I love to bake all kinds of things, but I still maintain that the best recipes are the old classics. I've noticed time and again that whenever I pull a recipe from an old cookbook that was sold as a local fundraiser where I grew up, or if I use an old family recipe (either my family's or a friend's!), those are always the foods that are favorites. I'm not sure if these foods just bring back good memories for people, or if the recipes are just classics that have been perfected over the generations, but I know better than to question a good thing.
One of my absolute favorite treats as a kid was straight out of my elementary school cookbook: chocolate caramel brownies. My mom would make these, and I would just melt. These brownies are just ridiculously rich and intense, with sweetness of chocolate mixing in with the salty stickiness of the caramel. Very yummy indeed! They are great because they are a hit with kids, but because they are so decadent, they also pass as a very "adult" dessert as well. What is also great about this recipe is that it took German chocolate cake mix and jazzed it up, so if you don't normally keep baking ingredients in your home but you want to bake something special, a box of cake mix will do the trick.
Let me tell you though, the recipe violates just about every rule of vegan baking that there is. First, cake mix - not only do you find dairy and egg products, but healthywise, these are the worst offenders of partially hydrogenated yuck you can buy. Second, evaporated milk is critical in this recipe. And finally, the caramels. Besides having milk in them, they are just annoying to handle, even if they are delicious in the final product. The original recipe calls you to buy a bag of caramels and individually unwrap each of the 50 caramels. Let me tell you, I'm usually fairly bitter by the time I'm done with that process, and I'd rather just eat the 50 caramels than keep baking.
Fortunately, all of these fixes are pretty easy! I've previously extolled the virtues of Cherrybrook Kitchens (http://www.cherrybrookkitchens.com) vegan cake mixes, and it is just as delicious here, too. Just pick up a box of chocolate cake mix, and you're all set. Evaporated milk? No problem. Just take the amount of milk you need and double it, swapping in soy milk. Then, heat up the milk over medium low heat; the soy milk will get hot, but don't let it boil. Just stir occasionally, and the milk will reduce. Once reduced by half, you have evaporated milk.
And the caramel? That ended up being the best surprise of all. Not only is this stuff delicious in this recipe, but it's actually meant to be a topping for ice cream. The batch whips up really quickly, and the final product has an intense, almost nutty flavor. Two thumbs way up, and a special thank you to http://veganicecream.blogspot.com for posting the recipe! I've put it below.
Chocolate Caramel Brownies
Yields: 20-24 brownies
Ingredients:
2/3 c. soy milk (directions in recipe for turning it into evaporated milk)
Caramel Sauce (recipe follows at end)
1 box vegan chocolate cake mix
3/4 c. non-dairy butter substitute, melted (like Earth's Balance)
1 c. vegan chocolate chips (like Ghirardelli)
1) Prepare evaporated milk. Heat soy milk over medium low heat, occasionally stirring to keep from boiling. After approximately 10-15 minutes, the milk should have reduced by half (1/3 c.). Remove from heat.
2) At the same time, prepare caramel sauce (recipe at the end).
3) Mix together (by hand) the evaporated soy milk, the cake mix, and the melted butter substitute. The mixture will look like brownies.
4) Pat 2/3 of the dough into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake the mixture for 8 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
5) Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Add the caramel sauce; you will not need all of it, just add until the caramel covers the top. (Put the rest in the fridge for ice cream!)
6) Take the remaining dough and crumble over the top of the caramel, pushing the dough into the caramel if need be.
7) Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting. If you are having trouble removing the brownies from the pan or if you used too much caramel, do not worry. Simply leave the cut brownies in the pan, cover, and put the brownies in the fridge until cold. The caramel will firm up, and then you'll have an easier time removing them.
Caramel Sauce
Yields: 2-3 cups sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 c. non-dairy butter substitute (like Earth's Balance)
2 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. soy milk, divided
2 Tbsp. arrowroot.
1) Mix 1/4 c. soy milk and the arrowroot together; put aside.
2) Melt the remaining ingredients in a saucepan, over medium to medium high heat, stirring frequently. Once melted, the mixture should boil (or will shortly begin to boil). Boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
3) Immediately remove the mixture from the heat and add the soymilk/arrowroot mixture. Stir until smooth.
a peek into one blogger's vegan lifestyle, from cooking and baking to parenthood and family life to making vegan choices as a working professional, and everything in between
Showing posts with label Brownies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brownies. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Ask Veg Baker, J.D.
Recent inspiration has brought about a new segment on the blog: Ask Veg Baker, J.D. If you have a burning baking question, email it to me or post a comment, and once or twice a month, I'll post an answer and a recipe to go with it. Admittedly, I am not a trained pastry chef, so I definitely don't want to give the impression that I'm a baking know-it-all. I hope these monthly Q&A sessions take on more of the flavor of friendly banter where people can trade tips. In that vein, if you have anything to contribute to a question, please post in the comments. And if I don't know the answer, I'll happily research to figure it out.
So what's the story behind this idea? A phone call from my wonderful sister, Alison. If you don't know my sister, please go out of your way to do so. I'm one of her biggest fans, not only because she's a fabulous big sister, but she's just an incredible person. I always looked up to her as a kid, and I continue to look to her for support and guidance as an adult. I'm just super proud to be her little sister.
One of the many areas where Alison shines is her hostessing capabilities. She always throws these amazing parties, and she is a fantastic cook and baker to boot. Whereas I like to take recipes and modify them, Alison just pulls these ridiculously good ideas for food and parties out of the various recesses of her brain and, in true Tim Gunn style, she "makes it happen."
It is the topic of Alison and baking that brought about the Ask Veg Baker, J.D. segment. Alison gave me a call last week because she was in a predicament that I am in more than I care to admit: she was in the middle of baking and realized she was short on an ingredient. Here was her question: when you are baking and short on vegetable oil, is there anything you can substitute?
The answer is: yes! As a general rule, in baking, a solid fat can be substituted for another solid fat, and a liquid fat can be substituted for another liquid fat. If you think about it, we've been doing this for years already; people use butter, margarine, and shortening interchangeably all the time and don't think twice about it. For some reason, though, doing the same thing with liquid fats just didn't get the same amount of press. In Alison's case, she was short on vegetable oil, so my first recommendation was to use applesauce to make up the difference. Applesauce actually is a great substitute because it adds a lot of moisture without altering flavor and its fat-free. When she scoured her fridge and realized she was out, though, we went to Plan C: she melted some butter and added it to the oil and put it in. (This would work with Earth's Balance, too!) Alison added the butter and found success! (I can personally attest to the final product's yumminess.)
I should note, though, that when substituting liquid fats, it is important to use neutral fats, like vegetable/corn/canola oil, applesauce, and melted butter. For example, you should NEVER use something like olive oil. It has a tremendous taste that beefs up the flavor profile of savory foods, but put it in your cakes and cookies, and you've got yourself a big pile of yuck (unless, of course, the recipe calls for it, and then that's a different story).
In honor of my sister's idea to start Ask Veg Baker, J.D. (and her enthusiastic proclamation of "Thanks, Veg Baker, J.D.!" when she hung up the phone), I am going to post today's recipe in honor of Alison. When Alison was a teenager and starting to bake for the first time, she made the Hershey's Best Brownies recipe, and it was super delicious. It's a recipe I've turned to time and again. I've recently veganized it, and I'm still tinkering with it, but I definitely like the result below.
I should note, though, that when you make these brownies, because applesauce is used, they are going to look undercooked when they come out of the oven. I can't stress this enough - it is really important that you test the brownies and make sure a toothpick comes out clean, otherwise these are really easy to overbake. If you're like me, the toothpick will come out clean and you'll pull the brownies out of the oven, but then you'll pace and lament that you can't believe you stopped baking the brownies even though they look so raw and you spoiled this batch, and then 30 minutes will go by and you'll want some form of chocolate so you'll cut yourself a brownie, and you'll realize you have a warm, super soft (and fully baked) brownie, and you'll feel goofy for doubting yourself. Not like I've gone through this dance before or anything...
Anyway, these brownies are at their best still hot out of the oven in a brownie sundae as well as in traditional cooled down brownie form.
Best Brownies, Vegan-Style
Yields: 12 brownies
Ingredients:
1/2 c. melted non-dairy butter substitute, like Earth's Balance
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 -1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (optional; there will be a darker chocolate taste without it)
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1) Mix together butter substitute and white sugar; add applesauce and vanilla until well mixed.
2) Mix flour, cocoa, and powder into wet ingredients until just mixed.
3) Pour into an 8x8 or 9x9 well-greased square pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out in the center (and in different spots of the pan) cleanly.
So what's the story behind this idea? A phone call from my wonderful sister, Alison. If you don't know my sister, please go out of your way to do so. I'm one of her biggest fans, not only because she's a fabulous big sister, but she's just an incredible person. I always looked up to her as a kid, and I continue to look to her for support and guidance as an adult. I'm just super proud to be her little sister.
One of the many areas where Alison shines is her hostessing capabilities. She always throws these amazing parties, and she is a fantastic cook and baker to boot. Whereas I like to take recipes and modify them, Alison just pulls these ridiculously good ideas for food and parties out of the various recesses of her brain and, in true Tim Gunn style, she "makes it happen."
It is the topic of Alison and baking that brought about the Ask Veg Baker, J.D. segment. Alison gave me a call last week because she was in a predicament that I am in more than I care to admit: she was in the middle of baking and realized she was short on an ingredient. Here was her question: when you are baking and short on vegetable oil, is there anything you can substitute?
The answer is: yes! As a general rule, in baking, a solid fat can be substituted for another solid fat, and a liquid fat can be substituted for another liquid fat. If you think about it, we've been doing this for years already; people use butter, margarine, and shortening interchangeably all the time and don't think twice about it. For some reason, though, doing the same thing with liquid fats just didn't get the same amount of press. In Alison's case, she was short on vegetable oil, so my first recommendation was to use applesauce to make up the difference. Applesauce actually is a great substitute because it adds a lot of moisture without altering flavor and its fat-free. When she scoured her fridge and realized she was out, though, we went to Plan C: she melted some butter and added it to the oil and put it in. (This would work with Earth's Balance, too!) Alison added the butter and found success! (I can personally attest to the final product's yumminess.)
I should note, though, that when substituting liquid fats, it is important to use neutral fats, like vegetable/corn/canola oil, applesauce, and melted butter. For example, you should NEVER use something like olive oil. It has a tremendous taste that beefs up the flavor profile of savory foods, but put it in your cakes and cookies, and you've got yourself a big pile of yuck (unless, of course, the recipe calls for it, and then that's a different story).
In honor of my sister's idea to start Ask Veg Baker, J.D. (and her enthusiastic proclamation of "Thanks, Veg Baker, J.D.!" when she hung up the phone), I am going to post today's recipe in honor of Alison. When Alison was a teenager and starting to bake for the first time, she made the Hershey's Best Brownies recipe, and it was super delicious. It's a recipe I've turned to time and again. I've recently veganized it, and I'm still tinkering with it, but I definitely like the result below.
I should note, though, that when you make these brownies, because applesauce is used, they are going to look undercooked when they come out of the oven. I can't stress this enough - it is really important that you test the brownies and make sure a toothpick comes out clean, otherwise these are really easy to overbake. If you're like me, the toothpick will come out clean and you'll pull the brownies out of the oven, but then you'll pace and lament that you can't believe you stopped baking the brownies even though they look so raw and you spoiled this batch, and then 30 minutes will go by and you'll want some form of chocolate so you'll cut yourself a brownie, and you'll realize you have a warm, super soft (and fully baked) brownie, and you'll feel goofy for doubting yourself. Not like I've gone through this dance before or anything...
Anyway, these brownies are at their best still hot out of the oven in a brownie sundae as well as in traditional cooled down brownie form.
Best Brownies, Vegan-Style
Yields: 12 brownies
Ingredients:
1/2 c. melted non-dairy butter substitute, like Earth's Balance
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 -1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (optional; there will be a darker chocolate taste without it)
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1) Mix together butter substitute and white sugar; add applesauce and vanilla until well mixed.
2) Mix flour, cocoa, and powder into wet ingredients until just mixed.
3) Pour into an 8x8 or 9x9 well-greased square pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out in the center (and in different spots of the pan) cleanly.
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