I lived off that loaf for two days. And by days I mean hours.
And it turned out well. Next time I might try to make the bread heartier and healthier by sneaking in more fruit and nuts and maybe flax.
Also: cupcakes. Like everyone else I was ensorcelled by Chloe Coscarelli on Cupcake Wars, so I made one of her lovely winning recipes. It seems, too, that the basic skeleton of this dish can be taken and modified to produce different flavors. I’ve tried a few cupcakes since, all tasty, but not all pretty. Cupcakes can take skill, which I don’t have yet.
Anyway, this weekend it was my mom’s birthday and I got with my little brother and sister (9 and 11 years old, respectively) to make her a dessert. Mom’s not vegan – neither are my siblings – but she’s a personal trainer and is generally committed to healthy foods, so she’s familiar with replacing eggs with applesauce in baking and that kinda stuff. We wanted to make something simple, though – both for the nutritional wholefoodness of it, and the ease of preparation. And we happened to have an idea for our own brand new dish.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve made frozen banana “soft serve” fluff before as an ice cream substitute. Once, when I made it with peanut butter, we remarked that it would be a good pie filling. Someone remembered this and said let’s try it. So we did.
Usually delicious things are more varied in color, but hey.
The crust could be store-bought or made to your own specifications, but we just followed a recipe that was on our bag of Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. Basically flour and fat (Earth Balance in our case) with a tiny bit of salt and water. Refrigerate, roll, bake, freeze.
Now I realize I’ve put this in the recipe section, but come on. It’s too simple. The pie filling is frozen bananas and peanut butter. I didn’t measure, and even if I did there’s no guarantee that my ratio is perfect anyway. Here’s how it works, if you’ve never made something like this before:
Chop up several ripe bananas and freeze for at least two hours. Then put them in a blender (a fairly badass blender, if possible – these guys are tough) and after a thorough fluffing they should look like soft-serve ice cream. At this point you can add other fruits or flavorings. Cocoa, maybe, or vanilla. I added about a third of a jar of Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter. I think this is key if you want a sliceable pie – some fat to hold it together without freezing solid.
Spatula the mix into the pie crust and put back in the freezer to solidify. Then slice and serve.
Whoa, weird perspective makes the fork look huge.
It’s super tasty and healthy, too. I mean, it’s two things: bananas and peanut butter. You could even grind your own peanut butter if you wanted for maximum natural homemade factor, but the Smucker’s is fine – the only ingredients are peanuts and salt.
With a silly vegan filling and a whole-wheat crust, some were skeptical about this pie, but it turned out to be liked by everyone. Definitely worth refining the recipe, although I don’t want to make it too complex because I love the “two ingredients” aspect of the filling.
The brownie universe isn’t exactly full of surprises. The combination of sugar, butter, flour, chocolate, eggs, a few extraneous ingredients, plus a little oven time, inevitably leads to some form of brownie action. Of course, the resulting degree of deliciousness is all in the details — just talk to the adamant nut-adders, the chocolate chip enthusiasts, or the “fudgy” versus “cakey” people that can seemingly never agree. Yet, by and large, the language of brownies is pretty much the same: delicious chocolate squares that just about everyone loves. Including me.
But I have a secret. With the exception of chocolate (which can be profoundly beneficial in its unprocessed form), I don’t use any of the “conventional” ingredients in my homemade brownies. In fact, I don’t even bake them. (I know — what a rebel.) Instead, by using exclusively natural, whole foods, the inherently gorgeous flavor of each healthy ingredient does all the sweet singing — without needing the crutch of sugar or butter. Undercover health benefits like antioxidants, good omega fats, potassium, magnesium (and more) nutritionally rank this dessert as more of an energy bar than an “extra 20 minutes on the treadmill indulgence.” Best of all, five ingredients plus five minutes is all it takes to go from zero to brownie.
Oh, and as for their decadent texture? Simply put: go team “fudgy.”
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Demerera or Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup Vegan Margarine
Equivalent of 2 Eggs Using Egg Replacer
Filling
6-8 Apples (Peeled, Cored and Sliced) or 2 cans pie apples washed and drained
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/3 Cup Demerera or Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Flour
1 Tsp Cinnamon
3/4 Cup Raisins
Directions
Combine flour, sugar , baking powder and salt. Rub margarine into dry ingredients. Blend into a dough with egg replacer mixture.
Using 3/4 of the dough, line a 9″ pie dish with the dough, pressing it halfway up the sides.
Combine all the filling ingredients and spoon into pie crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the top. Take 1Tbsp margarine and use to dot the top of the pie. Sprinke 1 Tbsp sugar on top and bake in a 350°F oven for 50 mins to 1 hr.
4 Cups Frozen Berries
1 Cup Quick Oats
1/2 Cup Flour
1/4 Cup Vegan Margarine
1/4 Cup Demerera or Brown Sugar
Directions
Spray a baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Pour the frozen berries into the dish. In a bowl mix together the oats, flour, margarine and sugar. Crumble the oats mixture over the berries. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F. Serve with soy ice cream or nutri whip.
1 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/4 Cup Vegan Margarine Melted
Caramel Pecan Sauce
1 Cup Sugar
6 Tbsp Vegan Margarine
1/2 Cup Soy Cream
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
Filling
3 Tubs Tofutti Plain Cream Cheese
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Equivalent of 3 Eggs Using Egg Replacer
Directions
To Make the caramel sauce.
Before making the caramel sauce, be sure to have all your ingredients ready to go. Making caramel is a fast process and if you’re hunting for ingredients and don’t work fast enough the sugar will burn. Caramelized sugar is extremely hot, so use caution when making it.
Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy bottomed 2 or 3 quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir quickly with a wooden spoon or whisk. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil stop stirring. From this point on, only swirl the pan if need be. If you find that the sugar burns, next time try adding 1/2 cup of water to the sugar at the beginning. This takes longer as you will have to wait for all the water to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.
As soon as the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid should look dark amber), immediately add the margarine and whisk it in until is has melted. Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat. Wait 3 seconds then add the soy cream to the pan and whisk it in. The butter and cream will foam up, so that is why it is important to use a large pan. Whisk the until the sauce is smooth. Let it cool for a few minutes, then pour into a glass container. Once it has cooled down a little, add the chopped pecans and stir well. Set aside until ready to use.
To make the filling.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper. Mix graham cracker crumbs and melted margarine together and press firmly onto the bottom of the springform pan. Pour the caramel pecan sauce over the crust.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with a mixer until well blended. Add the egg replacer and continue to mix until nice and smooth. Pour over the caramel pecan sauce.
Bake for 45-50 mins. or until center is almost set. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Cool completely before taking the rim off. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.
