Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (87 page)

Read Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook Online

Authors: Isa Chandra Moskowitz,Terry Hope Romero

Tags: #food.cookbooks

BOOK: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
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Crust:
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
⅓ cup canola oil or 5⅓ tablespoons nonhydron-
genated vegan margarine, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons plain soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Crumb topping:
½ cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2-3 tablespoons canola oil
Pinch each of ground cinnamon, ginger, and allspice
 
Apple filling:
3 pounds Granny Smith apples (about 6), cored and
sliced thinly (peeling is optional)
1 tablespoon canola oil
⅓ cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon water
Pinch each of ground cinnamon, ginger, and allspice
 
Peanut butter caramel:
⅔ cup chunky peanut butter (the no-stir kind, not the
kind that separates)
¼ cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons brown rice syrup
 
PREHEAT THE oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 × 13-inch baking pan.
 
 
Prepare the crust:
 
Place the graham cracker crumbs in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with the oil and mix until moistened. Add the soy milk and mix with your fingers; the crumbs should hold together if pinched. Press the crumbs firmly into the prepared baking pan to form a crust.
 
 
Prepare the topping:
 
Place the flour, sugar, and spices in a mixing bowl. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of oil into the flour and mix with your fingertips until crumbs start to form. Keep tossing the mixture with your fingers; you want the crumbs to be fairly large for crumbs. Add more oil if necessary.
 
 
Prepare the apple filling:
 
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, coating all the apples.
Layer the apples onto the crust and sprinkle with the crumb topping. The topping won’t solidly cover the entire pan; just sprinkle it randomly over the top so that the apples are peeking through in places.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the apples are tender.
When the bars are almost done baking (at the 35-minute point), start preparing the peanut butter caramel: Mix all the ingredients very well with a fork, in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat for about 3 minutes. The mixture should soften and slide off the fork in ribbons.
When the bars are done baking, drizzle the caramel in ribbons all over the top. Let cool completely before serving; you can place the pan in the fridge to hasten the cooling process. Slice into bars and serve.
FUDGY WUDGY BLUEBERRY BROWNIES
 
MAKES 16 BROWNIES
TIME :
50 MINUTES
 
 
These brownies are ridiculously fudgy. They better be, they’re called fudgy wudgies.They have triple chocolate power—in the form of melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and then chocolate chips. And they have double blueberry power—in the form of blueberry spreadable fruit and plump, fresh blueberries, adding a tangy contrast to each sweet bite.The blueberry-chocolate combo is not the most popular one, but it should be! For a variation, try raspberry-chocolate by replacing the blueberry ingredients with raspberry ones.
 
➣
The highest-quality vegan chocolate chips will produce the highest-quality brownie. The only ingredients should be chocolate liqueur, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla, and possibly lecithin. Avoid chips with high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient.
 
➣
Since the consistency of spreadable fruit varies from brand to brand, we used the kind that had no whole blueberries visible. If yours looks like it does have whole fruit, no worries! Just pulse it in a blender a few times until smooth. You can add the recipe’s measure of soy milk to it, if necessary, to make the blending easier.
⅔ cup plus ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
10 ounces blueberry spreadable fruit
¼ cup soy milk
¾ cup sugar
½ cup canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries
 
PREHEAT THE oven to 325°F. Grease a 9 × 13-inch baking pan.
Melt the ⅔ cup of chocolate chips, reserving the other ½ cup as whole chips. To melt, create your own double boiler: Heat a small pan of water over high heat until boiling. Place another small pan on top of that and place the chips in that one. Use a rubber spatula to stir until melted. Remove from the heat and let cool just a bit while you prepare everything else. Or, if you want to melt the chips in a microwave instead, place them in a microwave-safe bowl (obviously) on high heat for 1 minute. Stir the partially melted chips and microwave again for another 30 seconds.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the blueberry spreadable fruit, soy milk, sugar, canola oil, and extracts. Mix on high speed (if using an electric hand mixer) until no large clumps of the spreadable fruit are visible. This could take 2 to 3 minutes.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until well mixed; we use a fork here because the batter is very thick and can clump up in a whisk or mixer. Mix in the melted chocolate as well.
Fold in the remaining ½ cup of chocolate chips and the fresh blueberries. Spread the batter in the baking pan (don’t worry if it doesn’t come to the very corners of the pan because the batter will spread while baking and it will all work out).
Bake for 45 minutes. You can’t really do a toothpick test here because the chocolate chips will make the pick look wet and the top will appear soft and crinkly and not done when, we promise you, it is done.
Remove from the oven and let cool. Slice into sixteen squares (or whatever size you want). If you want to serve it warm, wait about 30 minutes, so it is still warm but not hot. For true decadence, serve with vanilla ice cream (page 260) and a little bit of blueberry syrup, plus some fresh blueberries for good measure.
LEMONBARS
 
MAKES 12 BARS
TIME :
4 HOURS (MOST OF THAT FOR CHILLING)
 
Bet you thought you’d never have a lemon bar again in the land of vegan culinaria. Well, turn that frown upside down—café-style lemon bars are here! Lots and lots of tangy, creamy, jelled lemon topping blankets a short-bread crust. And with a sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar, these are as pretty as can be.
 
Crust:
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup confectioners’ sugar, plus additional to decorate
the finished bars
¼ cup cornstarch
1 cup nonhydrogenated vegan margarine
 
Filling:
1⅓ cups water
3 tablespoons agar flakes
1¼ cups granulated sugar
⅛ teaspoon turmeric
⅔ cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from 2 large
lemons)
¼ cup soy milk
 
LIGHTLY GREASE a 9 × 13-inch baking pan.
 
 
Prepare the crust:
 
Pulse the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and cornstarch in a food processor. Add the margarine in spoonfuls and blend 8 to 10 seconds, and then pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared baking pan and press firmly into an even layer with slightly raised sides, so that it can hold in the filling. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the unfilled crust for 25 minutes. remove from the oven, and let cool.
 
 
Meanwhile, prepare the filling:
 
In a saucepot, soak the agar in the water for 15 minutes. Use the time while it soaks to zest your lemons and squeeze your lemon juice. Mix the arrowroot into the lemon juice to dissolve.
When the agar has been soaked for 15 minutes, turn on the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes, or until the agar is completely dissolved. Add the granulated sugar and turmeric, and boil until they have dissolved, about 3 minutes. Turn down the heat to medium and add the arrow root mixture, then add the lemon zest and soy milk. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. It should not be rapidly boiling, but low bubbling is okay.
Pour the mixture into the prepared crust. Let cool for 20 minutes and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until the filling is only slightly jiggly and has set. Use a sifter or a fine-mesh strainer for sprinkle the bars with confectioners’ sugar. Slice into squares and serve.
DESSERTS
 
D
ESSERTS ARE USUALLY listed at the end of a cookbook but we suspect that you’ve snuck a peek and this is the first thing you are seeing. So, hi! Welcome to our cookbook! We talk a lot about how wonderful broccoli is but, at the end of the day, we know what really wins people over is a chocolate pie smothered in caramel and pecans.
Coming down from a sugar high from our last cookbook,
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
, we really needed to take a break from cake batter and instead set our sights on luscious desserts featuring nature’s bounty of fruits. Good old-fashioned crisps become interesting again when spiked with aniseed, and juicy pears are poached in tea and, because we couldn’t resist, placed in a pool of chocolate sauce.
Of course, we also couldn’t resist adding a few cupcakes into the mix.
TEA-POACHED PEARS IN CHOCOLATE SAUCE
 
SERVES 4
TIME :
LESS THAN AN HOUR, PLUS CHILL TIME
 
 
This dessert may seem like it should be served by your butler, but give him the day off and make it yourself—it’s incredibly easy. Pear halves are poached in strong black tea and then the tea is used to make a soupy pool of chocolate sauce for the pears. A little orange peel gives these a subtle citrus kick. It’s an especially good dessert after an Italian meal.

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