Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie with Oat-Nut Crust

With amazing deftness I managed to cram three recipes into one dessert last weekend. I hereby present record to you of a fantastic Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie with Oat-Nut Crust.

First make the press-in crust:

Oat-Nut Crust from The New Laurel's Kitchen

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 Tbls water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Blend oats and walnuts in blender or food processor until the mixture is floury, with only a few visable oat pieces. turn into bowl and mix in water and salt (try just 2 Tbls water at first, and add the third only if needed to hold the dough together). Press into 9" or 10" pie tin and bake just 10 mins. 

Next, make the pudding:

Vanilla Pudding also from The New Laurel's Kitchen

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 Tbls cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1 tsp vanilla

Gently heat 1 1/2 cups of the milk in a heavy pan. Stir in the sugar and salt. 

Combine the cornstarch or arrowroot with the reserved milk. Add to the milk when it is very hot; cook and stir over low heat until thick.* If you are using cornstarch, continue to cook and stir over very low heat for a few minutes more. (If you want richer version, you can stir in a beaten egg into 1/2 cup of the pudding, then beat that into the whole pudding while it is still very hot.) Cool somewhat and add vanilla. 

Makes about 2 cups. Good warm or cold.

And finally, combine and add fruit!

Berry Pudding Pie yup, still from The New Laurel's Kitchen

Fill a prebaked pie shell or crumb crust with 3 cups or so of fresh blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries or sliced peaches. Pour Vanilla Pudding over them while it's still warm. Sprinkle with toasted nuts if you like, and chill. 

If you have fruit too pretty to hide, fill your pie shell with pudding and let it cool slightly. Arrange sweet berries or slices of ripe, sweet peach, kiwi, or apricot on top. (You can prevent the sliced fruit from turning brown by dipping it orange juice.)

******************************

A few comments:

First:  since my daughter is allergic to peanuts and any nuts purchased at the store may have been cross-contaminated with peanuts I was careful to rinse the walnuts before I used them for the crust (I set them out to air dry after washing them, so I wasn't added extra liquid to the crust).

Second:  since the oats are being ground down anyway, I used my stash of Quick oats instead of my nice rolled oats.

Third: I don't understand the directions about only adding 2 Tbls of water to the crust. I ended up using more like 6 Tbls of water all told before my crust would stick together. But maybe it's a case-by-case thing.

*Fourth: Have you ever made non-instant pudding before? I hadn't and I was amazed that it was as easy as it was. However, initially it wasn't setting for me and I was frustrated until I Googled about using cornstarch as a thickener. It's essential that you keep the heat high after adding the cornstarch. Don't reduce the heat until after it's started to thicken. I think the recipe's directions were a little misleading in that regard so I'm noting it in my cookbook for the next time (because you know I'll forget).

Fifth: Yum. This is good stuff.

It Fell On the Floor But We Ate It Anyway -Cake

I rarely cry over culinary flops, but this time it was literally too much: I dropped my husband's birthday cake on the kitchen floor.

My three year old and I had carefully navegated the Mama/Toddler baking trade-off (I measured, she stirred. I placed into the oven, she helped me to track the time), and together we'd baked a kick-ass cake. We even mixed the frosting homemade, stirring and stirring the chocolate chips into melty gooey goodness. The cake tins cooled on the open windowpane. They popped out of the pans without tearing. We spread delicious jam and frosting onto the first layer, and successfully placed the top layer, decorating it with more frosting and berries. I set the cake in the cake carrier and attached the carrier's lid. And then I lifted the lid by its large Hey, Use Me To Carry This Cake Pan -looking handle, only to discover that the latches holding the top to the bottom were not, in fact, meant to hold any weight. BAM, the bottom fell out and there I stood, holding the handle of the top of the cake carrier, staring at my husband's birthday cake lying upside down on the kitchen floor. And then the tears, they came.

The top layer was a goner, covered in cat fur and other nasty bits of floor spice. But the bottom layer was rescuable; we carefully used a spatula to separate it from the top layer-turned-floor-flop and restored the un-gross layer to the cake plate. We poured extra frosting on (hurray for extra frosting!) and re-decorated with cherries. Voila--a delicious single-layer birthday cake. Not exactly what I had planned, but in true birthday fashion, a surprise! 

From Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan with a Vengeance:

Raspberry Cherry Blackout Cake

Serves 12 [or maybe 6, if you drop half of it on the floor]

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder [I used Hershey's]
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups plain rice or soy milk [I used cow milk]
• 1/2 cup canola oil [I used EVOO]
• 1 (10 ounce) jar raspberry preserves (reserve 1/2 for the batter) [I had cherry jam]
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• Fresh raspberries for decorating and yumminess [I used canned cherries 'cause it's what I had]

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray two 8-inch round springform cake pans with cooking spray. If you don't have springform [I don't] then use parchment paper rounds on the bottom of two ordinary 8-inch round cake pans to prevent sticking.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine the milk, oil, 1/2 cup of the preserves, the vanilla, and the sugar in a large bowl and mix with a hand mixer or strong fork. The jam should be mostly dissolved with the rest of the ingredients; some small clumps are okay. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches and mix until everything is incorporated. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bak at 350F for 40 to 45 mins, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pans.

When the cakes have cooled fully, spread one layer of cake with a thin layer of the reserved preserves (give the preserves a quick mix with a strong fork to get a spreadable consistency); spread a layer of chocolate frosting [see below] on top of the preserves. Place the other layer of cake on top and spread its top with preserves. Carefully spread the chocolate frosting over the top, then ice the sides...

Chocolate Ganache-y Frosting

• 3/4 cup soy creamer (plain soy milk will do) [I used cow milk]
• 6 Tbls nonhydrogenated margarine
• 10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips [aproximately 1 1/2 cups?]

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the creamer to a low boil. Add the margarine and melt, turn off the heat, and stir in the chocolate chips until smooth. Let sit for at least 1 hour. I should still have a pourable consistency at this point. If you want a spreadable consistency then refrigerate for an hour. (If you refrigerate it for more than a few hours, it sets too much to spread easily, so you will need to reheat it, then let it sit at room temperature before using.)

Baked Apples

ready for the baking

I made an attempt at a Passover meal this year and was pleased with the results. Also, it was a fantastic opportunity to use my cookbooks!

Starting with the last first, here is the evening's dessert:  a delicious and simple recipe from my current go-to, Laurel's Kitchen.

Baked Apples

from The New Laurel's Kitchen

4 large flavorful apples

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or filberts

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbls brown sugar

pinch salt

1 tsp flour

3/4 cup apple juice [I actually used lemonade]

Preheat oven to 350. Core apples and place in a greased baking dish with a cover. It's good if the apples are a snug fit: if not, cut up a fifth apple and tuck it around.

Mix the wheat germ, raisins, nuts, lemon zest, cinnamon, sugar, and salt and press lightly into the apple cores. Mix the flour and juice and pour over the apples.

Bake 40 minutes or until the apples are very soft. Let cool slightly before serving for best flavor.

Serves 4.

Variation:

Substitute 2 Tbls toasted sesame seeds for the nuts and use 6 Tbls of raisins.

I used the straight recipe (though I like the sound of the variation), substituting matzo meal for the germ/flour and lemonade for the apple juice (used what I had).

Imagine I'll make this many times in the years to come---apples are a favorite (inexpensive) fruit and for a dessert this is high fiber and includes protein. Can't ask for much more!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

We made these a while ago but I'd troubles uploading the picture. (I know, I know. In the absolute oppositeness of usual food blogging, I usually don't worry about such nonsense as having a picture to go with my posts. But in this case, I knew it was there;  it felt wrong to continue on without it.)

          Chocolate Chip Cookies from Joy of Cooking

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease cookie sheets. Mix together thoroughly:

1 cup plus 2 Tbls all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

Beat on medium speed until very fluffy and well blended:
8 Tbls (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

Add and beat until well combined:
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Drop the dough by heaping measuring teaspoonfuls onto hte sheets, spacing about 2" aprt. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are just slightly colored on tiop and rimmed with brown at the edges, 8 to 10 mins. Rotate the sheet halfway through baking for even browning. Remove the sheet to a rack and let stand until the cookies firm slightly, about 2 mins. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

Our review:  As much as it pains me to say it, we ate these cookies because they were cookies--Hello, cookies!--not because they were good. We made two batches (separate days, different head bakers) just to be certain the first wasn't a fluke of disappointingness. But no. They're just okay cookies. I mean, yes, we totally ate all of them. But we didn't relish the experience. We just stuffed our faces with mediocre cookies and then felt guilty for not holding out for better. But, after all, a cookie in the hand...

Cranberry Pie, Part 2: Berry Filling

As I'd said in Part 1, I was looking for something other than a pumpkin pie for this Thanksgiving, and when I found The Frugal Gourmet's recipe using cranberries it was just the ticket.

from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American

Cranberry Pie

• 4 cups cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 Tbls cornstarch
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

• Pastry for a 2-crust, 9" pie

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Wash and pick over cranberries;  drain thoroughly. Chop cranberries and mix with sugar and cornstarch. Mix egg and almond extract and combine with cranberries. Line a 9" pie plate with half the pastry. Add cranberry mixture. Cover with strips of pastry arranged in a lattice, and seal edges. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue baking about 35 minutes, or until cranberries are soft and pastry is browned.

Results of family vote:  two in favor (husband and daughter), one slightly meh (me).  It wasn't that it was bad tasting, but it was too sour for me. The sourness was totally my fault, of course, because I chose not to chop all the cranberries (they kept rolling away from me and it was irritating so I gave up after halving about a third of them);  I hadn't thought about what that would mean to the filling and how the whole berries wouldn't be coated in and out with sugar. Oh well. I still ate a big piece (as did my husband and daughter). I'd make this recipe again, but next time I'll allow myself more time to chop chop chop the berries.

Cranberry Pie, Part 1: Crust(s)

If Americans agree on anything it's that it's not Thanksgiving without pie. But I wanted to go beyond pumpkin this year, and after finding a recipe for cranberry pie I knew that it was what I was meant to make. I could have picked-up a pre-made pie shell, but I decided to be old fashioned (and thrifty) and make my own piecrust. Looking in The New Laurel's Kitchen I came across two easy-enough-sounding recipes. I couldn't decide between them, but since the cranberry recipe called for a two-crust pie of 9", I just made both and used one for the dish and one for the lattice (two taste-tests in one pie!).

uncooked crust

Recipe one:

Whole Wheat Piecrust    from The New Laurel's Kitchen 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ (or 1/4 cup flour)
3/4 tsp salt
10 Tbls butter, chilled

4 to 6 Tbls cold water

Stir together flour, wheat germ, and salt. Grate the cold butter on a coarse grater or cut into small pieces, tossing it with the flour as you go. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to combine the flour and butter until it is the consistency of rolled oats. Sprinkle with the water, using just enough to hold the dough together. 

Using cupped fingers, form the dough quickly and gently. As soon as it will hold together, make it into a ball.  

Press the dough out into a thick disk. Roll to size on a lightly floured surface, or between sheets of waxed paper, or on a pastry cloth. Gently roll the dough over the rolling pin and onto the pie plate, easing it loosely into the plate. (...)  

Gently press the dough into the plate so there are no air pockets. Cut off the excess with a sharp knife, but make the rim double thick to keep it from burning. (...) 

If you are making a  pie with a top crust or lattice, preheat the oven to 400 F. Fill the bottom shell and put the top crust or lattice in place, baking according to the directions in the recipe you are using. 

Makes one 10" bottom crust or crust and lattice for one 8" pie.

And recipe two:

Lighter Whole Wheat Piecrust    from The New Laurel's Kitchen

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbls oil [I used coconut]
1/4 cup water

Stir dry ingredients together. Mix in oil and enough of the water to make the dough form a ball. Roll flat between sheets of waxed paper and lift into pan. Make decorative edge. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, or until slightly browned and crisp. Makes one 9" shell.

Our vote:  we enjoyed both! The crust was a little thick and brittle for my preference, but I chalk that up to chef's error (I realize pie crusts are an art). But the taste was good, both bottom and lattice. The "lighter" version was easier to make (spooning oil is so much easier than grating butter!) so if I were to try making it again I'd try that recipe first.

Gingerbread Destiny

It's a rare afternoon when I find myself flipping casually through a cookbook, randomly stop on a recipe, think it sounds good, and realize I have all its ingredients on hand. (It's that last one that usually trips me up.) So when I ran across Laurel's recipe for gingerbread and realized I could make it without a trip to the store, and my daughters were both napping, well,  I took it as a sign.

Imagination time!
Imagine this mildly disappointing picture of gingerbread is actually delicious-looking.

Gingerbread   from The New Laurel's Kitchen

1/3 cup soft or melted butter
1 cup dark molasses (or 2/3 cup blackstrap & 1/3 cup honey) [I used the combo]
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or orange juice [I "made" buttermilk by adding vinegar to whole milk]

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raisins
(1 Tbls orange zest) (optional) [I left this out]
(1/2 tsp dry mustard) (optional) [I used this. I figured, weird, but why not?]

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix butter and molasses. Beat in egg and add buttermilk or orange juice.
Sift together the dry ingredients and combine everything together.
Turn into a greased 9"x 9" square pan. Bake 40 mins.

Results of stars aligning:  We LOVED this! Soooo good. It had absolute perfect texture (think: that perfect mid-point between cake and brownie). The flavor was rich and could have been too much but for the brilliant sweet bursts of raisiny fabulousness that caught your tastebuds by surprise with each bite. Honestly, really, really good. 

Only one small point of contention:  I wouldn't actually call this Gingerbread. I'd call it Molasses Cake. And maybe it's just because I've never had "real" gingerbread prior to baking this? But I didn't taste the ginger, I tasted molasses. And raisins. Totally delicious, but not very gingery. Or bread-like. 

So there you have it. Followed my destiny and made an amazing ginger/molasses bread/cake. Awesome. You should make it too. Go check your shelves. 

When You Fancy a Simple Dessert

It's a lovely idea:  fruit as dessert. It's fancy because the fruit is exotic and attractive. It's simple because, hello, cut up some fruit and voila! All in all, this recipe's a winner.

from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: 

Inside-Out Mango

• 1 ripe mango
• 1 lime

Slice the mango and turn each side inside out (if you don't know what I mean, see this video at 1:30). 

Squeeze the lime over the mango. 

Serve with spoons.

This would be especially good after a spicy meal.

Pineapple-Yogurt Ambrosia

Can it be called cooking if you don't heat anything? I vote yes, and thus feel little to no shame in boasting (okay, some shame. I can't believe it's been so long...) that I finally cooked something from my cookbooks once again.

A dessert:

     Pineapple-Yogurt Ambrosia
     from Vegetarian Express by Nava Atlas & Lillian Kayte

• 1 lb can unsweetened pineapple chunks, drained
• 1 lb container vanilla yogurt
• 1/4 cup dark raisins
• 2 seedless oranges, peeled & sectioned

     Combine ingredients in a serving dish & stir well. Chill until needed.



Mmmmm. Very tasty. And super easy (i.e., perfect for a new mother!).

Food Blogger Writing about Food Columnist

I've just finished reading Wild in the Kitchen, a cookbook by Will Jones, a former columnist at the Minneapolis Tribune. Picked up the cookbook (published in 1961) for a smooth $2 at St. Vinny's (LOVE that place!). Oddly enough, I can't find hide nor hair of the cookbook online. Imagine! In all the world of Amazon, no one is selling a copy? Hmmmm...

I'd never heard of Will Jones, but I gather his column was as a food critic (I get the information that he was a columnist from the book jacket). And I'm guessing specifically critic because while his writing is that of a foodie, his recipes are all scavenged from others. Other cooks, restaurants, other people's mother and aunts, other cooking club members. Very very seldom does he claim a recipe as as his own creation (and when he does, it often includes sliced white Pepperage Farm bread as it's main ingredient. Yes, sugared/fried white bread is one of his concoctions.)

So personal chef extraordinare he's not. Nevertheless he seems to have the tastebuds for this sort of life (food writing) and the descriptions he includes for each and every recipe remind me exactly of how today's funny food bloggers write a post (I'm including myself in that group. I realize my claim hangs by only the most tenuous of threads. Let me live my dream, please.)

These two recipe, for brownies and accompanying peach topping, will be the first on my list to try. Once I reenter the kitchen and will myself to pick up a mixing spoon, that is. (Maybe by Christmas?)


Mr. Jones describes these as brownies of authority, "not to be confused with the chocolate dog biscuits commonly made to assuage packs of hungry children."

Grownup Brownies
[credited to Mrs. Bowen]

Step One:

2 squares bitter chocolate
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup nuts, chopped
1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate. Add sugar, butter & salt. Add beaten egg yolks, flour, vanilla and nuts. Mix well. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in an eight-inch square plan at 350 for about twenty minutes. Cool.

Step Two: Frosting

2 squares bitter chocolate
1/4 cup cream
1 1/2 Tbls butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten slightly
1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate. Mix chocolate, cream, butter, sugar, and egg in a heavy pan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil one minute, sturring. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and cool. Beat two or three minutes. Spread onto brownies. Refrigerate overnight. Cut into sixteen squares.


Serve brownies accompanied by

Peaches with Wine
[credited to M. Barrows and Co., previously published in The New Serve It Buffet]

4 large ripe well-flavored peaches
3/4 cup any good red wine
2 Tbls powdered sugar
1 piece cinnamon
1/2 lemon peel, grated

Slice the peeled peaches into a bowl, and cover them until the wine mixture is ready. Heat the wine with the other ingredients in an enamel, glass or agate double boiler until boiling; then pour, while still boiling, over the peaches. Let this stand covered for at least two hours. Then turn it into a serving dish.

Let them eat cake!

I hesitate to even type this one out.  I did make this cake, so I might as well share the info, but unfortunately, we didn't get to eat it.

There was so much food on Thanksgiving that after I'd frosted this cake I covered it and put it in the fridge and forgot about it. Ack!  By the time we were hungry and could have been ready to enjoy some cake, days and days had passed and, lacking a proper covering in the refrigerator, the cake was a dried-out and hard as a rock. Sadness.

Here's what I think would have been my declaration about the recipe: While the cake itself was tasty, I didn't enjoy the frosting.

Both my husband and I sampled the frosting before I put it on the cake, but while he said it was okay (though he admitted he could taste the tofu), I thought it was sour and rather yucky. I only frosted the cake with it because I hoped that once on the cake the tofu-y-ness wouldn't be as obvious as it was when snacking on the frosting alone, but I think I might actually have felt led to grab the cake out and slice it up if I hadn't been so apprehensive about the frosting I'd slathered on it.

Apple Cardamom Cake with Lemon-Maple Frosting
from Vive le Vegan! by Dreena Burton

Cake
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ground oats
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup vanilla or plain non-dairy milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 350F. In a lg bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, sifting in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the applesauce, non-dairy milk, vanilla, and oil. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir through, mixing until just well combined (do no overmix). Pour into two lightly oiled cake pans and bake for 22-24 minutes, until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in teh center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting (since I didn't really like the frosting I'm just listing the ingredients, not the actual measurements nor instructions on how to make it):
silken firm tofu
vanilla extract
canola oil
maple syrup
unrefined sugar
sea salt
freshly squeezed lemon juice
lemon rind
plain non-dairy milk
agar powder

Frost your cake and refrigerate for at least a few hours to set. Serve cake slices with some vanilla or chocolate ice-cream.

It was easy to make and smelled delish. I really do wish I'd had a taste. Oh well. I'll just have to make it again.  {smile} And I'm making a promise to myself:  the next time I bake a cake and am concerned about the frosting I'll just sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of the crumb or make a quick sugar glaze to drizzle over it. I will NOT risk ruining the entire cake with gross frosting.

Promise.

More Thanksgiving Recaps, More Dreena

I don't know if you noticed, but I basically made my entire Thanksgiving Day meal from Dreena Burton's cookbooks. Because she's awesome. Or, at least, her blog is awesome and now that I'm finally cooking from her books instead of simply drooling over them, I'm finding that her recipes are awesome too.

I made several desserts, but this one, from Vive le Vegan! was my favorite:

Gingered Pear Crisp ---hit the hyperlink for the wheat-free version

Pear base: 
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp arrowroot powder
5 fresh pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks (roughly 4 1/2 cups)
3 Tbsp dried cranberries
2 - 2 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 - 1/4 ground cardamom
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp allspice

Topping: 
1/2 quick oats
1/4 ground oats (grind oats in the food processor)
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 almond slivers (optional)
1/4 unrefined sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 F. For the pear base: in a large bowl, combine the maple syrup with the arrowroot and stir until arrowroot is dissolved. Add the remaining pear base ingredients and toss throughly until well combined. Transfer to a lightly oiled 8x8 baking dish. In another bowl, combine all the topping ingredients, and use your fingers to work the mixture until just crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the pear mixture, distributing evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and a little bubbly. Serve hot or warm.

I made a few alterations to our crisp: I left out the almond slivers, I used raisins instead of dried cranberries, and I used grapeseed oil instead of canola. Also, I prepared this dish the day before, cutting up the pears, measuring-out the dry ingredients, and then didn't combine the wet/dry and base/topping until the next day. It was really easy to mix everything together and pop the dish right into the oven as we sat down to eat so that after dinner we had a warm, fresh-from-the-oven dessert to eat, topped with scoops of vanilla ice cream. Yum!!

Gingerbread Apple Pie

Someone in the office left a bag full of generic "baking apples" (or so their sign read) in the breakroom last week. I'd eyed them several times, but since I took so much produce from the generous co-workers' gardens this summer (namely tomatoes and cucumbers) I figured I'd let someone else take the apples. But there they sat, day after day, until, being nosy, I opened the bag to take a closer look at 'em and discovered that three were squishy rotten. I tossed those and decided to rescue the others from a similar fate.

Once home, I scoured my cookbooks (well, okay, I grabbed one and flipped to the index and looked up "apples") and found Isa Chandra Moskowitz's receipe for Gingerbread Apple Pie in her first cookbook, Vegan With a Vengeance. Isa's description, boasting that the pie was so good it became her family's holiday tradition, made the decision for me. Who could argue against gingerbread AND apple pie?

I'm not sure of the legalities of re-typing some else's receipes, so until I get that figured out, I'll just list the ingredients:

For the crust:

• all-purpose flour
• brown sugar
• ground ginger
• ground cinnamon
• ground allspice
• salt
• baking powder
• margarine (I used Smart Balance)
  
• molasses
• cold water

And for the filling:

• Granny Smith apples (I don't know what kind I used, but they were green.)
  
• brown sugar
• ground cinnamon
• ground or freshly grated nutmeg (I used ground)
  
• ground allspice
• ground ginger
• ground cloves (I didn't have any)
  
• maple syrup
• canola oil (I used olive)
  
• tapioca starch or arrowroot (I substituted cornstarch)
  

Note: I've found the full recipe on Spark Recipes: check it out!


Peeling and slicing the apples took the longest prep (and wasn't especially easy, since I had the baby girl intermittently hanging on my leg and wailing. But once the apples were ready, everything else feel quickly and easily into place.

The final result: I'd give this pie a C+

I don't know if it was me or the oven or the recipe (since I'm a novice baker I suspect I may have had something to do with it...) but the gingerbread seemed a little doughy and the filling was a little dry. Nevertheless, it wasn't bad tasting, just an odd texture.

I'd try this recipe again, next time ensuring I cooked everything at the recommended degrees (my oven may have been too cool) and weighing the amount of apples versus just eyeballing it.

So, not a resounding triumph for my first cooking attempt, but a beginning nevertheless. I'm happy to have started!!