November 13, 2011November 21, 2017 by betsy

Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s are Vegan!
but not the gluten-free version

(Please note that the new 2017 gluten-free version of these cookies, in a different color box, contains egg white powder.)

Yesterday afternoon, I had just left the farmer’s market with a bag full of super-healthy produce, and needed to stop by Trader Joe’s for a few remaining items on my list. But, though, my grocery bag was looking very virtuous, I was thinking impure sugar-laden thoughts.

I prefer homemade cookies any day of the week, but I was jonesin’ pretty badly for something sweet on the fly. We had just come from a Friday night stay at the rustic-elegant Sanderling Inn in Duck, North Carolina, which serves tea and homemade cookies in the afternoon. How I would have loved some cookies with my tea after our 4-mile walk on Friday, but alas, they were off-limits. So, I came home with cookies on my mind.

Therefore, at TJ’s, I detoured down the cookie aisle in search of something sweet and vegan. I must have picked up every box on that aisle to read the list of ingredients only to be met with whey, milk powder, eggs, butter, and all the rest of it. Finally, I picked up the least likely looking box and–Eureka!–all vegan. It turns out that Trader Joe’s brand of Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s in their cheery holiday-striped box are vegan approved!

Think Oreo’s, but with a peppermint filling. So, while you probably won’t want to serve these at your next party, you might want to tuck a couple into you or your child’s lunchbox, or serve up a little quasi-guilty pleasure at a party-for-one when nobody’s looking.

October 7, 2011October 7, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Peanut Butter-Chocolate Layer Bars AND Blooming Platter Cookbook Giveaway Reminder

Yea, I know, I’m a seasonal vegan cook, and this recipe hardly fits that description… unless, like me, you consider chocolate to be a perennial food.

This recipe was inspired by a pan of dessert bars I spied in our administrators’ kitchen at school about a week ago. Theirs had a thin chocolate crust topped by a thick peanut butter layer and another thin chocolate ganache layer. They looked so good that I thought I would absolutely perish if I didn’t figure out how to make a vegan version and fast.

However, I couldn’t get started on them as quickly as I’d hoped because, after I went to the store, I came home to put the groceries away and could not find my (honey-free) graham crackers anywhere. Figuring that I must have stuck them somewhere really odd, I looked in places like the freezer…and the washing machine. No luck. So, I went back a couple of days later, bought another box, and made them on Sunday for my students’ National Art Honor Society meeting last Monday. A hit!

After just a little research, I put a couple of recipes together and fell head over heels for the result. They are FAR better than my memory of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. And they are very well-behaved, slicing beautifully. They do need to stay refrigerated, but that’s a small price to pay for creamy perfection!

Yield: 24 bars

Crust:

1 3/4 cup finely crushed vegan graham crackers (Nabisco brand “original” are honey-free), that’s one wrapped package within the box

1/2 cup vegan butter, melted (I like Earth Balance)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Filling:

2 1/2 cups natural creamy peanut butter (crunchy is fine, but the mixture is processed and ends up creamy anyway)

3/4 cup vegan butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Ganache:

1/4 cup soy creamer

11 ounces vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together all crust ingredients. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13″ pan. I like to use the bottom of a glass to help with this task. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, and cool completely. Once partially cool, I like to place the pan in the freezer for the crust to finish cooling. (Avoid placing a hot pan in the oven as it might raise the temperature of the compartment to a potentially dangerous level.)

In the bowl of a food processor, combine all filling ingredients and process just until smooth. Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar and process until combined, pulsing if necessary. Add the remaining cup of powdered sugar and do the same. Dollop the mixture over the cooled crust and pat evenly to cover. Cover the pan and refrigerate until the ganache is cool enough to use.

In a 1-quart saucepan, bring soy creamer to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat, add chocolate chips, and stir or whisk until mixtures is smooth. Let it cool to room temperature and then spread thinly over the peanut butter layer. It will look like there might not be enough ganache, but there is the perfect amount (if you don’t eat too much of it while frosting the bars!). Cover and refrigerate for 2 more hours. Slice into bars and serve. Store any leftovers–leftovers, yea, right–in the refrigerator.

This recipe was adapted from Midwest Living (Eagle Ridge Inn and Resort).

Just 2 days left in my Blooming Platter Cookbook giveaway! Go here for the details and simple directions on how to enter and win!

July 28, 2011July 28, 2011 by betsy

San Francisco’s Spectacular Vegan “Millennium Restaurant” was Location of Blooming Platter Cookbook Book Signing Dinner

The Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco was the first vegan restaurant in which I ever dined. It was many years ago while at an art conference with my good friend, Anne Wolcott, who had heard about it. (If you live in San Fran or ever visit the area, do yourself a favor, and put this restaurant on the top of your list!)

I thought my initial experience was spectacular and I would hazard a guess that many, if not most, of this gourmet restaurant’s patrons are not necessarily vegetarian or vegan, just lovers of delicious, beautiful and creative food. I was so enchanted by it that I purchased one of their cookbooks and it has remains a source of inpiration.

So, when my dear San Francisco friend, Yvette Hetrick, suggested a private West Coast book-signing dinner for The Blooming Platter Cookbook in combination with a trip to the West Coast to celebrate one of my “milestone” birthdays, the Millennium leaped immediately to mind. Planning the party for 30 in the restaurant’s private “Millennium Wine Room” with the help of general manager, Alison Bagby, was a delight.

Now in a new location on Geary Street, but still connected to a hotel, the food and atmosphere are as appealing as ever. For a very affordable price of $50 per person, not including wine (more on this soon!), the chef offered three appetizers (including corn flour-dusted fried oyster mushrooms to die for–reminiscent of fried calamari–and everyone’s favorite); a delightfully fresh salad with a lemony dressing; 3 different entrees with beautiful sides and sauces (an Asian crusted tofu, a tamale, and a beet-and-barely cake); and either sorbet or my choice: Chocolate Almond Midnight, the restaurant’s signature dessert.

One of the guests, who were almost entirely meat-eaters (but very generous in their embrace of The Blooming Platter), said after tasting the Chocolate Almond Midnight, “I would become vegan for the desserts alone!”

July 10, 2011July 10, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Whoopie Pies with a Secret Ingredient

Yield: 12 Whoopie Pies

I’m a southern gal and we didn’t grow up knowing what Whoopie Pies were. But now I know I missed out! These New England comfort snacks are all the rage and it’s easy to see why: what’s not to like about a fluffy white filling sandwiched between two cake layers that look more like cookies?

So, seduced into trying my hand by the appealing-looking version that Starbucks sells, I set about yesterday to create vegan Red Velvet Whoppie Pies but without all of that red dye. My plan was to use a can of beets that has been in our pantry for I don’t know how long. Why this seasonal cook had canned beets in her possession can only be explained by something like hurricane preparedness!

It turns out that the color is just not intense enough to turn the batter red. The puree and juice look ruby red, but they become much more subdued in the batter, which is okay, as it just makes these chocolately Whoopie Pies a warmer brown color. I think beet powder would do the trick, so I plan to experiment.

The trouble with canned beets as a food item is that they are virtually devoid of nutrition except a tiny bit of protein. I suppose they contain micro-nutrients, but those aren’t listed on the label. However, they do contain carbohydrate, a wonderful texture, sweet flavor, and the previously mentioned bit of protein, so they seemed perfect for adding body to my Whoppie Pies, red color or not…and they were! Hope you agree!

Pies:

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 cup unsweetened or plain soymilk

1-15 ounce can beets, drained, 2 tablespoons of juice reserved (if you want to use fresh beets, trim about 2-3 of them, place them in a 1-quart saucepan covered with water, cover, bring to a simmer over medium-high, and cook until fork-tender, about 20-30 minutes; drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of liquid, and peel)

1 1/2 cups canola oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups white whole wheat flour (or unbleached all purpose)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper. Make soy “buttermilk” by whisking apple cider vinegar into soymilk and setting it aside to curdle. Whisk again before using. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, puree beets until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Remove 1/2 cup puree; if there are any leftovers, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Place puree, 2 tablespoons of juice, oil, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat about 1-2 minutes or until completely combined and sugar starts to dissolve. Then add flour, in three parts, alternating with “buttermilk,” beating only enough after each addition to incorporate ingredients.

Using heaping tablespoons (I like to use the traditional fairly shallow measuring spoon, as the shape is perfect) make 24 “patty” shapes, 12 per baking sheet. Avoid crowding them and bake in two batches if necessary, though they won’t spread much. Bake about 12 minutes until the “cookies” are firm, but not crisp. They should be about the consistency of a cupcake top. Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheets and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely, covered with a dish towel.

Filling:

6 ounces vegan cream cheese

4 1/2 tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter at medium to medium-high speed, until smooth and fluffy. Beat in extracts followed by powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, starting the speed on low and gradually increasing. Keep beating until the mixture is very smooth and somewhat fluffy.

Turn half of pies upside down and, using a tablespoon, dollop frosting evenly among them. You can coax the frosting to the edge with a spoon or spatula or, do as I do, and just gently press the top half of the pie down to squeeze the frosting to the edges. I like to wrap them individually in plastic wrap, store them in the refrigerator, but let them come to room temperature before serving.

Note 1: If you want to dress them up a bit, as in the photo, just melt some vegan chocolate chips in the microwave (about 1 minute at 20 second intervals) and, using a small spoon, just drizzle the melted chocolate over the tops and allow to harden before wrapping/storing.

Note 2: These stack nicely in a wine sack for gift-giving.

July 9, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Plum Delicious Double Chocolate Walnut Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

A small number of almost over-ripe plums gave rise to this unusual and unusually good cookie. The plums provide mostly moisture in addition to subtle flavor and color, not to mention added nutrition–as do the walnuts– to an otherwise decadent treat.

To create this recipe, I started with my go-to brownie batter, omitting the water/coffee and adding plum puree plus a tiny bit of baking soda. The results are plum delicious! Note: I only had a few plums, so I made one-fourth of this recipe. It quarters or halves very nicely.

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or unbleached white flour)

2 cups natural sugar

1 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/4 cups canola oil (this sounds like a lot, but you’ll need it)

2 cups very ripe pitted plums, pureed in food processor until fairly smooth

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups vegan chocolate chips (I like Trader Joe’s–what a great value!)

2 cups chopped walnuts plus 36 extra halves or large pieces for garnish, one per cookie, if desired

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper and set aside. (Line two if you have them, or bake the cookies in two batches.) In a large mixing bowl, stir together all ingredients, except chocolate chips and nuts just until well combined. The dough should be just slightly stiffer than brownie batter. Stir in chips and nuts. Spoon tablespoon-size mounds of dough onto prepared sheet, about 2 inches apart. (I use a very traditionally-shaped shallow tablespoon measure, as I like the ration of height to width.) Bake 12 minutes. Check after 8 and after 10. They should be set, but shiny in some spots, as they will continue to cook after they are removed from the oven. Allow the cookies to cool slightly until they are easy to handle and then use a metal spatula to remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

July 3, 2011July 3, 2011 by betsy

Vegan TFLC Cookies (Tea-Infused Five-Spice Lime-Scented Chocolate Cookies)

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

This is the second iteration of what has become an incredibly adaptable “chewy chocolate cookie.” Actually, it’s the third version because the first was a “veganization” of a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

This one was inspired by a group I chaired during the 2010-2011 school year: The Teacher Forum Leadership Council (TFLC). I had wanted to create “TFLC Cookies” as favors for our end-of-year dinner, but simply didn’t have time. So this recipe is a posthumous tribute to a group of teachers–and even a few administrators–who selflessly volunteer their time to further the mission of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, especially through the presentation of a National Speakers Series and follow-up workshops. I was so impressed all year by how these men and women never expected someone else to do the work; they always stepped up to shoulder their share of the responsibility with good humor and good will.

It was a little tricky coming up with ingredients whose names began with each letter in the organization’s name and tasted good together. But my friend Sheila Giolitti, quite a foodie herself, tasted one recently and proclaimed that TFLC Cookies should definitely be in Volume II of The Blooming Platter Cookbook. I hope you agree.

2 limes, zested (set zest aside)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (warm limes for about 10 seconds in the microwave and then gently roll on the counter in order to extract the most juice)
4 tea bags (I like an Earl Gray or an English Breakfast, but experiment!)
1 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups natural sugar plus 1 cup for coating
1 cup pure cane syrup or, if you dare, dark corn syrup
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (or white whole wheat; my favorite white flour substitution)
1 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1-2 teaspoons Five Spice Powder (or more to taste; I like a pronounced flavor that still makes people wonder exactly what it is)
8-9 ounces vegan semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Line two cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl or cup, place the lime juice and tea bags. Heat them for about 1-2 minutes in the microwave and then set aside to steep for 2 minutes. Squeeze bags firmly without breaking them to extract all of the tea flavor.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, place butter, oil, and 1 1/3 cup sugar. Reserve remaining 1 cup sugar. At medium to medium-high speed, cream mixture until well-combined and fluffy. Add cane syrup, molasses and vanilla and beat just a few more seconds to combine, scraping bowl, as needed. Mixture may look slightly curdled, but don’t worry. Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips, but including lime zest, and beat on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, just until combined. Taste and mix in more five spice powder, if desired. Add chips and beat on low just a few seconds to distribute.

Cover dough well and chill for half an hour, but no longer. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a small scoop with a release lever, scoop out balls of dough about 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Roll in reserved 1 cup of sugar and place a generous 2” apart on baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 4 minutes, open oven door and, using a spatula, quickly flatten each cookie slightly to 1/2-inch thick. Close the oven door and continue baking for 6 more minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cookies should be ever-so-slightly cracked, look a little moist and soft in the center, and be more set around the edges. Leave cookies on baking sheet and set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Then, using a spatula, transfer cookies to the racks and cool to room temperature. Repeat with remaining baking sheet. Store in an airtight container.

May 30, 2011July 3, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Spiced Double Chocolate-Lime Cookies

“Boss’s Week” came and went last week, but other priorities prevented me from acknowledging it in any way, except to have one of my talented students create a “Happy Boss’s Week” poster, by special request, featuring caricatures of each one of our administrators. It was adorable and well-received, but I wanted to give our incredibly supportive principal and assistant principals something homemade.

I decided that a favorite chewy chocolate cookie would be perfect. But I had just come home from the Asian market, so I decided to spice them up with a little lime zest. (I remember, when I was a child, someone in our family was under the weather and a neighbor brought us a delectable chocolate-lime pie, a flavor combination I’ve rarely had since.) When I tasted the dough, though–one of the beauties of eggless cooking!–it cried out for cinnamon and, especially, ginger to complement the sweet-tart lime and the pleasantly, but strongly flavored molasses and cane syrup (I used a combination). Voila! Vegan Spiced Double Chocolate-Lime Cookies were born. Then, my husband suggested I attach the recipe plus three more, one for each season, from my brand new cookbook. What a bloomin’ inspired idea!

Enjoy at your Memorial Day BBQ or any time…perhaps with little lime sorbet?

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

1 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups natural sugar plus 1 cup for coating
1 cup light-flavored molasses, pure cane syrup or, if you dare, dark corn syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (or to taste)
Zest of 1 fresh lime
8-9 ounces vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line two cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, place butter, oil, and 1 1/3 cup natural sugar. Reserve remaining 1 cup sugar. At medium to medium-high speed, cream mixture until well-combined and fluffy. Add cane syrup and vanilla and beat just a few more seconds to combine, scraping bowl, as needed. Mixture may look slightly curdled, but don’t worry. Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips, and beat on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, just until combined. Taste and add more cinnamon and ginger, if desired. Add chips and beat on low just a few seconds to distribute.

May 18, 2011May 18, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Baking for All Seasons: Vegan Italian Chocolate-Nut Thumbprint Cookies

I am a seasonal cooking devotee as you can see from The Blooming Platter Cookbook. But I love perennial ingredients like chocolate year-round.

In this photo from the current issue of VEER Magazine, I’m holding one of my newest sweet treats: Vegan Italian Chocolate-Nut Thumbprint Cookies. We wanted to include a photo showing that vegans don’t only eat vegetables, so we shot some of me with this cookie.

The inspiration for the recipe is bittersweet, as it came from a tray of cookies that was delivered to my sister-in-law’s house on the occasion of my mother-in-law, Terry’s, passing. (People were so generous: you have never seen so much food in your life!) I had to sample this particular non-vegan cookie for research. It looked beautiful and I needed to know what it tasted like so that I could try to hit the mark….sorry!

The first batch went down the disposal, literally. I hated to be wasteful, but they were a disaster. My next riff wasa big hit at the Vegan Virginia Beach Bake Sale (as was everything that members brought, especially various cupcakes!). So I made them again recently for our wonderful administrative assistants at Princess Anne High School. I put 2 or 3 in tiny Chinese carry-out containers as gifts for all of them during “Administrative Assistants Week.”

One of the women, Susan Barnes, even asked for the recipe to share around. She likes the cookies crumbled up in her yogurt(!). But she made me promise that there was no tofu in them. We have a running joke about tofu; it’s not her favorite.

I plan to make a batch of these cookies for the “Incredible Edibles” book-signing and launch party on Saturday night. If you’re in the local area, come taste test! If not, whip up a batch for yourself and be prepared to have a new favorite!

Yield: 36 Cookies

Cookies:

1 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tablespoon natural sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Pinch sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon water

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line1 or 2 baking sheets with Silpat. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and both sugars. Beat in cocoa powder, salt, both extracts, and water. Beat in flour, one-half cup of flour at a time, beating only enough to incorporate. Avoid over- beating. With the mixer on low speed, blend in nuts. Scoop by 1 tablespoon of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten into a disk with the bottom of a glass. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie twice, side by side, slightly overlapping, to make a fairly large depression. Bake about 16 minutes. If using two baking sheets on two racks, switch after 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire racks as soon as they are firm enough to handle.

Frosting:

1/2 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup + 3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream all ingredients together until well-combined and fluffy. Using a small spoon, divide the frosting evenly among the cookies, filling the depression. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

May 8, 2011May 10, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Chocolate Carrot Cupcakes Bloomed on My Platter

This weekend, my husband hosted an overnight house party for 14 of our closest couple friends including a dear friend from D.C. The beautiful venue was an oceanfront house he rented in Sandbridge, a coastal community in southern VA Beach. The two-story house–with a kitchen on each floor!–accommodated us all very comfortably, with rooms to spare.

The party concept was entirely Joe’s idea, though he turned all of the details over to me. Through the efforts and generosity of many, I have to say that everything was completely perfect, far surpassing my greatest expectations! Thanks to all!

We based virtually the entire catered menu for Saturday night’s dinner on recipes from my new cookbook, including these exquisite cupcakes artfully crafted by Chef Emily de Long of the Gourmet Bake Shoppe in Virginia Beach.

After an initial meeting, I emailed Chef de Long the Chocolate Carrot Cake recipe from The Blooming Platter Cookbook, and she used her own naturally vegan buttercream and sugar artistry to recreate two different cupcake designs I had researched, lending to them her own special touches. Then she wrapped them in scalloped cupcake wrappers I had made using a template I found online and scrapbook paper from a local arts and crafts store.

The end result is my idea of a Blooming Platter!

I ordered far more cupcakes than we needed because I wanted a bountiful display. But I also ordered individual cupcake boxes so that I could send the leftovers home with our guests. They made beautiful Mother’s Day gifts, as several people were meeting their mothers for brunch today.

Stay-tuned for more food-related posts from this lovely party and Happy Mother’s Day to mothers of all kinds wherever you may be.

For this luscious recipe, I hope you’ll consider purchasing a copy of The Blooming Platter Cookbook for your collection. It is available at Amazon; Barnes & Noble; and locally at Prince Books, Norfolk’s favorite book store: 109 E. Main Street, Norfolk, 757-622-9223, staff@prince-books.com.