Vegan Muffins

Whatever Muffins...they can be whatever you want them to be!

drymix
4c whole wheat flour
1/2 c oats
1t salt
4t baking powder
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 c granola
1c fruit, carrot, zuke...whatever
3/4 c brown sugar

1 1/3 c rice or soy milk
1 c oil
2 c juice

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl...mix wet in separate bowl and then pour into dry. mix till just combined. spoon into greased muffin tins lined with cups.Top with a little brown sugar and oats.
bake 350 degrees...20 minutes

Chocolate Cake with a secret...

Vegan Chocolate Cake
this cake is so good you won't want to tell...

1- 10” cake-brush a 10" round cake pan with oil and line with parchment paper , preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Dry:
3 cups flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon b soda
1 teaspoon salt
sift dry ingredients into a large bowl and then also whisk to ensure everything is well combined and lump-free BEFORE adding:

Wet: measure together,
2 cups cold water
1/2 cups olive oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
mix wet in measuring cup, then pour into dry whisking very well until all lumps of flour (for some reason the olive oil is very important to a lump free cake...trust me on this one!) are absorbed and the batter is smooth, pour into prepared pan
bake at 325 dgrees for 30 min.
This cake is best with fresh berries and whipped cream, but then it wouldn't be vegan...perhaps a ganache made with milk-free chocolate and soymilk instead...yum!

Turtle Bars

Turtle Bars

Oven 350
9x13 pan
Crust
1 1/2c. Flour
3/4c. butter- cold cut in pieces
1/4c. Sugar
1t salt
This is best done in a mixer,( however I have done this by hand but it requires a lot of elbow grease). Mix until dough holds together in a firm ball when pressed together in your hands.
Press firmly into 9x13 pan and refrigerate while making filling

Filling
5 oz. butter
1c. brown sugar
1 cups granulated sugar
1/4 c. honey
½ c. Heavy cream

Cook all ingredients together stirring constantly with a wire whisk- cool slightly

Scatter 2c. Pecans over cold crust carefully pour filling over nuts. Bake 20-30 min. till bubbly in center.
Cool completely.

Chocolate topping
1 ½ c. semi sweet chocolate
¾ c. heavy cream
Heat cream to scalding and pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth pour over cooled pecan filling and spread evenly. Refrigerate till firm.

Scones

Scones

10 palm sized scones
20 min.- 350 oven

2 c. Flour
1T Baking powder
½ t salt
¼ c. Sugar
½ c. Butter- cold
¾ c. fruit – dried fruit of any kind or frozen berries of any kind(do not thaw)
2/3 c. buttermilk
1 egg

in lg mixing bowl, toss together flour, baking powder sugar and salt. Cut in butter to pea- like consistency. Add fruit in separate container mix together buttermilk and egg. Pour over dry mix and fold together until fully combined but DO NOT OVERMIX! Turn out onto a floured surface and press into a rectangle to 1 ¼ inch thickness. Using a long knife or bench scraper, cut dough into triangles. Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until just golden on the edges.

White trash...it's not social commentary, it's just bread!

White Trash Bread...the story is, when the bakery first opened way back in 1993, we took on one wholesale customer... a local restaurant that was also revamping an old space. We made their desserts and developed a bread for them. In the process of finding out what it was they were exactly looking for in a bread,one of them said, "you know, like that trashy white bread you get in Texas." We thought," OK, we get it"...and when he picked it up we told him," Here's your white trash bread!"...and that was it, no judgements or social commentary...just soft, flavorful, slightly chewy white bread...silky in texture and a little bit sweet (just like the Texans we know!). It is by far our most asked for recipe...

White Trash dough

mix together in a measuring cup and 'proof' to test the liveliness of the yeast
2 pkg active dry yeast (1/2 oz)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup very warm water (not hot)

when this bubbles and looks healthy...hopefully in a few minutes, transfer to a mixing bowl.
and add:
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1/2 cup milk-whole fat
1 T olive oil (melted butter would be great, also)
1T Honey
5 cups (1.4 lbs.) unbleached white flour
mix this by hand or in a mixer until it just barely comes together..
.then cover and let rest for 20 minutes or so...this is referred to
as an 'autolyse' and it allows the flour to absorb the moisture without
the salt hampering the process. After time is up, stir in...
1 T salt and another cup (4.5 oz) of flour
the dough will come together into a medium soft dough that
stands up to kneading but is not too firm. Work until silky in texture
and thin bands form when pulling it apart.
.
Let rise, covered, until double in bulk.
You may now either form it into loaves to rise again and slash and
bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until internal temp is 195.
OR you can make dinner rolls or bread sticks...
this is also the perfect dough for STICKY BUNS!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIES!

Every year at holiday time we make cookies...LOTS of cookies, a few dozen kinds, every year the list changes, we rotate out the least popular or difficult. By the end of the holiday season...we are so done with those cookies! This is one cookie, though that we (and everyone else) loved so much that we decided to let it grow up and become a real, year round part of our bakery case. I've had a special request for the recipe in time for mothers day...so here it is!
Now get baking Daddy-o!

This is a larger than normal batch...you'll be glad.

1# unsalted butter...soft
1/4 cup fresh ginger, grated
2 cup brown sugar
2 cup light molasses
6 1/4 cup flour
5 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup cocoa powder
4 tsp baking soda
2 Tblsp boiling water
28 ounces chocolate chips (sometimes we add 1/2 white chocolate chips)

preheat oven to 325 dgrees.
cream butter, fresh ginger, brown sugar and molasses.
Sift flour and spices and salt, Mix 1/2 into butter mixture
dissolve baking soda in water and add to above, then stir in rest of flour mixture
and chocolate chips. Chill dough....roll into balls and dredge in granulated sugar
bake on parchment lined cookie sheet for 12- 15 minutes...um, depending on the size of your balls.
if you make a larger sized cookie like we do, flatten slightly before baking.

Nettle Pesto!

Spring can be a stinging affair this far north, with temps still in the forties most days (look, the trees aren't even leafed out yet)...a little wind, a little rain, and yes, a little sun as well. Enough so that my nettle patch, on the western side of my lawn at home, is thriving quite nicely, thank you. It's the perfect time to cut back this itchy nuisance as the ball playing is in full force around here and looking for lost baseballs in a patch of nettles is, well, no fun! It's great that we get to take care of this pesky problem in such a tasty satisfying way. My friends Jenny and Sydney showed me this method...in the past, we've gotten to make many different batches...but this year has been a little challenging to get us all together.
Since I am home today, I think I'll get things started.



I cut about 16 cups of nettles...enough for two batches







Drop 8 cups of the nettles into a large pot of boiling salted water and blanch for two minutes

Squeeze out excess liquid and give them a rough chop...you'll have about three cups



Into your food processor with approximately ( I say this because you can certainly
add more, less or delete altogether any of the proposed ingredients to your liking!)
1 cup grated Parmesean
1 cup walnuts (I prefer the flavor over pine nuts)
5 garlic cloves-peeled (obviously)
a splash of lemon juice
dash kosher salt
a few turns of the pepper mill
1/2 cup olive oil-the nicest you can afford - drizzle in as processor is running...again you can add more or less depending on how thick you want it.


I like to spoon it into glass jars and pour a little olive oil on top...refrigerate for up to four weeks or freeze in 8 0z wide mouth jam jars to save for the middle of winter when your dying for a little taste of spring.
Be sure to label and date the top so that when your rooting around in the freezer come February you'll know what tha funny green stuff is.
This first batch is packaged up and ready to pass out to my friends.