Category — Baked Goods

It’s cranberry season in Ottawa (finally!).  I’ve had the recipe for cranberry maple butter bookmarked all summer and have waited patiently for cranberries to appear at the market.  I picked up these Upper Canada Cranberries a week ago – they’re pretty perfect looking.

I followed the recipe from the Small Batch Preserving cookbook and ended up with almost two full cups of delicious cranberry butter.

The boy and I sampled it on top of our “cheesy mouse biscuits”  (homemade herb crackers that actually have no rodent or cheese components).  If you want to know the story of the ‘salty cheesy mouse biscuits’ you just need to pick up a copy of the book Cherry the Pig.  In the story, Cherry bakes a lovely apple cake, but the mice who nibble at it think it’s awful.  Cherry’s feelings are hurt until she figures out that mice like salty cheesy biscuits.  Suffice to say, we’ve been reading this book a lot.  And I get a lot of requests for “cheesy mouse biscuits!!”.

Using this easy (and vegan!) recipe from the Straight from the Farm blog, I whipped up another batch this week for work.  I happened to be making pasta on the same night, so I thought it might save time to roll the cracker dough out in the pasta maker.  It worked like a charm!  I fed the dough through the rollers to the 3-4 setting and then cut out squares using a rotary ravioli cutter.

Homemade crackers are pretty unusual – despite the fact that they are a snap to make.  The novelty factor will impress everyone from toddlers through senior executives.

Exhibit A.  I’m really proud that he tried the cranberry maple butter (and liked it!) – he’s usually a bit of a jamophobe.

One problem.  Canning seems to require a lot of dishes.  And dishwashing.  Ugh.  What a mess!

I missed all of the Vendemmia events over the past weekend, but I had a good reason. I was prepping for a certain three-year-old’s birhtday party! Initially, I was thinking of having a theme for the party, but in the end, I knew no one would care but me. Kids just want cake. Any shape. Any size. Cake. Why complicate things? Entertaining adults and wrangling toddlers is enough work isn’t it? Totally.

I was going to create a Lego cake, but at the last minute changed my mind and went for sprinkles.  Lots of sprinkles.

On the birthday menu there was a little something for everyone. We served:

• Baby carrots and cauliflower hummus (from Veganomicon)
• Veggie straws
• Berries from the garden
• Burgers (veg and non-veg) with buns made at the bakery on Preston
• Homemade pickles and relish
• Homegrown broccoli and carrot slaw with raisins (I did a variation on this recipe. Loved it! But didn’t snap a photo. Will definitely be making it again. A no mayo slaw! Yes!)
• Grilled eggplant and chickpea salad
• Cranberry and mango punch, apple juice, water
• One very large chocolate cake with sprinkles

I dug out my piping set and quickly traced a 3 and the edges with extra frosting.  Mmm.  And added lots of sprinkles.

The cake was a hit, but next time I’d only do a single layer.  There was a lot left over.

We ran out of time in the morning to make the sharky watermelon treat, so we did it in the afternoon for snacktime.  There are so many fun carving ideas on the watermelon organization’s website.  I’d do this again for sure.

And there you go.  Three!  Happy birthday big boy!

Ready to mix - Baby Jaguar minds the trucks

I picked up a copy of Artisan Breads Every Day and the first recipe that I wanted to bake right away was bagels.  We haven’t had bagels at home for almost three years because they contain egg.  Three long years.  That’s a long time without bagels.

I got my mom to whip out her hand crank bread maker.  You know, the kind they had before the era of KitchenAid mixers.

One dough ball - ready to rise

It didn’t take long to whip up the flour, water, yeast, honey and salt into a dough ball and then set it aside to rise.

Shabby attempt at smooth dough rounds

I did my best to roll the bagels by hand, but I just couldn’t get the join quite right.  I think my dough might have needed a bit more water to make it more pliable.  I think.  Or maybe I just need more practice.  Maybe both.  Rolling bagels is definitely skill.

Boiling - looks bad, but at least they float!

The bagels got boiled in honey water.  (Mom, I swear the water was boiling when they went in!  I am often not very patient when it comes to boiling water.  Ask anyone.)

A bit wrinkly, but hey... who isn't?

They went in the oven for 8 minutes and then I turned the pan and they baked for another 3 minutes.  I pulled them out when they were golden brown.

Tastes like a bagel.

And the result?  I’d say, they’re still more bready than a Montreal bagel – but maybe that has to do with not using eggs.  At any rate, they were delicious and I ate three before noon.

It’s a recipe that I’d definitely double next time as it does take a bit of extra effort to roll, boil and bake.  Like most allergy baking – the result is totally worth the effort in order to have safe versions of familiar foods.

Vegan pizzelle!

One week, my coworker brought in some homemade pizzelle and I was super impressed. They were pretty and crunchy and not too sweet and I’ll I could think was “I want to make these too!”. Two hours later (at lunch hour!) I had ordered my very own pizzelle maker online. (I ended up buying it from Sears – they were having a small appliance sale and it was only $45!)

Regular pizzelle are made with eggs – lots of eggs. And often nuts. Scratch that for our house. I did some research for vegan versions and only had luck finding a couple of recipes.

I decided to use the version with baking powder because I thought it would give a better result. Also, I only had vanilla soy yogurt on hand, so I substituted it and reduced the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup. Despite the switcharoo, they were still sweet enough for our tastebuds.

I didn’t dust this batch with any powdered sugar or do anything fancy other than to trim the pizzelle that weren’t quite the right shape. The pizzelle maker worked like a charm, I didn’t need to oil it at all and the pancakes easily came out when they were cooked.

These were a hit with the wee one and we packed a stack to take along to this weekend’s big Touch-a-Truck event.  During the outing we ducked inside the mall to escape the rain and decided to picnic on a mall bench.  When one of Alden’s friends came along, he stuck out his “cookie pancake” for his friend to share.  The mark of toddler approval – “hey friend, you’ve GOT to try this cookie!”

The pork bun idea started out with this recipe from The Kitchn and a head a green cabbage that was feeling a bit neglected in the fridge. Given the carb to vegetable ratio, I also thought it would make a very toddler friendly meal.

The prep for this meal started out promising – the boy was even chomping on raw cabbage. This was clearly going to be a stellar, home run, ball-out-of-the-park recipe.  I was feeling smug.

I tweaked the original recipe in a few ways: we used cubed pork chops, our own BBQ sauce and my standby pizza dough recipe. I also removed the dairy parts of the recipe (butter and cheese) to make it Alden friendly.  (I think cheese seems really out of place with BBQ sauce anyway.)

In the end, Alden sort of tried one, but he was way more excited about eating the raw cabbage than the final product.  On the other hand, we loved them.  And they’ll definitely be served again.

The latest issue of Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food was stellar for recipes.  I shy away from buying food mags since we can’t make most of them, but this issue had so many allergy-friendly ideas.  And great ideas for lunch boxes too.  And you know, just general Martha-niceyness.  (Well, I still think the Emeril feature is lame, but that’s another post.)  It was just a super win all around.

The first recipe that I decided to make was the baked plantain chips.  As I searched Martha’s site for the recipe, I noticed that she also has a deep fried version that is served with a banana/avocado dip.  Hello Alden-friendly dip!  Yay!  Another win.

These were really easy to make and turned out super yummy even though I didn’t have green plantains. Next time, I wouldn’t bake them for 30 minutes. I had a few that were too burnt to eat. Maybe the riper your plantain, the more prone to burning they are? Not sure. Alden loved them, or at least the idea of them, but I think the burny bits turned him off. Well, he had better learn to like them because we have 3 more plantains to cook this week.

Early in the gardening season, I planted three pattypan squash plants, which is really two more plants than a family of three really needs. Last week, every time I turned around there was another squash.. and another … and another. I even gave some away. One squash was very clever at hiding under the leaves and managed to grow beyond the “cute pattypan squash in a little box at the market” size to a Super Monster Squash size. Too large to use in a stir fry, it was destined to be made into a loaf.

I grated the monster squash and yielded almost three cups of squash shreddings and got to baking. I used the zucchini cake recipe from PPK as a guide, but modified it to be a bit healthier.

The chocolate chip cookie recipe from Vive Le Vegan has become my “go to” recipe when I feel like making Alden a super special treat.  (I also like to crumble my cookies over a nice bowl of frozen yogurt … mmm!  Cookies and ice cream!)

The trickiest thing about making chocolate chip cookies for someone with a milk and nut allergy is finding chips that don’t contain any dairy or nuts (of course) AND that they haven’t been processed on the same line that processes chips that do contain dairy / nuts.  Call the manufacturer if you don’t know.

I buy Enjoy Life chocolate chips at the Loblaws at Merivale and Baseline. It’s a bit random which Loblaws/Superstores carry this item. (FYI, they are located in the organic section mixed in with the gluten-free products.)  I’ve heard that the PC Decadent chocolate chips are vegan, but I haven’t had a chance to confirm with the company how they are processed.

My little baker could barely resist stuffing fistfuls of dough into his mouth as he “helped.”

Check out Dreena’s video for the full recipe.  Or go buy the book.  I use it religiously for all of Alden’s baked treats.  I can’t say enough good things about the recipes in it.  Totally worth it.

I wanted to try a new cookie recipe with the boy over the weekend and started by flipping through my copy of Vegan Cookies Take Over the World.  I was going to make the gingersnap recipe until I saw the couldn’t.be.easier. recipe for graham crackers.

Alden’s buddies love their graham crackers – especially for the post daycare stroller ride home.  I wanted to make a version that Alden could enjoy too.  (I’ve since found out that at least one brand of commercial cookies is egg/dairy free.)

These cookies don’t quite taste like the store-bought ones, but they are equally delicious.  In fact, this recipe could easily fall into the cookie category since they are fairly sweet.  I tried making these cookies with Alden at the helm and didn’t get them rolled out as thinly as I would have liked.  Nonetheless, dough was eaten, the crackers were baked and there were no complaints… or cookie crumbs left by the end of the week.  A good sign.

I broke out my mini muffin pan that had been sitting neglected in the basement last week and since then it has been non-stop mini muffin madness at our house.

As if my mini-loaf pans weren’t cute enough, the mini-muffin pan has proven to be the cutest baked-good toddler-delivery system ever.   So far, we’ve tested out two different muffin recipes (both vegan) from Dreena Burton’s cookbooks.  What I like most about her recipes is that they are low in refined sugar and replace a significant portion of white flour with oat flour.  Her recipes also use fruit purees rather than oil to keep the baked goods moist.  All in all – very healthy recipes that you can feed to your toddler (or yourself) and not feel too guilty about.

The first recipe that I tried was from Vive Le Vegan – the orange-poppy seed muffins.  (This is one of my favourite cookbooks – lots of family friendly meals that suit our allergy restrictions and LOTS of health(ier) sweet treats.)  For this recipe, I left out the poppy seeds.  Honestly, I can’t stand poppy seeds in baked goods.  They have no flavour and they get stuck in your teeth.  No one missed the poppy seeds.  Rating: A+.

Yesterday I baked the “Berry Goodness” muffins from the latest Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.  (Overall, I like this book, but it isn’t quite as nut allergy friendly as Vive Le Vegan.  Of course, none of her books are really written for the allergy lifestyle.  However, vegan cooking does eliminates two of our restricted allergens – milk and eggs.)

After trying to get the boy to try eating strawberries, it was clear that he hasn’t discovered his berry-loving genes yet.  I KNOW he will love them sometime… but that “sometime” is not this week.  With two boxes of strawberries in the fridge, I decided to sacrifice one to the baking fairy.  I knew the boy would eat strawberries if delivered in the form of a mini muffin.

Dreena’s recipe calls for spelt and chickpea flours, but I used neither and opted for plain old unbleached flour since we don’t need to avoid wheat.  I also changed the amount and type of spices used  and omitted the lemon zest.

Result?  Home run!

My strawberry muffin recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• pinch sea salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup rice milk
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 cup finely chopped strawberries

Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine all wet ingredients and berries in a small bowl.  Gradually add wet mixture to dry.

Scoop batter into muffin pan – I used a mini muffin pan.

Bake for approximately 18 minutes.  (If you use regular sized muffin pans, you will need to bake for longer.)