Coconut Milk Panna Cotta (Two Ways)

I have spent the last year pushing a lot of boundaries. I decided to try a lot of things that I have never done before, and not let myself back out when I got scared or tired. I made the decision to leave graduate school and take on the challenge of running a vegan bakery. I learned to shoot a bow and arrow. I went rock climbing for the first and second time already. I'm also trying to push myself in realm of sweets. I keep trying to become a more proficient decorator. I still haven't played as much with fondant or gum paste or sugar as much as I would have liked. But I have learned to make amazing vegan caramel and even made a few layered cakes that I was pretty proud of. MoFo was also a first. The first time I committed to very actively baking at home for a solid month and sharing what I learned. I've also tried to make several things I never tried before. I made cobbler and caramel apples even though it was a bit unfamiliar. I tried to be a little more creative and not be as afraid of messing new recipes up. This panna cotta is one of those things.



As someone who made agar plates for microbiology labs repeatedly for a few years, I should be innately comfortable with agar. But cooking with it is a little bit different. I have only been able to find agar flakes, which are a bit different than the powder. The flakes take a little longer to rehydrate, a little longer to dissolve, and you need to add a little more than you would for the powdered version. I twisted this recipe a little to try and use agar flakes. I could tell they weren't dissolving yet, so I kept boiling away. I poured four different glasses at 4 different points in the boiling to see what worked best. It's just my lab training kicking in. I replaced the powder with 2 tablespoons of flakes, and boiled it for 4 minutes before pouring it in the glass. That gave me the most creamy consistency. You don't want to boil it any longer than this or you will end up with rubber (like you will notice if you look at the picture with the spoon). If you still see undissolved flakes, you can easily strain them out through something with a fine mesh. But you will want to soak that strainer immediately, or you will experience ten minutes of hell trying to scrub it all out later. This pomegranate panna cotta that really intrigued me, and while I would have made it pomegranate juice isn't easy on the pocket book. I decided to go a different route and just add a thick layer of seeds to the top of the cup. The tart crunch of the seeds was a really nice contrast to the creamy subtle panna cotta. The second version was topped with a thin layer of cranberry reduction. It's the same reduction that I made for the cranberry white chocolate ice cream. It's tart and bright. And while I like the appearance of the second jello layer, I prefer the way the reduction will easily move around the cup as you take bites. It's a shame to only get a few small bites with tartness at the top of the dish. I also tried to add vanilla bean paste to add a nice swirl of flecks throughout the panna cotta, the majority of the flecks fell to the bottom. A girl's gotta try.

Caramel Stuffed Mocha Cookies

At the beginning of the month, once of the first things I made were the caramel stuffed apple cider cookies. It was a really nice coincidence that Spencer's Market had the caramels that I used on sale. I ordered two packages of the sampler packs, because I hadn't tried any of the other flavors. I opened the box and was wondering what I should do with the java flavored caramels. A little light went on in my head, and I decided to to put them inside mocha flavored cookies. I tweaked the recipe a little to add cocoa and espresso. The cookies were by no means perfect. I sprinkled a little extra sugar on top because they didn't seem near as sweet as the apple cider dough (which in retrospect makes total sense since the concentrated cider have tons of sugar in them). If you want to try them, I replaced 1/4 cup of the flour with Valhrona cocoa and added 2 tablespoons of ground espresso. The coffee flavor went largely unnoticed, so next time I might even add a teaspoon or two of coffee extract. I might play with the ratios a bit more next time so that the cookies crack a little more on top too. But overall, I am fairly pleased with them. These cookies were a very decent attempt to bake, photograph, and write about something on a sick day when your head feels like it might explode. Here's to hoping this cold doesn't last for too long!

Cranberry White Chocolate Ice Cream

Cranberry White Chocolate Ice Cream
3 cups almond milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar, divided
3 cups cranberries
1/2 cup water
1 tbl vanilla extract
1 tbl vodka or coconut oil (to help it freeze softer)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
In a saucepan combine the berries with 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water. Allow to come to a boil, and simmer for at least 10 minutes until the berries have burst and the sauce is fragrant. After it has cooled slightly, you are free to strain this if you want your ice cream free from pieces of the berry. Reserve 1/4 cup of sauce for later.
In another pan heat 2 1/2 cups of the almond milk with 1/2 cup sugar. While this is coming to a boil whisk the cornstarch into the remaining milk. Once the mixture is boiling, whisk in the cornstarch slurry and heat until it has thickened slightly. Once it has cooled slightly stir in the unreserved cranberry sauce, vanilla, and either voda or coconut oil. Allow to cool completely before churning. After the ice cream has churned to a soft serve consistency stir in white chocolate chips and drizzle in remaining cranberry sauce. Allow to freeze for another hour if a firmer texture is desired. Top with more fresh berries or additional chips.

Pumpkin Tiramisu

Today has been an incredibly productive day. I got up early, even though I went to bed late. I made myself breakfast and starting baking. I caught up on all sorts of things that had been piling up. I ran a work errand and a personal errand with a friend so we had time to catch up. I came home, finished baking and cleaned up all my messes. I watched a movie. I talked to some friends & family. I took a bath full of seaweed and lavender and drank a glass of skullcap tea. I am trying my hardest to get a good night's rest to prepare myself as best possible for the last half of my work week. Things are starting to get very hectic in the bakery. Another person has left and no one has applied for the position yet. The holidays are rapidly approaching, and I am starting to panic. I know that things will work out. After all, they always do. And everything else is going so well in my life. There have to be a few minor bumps to help us appreciate those good things.



Pumpkin Tiramisu
makes 6 individual dishes or 1 loaf pan

1 batch lady fingers from Vegan Desserts
1 batch coconut whipped cream
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 container Tofutti cream cheese
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbl cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
In mixing bowl with the whip attachment, mix all ingredients (aside from the lady fingers and whip cream) until fully combined and slightly airy. In dishes, arrange a layer of lady fingers, a layer of pumpkin cream and repeat. Top with a layer of whipped cream. Allow to chill for at least 8 hours before serving. Once chilling is done, top with a heavy sprinkle of cinnamon

Maple Pear Cobbler

I keep getting caught up in waves of things. This weekend was a whirlwind of fun, and now I am deep into cleaning mode. I am going through my closets, and the kitchen, and my endless shelves of bakeware. I even managed to make it through the spice drawer. Living with four other people has it's benefits (i.e. cheap rent), but you always end up with redundancies of things. We had 4 jars of cloves, 3 jars of cinnamon, 3 jars of nutmeg, 3 jars of thyme, 2 jars of dill, and on and on. I managed to condense everything down to at least 2 jars or less. Small wins. Now it is on to tackle the endless dishes and silverware. I probably need to invest in even more plastic containers to keep things as neat as possible. I would start researching storage solutions on pinterest, but I know it would devolve into a dangerous spiral and soon I would be trying to fishtail braid my hair into some elaborate up-do or painting zig zag stripes on the seats of all out kitchen chairs. At least I know my weaknesses.
These cobblers were a good use of finishing up a few ingredients. I polished off the remaining red pears, emptied a mason jar of flour & an older bottle of maple syrup. I don't even want to admit that the Earth Balance I needed came from three separate end bits of Earth Balance sticks I found in various fridge drawers. There isn't a whole lot to the cobblers. They are easy and simple and best of all they smell like brunch. It's like eating a pear compote topped plate of warm french toast. I sort of compiled my own recipe from two other recipes. The maple pear filling is based off of this recipe from Smells Like Home, and the biscuit topping is an alteration from the Very Berry Chocolate Chip Cobbler in Vegan Pie in the Sky. Also, I used regular Earth Balance because I wanted to get rid of as many things as possible, but they just released a new cinnamon spread that would probably be pretty dreamy here.

Maple Pear Cobbler
4 four inch individual cobblers

For filling
2 red pears, chopped into 1/3" pieces
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tbl flour
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cloves
1 tbl Earth Balance
All the pears, maple syrup, flour, and spices to a medium sized bowl and mix with hands until the pears are evenly coated. Portion into oven safe ramekins. Add tiny slivers of Earth Balance to tops of each dish, cover with foil or place a sheet pan over top of all the dishes and baked at 425 for 15 minutes.

For topping
1/3 cup almond milk
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbl sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbl Earth Balance
a few teaspoons cinnamon sugar for sprinkling*
Combine almond milk, vinegar, and maple syrup in a cup to curdle. Add flour, baking powder, sugar, and spices to a bowl. Cut in the Earth Balance using a fork until tiny pea sized balls form. Fold in the wet ingredients just before your timer goes off on the pear mixture in the oven. Dollop on top of the dishes until you have your desired coverage, I ended up not needing all of the topping. Sprinkle on a bit of cinnamon sugar and continue baking at 425 for 15 to 20 more minutes until the biscuit bits are firm to the touch and golden. Best when eaten warm.
*If you don't keep a jar of cinnamon sugar handy at all times, you should. I use a ratio of 1 cup of sugar to 2 tablespoons cinnamon.

Local Favorites: Franklin Fountain

This weekend while we were in Philadelphia, we ate a lot of amazing food. We always make multiple stops at Grindcore House and Blackbird, but this time we also tried a few new places. We got chicken ranch sandwiches at HipCityVeg that were pretty decent. But the highlight of new food was definitely the pumpkin sundaes we got at Franklin Fountain! They make a coconut based vegan ice cream, a caramel sauce, whip cream, and throw in a handful of salted pecans and a pinch of malt powder on top. It really surpassed all of my expectations when I heard about it. I feel like generally when non-vegan shops try to create vegan ice creams they tend to fall a little short, but this was certainly not the case! If you haven't been here before and are in the area, you should definitely check it out. The people also own a little candy shop that is a few doors down. I didn't ask about most of the candy because I was already maxed out on sugar, but it did appear that several things were likely vegan!

Local Favorites: Larriland Farm

This year was the first time that I have ever gone apple picking! I have actually never gone fruit picking at all. I think in elementary school I might have picked some cotton at a local farm on a school trip, but this was a whole different experience. The whole place was so neat. We picked a few bags of apples, got a jug of cider, ate a bag of kettle corn, and I tried to feed a goat. I even saw a llama! The farm is less than an hour away and have all sorts of other crops to pick too. I can't wait to go back during berry season! My CSA was pretty cool, but it's way more interesting to pick my own fruit instead of having someone else do it for me.