Sunday, March 31, 2013

Hummus - the secret!

Every time I tried to make hummus, it never met my expectations. So I plugged into The Google and came up with some very simple advice that really works! It's not the ingredients so much as the process that give you the perfect consistency. So here is my new recipe for amazing hummus!

Hummus
2 cans chickpeas

1/4 c lemon juice*
1/2 c tahini*
1/4 c water
1 1/2t extra virgin olive oil
1t garlic

*These ingredients are tricky, because they make the taste of the hummus. Fresh lemon juice is best, but bottled is fine in a pinch. The tahini is also super important - some tahini is better than others, but the best advice I can give is to try several brands until you find one you like.

Directions:

1) Drain and rinse the two cans of chickpeas. Put them in a microwave-safe container (you could also do this on the stove) and cover them with water.
2) Microwave the chickpeas for 3 minutes, until they're nice and hot.
3) Drain the chickpeas again. Put them back in the same container, this time with ice water. Let them sit for a few minutes.
4) While watching TV or listening to music, even better if you have a friend to help, carefully pinch the skins of each chickpea. It's a pain in the but, but totally worth it for smooth, delicious hummus.
5) In a  decent blender or food processor, blend the tahini, lemon juice, and water until they form a tahini cream. This is the key - the difference between hummus and chickpea mash is that you make a tahini cream and add the chickpeas to that, not adding tahini to mashed chickpeas.
6) Add the olive oil to the tahini cream and blend to mix.
7) Add the chickpeas one small handful at a time until you get the right taste, adding water if the hummus is too thick. The hummus should be pale, not yellow (unless you like more chickpeas, in which case go for it!)
8) Blend in the garlic. Keep blending the hummus, adding water if needed, for several minutes in order to get the perfect, smooth consistency.
9) I'd recommend refrigerating the hummus overnight, but knowing how addictive it is, you may end up digging in. You may want to mix in extra flavorings, such as roasted garlic or roasted red pepper, but plain hummus is also amazing.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Pomegranate White Chip Cookies

It's my birthday! So, as a birthday present to everyone, here is one of the first gluten-free cookie recopies I came up with, and also one of my favorites. They're pretty healthy what with quinoa and flaxseed meal, and the coconut flour adds a delicate sweet flavor. These are great for winter when pomegranates are ripest.



Ingredients:
Flour mix (this makes about 4c, and you only need 3; you could always do a quadruple batch to make up the difference!)
1 c brown rice flour
1/2 c almond flour
1/2 c hazelnut flour
1/2 c quinoa flour
1/2 c coconut flour
1/4 c flaxseed meal
1/2 c oat flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Other ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp EnerG egg replacer
6 tbsp warm water

Add-ins:
1 pomegranate's worth of arils
1 recipe white chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2) Mix all the flours together in a big bowl - as I said, you'll have too much flour, but I'm too lazy to scale it down.
3) Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Process the egg replacer and warm water in a food processor until foamy, then add to the butter mixture.
4) Add 3 c of the flour mix to the butter, and combine.
5) Scoop a level tbsp of dough into your hand, and press several pieces of white chocolate and five to six pomegranate arils into the ball and fold to combine. This is labor-intensive, but ensures that each cookie has both the mix-ins, and that the cookies don't turn purple from pomegranate juice. Flatten the ball out to about 2in diameter.
6) Bake each batch for 12 minutes, then let them cool for several minutes before transferring them off the cookie sheet. I got a rhythm going where I'd let them cool for about 6 minutes, then make the next batch, so by the time I had a full cookie sheet the one in the oven was done baking. Again, it's labor intensive, but so worth it.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

White Chocolate Chips

For all you vegans out there that have felt deprived of white chocolate, this post is for you! The ingredients are a bit pricey, but the actual process is really easy - you only need a few bowls and a microwave. You do have to move sort of quickly once the cocoa butter is melted, but it's not that bad. It's a good idea to make a big batch and store them in the fridge. Try them in chocolate cookies, or pomegranate white chip cookies.

Ingredients:
1/4 c and 1 tbsp powdered sugar
1tsp soymilk powder (not protein powder)
pinch salt
1/3 c cocoa butter (try looking for food-grade butter with hand lotions and body cream)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1) Prepare a flat surface for your chocolate chips. I like to line a cookie sheet or plate with parchment paper, but you could easily just pipe them onto a pan or plate, you'll just have to do a bit more cleanup at the end.
2) Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3) Melt the cocoa butter in a double boiler, or in the microwave. Be careful - it gets very hot.

4) Add the vanilla, and mix the dry ingredients into the melted cocoa butter.
5) Once combined, quickly scoop the chocolate into a ziplock bag or frosting bag. Cut off a small hole in the corner.
6) Quickly and confidently pipe out chocolate-chip sized dollups onto your surface; size depends on your preference, but bigger chips are faster.
7) Pop your chocolate chips in the freezer for about 10 minutes, then take them out and put them in a sealed container. They'll keep for several weeks in the fridge.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Carrot Rosemary Bisque

This soup idea comes from my cafeteria. They make carrot dill, carrot rosemary, carrot thyme, and so on. If you need a healthy dose of beta-carotene, this is the way to go!

Carrot Rosemary Bisque:

1/4 small onion
2/3 small red pepper
2T olive oil
3c vegetable broth
2lbs carrots
3 sprigs rosemary
2 bay leaves

Directions:
1) Chop all the veggies. I'd chop the rosemary, too; you can try and cook the springs and remove them later, but all the little leaves will fall off and end up in your soup anyways, so I think it's best to chop them now.
2) Sauté the onion and red pepper in your pot for 5-10 minutes until the onions are translucent. 
3) Add the carrots and the vegetable broth - the broth should just cover all the vegetables. Add the rosemary and bay leaves. 
4) Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 40 minutes, stirring and checking to see if the carrots are done every so often.
5) Let the soup cool considerable, then blend. If you have a fancy immersion blender use that, otherwise blend it in parts in a blender (but make sure it's not too hot, and hold the top - steam can cause it to pop off).

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

S'mores Cake

My friend swears that this is spice cake, but I don't question the identities of my baked goods. Perfect example: this started out as an attempt at brownies, but from the beginning, my cake knew that it was cake, not brownies. Lesson: don't let others define you, no matter how much chocolate and egg replacer they pump into you. Also I know this looks complicated, but it works; I'll try figuring out what pieces are essential and which aren't later.



VGF S'mores Cake (Made 48 little cakes like above)
1 1/2 c vegan butter
1 1/2 c sugar
1 container coconut yogurt (maybe 3/4c - you could use soy)
3/4 c nondairy milk (I used soy)
2 tbsp molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp potato starch
2 tsp tapioca starch (aka flour)
8 tbsp warm water
1 1/2 tsp xanthum gum
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 c sorghum flour
1 c oat flour
1/4 c coconut flour
1/2 c brown rice flour

Coconut "Marshmallow" Frosting (this makes too much frosting for all the cake)
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 can coconut milk that has been sitting in the fridge for at least a few hours (you want 1/2 c of the solid that separates out on top)
Vanilla
LOTS of powdered sugar.

Also, 1/2 bar or 1/2 c chocolate for decorating.

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350.
2) Melt the butter in a big microwave-safe bowl.
3) Mix in the sugar, yogurt, milk, molasses, and cinnamon.
4) In a small bowl (or a dirty cup measure, because washing dishes is lame) mix the potato and tapioca starch, then add the water and mix vigorously with a fork until everything is well combined. This is your egg replacer; add it to the butter mixture.
5) Add the xanthum gum, baking soda and salt to the butter mixture and combine well.
6) Add flours one at a time (or you could be fancy and mix them in a separate bowl, but again, more dishes) and mix well.
7) Generously spray whatever pan(s) you are using (I used a standard cookie sheet with sides, so it was very thin). Bake at 350 until it passes the toothpick test - maybe 20 to 30 minutes, but I didn't time it. This cake is very moist, so if you want it drier bake it a little longer.
8) While the cake is baking, make the frosting - melt the shortening and beat it with the solid coconut stuff and vanilla. Then add powdered sugar and whip until it's nice and thick.
9) Once the cake was cool, I cut it into about 1 1/2 inch squares and piped the frosting onto each one. Then I melted the chocolate in the microwave and used a whisk to drizzle the cakes with melted chocolate.

Enjoy!