Cupcakes...again!

These aren't the same cupcakes. Sure, they are also based upon a recipe that won a season of Cupcake Wars on Food Network (the most recent season - congratulations Doron Petersan). The original recipe called for carmelized bananas and some banana frosting but that just sounded icky to me. So... I present to you Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Ganache Frosting, lightly covered with shaved dark chocolate.

1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup seltzer water
1/4 cup coffee brewed strong and cooled
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider).

Preheat the oven to 325
Into a medium bowl, sift the four dry ingredients.
Into another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together.
Add the dry to the wet and gently whisk together - don't over mix. The batter will be wetter than most cake batters.
Into twelve cupcake liners, spoon the batter out, filling each liner 3/4 full.

Bake for 20+ minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Let sit and cool completely.

For the frosting you will need:
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of chocolate chips

In a double boiler heat the milk to steaming (but not boiling). Whisk in the chips until they melt.

Take each cupcake and dip the top into the ganache, covering it completely. Let cool until almost solid.

Take a chilled dark chocolate bar and use a vegetable peeler to shave off pieces of chocolate. Lightly dust each cupcake with shavings.

These turned out amazingly moist and people were VERY happy with them.

Chickpea chili

A co-worker gave me a recipe for this excellent dish (thanks Donna!) and I just had to share.

This comes from Cooking Light magazine.

The original recipe called for dried chick peas, but I just used canned and it was fantastic.

1 can chick peas, drained

2 Tbsp olive oil divided

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

5 cloves of garlic minced

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth/stock

2/3 cup sliced pimento stuffed green olives

1/2 cup golden raisens

1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, undrained and crushed

4 cups chopped and peeled butternut squash

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

6 cups hot cooked couscous

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet at medium high heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute stirring constantly.

Add the tomato paste, cumin, salt, red pepper, cinnamon and turmeric and saute for another 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Place the onion/garlic mixture in your crockpot. Add the can of chickpeas and stir.

Add broth, olives, raisens and tomatoes, cover and turn to high. Let cook for four hours.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add the squash and saute for 5 minutes. Add the squash to the crockpot and cook for an hour, continuing to cook on high for another hour.

Add the thawed peas and cook for one more hour on high.

Serve 1 cup chili over 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cooked couscous.

Vegetable Kichdi

This is a recipe from Linda McCartney's book "Linda McCartney on Tour - over 200 meat-free dishes from around the world". The recipes often need a little bit of veganization as they tend to have eggs and dairy in them, but it's no big deal.

This recipe can give your spice rack/shelf a workout so make sure you have what you need before you give this a try.

1 cup basmati rice

1/3 cup red lentils

2 tbsp soy margarine

1 tbsp cumin seeds (I didn't have these and just used powder)

5 peppercorns crushed (I didn't crush but did a coarse grind from the peppermill)

4 whole green cardamoms
4 cloves

1 inch of cinnamon stick

1 tsp turmeric powder (what I used) or a pinch of saffron strands

2 large onions chopped finely

2 inches of fresh ginger grated

1 large potato diced

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/2 - 1 cup each cauliflower and broccoli florets

2 1/2 cups water

roasted cashews (finished the recipe and realized I didn't have these so I used slivered almonds)

salt to taste

In a large frying pan: heat the butter and fry the spices over medium heat. When they start to sizzle add the chopped onion and ginger and fry until golden brown (the turmeric will make them VERY golden).

Add the veggies, rice, lentils, water and pinch or two of salt. Stir and simmer covered for approximately 15-20 minutes or until the rice is cooked, adding more water if needed. Stir and serve sprinkled with roasted cashews (or almond slices).

Pancakes

Sure this is an easy veganization of an existing recipe, but they are such a staple here at my house I feel that I need to put this recipe up.

I took the recipe from The Joy of Cooking and made a few tweaks.

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
mix all of these together in a bowl

in another bowl:
1 1/2 cups soy milk
3 tbsp vegan margarine
2 eggs worth of Ener-G egg replacer (prepared)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix the wet into the dry and gently whisk together.

Spoon roughly 1/3 cup of batter onto a griddle or large fry pan that is already at medium heat (water drops should dance on the surface). Once the batter has bubbles through it and they are staring to pop, flip. The first two or three always are pale for me, then the others are great.

If you want to add chocolate chips or fruit, drop that onto the pancake batter when it is first placed in the pan.

For a truly decadent treat, replace the soy milk with chocolate soy milk, add 2 tbsp of baking cocoa and add chocolate chips!

Caramel Pecan Chocolate Truffle Torte - Take Two

Okay so after I got over the dog destroying my first attempt... I got the gumption to try again (along with another container of Earth Balance). So... here is the recipe I made, based upon one at VegWeb. However, I found the caramel to be too liquid. When I make it again, I'm going to need to add some kind of thickener (corn starch?) to make the caramel layer more substantial on it's own.

1 cup flour
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 lb soy margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pecans toasted and chopped
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup soy milk

For the crust: Pre-heat oven to 350. In a medium bowl mix flour, oats and sugar. Cut 1/2 lb soy margarine into small cubes and mix into dry ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Press mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of a springform pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, cool

To make the caramel, in a small saucepan melt 1/4 lb soy margarine. Stir in brown sugar, stir constantly until sugar is smooth and melted. Slowly stir in 1/4 cup soy or almond milk. Stir until smooth and shiny. Pour caramel over cooled crust. Sprinkle pecans in an even layer over caramel. Place in the fridge or other cold place (not the freezer) for approx 20-25 minutes or until caramel thickens. Again, I found the caramel to still be a tad too liquid when I was done, I think this needs to be thicker.

The Chocolate Truffle part! Either in a double boiler, or making one by placing a bowl over some water in a medium pot, bring the water to a simmer and mix 1/4 pound of the soy margarine with the chocolate. Stir gently until melted and combined. Then stir in the 1/2 cup soy milk until smooth. Pour the chocolate over the caramel/pecan layer slowly and carefully so as to not disturb the pecans too much. Give the pan bottom one or two gentle taps on the counter to help even out the chocolate. Put this in a cool place (again not the freezer) until the chocolate sets (1-2 hours) This is a very rich dessert - cut small slices!

Caramel Pecan Chocolate Torte - DENIED!

I was going to make a Caramel Pecan Chocolate Torte from a recipe I found on VegWeb. I spent an hour or so making the crust, then the caramel filling and put it out on the breezeway to cool down and to let the caramel set.

Then the dog got out there and licked half of the caramel away.

So... this will have to be attempted at some other time when I have the patience to try it again (and another tub of Earth Balance).

Piergoies!

I had a desire for pierogies and too often the store brands have milk in them. I can understand that if they have potato and cheese filling, but why do they have milk when they have just potato and onion? I looked for a recipe, found one online and made some modifications to it. The original was on Food.com So... here is the recipe:

2 Cups of flour
5/8 cup of warm water (or 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together (I used the Kitchenaide)

Let sit in a covered bowl for thirty minutes.

Roll out to 1/8 of an inch (if you can).

Cut out circles (I used a pint glass). Put a spoon of filling (see below) into the middle each circle, pull the dough over and use a fork to crimp the edges together.

Once they are all made, put them into boiling water until they float, then move them to a pan over medium heat that has some oil in it and cook until golden brown on each side. Serve with some vegan sour cream for extra yumminess.

Filling: I peeled and boiled some potatoes, while that was happening I took one finely diced onion and 2 cloves of finely diced garlic and cooked those with a little olive oil. I then added about 1tsp salt and some pepper to the onions and garlic. Drain and mash the potatoes once tender and add the onion/garlic mixture to it.

Knish

I got this recipe from You Won't Believe It's Vegan! I was looking through it today, came across the recipe and after the recently making some pierogies that turned out well I thought... why not try this.

The recipe calls for 4 large potatoes to be peeled and boiled, I instead peeled and boiled about 10 or so medium to small red potatoes. (I know, what a rebel!)

Boil the potatoes, when done, drain (keep the water) and then mash, setting aside covered to stay warm.

In a medium drying pan add some olive oil and over medium heat add:
5 or 6 cloves of garlic finely diced
cook these until golden brown then add
1 can of seitan chopped into 1/4 or so inch squares (I get my seitan this way at the Asian grocery store). Cook until heated and then add
1 1/2 heads of broccoli. I took each floret and quartered it.
The recipe said to just cook for 2 minutes but I didn't want really crunchy broccoli in my knish so I left it on medium, added a little of the reserved potato water and then put a lid on it until the broccoli was just starting to get tender, then turn off the heat.
Mix in half of the mashed potatoes and add 1/2 tsp salt (recipe calls for salt and tamari but that's a lot of sodium) and then I also added some ground pepper.

Meanwhile... to the other half of the mashed potatoes (I put them in my kitchenaide mixer at this point) add:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Spike seasoning
2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups of flour
1/4 cup of potato water and start the mixer
You will need to add more water to get a soft, dough but it depends on how wet your potatoes are. I probably ended up around 3/5 of a cup but I wasn't really tracking it.

On a well floured surface roll the dough out to roughly 1/4" thickness and cut into 4-5 inch squares. Take a 1/2 cup measure and place that much filling in the center of one of the squares. Fold the corners into the middle pinching the edges together and place seam down on a baking sheet. Recipe says it will make 12, I got 7 though they were a little larger.

Recipe suggests spreading 1/4 cup of oil across them and then baking for 20-25 minutes. I wanted to avoid extra fat so I just used cooking spray. If you go longer than 25, the dough will start to get tough.

Lentils, Buckwheat and veggies

I wanted to make a nice stick to your ribs kind of dish and I had both lentils and roasted buckwheat, so here is what I put together:

1 large onion largely diced
2 carrots chopped
2 celery stalks diced
5 cloves of garlic diced

put all of this in a little olive oil in a pot until the celery and onions start to get tender.

Add 5 cups of water and 1 tbsp of mushroom bouillion powder (don't have that - use veggie boullion)
Add 1 1/2 tsp of Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 cup of red lentils
1/2 cup of lentils
1 cup of roasted buckwheat
1 can of diced tomatoes undrained

Heat over a medium heat until it starts to bubble and then lower to a simmer, cook until the lentils and buckwheat are tender.

Then add 2-3 pinches of salt and 4-5 grinds of black pepper

This was yummy

Cupcakes!

When I heard that Chloe Coscarelli (a vegan baker/chef) had won Cupcake Wars and that she had shared her award winning recipe with VegNews, I knew I had to try it. The first time I tried these I followed them exactly. This time I put my own spin on them - so here you have my modified version of her recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup - 1 cup chocolate soy milk (start with 3/4)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350

Sift the dry ingredients together, whisk the wet ingredients together and then whisk them all together. IF the mix seems too dry, slowly add more soy milk (up to 1/4 cup)

Place into paper cupcake liners inside a 12 slot cupcake pan. Fill each liner 3/4 full and bake for 17-20 minutes - until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are baking you can work on the filling.

1 Can of coconut milk (chilled)
1/2 bag vegan chocolate chips.

In a double boiler melt the chocolate chips.
Open the can of chilled coconut milk (dont' shake it). The coconut cream (the fat) will be solid on top. Scoop this out and put into a large bowl. If you get some of the coconut milk as well, that's fine.
To this add 1/4 cup agave nectar. Use a whisk and whip until small peaks start to form. Stir in the melted chocolate and continue to whisk until the chocolate cools. This then needs to be put in a cool pace until it starts to firm up (you won't want it hard, just firmer (more like a mousse or pudding).

Once the cupcakes are cool, use a pastry bag with a small tip and squirt the filling into each cupcake.

You can now make the chocolate glaze for the top.

the other 1/2 bag of vegan chocolate chips along with 1 tsp coconut oil in a double boiler until melted.

Using a spoon carefully pour this on the top of each cupcake. I then garnished with a little bit of sweetened shredded coconut.