COOK THE BOOK: TWO-FER - Crispy Peanut Butter Cookies (pg.200) and Apple Pie-Crumb Cake Muffins (pg.53)

Spent this past Saturday in NYC at a family brunch uptown. Before heading back to Maryland we were able to enjoy the sunshine, catch the subway to the Lower East Side and make a pilgrimage to Babycakes bakery. While there we were able to snap a few photos, much to the chagrin of the few hipster customers crammed into the tiny space, and ordered a good variety of stuff (Salted Caramel donut, Samoa donut, Vanilla/Vanilla cupcake, cornbread, and a fudge brownie bite). I know it sounds like a lot but for all Babycakes good qualities portion-size and value for the money are not chief among them. Anyway here are a few photos of the goodies. They were all pretty darn good. The donuts were probably the favorites though didn’t get much salty flavor in the Salted Caramel donut. The cupcake was best for its delicious icing while neither of us are chocolate freaks and found the fudge brownie a little too rich. In any case we’re getting the cookbook and are looking forward to making some of our own in the very near future.

I know, long intro to simply explain the inspiration for this Sunday morning bakefest upon our return. Added bonus, the cookies and muffins worked for a small (but heartfelt) thanks to our neighbor who watched Mabel while we were away.

First up, Crispy Peanut Butter Cookies. We’ve made lots of peanut butter cookies but here is our first attempt at the vegan variety. Cream together canola oil, brown sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add a little cornstarch, some all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Presto, you’ve got cookie batter! Lay out in spoonfuls, bake about 12 minutes, and Presto, you’ve got cookies!

The verdict: Hmm. Initial reaction was that they smelled slightly burnt, but they weren’t. OK, time for a taste. Strange texture and VERY crumbly, but when they hit your mouth VERY rich and peanut butter-y. So, not at all bad, just a bit odd on the texture, and super rich mouth full. We did have to top off the white flour with whole wheat to get enough for the recipe but it didn’t seem like a significant alteration. In any case, we ate a few, gave a few away and put the rest in the freezer in the hopes of improving the texture.

Now, onto this unabashed winner of a recipe, Apple Pie-Crumb Cake Muffins. The recipe is quite straightforward as you sift all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and salt). Create a well and add in the wet ingredients (apple cider, canola oil, vanilla) then grated and chopped apple. The recipe didn’t specify what type of apple to use, but being the experienced bakers that we are, ha!, chose Granny Smith.

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full, sprinkle on the topping (flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, salt and canola) then bake for 22minutes. That’s it.

The outcome was extraordinary. Muffins were moist, grated apple disintegrated into the muffin while apple chunks remained. The topping was perfect as well, though in the future it might be fun to experiment by adding oats. In any case they were great warm from the oven though still delicious the next day for breakfast. As advertised, a winner through and through, we’ll definitely be making these again.

COOK THE BOOK: Potato-Edamame Samosas w/Coconut-Mint Chutney (pg.80/82)

Man, oh man do we love us some samosas. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad one. Last year while experimenting with spring rolls wrappers we improvised a samosa inspired filling and they were very good. So of course these should be too. This verson uses a home-made dough which always makes you appreciate the final product a little more. As for the filling, no curry powder in sight! A blend of spices including cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ginger, coriander, turmeric and cayenne combine for that authentic Indian flavor. Edamame in the filling is a creative (and healthy) twist on the usual potato-pea combo.

So . . . the dough. Combined the wet (rice milk, veg oil and cider vinegar) and the dry (all-purpose flour, turmeric, baking powder and salt) to yield (eventually) a smooth not sticky dough. Set that aside while the filling came together.

Toasted my whole spices, added onions and carrots to brown. Then some garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, salt and lemon juice. Cooked potatoes joined the party, which we smashed while everything combined. The edamame was added at the end. Time to roll out the dough, cut circles and fill. .

Used a 4” pie cutter, wet the edges and went to it.

This was a bit tedious but goes a lot faster once you get a rhythm (in fact, with extra filling we made some a few days later and it came together a lot faster!). Anyway, the samosas were brushed with oil and baked, flipping once to brown evenly.

Here are the cute little buggers. They looked like mini empanadas really but tasted delicious. The lemon juice really perked up all the flavors (potato and lemon are great companions) and the classic “curry” aroma was not overpowering (but just right). We wouldn’t even think of frying these, it just wasn’t necessary.

The homemade dipping sauce was really a revelation though and I’ll be finding many more uses for it in the future. All we had to do was combine coconut milk, mint, cilantro, garlic, maple syrup and lime juice. Perfection. The other dipping sauce was some leftover tamarind chutney that was hiding in the back of the refrigerator. The two sauces combined worked well too.

The samosas made a great appetizer we enjoyed on the back porch with some sangria. A few days later we made a meal of them (mainly because we wanted to have the coconut-mint chutney again!) with some Indian inspired rice.

COOK THE BOOK BLOG, NUMERO UNO

Just to spice things up a bit on this here blog, we’re gonna be cooking our way through “Vegan With a Vengeance” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. As a recurring theme this should give the blog a focus and keep us motivated and engaged. Perhaps we’ll even be inspired to eat more planned out, balanced meals and perhaps learn about some new techniques and ingredients. We’ll see.

Why cook this book? Well, for one it was quite reasonably priced on half.com and thus bought sight unseen for well under $5. The recipes appear to be quite doable and affordable, with lots of great ideas for vegan baking and desserts—a fairly uncharted area for us thus far . . .

We’ll try to follow a format of setting the scene (i.e. why we chose the particular recipe), describing the ingredients (hopefully, including a photo of the ingredients laid out on the cutting board). Then, followed by a description of the preparation and cooking process, again hopefully with photos. Finally, the finished product of course, with some insightful thoughts on what we liked (or didn’t) and possible tweaks for the next time.

Phew. With all that said, we are always looking for new ways to enjoy pizza, sans cheese and pepperoni these days, as perfectly delicious pre-made doughs can be had at Trader Joe’s for a whopping $.99. A bargain at twice the price! Anyway, Vegan With a Vengeance (VWAV, for short) has a few pizza recipes, including fresh sauce, fresh dough, fresh pesto and fresh ricotta. While not ideal for our first entry the fresh ricotta was the inspiration for this one, and alas we used our Trader Joe’s pizza dough, jarred tomato sauce, and fresh basil leaves (for the pesto). So I guess this is really a recipe for the faux ricotta, which of all the cheeses out there I perhaps its sweet, creaminess the most.

Here are the ingredients and what the "Ricotta" looks like

Here is the pizza, before baking . . .

Here is the pizza, out of the oven . . .

All said, very delicious and a close approximation of ricotta cheese. Ricotta can be bland on its own, and just as with the real stuff, the addition of garlic, salt, lemon and basil is really what you taste. And, as hopefully the pictures illustrate, it looked (and had the mouth-feel) of the real thing. We’ll surely be using this recipe again, probably in stuffed shells, or another baked pasta very soon.**

**In fact, two days later we did stuffed shells with marinara and it worked perfectly, delicious!

Yummy Baked Beans

I had a crazy craving for some baked beans and decided to break out the Crock Pot and give it a shot!

With just a few ingredients:

White Beans
Baking Soda
Dark Molasses
Brown Sugar
Dry Mustard
Salt
Black Pepper
Medium white onion
H2O

and 12+ hours in the Crock Pot - Here is the finished product:




Of course, what is a dinner of baked beans without some "hot dogs" :)




The smell of the beans cooking all day and night filled the house with the most amazing aromas! It was sooo worth the wait!