Going Vegan in Alabama

Posts Tagged ‘Baking’

I got caught again by not pre-planning. My sister-in-law decided to have a Christmas Cookie Exchange. I Knew it was coming up -- time flies it seems when you're my age LOL.

Anyway, I had half decided to make my pre-vegan specialty No Flour Chocolate cookies but change out the egg whites for vegan egg white substitute. I was pretty sure Publix had Ener-G ® Egg Replacer in their "organics" section. Yet hadn't bought any (I had the other ingredients on hand--which I'll list below). To make a long story short -- today was the Cookie Exchange & I didn't have the egg white substitute, so decided to make Vegan Cinnamon Sticky Buns with Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (recipe will follow).

Vegan No Flour Chocolate Cookies
(use at your own risk -- haven't tried this, yet it should turn out okay ...

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:
3 Cups Confectioners Sugar
1/2 Cup + 3 Tablespoons of Hersheys Special Dark Cocoa Powder (100% Cacao)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3-4 mixed up Egg Whites from Egg White Substitutes
(you can use Ener-G ® Egg Replacer, or Visit VegKansasCity.com for other Egg Substitutes
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Mix well Sugar, Cocoa & Salt in bowl
Stir in 3 Egg Whites & Vanilla Extract
(be extra careful Not to get the batter too runny -- needs to be stiff)
Drop batter by teaspoonful on oiled parchment paper or oiled cookie sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes until tops are broken

Let them cool completely before attempting to remove them from parchment paper or cookie sheet
Should make between 30 - 36 cookies.

Here's the Recipe for what I did take to our Cookie Exchange ...

Vegan Cinnamon Sticky Buns w/Glaze

Pre-heat oven to 375

Ingredients:

(2) Pillsbury Crescent Rolls Cans

Filling:
3/4 cup of Sugar
2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
About 1/4 cup Canola Oil (yes I know the Rumors about Canola Oil -- go read about the Debunking of Canola Oil Myths them at About.com
You will have to add the oil until you get the right consistency -- you don't want it too runny.

Procedure:

Beginning with One can of the Pillsbury Crescent Rolls -- take out the rolls carefully trying Not to have them become separated. Lay 4 rolls together and pinch together to make a rectangle, below this rectangle, lay 4 more. Pinch them all together to form about 15 inch long by 6 - 7 inch wide whole rectangle.

Spread 1/2 of the filling on the rectangle. Carefully roll it beginning on the long side. Cut 1 1/4 quarter slices and lay on a greased cookie sheet with each one "almost" touching.

Repeat above with Second Can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.

Bake for about 14-15 minutes.

While baking make glaze.

2 Cups Confectioner Sugar
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2-3 Tablespoons of Hot Water (if needed)

Mix all together until smooth.

The result -- Some of the sticky buns didn't rise too well but that was okay.

I placed the Glaze in a pretty bowl on a large round platter and surrounded it with the
sticky buns -- didn't want to add the glaze directly onto the buns incase guests didn't want all that much sugar.

The outcome -- Success! Most were gone at the end of the Christmas Cookie Exchange.

Here are a few helpful sites for Vegan Baking and Vegan Substitutes.

VeganBaking.net - Cookies
Vegan Substitutions
Accidently Vegan Foods -- An Extremely helpful page that lists TONS of mainstream food items that are Vegan
Vegan Products Guide

The Oven Quinoa Risotto with spinach is an excellent risotto recipe and is delicious.

It is incredibly easy to prepare and a great dish to "do ahead." You prepare it in one pan and mix and bake for 40 minutes. While it's baking you could be getting ready for work or doing other dishes to go with it.

The Basic Scone Recipe is a little tricky, plus it calls for non-hydorgenated shortening that is not always easy to find. It also tells you decide on the extract and spices to use. Also, directions say to press the dough into a circle and cut it into 8 pieces, which are huge. You may wish to half the dough, then press and cut each half into 8 pieces.

Vegan baking can be fun, yet it can be "fatting" so, bake away and give away is my motto.

Another incredible Gladcow recipe is the Maple Mustard BBQ sauce. You could use it as a tofu marinade, then bake the tofu, use it with white beans for bbq beans or use it with seitan and make a bbq sandwich.

Other recipes suggested are the Not Curry and GGBs Oatmeal Cookies. It will take a long time to try all the yummy recipes in this cookbook!

If you are craving vegan cupcakes, then you may want to buy "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" its around $11 on Amazon.

The vegan cupcake recipes are incredible. You can use Pillsbury ready-made icing if you do not want to make your own (its vegan per their cs).

When you share these vegan cupcakes with friends they will be amazed at how good they are and how good they look! They won't believe there is no dairy or eggs involved because they are so moist. You really do Not need animal products to cook and bake well and delicious food.

Many times making vegan baked good from scratch turns out better even than boxed "vegan" bake mixes. Who knows why that is -- maybe it is the TLC you give to the "scratch" vegan recipes.

In the January 12 issue of Woman's World Weekly has a recipe for rosemary carrot muffins that are vegan!

Unfortunately, most muffin recipes and other recipes in magazines are not vegan. Some can be made vegan by chaning ingredients -- yet changing baking recipes can be tricky.

So, it might be a good idea to only use vegan recipes for vegan baking ...

Haven't even done New Years resolutions yet -- may do them soon and write about them.

Many vegans decide to make one day a week Cooking Day -- like Sunday.

Here are 3 recipes you might want to try on your Cooking Day:

* Chana Masala
* Cranberry Oatmeal Spice Bars
* Impossible Coconut Pie

Reviews of the Recipes:

Chana Masala: A great recipe that is easy to make with ingredients many already have -- except garam masala or curry powder. Even non-vegans like it.

Cranberry Spice Bars: Probably needs cinnamon. You may wish to add more flour and 1/4 cup of vegan margarine, bake for 20 minutes. Texture is good.

Impossible Coconut Pie: The silken tofu may throw some people off -- yet it does bake well. It would be a good chilled spring or summer pie.

When you have more time to cook, you may wish to use more fresh ingredients. Plus, you have more time to experiment. Once you find several good recipes you like, you will know what to buy to keep on hand.

Things like onions, green peppers Tofurky kielbasas are can certainly become vegan "staples."

Begin your first attempts being Vegan with baking ...

Try your hand at vegan baking today:

Punkinberry Muffin

1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup tofu, mashed with a fork
1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or use paper liners. Mix pumpkin, syrup, oil, vanilla, and tofu in large bowl. Sift dry ingredients, except cranberries, separately. Add to pumpkin mixture. Stir just until moist. Fold in cranberries. Pour into muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until knife inserted in center of one muffin comes out dry. Make 12 large muffins.

There was also a Punkinberry Muffin from the Nov./Dec. 2008 issue of VegNews magazine An excellent Vegan Magazine.