Category Archive

At the beginning of this month I received an invitation from Jasmine, The Cardamom Addict to take part in a blogging event that she was co-hosting with The Domestic Goddess: Mmm…Canada.

The Mmmm…Canada event is being held to coincide with Canada Day, July 1st, and being a proud Canuck, I jumped at the chance to participate. The Cardamom Addict would be taking submissions for savoury treats while The Domestic Goddess would be handling all things sweet. The name of the game is to present something either sweet or savoury that is quintessentially Canadian. I decided to do both.

First up, something savoury.

The first order of business was to brainstorm about Canadian cuisine, ruminate about all the good foods that I grew up with. I thought of a million and one delicious possibilities to be sure before finally deciding on the Montreal Bagel. With that decision made it was time to find the right recipe. With a little looking around online I found a very respectable recipe for the Montreal Bagel in the New York Times of all places. It was actually somewhat of an ode to the Montreal Bagel - the recipe is accompanied by a great article about the Montreal Bagel’s history.

There is a history of friendly (and not so friendly) competition between the New York Bagel and the Montreal Bagel. The Times article points out that a Montreal Bagel is essentially made like the New York bagels of old - they have a shared history, made in the tradition of the Old Country from whence their makers came before settling in the New World.

A Montreal Bagel is the kind of bagel I really love. It is soft and chewy on the inside, with a delightful hint of sweetness that makes it irresistible and downright difficult to stop at one - so it’s a good thing that they are traditionally made on the small side. Well, they’re smallish when compared to their usually swollen, often gargantuan modern day counterparts.

I recently discovered that I absolutely love working with dough, so I set about the task of making these bagels with glee. This was despite the fact that I had never made bagels, or anything remotely resembling bagels or their bread cousins, before. The first step would be to make the appropriate substitutions since I would be making a vegan version - flax meal with water plus plain soy yogurt in place of the eggs and, if not using honey, agave syrup. I also increased the yeast (I recently learned that it is advisable to increase your leavening agent when omitting eggs). My adapted recipe looks like this:

Montreal Bagels:

1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
2 packages + 1/2 tsp quick-rising, instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp flax meal
3 tbsp water
1/4 cup plain soy yogurt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp agave syrup (or 1/2 cup honey)
5 cups bread flour, plus extra for dusting (all-purpose flour, alternatively)
3 quarts water for boiling (I filled my largest pot with 4-5 inches of water)
1/3 cup malted barley syrup (for the boiling water)
Sesame or poppy seeds for sprinkling on top.

• In a small bowl, add the flax meal and 3 tbsp water and beat together until frothy, set aside.
• In a large bowl, blend the water, yeast, sugar and salt together. Stir in the oil and the agave syrup (or honey if using), add in the flax mixture and mix well.
• Add the flour and mix with a big wooden spoon until the dough is too stiff to mix by hand. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead to form a soft, pliable dough - about 5 to 7 minutes. Add a small bit more flour as needed to prevent dough from getting too sticky (don’t add too much though - just what you need to handle the dough relatively cleanly).

• When the dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with seran wrap.
• Let the dough rest approximately 20 minutes. Punch it down and divide into 18 portions.
• Pour the water into a large pot, add 1/3 cup malted barley syrup to the water and heat until boiling. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer while preparing the bagels.
• Shape the dough portions into bagel-like rings by elongating each portion into an 8- to 10-inch coil that is about 3/4-inch thick. Fold the ends over each other and give them a pinch. Then using flattened fingers, roll the ring gently back and forth over the seal to join it well. This locks the ends together and prevents them from opening up when boiled. Let the bagels rest for 15 minutes on a non-stick surface - I used my lightly floured counter.

• Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Bring the water back to a boil and remove the lid. Have bowls of poppy seeds and sesame seeds nearby.

• When the water is boiling, using a slotted spoon, add three bagels to the water. As they rise to the surface, turn them over, and let them boil an additional minute before removing them and quickly dipping them in either bowl of the seeds. My bagels seemed to float immediately, so I let them cook for about 1-2 minutes before flipping them and cooking for an additional minute on the other side. Continue boiling and dipping the bagels in batches of three until all have been done.
• Arrange the boiled bagels on a baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper), and bake until they are medium brown, approximately 25 minutes. Be sure to keep and eye on them though, and check them often after the ten minute mark. When they’re done, remove them from the oven and place on cooling rack. Once cooled, the bagels can be placed in a plastic bag, sealed and frozen.
• Yield: 18 bagels. NOTE: If not using the dough immediately it should be refrigerated after it has been kneaded. The bagels can be cooked up to a day later. Allow the dough to return to room temperature before proceeding.

Apart from my vegan substitutions, my version also differs from the recipe I was following with respect to baking temperature. The version I was following called for a 450F oven and was very specific about putting the baking pan of bagels on the lowest possible rack of the oven. It also calls for a baking time of 25 minutes.

Well. Let me tell you something. With my first batch of bagels, and after only ten minutes in the oven under these conditions, there was a distinct odour of burn in the air. At first I thought that perhaps a crumb or two at the bottom of the oven might be the source. But a peak at the bagels revealed that the edge of one at the very corner was already dark brown. How odd, I thought. And after only 10 of 25 minutes. I removed the pan from the oven and was met with black-bottomed bagels. Bottom rack position, my hiney. So the oven temp was quickly reduced and the subsequent batches baked on the customary middle rack position. Success, finally.

Despite that initial odorous setback, the bagels turned out very nicely indeed. They were so yummy in fact that even the burnt bottomed ones would not go wasted - we cut the bottoms of those babies off and ate every last bit of them up. My husband took a few to work and shared some bites with his co-workers. He returned home with his fellows’ declarations that I ‘make good bread’ and (my personal favourite), ‘is there anything she can’t do.’

I’d say these worked out well. Happy (early) Canada Day!

Be sure to check back on July 1st and click on the Mmm…Canada picture at the top of the post so you can see the full roundup of Canadian savoury cuisine on the Cardamom Addict’s site.

Next up, Mmm…Canada, sweet edition.

Today’s breakfast is brought to you by, you guessed it, My Sweet Vegan - yes, I’m on a roll with this book. All the other cookbooks are probably feeling very lonely and left out just about now.

Ah, french toast. Breakfast foods most definitely comprise some of my favourite culinary delights - pancakes, crepes, waffles, and french toast are all held in very high esteem in this house and heart. When I first went vegan I wrote about how I went into mourning for these hallowed breakfast treats but soon realized that there was a new world of alternative ways to create them awaiting me. I have already made awesome pancakes and crepes galore with delicious success. Today would be my first foray into french toast. All I can say is it was about time, and yum.

There are probably a million and one ways to make french toast - it’s a personal thing. Depending on what you like, you’ll use different spices or different bread. You may completely soak your slices, or merely coat the surface, etc, etc. When I used to make french toast in the past, no two batches were ever the same. For my first vegan batch I thought I’d defer to the judgment of someone who clearly knows more than I do, which brings me to Hannah’s version in My Sweet Vegan. After all, I’ve made several things from her book with a 100% success rate so I had faith that this would be a good place to start in the world of vegan french toast.

The beautiful aroma that wafted up from the mixture as I was putting it together kind of made me want to drink it straight up, I kid you not. It was that good. A little patience, albeit difficult, and 15 minutes later I was eating a lovely batch of french toast. It would have been marvelous with maple syrup but I opted for a lighter presentation with a small bit of powdered sugar.

I’m on a powdered sugar kick lately.

So I’m fairly green at the blogging thing and there are still many firsts being experienced along the way. I’ve come into contact with many interesting, talented, and creative people which is awesome. I joined the Daring Bakers which is forcing me to stretch my culinary muscle in the best creative way. I’ve come across my blog on the blogroll of some truly talented and accomplished bloggers which is an incredible honour and makes me smile huge and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well today I came across another first, and a great one at that. The culinary creative genius behind Speedbump Kitchen, and fellow Daring Baker, has done me the honour of using one of my recipes in the creation of what I can only describe as a cake masterpiece. We had both recently undertaken the Daring Baker challenge to make Opera Cake. When I saw the Speedbump Kitchen entry I just thought it was a thing of beauty - it was garnished with whimsical little marzipan bees, need I say more? Just gorgeous and incredibly inspiring. The creator of that marvelous cake visited my blog, came across my recent rustic coconut cake, and thought of incorporating it into an Opera cake for her adorable egg and dairy-sensitive kids.

Well that cake is made and all I can say is wow. And it has bees. So awesome. Well that’s it, my day is made. Look at the cake and bask in its glory.

By now I’ve dabbled with rice squares several times, each time with different results. I’ve changed up the nut butters and done them with or without chocolate. The critical variable for me (if a rice square can have a critical variable) has been the amount of brown rice syrup.

I am not a huge brown rice syrup fan. Okay, I am a fan in the sense that it is an all-natural sweetener, low GI, etc, all good things, yada yada yada. I am just not totally and completely in love with the taste straight up. This means that, for me, the syrup should never be the primary flavour in any given recipe. This is not a huge issue with the rice squares since the nut butter features strongly, particularly if peanut butter is used, but I digress - back to the rice syrup amount.

When I first tried my hand at making vegan rice squares I followed a recipe. I mis-transcribed the amount of brown rice syrup required and ended up making the squares using 3/4 cup instead of the 1-3/4 cups called for. At first I thought this was disastrous - my squares were a tad on the dry side and crumbled a bit when bitten into. I eventually remade the squares with the full 1-3/4 cups brown rice syrup. In a word, yuck. They were way too sweet and they didn’t stick together all that well at all.

So my initial error was actually a happy accident. I don’t like things too sweet so I immediately knew that the lesser amount of brown rice syrup was the way to go for me.

I recently remade the squares using 1 cup of brown rice syrup - more than enough. I would say that, based on your tastes, you could use either 3/4 cup or 1 cup. Using 1 cup will give you slightly softer, chewier, slightly sweeter results. Using 3/4 cup will give you crispier, not as sweet results.

The nut butter is completely interchangeable. Use whatever you love and have on hand. I’ve tried peanut, almond, and hazelnut so far. The hazelnut is particularly good with chocolate. I will soon give cashew and macadamia a whirl. You can make the squares with rice cereal alone or you can add extras in as you see fit.

For this batch I used organic crisped riced cereal, a 2:1 ratio of organic peanut to organic almond butter and a 1/2 cup of organic vegan chocolate chips. Instead of chocolate you could use carob, nuts or dried fruit. You can also increase the volume of these extras to a cup or more. Anything goes really. I’ve used almond slivers and rolled oats in the past with sweet results.

It’s a rice square free for all.

Crispy Rice Squares, version 37 (and counting):

• 1 box crispy brown rice cereal (regular sized box, approx. 7 cups)
• 3/4 cup or 1 cup brown rice syrup (more for softer, chewier - less for crispier)
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 3/4 cup nut butter (this batch is 2:1 ratio of peanut to almond)
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup something extra, e.g. chocolate chips, carob chips, nuts, oats, dried fruit, ad infinitum (this batch includes 1/2 cup chocolate chips)

1. lightly grease a 9x 13-inch pan or casserole dish with earth balance, oil, or cooking spray.
2. warm brown rice syrup and salt in skillet on medium heat until liquefied - stir in nut butter until combined, remove from heat.
3. place rice cereal in a large bowl - pour melted rice syrup and nut butter mixture over top.
4. use a large wooden spoon, or other firm utensil, and stir until combined.
5. if adding extras such as chocolate chips or nuts, add now to mixture and combine.
6. press mixture into prepared pan or dish and allow to cool approximately 1 hour.
7. cut into squares.

I was itching to make something sweet so I reached for my newest favourite cookbook, My Sweet Vegan, by Hannah Kaminsky. There are many, many things I’m longing to try in this fabulous tome of tasty treats - today I decided on the graham flour fig scones. Anything with the word graham in it has to be good.

I had never used graham flour before, or so I thought. I picked a bag up on a recent trip to my local organic market and set it aside until today. The description on the bag described the flour as similar to whole wheat, with a higher bran content. When I opened the bag the sweet aroma that hit me, in concert with the very coarse appearance of the flour, instantly told me that I have worked with this wonderful ingredient before. Just not on this side of the pond - but that is a story for another post.

Today is all about the scones.

The recipe is very straightforward to put together, as all in the book seem to be - I only wish it made more! I say this because they are exceedingly tasty and sure not to last very long at all in my house. The recipe yields four decent sized scones. I’m sure they’d be heavenly at breakfast, slightly toasted with a dab of Earth Balance buttery spread and some apricot jam - as if they’re going to last until breakfast.

Next time I’ll probably double the recipe and thus be more willing to share with others.

I decided to revisit the rustic coconut cake and try out that hunch I had to include either nutmeg or cardamom.

So I split my batter in two - I was happy to see that it splits very easily, no brainiac math required - and it fit quite nicely into two smaller 7-inch heart pans. The first time around I used a single 9-inch round.

I originally set out to determine which spice would make the tastier addition, nutmeg or cardamom - I wasn’t expecting to love both, but I did. I enjoyed both spicy additions so much that I could not declare a winner. I really love this cake - it’s a cinch to make and the flavour is simple but immensely satisfying. In truth, I have trouble keeping myself from eating too much of it (makes the best snack ever with a big cup of coffee). And it’s wonderful with just cinnamon too, so it really depends on personal taste more than anything else.

I’ve yet to try my savoury coconut cake experiment, but that would be next on the coconut to-do list.

Another spice variation I think would be grand is ginger, with some chopped candied ginger added to the mix. Mmmmm, that could be good indeed. Also, despite the fact that I’d categorize this cake as rustic, I think it would dress up quite nicely with a lovely coconut buttercream - it could even be made into a layer cake. Near future project idea.

I decorated with simple confectioner’s sugar again - don’t you just love powdered sugar? It’s so simple and pretty.

In my blogosphere travels I kept coming across various members of a mysterious group called the Daring Bakers and became increasingly intrigued with each blog entry perused. The Daring Bakers got their start in November 2006, founded by Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, and has since grown into a very large group as more cooks get into the kitchen. The idea behind DB is for everyone to bake the same recipe every month, keep it secret and post about it on the same day. You can see the full blogroll of the Daring Bakers here. I’m chuffed to say I have joined this highly esteemed, talented and friendly group and I’m especially happy to present my first DB challenge: Opera Cake.

I would also like to dedicate this month’s challenge to the Lance Armstrong Foundation LIVESTRONG initiative in the fight against cancer. This cause is very special to a DB member at the Winos and Foodies blog, and to all of us whose lives have been touched by cancer - we celebrate those who are fighting the good fight.

Since I would be baking vegan, making the Opera cake would prove to be the biggest baking challenge I’ve encountered so far (as laden with eggs and dairy as it is). Though daunting, it was an incredible learning experience. I have never deconstructed a recipe to the extent that I picked this one apart, nor have I done so much research and study on everything from stabilizers to thickeners. I felt like a naughty little kid let loose in the kitchen and a mad scientist all at once. I learned a lot. I had a ton of fun. Above all, my unexpected success with this baking project has given me the confidence to experiment and create more in my vegan kitchen. If I had any lingering doubts about vegan baking being restricting before this challenge, after making this cake I knew once and for all that baking vegan is no restriction at all. It’s about taking a different route to the same destination - learning to work with what may be unfamiliar ingredients and using those ingredients in unconventional ways. So much of baking is science and chemistry and baking vegan is about finding appropriate alternatives that act in chemically similar ways to the ingredients you need to replace in a recipe, things like eggs, dairy, and gelatin.

Armed with my lucky purple spatula I set out to conquer this beast of a cake.

After setting an oven mitt on fire, much trial and error and a whole lot of quality ingredients down the drain, I came up with recipes that worked for each and every element of the Opera Cake: The joconde (cake layers), the buttercream (the only butter in my version comes from hazelnuts), a mousse layer, and a ganache or glaze. Much leeway was granted with respect to flavourings for this challenge, the only stipulation being that the flavours and colours of the cake remain light. That meant no chocolate or coffee, which are the traditional Opera Cake flavours and, coincidentally, my two favourite things. Damn. However, if you take the time to look through the DB blog roll, I’m sure you will be as amazed and inspired as I was by all the different flavour combinations the talented DB-ers came up with in order to work within this framework.

The original recipe called for an almond joconde. Since I was already changing up the entire recipe anyway (veganizing all elements of the cake) and I had hazelnut meal on hand, I chose to do a hazelnut joconde. To go with it, I opted for a complimentary hazelnut buttercream, a chestnut mousse layer and a rum caramel glaze. The cake was then garnished with a darker rum caramel and candied hazelnuts. Note to self: skinning hazelnuts bites.

I made this cake over a three day period. The mousse was first up because I knew it would need to chill overnight at the minimum. With that successfully made, on the second day I moved on to the Hazelnut buttercream and the cake. As the cake was cooling I set about making the rum glaze and went on to assembly.

The opera cake was supposed to have three cake layers but since I made my layers particularly thin I decided to go for a fourth layer and a higher cake. I trimmed my three baked layers into squares and used two of the cutoffs to form a fourth square. The remaining cake cutoff was used to make a miniature round opera cake which I made using a 3-inch round cookie cutter.

The first cake layer is laid down and brushed with rum syrup. This is followed by half the buttercream. Then the second cake layer is laid down and brushed with rum syrup, followed by half of the remaining buttercream (a quarter of the original amount). The third cake layer is applied, brushed with rum syrup and followed by the remaining buttercream (again, amounting to a quarter of the remaining buttercream). You could alternatively split the buttercream three ways but I was going for the 50-25-25 split to add visual interest. The fourth cake layer is laid on top, brushed with rum syrup and then the big sloppy mess of a cake is put into the fridge for an hour to chill and firm up a bit. Then it was time to apply the mousse. That done, back in the fridge it went for three hours to firm up. Then the rum glaze was applied and the cake was returned to the fridge where the very scary looking monster remained overnight.

The next day I drizzled some contrasting rum glaze on top and trimmed the edges of the cake with a hot (dry) knife. I garnished slices with candied hazelnuts. Did I mention that skinning hazelnuts bites? I think I did, but it bares repeating - and it’s done.

Verdict - much to my surprise and delight, everyone who tasted the cake loved it and it didn’t last long despite the fact that is was HUGE. I’m always critical of my own creations so it’s hard to give an unbiased assessment. As a whole, my personal take is that the cake was a tad on the sweet side. Ok, a lot on the sweet side. After looking at much of what my fellow DB-ers came up with, many of whom used lovely light flavour combinations of, for example, lemon and various fruits, I am inspired to take this in a lighter, less sweet direction next time around.

Light flavoured, this cake is not. It is sweet, it is decadent, and it is best in small doses.

Above all, I was thrilled with the chestnut mousse, which worked out for me on my first try. I am completely enamoured with agar and what it can do. The mousse was delicious on its own and what was left over after cake assembly disappeared very fast. My next favourite thing had to be the hazelnut buttercream. This was also delicious and I know it will shine on a simple cake or cupcakes, an assertion I intend to put to the test very soon. In concert with the other components here it was probably the biggest culprit in upping the sweetness quotient - in retrospect, adding that fourth cake layer and thus an extra layer of buttercream probably tipped the sweetness balance into excess.

The hazelnut joconde - this was the element that went through the most iterations (and what also became the source of a lot of expensive supplies thrown out as I experimented with different combinations of ingredients). Although the cake as a whole worked very well, I’m not completely sold on the joconde on its own - and that’s always the true test for me. It was ok but I know it can be better. The texture of the cake was fabulous which I’ll take as a small victory. So many vegan cakes are far too dense for my liking, whereas, at the very least I thought I managed to make something somewhat delicate and airy. I learned a lot about how to use flax meal and soy flour in place of eggs but I’d like to do a little more tweaking before nailing down a final recipe version. For now, I’ll consider the joconde a work in progress.

I wanted to join the Daring Bakers to challenge myself and set these feet down on a new path. I’m psyched to see what challenge comes next. I’ve only just begun and I’ve already met some great, like-minded people: an amazing thing, the value of which can’t be underestimated. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me.

I originally had my recipes in the middle of this super long post but I’ve since moved them to the bottom here so they’re easier to peruse, enjoy.

~

Hazelnut Joconde:

2 tbsp flax meal
1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup hazelnut flour/meal
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup soy flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 1/4 cups plain soy milk
1/4 cup canola oil (or other mild oil like safflower or vegetable)
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or distilled white vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• In a small bowl, combine water and flax meal and beat with a fork until frothy - set aside.
• In another small bowl, combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar, whisk together and set aside.
• Add remaining dry ingredients to a medium bowl and delicately fold together until just combined.
• In a separate large bowl, place the soy milk mixture, oil, maple syrup and vanilla, and beat together until frothy.
• Return to flax mixture and agitate a bit before adding to wet mixture.
• Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture gradually in small amounts, mixing each time until just combined - do not over mix.
• Divide the batter between prepared pans (mine were lined with parchment paper on the bottom with the sides greased - I had enough batter to spread between 3 small 9.5″ x 13″ jelly roll pans. In order to achieve thin layers you need only JUST coat the bottom of the pan - you’ll need a spatula to drag the batter from one end to the other. Try to get the batter perfectly level from one corner to another or it will rise unevenly.
• Baking time will depend on your oven and the size of the pans you used - mine took about 20 mins, just check on them after 15 mins and lightly tap the top of one with your finger to see if it stays depressed or if it has some bounce. If it has a little bounce it’s ready - I also used a toothpick to check for doneness.
• When they’re done, put the pans on wire racks to cool - when I put my parchment in the pans, I left little tabs on each side sticking up so I could use them to lift the cake out of the pan on to the rack to cool completely. I would let them cool in the pans first for at least 20 - 30 minutes, then very carefully transfer to racks. You may need to run a knife around the cake first.
• Heads up - being so thin, the cake is super fragile and breaks very easily - handle with care. Flipping the layers over to remove the parchment paper is a bit tricky.

~

Hazelnut Buttercream:

1 cup Earth Balance, room temperature (or other dairy-free, vegan buttery spread)
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp hazelnut butter

• Combine brown sugar and water and heat until sugar starts to dissolve - about one minute. Set aside to cool.
• In a large bowl, beat Earth Balance and confectioner’s sugar until light and creamy.
• Add brown sugar mixture and incorporate.
• Add hazelnut butter and incorporate.

~

Chestnut Mousse:

3 tbsp agar flakes
2 tbsp arrowroot
1 cup plain soy milk + 3 tbsp
3 tbsp dark rum
1/2 cup sweetened chestnut puree (mine was already sweetened with sugar and vanilla)
3 x 4.4oz individual Belsoy vanilla pudding cups (organic soy pudding)

• Place agar in saucepan with 1 cup soy milk and allow to soak for at least 15 minutes (no heat yet).
• In a very small bowl, add arrowroot and 3 tbsp soy milk and stir rapidly with a fork to get rid of any lumps - set aside.
• In food processor, add pudding cups, chestnut puree, and rum - process until smooth and creamy.
• After agar has been soaking for 15 minutes, cover saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir vigorously, cover again and set aside for 4 minutes. Return to stove and simmer over low heat, stirring continually for a further 4 minutes to allow agar to dissolve (there may be a few specks of agar undissolved).
• Go back to the bowl with the arrowroot and stir again with a fork - try to smash any stubborn lumps and use fork to lift out any remaining small lumps that refuse to dissolve. Add arrowroot mix to simmering agar and stir vigorously. Mixture will thicken immediately. As soon as you see bubbles start to break the surface remove from heat and do not stir anymore (allowing to boil too long or stirring once boiled will collapse your volume).
• Add agar-arrowroot mixture to chestnut mixture in food processor and pulse a few times until just combined.
• Transfer to bowl, cover with seran wrap and place in refridgerator to chill overnight.

~

Rum Glaze:

1/2 cup butter
1/8 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dark rum

• Melt butter in saucepan.
• Stir in water, then sugar.
• Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat and stir in rum.
• Allow to cool slightly.
• Pour and smooth over top of cake.

~

Rum Syrup:

1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp dark rum

• Stir everything together in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Use pastry brush to apply glaze to joconde layers.

~

Candied Hazelnuts:

Whole hazelnuts (skinning optional)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

• Bring water and sugar to a boil and add nuts.
• Simmer for 15 minutes, drain and let nuts dry on wax paper on a cooling rack.

I’ve been tinkering in the kitchen a lot lately - there’s been a whole lot of vegan experimenting going on.

This coconut cake is the most recent thing to come out of the oven. If there’s one thing I truly love, it’s coconut. Okay, truth be told, there are many flavours that I hold in high esteem, but coconut is definitely up there on the list with olives - now is not the time to discuss olives, I digress. I was happy with how this little cake turned out. It’s a delicious, if rustic, slice of hearty coconut goodness - and it’s dairy-free, egg-free, and 100% vegan. Who needs eggs when you have flax meal? I could make my own by grinding up flax seeds but I’m incredibly lazy. I like to buy my flax seeds already ground in a convenient bag and store it in the fridge for safekeeping.

I used cinnamon this time around but plan on trying nutmeg or cardamom on my next go. The cinnamon adds an extra note of sweetness, speaking of which - I could easily reduce the sugar and take this cake in a more savoury direction with some minor tweaking like omitting the cinnamon and adding something like sage. Gasp.

Here it is, fellow eaters and coconut lovers:

Rustic Coconut Cake

2 tbsp flax meal
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water
2-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sugar
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg or cardamom (optional)
1 cup plain soy milk
1/2 cup plain soy yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup earth balance, melted (or other vegan buttery spread)
powdered sugar

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Prepare a 9″ round baking pan - line bottom with parchment paper and grease and flour sides.
• In a small bowl mix flax meal and water and beat with a fork until frothy. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, measure flour, coconut, baking powder, sugar, and spices - fold gently until just combined.
• In a medium bowl, measure soy milk, soy yogurt, and vanilla. Take flax meal and water mixture and beat again slightly before adding to soy milk mixture. Whisk wet ingredients together until frothy.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and fold gently, until just combined. Incorporate melted butter, folding until just combined - do not over mix.
• Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake for 1 hr 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean and top bounces back when lightly depressed.
• Cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to rack to cool completely.
• Dust with powdered sugar.
• Eat.

The recipe splits very easily into a half portion if your preference is for a smaller cake (I used two 7-inch heart pans the second time around). I’ve tried adding nutmeg and cardamom, as well as using cinnamon alone, and each version was lovely. This cake achieves excellent loft, has a sweet, delicate flavour, and strikes a good textural balance between a cake and bread-like consistency - and there’s always that other measure of success: fast diminishing quantities.

I’ve always enjoyed pudding. Since transitioning to a vegan diet, I hadn’t had any pudding - until yesterday.

Yesterday I set about hatching some kitchen experiments with pudding in mind. It goes without saying that I’ve always loved chocolate so this seemed like the logical flavour to go for.

I have tried many a vegan recipe for ‘cream’ topping, the pale, tofu-based sort, meant to approximate cool whip or whipped cream. I have always embarked on making these with great anticipation but, regretfully, have always been disappointed. It’s the tofu I think - it’s just not neutral enough of a base for me for such delicate flavours. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big tofu fan - it just falls short in this area in the humble opinion of my palate. I have tried blanching the tofu to remove some of its inherent beaniness but I still find that subtle flavours are not adequate enough to supersede the tofu-ness.

So I was thinking something like tapioca might make a great pudding base, which could then be flavoured with chocolate or something else. Tapioca has its own flavour of course, lovely as it is - and I’ll take the taste of tapioca in my dessert over tofu any day. Tapioca was nowhere to be found in my pantry however so what to do in its stead? I had an awful lot of tofu in the fridge. Hmmm. I grabbed a package of silken tofu (drained) and blanched it for 5 minutes for good measure. After letting it cool I tossed it in the food processor.

Time to put the thinking cap on.

I had my heart set on chocolate. I had no actual chocolate on hand but I did have cocoa so out of the pantry it came. Normally I’d aim to sweeten this concoction with maple syrup or agave nectar - but fearing an expensive culinary failure I opted for plain old sugar (bone char free). A little pulse here, a dash of that there. Oh tofu, you still want to make your presence known. When I had made the mélange as chocolatey as it could possibly be I knew I still needed something more to add to the mix. What compliments chocolate and has a good strong flavour of its own?…my gaze wandered about the kitchen…aha, banana. I tossed my last banana into the processor with the chocolate tofu and blended until very smooth and creamy.

I turned the pudding into some glass bowls and tossed them into the fridge to cool. An hour later I had some decent chocolate pudding, who knew? Next time around I’ll try melting some actual chocolate in lieu of cocoa and try sweetening with maple syrup. I’m still determined to figure out how to make a delicately flavoured vegan cool whip.

I’ll get back to you with that one.

A good while back I came across a recipe for Crispy Brown Rice Squares on Rachael Ray’s site, offered up by celebrity vegan Alicia Silverstone. They looked healthy, simple and interesting so I jotted the recipe down and put it aside ages ago. This lazy Sunday I finally got around to giving it a try.

I used organic brown rice cereal, organic brown rice syrup, organic peanut butter and a pinch of sea salt. These simple four ingredients comprise the recipe, with the option to add carob chips. I didn’t have carob chips on hand but I did have organic vegan chocolate chips so I used them instead.

The recipe was a cinch to throw together - so much so that I didn’t even bat an eye when I discovered that I was one cup of cereal short. I simply subbed one cup of rolled oats to make up the dry volume. At first, as I was liquefying the rice syrup and peanut butter on the stove, I wasn’t expecting that I’d like the end result - I didn’t much care for the scent that was wafting up from these two elements warming together.

I pressed on.

After combining the wet ingredients with the dry it was time to press the mixture into the pan. I panicked briefly when I realized that I’d forgotten to grease the pan first, but the squares still came out without a hitch after cooling. I used a glass pan so perhaps that helped matters.

The squares were a teensy bit crumbly as I was cutting them. At first I thought this was due to my not so clever choice of a butter knife to do the cutting. On closer inspection of the recipe however I realized that I had made somewhat of a transcription boo boo - notably my measure of 3/4 cup brown rice syrup in lieu of the 1 3/4 cups called for.

Good grief, no wonder the squares didn’t stick to the pan.

Given that error I’m amazed the squares stuck together as well as they did. Next time around I’ll increase the rice syrup but I think I might reduce the amount called for just a bit and find a happier medium - I think I can get away with using less.

Despite my on the fly substitutions and transcription mayhem the squares turned out great. Very tasty and filling - I will definitely make these again. I’m not sure how carob would feature against the very prominent peanut-iness, but the chocolate complemented it quite nicely. Is it possible to go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter? I think not. One thing is certain - hubby will be brown bagging crispy brown rice square snacks for the next few days.

Update: I’ve since remade the squares, this time using the full 1-3/4 cup brown rice syrup called for (I had initially misread the recipe and used only 3/4 cup). Well, I prefer my mess-up - with less rice syrup. 1-3/4 cups was way too sweet and gooey for my taste. I’m thinking no more than 1 cup rice syrup would be more than adequate - I’m currently experimenting on my own variation and will post when done.

So many of the food and beverage choices at our disposal today are quietly pervaded by animal products - and wine, beer and spirits are no different.

Apart from the obvious inclusion of cream or eggs in some libations, animal products primarily make their appearance in the filtering or fining (clarifying) stage of alcohol production - not dissimilar from some sugar refining. In fact, as with some sugar, bone char is often used to filter spirits. Other filtering agents used in the making of some wines and beer include isinglass (derived from fish), gelatin (animal bones), egg whites, and clay. Wine in some countries may still be fined (clarified) using blood which was once a commonplace practice, although this is now illegal in the U.S and France. Trace elements of these fining or filtering agents are left in the beverage. For most of those against the use of animal products the fact that they are being used at all is reason enough to want to avoid certain products.

What can you do if you want to avoid alcohol that has been filtered using animal bits?

The best thing to do is write a polite email or call the customer service department of the makers of the wine, beer, spirits, etc that you’re interested in and enquire.

My personal favourite is red wine - unfortunately for me I have a huge sensitivity to sulphites and tanins, a.k.a big headache makers. Hearing that it was made with less of these nasties, I started looking to organic wine. My first organic wine purchase consisted of three varieties from an Italian vineyard, the Botter Family. After approaching the vineyard with my questions they sent me confirmation that their organic line was in fact vegan. The three wines are each named after one of the Botter siblings - they are:

• Botter Alex Sangiovese - light ruby red colour; aromas and flavours of fresh red berry fruit, plum and herbs; dry, light to medium bodied with vibrant acidity and hints of spice.
• Botter Anna Pinot Grigio Chardonnay - pale straw colour; slightly floral nose with notes of citrus, melon and almond paste; dry, light to medium bodied, soft and flavourful.
• Botter Luca Nero D’Avola - light purple red colour; aromas and flavours of cherry and blackberry with hints of chocolate; dry, medium bodied, soft and fruit driven style.

The Alex Sangiovese is now discontinued near me unfortunately, but perhaps it’s still available elsewhere. I keep the white, Anna Pinot Grigio Chardonnay, on hand for guests and for cooking - but my absolute hands down favourite is the Luca Nero D’Avola, a rich dark red. All three sell for about $12, so jackpot.

They also come in aseptic tetrapaks so they’re very easily recyclable. What I really love about the tetrapaks is that, as you use up the wine, you can squeeze the extra air out before capping it which keeps the wine fresher longer - not that it’s going to last that long because it tastes so damn good.

There are some great online resources that will identify some vegan wine, beer and spirits for you - like Taste Better!’s Vegan Booze List.

Salute.

The sugar saga continues. See my original post regarding the use of bone char in the Canadian sugar industry for the backstory.

The Canadian Sugar Institute addressed my enquiry about their website content today.

This is what they wrote:

Thank you for contacting the Canadian Sugar Institute with your comments regarding an inaccurate statement on our website. While it is true that resins are now the most widely used filtering agent for sugar cane refining in Canada, you are correct that Rogers Sugar does in fact use bone char (an animal product) in its Vancouver refinery as part of the filtering process. Redpath Sugar and Lantic Sugar do not use bone char.

The accuracy of the information given to the public is taken very seriously at the Canadian Sugar Institute. Please be assured that this misinformation was an oversight on our part and that it was not our intent to mislead the public on this issue. We intend to clarify this issue by correcting the information on the website as quickly as possible.

It is important to note as well that while bone char can be used in the filtering process of sugar cane, sugar is a natural plant product and no residues from bone char will remain in the final purified sugar. There is no animal material present in the sugar that we consume.

Thank you again for your helpful comments.

I’m very pleased with their response - bravo to them for taking the steps to correct their mistake.

The information they provided in their response regarding Lantic’s non-bone char status conflicts with Lantic’s website (which indicates that they DO use bone char). This may be due to the fact that Rogers now owns Lantic and the Lantic site is merely a reflection of the Rogers site (Rogers USES bone char). On closer inspection of the Rogers and Lantic sites one can see that their FAQ sections are in fact identical (including question #5 which makes reference to the use of bone char).

I believe that The Canadian Sugar Institute is being truthful in their response to me despite what Lantic’s site is saying about itself. This would indicate that Lantic is bone char free along with Redpath.

So yay for Redpath and Lantic and boo on Rogers.

With awareness of global warming on the rise, an interesting bit of information is unfolding along with it - meat consumption, along with egg and dairy, is the primary cause.

Animal agriculture affects climate change and air pollution more than any other single source. In fact, according to the United Nation’s massive report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, eliminating animal products from our diet would have a bigger impact on global warming than taking every single plane, train and automobile off the road, hummers and all. In short, the best and most immediate way for us to reduce the emissions that cause global warming is for people to adopt a vegan diet.

With billions of farm animals raised on factory farms annually, and billions upon billions of pounds of feed being produced to feed them, the impact on the planet is severe. Animal agriculture plays a significant role in climate change and air pollution, water depletion and pollution, and has a significant impact on biodiversity.

According to the United Nation’s report, animal agriculture has the following impact on air pollution:

• the CO2 equivalent of the livestock industry’s current contribution to climate change is 18%
• currently accounts for 9% of Carbon Dioxide emissions, and climbing.
• currently accounts for 35-40% of Methane emissions
• currently accounts for 65% of Nitreous Oxide emissions
• currently accounts for 64% of Ammonia emissions

Animal agriculture, including the meat, egg, and dairy industries, also has a significant impact on water depletion and pollution. This sector currently exceeds 8% of total global water use. This is a significant figure, especially in light of the increasing scarcity of fresh water in many places in the world, California for example.

Additionally, animal agriculture significantly impacts biodiversity through its direct effect on greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, water pollution, deforestation, and overfishing. Consider that 26% of the terrestrial surface is used for grazing, up to 70% of which is already considered degraded, and 33% of arable land is used for feed-crop cultivation.

In the meantime the world is entering a food crisis. The cost of food for human consumption is on the rise because increasing demand for grains, corn needed for ethanol production for example, is exceeding supply. The human population is growing, along with its appetite for meat. There is simply not enough to go around. It is now costing farmers more to feed the farm animals than they are receiving for the meat in return. The livestock industry is not a sustainable one. If consumers don’t start to change their thinking and move away from heavy meat consumption, the Earth’s resources will simply be used up.

The status quo cannot be maintained, whether people like it or not.

People are becoming more aware every day of the power they have as individuals to make a difference. They recycle and compost, they choose to use reusable cloth bags over plastic, they conserve water and install energy-efficient light bulbs. More and more people are opting to use public transit or more fuel efficient cars. Many are choosing to buy local or organic produce and eschewing the use of pesticides and chemicals. As much as all of these things help, nothing has as big of a positive environmental impact as choosing to adopt a vegan (best) or vegetarian (better) diet.

You can start with small steps. Commit to just one vegan day a week or even just one meal to start with. If everyone committed to having just one vegan or vegetarian meal per week, that alone would have a huge impact. According to an estimation by Environemental Defense Fund, if every American ate one meat-free meal per week that would be the equivalent of taking 5 million cars of the road - and if that same group went meat-free for one week, that would be the same as eliminating 8 million cars.

It’s such an attainable solution to a very serious problem. In addition to the multitude of wonderful vegan cookbooks out there, their are countless free resources on the internet. Check out some of the spectacular vegan food blogs out there - there are many wonderful ones in the Blogroll on this site, and countless others. Have fun with it - see the diversity of food available to you. I never ate such a diverse and healthy diet as I did once I made the decision to go vegan.

We can make a difference.

Happy Earth Day!

UPDATE: In my previous post I reported on the use of bone char in the Canadian sugar industry. In that post I shared information regarding the big three sugar companies in Canada. At the time of that writing I had received confirmation that two of the three, Rogers Sugar and Lantic Sugar, currently use bone char in their refining process.

I’m very happy to report that Toronto based Redpath Sugar responded to my enquiry with excellent news - they do NOT use bone char in their refining process, opting instead to use more modern methods.

I’ll be buying Redpath.

Still no word from the Canadian Sugar Institute regarding the egregious error on their site.

I’m not usually the pugnacious sort, except in instances where I perceive an ethical wrong. I certainly felt a strong spur to dole out some objurgation this time round.

Not too long ago I wrote about my own personal discovery of the use of bone char in the sugar industry. After that enlightenment I switched to the Wholesome Sweeteners line of sugars which is certified vegan, organic and bone char free. That said, I was curious about the vegan status of sugar in Canada so I decided to do some research into the Canadian sugar industry and see what the deal was with the use of bone char here.

There are three main Canadian sugar companies: Rogers, Lantic (owned by Rogers), and Redpath.

I started with Rogers Sugar first. I also wrote to the Toronto Vegetarian Association, knowing them to be ever knowledgeable and helpful. In a simple internet search I came up with abundant information that indicated Rogers Sugar used bone char in its cane sugar refinery in Vancouver, British Columbia. Rogers also operates a beet sugar refinery in Taber, Alberta. It is my understanding that beet sugar does not require carbon filtration in its refining and thus bone char is not an issue with beet sugar. In my enquiry to Rogers I also enquired about the availability of the Taber beet sugar in the Toronto market.

I also came across a site that purports to be the authority on the sugar industry in Canada, The Canadian Sugar Institute. I visited their contact page and dropped them a line, asking if they could identify for me any Canadian sugar companies that did not use bone char.

Soon the responses to some of my enquiries started coming in.

First up, Rogers Sugar. The Rogers rep informed me that the Taber beet sugar was regretfully not available to the Toronto market and was sold only in Western Canada. He did happily tell me, however, that the Lantic cane sugar refinery in Montreal (owned by Rogers) did not employ the use of bone char and was available in Toronto. Happy Times, right? Not quite.

Next up, I received a series of communications from the Toronto Vegetarian Association. They had made enquiries on my behalf to each of the big three. Additionally, they provided me with information that confirmed not only that Rogers used bone char, but Lantic used it as well. Either the Rogers rep is misinformed or Lantic’s own website (where the information is clearly laid out in black and white) is inaccurate. The fun didn’t stop there.

I decided to take a closer look at the many-layered Canadian Sugar Institute site. Lo and behold, buried deep in a Q & A section I happened upon a startling bit of misinformation.

In the section titled Nutritional Information Service, subsection, From Field to Table, sub-subsection Sugar Production, there is a question and answer that appears as follows (emphasis mine):

Are animal products used in the sugar filtering process?
No. All sugar sold in Canada must be purified through a series of steps, including filtering, before it is packaged and distributed. Beet sugar is filtered through diatomaceous earth; whereas resins are used in cane sugar refining; both of which are not of animal origin.

Excuse me? did I just read an emphatic answer of no to the question of whether animal products are used in the sugar filtering process in Canada? Since when is bone char, made from the crushed bones of cows, not of animal origin? Knowing their statement to be an absolute falsehood I wrote to The Canadian Sugar Institute to let them know about their error. We’ve already found evidence indicating that two of the big three Canadian sugar companies use bone char - this is certain (as of this writing I cannot attest to the bone char status of the third company, Redpath, but will update when I confirm). Just sloppiness?

People look to entities such as The Canadian Sugar Institute as an authority on the subject and here they are presenting false information. Indeed, when I visited the Redpath sugar site, at the bottom of their Sugar FAQ section they encourage visitors seeking more information to visit The Canadian Sugar Institute site. Point made.

As of this writing I have received no response from the Canadian Sugar Institute and their site stands as it was.

April 21 - Update: I’m very happy to report that Toronto based Redpath Sugar responded to my enquiry with excellent news - they do NOT use bone char in their refining process, opting instead to use more modern methods.

April 24 - Update: The Canadian Sugar Institute addressed my enquiry about their website content today. This is what they wrote:

Thank you for contacting the Canadian Sugar Institute with your comments regarding an inaccurate statement on our website. While it is true that resins are now the most widely used filtering agent for sugar cane refining in Canada, you are correct that Rogers Sugar does in fact use bone char (an animal product) in its Vancouver refinery as part of the filtering process. Redpath Sugar and Lantic Sugar do not use bone char.

The accuracy of the information given to the public is taken very seriously at the Canadian Sugar Institute. Please be assured that this misinformation was an oversight on our part and that it was not our intent to mislead the public on this issue. We intend to clarify this issue by correcting the information on the website as quickly as possible.

It is important to note as well that while bone char can be used in the filtering process of sugar cane, sugar is a natural plant product and no residues from bone char will remain in the final purified sugar. There is no animal material present in the sugar that we consume.

Thank you again for your helpful comments.

I’m very pleased with their response - bravo to them for taking the steps to correct their mistake.

The information they provided in their response regarding Lantic’s non-bone char status conflicts with Lantic’s website (which indicates that they DO use bone char). This may be due to the fact that Rogers now owns Lantic and the Lantic site is merely a reflection of the Rogers site (Rogers USES bone char). On closer inspection of the Rogers and Lantic sites one can see that their FAQ sections are in fact identical (including question #5 which makes reference to the use of bone char).

I believe that The Canadian Sugar Institute is being truthful in their response to me despite what Lantic’s site is saying about itself. This would indicate that Lantic is bone char free along with Redpath.

So yay for Redpath and Lantic and boo on Rogers.

So the first of two birthday celebrations has come and gone. Poor hubby - he got the short end of the stick with this one. Let’s just say I came up a little short with all my lofty vegan dinner plans for his birthday. In the spirit of sharing, this is how the day went.

My original menu plan included Dreena Burton’s Olive Oregano Wine Baked Tofu and Fran Costigan’s Coconut Cloud Layer Cake with accompanying Island Coconut Cream Filling & Frosting, from More Great Good Dairy-free Desserts - none of which I have ever made before. Let the mishaps begin.

My first error was neglecting to pick up a bottle of white wine for Dreena’s dish. This is disappointing, especially since I’d already picked up the special olives and grapes for the occasion. No biggie. I decide to make Veganomicon’s Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry instead. I now turn my attention to the coconut cake. For this recipe I had thought I was well armed with all of the many ingredients needed and I was, save for one: coconut extract. There was no getting around this one unless I wanted to switch cakes. I generally don’t think it’s a good idea to omit or substitute ingredients when making something for the first time so I had little choice other than to head out into the world to find some coconut extract. Store number one, strike. Store number two, strike. Store number three, strike. Ninety precious minutes later at store number four, jackpot. Coconut extract in hand, I race back home. It is now after 1pm. Guests are set to arrive for dinner at 5pm. The icing for the cake requires 6 hours of chilling time to set. This is not good.

Stubbornly, I continue with my plan to make the coconut cake. The recipe says that the tofu can be pureed in either a blender or a food processor. I hadn’t yet opened my new food processor because I was unsure as to whether I had chosen the right sized machine (I picked up the 7-cup Kitchenaid model) and so hadn’t committed 100% to keeping it. So I chose the blender. It didn’t take long to see that my blender is clearly inadequate for the purposes of pureeing tofu which just sat on top of the blade, refusing to drop down and blend. I then painstakingly scraped out all that carefully measured tofu and transferred it into the now unpacked new food processor (guess I’m keeping it now). Now we’re blending - great, processor work’s like a charm. After adding the 27 or so other ingredients we now have a new problem: we are filled to the top of our 7-cup capacity container. This is obviously at odds with the clearly marked capacity line which sits about halfway up said bowl. At this point I’m not feeling too confident that those last few pulses are really combining the delicate ingredients as they should be. I put the icing mixture in a bowl, cover it up and throw it into the fridge to chill. It is now 3:15pm. It is painfully clear that there will be no cake today.

It is 3:15pm and dinner has not been started. Mom, sister, and grandmother are set to arrive at 5pm. I contemplate my next move while licking the spoon from the coconut icing bowl - taste’s awesome, incidentally. In a panic I decide to pare dinner way down to basics. No time for new and unfamiliar dishes so the Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry is out the window. I turn to what has already become an old standby, Veganomicon’s Chickpea Cutlets. At this point I am so tired and frustrated I am tempted to throw the cutlets onto some naked plates unaccompanied - but there are potatoes on hand so why not give Veganomicon’s Lemony Roasted Potatoes a whirl. They only require 35 minutes of baking time after all. Bonus.

The Chickpea Cutlets are whipped up with Hubby’s very necessary assistance (cooking his own birthday dinner, how sad) and the Lemony Roasted Potatoes are assembled and thrown into the oven. Guests are arrived and waiting. Cutlets are finally done. When it’s time to take the potatoes out I discover I’ve made a critical omission - I have neglected to cover them tightly with foil and they are nowhere near cooked. Hubby distracts the crowd with some bread and an olive tapenade while I cover the potatoes with foil and throw them back in the oven - what’s another twenty minutes when your already an hour and a half late with dinner. This gives my grandmother extra time to notice my plants need dusting.

At approximately 6:30pm dinner is served. The two savoury dishes are well received. My sister requests a repeat of the potatoes for her upcoming birthday. There is no dessert.

After a day of rest I intend to revisit the Coconut Cake - the icing is now well chilled.

Today we enjoyed leftovers of Chickpea Cutlets and Lemony Roasted Potatoes.

In a bid to expand my arsenal of vegan friendly sweeteners I picked up some barley malt syrup for the first time yesterday. First impression - I love its thick, honey-like consistency and sweetness. The hint of malt makes me imagine just how great it must be in baked goods. I’m thinking something spicy. There is much potential there. I will experiment and report back.

Speaking of baking - in an effort to challenge myself I have officially signed up to be a Daring Baker. Gulp. Look out for future posts in this regard. My first challenge will be in May.

In my quest to separate my sister from artificial sweeteners I also picked up another new sweetener at the natural food shop - Organic Zero made by Wholesome Sweeteners. This product is made from organic sugar. Its single ingredient, organic Erythritol, is described as highly digestible and naturally occurring in fermented foods, fruits and vegetables. A little research reveals it to be in the family of sugar alcohols. I’ve read that some have significant digestive difficulties with Xylitol, another sugar alcohol. In the (albeit limited) reading I’ve done on the topic, studies seem to indicate that Erythritol is much more easily tolerated in this regard. It is represented as being 70% as sweet as sugar so in testing it I increased my usual scant teaspoon by about 50%.

Impressions - for something that has no calories and a glycemic index of zero I was pretty happy with how it tasted. It doesn’t have an aftertaste like Stevia and I found that it behaved in pretty much the same way as sugar. It dissolved quickly, added no colour to my tea and sweetened it more than adequately. It’s a little on the pricey side - I paid about $10 for a box of 35 packets at my local natural food store - but surely it’s a better choice than artificial sweetener.

Hopefully my sister will agree and leave go that pack of aspartame for good.

Today I tried making vegan crêpes for the first time. I was raised on traditional crêpes so I was reticent about how these might turn out sans milk and egg. Enter the talented Dreena Burton and her cheerful tome, Eat, Drink, & be Vegan and her recipe for Breakfast Crêpes, et voilà - fabulicious results. I like my crêpes paper thin so I was quite happy that the batter obliged me in this regard. It struck the perfect balance between neither falling apart nor becoming in any way rubbery. The flax meal gave the batter such a sweet scent that I had to taste it more than a few times while I was standing in front of the stove. The flax also added some unexpected crispiness and a subtle nutty flavour to the crêpes which was also quite nice. For those with wheat aversions this recipe uses spelt flour - an added bonus for those with food sensitivities. Dreena’s recipe calls for fresh fruit as a filling, which I’m sure would have been amazing had I had any fruit on hand. Instead I used two different fruit spreads, strawberry rhubarb and apricot, and it was still heavenly. I shall turn my attention to pancakes next.

Some more evidence that my cookbook obsession knows no bounds - three more are on their way:

• Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein
• More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan
• Vice Cream by Jeff Rogers

Hubby picked Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen from my wish list of ten or so badly wanted vegan tomes. His interests lie in the savoury department while I remain obsessed with making cake and ice cream. There is a very intriguing recipe for green tea ice cream in Veganomicon that I intend to pair with Dreena’s 5-Spice Almond Cookies in ED&BV. I am determined to make ice cream sandwiches for our upcoming birthday party. I picked up my Matcha green tea powder on a recent trip to the natural food store (expensive stuff!) so I’m ready to rock. I haven’t entirely committed to a birthday cake but it’s looking more and more like it might be coconut.

Behold, today’s brunch.

Today I made Veganomicon’s Chickpea Cutlets for the second yummiful time. The first time I followed the recipe to the letter and used the pan fry option. Very yum. This time around I substituted chili pepper for paprika, because I was out of the red stuff, and I added green onions. This time I used the oven bake method. Well they turned out awesome. They were a little on the spicy side but I really like the extra heat from the chili pepper - it gives it a little extra somethin somethin. I’ll just cut back a bit next time round. The green onions were also a huge hit with both hubby and myself. They added a delicious flavour and a lovely shot of colour to the mix. I served them up with broccoli and mushrooms. Mucho bene.

I also really preferred the baking method over frying. It takes a little longer but you don’t have to spend that time standing in front of the stove which actually works out to be more convenient. There’s also the added bonus of using much less oil and thus less fat. I am a huge fan of these cutlets. I see many flavour variations in their culinary future. They are undoubtedly awesome unadulterated yet they also lend themselves quite well to being added too. Red peppers? Mushrooms? Leeks? My ravenous imagination is in overdrive.

Behold, today’s lunch.

Joy of joys, Angel Food, the makers of the excitedly anticipated vegan marshmallow kit, have instituted PayPal and my kit is on its way from New Zealand! I’ll be sure to write a follow-up post attesting to their greatness. I can certainly attest to Angel Food’s swift and friendly customer service.

Forgive the spare posts of late - I am suffering from a pinched nerve in my neck which has basically immobilized me. I still can’t turn left. I’m moving around rather ineptly and somewhat like a stiff 50’s B-movie robot. It’s not pretty.

On a fabulous note I have found my digital camera which had recently gone AWOL - so I’ll be augmenting these posts which some nice eye candy in no time. I’ve also stocked my pantry fairly well and have started to delve into Veganomicon, and Eat, Drink, and be Vegan - now that the camera is back I can start documenting my vegan travels.

I recently got into a tempestuous argument over the useful shelf-life of garlic - a serious argument. I was asked to leave the kitchen.

My experience with garlic has always been that, sure, while it’s best used as soon as possible as most things are, it has some shelf-longevity in it. I know that if some green sprouts appear that those taste bitter. If it dries out and shrivels up, that’s not particularly appealing. But if it’s none of these things - if it’s been on the counter for a few weeks and remains nicely formed, firm and intact, why can’t I use it? Hubby would have me toss all that perfectly good garlic into the compost. He also thinks that if an apple has a spot on it it’s gone off - and he has to remove more than several of the outer layers of any leafy green. Neurotic - or sensible? Am I cavalier with the vegetables?

All this talk about vegetable safety got me thinking about organic versus non-organic produce. I’ve made a concerted effort to include more fresh produce in my diet of late. Where before it maybe wasn’t too difficult to buy mostly organic - today, with my fridge literally stuffed with produce, it’s becoming a bit more of an issue for my wallet. I picked up strawberries at the market the other day, the non-organic sort - freakishly large specimens. There were no organic strawberries to be found and a craving’s a craving. Hubby turned his nose up at them. More (chemicals) for me. Actually, it wasn’t too long ago that I was reading up on the worst offenders, pesticide-wise, and strawberries were on the bad list along with celery, apples and leafy greens, even potatoes. Bananas, which I almost always buy organic, are not on the bad list.

It makes perfect sense that the items possessing a thicker skin fare better in terms of pesticide exposure. Bananas. Plantains. Coconuts. So basically I only really have to worry about 99% of my produce. If money were no object I’d buy anything and everything organic. My recent excited anticipation over diving into my new cookbooks required a mad dash to the supermarkets and featured many an organic staple from arrowroot to xanthan gum. Where these pantry items should last me a while, fresh produce needs to be picked up at a much higher frequency - and the organic sort is somewhat of a budget killer for me. After my recent sugar enlightenment I started buying three varieties of organic sugar (regular, turbinado and powdered) from Wholesome Sweeteners who guarantee that there are no animal products present in them (the bone char was my issue with the sugar and not the desire to go organic with it). Ah, money (cue Apprentice money theme here).

With regard to the garlic issue - my lengthy investigative work has yielded the following information: garlic is best kept stored in a cool, dry place and will stay fresh for two or more weeks depending on ambient humidity and temperature. My kitchen counter is cool and dry. So ha.