From bean to bar - chocolate bar of course / fudge sauce

The Theo Chocolate store is filled with chocolate you can taste and buy.

On Labor Day six family members and I took a tour of the Theo Chocolate factory in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. This was the second time I had been to the store but my first tour of the factory. The first time I visited the store front, I was a bit overwhelmed by the quantity and variety of chocolate available for sampling, and quickly became a fan of the delicious Theo chocolate. Theo has earned the title of the only organic, fair trade bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the U.S. Here's a quote from their Web site:

At Theo Chocolate, we are changing the definition of “quality” by uniting creative excellence that results in deliciously award-winning chocolate with our unwavering commitment to changing the way the cocoa industry conducts business. At Theo, we believe there is no luxury in products that benefit us today, while jeopardizing future generations ability to meet their needs. When you taste our chocolate you will experience our passion and integrity in every luscious bite. We promise, there is something for everyone from the adventurous “foodie”, to those seeking the simple comfort of a delectably creamy milk chocolate bar.

We follow our passion for excellence to bring you chocolate that will delight your palate, ignite your imagination and inspire you to think and act sustainably! Be a part of our movement to save our planet and its capacity to nurture and sustain all living things. We can’t do it without you!

Even Jane Goodall has given the chocolate her blessing, and has two varieties, a milk and a dark, in her name. "Proceeds from the sale of these [Jane Goodall's label] chocolate bars will benefit cocoa farmers, promote conservation in the tropical rainforest and directly contribute to the Jane Goodall Institute’s efforts to save chimpanzees, develop community centered conservation efforts and direct youth education programs around the world."


We had to wear cool blue hair nets on the tour.

After our first little excursion to the shop, we blabbed so often about how much we loved it that our son decided to host a tour for his family, in-laws and parents. Whoohoo. We got the low-down on the history of the building and company, and a tour of the factory itself. Because it was a holiday and the factory was closed, no chocolate was actually being made while we were there, but the aroma of chocolate floated around our heads, and the samples flowed into our greedy little mouths.



Our animated guide, Abby, a food scientist by trade, was incredibly well-versed in all things chocolate. We learned more than we thought we wanted to know! It was so fascinating, and Abby was such a talented guide I found myself wishing I had become a chocolate maker instead of a graphic designer. We learned that the historic building was still in it's original state - just as it had been in its past lives as a trolley barn and a brewery. We learned about the fair trade practices involved in procuring the chocolate beans and the difficult task of gathering and fermenting the beans. (Did you know that fermentation was part of the chocolate-making process?)



We saw the machinery involved in making chocolate and learned how it worked. The machines were brought from Germany and are very old. (There is actually someone whose job it is to keep the machinery running, usually by making new parts to replace the old, worn-out ones. I think his name is Willy Wonka...)





In addition to the crazy machinery, there were buckets of beans and shelves full of chocolate molds. Did you know the reason chocolate bars are divided into sections is because they were originally designed by doctors, and each section was a dose? Yes, my friends, dark chocolate is a medicinal product.



We saw the kitchen where new flavors are created, and special chocolate confections are literally made by hand.



After the tour we re-entered the store and discovered a new display that we hadn't seen before. Theo has collaborated with a small vegan online company in Philadelphia to produce vegan specialty bars and hand-made chocolate confections.



Nicobella is an online small business. Click here for the Nicobella blog.



Since chocolate has been touted for its health benefits (lots of antioxidants in dark chocolate), and we can eat it with a little less guilt, I made sure to pick up a 91% cacao bar - for medicinal purposes, of course. I may need a daily dose!




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I wish I could send everyone a bar of Theo chocolate - perhaps a giveaway would be appropriate. What do you think? In any case, I'll share a chocolate recipe.



Back in 2007 I blogged a recipe for chocolate crispy rice treats. I just made them the other day because I needed a quick dessert, and as I was stirring away at the stove, dipping my (clean) finger in for a taste, I thought, "this would make a great fudge sauce for ice cream or whatever." I made some (with slightly different ingredients) to try it out, and it was really good. As it sits on the cold ice cream it starts to harden and become caramel-like and stretchy in consistency. Makes my teeth tingle just to think about it. This recipe makes one cup of thick sauce.



Chocolate-almond hot fudge sauce
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup barley malt syrup (for gooeyness and caramel-like texture)
1/4 cup agave syrup (for sweetness)
1/4 cup vegan dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch sea salt (opt.)

Place almond butter, syrups, and chips in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly until melted, thick and hot. (about 5 minutes) Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. (Gets thicker as it cools.) Make hot fudge banana splits using 1/2 banana, a scoop of ice cream and a ladle of fudge sauce.

Here's a link to a chocolate - peanut butter dessert sauce that I haven't tried but sounds wonderful.

note: Instead of saving my leftover sauce as sauce, I stirred crispy brown rice cereal into the pot of chocolate then pressed the mixture into a pan for some brown rice treats to have on hand.

Nasoya Silken Style Creations / banana cream pie / FTC targets blogger freebies

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Several years ago I came across a recipe for vegan banana cream pie and was so excited I couldn't wait to try it. I didn't make a single change to the recipe - just followed the directions exactly. That pie was gorgeous, and it was with great anticipation that we waited until dessert to try it. Let me tell you, you could have bounced a ball off that pie. Couldn't crush it with a sledgehammer. Couldn't dent it with a crowbar. Couldn't eat it with a fork. That pie could have stopped a speeding bullet faster than Superman. And it didn't taste good, either. We stared at the pie in horror and disappointment for a brief moment, then collapsed in hysterical laughter. We laughed about it for days, and even now someone might occasionally say, "remember the banana cream pie?" Have you cooked something that brings back memories like this?


©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

So, it was with some trepidation that I decided to try again. The Nasoya company sent me coupons for free samples of three different varieties of Nasoya Silken Style Creations, a new dairy-free, lactose-free, low-fat, gluten-free pudding-like soy product that can be used as a base for creamy desserts. I meant to use the vanilla for a banana cream pie but Whole Foods was out of vanilla, so I made a chocolate banana cream pie instead. I couldn't find a recipe for banana cream pie on the Nasoya Website, so I followed their directions for similar pies and hoped for the best. The filling right from the container has a taste and texture similar to very sweet chocolate pudding, and you could layer it as is with fruit and ice cream for an easy parfait dessert. It was a little too sweet for me, but I imagine a "normal" person would find it quite delicious. And it tastes like "real" chocolate pudding. I doubt that anyone would think it was vegan.


Fill the raw crust with sliced bananas
©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

I made the pie with a pressed pastry crust, substituting agave syrup for the Sucanot and whole wheat pastry flour for the white whole wheat, but you could use a prepared crust or whatever crust you like to make. Oddly enough, once the pie was baked, it no longer tasted too sweet - it was really creamy and good. And it was unbelievably easy to prepare. The pie tasted richly of fresh banana with the chocolate taking a complimentary role. I definitely want to try this again with vanilla so I can compare the two. (fyi: I served it as a "birthday pie" for my husband's birthday and that's why it has a candle!)


Just out of the oven - still molten and bubbly
©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

All right then. I present you with a chocolate banana cream pie. But first I have to insert a little disclaimer.

The June 22 edition of our local morning paper had a front page headline blaring, "Bloggers' Freebies are Under Scrutiny." Subhead: "The Federal Trade Commission is expected to issue guidelines for online consumer reviews, which can be tainted by perks." Gasp. The article goes on to describe how bloggers accept "free laptops, trips to Europe, $500 gift cards or even thousands of dollars for a 200-word post." Then it describes how a blogger from New Hartford, N.Y. who earns up to $800 per month as well as assorted gifts from her five blogs, now worries that even an innocent review of a product she purchased herself could bring an inquiry if the FTC gets involved in bloggers' lives. Does this free product thing sound familiar? I have to admit I didn't realize some bloggers were cashing in to this extent.

Anyway, in anticipation of the proposed FTC scrutiny for every little review we bloggers do, I just want to come clean and say that although Nasoya gave me thousands of dollars, a free laptop, a free trip to Hawaii, a Vitamix and a new car, in addition to three coupons for their product, my review is totally honest and above board. I'm stating only what I truly believe to be truly true. And that's the truth.


©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Chocolate banana cream pie

• Crust for an 8- or 9-inch pie
• 4 bananas, sliced (You may need more or less to fill the crust, depending on the size of the bananas.)
• 1 package of Nasoya Silken Creations chocolate flavor
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot (or cornstarch)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 banana for decorating (optional)
• lemon juice (if using banana for decorating)

1. Place the arrowroot in a bowl and add the water. Mix thoroughly until arrowroot is completely dissolved.
2. Add the Silken Creations to the bowl and mix until completely combined.
3. Slice the bananas and place in the crust.
4. Pour the Chocolate mixture over the bananas, covering them completely.
5. Bake in a preheated 325˚ oven for 45 minutes.
6. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes and then refrigerate until completely cold.
7. If desired, slice a banana just before serving, and toss with some lemon juice so it won't turn brown. Arrange the banana slices on the top of the pie.

Silken Creations Dark Chocolate ingredients: soymilk, dried cane juice, cocoa, rice starch, natural flavors, salt.
1/2 cup has 120 calories, 1.5g fat, 18g sugar, 1g fiber, 3g protein, 45mg salt.
The package contains approximately 5 servings. I used one container plus five bananas in the pie filling. The pie contains 6 to 8 servings, depending on the size of a serving.


©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

An evening with friends

My dinner plate.

Yesterday was the most gorgeous day - sunny and warm. I spent a lot of time in the late morning cooking food to take to our friends Claire and Alan's house in the country for a belated Seder. I made potato stuffing, cranberry-apple sauce, mock chopped liver (recipe coming soon), salad, golden macaroons and chocolate-covered matzo (recipe below). Because one of the guests avoids gluten, the stuffing, macaroons, cranberries and salad were all gf. (I made the macaroons with rice flour and coconut flour and the stuffing contained potatoes, onions and buckwheat.)

The hosts and other guests made sweet potato casserole, soup, fruit salad, roasted asparagus, amazing apple crisp and who knows what else. We had a Seder, then a feast of food and friendship.

Although when we left our house at 4:30 it was warm enough to wear only a sweater, by the time we left our hosts' home in the valley, the outdoor thermometer was registering 31˚ F. It's hard to believe how fickle Wisconsin weather can be.


Just look at these gorgeous organic roasted asparagus.


GF macaroons.


Potato stuffing


Chocolate covered matzo
Spread 4 sheets of whole wheat matzo with Earth Balance margarine and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon of evaporated cane juice. Place on a cookie sheet and place in a 325˚ F oven for 1 minute. (The margarine and sugar are optional. You really only need the chocolate in the next step.) Remove from the oven and cover the matzo with about 1-1/2 cups dark chocolate chips. Place back into the oven for a minute or until the chocolate chips are soft. (They won't lose their shape so poke one with a knife to see if they're soft.) Remove from the oven and use a knife to spread the softened chips to the edges of the matzo. Carefully place the matzo in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens. This takes 5 to 10 minutes. Break the matzo into pieces.

Quick post about cupcakes

I've been experimenting a little with my coconut flour, and I made cupcakes using this easy recipe with a slight change. I traded two tablespoons of wheat flour for two tablespoons of coconut flour and I added an extra three tablespoons of water. The recipe usually makes 11 smallish cupcakes but this new version made 12 high-rising cupcakes. In fact, they rose so high I was afraid I wouldn't be able to use the cheater-frosting trick of putting chocolate chips on the warm, just-out-of-the-oven tops and then giving the melted chips a swirl. (My apologies to those who pipe those gorgeous frostings onto their cupcakes. I admire them to death, but I'm too lazy and too sugar phobic to attempt those perfect swirls myself. A nice little topping of melted chocolate works for me.)


They were tasty little cakers even though I over-baked them! Next time I'll do it right.

Chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate frosting

When I was in elementary school, my class was given an assignment to prepare a piece for an oral presentation. All the other students began memorizing poems, essays, excerpts from stories and books. Not me; I memorized my mother's recipe for bittersweet chocolate icing. The teacher conceded that in all her years of teaching, no one had ever memorized a recipe before, and I couldn't tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing, though I suspected she would have preferred a more literary approach to the assignment. My feeling was, if you had to memorize something, it might as well be something you really wanted to know.

My mother didn't bake much, and when she did, it was usually a cake for someone's birthday. That cake was usually chocolate, but even if it wasn't, it was always covered in bittersweet chocolate frosting. It was, I think, just about the only chocolate thing I ate as a child. I learned to make it quite young, and memorizing the recipe seemed like a perfect idea. If only I could still remember it! I remember other things I had to memorize, things like my ghastly 7th grade music teacher's definitions of music and art, but not the icing recipe. I've been wracking my brains and searching old cookbooks hoping to find it. I finally decided to make what I think is the recipe and hope for the best.

Of course I needed a cake to put it on. This cake recipe is one of the first things that came to mind when I started writing this blog, but I feared that everyone who had been vegan at least two weeks, already knew about it. It probably appears in some form on just about every vegan and vegetarian blog there is, as well as tons of regular baking blogs and cookbooks. The vegans usually call it "vegan chocolate cake," and the omnivores refer to it by its traditional name, "wacky cake." It's said to come from the Great Depression when butter, milk and eggs were scarce, as it contains none of those things. The ingredients vary a little — sometimes 3/4 of a cup of sugar, sometimes 1 cup. Sometimes there's six tablespoons of oil, sometimes, five. And so on. It's sometimes baked square and sometimes round, and is usually topped with powdered sugar.



When I initially came across the recipe, I passed it over, thinking it couldn't be good with such spare ingredients. I didn't want to bake a cake that tasted vegan, if you know what I mean. I first ate the cake as a guest in my husband's cousin's home, and didn't know it was the wacky cake. It was so good I asked for the recipe, and was surprised to see it was the very same cake.

For a while I used non-dairy milk instead of water, but eventually decided the cake actually tasted better with water. I usually make it as an eight inch round or square, split the cake with a large serrated knife and put jam or frosting between the layers and on the top and sides. If I'm making it for a larger crowd, I'll make two recipes, and use two full layers to assemble the cake. It also works well as cupcakes. One of the great things about this cake is I always have the ingredients — there's nothing weird or hard to find. It's chocolatey and moist, tastes great, takes little effort and it always works! And even the non-vegans like it. What more can you ask from a cake? So, for all of you who have only been vegan for ONE week, or are thinking of being vegan if only you knew a good chocolate cake recipe, this is for you.



Vegan chocolate cake (wacky cake)

• 1-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or unbleached if you must)
  
• 3/4 cup sugar (I use an evaporated cane juice, like Sucanot)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla
• 5 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup water

1. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. (Be sure to stir up the flour and add it to the measuring cup rather than scoop it out.)
2. Make three wells and add the vanilla to one, the vinegar to one and the oil to one.
3. Pour the water over all and mix well.
4. Immediately pour into a greased 8 inch pan and bake in a preheated 350˚F oven for 25-30 minutes. (A toothpick should come out with a crumb or two attached.)
5. Let the cake cool in the pan at least five minutes before removing to cool on a rack.
6. (Most directions tell you to mix this cake right in the baking pan but I prefer to mix it in a bowl. When I mixed and baked it in the pan, I couldn't get it out. If you plan to serve it in the pan, this wouldn't be a problem.)
7. thick, all-fruit jam (raspberry or orange marmalade)
   

Bittersweet frosting

• 11 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 11 tablespoons sugar (sucanot)
• 3 tablespoons unbleached white flour
• 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons vegan margarine (Earth Balance)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  

1. Sift the cocoa, flour, salt and sugar into a heavy pot. (You don't want any lumps in the cocoa. If you start with lumps, you'll end up with lumps.)
2. Slowly add the milk, a little at a time, and whisk to a smooth consistency.
3. Heat to a very slow boil, stirring CONSTANTLY, reaching into the corners of the pot. This will burn and stick if you look away for a second.
4. Turn the heat down and continue cooking and stirring until thick but still creamy, about five minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and add the margarine and vanilla. Stir to mix in the melted margarine.
6. Let cool a little and spread on a cooled cake. (It thickens as it cools. If it gets too cool, it may become hard to spread. You can add a very small amount of liquid to get it spreadable again.)

Assembly

1. Use a large serrated bread knife to carefully cut through the cake to split it into two layers. It's easiest if you cut into the cake a few inches then turn it and cut some more. Keep turning and cutting, gradually working towards the center. Turning and cutting the cake helps you keep the layers even.
2. Use a large spatula to transfer the top of the cake to a large flat plate.
3. Spread thick, all-fruit jam (raspberry or orange marmalade are nice) on the bottom layer. Use the spatula to place the top layer onto the bottom one.
4. Frost the cake.

English muffin casserole bread / chocolate cake

I've been digging around in the old recipe box again looking for forgotten favorites that I haven't made in years. I found one that surprised me the first time I made it, 100 years ago, because it tasted exactly like its name — English muffin bread. When I made it last night I decided to convert it to whole grain and see if the taste would still hold up. It's still got the open texture and slight tang of an English muffin, and when you toast and slather a slice with margarine, well, yes, it's very muffiny. I think the unbleached version is closer to a true English muffin, but the whole grain is so much healthier, and really good. It's got that chewy, slightly spongy texture and vaguely sour flavor that English muffins are known for.

The original recipe was made in an electric mixer, but my mixer gave up its spot on the kitchen counter to the bread machine, and now resides in the basement. I was making the bread after a long day at work and didn't feel like hauling the mixer up to the kitchen so I beat it by hand with a wooden spoon. Honestly, its been so long since I've used this recipe, I couldn't say if not using the mixer made any difference in taste or texture. I'll give the original directions and let you choose whether to follow them or not. The recipe was cut from a magazine that I no longer recall, and was attributed to Lavonne Willard. If the author happens to see this, I apologize for stealing her recipe!

English muffin casserole bread

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (I use instant yeast)
• 2-1/2 to 3 cups white whole wheat or unbleached white flour, stirred well or sifted
• 1-1/4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon sucanot (evaporated cane juice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• cornmeal

1. Combine yeast, 1 cup flour, salt, sugar in mixing bowl.
2. Heat water until just warm.
3. Add water to dry ingredients. Beat with electric mixer (see story above) at low speed for 1/2 minute, scraping bowl. Beat 3 minutes at high speed.
4. By hand, add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.
5. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease surface.
6. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour. Punch down. Let rest 10 minutes.
7. Grease a 1 quart casserole and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough in casserole and sprinkle top with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 45–60 minutes.
8. Bake in hot 400˚F oven for 40–45 minutes, or until done.
9. Remove from dish to cool. (You may have to loosen the sides with a knife.)

Chocolate marshmallow cake from eat'n veg'n

Since I'm on the subject of baking, might as well tell you about this cake. It's a recipe I got from this post. Considering that I have an underdeveloped sweet tooth, am not a chocolate addict and have never missed marshmallows, I can't explain my immediate fixation on this cake. From the moment I first laid eyes on its picture, I knew I had to have it. So the task of finding the ingredients became my mission. The challenge was Ricemellow, and no one in town carried it. I knew I could get it from Vegan Essentials* in Waukesha, but that's an hour away and I wasn't inclined to make the trip. My husband found a package of Sweet and Sara's vegan marshmallows at our local food coop and that's what I sliced and used.

With my apologies to Diann and my huge respect for her cooking, here's what I changed. I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of AP flour. I used 1/4 cup of oil plus 1/4 cup of vanilla soy yogurt for the fat, and I reduced the sugar (sucanot) slightly to 3/4 cup. As noted above, instead of Ricemellow, I sliced several vegan marshmallows, and for the chocolate frosting I used about 1/4 cup of vegan chocolate chips, sprinkled over the hot marshmallow topping and swirled with a knife after they melted.

Even with my changes, this cake was seriously addictive, and it didn't last long at our house. Much to my dismay and relief, my son gobbled it up before I had a chance to eat (a lot) more than I should. Bake the original version or this one for a delicious chocolatey indulgence. Thank you Diann!

side note: Our food coop decided to carry Ricemellow and I now have a tub of it sitting in my pantry. As soon as I have a chance to try it, I'll post a review.

*We visited their warehouse once. Whoa!

Vegan fudge from DD&D / kabocha-beet soup

I always say I shouldn't do attention-requiring tasks at night when I'm tired. They should get done early in the day when I'm more alert and fresh. Maybe if I'd tried to repair my torn winter boot when I had more time and energy, I wouldn't have super-glued that toothpick to my finger. And if I'd made the DD&D vegan fudge in the morning instead of at night, rushing to get it done, I might not have left out an ingredient!

It's all okay. The toothpick and my finger are separated, and the fudge looks a little rough but tastes great. I made Ricki's fudge with just a minor, intentional, logistical substitution of almond butter instead of macadamia nut butter, and was spreading it into the pan wondering why it was so hard to spread. "Seems a little stiff," I was thinking as I struggled to smooth it out and make it even. Then I looked up and saw the agavé nectar sitting on the counter. Oh. There was supposed to be a half cup of that. Too late, but will it be sweet enough? Soft enough? YES! For me anyway. I guess the chocolate chips, though bittersweet, were already fairly sweet, and the apricots and orange zest added the nicest flavor. Maybe it's a little firmer than intended...



I found it a bit hard to cut after its refrigeration period, so my pieces are somewhat uneven; more like the chocolate bark my father used to love so much than neat little fudgy rectangles. The question now is, must I eat this batch myself and make a new one with the correct ingredients and finer cut for those I was planning to share it with? After all, I DO want theirs to be perfect. I am motivated by only the highest intentions. What would you do? I'm thinking of making this again and covering it with finely crushed toasted almonds.

Kabocha-beet soup



I actually made the candy over the weekend. Tonight (Tuesday) I had to made some actual nourishing food for dinner. Not that fudge isn't nourishing, in its way, but it's so cold here right now that I wanted something hot to go with the fudge. We had a kabocha pumpkin that needed to be used, so squash soup seemed the obvious choice. It's so easy and tastes so good that I make it often. I was looking around in the fridge for some root veggie like a turnip or parsnip to add a different flavor. What I found was a beet. Beets are the one vegetable from the CSA box that are most likely to end up in our compost. We mean to eat them, but beets are just not my favorites.



Feeling virtuous, I grabbed that beet and headed to the sink. Even peeling the beet under water, I managed to spray my light grey sweatshirt with tiny red dots. Beets are so mean. Well, I cooked the squash and the beet in the pressure cooker, and sautéed a lot of onion and garlic in the wok. When everything was cooked, the ingredients were combined in the pot to be puréed with the wonderful immersion blender. I added my usual white miso and truffle oil, but the squash was so sweet it needed something more. I added umeboshi vinegar, sambal (a preparation of chopped chiles and vinegar) and chopped green onions. The beet added a rich earthiness (and super intense color) to the soup and the vinegar and spices worked perfectly to balance the sweetness of the squash. Everyone said, "this soup is really good!" And it was. Who wudda thunk it?

note: Beets take longer to cook than squash. You can compensate for this by cutting the squash into large pieces and the beet into small pieces.

Vegan chocolate ice cream - from cashews

I've done a little internet research on ice cream makers, and discovered that although users of the Donvier ice cream maker that I have are generally satisfied, the "experts" rate it very low. It's very easy to operate, and if you have the freezer space to store the metal canister, ready at a moment's notice. However, the pricier electric machines apparently make a creamier product. In addition, some machines create a product that stays creamy in the freezer during storage, something that the Donvier does not. Also, you must refreeze the canister for 7 hours if you want to make a second batch. (And, I can tell you for a fact that this is true.) I don't take ice cream making seriously enough to warrant buying a new machine. You can spend $50-$700 on a machine, but I plan to continue using my $5 garage sale Donvier. You can read an article about ice cream makers here.

This recipe is dairy and soy free and tastes amazing. It is creamy and smooth and maybe a little too sweet. My husband disagreed with me about the sweetness. He thought it was just like ice cream, and what most people expected from a frozen dessert. I found the recipe on a cooking video on you tube, quite by accident. Lilla, the ice cream chef, says in the video that you must use a professional blender to achieve the right level of creaminess. (Hers is an enviable Ktec Champ HP3 that costs $400.) But I used my regular KitchenAid with great success. I blended the mixture for several minutes until there was no trace of grainy texture. She also used an interesting ice cream maker that made the ice cream in the freezer. You can watch the video here. I will also note that Lilla used raw ingredients including something called really raw chocolate. I used natural cocoa powder. I'm not sure about her maple syrup and chocolate chips. Or the vanilla. Can those be raw? By the way, this ice cream did not get icy in the freezer. After several days, it's hard but still smooth and creamy.

Easy vegan chocolate ice cream

2 cups cashews
2 cups water
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup agave syrup
1/4 to 1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Soak the cashews in the water (in the refrigerator) for four hours. Blend the first six ingredients in a blender or food processor until extremely smooth and creamy. Blend, blend, blend! Stir in the chocolate chips and chill the mix for an hour or overnight. Freeze in your ice cream freezer.

note: My son tried to make this, and while it was delicious, it was a challenge for his blender to get the cashews really blended to a creamy consistency. You might want to do a little test to see if your blender is up to the challenge before making an entire batch.

Non-dairy ice cream

First, I'd like to say that it's been really hot in Southern Wisconsin, and we don't have air conditioning in our house. The kitchen seems to be the hottest room and this makes me not want to cook. It also makes me think of cool foods like fruit, salad, iced tea and ICE CREAM. Actually, I wasn't thinking specifically about ice cream until I read my friend Claire's post about making tofu ice cream, and how it was so amazingly creamy and delicious. She made it the hard way by repeatedly freezing and beating it until it was sufficiently aerated to be "creamy and delicious." When I saw the pictures of her ice cream, I became a little obsessed with making something cold and creamy of my own. But like I said, it was just so darn hot. By the time I walked home from work, and we got around to throwing something together for dinner, it was too late and I was too tired and hot to do it. I ended up convincing my husband to walk down to Trader Joe's and buy some soy stuff.

Well, this weekend I finally decided to experiment with making two kinds of ice cream. One is tofu based, and the other is made from raw cashews. Both are chocolate, although there's no reason you couldn't make other flavors easily enough. The tofu one that I found on Claire's blog came from Marie in Dodgeville, Wis., and was a reader-contributed recipe on the Web site of Dr. Zorba Paster. Paster has a show on Wisconsin Public Radio called "Zorba Paster On Your Health." (I guess it's a national show.) Paster lives and practices family medicine in a small community just outside the city where I live. (Recently, I heard his familiar voice and turned to find him standing behind me in line as I waited to enter the building where the Dalai Lama was to give a public address. Then he appeared on stage to introduce the governor, who was introducing the Dalai Lama.) Anyway, in spite of my general skepticism (health and taste related) about sweetened tofu desserts, based on Claire's raves, I decided to give this one a try. I have a one quart Donvier ice cream freezer that needs no salt or ice. You just keep the metal insert in the freezer until you need it. (I found mine at a garage sale a number of years ago, and just bought another one for Claire at a garage sale this weekend. It had been used once and I paid $5. They work well and are extremely easy to use. More about ice cream makers later...)

The resulting ice cream was, in fact, creamy and delicious, and it was very easy to make. However, I could detect just the slightest tofu mouth feel, if you know what I mean. My husband had no such problem and loved it. And there is still the little problem I have with tofu as a dessert. But, it's still hot, and a little ice cream, even tofu ice cream, on a hot day can't be all bad. You can find the original recipe here. This is where I got the recipe but I don't know where Marie got it. I can only assume she perfected it herself.

Marie's chocolate tofu ice cream (somewhat altered by Andrea)

1/4 Cup Cocoa powder
2 packages Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
1 Tbs Vanilla
1/2 Cup Sucanot
1/4 cup agave syrup
1/2 Cup Banana (or 1/2 banana, whatever)

If you are using a Donvier or similar ice cream maker, place the canister from the ice cream maker into the freezer overnight.

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until very, very smooth and creamy. (I can't emphasize this "smooth and creamy" part enough.) Transfer to pitcher and refrigerate to chill for at least an hour. Place frozen ice cream maker bowl onto ice cream maker. Add mix to bowl then start the freezing process. (About 20 minutes) Serve cold and enjoy! Or follow the directions for whatever ice cream contraption you have.

Servings: 5

Why the changes. My stevia was so old that it smelled and tasted weird so I used 1/2 cup of sucanot and 1/4 cup of agave syrup. I added the extra sweetener because the mix didn't taste quite sweet enough to me. I also used 1/2 of a banana which was probably closer to 1/2 cup. And I put the plastic blade of the ice cream maker into the refrigerator to chill while the mix was chilling.

Coming up next: Chocolate ice cream made from cashews. Then, frozen fruit sorbet.

Chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookies

I used to be far more conservative about using fat and sugar in baked goods than I am now. If a recipe had more than 1/4 cup of either of those ingredients, I wouldn't make it. As you can imagine, my baked goods were utilitarian, at best. Actually, I liked them, but other people regarded them as "healthy." (Overheard at an event to which I contributed cookies, "those look healthy. I think I'll try these instead.") I still think I'm better off with simpler desserts, but I give in now and then for special (and not so special) occasions. I enjoy baking things that look and taste good to friends and family, though I still try to keep things as healthy as I can.

Anyway, my husband made these cookies (He's getting so domestic. I didn't even ask for cookies!) from Post Punk Kitchen and they were electrifyingly good. Like little sparks of electricity with every bite. Real killers. He SAYS he only used 1/2 cup of oil and only 1 cup of sugar but who really knows. He may have said that to calm me since he knows I hate adding lots of oil and sugar to food. Or he may have sensed my presence watching over him as he measured out the oil and sugar, and truly cut back. I can't say for certain. I'll have to make them again myself to find out. They were the darkest chocolate cookie I've ever seen and REALLY good. You can make the original recipe or try a more conservative version a la husband. (He used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. I would have used whole wheat pastry flour but the white whole wheat worked great. And he used sucanot for the sugar.)

http://theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=111


These clematis are growing in my garden.

Chocolate banana cake

Here's a recipe I found in Vegetarian Times that was easy to veganize. It has a great texture and is not too sweet. You can bake it in a 9 x 5 loaf pan or as 12 muffins. I don't think I mashed the banana enough but it was still really good.

Chocolate banana cake
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (that's pastry flour, stirred well before measuring)
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice (like Sucanot)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
almost 1 cup soy milk
3/4 cups mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips for glaze (optional)
extra chocolate chips (see note)

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Coat pan with oil.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in bowl.
3. Put vinegar in measuring cup and add soy milk to make one cup. Let stand for a minute to curdle. Whisk together soy milk, banana, oil and vanilla. Fold liquid mixture into flour mixture.
4. Put batter into prepared pan and bake 50 minutes for a loaf and 20 minutes for muffins., or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool 5 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
6. If desired, melt 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips in a small pot. Use a low flame and stir constantly (seriously, pay attention -it only takes a minute) until melted. Spread over the top of the cooled cake. This is a thin coating, more like a glaze.

note: This chocolate cake is relatively healthy with the whole wheat pastry flour and only 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of oil and all that banana. And I'm not saying you should change that, but you could stir 1/2 cup or more of vegan chocolate chips into the flour mixture before you fold in the wet ingredients. This is entirely optional, but maybe for a special occasion...

Lazy cooks read this: My friend Claire put chocolate chips on top of the hot cake where they softened, and she spread them into an icing. Now, THAT'S easy. Yikes.

Valentine dessert

When the kids were growing up, I always made a Valentine dessert. It was literally a valentine from me to them and it was a family tradition. Every year I tried to come up with a new version to bake in my heart-shaped pan. It usually involved some sort of cake, cookie, or pastry base with non-dairy ice cream and/or frosting and/or a red fruit filling or topping. It was usually pretty good and visually impressive. One year it was so good that I wrote down the recipe. (I must have it somewhere.)

This year I made a dessert for the blog. Maybe my heart wasn't totally in it like when I made it for the kids, but it doesn't look quite as spectacular as I remember. Maybe my little camera isn't up to rendering valentines or maybe I rushed. The yummy taste is there, but I'm sure you can be more artistic than I if you try!

This year I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe posted 1/15/08 for the base. I used 1/2 recipe and pressed it into an 8 x 8 heart-shaped pan. (I just went ahead and made the whole recipe, used half for the heart and made cookies with the rest. The cookies freeze well so I froze them.) I used a non-dairy vanilla ice cream for the center and a bittersweet chocolate frosting for the top. The icing is BITTERSWEET in a big way and will appeal to people who like bittersweet chocolate. If you like your chocolate sweeter, leave out the coffee and add a little maple syrup. I used frozen raspberries to decorate the edge because I had some in the freezer, but use your favorite fruit. I think cherries would be good. You could use fresh fruit if you add it just before serving. Just a thought - if all this seems like a lot of work, you could just serve the cookie with ice cream on the side! One thing I noticed, and should mention, is while this combination tastes great, the cookies are very crisp and a bit hard to cut, especially when frozen. You might want to assemble this dessert closer to when you plan to serve it so it doesn't stay in the freezer too long, or plan to let it sit out for five minutes or so before attempting to cut it. And use a sharp knife! Maybe slightly underbaking the cookie would also help. Mine will be in the freezer for five days before I serve it. It's in a freezer bag inside a plastic container. I'm hoping for the best!


Valentine dessert
Chocolate chip oatmeal cookie base (this is 1/2 of the normal recipe)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (stir it up before measuring)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/4 cup Sucanot (evaporated cane juice)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 or more tablespoons water

-Combine flour, oatmeal, Sucanot, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in chips.
-Mix oil, vanilla and 1 tablespoons water in glass measuring cup.
-Stir the wet into the dry until flour is absorbed. Batter will be thick but if it's too stiff to work with, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
-Press into a lightly oiled 8 x 8 heart-shaped pan.
-Bake on center shelf of preheated 375˚ oven until lightly browned on the bottom, about 20 minutes (or until edges start to brown).
-Cool in pan 10 minutes, loosen edges with a knife and then invert over a wire rack. Tap the pan bottom gently to release the cookie. Carefully turn right side up.
The filling
Rinse out the pan and maybe oil it for the next step. I never do but maybe the ice cream would come out more easily. Anyway, this part can be interesting. I've noticed that some non-dairy ice creams (especially my favorites) seem to go from rock hard to liquid without passing through a soft stage. I used a rice-based product this time and was a little nervous about it liquefying so I cut hard chunks out of the carton with a butter knife and pressed it quickly into the heart pan with the back of a wooden spoon. It actually wasn't too bad. I used about 3/4 of a pint (got tired of pressing) but you can use it all if you want. When I had the surface all smooth and even I put the pan back in the freezer. Leave it there for an hour or two to firm up. While it's firming, make the frosting.

The frosting
My mother didn't make a lot of desserts but when one of us kids had a birthday, she was there for us with cake made from scratch and bittersweet chocolate fudge frosting. I never had much of a sweet tooth but I loved that frosting. Once in elementary school, when we had to memorize a story or poem to present to the class, I memorized the frosting recipe. I wish I could still recite it, but all I can remember is 11 tablespoons of cocoa and 11 tablespoons of sugar. Sound familiar?

Lately I've been using a frosting based on a recipe from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. Her recipe uses sour cream and I have substituted soy yoghurt. I've also made it slightly softer so it would spread easily over the ice cream. It's amazingly fast and easy and meets my need for chocolate to be as bittersweet as possible! With this dessert, even spreading on as much as my conscience allowed, I still had leftovers. (To spread on the leftover cookies from the other half of the recipe!)

Bittersweet frosting
6 ounces semisweet vegan chocolate chips.
one 6-ounce carton of vanilla soy yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon decaffeinated coffee crystals dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water
-Put the chocolate in the top half of a double boiler and melt over hot water. Stir often. I just put a stainless bowl over a pot of boiling water and it works fine.
-Remove from heat and stir in yogurt, vanilla and coffee. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and glossy. Place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to cool it down but not so long as to make it hard to spread.

Assembly
cookie-heart base
ice cream heart
bittersweet frosting
frozen or fresh fruit
unsweetened shredded coconut or other decoration of your choice

Place the cookie on a nice plate where it can lie flat. Get the ice cream heart from the freezer and run hot water over the bottom of the pan for about 10 seconds to loosen it. Run a knife around the edge of the ice cream. Dry the pan and invert the pan over the cookie. It should fit perfectly since it's the same exact size. Thump gently on the pan bottom, and with a little luck, the ice cream should fall right into place on top of the cookie. Good luck. When the ice cream is successfully in place, put the dessert in the freezer for about 1/2 hour or so, to firm up the ice cream.

Spread the cooled frosting on the frozen ice cream. Work quickly so the ice cream doesn't melt. You can frost the top and sides or just the top. I did just the top and left a little white showing. Put the plate back in the freezer and get the fruit for the edge ready. Put it in a bowl so you can get to it quickly. Get the dessert from the freezer and arrange fruit around the edge or however you see fit. Sprinkle with shredded coconut or decoration of your choice. You're done.

Chocolate crispy bars: almost instant dessert

We had last minute company coming and I wanted to make something really easy for dessert. (The last time these out-of-town guests came I made polenta with roasted veggies and red pepper purée, which I didn't write about because I forgot to photograph it. For dessert we had baked apples. The whole dinner was so easy to do that it felt like I hadn't done anything and it was pretty impressive both in taste and appearance.) For this dinner Ken was making pasta with tomato sauce and a salad and I was going to stir fry some green beans and make dessert.

There was a recipe in Oct. 2007 Vegetarian Times for a version of crispy rice treats with chocolate that I wanted to try and they were so fast and easy to make that I'll share my slightly revised recipe. I served them on an attractive platter with orange wedges. It looked great but - no photo. I set up a little plate with a leftover piece and a couple of orange slices but the photo doesn't do them justice at all. They were quite appealing -and very sweet.

Crispy bars
1/2 cup almond butter
3/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vanilla
5-6 cups crispy brown rice cereal (like Erewhon or Barbara's)

Oil a 9x9 baking dish. Place almond butter, syrups, and chips in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly until melted and beginning to bubble. (about 5 minutes) Remove from heat, stir in vanilla then stir in as much as the cereal as the syrup will absorb without becoming too dry. Press into the dish. Cool 15 minutes and slice into pieces with a knife dipped in cold water. Refrigerate to harden.

I have a recipe that I created years ago for a puffed rice, no chocolate, version of this dessert that I want to find and test. I remember really liking it and taking it to a zillion potlucks. It was based on a Japanese street sweet, and made with barley malt, and I think I called it Andrea's Crispy Treats.