July 9, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Plum Delicious Double Chocolate Walnut Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

A small number of almost over-ripe plums gave rise to this unusual and unusually good cookie. The plums provide mostly moisture in addition to subtle flavor and color, not to mention added nutrition–as do the walnuts– to an otherwise decadent treat.

To create this recipe, I started with my go-to brownie batter, omitting the water/coffee and adding plum puree plus a tiny bit of baking soda. The results are plum delicious! Note: I only had a few plums, so I made one-fourth of this recipe. It quarters or halves very nicely.

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or unbleached white flour)

2 cups natural sugar

1 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/4 cups canola oil (this sounds like a lot, but you’ll need it)

2 cups very ripe pitted plums, pureed in food processor until fairly smooth

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups vegan chocolate chips (I like Trader Joe’s–what a great value!)

2 cups chopped walnuts plus 36 extra halves or large pieces for garnish, one per cookie, if desired

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper and set aside. (Line two if you have them, or bake the cookies in two batches.) In a large mixing bowl, stir together all ingredients, except chocolate chips and nuts just until well combined. The dough should be just slightly stiffer than brownie batter. Stir in chips and nuts. Spoon tablespoon-size mounds of dough onto prepared sheet, about 2 inches apart. (I use a very traditionally-shaped shallow tablespoon measure, as I like the ration of height to width.) Bake 12 minutes. Check after 8 and after 10. They should be set, but shiny in some spots, as they will continue to cook after they are removed from the oven. Allow the cookies to cool slightly until they are easy to handle and then use a metal spatula to remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

July 3, 2011July 3, 2011 by betsy

Vegan TFLC Cookies (Tea-Infused Five-Spice Lime-Scented Chocolate Cookies)

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

This is the second iteration of what has become an incredibly adaptable “chewy chocolate cookie.” Actually, it’s the third version because the first was a “veganization” of a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

This one was inspired by a group I chaired during the 2010-2011 school year: The Teacher Forum Leadership Council (TFLC). I had wanted to create “TFLC Cookies” as favors for our end-of-year dinner, but simply didn’t have time. So this recipe is a posthumous tribute to a group of teachers–and even a few administrators–who selflessly volunteer their time to further the mission of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, especially through the presentation of a National Speakers Series and follow-up workshops. I was so impressed all year by how these men and women never expected someone else to do the work; they always stepped up to shoulder their share of the responsibility with good humor and good will.

It was a little tricky coming up with ingredients whose names began with each letter in the organization’s name and tasted good together. But my friend Sheila Giolitti, quite a foodie herself, tasted one recently and proclaimed that TFLC Cookies should definitely be in Volume II of The Blooming Platter Cookbook. I hope you agree.

2 limes, zested (set zest aside)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (warm limes for about 10 seconds in the microwave and then gently roll on the counter in order to extract the most juice)
4 tea bags (I like an Earl Gray or an English Breakfast, but experiment!)
1 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups natural sugar plus 1 cup for coating
1 cup pure cane syrup or, if you dare, dark corn syrup
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (or white whole wheat; my favorite white flour substitution)
1 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1-2 teaspoons Five Spice Powder (or more to taste; I like a pronounced flavor that still makes people wonder exactly what it is)
8-9 ounces vegan semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Line two cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl or cup, place the lime juice and tea bags. Heat them for about 1-2 minutes in the microwave and then set aside to steep for 2 minutes. Squeeze bags firmly without breaking them to extract all of the tea flavor.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, place butter, oil, and 1 1/3 cup sugar. Reserve remaining 1 cup sugar. At medium to medium-high speed, cream mixture until well-combined and fluffy. Add cane syrup, molasses and vanilla and beat just a few more seconds to combine, scraping bowl, as needed. Mixture may look slightly curdled, but don’t worry. Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips, but including lime zest, and beat on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, just until combined. Taste and mix in more five spice powder, if desired. Add chips and beat on low just a few seconds to distribute.

Cover dough well and chill for half an hour, but no longer. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a small scoop with a release lever, scoop out balls of dough about 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Roll in reserved 1 cup of sugar and place a generous 2” apart on baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 4 minutes, open oven door and, using a spatula, quickly flatten each cookie slightly to 1/2-inch thick. Close the oven door and continue baking for 6 more minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cookies should be ever-so-slightly cracked, look a little moist and soft in the center, and be more set around the edges. Leave cookies on baking sheet and set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Then, using a spatula, transfer cookies to the racks and cool to room temperature. Repeat with remaining baking sheet. Store in an airtight container.

May 30, 2011July 3, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Spiced Double Chocolate-Lime Cookies

“Boss’s Week” came and went last week, but other priorities prevented me from acknowledging it in any way, except to have one of my talented students create a “Happy Boss’s Week” poster, by special request, featuring caricatures of each one of our administrators. It was adorable and well-received, but I wanted to give our incredibly supportive principal and assistant principals something homemade.

I decided that a favorite chewy chocolate cookie would be perfect. But I had just come home from the Asian market, so I decided to spice them up with a little lime zest. (I remember, when I was a child, someone in our family was under the weather and a neighbor brought us a delectable chocolate-lime pie, a flavor combination I’ve rarely had since.) When I tasted the dough, though–one of the beauties of eggless cooking!–it cried out for cinnamon and, especially, ginger to complement the sweet-tart lime and the pleasantly, but strongly flavored molasses and cane syrup (I used a combination). Voila! Vegan Spiced Double Chocolate-Lime Cookies were born. Then, my husband suggested I attach the recipe plus three more, one for each season, from my brand new cookbook. What a bloomin’ inspired idea!

Enjoy at your Memorial Day BBQ or any time…perhaps with little lime sorbet?

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

1 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups natural sugar plus 1 cup for coating
1 cup light-flavored molasses, pure cane syrup or, if you dare, dark corn syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (or to taste)
Zest of 1 fresh lime
8-9 ounces vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line two cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, place butter, oil, and 1 1/3 cup natural sugar. Reserve remaining 1 cup sugar. At medium to medium-high speed, cream mixture until well-combined and fluffy. Add cane syrup and vanilla and beat just a few more seconds to combine, scraping bowl, as needed. Mixture may look slightly curdled, but don’t worry. Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips, and beat on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, just until combined. Taste and add more cinnamon and ginger, if desired. Add chips and beat on low just a few seconds to distribute.

May 18, 2011May 18, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Baking for All Seasons: Vegan Italian Chocolate-Nut Thumbprint Cookies

I am a seasonal cooking devotee as you can see from The Blooming Platter Cookbook. But I love perennial ingredients like chocolate year-round.

In this photo from the current issue of VEER Magazine, I’m holding one of my newest sweet treats: Vegan Italian Chocolate-Nut Thumbprint Cookies. We wanted to include a photo showing that vegans don’t only eat vegetables, so we shot some of me with this cookie.

The inspiration for the recipe is bittersweet, as it came from a tray of cookies that was delivered to my sister-in-law’s house on the occasion of my mother-in-law, Terry’s, passing. (People were so generous: you have never seen so much food in your life!) I had to sample this particular non-vegan cookie for research. It looked beautiful and I needed to know what it tasted like so that I could try to hit the mark….sorry!

The first batch went down the disposal, literally. I hated to be wasteful, but they were a disaster. My next riff wasa big hit at the Vegan Virginia Beach Bake Sale (as was everything that members brought, especially various cupcakes!). So I made them again recently for our wonderful administrative assistants at Princess Anne High School. I put 2 or 3 in tiny Chinese carry-out containers as gifts for all of them during “Administrative Assistants Week.”

One of the women, Susan Barnes, even asked for the recipe to share around. She likes the cookies crumbled up in her yogurt(!). But she made me promise that there was no tofu in them. We have a running joke about tofu; it’s not her favorite.

I plan to make a batch of these cookies for the “Incredible Edibles” book-signing and launch party on Saturday night. If you’re in the local area, come taste test! If not, whip up a batch for yourself and be prepared to have a new favorite!

Yield: 36 Cookies

Cookies:

1 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tablespoon natural sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Pinch sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon water

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line1 or 2 baking sheets with Silpat. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and both sugars. Beat in cocoa powder, salt, both extracts, and water. Beat in flour, one-half cup of flour at a time, beating only enough to incorporate. Avoid over- beating. With the mixer on low speed, blend in nuts. Scoop by 1 tablespoon of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten into a disk with the bottom of a glass. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie twice, side by side, slightly overlapping, to make a fairly large depression. Bake about 16 minutes. If using two baking sheets on two racks, switch after 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire racks as soon as they are firm enough to handle.

Frosting:

1/2 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup + 3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream all ingredients together until well-combined and fluffy. Using a small spoon, divide the frosting evenly among the cookies, filling the depression. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

May 8, 2011May 10, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Chocolate Carrot Cupcakes Bloomed on My Platter

This weekend, my husband hosted an overnight house party for 14 of our closest couple friends including a dear friend from D.C. The beautiful venue was an oceanfront house he rented in Sandbridge, a coastal community in southern VA Beach. The two-story house–with a kitchen on each floor!–accommodated us all very comfortably, with rooms to spare.

The party concept was entirely Joe’s idea, though he turned all of the details over to me. Through the efforts and generosity of many, I have to say that everything was completely perfect, far surpassing my greatest expectations! Thanks to all!

We based virtually the entire catered menu for Saturday night’s dinner on recipes from my new cookbook, including these exquisite cupcakes artfully crafted by Chef Emily de Long of the Gourmet Bake Shoppe in Virginia Beach.

After an initial meeting, I emailed Chef de Long the Chocolate Carrot Cake recipe from The Blooming Platter Cookbook, and she used her own naturally vegan buttercream and sugar artistry to recreate two different cupcake designs I had researched, lending to them her own special touches. Then she wrapped them in scalloped cupcake wrappers I had made using a template I found online and scrapbook paper from a local arts and crafts store.

The end result is my idea of a Blooming Platter!

I ordered far more cupcakes than we needed because I wanted a bountiful display. But I also ordered individual cupcake boxes so that I could send the leftovers home with our guests. They made beautiful Mother’s Day gifts, as several people were meeting their mothers for brunch today.

Stay-tuned for more food-related posts from this lovely party and Happy Mother’s Day to mothers of all kinds wherever you may be.

For this luscious recipe, I hope you’ll consider purchasing a copy of The Blooming Platter Cookbook for your collection. It is available at Amazon; Barnes & Noble; and locally at Prince Books, Norfolk’s favorite book store: 109 E. Main Street, Norfolk, 757-622-9223, staff@prince-books.com.

July 12, 2010July 21, 2010 by betsy

Spiked Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Yield: 6 servings

1/2 cup chocolate soymilk

9-10 ounce bag semisweet vegan chocolate chips (not carob chips)

12 ounces Silken firm tofu

1/4 cup Amaretto, Kahlua or liqueur of your choice (or sweetened coffee in your favorite flavor)

pinch salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

Optional garnish: sweetened cashew cream or a little sweetened vegan sour cream flavored with a tiny bit of vanilla extract plus a whole nut (I like cashews on anything!)

Heat milk in microwave for one minute. And chips and stir to melt and then whisk to combine. Place tofu and remaining ingredients in the bow of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until smooth. Taste and adjust flavoring, adding a bit more almond extract if needed and processing another couple of seconds. Chill in a large bowl; individual bowls, glasses or ramekins; or an 8-inch or individual tart crusts for approximately 1 1/2 hours to chill through. The mousse will set up almost immediately.

Source: Adapted from www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000310.html

February 24, 2010July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Chocolate, Raspberry and Cream Trifle

Yield: 6-8 servings (easily doubles)

My friend Susan Kaplan made a lovely Vegan Chocolate Bundt Cake for me as a holiday gift. I froze it to serve when she and her husband could come for dinner, which was this past Saturday. Joe and I each enjoyed another piece on Sunday, but there was still half of a cake left. So, because several days had passed and it was beginning to get dry, tonight I decided to transform it into a reasonably healthy trifle, eschewing peppermint for raspberries and Soy Whip for a not-too-sweet soy milk pudding. I think you’ll agree that my decision was a sound one.

1/2 recipe Vegan Chocolate Bundt Cake, cut into thirds (recipe follows)
*approximately 3 tablespoons raspberry liqueur (or one that would taste good with raspberries)
Vegan Vanilla Pudding (recipe follows), chilled
1 pint raspberries, rinsed and drained (about 36)

One day before serving, crumble 1/3 of cake into the bottom of a small clear glass trifle or other dish (I used a 5-inch square floral container but you may alternatively use individual wine or martini glasses). Sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon of liqueur, spread with 1/3 of pudding all the way to edges, and top with approximately 12 raspberries. Repeat layers two more times. Cover with plastic wrap and chill over night.

*Note: if you don’t have liqueur on hand or don’t consume alcohol, substitute room temperature strong coffee.

Vegan Chocolate Bundt Cake:
1 3/4 cups freshly brewed coffee
2/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups granulates sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar

Preheat over to 325 degrees. Lightly grease an 8- or 10-inch bundt pan. Heat the coffee in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Turn heat down and whisk in the cocoa powder until it has dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to bring to room temperature. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, oil, applesauce, and cornstarch until the sugar and cornstarch dissolve, about 2 minutes. Mix in the extracts. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled a bit, stir that in as well. Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat until the batter is relatively smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick or butter knife inserted into the cake’s center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool for about 20 minutes. Then invert the pan onto a serving plate to remove the cake, and cool completely. Once the cake is cool, sift the confectioners’ sugar over the top and serve.

Cake Source: Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero as published in Yoga Magazine via Susan Kaplan

Vegan Vanilla Pudding:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch salt
2 cups unsweetened or plain soy milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small or medium saucepan, combine first three ingredients. Gradually whisk in soy milk. Turn heat to medium-high and cook, whisking constantly for 3-4 minutes or until mixture is quite thick. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally. Then chill in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

Pudding Source: Jolinda Hackett at About.com who reprinted the recipe with permission from The Compassionate Cook Cookbook.

February 7, 2010July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies

Yield: approximately 3 dozen cookies

This is one of those recipes that was very easily veganized simply by substituting vegan butter and chocolate for their dairy equivalents. I thought they looked a little plain–though chocolate-on-chocolate is hard to beat–so I dressed them up a bit with pretty crushed peppermint.

Cookie Dough:
3/4 cup unsalted vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Peppermint Filling:
3/4 cup semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
3 tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Garnish:
Crushed peppermint candy (place the candy in a resealable plastic bag, place on a hard surface and crush with a mallet or hammer; you may also use a food processor, though even the so-called soft peppermint sticks sound like bee-bees and can scratch the plastic bowl of most food processors)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.Add the vanilla and salt and continue beating about 1 minute more. Add the flour and cocoa and mix on low speed until a soft dough forms, about another minute. Chill dough for 40-60 minutes. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Using a small scoop, scoop up balls of dough and arrange 2 inches apart in rows on baking sheets. Using hands, form each scoop into a smooth ball. With a lightly floured thumb, index finger, or the cylindrical end of a thick-handled spoon or scoop, press straight down in the middle of each ball almost to the cookie sheet to make a deep well. Bake one sheet at a time for approximately 8-9 minutes or until the tops of the cookies look dry. Gently redefine the indentations with the end of a wooden spoon if desired. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for approximately 5 minutes and then cool them completely on racks.

Make filling:
Place the vegan chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set in a wide skillet of almost simmering water. Stir with a heatproof spatula until almost melted, 2-4 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir until melted an smooth, about 30 seconds more. Stir in the mint extract. Let the filling cool, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and a bit warmer than room temperature. Using a tiny spoon, fill the well of each cookie with the filling. Garnish with crushed peppermint candy. Cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container at room temperature. These cookies freeze very nicely.

Source: Very slightly adapted from Fine Cooking magazine. My only adaptions were to use vegan ingredients and to garnish with the peppermint, which looks so pretty.

January 5, 2010July 21, 2010 by betsy

Mom’s Vegan English Butter Toffee–A Winter Holiday Tradition

Though, regrettably, this is too late for the winter holiday season just past, I still wanted to share my mom’s annual Christmas confection. (I had to wait until after it was made to photograph it. So, be sure to bookmark it for next year…but, come to think of it, it’s good any time of year.)

For as long as I can remember, Mama has stayed up late making candy the night before I leave my family’s home to return to my own after Christmas. She always tucks a canister of it into my carry on luggage for me to eat and share on the plane–there are frequently passengers I know–or when I arrive at my destination.

In 2004, after she had been making it for many, many years, it mysteriously flopped. (In those days, I was vegetarian, but not vegan, so she was using all of the ingredients she had always used and the same recipe.) I think she made it at least twice–maybe three times–and each time the sugar crystallized. We were both baffled. She ended up scrapping it all, but several days later, I received a “kit” in the mail that included a sheet of toffee that had worked reasonably well, though it was still grainy, some chocolate to melt and some nuts for sprinkling. Not perfect, it was still fun to assemble and eat.

The next year, thinking the failed attempts were a fluke, I was writing a feature about Mama’s toffee for our newspaper’s food section and the same thing happened to me. With a pan of it in thrown into the woods beside our house and a photo shoot the next day, I turned to the most scientific foodie I know of: Alton Brown. In an online recipe, he recommended combining two types of sugar–regular granulated sugar and a little corn syrup–to prevent crystallization. It worked beautifully and that’s how we’ve been making it ever since.

Now we also substitute Earth Balance for real butter. The only difference is that, as the candy hardens, some of the oil seems to separate, so we just blot it up with a paper towel before layering on the chocolate and nuts.

I hope you enjoy this holiday tradition as much as we do. Happy New Year everyone and thanks, Mama!

1 pound vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
6 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces vegan semi-sweet or vegan bittersweet chocolate
1 cup sliced almonds (or substitute coarsely chopped slivered almonds, pecans, macadamias or hazelnuts)

Butter a baking sheet and an offset spatula. Set pans on wire racks. Clip candy thermometer to a heavy 3 quart saucepan, preventing it from touching the bottom of the pan. In saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Meanwhile, mix together warm water and corn syrup. Stir sugar into melted butter, raise heat to medium or medium-high (about a 7 or 8 on a dial) and bring to a gentle boil. Stir in water-corn syrup mixture and cook, stirring constantly until thermometer reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit (the “hard crack” stage) or until golden brown, approximately 10-12 minutes. Note: temperature may reach as high as 350 degrees before candy reaches the desired caramel color, but it scorches easily, so be careful. Pour mixture onto baking sheet and, if necessary, use the offset spatula to coax candy to edges of the pan. Cool. Heat chocolate in microwave on 50 percent power or in the top of a double boiler until completely melted, stirring occasionally. Spread over slightly cooled toffee and sprinkle with almonds. Cool completely and refrigerate. Break into irregular pieces. Layer between waxed paper in an airtight container and store in a cool dry place.