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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Tofu Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan)




I used this recipe to make these wonderful cookies...chewy and soft, just like bakery cookies and vegan also :)I was trying to find a recipe that was like a local bakery's recipe (Ellwood Thompson's) and this comes very close. Now I will give the rest of the cookies a good home with my neighbors. It calls for silken tofu, or you could also use soft tofu.

Also I wanted to share with you my recipe for calzones, while not vegan, tastes just as good without the added feta or can of course be made with vegan mozzarella.

Dough

1 cup warm water
1 pkg instant yeast
1 tsp. sugar or 1 tbsp corn syrup, molasses, king syrup or honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour or AP flour

Place water, yeast and sweetener of choice in large mixing bowl, let sit for 5 minutes for yeast to bloom. Add 1 cup wheat flour, stir. Stir in one cup AP or bread flour, stir to combine, mixing with hands if necessary. Turn out onto floured board, kneading in additional flour as needed, until elastic about 5 minutes. Set aside and cover with bowl until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes-1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Filling

1 pkg. (14 oz.) soft tofu or 12 ounces silken tofu, mashed
12 ounces thawed and drained frozen chopped spinach
garlic and onion powder to taste
Italian Seasonings to taste
1/2 diced onion, cooked in a little olive oil until tender
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese or shredded mozzarella
Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl.


Divide dough into 4 equal portions, roll out into 1/4" thickness, divide filling into 4 equal portions, seal each calzone and bake 25-30 minutes, until browned.

sauce
1 8 ounce can Hunt's Basil and Garlic sauce, warmed
1-2 tsp. sugar to cut acidity


One final recipe to share to today is a Chai Latte Recipe from Chef Deborah Wolfe of Vegsource. Delicious!

Chai Latte
3-4 chai tea bags cooked over very low heat in 1 cup soy milk (or other "milk" of choice)for about 5 minutes
1/4 cup powdered soy milk beverage
1-3 ice cubes
1-3 tbsp. sugar or other sweetener

Top off milk to come back up to one cup. Cool in fridge overnight. Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. ENJOY!!!!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Greek Pizza

I am surprised that I haven't posted this recipe before because it is something that I love to make and it is my best pizza. This dough also makes a very nice slicing bread. To make into slicing bread, follow directions, let rise for the 1-1.5 hours, punch down, fit into oiled bread loaf pan, cover and let rise for about another 1-1.5 hours until doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and cook around 30-45 minutes until golden and dough sounds hollow when tapped.

For the crust
1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees F)
1 pkg. instant yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. molasses, honey, corn syrup or golden syrup OR 1 tsp. sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2-2 cups bread flour

Place water in large mixing bowl, add sweetener of choice and yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes, then add oil and salt. Stir. Add 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup bread flour. Stir to mix and turn out onto floured board, adding the remaining flour as needed. Knead for about 2-5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with mixing bowl for 1-1.5 hours or until doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Roll out dough to fit an oiled pan, use a cookie sheet or pizza pan. If you use a small cookie sheet the dough will be really puffy and stay very soft. Cover with a tea towel for about 20-30 to rise one more time.

For the toppings (I never measure anything for this pizza beyond the crust recipe so use to taste or to cover crust)
1/4-1/2 cup Alfredo sauce
Italian seasonings, onion and garlic powder, parsley and red pepper flakes to taste
sliced or shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
sliced red onions, Roma tomatoes, red onions and sliced button mushrooms
crumbled feta or goat cheese
defrosted and drained spinach
pitted Kalmata olives or canned pitted black olives

Layer toppings as listed and cook 10-15 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheeses melted.

Chai Cake

This is my very favorite cake recipe and it comes from Chef Deborah Wolfe who has a recipe board at www.vegweb.com

Chai Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup natural sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup soy milk
8 chai tea bags (or Bengal Spice)
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup oil
Ener-G Egg Substitute for 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grease an 8" cake pan.
In a saucepan, put soy milk gently on low heat.
Add tea bags, and simmer 15 minutes, pressing tea bags gently to extract flavor.

Wring out tea bags into soy milk. Top up with more soy milk back to 3/4 cup. Put
this flavored soy milk in fridge to cool.
In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Combine remaining ingredients, including flavored soymilk, and add to flour
mixture.
Beat for 2 minutes. If too stiff, add a bit more soy milk.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out
dry.
Makes one 8" cake.

Here is the glaze that I use with the cake.

Chai Cake Glaze

2 tbsp/30 mL butter or margarine
1 ½ cups/375 mL powdered sugar
1 tsp/5 mL Vanilla
¼ tsp/1.2 mL Cinnamon
Reserved 2 tbsp/30mL prepared Chai Latte from cake recipe

Melt butter in 1-quart/liter saucepan over medium heat. Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. Drizzle glaze on cake.