November 12, 2009July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Chocolate Mars Cookies

Yield: approximately 36 cookies

In undgraduate school at USM in Hattiesburg, MS, I worked for Lewis and Carolyn Hitt at The Frame Market on Hardy Street. With aspirations of becoming a chef at one time, I was enrolled for about a year in my university’s hotel and restaurant administration program. So, while the topics of conversation at work ran the gamut–the Hitts were so bright, funny, compassionate and informed–they often included food.

One day, Lewis and Carolyn came to work with the most astonishing chocolate cookies that a friend of theirs had made. The cookies were deep, dark, rich and, best of all, chewy. Lewis, especially, took great pleasure the rest of the day in teasing me by saying that they couldn’t give me the recipe as it was their friend, Theresa Ball’s, “secret family recipe.”

Ultimately they did share the recipe which didn’t include eggs–hence the chewiness over cakiness–so all I had to do was replace the butter with vegan butter and the condensed milk with the substitute that I devised not so very long ago: Cream of Coconut. (To date, it has worked brilliantly in any vegan recipe calling for condensed milk by not noticeably changing the texture or flavor of the end result.) I also like to make these cookies with white whole wheat flour for a tiny “+” in the health-conscious column.

The original recipe calls only for chopped nuts as the “mix-in.” But I’ve made them with combinations of additional vegan semi-sweet, dark or white chocolate chips; Oreo pieces; and dried cranberries. It seems practically not to matter what quantity you add as long as they are well distributed and there is more dough than mix-ins.

So, Theresa, I hope I’m not divulging any family secrets. But if I am, I trust you will forgive me, as these cookie are too special to keep to oneself.

1/2 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
12 ounces vegan chocolate chips
14 ounces Cream of Coconut (not coconut milk), or about 1 1/4 cups
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts
1-1 1/2 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour)
1 cup chopped nuts
Optional: 1/2 to 1 cup of additional mix-ins such as more vegan chocolate chips, vegan white chocolate chips, Oreo Cookie pieces (they are vegan!), dried cranberries, or some combination

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a baking sheet(s) or line with Silpat. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips together. Remove from heat and stir in Cream of Coconut until well combined. Cool mixture for a few minutes and then stir in remaining ingredients in the order listed, adding any optional mix-ins with, or in place of, the nuts. The dough should be somewhat stiff and usually requires the larger amount of flour. Using a small scoop, deposit equal-sized mounds of dough about two inches apart in offset rows. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until they have achieved the degree of “done-ness” you prefer. If using two baking sheets, rotate halfway through baking time. Cool for a few minutes on sheets and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

November 12, 2009July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Lemon-Artichoke Tarte

Yield: 4 large or 9 small servings

This is an ultra-quick and tasty vegan appetizer or side dish that was inspired by that non-vegan hot artichoke dip beloved of so many. Tofu provides the creamy base and controls the calorie count while nutritional yeast imparts a cheesy flavor and lemon juice a bit of brightness. This spread has many uses such as a filling for this simple tarte which makes good use of prepared puff pastry sheets–what a happy day it was when I discovered that Pepperidge Farm’s puff pastry is vegan! But try the spread also as a filling for stuffed baked mushrooms or stuffed baked peppers. See my recipe for the latter. Just search “Vegan Baked Stuffed Bell Peppers with Lemon-Artichoke Filling” on this blog.

1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (remove from box and bag and thaw for about 40 minutes, covered, on the counter top)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, cut into small-medium dice
3-4 large cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
Coarse sea or kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 box Silken firm tofu
juice of one-half to a whole small-medium lemon (start with one-half)

2-4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 can artichoke hearts, drained (or 8 frozen-thawed or fresh artichoke hearts)
1/2-1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves to taste
a pinch of paprika or more to taste

Garnish: thyme leaves removed from the stems, paprika and lemon slices

Make crust: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a baking sheet or line it with Silpat. Carefully unfold the pastry onto the baking sheet. With a knife, gently score a line about one-half inch from the edge of the crust all the way around, making sure not to cut all the way through the dough. Using a fork, generously but gently prick inside the scored line. Place baking sheet on the center rack of your oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes (check after 15) until golden brown and very puffed. After crust has baked, remove from oven, reduce temperature to 350 degrees, and use the back of a spoon to gently crush down the puffed area inside the scored lines leaving a raised half-inch rim all the way around.

While crust bakes, make filling: In a large cast iron skillet over medium-high, heat olive oil to shimmering. Add onion and saute, stirring frequently, until softened. Add garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper and continue sauteing and stirring until mixture is golden brown. I like to add just a little water to speed up the process and remove caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan. Place tofu in the bowl of food processor fitted with a metal blade and process with lemon juice and nutritional yeast until smooth. Add remaining filling ingredients and pulse until artichokes are chopped and all ingredients are well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Fill crust: Spread crust with filling; it will make a thin layer. Bake for about 10 minutes or until heated through. Slide tarts onto platters and cut into as few as 4 or as many as 9 squares each. Garnish with a sprinkling of thyme leaves and paprika plus lemon slices.

Note: If not using crust immediately, remove from oven to a wire rack to cool. Wrap and store at room temperature. Keeps for quite a long time. If starting recipe with a pre-baked crust, heat filled shell in oven for 20 minutes instead of 10.

November 8, 2009February 10, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Pumpkin Stuffed Shells with Vegan Sage Butter

Yield: 16 shells or 6-8 servings
(Note: I only made a half recipe for the photo)

I always find pumpkin ravioli with sage butter and similar dishes on restaurant menus utterly seductive but, alas, they are never vegan. Wanting to make a streamlined version at home for weeknight meals, I decided on stuffed shells.

The filling of Silken tofu and pumpkin puree with sauteed onion and garlic bakes into a luscious custard in pasta shell “cups.” A few additional ingredients give the savory-sweet custard a flavor reminiscent of a pumpkin-ricotta mixture. Nestling the shells into my Veggie Marinara Sauce, tangy but tempered by a hint of maple syrup, creates the perfect balance of flavors. Optional sauteed mushrooms deepen the earthy flavor. And a luxurious drizzle of sage butter over the top–with all its salty, nutty, herb-y goodness–is exactly the right counterpoint to the other flavors.

After a half hour, this dish emerges beautiful, fragrant and hearty from the oven, its flavors and textures melded into a nutritional and satisfying main course in need only of a green vegetable to complete the meal.

For this recipe and some 170+ more,
I invite you to purchase my first cookbook:

The Blooming Platter:
A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes

Vegan Heritage Press
Spring 2011

November 1, 2009July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Thai Coconut Milk Risotto

Yield: 4-6 servings

Last weekend, we flew to North Carolina. Air travel means lots of time to catch up on the latest and greatest in the culinary magazines, and the Thanksgiving issues are some of my favorites. This fall, it seems that risottos are very popular, especially those made with butternut squash. While that sounds really good to me, somewhere along the line, I got the idea to cook the rice in coconut milk for an ultra-creamy Thai-style rice and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

My instincts were spot-on, if I do say so myself. This recipe is sure to become a favorite if you like Thai food and maybe even if you don’t! I start with a saute of onion, garlic and red bell pepper, but you could add any Thai-compatible vegetables of your choice, like baby broccoli florets, mushrooms, and the like. Pineapple bits would be tasty too, but wouldn’t require much cooking time–just heated through. Honestly, I don’t think it would be possible to go wrong.

In the past, I shied away from risotto because of the protracted hands-on cooking time. But I found that, as long as I had other things I was doing in the kitchen, stopping to give the risotto an occasional stir was no big deal and the time went by quickly.

For a complete meal, try spooning the risotto onto a serving platter, making a slight depression in the top, filling it with crisp tofu cubes, and garnishing with chives/scallions and cashews.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and diced
coarse sea or kosher salt to taste
3-4 medium garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced
1 cup rice (jasmine is nice for an authentic Thai flavor)
1/2 cup intensely-flavored vegetable stock or 2 vegetable bouillon cubes dissolved in 1/2 cup water, warmed on stove or in microwave
1/2 cup white wine (I like something slightly sweet)
1-15 ounce can coconut milk, warmed on stove or in microwave (substitute “lite” if you must)
1-2 tablespoons minced Thai or Italian basil (I used some that was fresh-frozen in my freezer)
1/2-1 teaspoon dried mint (it’s not fresh mint season here right now)
3 tablespoons vegan fish sauce

Garnish:
chives or scallions
chopped or halved cashew nuts

In a large cast iron skillet over medium-high, heat olive oil to shimmering. Add onion and saute, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and red bell pepper and saute until softened. Add rice and saute, stirring frequently, for about 4 minutes or until it starts to toast. Add vegetable stock and cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, for about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium if necessary. Add wine and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. If you haven’t already, reduce heat to medium and add 1/3 of coconut milk. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Repeat two more times until all of the coconut milk is added. Just before the last 10 minutes of cooking, add basil and mint. After the risotto is fully cooked, stir in vegan fish sauce. Garnish with chives or scallions and halved or chopped cashews.

November 1, 2009February 10, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Maple Mustard Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Yield: 4-6 servings

So you say you’re not a fan of Brussels sprouts, eh? Well, that’s because you haven’t tried them like this. They are every bit as addicting as French fries or popcorn.

A member of the cabbage family, Brussels sprouts have a “whang” that some people find unappealing. However, if you roast them, they become sweet and caramelized. I like mine really crispy on the outside, but you can shorten the roasting time by about 5 minutes for less color and crunch.

They are delicious plain. But they are extra-special tossed in my light tangy-sweet vinaigrette before the final five minutes of roasting.

Be prepared for these not to make it to the table if you let yourself pop the first one in your mouth over the stove.

For this recipe and some 170+ more,
I invite you to purchase my first cookbook:

The Blooming Platter:
A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes

Vegan Heritage Press
Spring 2011

November 1, 2009July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Sweet Rolls with Vegan Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Filling and Vegan Maple Almond Cream-Cheese Glaze

Yield: 12 small-medium sweet rolls

If you didn’t already know, now that fall is here, you will soon discover that I am absolutely addicted to pumpkin. Savory or sweet, it doesn’t matter. I “think in pumpkin” from at least September to January.

For these breakfast treats, I use the yeast-free quick dough my mom used to make for cinnamon-sugar sweet rolls on the weekends. She used Bisquick and so do I–it’s vegan! But then I fill mine with a vegan pumpkin and cream cheese filling that is simply whisked together. I add almonds to the mixutre, but you could use a different nut or omit the nuts all together.

After the short baking time, I top them with a vegan cream cheese glaze sweetened with maple syrup and flavored with a hint of almond extract. The garnish is just some finger-crushed sliced almonds.

These are great for Thanksgiving morning or anytime, really, because they seem special, but are so quick and easy. It’s almost like cheating. I love them served on a platter of rinsed and dried fall leaves with hot tea or decaf coffee.

Note: I baked mine in silicone muffin tins, so they didn’t turn as golden brown as they would in metal tins.

Rolls:
2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk (plain, vanilla or vanilla lite would be good too)
1 tablespoon vegan butter, very soft or melted

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. With a fork, stir together Bisquick and soy milk. Add more of either ingredient as needed to create a moist, but not sticky, dough. Sprinkle counter or pastry board with a little Bisquick and pat dough into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Sprinkle rolling pin with more Bisquick and roll dough into a larger rectangle about 12 1/2-inches long in one direction and about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with the vegan butter. Then spread with the filling (recipe follows), leaving about a half-inch margin all the way around Roll up jellyroll style and then, using a serrated knife with a gentle back-and-forth motion, slice rill into 12 one-inch spiral disks. Place each, cut side down, into muffin tins. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just starting to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool 5-8 minutes in the pan. Top with a teaspoon of glaze (recipe follows), spreading it as much as you like, and garnish with a almonds (see below).

Filling:
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) vegan cream cheese, slightly warmed in microwave (about 10 seconds)
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) pumpkin puree (I use canned)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons Bisquick (this will help the filling set)
optional: 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) finger-crushed sliced almonds (or the nut of your choice, e.g. pecans or walnuts)

Whisk together all ingredients except nuts until smooth and then stir in nuts.

Glaze:
2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese, slightly warmed in microwave (about 10 seconds)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
a drop of almond extract

Whisk together in a small cup or bowl.

Garnish:
a few sliced almonds, crushed between your fingers
Note: you may substitute the nut of your choice, like pecans or walnuts, especially if you used those nuts in the filling