Snowflake Cookies

      We finally got some snow here in the Midwest, pretty much our first real snow and it's mid-January!  The kids also had their first snow day, which is always fun. The delicate snow-covered trees got me thinking about pizzelles, which are light little italian cookies that look a lot like snowflakes and go perfect with hot cocoa after playing in the snow.
     This is one of those recipes that requires a new little gadget, a pizzelle press (ok, twist my arm). My mom passed along a vintage krumkake maker, a seriously troublesome device that presses batter and is held over a hot burner to bake.  After burning the heck out of my fingers and cookies, saying too many bad words cursing the hearty and stoic Norwegians, I broke down and bought an electric machine. It works like a charm, and my cookies are beautiful.
      This batter is easiest to make in a food processor, but can be mixed by hand.  Regular flour works as well as cake flour, but the cookies are far lighter with cake flour.  Now I've opened up a whole new world of fun cookies to explore: next up cannelloni, stroopwafel, krumkake...

Perfect Pizzelles

Vanilla
1 1/2 cups cake flour (I use Swan's Down, be careful, Pillbury Softasilk has dairy and egg)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup melted dairy-free margarine (I use Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine) 

3/4 cup coconut milk beverage (like Silk Pure Coconut)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup melted margarine
3/4 cup coconut milk beverage
1 teaspoon vanilla

1.) Same method for both type of batter!
2.) In a food processor, mix the dry ingredients together: flour, powdered sugar, salt and cocoa (if making chocolate).
3.) Add the wet ingredients: margarine, coconut milk, vanilla. Pulse until smooth.
4.) Heat up the pizzelle press and bake!

It's impossible not to grin with all this snow!

The neighborhood crew inside warming up and drying off!

Vegan Pizzelle Recipe,Vegan Stroopwafel recipe, vegan cannelloni recipe, vegan sugar cone recipe, dairy-free egg-free pizzelle recipe, dairy-free egg-free sugar cone recipe

Read more...

Caramel Ice Cream & a Lesson in Appearances

     Yes. There are only 4 ingredients in this ice cream recipe, and this is a lesson in the magic of chemistry and not judging by appearance. A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune of scoring a free meal by helping out at a Condolleeza Rice dinner locally. My job was apparently to usher folks to their tables, but as I quickly realized, conservatives in general and the West Michigan Dutch in particular, like to care for themselves and feel quite uncomfortable with formality and assistance. Instead of ushering,  I found myself chatting with folks.
     One of my first chats of the evening was with Mr. Heilman,  a retired nut-shop owner and chairman of his local GOP. Yes. Two resume items that will individually give hives to my children and then to me. I'm not too interested in the nitty gritty of politics. Unfortunately, in medicine, politics has taken an interest in me...so I've had to start paying attention and it's been a very fascinating education in reality.  The thing that makes this political education so interesting, is that I genuinely like people. In medicine, we don't care about folks' political beliefs. We just care about people.  And Mr. Heilman was a delightful man. We talked about nut roasting, peanut blanching, carmel making, and creating a business from nothing. We talked about staying up late perfecting recipes and the amazing American system where necessity puts a fire under our butts, and liberty allows us to stretch and learn new skills we never knew we had.  He proudly talked about his caramel ice cream with 22% butterfat and I confided utter failure at chocolate tempering and a wish for a real tempering machine.  It was refreshing.
     A few weeks later, Mr. Heilman stopped by and dropped off one of his industrial chocolate tempering machines to borrow over the holidays as well as his famous waffle cookies. Talk about a kid in a candy store! I had an absolute ball over Christmas, making fleur de sel caramels and chocolate covered cherries, dipping pretzels and saving all the chocolate scraps for mint chip ice cream.  But most of all, I was smitten with the idea of a Caramel Ice Cream. So I gave it a shot, and it's wonderful.  Just like Mr. Heilman, it's more than it appears on the surface, wonderful and complex, sweet and a little salty. Enjoy.

Caramel Ice Cream

(or as Jack likes to call it...Carnival Ice Cream)

1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup water for "stopping" the caramel
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
3 cups soy creamer

1.) In a medium saucepan, mix the water and sugar together and start heating over medium-high heat.  The sugar will melt and start boiling.  Swirl the pan around every so often as the sugar mixture starts boiling. Keep boiling until the sugar syrup starts caramelizing and turning a golden brown. This is tricky. I have stainless pans, and it's hard to judge caramel color. Sometimes, I take a little spoonful out and drop it on a white plate to see how golden my caramel is. If you overcook the caramel, it's burnt, and not too good.
2.) Once the caramel is the right color, remove from the heat and set the pan WAY back on your stove. Things are going to get exciting. Quickly pour the 1/4 cup of water into the hot caramel mixture and jump back. The carmel is going to freak out, spurt and sputter.
3.) Once the carmel calms down, bring the pan forward onto low heat and stir until all the hard caramel chunks dissolve into a nice caramel syrup. Add the salt and let the caramel syrup cool down a bit.
4.) Off the heat, add the soy creamer to the carmel syrup slowly. The caramel may freak out again and form hard caramel chunks, don't worry. Keep stirring and they will eventually dissolve. Don't heat the mixture once the soy creamer has been added. Soy tastes really weird when it's cooked, so just be patient and stir until the chunks dissolve.
5.) Freeze in an ice cream maker and enjoy! I have a Cuisinart and it's wonderful. 

This is another magical recipe for another day...

Perfect Easy Vegan Caramel Ice Cream Recipe, Perfect Easy Dairy-Free Caramel Ice Cream Recipe, Perfect Easy Egg-Free Caramel Ice Cream Recipe

Read more...

Mini Peppermint Marshmallows and Hot Cocoa

     My kitchen is so sticky right now! Sugar season is in full force: caramels, chocolate kisses, truffles, turkish delight, and yes...marshmallows. Homemade marshmallows are one of the first things I attempted to blog about 3 1/2 years ago (Egads! With a film camera!) and they're still a favorite. I haven't changed the recipe one bit.
     The great thing about homemade marshmallows is full control over the size. These are fantastic when made as big, puffy, fist-sized treats and just as wonderful as minis tossed into hot cocoa. Hot cocoa is an important winter treat around here. It's easy enough to keep a carton of chocolate soy milk in the fridge, or you can make your own chocolate syrup like I do and mix it into whatever dairy-free milk is in the fridge that day.

Peppermint Stick Marshmallows

3 (1/4-ounces) envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup water, divided
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Peppermint stick candy
Cornstarch

1. Line a 9 x 9 baking pan with aluminum foil sprayed with oil.
3. Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer to soften.
4. Heat sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
5. Raise heat to medium and bring to a boil, swirling occasionally, don't stir or scrape down the sides. Continue boiling until a candy thermometer reaches 240, or soft ball stage. Remove from heat.
6. With mixer at low speed, pour hot syrup into the softened gelatin slowly, until incorporated.
7. Crank the mixer up to high and beat like crazy for 15 minutes, it will be really fluffy and thick.
8. Add the vanilla and beat 1 minute more.
9. Pour into 9 x 9 pan, smooth the top as best you can.
10. Let stand, uncovered at room temp until firm, about 1-2 hours.
11. Mix up the peppermint dust while the marshmallows cool. Grind the candy canes into a fine powder with a spice mill/coffee mill/food processor. Add some cornstarch to the mix. Just eyeball it, I use about half candy canes, half cornstarch. The cornstarch keeps things from getting too sticky.
12. Dump the marshmallows onto a cornstarch-dusted cutting board. Cut into strips and cubes as you see fit, dredging in the peppermint stick powder as you cut.
13. Space the marshmallows out on a well dusted baking sheet, and allow to dry overnight before storing in a covered container.

Dairy-Free Chocolate Syrup

1/2 cup dairy and nut-free cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

1.) Mix water, cocoa, sugar and salt in a 2 quart saucepan over high heat.
2.) Whisk until everything dissolves and then bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally.
3.) Reduce heat and boil for a full 3 minutes, make sure it doesn't boil over!
4.) Remove from heat and stir in the salt and vanilla.
5.) Allow to cool and then pour into a pint-sized canning jar, or an old cleaned-out Hershey's squeeze bottle.
Store in the fridge for a month or two.

Cheers!!

dairy-free marshmallow recipe, gluten-free marshmallow recipe, dairy-free chocolate syrup recipe, gluten-free chocolate syrup recipe, vegan chocolate syrup recipe, egg-free marshmallow recipe 

Read more...

Mint Meltaways

     It's time. I've stocked the pantry full of Christmas goodie experimentation essentials: Sugar in all forms (white, brown, powdered, pearl, molasses, corn and maple syrups), Chocolate in all forms (cocoa, chips, mini-chips, chunks), Mint in all forms (canes, extract, oil, leaves).
      I was getting ready to make peppermint patties, and then got thinking about a little addictive candy we used to sell for the Pentwater 4th grade fundraiser...Mint Meltaways. Turns out, these are a snap and easily made by the kids. This is a great excuse to splurge and buy a big jar of coconut oil. I ordered mine from Amazon, and it's taken 2 years to finish the jar. Orthodontia has started around here, so the other bonus is that this soft melty candy doesn't cause trouble like Turkish Delight would.

Mint Meltaways

1 12oz. package of Divvies chocolate chips (341g)
1/2 cup coconut oil (100g)
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
pinch of salt

1.) Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring between zaps until all the chips are melted.
2.) Add the coconut oil into the warm chocolate and stir until completely melted and incorporated.
3.) Add the salt and peppermint.
4.) Line a bread pan with parchment paper, wax paper or foil. Spray with cooking spray.
5.) Pour the chocolate into the prepared pan, and place in the refrigerator until firm.
6.) Once firm, remove the chocolate slab from the pan. Allow to warm up a bit before cutting. It tends to shatter if cut when really cold.
7.) Roll around in powdered sugar. These store best in the refrigerator.

This recipe is all about proportion. If you don't have enough chips or coconut oil, you can scale things down and make a smaller batch. Just take the chocolate you have and multiply by 0.3 to get the needed oil, or take your oil and divide by 0.3 to get the weight of chips needed. So, if you only have 150g of chocolate chips left because you've been snacking on them, you need 45g of coconut oil. You're smart enough to tweak down the salt and extract on your own. Remember to use a smaller pan for cooling or you'll have paper-thin chocolates.

Dairy-free mint meltaway candy recipe, mint meltaway candy recipe, vegan mint meltaway candy recipe, divvies candy recipe.

Read more...

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

     Thanksgiving baking is in full swing here. I always bring pies, rolls and cranberry relish to the family dinner and this year,  I'm on top of it! The pie crusts and fillings are all prepped, stored in the fridge and waiting to be assembled for baking on Thursday. The roll dough is in the freezer, the relish is "melding". It seems like all those years of failed allergy baking experiments have finally borne fruit, and I can confidently face Thanksgiving dinner.
     But I'm not one to rest on my laurels.  I have a terrible weakness and curiosity that pushes me to try something new. I had an extra couple cans of pumpkin that were just begging for a home, and these mini treats are just perfect. They also freeze wonderfully, so eat half and put the other half in the freezer for a little lunchbox dessert.

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

Makes 30 mini pies

2 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
dash cloves

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oil
1 29 ounce can pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla

1.) Preheat oven to 350.
2.) Whisk the white flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt & spices in a large mixing bowl.
3.) Whisk the sugars, oil, pumpkin and vanilla together in a medium mixing bowl.
4.) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and carefully blend together.
5.) Scoop 2 tablespoon sized blobs of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. I have a #40 sized food scoop that is indispensable. It's the perfect size for cookies.
6.) Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the tops are fully set and edges are slightly browning. This is a case you don't want to underbake, and should err on the side of overbaking...otherwise the cookies get really sticky and doughy.
7.) Cool completely before filling.

Maple Cream Cheese Filling
(you'll have a bit extra to spread on graham crackers later)

1 tub Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
1 stick dairy-free margarine, I use Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine.
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dairy-free milk as needed

1.) Cream the Tofutti cream cheese and margarine together until fluffy.
2.) Add the maple syrup and beat again.
3.) Slowly add the powdered sugar.
4.) Add the vanilla at the end.
5.) If the filling seems too thick, add a few splashes of soy/rice/coconut milk.

You can make a half batch of this very easily.  Just use the smaller 14 oz sized can of pumpkin, eyeball a half tub of Toffutti and cut all the ingredients in half. You're smart, you can do it.

Vegan Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Recipe, Dairy-free Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Recipe, Egg-free Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Recipe, Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe, Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe.

Read more...

Rainbow Surprise Cake

     This cake is so much fun! I was in a serious time crunch this year for the girls' 7 & 9 year birthday party, so I needed something using basic ingredients with minimal decoration and no fondant! Thankfully I stumbled across this Rainbow Cake from fellow Michigan blogger, Whisk Kid, at the Nth hour.
     The party theme this year was a Construction Site Carnival. We're under construction with a dumpster in the front yard and a front-end loader in the back...so I just decided to work with it. Scaffolding worked well for the concession stand, construction debris made adventure golf more fun, gravel piles and lumber came in handy as well.
      The important thing about making this cake, is making it after hours or when the kids are out of the house so they can't see the process. Cutting it has to be a surprise. My girls were VERY concerned about the cake. They saw the plain white cake and kept asking me "are you SURE you're done decorating?" Katie was concerned enough that she went into the garden and picked raspberries to put on top. The gasps and glee when the cake was opened...priceless.

Awesome Rainbow Cake

I've made this a few times now, with bright colors and with pastels. It would be great with green and red batter for Christmas, or blue and red batter for 4th of July!

2 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups soymilk + 2 teaspoons vinegar, set aside to thicken
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Gel Food Coloring (I use Wilton)
1.) Preheat oven to 350.
2.) I only have two 8-inch round cake pans, these cook quickly, so it works fine. Trace your pans onto some parchment paper and cut out 6 rounds.
3.) Whisk the flour, powder, soda and salt together in a big bowl.
3.) Mix the thickened soymilk, sugar, oil and vanilla together.
4.) Add about 1/2 the liquid into the dry ingredients, and beat it pretty well. Yes, I know beating causes gluten formation and a potentially tough cake, but this is a case where you can't have lumps or you cake is speckled with white. Add the second half of the liquid and fold in gently. I really screwed this up the first time, had tons of lumps and had to run the batter through a sieve/food mill. Hopefully you have better luck, but the sieve option is there as a back up.
5.) Using a scale, divide the batter up into 6 equal portions. I did this by zeroing out a big empty bowl, adding the batter to determine total batter weight. Then divide total batter weight by 6 and measure out 6 portions to color.
6.) Color them up! Gel color works much better here than regular drops, which don't have nearly the color options or vibrancy.
7.) Line each 8-inch pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray.
8.) Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the center is set.
9.) Carefully remove cake from pan to a cooling rack, add a new parchment liner to the pan, re-spray and cook the next layer color.
10.) Frost & build the cake once all the layers are cooled. I was impatient the first time around, and started stacking warm layers. The frosting started to melt in between the layers and the whole thing started sliding all over the place. Oops.

Vanilla Frosting
1 cup shortening
1 cup dairy-free margarine (I use Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)
7 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
pinch of salt
1/4-1/2 cup soy milk

1.) Beat the heck out of the shortening and margarine until fluffy and well blended.
2.) Add the powdered sugar slowly.
3.) Add vanilla and salt.
4.) Add the soymilk until the right thickness is achieved.

Dairy-free Rainbow Cake Recipe, Egg-Free Rainbow Cake Recipe, Vegan Rainbow Cake Recipe

Read more...

Magical Chocolate Zucchini Cake

     It's that awesome time of year when piles of zucchini, squash and tomatoes show up on the lunchroom table at work, free to a good home.  I have a tiny urban garden, so rambling zucchini plants are a space luxury I can't afford right now.  Thankfully, I have country co-workers who supply me with these beauties. I've already made some standard zucchini bread, and had one last lucky zucchini destined for this chocolate cake. 

     Thankfully, my kids love all veggies, so I've never had to resort to trickery. I honestly can't imagine the nutrients gained in zucchini could outweigh the chocolate issues this recipe provides.  But if it makes you feel better knowing there are veggies in this cake...great.  For me, I just think it's amazing. The kids say it's magic. 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. cloves

3/4 cups soymilk
1 t. vinegar
1 t. vanilla

1 stick dairy-free margarine (I use Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup safe chocolate chips (I use Divvies)

1.) Preheat oven to 325.
2.) Whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a large mixing bowl.
3.) Mix the soymilk, vinegar and vanilla together in a small bowl to thicken.
4.) Beat the margarine and sugar together until fluffy, add the oil and thickened soymilk. Beat well.
5.) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend gently with a spatula. Don't beat.
6.) Once things are nearly blended together, add the zucchini and chocolate chips. Blend those guys in.
7.) Scoop into a 9 x 13 pan and bake for 45 minutes.
8.) Cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out pretty clean.
9.) Cool before adding frosting.

Chocolate Icing
(comes together quickly, you can make while the cakes is cooling.)
1/2 stick dairy-free margarine
2 T. cocoa powder
3 T. soymilk
1/2 t. vanilla
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1.) In a medium saucepan, bring the margarine, cocoa, soymilk and vanilla to a boil.
2.) Remove from the heat and add the powdered sugar and whisk until all the sugar is blended in.
3.) Pour over top of the nearly cooled chocolate cake.

dairy-free egg-free chocolate zucchini cake recipe, perfect vegan chocolate zucchini cake recipe  

Read more...