Vegan/Allergy-Friendly Banana Bread!

 (from ambitiouskitchen.com)

INGREDIENTS:

Wet

3 big bananas mashed, 4 or 5 if you have shrimpy ones (1 1/3 cup mashed)

1/3c melted and cooled oil (called for coconut but canola was fine)

1/2c packed brown sugar

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

2tbsp dairy-free milk of choice

Dry

1 3/4c flour of choice (Bob's 1-1 is a great gf option)

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2tsp salt

1/2 cup dairy/soy-free chocolate chips (Enjoy Life is the best brand!)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Line a tin (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 is recommended) with parchment paper and grease inside of pan. *Wasn't sure if they meant grease the pan under the liner or the liner...so I did both!

Mix WET ingredients together in a big bowl.

Mix DRY ingredients together and whisk. 

Add DRY ingredients to WET ingredients and mix together until just combined. Lumps are ok!

Add in chocolate chips and mix.

Put batter into pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Allow bread to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes then remove from pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling. Slice and eat when cool!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly! Also DELICIOUS.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups pureed pumpkin (1 15 oz. can is fine)

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c molasses

2 c rolled oats

1 c flour *substitute gf flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

***for the spices, a pumpkin spice mix would be amazing

1/2 c raisins *OPTIONAL--I say GROSS.

1 c chocolate chips/chunks of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix pumpkin, sugar, and molasses together.

In small bowl, combine oats, flour, spices, and baking soda.

Mix together with pumpkin and sugar. Mix in chocolate and/or raisins.

Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet. (I sprinkled a little kosher salt on top–highly recommend) 

Bake 11/13 minutes.

NOTES:

I was really impressed with these as they stuck together super well despite the lack of egg and they came out nice and chewy. 

I think the bake time was a little longer than written? Just watch for your desired level of chewy. 

And the batter was so good we ended up cooking a tray-full of the batter then eating the rest straight out of the mixing bowl over the course of a couple days.

Rice Krispie Treats!!!

Rice Krispie Treats!!!

IT'S A PANDEMIC, Y'ALL!! WHY THE HELL NOT?!!!

INGREDIENTS:

3 tbsp butter *ALLERGIZE IT: Miyoko's Vegan Butter (Whole Foods)

10 oz. (usually one bag) marshmallows

 6 cups Rice Krispies *ALLERGIZE IT: Whole Foods brand 

DIRECTIONS: 

1. In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add krispies and stir until well coated.

3. Press mixture into a 13 x 9 x 2 pan/dish coated with spray/oil. Top with sprinkles if you're feeling fancy. Or chocolate chips. Cool. Cut into squares and GORGE!!!

The Everyman's Chocolate Mousse

The Everyman's Chocolate Mousse

*My brilliant baker friend Sarah loves to challenge herself by making Jefe-friendly desserts. This one is his favorite and I am always jealous cuz he won't ever share. It is super simple and has literally 3 ingredients, 2 of which are different forms of water. SO, this mousse is allergy AND vegan-friendly!


INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup (6 oz.) water
8 oz. chocolate (70% recommended, but pick what you love)
ice cubes
whipped cream for topping *optional


DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour water into a saucepan *you can flavor it with orange juice or cassis puree if you want to get fancy. Over medium-low heat, whisk in the chocolate. The result is a homogenous sauce.

2. Put the saucepan in a bowl partly filled with ice cubes or pour into another bowl that is over the ice--it will chill faster. Then whisk the chocolate sauce by hand or with an electric mixer *if mixer, it will thicken faster, so watch out! Whisking creates large air bubbles in the sauce, which steadily thickens. After a while, strands of chocolate form inside the loops of the whisk. Pour or spoon immediately into ramekins, small bowls, or jars, and let set. Serve immediately or refrigerate


3 things can go wrong and here's how you fix them:

1. If your chocolate doesn't contain enough fat, melt the mixture again, add some chocolate, and then whisk it again.

2. If the mousse is not light enough, melt the mixture again, add some water, and whisk it once more.

3. If you whisk it too much so that it becomes grainy, this means the foam has turned into an emulsion. In that case, simply melt the mixture and whisk it again, adding nothing.

Concord Grape & Thyme Bars

I emerged from a mountain retreat bearing its bounteous fruits: a pitcher of cool apple cider (too simple a concept to be included here?) and a heaping bowl of concord grapes (no turkeys - this time...).  What to do with the grapes?  It took a little more research than usual, but as always, the internet came through with an intriguing recipe.

Recipe

1 lb concord grapes, stemmed

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

2 c sugar

2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

3 c all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

16 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into 1/4" pieces

Squeeze the grapes to separate skins from pulp.  Process the skins until roughly chopped.  Boil the pulp in a saucepan, then simmer until they lose their shape.  Pour the pulp through a sieve, pushing through as much as you can minus the seeds.

Combine the pulp, skins, lemon juice, and 1 cup sugar in the saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then simmer about 30 minutes.  Add the thyme and simmer until reduced and jam-like.

Combine the flour, baking powder, 1 c sugar, and salt; add the egg and butter and get into a crumbly dough.  Press 2/3 into the bottom of a baking dish (13x9 or similar), spread the jam over, and crumble the rest of the dough on top.  Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Notes

The grape preparation sounds elaborate, but it does seem to make sense (as we discovered by trying to cut corners).  So stick to that.  Otherwise, it's straightforward baking, with all the butter and sugar that apparently entails.  Great stuff, good use of our concords!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Build lean muscle while eating cookies?  Worth a shot...

Recipe

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Splenda (really? maybe plain sugar instead?)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
sea salt

Mix the peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg until doughy.  Line a cookie sheet with foil, lightly oil, and plop spoonfuls on there.  You can flatten them out and give them the standard press pattern with a fork if you want.  Give a very light sprinkle of sea salt.  Cook 10-15 minutes at 350, until golden brown.

Notes

Simple enough, but I don't think I got a single ingredient right in my first attempt.  I had chunky peanut butter, honey, and almond extract.  OK, an egg is hard to mess up.  And sea salt.  So not as bad as I thought, but still...  I said what the hell, I'll make it work through sheer force of will.  It was... interesting.

Almond Cookies

Here's an "old Dutch Colonial," recipe not house -->

Recipe

3/4 c butter (not a misprint - that's a stick and a half)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c almonds, crushed

Cream the butter, sugar, and almond extract.  Sift the flour with baking soda and salt.  Beat together the butter/sugar and flour mixtures.  Roll the dough out into about a 12" square.  Brush just enough of the egg onto the dough to cover in a light layer, then sprinkle the almonds on top.  Cut into squares and separate.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Notes

This was totally not my dinner tonight...

Anzac Biscuits

Happy Australia Day!  Anzac biscuits (history, recipe) are a classic Australia Day treat, with their origins (like the day itself) in the WWI era, when there was a need to send a tasty treat on a long sea voyage, and also one that did not require eggs as Australia's typically-bellicose dairy farmers were fightin' round the world.


Recipe

1 c quick cooking oats
1 c flour
1 c sugar
3/4 c coconut flakes
1/2 c butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix up the dry ingredients (oats, flour, sugar, coconut).  Melt the butter and mix in the syrup.  Mix the baking soda and boiling water, then add to butter, then add all that to the dry ingredients.  Spoon onto a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Notes

I'm not much of a baker, so this first batch was a bit of a learning experience.  Still, not too difficult.  I used honey instead of "golden syrup."  I had to split the batch between two trays, and the one closer to the burner got a little overdone.  In retrospect, I should have pulled them out once they looked done; they were very soft, but toughened up a bit as they cooled.  Overall, plenty of tasty biscuits.  And as another plus, your kitchen will smell like delicious baked goods and/or melted butter.

Pumpkin Panna Cotta

Happy Thanksgiving!  This year saw my first effort to contribute in the kitchen.  I dug into the archives for a recipe with some seasonal flavors - and definitely sounds much fancier than it actually is to put together:

Recipe

1/2 cup milk
1 envelope  gelatin
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup (half a can) pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
chocolate for garnish (optional)

Combine the half-and-half, pumpkin, sugar, and cinnamon and mix (or blend) until it's very regular.  Meanwhile, put the milk in a large saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin on top.  Don't turn on the heat for about five minutes, then warm over low until the gelatin dissolves.  Then add the pumpkin mixture, cook over medium and stir until it steams.  Then pour into a dish (or individual dishes) and chill for a couple hours.  Once it's firm you can garnish with ground chocolate.

Outcome

For the hungry, sweet-toothed clan, I doubled everything.  The chocolate was my own addition to the recipe, for an extra texture and flavor (but also to distract from a little bit of a splotchy top).  We used an ounce of unsweetened baker's chocolate over the top.  The result wasn't too sugary, so you could potentially use something richer...

On its way to being fully consumed...