Along with citrus, one of my favorite winter fruits is the coy, almost coquettish, Anjou pear.  Demure, capricious, and ever so subtle, this fickle fruit slips from rock-hard bitter to grainy bruises in just the blink of a wandering eye.  You must be attentive with this one, coaxing even, waiting patiently for the tell-tale blush.  And if you can catch that window of edible opportunity . . . pure joy.

The foundation of this recipe comes from the William-Sonoma Bride & Groom Cookbook, which was – you guessed it – a wedding gift.  Of course, the book is heavy with white flour, eggs and dairy, but no worries – baked goods are easy enough to tidy up and veganize.  A little tinkering here and there, and a much healthier, yet equally delicious muffin is born.

Winter is wrapping up and that means the Anjous are on their way out.  If you’ve been looking for the perfect recipe to cap your kitchen’s annual affair with this sumptuous pear, I strongly suggest these delightful morning goodies.  They sure passed the husband test here at HQ!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons finely ground flax meal

6 tablespoons water

1 cup soy milk

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup bran

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup agave

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4-5 firm but ripe pears, cored and coarsely chopped

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Mix together the ground flax and the water in a small bowl, and refrigerate.  Mix the soy milk with vinegar in another small bowl, and set aside to curdle. 

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, agave, oil, vanilla, flax mixture, and soy milk mixture.  Combine wet with dry and stir until just moistened – do not over mix.  Fold in the pears (and walnuts), taking care not to break up the fruit.

Lightly grease a large 6-cup or a regular 12-cup muffin tin and spoon in the batter, evenly distributed.  Top with brown sugar and cinnamon, if you wish.  Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes, or when a knife comes out clean.  Let cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. 

Serve warm with Earthbalance™ for maximum yumminess!

Oi!  I just wanted to let everyone   know that Susan over at FatFree Vegan Kitchen has posted all the entries for the Vegetable Love Contest. There are a whopping 34 delicious-looking vegan dishes       this year, and of course I submitted my own Bonzai Balls.  So if you       have a chance, head over there and check it out for some awesome Valentine’s inspiration!  And if you vote and leave a comment, you’ll be entered to win a copy of Vegan Express.  So much blog love all around!   This cookbook is focused on quick and easy vegan fare, which is exactly what a number of you requested in the feedback forum last Friday.  Delicious serendipity?  I think so!

Check It Out!

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, and that means that Susan over at the FatFree Vegan Kitchen is holding her annual ‘Vegetable Love’ contest.  This playful competition calls on culinary bloggers to get creative with incorporating one or more vegetables into their vegan Valentine dinner.  Be it appetizer, entrée, or dessert, it’s valid as long as it’s innovative and vegetal.  Game on.

Immediately, I began remodeling Red Velvet Cake.  My husband and I both adore Red Velvet Cake; it’s kind of our signature dessert.  We devoured many a slice whilst falling in love, we served a tower of Red Velvet Cupcakes at our wedding, and now as newlyweds and new veg*ns, we needed an updated version.  And this challenge gave me just the chance to put my own Sayward style into this old Southern standby.  Firstly, to abide by the rules (veggie inclusion), and in the spirit of ‘fatfree’ (or less fat, at least), I decided to compose a cake recipe with two major substitutions.  I replaced both the food coloring and some of the oil, with a beet juice reduction and beet pulp, respectively.  Secondly, because I wanted to put my own touch of love on this special dessert ‘o mine,  I decided to get funky with the final  form.  

These sweet little bites of delicious look like truffles and taste like cake, so other than ‘AWESOME’, I had no idea what to call them.  I went the ribald route – it is, after all, our one and only hot-sexy-fun holiday.  And so, I proudly give you: Bonzai Balls!

Ingredients

1 cup  soymilk

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour

2 cups evaporated cane juice (natural sugar)

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Earthbalance™ or margarine (room temperature)

1/2 cup beets, cooked and mashed

3/4 cup crimson beet broth

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Wash and trim 3 medium beets, and boil them in 4-5 cups of water, until very tender (about 45 minutes). Remove the cooked beets from the water, but keep the water boiling until it has reduced to about 1 cup. Set aside to cool. While the beet broth is reducing, remove the skins from the beets and mash enough for 1/2 cup. You will need about one beet for the pulp require in recipe. The rest, you can snack on while you bake (or set aside for more civilized use later, if you insist).

Preheat the oven to 350º.  Whisk together the soymilk and vinegar in a small bowl, and set aside to curdle.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In another bowl, mix the Earthbalance™, mashed beet pulp, beet broth, and vanilla.  Stir in the soymilk mixture and whisk thoroughly.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently process until no lumps remain.  Pour batter into a lightly oiled baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  While the cake is in the oven, prepare the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

1/2 cup Earthbalance™ butter or margarine

1/2 cup vegan cream cheese

2 teaspoons  vanilla extract

3 cups vegan powdered sugar

1 tablespoon crimson beet broth

Instructions

Beat together the Earthbalance™, cream cheese, and vanilla, until nicely whipped. Add in the sugar about a cup at a time, while continually mixing.  Once frosting is completely mixed, remove about 1/2 cup and set aside.  Now, add the red food coloring to the main batch of frosting and process until uniform in color.

Once the cake has cooled completely, use your hands to crumble it into a large bowl.  Fold in the scarlet frosting, and mix thoroughly.  Form this mixture into truffle-sized balls by rolling them between your palms.  Place balls on wax paper and refrigerate for a few hours.  Before serving, warm the reserved white cream cheese frosting for a few seconds in the microwave (not too hot!) and drizzle over the cake balls.

Eat.  Enjoy.  And have a positively scrumptious Valentine’s Day!

Truth be told, I had never made bread before I found this magical recipe on my favorite food blog,  Bread and Honey (although original credit belongs to the NY Times).  But I did, like many people, have fond memories of my mother doing so. And that smell of baking bread, mouthwatering slow in our old oven, is still one of the most comforting I know.  Unfortunately, that comfort seemed to come at a price – a whole lot of elbow grease, a whole lot of time.  

But now, with just a little planning and foresight, fresh baked bread is as easy as, well, this is a whole lot easier than pie!

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (I use whole wheat, but all-purpose or any other variety will work), plus more for dusting

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 5/8 cups warm water

optional: I have thrown in a handful of rosemary, I have tossed in sunflower, poppy, and sesame seeds, I have sprinkled in Italian herbs, and I have mixed in kalamata olives. The possibilities are endless; customize to taste!

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed.  Dough should be shaggy.  Shaggy is a *really* great way of describing dough.

Cover dough with a pot lid or dish towel, and put it in a warm place to rest.  I usually hide mine in a cupboard.  Let the dough hang out for a good 12-20 hours.  Yep, 12-20 hours.

The next day, check your dough.  It’s ready when the surface shows tiny bubbles. Spread some flour on a cutting board or counter, and turn the dough out onto the surface.  With floured hands, fold the dough over onto itself (like a dough taco), and then fold it again (double dough taco?).  Let it rest there for about 15 minutes, and then cover it with a cotton dishtowel (non-terry cloth).  Let it rise under the towel for about 2 hours.  The dough is done when it has doubled in size, and no longer springs back when depressed.

A half hour or so before the dough is done rising, preheat the oven to 450º.  With floured hands, transfer the dough to a lightly sprayed or floured cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic pot – one that has a tight-fitting lid.  (Warning: DO NOT use teflon-coated or glass bakeware.  Teflon cannot stand this heat, and will make stinky smoky awefulness.  The first time I made this recipe I used a glass dish.  As I was leaning over to sniff my bread straight out of the oven, the glass dish literally shattered in my face, because it cooled too quickly sitting on top of the hot oven.  Don’t risk it!  Use Pyrex.)  Cover the pot with the lid and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid, and bake another 15-20 minutes, until loaf is well browned.  Cool on a wire rack, or eat hot with lots of Earthbalance™, mmmmmmm.

I don’t actually have any pictures of a finished loaf, because it never sticks around long enough to to be photographed!  But I hope you enjoy, and get as much use out of this recipe as I have.  Homemade bread, containing only the simplest and purest ingredients, is truly a heart- and belly-warming treat.  

Growing up in southern California, I must admit that I took for granted the exotic produce that sprouted like weeds across the arid terrain.  An orange grove in every park (free for snacking), a lime tree on every apartment patio (to accompany Corona), and a lemon tree in every backyard (beware the thorns!).  I truly did not understand the treasure chest that was the avocado tree, ever heavy with fruit, in my own front yard.

Of course, every region has it’s own amazing gifts from the ground.  In the Northwest we have apples, and I certainly didn’t appreciate the divine pleasure of a perfectly ripe, perfectly crisp, perfect fresh heirloom apple, until I lived here.  Back home I ate over bred apples out of supermarket bins and considered them mundane, such a boring fruit.  But here!  Here is where I experienced the near-religious bliss that accompanies the first crunch of a Honeycrisp apple, fresh from the orchard.  Marvelous!

So I have traded avocados for apples and I fancy that fair, but boy, I do miss the citrus.  Those familiar warm hues that whisper ‘hey, there’s a bright light at the end of this cold tunnel’.  Citrus season comes in the dead of winter, and what relief it is to savor that juicy flesh that hints at sun and summertime.  I think I appreciate citrus more here, in its scarcity, than I ever did back home when it was everywhere.  Such is the quirk of life, I suppose.

Tangerines are always my top citrus pick.  For these cupcakes, I wanted to offer an enlivening winter dessert, and add an unexpected, earthy element to the palate.  Tangerine for tradition, with a hint of cumin that perfectly anchors the acid of the mandarin and the sweetness of the icing.  These turned out beautifully, and were a resounding hit at the annual Winter Solstice party.  I expect they’ll become a seasonal staple in the Rebhal household.

Ingredients:

1 cup soymilk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 heaping teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

3 tablespoons  fresh tangerine juice

2-4 tablespoons tangerine zest (as much as possible)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350º.  Whisk together the soymilk and vinegar in a small bowl, and set aside to curdle. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cumin, and salt, mixing thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat the oil, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, and tangerine juice.  Add in the soymilk solution and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently process until no large lumps remain. Fold in the tangerine zest, reserving enough to decorate. Fill an oiled or lined cupcake pan, evenly distributed, and bake 20-25 minutes.  Makes 12 cupcakes.

For the Icing:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons softened vegan butter

All juice and all zest from one lemon

Beat all of these furiously in a bowl until you get a nice whipped frosting.  If too runny, add more sugar.  If too solid, add more lemon or a splash of soymilk.  Spread over completely cooled cupcakes, sprinkling with cumin and zest. 

Then, let the dogs help with the clean up.