Thinking outside the Box

Time to put on my thinking cap and put off the house cleaning for another Daring Baker's Challenge. My kitchen is pretty sticky right now, so I'll post first...clean later. The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network. The point here was try to make a homemade version of a boxed cookie.

My first few attempts at this challenge were a failure, largely because I tried to make simple allergy substitutions with the existing recipe and like a bad game of recipe telephone...the further I got from the original recipe through adaptations...the less like the original the result became.

So in this case, I started over, and created a dairy-free and egg-free shortbread cookie base for both cookies and called it close enough. The "Milanos" reminded me more of ''E.L.Fudges", and since I've never had a marshmallow cookie...those just tasted like sugar-bombs, but the kids loved them.

Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Milanos (or E.L.Fudges as the case may be)

Don't think that the irony of vegan cookies in the shape of a fish was lost on me

Shortbread (this technique makes a crisp-tender cookie, not fall-apart flaky)

2 cups cake flour (like Swan's Down, be careful, Softasilk has egg and dairy)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 T. cornstarch

Pinch of salt

11 T. dairy-free margarine at room temp (I use Fleischman's Unsalted Margarine)

1.) In a food processor, mix the flour, sugar and cornstarch together.

2.) Cut the margarine into pieces and pulse until it just barely comes together.

3.) Dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a disk, refrigerate for 1 hour.

4.) Roll dough between two pieces of plastic wrap until 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

5.) Preheat oven to 350 and put the cookie sheets into the freezer while the oven preheats.

6.) Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.

7.) Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 1 minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

Chocolate filling

8 ounces of safe chocolate chips ( I used Divvies)

1/2 cup soymilk (I used Silk Very Vanilla)

1.) Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl.

2.) Heat the soymilk up in the microwave until steaming (60-90 seconds) and dump over the chocolate chips.

3.) Stir well until all the chocolate is melted. If you didn't heat the soymilk up enough to melt the chocolate, you can put everything in the microwave for a few more seconds. Be careful though and don't burn the chocolate.

4.) Spread one cookie, top with another and smoosh them together!

Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Marshmallow Cookies

Shortbread (same as above!)

Homemade Marshmallows for overachievers who like sticky floors

(Smart people will just melt 1/2 of a large Jet-Puffed on top)

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
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1.) Don't even think about trying this unless you have a stand mixer or you will lose your mind.
2.) Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer to soften.
3.) Heat sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
4.) 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.
5.) With mixer at low speed, pour hot syrup into the softened gelatin slowly, until incorporated.
6.) Crank the mixer up to high and beat like crazy for 15 minutes, it will be really fluffy and thick.
7.) Add the vanilla and beat 1 minute more.
8.) This is where the sticky begins. Working quickly before the gelatin sets, stuff the marshmallow into a disposable pastry bag and pipe a little blob on to each cookie. This is a mess. If you have extra, pipe some kisses onto a greased piece of foil and use them in hot chocolate later.

Chocolate Dip

1 cup safe chocolate chips ( I used Divvies)

1 T. shortening

1.) Place everything in a small microwave safe bowl. Heat slowly, 30 seconds at a time, melted.

2.) Dip the cookies quickly and then place on a Silpat or some foil sprayed with oil until hardened. I dip the bottoms first and scrape off the extra, then flip over and dip the tops.

Apple Strudel with Caramel Sauce

There is a battle going on in my kitchen regarding the Strudel Theme Song.  One kid says that Mary Poppins sings about it in the thunderstorm and one kid says the Larry the Cucumber sings about it when he has the blues. I'm not even going to try to sort it out.  "Stop arguing and eat your strudel" definitely goes on the list of things I'd never thought I'd say.

This month's Daring Baker Challenge is Apple Strudel.  In addition to being pretty close to an adult version of play-dough, it was super easy to adapt to be dairy, egg and nut-free.  I really enjoyed it!  I can't wait for Michigan cherry season to make a cherry strudel! 

 The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Making the Strudel

 Apple Strudel

from "Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague" by Rick Rodgers

Strudel Dough

1 1/3 cups unbleached flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

7 Tablespoons water

2 Tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1.) Combine flour and salt in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup.  Add the water and oil mixture to the mixer on low speed.  Once the dough forms, switch to the dough hook and knead for 5-7 minutes and a soft ball forms. 

2.) Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 30-90 minutes.  Your life will be easier if you relax and wait 90 minutes.  Make the filling while the dough rests.

Apple Filling

2 pounds tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch slices.

1-2 Tablespoons brandy or golden rum (optional)

3 Tablespoons golden raisins, (chopped if you're trying to hide them from your kids)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon flour

A few pinches of salt

1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs ( I used Real Lovin' Breadcrumbs)

3 T. dairy-free margarine (I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)

1.) Mix the top set of apple ingredients together in a large bowl, then set to work on the breadcrumbs.

2.) Melt the butter in a skillet and add the breadcrumbs.  Cook over medium high heat for 3 minutes or so, or until the bread starts smelling toasted.  Set crumbs aside. 

Making the Strudel

1.) Preheat oven to 375. 

2.) Find a nice big table that you can walk around and cover it with a clean, lightweight cotton tablecloth.  Sprinkle the tablecloth  generously with flour.

3.) Slowly and gently pull the dough into a big rectangle.  When it starts getting too big to handle, set it on the tablecloth and keep stretching.  If the dough starts to fight back, walk away and give it time.  Through a combination of pulling and rolling with a pin, you should eventually have a tissue-paper thin dough that is about 2 feet by 3 feet.  Trim the edges (they will be a bit thick).

4.) Melt another 4 Tablespoons of margarine and spread it over the dough.  A pastry brush was too rough on the thin dough, so I ended out covering my palms with margarine and patting the dough all over.

5.) Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the dough.

6.) Dump the apple filling about 4 inches from the short end of the rectangle and shape it.

7.) Now the rolling begins! Start by pulling the first edge over top of the filling and then using the tablecloth, carefully roll the whole thing up!  Seal the edges, brush the top with margarine and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

8.) Bake for 40 minutes, let cool for 30 minutes before cutting. 

Dairy-Free Caramel Sauce

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup water

1 cup plain soy creamer

1.) Heat the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan to a slow boil without stirring. Wash down any sugar crystals that form on the side of the pan with a pastry brush and water. Heat until the sugar forms a golden brown color, swirling around the pan occasionally. 

2.) Remove from heat and dump in the soy creamer.  Watch out, it will sputter and spurt.

3.) Return to heat, mixing well to dissolve all the lumps.  Let it come to a full rolling boil and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Cool to room temp before serving. 

I'll let you determine your own Strudel Theme Song.

Daring Bakers Do Lasagna

This has been an absolutely looney week here with prolongedly feverish kids, the littlest of whom likes to have febrile seizures just to scare the crap out of me. After a week where the only action my measuring spoons got was measuring out Tylenol and Motrin, it was nice to get back to the kitchen in time to complete this month's Daring Baker Challenge.
The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge. The recipe is in three parts, the pasta, the béchamel sauce and the meat ragu.  

The main point of the challenge was to make homemade pasta. This is something I've done many times before, but never a spinach version, and never with the intent to bake after boiling the noodles. And while this was easy to make with a food processor, I don't think I'll try to make my own noodles for lasagna purposes again. Without the egg, the noodles just don't hold up to the boil and bake process. I even used hardy semolina flour, and the noodles were still quite soggy. There are enough premade varieties of lasagna noodles out there that are egg and dairy-free,  I'll save homemade pasta for noodles...not lasagna sheets.

Bechamel is a white cream sauce that holds everything together. I was not too creative in this regard and simply substituted dairy-free margarine and plain soymilk for the butter and milk. It worked out pretty well, I took care to use a fresh box of soymilk to avoid any possible beany taste, and it worked.

For the meat sauce, my only allergy substitution was to omit the milk in the original recipe. I also live in the Midwest, so prosciutto and pancetta are pipe dreams around here...I just used bacon ground up in my food processor. I also just used ground meat, rather than the original recipe's request that whole blobs of meat get ground in a food processor. I am minorly squeemish about cutting into flesh that I plan to eat, so the grinding process really wasn't my thing.

Topped off with Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella...and you'd think I had a hit on my hands! But the kids are still a bit sick...and the plate of green lasagna went over like a lead balloon. I thought it was good, a bit mushy, but good. I'll try it again when they are feeling better with some boxed noodles to resolve the mushy-green-pasta issue and see how that works.

Lasagna of Emilia-Romagna

1 recipe Spinach Pasta, omitting the egg (I cannot in good conscience recommend this recipe, it you are so stubborn as to want to try it, please see our host's post, otherwise, just use some boxed noodles.)

1 recipe Country Style Ragu (recipe follows)

1 recipe Bechamel (recipe follows)

Assembling the Lasagna:

Preheat the oven to 350.  Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Cook the lasagna pasta per the box directions.

Assemble the lasagna in a 9 x 13 pan.  Start with a thin layer of bechamel in the bottom of the pan. Then start building in layers: noodles, 1/3 of the ragu, a few tablespoons of bechamel, noodles, 1/3 of the ragu, a few tablespoons of the bechamel, noodles, the last of the ragu, a few tablespoons of bechamel, last layer of noodles. 

Cover the top layer of noodles with a layer of bechamel.  Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and top with 1 cup of mozarella and bake, uncovered for another 20 minutes until cheese melts and browns.  Let it rest for a few minutes before trying to cut and serve.

Bechamel

4 tablespoons dairy-free margarine (I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)

4 tablespoons flour

2 2/3 cups freshly opened plain soymilk

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pinch of nutmeg

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the margarine over low to medium heat. Sprinkle in the flour, quickly whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

 Country Style Ragu’ (Ragu alla Contadina)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 ounces minced bacon (3 slices or so)

1 medium onion, minced

1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced

1 small carrot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

4 ounces ground veal

4 ounces ground pork or mild italian sausage without casings

8 ounces ground beef

2/3 cup dry red wine

3 &1/2 cups  chicken or beef stock (homemade if possible)

3 canned plum tomatoes drained or 3 small fresh tomatoes chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Browning the Ragu Base:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add the bacon, and cook until it renders som fat. Add the minced vegetables and sauté, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color.  Add the ground meats into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. First the meats will give off a liquid and turn dull grey but, as the liquid evaporates, browning will begin. Stir often, scooping under the meats with the wooden spatula. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the meats are a deep brown. Turn the contents of the skillet into a strainer and shake out the fat. 

Reducing and Simmering:

 Add the wine to the pan, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then add the browned meats back to the pan. 

Add the stock and slowly simmer, uncovered until the liquid has reduced by half. Partially cover the pot, and simmer for 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.

Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook uncovered, at a very slow bubble for another 30 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick, meaty stew. Season with salt and pepper.

The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to 1 month. Skim the fat from the ragu’ before using it.

Going along with the Princess thing...

Daring Baker challenge 3 days before Disney...this is insane!  Packing and cleaning and cooking for the grandmothers stuck here watching unruly toddler boy, cooking and shopping for that same unruly boy and his allergies, making princess costumes, talking to Disney food people, oh and I have a job too...arggh!  But lucky for me, I could get points with the girls by adapting this month's Tuile Challenge to fit the princess obsession of the moment. 

 In all honesty, ever since I got my first Silpat 2 years ago...I have been wanting to make tuiles. Tuiles are the reason to own a Silpat...and I've now justified the purchase! This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.  

Adapting the recipe to be egg and dairy-free was pleasantly easy, I just substituted dairy-free margarine for the butter and flax eggs for the egg whites.  One of the great things about this recipe is the infinite adaptability in style and timing.  You can make any shape you can imagine, if your fingers can take the heat.  The dough can sit in the fridge for days, so you can bake them up when you want....and they hold up for a few days after baking too!   Check out the other Daring Bakers and their creativity, I am in awe!

Dairy and Egg-Free Tuiles 

(Adapted from “The Chocolate Book”, by Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.

¼ cup softened dairy-free margarine ( I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)
½ cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt
1 flax egg (instructions below)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
Food coloring of your choice


1.) Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle,  cream margarine, sugar and vanilla to a fluffy paste. 

2.) Make the flax egg while the margarine creams.  To make a proper flax egg, grind 1 tablespoon of flax seeds in a spice grinder to a fine powder. Mix with 3 tablespoons of warm water and beat the heck out of it with a beater or an immersion blender... it will get all gummy and thick...weirdly like an egg white.  

3.) Add the flax egg to the creamed sugar mixture. 

4.) Slowly add the flour to the bowl and mix well, but not too much.
5.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. The batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it.

6.) Make a cute stencil out of cardboard or plastic.

7.) Find that Silpat that has been patiently waiting for this day, or line a baking sheet with parchment.  

8.) Spread the batter thinly onto the pan using the stencil, don't make the cookies too close.
9.) Bake in a preheat oven at 350 for 5-8 minutes, until the edges just get browned.

10.) Quick, quick...shape them before they harden!  Wear some plastic gloves if you are tender-fingered.

I wish I could say my girls noticed the unintended similarity to a scene in one of their favorite books, but it was my husband who immediately exclaimed..."those look just like the Fancy Nancy Sundaes!"

I got my templates from Family Fun, made them a bit smaller and cut them into the cover of one of my unused Mead notebooks... Aurora, Belle, and Snow White.

I'm a Daring Baker in my kid's eyes only this month...

This month I took on the Christmas Challenge and made successful dairy, egg and nut-free:

1.) Sunbutter candies
2.) Peppermint Patties
3.) Peppermint Sticks
4.) Chocolate Covered Cherries
5.) Sugar Cookies
6.) Chocolate Kisses
7.) Turkish Delight
8.) Caramel Corn
9.) Chex Mix
10.) Cinnamon Swirl Bread

But didn't get around to the Daring Baker Challenge of French Yule Log. Sorry.  Please check out the other Daring Bakers who accomplished this Challenge!

Sugar Season

Sugaring Maple Tree version for the girls (with rolled and cutout Starburst Candy leaves!)

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving, official start to Christmas shopping and Sugar Season. It's the time of year that I pick up 5 pounds of sugar or a liter of corn syrup every time I'm at the grocery...with no particular use in mind...yet. Apparently, the Daring Bakers were feeling the call of sugar this month too.
This month's challenge was Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting, as created by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater with an optional challenge of Alice Medrich's Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels. The challenge was hosted by Delores of Culinary Curiosity, Jenny of Foray into Food and Alex of Blondie and Brownie.
As usual, I attempted the challenge twice. The first time through, I tried the original recipe with the optional caramels to share with neighbors and friends. The second time through, I adapted it for my allergic kid. Of the two recipes, I think we actually liked the egg and dairy-free version a bit more. It may have been the extremely low expectation I had for it, followed by my surprise at how great it turned out....but even my husband agreed the kid's version was better.
A few words on this cake...it is dense...dense like a pound cake. The sheer heft of the cake when I removed it from the pan was what made me sure the cake was a disaster, if you made cupcakes with this...it probably would be a disaster of hockey pucks. The heft comes from using a true butter-cake technique of creaming butter and sugar together, then alternating additions of flour and milk....rather than the usual "quick bread" technique in vegan baking of mixing wet ingredients carefully into dry ingredients (more like muffins than true cake).
The thing that really makes this cake work is the caramel syrup. It gives the whole thing a subtle, rich, buttery flavor. For the kid's frosting version, I didn't attempt to caramelize the margarine...browned soy just didn't sound like a good idea.

Caramel Cake with Caramel Buttercream

(Dairy and Egg-Free Adaptation on Shuna's Recipe)

10 tablespoons dairy-free margarine ( I used Fleishman's Unsalted Margerine)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Caramel Syrup (recipe below)
2 Ener-G egg replacers whipped until thick (I use an immersion blender)
Splash of vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain soymilk thickened with 1 T. cider vinegar


Preheat oven to 350F
Line two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with a parchment round and spray well with oil.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream margarine until smooth.
2. Add sugar and salt, cream until light and fluffy. This takes forever, I'm not kidding.
3. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl.
4. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add egg replacers and vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
5. Sift flour and baking powder together.
6. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the flour mixture.
7. When incorporated, add half of the soymilk, a little at a time.
8. Add another third of the flour, then the other half of the soymilk and finish with the flour. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
9. Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform.

Divide batter among the two pans. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Remove from pan to a cooling rack as soon as you can, if it sits in the pan for too long, it gets really soggy. Cool cake completely before frosting.

Caramel Syrup

Sugar and water...this stuff is simply magical

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water 1 cup water for "stopping"

1. In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand.
2. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush.
3. Turn on heat to highest flame.
4. Cook until rich amber. You can test the color by dabbing a bit on a white plate.
5. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and prepared to step back.
6. Whisk over medium heat until it the sugar is dissolved and the syrup has reduced slightly. It should be the sticky thickness of maple syrup or warm honey. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Caramel Buttercream

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup dairy-free margarine
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 T. Caramel Syrup (recipe above)
1 t. vanilla
2-4 T. soymilk


Cream shortening and margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add syrup and vanilla. Add enough soymilk to make a thick frosting.

The Adult Cake, a nice way to celebrate the start of Sugar Season.

Daring Bakers Take the Pie!

My little pizzaiola

Pepperoni, olives and lots of gooey soy cheese!

Pizza is the perfect food in our multi-allergic home because it can be easily individualized to suit everyone. The Daring Bakers, hosted by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums, took on the task of the perfect pizza this month, and happily enough, our host chose the recipe from a frequented book on my shelf, Peter Reinhart's The Breadbaker's Apprentice.   This crust is for Pizza Napoletana , the only crust recipe in the whole book, and is pretty much perfect.    

But the author then went on to write American Pie, where he documents his pizza-seeking trek around the world expanding this basic recipe into 13 types of crust with the all proper toppings and options.  I think I've worked my way through 1/3 of the recipes and love them all!  It's a great feeling to know that the best pizza in the city is coming from my humble little oven!!  I've easily recouped the book cost by the savings on sub-par take-out pizza!

The recipe, although easy, is quite long, so I'll let you visit Rosa's site for the full recipe.  I've been wanting to do a pizza post with my favorite crust recipes simplified, but I'll save that for later on a non-DB post day!

Some basic hints to make this work: 1.) Get a big square pizza stone and keep it in your oven, always.  I have a $200 electric oven, a true piece of junk, and with the stone I can crank out some great crust.  Having the stone in my crummy oven all the time helps regulate the heat for cookies and muffins too. 2.) You can make this work with a wooden cutting board to slide pizza into the stove and a couple metal spatulas to remove the hot pizza from the stove, but getting a proper wood peel for depositing and metal peel for removing makes this much more enjoyable and you will say fewer bad words.  3.) Let your dough rest overnight, period.

For dairy-free cheese, my current favorite is Vegan Gourmet mozzarella.  The stuff actually melts and doesn't taste too bad.  However, the stuff goes punky really quick after opening (we're talking orange scary mold within 48 of opening!), so I always shred the whole block and freeze what I don't use.

The grown-ups enjoyed Tomato Pizza with Lemon Zest from the Cheeseboard Collective Cookbook.   A bit of Berkley-love right here in the Midwest!

Daring Baker Challenge in less than one day!

I suppose I deserve a break on this one seeing how I went through the Baking Gauntlet yesterday with the double princess cakes.  The Daring Baker Challenge this month was the first that didn't require any substituting and brainstorming...and I actually had the book!  

For the first time ever, the challenge was hosted by the Alternative Bakers (all of us pain-in-the-butt bakers eliminating all sorts of items from our diet either out of choice or necessity). The hosts this month were Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl. The challenge was Lavash Crackers from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice either veganized or gluten-free along with a vegan and gluten-free dip on the side.

For the dip,  I was short on food (had a party yesterday, remember!) and time so I used an old standby, White Bean Dip from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian.  

Lavash Crackers

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. instant yeast

1 T. sugar or agave syrup (the original calls for honey, but this was supposed to be vegan, so no bees work.)

1 T. oil

1/3-1/2 cup water

Mix the flour, salt, yeast, sugar and oil in a mixing bowl.  Add in 1/3 cup water and knead by hand or machine until supple and passes the windowpane test (When you are able to carefully stretch a small piece of dough out to be thin enough to see through without tearing, the gluten is ready).   You can add the entire 1/2 cup of water if the dough is too dry.  

Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rest for 90 minutes.  After 90 minutes, preheat oven to 350. Roll out the dough very thin by hand.  I'm a terrible roller-outer, so I used my pasta maker and rolled to level 8 on my Atlas machine.  Place dough on parchment lined baking sheet. Mist dough with water and sprinkle with your choice of salt, seeds or spices.   Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before breaking into shards. 

White Bean Dip

1 15 ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed

2 T. lemon juice

1 clove garlic

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Blend well in a food processor!

I also made some cinnamon and sugar ones to try out the Simple Food Chocolate Soynut Butter that we picked up in Maine. As luck would have it, the non-allergic kid loved it. The allergic kid didn't like it at all.

Tell me how you really feel...

Nearly Undone By A Cream Puff

25 eggs, 1 1/4 pounds of butter, 4 failed attempts and a weekend of enduring my family's incredulity at my persistent failure with silly old pate a choux ( cream puffs for crying out loud!)....I present Eclairs. Yes, only the Daring Bakers would push me to such obsessive behavior. This month's challenge looked much easier on paper than in the reality of my kitchen. The challenge was Chocolate Eclairs from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. It's the third recipe in the book, so it must be a classic. Our hosts were Meeta K from What's For Lunch and Tony Tahhan from his eponymous blog.

My first 4 attempts were horrid. The butter just leaked out of the dough, it was play-dough in consistancy, no where near something that could be "piped." The fifth time around, I consulted my Gram Pam (who said the recipe was fine...and therefore the problem was with me). Then I consulted Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, who advised mixing the dough in a food processor...so I did, and the rest is choux history. Many thanks for MeetaK and Tony for a great challenge, check out their blogs for the recipe!

Mint Profiteroles with Hot Chocolate Sauce

Herme's book also has a recipe for "Mint Profiteroles with Hot Chocolate Sauce", which seemed a fitting use for the extra dough and chocolate sauce (which, up until the successful 5th attempt was going to be just Mint Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Sauce).

Yipes, total bomb batch #3!

************************************************************

But now on to happier things!......Egg and Dairy -Free Cream Puffs!

"Cookies and Cream Puffs" for my Allergic Kid and the Toothless Neighbor Girl

These actually turned out better than expected. I could have tinkered with them, but I was getting tired of cream puffs. The first try, I just substituted the eggs in Herme's recipe with EnerG egg-replacers...yuck! The egg replacers taste horrible without a lot of other things to mask their chalky flavor. The second round I used yeast and soymilk for leavening and they turned out not too bad...more chewy than tender puffy, but not bad. I filled them with whipped Rich's Whip and crushed vegan chocolate wafers, and topped with Ahlaska Chocolate Sauce.

1 cup water
1 stick dairy-free margarine, cut into bits
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 cup bread flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast dissolved in 1 T warm water.
3-5 T. soymilk ( I used Silk Vanilla)




Bring water, margarine, salt and sugar to a boil. Add flour and stir around until a nice ball forms, 2-3 minutes. Dump into a food processor and give it a pulse every few minutes until the dough has cooled down, 10 minutes or so. Add the dissolved yeast and mix well, then add enough soymilk 1 tablespoon at a time until a smooth thick paste forms (it reminded me of caulk!). Spoon or pipe onto parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, about 2 tablespoons per cream puff. Cover baking sheet with a kitchen towel and let rest for an hour. Bake at 375 until puffed, golden brown and no longer goopy inside..about 25 minutes. Slice the puffs open immediately and allow to cool before filling.

Baking Safe in my Mother's Kitchen

It's time again for another friendly Daring Baker Challenge.  The recipe is Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream from Great Cakes by Carol Walter,  chosen by our Daring Baker hostess, Chris at Mele Cotte.  This recipe was a nut/egg/butter laden cake, and virtually impossible to tweak for a kid allergic to all of the above.  I actually considered skipping this challenge, because the Opera Cake nearly pushed me into OCD territory with all the manic wiping and washing of everything while baking.  

You know you've crossed the line when you hear yourself yelling "Kid, if you step one foot into my kitchen while I'm Baking Dangerously, you'll be in time out...with no Princesses....I mean it!"   

Hazelnuts manufactured in an Allergic Swamp and Softasilk flour with egg and dairy,  I really was Baking Dangerously!

But Daring Bakers find a way!  So to save everyone the emotional scars, I decided to take the cake on the road, and bake in my mother's kitchen...and it was really fun.  My mom totally saved my bacon with the carmel praline, I was so impatient that I burned the caramel... twice.  She had the nerves to do it right. The worst part for me came when it was time to pour the ganache over the finished cake.  I nearly fainted from nerves.  The dialogue in my head went something like this:

Brain: Pour the ganache

Me:I'm scared it will clump

Brain: Pour the ganache you wimp.

Me: But what if I mess it up?

Brain: You are a serious freak. You've delivered over a dozen babies, helped dead kids come alive, stuck needles into heads and backs of babies weighing a mere pound...and you're scared of  some chocolate!  Pour the stinking chocolate!

Me: Okay, but I think I'm going to be sick...

The final result was pretty good, all things told.  The praline buttercream is something I'll probably revisit sometime again.  If you want to brave the recipe, please visit our fearless hostess' site.  Many thanks for this challenge!

Mom used patience to make a proper praline, Dad used Red Rider to scare off the squirrels...

***************************************************

For little Speedbump, I had to completely change gears.  This recipe just wasn't well suited to substitutions...so I made something that looked close enough. So here is her Boston Cream Petite Pie, free of eggs, dairy and nuts...of course!  I made a 6 inch version (and loved the excuse to buy a new pan!), there was enough cream filling and ganache to make a 9 inch...you just need to make a full batch of the cake

Boston Cream Pie

Cake

1/2 Recipe Vanilla Cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World"   Baked in a 6 inch pan, cooled and sliced in half

I'm not posting this recipe!  Do yourself a serious favor and buy a copy, it's only $10 on Amazon and you will thank me forever.   If you want to pad your cart to get the free shipping at $25,  do yourself another favor and add fellow Daring Baker Hannah Kaminsky's My Sweet Vegan.

Double Vanilla Cream 

3 Cups Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla ( or 1/2 vanilla bean if you really love your kid)

Dump everything in a medium saucepan, whisk well and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring nearly constantly until thick.  Strain and chill before using in pie.

Chocolate Ganache

4 ounces safe chocolate chips chopped in  a food processor ( I used Divvies)

1/4 cup plain or vanilla soy creamer

1 T corn syrup

Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Bring the soy creamer and corn syrup to a boil in a small saucepan.  Pour the hot liquid over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute, then stir gently to remove all lumps.  Let it cool to a thickened consistency, good enough to pour thickly over the cake.  

To assemble the cake, slice the cooled cake into two layers and spread a layer of vanilla cream in between the layers.  Using a pastry brush, brush a super thin layer of vanilla cream all over the cake, sealing up the holes and crumbs.  Chill for 1/2 hour while making the ganache.  When the ganache is cool enough to pour, place the cake on a cooling rack with some parchment below.  Pour the ganache over top and quickly spread it around before it sets.  Refrigerate another 30 minutes before serving.  Decorate as you like!

Serving Danish to the Dutch

My Danish Braid

Delights of extra dough...cream-filled, baked, brushed in butter and dunked in sugar.

The month flew by, summer months do that, but here is this month's Daring Baker Challenge--Danish Braid.  The challenge was hosted by Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben from What's Cookin'?, the recipe comes from Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking.  Learning points here were twofold...learning to make danish dough, a raised laminated dough, and learning to physically make the braid.  Again, this was a recipe with eggs in a yeasted dough, then folded with 1/2lb. of butter, so NOT allergen-friendly.  

I thought I'd make the original recipe to see what it was supposed to look and feel like, then attempt a dairy and egg-free version. The original version went really well.  I loved making the dough!  It was a fun process of encasing a blob of butter in dough, then folding, resting and rolling it out multiple times to make a laminated dough. The recipe makes enough dough for 2 braids, although I made one biggish braid to take to work then made some extra pastry treats and donuts with the extra dough for hubby to try.   I filled the braid with almond pastry cream and fresh raspberries.  I work in a very Dutch area of Michigan, so I wasn't so sure about bringing a Danish in for breakfast, but the nurses loved it nonetheless! I was pretty pleased with it as well.  I may have to make it for my MOPS moms this fall.  I won't post the recipe here, just a link, because a.) it is long and b.) it isn't allergy friendly.

Julia recommends real butter for a reason....

The dairy and egg free version is a sad story.  I knew how the dough was supposed to look and feel...minus the eggs, it just wasn't as soft and supple.  Then trying to roll the dairy-free margarine in was a complete disaster as I couldn't get the margarine to be hard enough, even with freezer time.  It just squished, squirted and slid out everywhere.  I love my kid and all, but on a beautiful summer day I wasn't willing to try again...so out came the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry.  I  used my newly-learned braiding technique from the Challenge, filled the dough with peaches and blueberries, drizzled some icing on top and called it good enough for today.  Maybe I'll try again another day.   I saw some early posts from other alternative-vegan-allergy bakers that worked, so I know it is possible to do...I just need the dough fairies back in my kitchen for the magic to work.

Not bad for the back-up.

Part B on the Bee!

Once my kitchen (and my nerves) recovered from the Opera Cake Bomb that went off last week, I felt up to attempting an allergen-free replica of the Bee Cake for my kids.  I can't tell you how excited they were to try it.  So excited that I had to give up any thoughts of feeding them a real lunch with Bee Cake for dessert.  Bee Cake was the lunch today.  Oh well.  

For the joconde, I used the Rustic Coconut Cake batter from MadCapCupcake.   I just poured it on to a parchment lined jelly roll pan and baked it at 350 for 20 minutes.  In  retrospect, I should have poured 3/4 of the batter in and saved the rest for cupcakes.  The cake layer ended out being a bit thick and the finished cake was really tall, but the texture and taste were similar to the nuttiness of the almond joconde.

I made a vanilla bean syrup to soak the joconde.  The first try at buttercream was hilarious.  I seriously created a non-Newtonian fluid.  The original buttercream was so cool.  Hot sugar syrup was whipped into pasteurized eggs until fluffy, then butter was slowly whipped in.  I had the really dumb idea of substituting plain gelatin for the eggs and shortening for the butter.  The stuff whipped up so high and fluffy and looked cool, but tasted like a weird greasy marshmallow.  I whipped some strawberry jam into it and used it as the mousse layer, it was so bizarre, but the kids liked it.  My redo on the buttercream stayed with the basics.  Shortening, vanilla, soymilk and powdered sugar.  Why mess with it!

     Instead of marzipan, I used marshmallow fondant for the bees and honeycomb top.  It was a lot easier to work with than marzipan, tasted better and was cheaper.  For the wings, I made burnt caramel disks (1/2 cup sugar, 2 T. corn syrup, 2 T. water....heat until boiling and golden, then spoon out disks on a Silpat to cool).  

The Judge (And Her Jury!)

My Muse is Pleased

Happy Mom, Happy Kids, Happy Bee

Mom's Baking and It's Dangerous!

So I think I may have joined the culinary equivalent of the Freemasons.....a secret baking society. I've been eyeing the Daring Bakers for a while, especially the Daring Alternative Bakers, and what with all this extra daylight, I thought I'd give it a try. Every month, a different challenge is given and the member has to give it a go, then post the success or failure on the reveal date with the other members. The Alternative Bakers try to tweak the recipe to fit allergies/veganism/other issues. 

Unfortunately, on my first month, the recipe was for an "Opera Cake" with a dozen eggs, 2 sticks of butter, 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 1 1/2 pounds of white chocolate and 2 cups of almonds. Any attempt to tweak this recipe to be egg/dairy/nut free would have been a whole lot of work for a literal pile of beans (albeit soy)...and it would have tasted horrible. So my option was to sit the month out or just make it an adult cake. I happened to be hosting a baby shower for my sister-in-law, so this cake was perfect.
The recipe was 12 pages long with 5 different parts to make. A joconde (the almond sponge cake), soaked in a syrup, layered with buttercream, topped with a white chocolate mouse, then glazed with a white chocolate ganache. The flavors are traditionally chocolate and coffee based, but this challenge was to be light in color and flavor. I didn't get too crazy with my flavors, because I was already getting over-the-top with my design! I chose amaretto and vanilla bean for the joconde, syrup, buttercream and mousse. For the ganache, I infused the cream with lavender and made it a bit thicker than the recipe called for because I wanted the honeycomb to set up. The bees were made from marzipan and the glaze was melted peach jam and honey.

The Flight of the Bumblebees

The design was inspired partly by this month's Martha Stewart Living bee cake cover (thanks for the subscription Beth!) , partly by the lavender almond tea cakes in Jerry Traunfeld's The Herbal Kitchen and partly from a vague recollection of a honeycomb pie in my vast reading of cookbooks. I searched through my cookbook collection and couldn't find the honeycomb pie, but then I remembered the book! It was a honeycomb pie from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum that I checked out from the library when we lived in Maine. Whew, that was a long time ago! I never tried her pie, but I remembered the picture and the brilliant use of bubble wrap to make the design!
The unique challenge I encountered while making this was the issue of baking with allergenic materials in a house of rashy kids, one of whom likes to army crawl around on his belly scavenging up random bits and treats. I ended out baking the cake over the course of 3 days, when kids were either in bed or mostly napping. I felt like I was using toxic waste! I'm a messy baker, so it was a bit stressful when egg/nut/dairy goo went flying around the kitchen. Every time I splattered on the floor I wiped up carefully so the baby wouldn't find it. Every cloth I used I double washed in the washing machine. I washed my hands repeatedly before opening cabinets or the fridge. I wiped the floor down after baking to hopefully get any errant almond meal or egg white. Not exactly a relaxing experience to be yelling "No one step foot in the kitchen, mom's baking and it's dangerous!", but the results were worth it.

Now is the time for panic...

There was a point however, when I seriously doubted what I had done. About the time I pressed the bubble wrap into the final product of 3 days work and $40 of ingredients, my heart sank. I was sure I had created a mess. I was so sure it was going to be a disaster that I whipped up a batch of Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes as a back up. But, the ganache firmed up, the bubble wrap released reasonably well and the cake was a success. I got to share the cupcakes with the neighbors instead.
So my apologies to those who read Speedbump Kitchen for allergen-free recipes, hopefully next month's challenge will be tweakable. I learned a lot of new techniques that I know I can transfer to the allergen-free kitchen in the future. Plus, I'm so dang proud of myself I can hardly stand it. Alas, as we say around here, my moments of sheer brilliance are always overly tempered by moments of chicken nuggets and tater tots.( How many meals in a row is it legal to feed that to your kids?)

Enough already...let's eat!

Daring Baker challenge today with just enough daylight left to get a halfway decent picture!  Good thing my parents and sister are here visiting because this was an adults-only cake with lots of leftovers.  When there are only three ingredients, chocolate, butter and eggs....it's pretty hard to successfully swap out 2/3 of the ingredients to make a safe version for the kids.   Needless to say, I did learn some fun things about baking without flour and the magic of such simple ingredients.  I also loved Wendy's Philadelphia-Style Vanilla Ice Cream.  No eggs in it, so when the ice cream maker is frozen up again, I'm going to attempt a dairy-free version and see how that goes.  I did make brownies for the kids as a similar alternative to our dessert...but I'll post that tomorrow. Thanks to Wendy and Dharm for a great challenge!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Chocolate Valentino

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe

Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)

1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream

2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar

Dash of salt

1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer

Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.