Cranberry Chocolate Cream Pie

Here's a recipe I invented for Thanksgiving. It's not much of a recipe, as it uses premade ingredients, but with so much else to make for Thanksgiving, an easy dessert that can be made ahead and sit in the fridge is probably a good thing...

Ingredients
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ceylon cinnamon

2 12.3 oz packs of firm silken tofu (I used Mori-Nu Lite Extra Firm)
2 packets Mori-Nu chocolate pudding mix
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 chocolate or graham cracker crust

Directions
1. Rinse the cranberries, pat dry, and place in a blender. Blend them until few cranberries are left whole.
2. In a small bowl, mix the cranberries with the sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.
3. Blend the tofu and water until perfectly creamy. (This takes a few minutes and some fiddling with a spatula in my blender.) Add the chocolate pudding mix and cocoa powder and blend until well combined.
4. Melt the chocolate chips. A double boiler is best, but the microwave will do, especially if you put in a separate cup of water and microwave on low power. Add the melted chocolate to the blender and blend until well combined.
5. Pour the blended chocolate filling into the pie crust. With the crust I used there was a bit too much filling, so I also filled two 4-oz custard cups to eat as chocolate pudding later.
6. Strain the cranberry mixture (it will have released water with the sugar). Spread evenly over the pie.
7. Refrigerate, preferably overnight but I think about 2 hours will do. Garnish with chocolate flakes before serving.

Notes: I've also made a version of this without the Mori-Nu pudding mix. Basically just add sugar to the tofu, along with more cocoa powder and melted chocolate, and a bit of guar gum if you have it. Next time I think I'll try a home-made pecan crust and garnish it with pecan halves over the cranberries.

Mexican Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cups brown sugar or sucanat
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons ceylon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon chipotle powder (optional)
3/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tespoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 cup grated dark chocolate
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (pastry flour to salt).
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the liquid ingredients (water to vinegar), and mix into the flour mixture.
4. Mix in the grated chocolate, and chocolate chips (if using).
5. Pour batter into bundt pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean (or chocolatey rather than batter-y if using chocolate chips). Let the cake cool in the mold for about 10 minutes before turning it out.

For presentation, generously drizzle the turned out cake with chocolate glaze and sprinkle with chocolate shavings. I use the After Midnight Chocolate Glaze from veganchef.com, but I add 1-2 tablespoons of arrowroot with the cocoa powder to make it thicker.

Honey Cake

Honey Cake is a traditional food for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, to bring a "sweet" new year. I wanted to make a vegan honey cake this year, but given that honey isn't technically vegan my "vegan honey cake recipe" google searches didn't get me very far. However, I (and most vegans I know) do eat honey, so here's the recipe I adapted from the non-vegan recipes I found on-line:

Ingredients
5 ts Ener-G egg substitute
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar (I used Florida Crystals)
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup honey
2 ts baking powder
1 ts baking soda
1 ts cocoa powder
1 ts cinnamon (preferably Ceylon cinnamon)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup strong coffee, room temperature (I used a decaf Sumatra)
Coconut flakes for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan, or two loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat the Ener-G with the water until slightly frothy.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar.
4. Add the sugar, oil, and honey to the Ener-G mix. Mix until well blended.
5. Add the dry ingredients and coffee to the honey mixture in parts, mixing in between.
6. Pour the batter into the baking pan, and bake for approximately 1 hour, until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before turning out, and then garnich with coconut flakes, if desired.

matt & mandy's wedding cake

A ginger cake with marzipan frosting, which we reinvent for our anniversary every year. This is the 2004 version.

Ingredients
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t dried ground ginger
1/2 C oil
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C brown rice syrup
1/3 C molasses
1 t vanilla
1/2 C vanilla soy milk
1-1/2 T white vinegar
1/3 C candied ginger, diced
1 T fresh ginger, grated

Directions
1. Preheat to 350F
2. Mix flour, baking soda, and dried ginger.
3. Combine all remaining ingredients.
4. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture.
5. Bake ~40 min.

Frosting
3 C almonds
1 C corn syrup
2 C powdered sugar
water
raspberry jam
more powdered sugar
--
Grind almonds in food processor until fine. Add syrup while continuing to mix. Combine sugar with enough water to absorb, then add to almond paste. Roll marzipan into cake-sixed sheet. Mix raspberry jam and sugar to a glue-like consistency and spread thinly over cake. Lay marzipan over cake so that it sticks to the raspberry glue.

Anzac Biscuits

Anzac stands for "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps." These Australian cookies were supposedly made during the war because they involve few ingredients and ship well. As a result they are easy to make vegan--the only original, non-vegan ingredient is butter, which can be substituted with margarine. They require "golden syrup," which is common in England and Australia. I've been able to find it in the US at upscale Englishy supermarkets, as well as in the "Irish foods" (?) section of our local supermarket. You can substitute molasses, though the taste is a bit different.

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted margarine
1 tablespoon Golden Syrup
2 tablespoons Boiling water
1 tablespoon Baking Soda
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Flour
1 cup Rolled oats
1 cup Dessicated Coconut

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300F / 150C.
2. Grease a couple of baking trays or line them with non-stick baking paper.
3. Melt margarine in a small pan, add the syrup, water and baking soda. It will froth up.
4. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and add the butter mixture and mix well.
5. Put spoonfulls of mixture on the prepared trays, approx. 2 inches apart, flattening them slightly.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Notes: My experience is that these are pleasantly chewy the first day, but become incredibly hard thereafter. I'm not sure if I've overbaked them, if it's the recipe, or if it's simply the nature of the cookie.

Vegan Challah

Challah is a Jewish egg bread traditionally eaten on Shabbat and for several Jewish holidays. It's usually shaped by braiding 3-6 strands (example here), or rolled into a round shape on Rosh Hashanah and made with raisins.

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients
2 packages dry yeast
2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F)
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 tablespoons flaxseed
3/4 cup water
6 to 9 cups unbleached white flour
2 tablespoons honey (or 1 1/2 maple syrup)
2 teaspoons salt
3 ounces vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Raisins (optional, but include for Rosh Hashanah challah)
Poppy or Sesame Seeds for sprinkling (optional)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 2 cups warm water. Use a thermometer, if possible. Otherwise, add 1 cup boiling water to 1 cup cold water. Add 1/4 cup sugar, and allow the yeast to work for about 10 minutes while you prepare the dry ingredients.
2. Place flaxseeds and water in a blender and blend for about 2 minutes or until the mixture is the consistency of unbeaten egg white. Or grind the seeds in a spice mill or coffee grinder; place ground seeds and water in bowl of food processor and beat to desired consistency.
3. Place 6 cups of flour, salt, remaining sugar and raisins (if using) in a large bowl. Add flaxseed mixture, oil, honey, and yeast. Mix until dough forms, adding more flour if needed. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, flour your hands, and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Add flour as necessary until the dough no longer sticks to the board or your hands.
4. Oil a deep bowl. Put the dough in it, turning to grease it on all sides. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or with plastic wrap, and allow it to ruse for about 1-1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk. Punch down and allow to rise a second time. Punch down again and knead briefly. Use a heavy, sharp knife to cut dough in half. Cover one half while you shape the first loaf.
5. Braid loaves.
6. Place both shaped loaves on oiled baking sheet. Cover and allow loaves to rise again.
7. Preheat oven to 350°F.
8. For a crisp crust, brush loaves with cold water before placing in oven. Bake 25 to 35 minutes. The usual criterion for doneness is that the loaf sounds hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles, or you may insert a thermometer in the crease on the bottom of the bread. It should register 200°F.
9. Cool loaves on a cooling rack.

Notes: I found this recipe on-line, but apparently it's from "The Jewish Vegetarian Year Cookbook," by Roberta Kalechofsky and Rosa Rasiel. I've made it twice now. Both times I've halved the recipe, and prepared the dough in a bread machine on "dough cycle" before shaping it and letting it rise a final time. I've also left out the turmeric (but I'll try it next time). Before putting it in the oven, I brush the top with water and sprinkle with either sesame seeds or poppy seeds.

Chai Muffins

Ingredients
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup ground flax seeds (can be substituted with flour)
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cups brown sugar (or to taste)
1 teaspoon Ener-G w/ 2 Tb. Water, beaten
1 cup soymilk
¼ concentrated chai (e.g. 1 bag steeped in 1/4 + cups water)
¼ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chopped and toasted pistachios

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º and lightly grease muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, sift flour, ground flax seed, baking powder, spices and brown sugar together.
3. In a medium bowl, combine Ener-G with other liquid ingredients and mix well.
4. Whisk liquids into flour mixture until just mixed. Add pistachios.
5. Spoon into muffin tins until about 2/3 full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until starting to brown.

Vegan Egg Substitutes

Here's a quick reference for vegan egg substitutions. Of course, which is best depends a lot on what you're making...

1 Egg =

* 1 Tb ground flaxseeds + 3 Tb water, blended for several minutes
* 1 ts Ener-G egg substitute + 2 Tb water, beaten until frothy
* 1/4 cup blended tofu, thinned with some soymilk
* 1 small banana, mashed (about 1/4 cup total)
* 1/4 cup orange juice

In some recipes vinegar+baking soda is used to create a fluffy, well-risen cake. Arrowroot, agar-agar, cornstarch and pectin can also be used as thickening agents.

There's a nice discussion of the pros and cons of some of these options at http://www.theppk.com/veganbaking.html.

Additions/comments welcome!

-Felix the Flaxseed

Recipe Links

Here are some great websites with vegan recipes for baked goods:

* The Post Punk Kitchen:
http://www.theppk.com/veganbaking.html

* The Vegan Chef:
www.veganchef.com/recipes.htm#3

Here are a few more that look promising, though I haven't tried anything from these sites yet:

* Vegan family
* VegFamily
* Vegweb sweets
* Vegweb breads
* Cat Tea Corner
* Vegan Village
* Mori Nu tofu site
* Vegparadise desserts

If you know of others, please comment and include a link!

-Felix the Flaxseed

Posting to VeganBaker.com

Welcome to veganbaker.com! This is intended as a very informal website for posting vegan recipes and comments.

To post a comment, simply select "comments" for a given recipe and then hit the "post a comment" link. You'll be given the option of posting anonymously (though you can include your name in the text) or starting a profile.

To post a recipe, you can e-mail me (felix@veganbaker.com), or you can create a profile to post directly. Your profile will also need permission to post, so let me know you're interested and I'll "invite" you to create a profile with posting privileges. If you already have a profile, let me know and I can add you the group of users with posting privileges.

If the website turns out to be useful and heavily visited I'll look into a more sophisticated format, but I think this will do for now.

Any suggestions can be e-mailed my way.

Happy baking!

-Felix the Flaxseed