New Year's Good Luck Succohash

My husband is devoutly superstitious and New Year's Day always brings out the craziest food-related rules and taboos. For instance, did you know that you shouldn't eat chicken because it scratches backwards? Pork on the other hand is good because pigs root forward. The worst I endure is the pickled herring. *shudder* The first couple of years I gagged and ran to the bathroom after having it forced on me--at midnight no less and after having drink or two, NOT fun! Somehow I've learned to stomach a few pieces but it's on a very short list of foods I avoid. What I do look forward to are the "lucky" vegetable for New Year's Day, they have always been more than welcome. I love, love, love greens and beans and my father always promoted the southern tradition of lucky New Year's Day black eyed peas. Since my parents were coming for brunch I thought I'd switch up a favorite succotash recipe of mine to make it more breakfast friendly. I loved the resulting succotash/hash. I'm not counting on getting any good luck from this dish but it is a nutritional powerhouse. If this isn't your thing then take a look at this list for more traditional good luck foods. And share your superstitions for New Year's Day.

New Year's Good Luck Succohash
Makes enough for 4 generous servings

2 large baking potatoes, 1/2 to 3/4 inch cubes
neutral oil (~2 tablespoons)
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 (14 oz) can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
6 large collard leaves
1 cup frozen corn kernels
kosher salt, cayenne pepper and black pepper to taste

-Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
-Toss the cubed potatoes in 2 teaspoons of oil and spread out onto a baking sheet in an even layer.
-Roast the potatoes for 15-20 minutes, turning once. Remove from the oven when golden brown and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt.
-While the potatoes are roasting, start frying the onions with a tablespoon of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Stir occasionally to prevent burning and adjust heat until the onions are lightly caramelized.
-While the onions are cooking, prep your collards. First rinse the collard leaves well in a large bowl of water, repeating until clean. Strip the stems from the leaves and roll the leaves up. Shred and then chop the leaves.
-When the onions are lightly caramelized, add the red pepper, celery, black eyed peas, and collards. Add salt, cayenne, and black pepper to taste. Cook on medium heat until the collards wilt and the other ingredients are hot. The red pepper and celery should retain some crunch.
-Add the frozen corn and allow it to cook just long enough to warm through. Taste again for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
-Serve the mixed vegetables in a bowl topped with the roasted potatoes.

Have a Happy (and lucky) New Year!