Samoa Cheesecake

A few months ago I bought a tin of raw coconut sap crystals because I wanted to try them, but I didn't really have any intentions for it. I knew that it boasted all sorts of claims like being high in nutrients and having a low glycemic index making it diabetic friendly. But being someone who doesn't generally avoid cane sugar, it just kept sitting around. Eventually I forgot to buy sugar for long enough to work my way to that unopened tin of coconut sugar in a late night baking spree. I knew that it didn't taste like coconut, but had more of a caramel flavor. But while I was thinking about the combination of coconut and caramel, I knew there was no other flavor duo that would suit me that night. So I settled on a samoa cheesecake. Last year I made these homemade girl scout cookies, and they were easily some of my favorite sweets ever baked. I decided to turn them into a new medium, because all I have been craving this year is cheesecake. And I made it gluten free so that I could share it with a few friends.
While I used coconut sugar, it could easily be substituted for regular cane or brown sugar in these recipes. The brown sugar would help lend the filling a similar caramel note that the coconut sap crystals add. If you want to read a little more about various sugars, I highly suggest Fork & Bean's guide to sweeteners.



Samoa Cheesecake
one 9" or several mini cheesecakes, varying based on size of pans used

Coconut Shortbread Crust
8 ounces cookies (I used these gluten free animal crackers which are very reminiscent of shortbread)
4 ounces coconut (flakes or shredded)
10 tbl shortening

Pulse the cookies and coconut to crumbs in a food processor. Melt the shortening. Pour over the cookie and coconut crumbs and mix with hands until fully incorporated. Press firmly into the bottom of your springform pan(s).

Cheesecake Filling
24 oz non-dairy cream cheese, I prefer Tofutti
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tbl vanilla bean paste or scraping from 3 vanilla beans
2 tbl Ener-G beaten into 1/3 cup hot water

Make your cheesecake filling by beating the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and Ener-G together until smooth. Pour into crust filled pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes until the cheesecake appears set. Allow to cool for at least 4-6 hours before attempting to slice the cake. I find that overnight is best.

Coconut Caramel
1 can full fat canned coconut milk
1 1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 tablespoon brown rice syrup
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
pinch sea salt
4 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

In a small sauce pan combine coconut milk, sugar, brown rice syrup, cream of tartar, sea salt, and Earth Balance. Allow to come to a low boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the mixture has thickened into a syrup and smells like caramel. It will also darken in color. Once removed from heat stir in vanilla extract and allow to cool.
While the caramel is cooking, spread your coconut on a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. After 4 minutes stir the coconut to ensure that the coconut isn't browning unevenly. Remove when at least half of the coconut is lightly browned and continue to stir on the pan while it is cooling, as the coconut will continue to toast while the pan is hot. These steps can be done while the cheesecake is baking to limit your time in the kitchen.

Ganache
1/3 cup dark chocolate
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon agave nectar

In a double broiler heat all ingredients whisking frequently until the chocolate has totally melted and the ganache is smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for several minutes before assembling the cheesecake.

Assembly
For the mini cheesecakes, I held the cheesecake upside down and spooned ganache over the bottoms. I was afraid of dipping them like I would samoa cookies because my gluten free crust was a little fragile. If you have a full size cheesecake, I might forego the ganache dip. I toyed around with the idea of scattering mini chocolate chips along the bottom of the crust before adding the cheesecake filling to give it some semblance of a chocolate dipped bottom, but I ended up holding back on my 9" cheesecake and did regret it later.
Pour your caramel over the tops of the cheesecake until it comes to the edges. Top with ample toasted coconut flakes, and ganache stripes to mimic the cookie. Also whatever you do, don't combine your coconut and caramel before topping your cheesecake. I tried it, and it ain't pretty y'all.

S'mores Cookies

The winter always seems to bring out the worst in me. It inflates all my fears and self doubts. It makes me less motivated, tired, less social. It's too cold to spend time outside and too dark to convince myself otherwise. I have been trying to fight the winter blues for a few weeks now. I'm trying to remind myself to keep my chin up. There's only a few more months until it will be warm again, and the days are already starting to get longer. I've been trying to convince myself that it's ok to stay in my bed on my days off and write letters and drink endless cups of tea. But it's hard to not get weighed down by a lack of "productivity" this time of year. This is a cookie that came about because I have drank too much hot chocolate and wanted to use the rest of my mini marshmallows in something new. These cookies came about because our house was too cold and I needed an excuse to keep the oven on for an hour or two. So I could stand in front of it and place my hands on the sides to finally warm them up without taking another bath. The overflowing plate of cookies was a good excuse to pile under blankets and watch a movie marathon. The empty plate was a good reason to go to sleep, comfy and happy. Sometimes winter isn't too terrible.



Vegan S'mores Cookies

1 tbl Ener-G powder
3 tbl water
1 cup Earth Balance margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbl vegan "honey" syrup or brown rice syrup
1 1/4 cup graham flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup Dandies mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350. Combine Ener-G and water and allow to thicken. Cream Earth Balance and sugars. Add egg replacer, syrup & vanilla. Slowly mix in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips & mini marshmallows. Scoop cookies, slightly flatten tops, and chill dough for at least two hours to keep from spreading. Bake 10-12 minutes, until edges of the cookies are slightly browned. Some of the marshmallows not fully inside the cookie dough might expand and get bubbly. They look a little silly, but still taste great.

It is as Easy as Vegan Pie

In the never ending slew of arbitrary holidays, like national donut day, squirrel appreciation day, and bring your daughter to work day, I finally remember that's it's national pie day! Normally I would celebrate pie day in March, but hey, this arbitrary holiday finally works in my favor. I was offered a review copy of Hannah Kaminsky's newest cookbook Easy As Vegan Pie back in October. The holidays came and I got all sorts of bogged down, and three months later I am finally done baking three of the pies so I can give you a complete opinion!

I made the speculoos pumpkin pie first thing. It was October, and I was set on trying a new kind of pumpkin pie. The speculoos filling sounded like it would make the typical pumpkin pie heavy and maybe a teeny bit too rich, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much lighter it was than I expected. It was creamy and gently spiced. A delightful new twist on an old favorite. I over-baked mine a teeny bit so the top cracked, but it was nothing some coconut whip and coconut whip beating with additional speculoos spread couldn't fix. If I hadn't been so set on trying Hannah's perfect pie crust recipe, I would have probably tried it with a speculoos cookie crust too.


The cannoli pie was next on my to-bake list. Made from a rich cashew mascaparone and an ice cream cone crust, you can't go wrong. It was rich and satisfying. The cannoli pie recipe was unlike anything I have ever made before, which is something I have come to expect from Hannah's books. She has a knack for twisting classics into something new & refreshing.
I made the Greek silk pie just after New Years. Made with containers of Greek style coconut or almond yogurt, it was a much healthier twist on silk pie. While much more resolution friendly than you average pie, I felt the need to top it with more whip and an extra dusting of cocoa powder to fully indulge my sweet tooth.

There are so many more recipes I plan on working my way through. Hello snickerdoodle pie, we'll be officially meeting before the end of winter. Her lemon chia seed meringue is first on my list for the spring, and the Southern girl in me was thrilled about the chess pie! Aside from the phenomenal recipes, there's beautiful photographs to accompany each pie and all sorts of phenomenal sides & toppings to further enhance your baking like coconut bacon, vegan honey syrup, & speculoos cookies.
For the gluten free folks Hannah has provided a great tart shell recipe, and for those inclined towards the savory side there's all sorts of quiche, tarts, & even a wasabi pea pie! If you haven't added Easy As Vegan Pie to your bookshelf yet, I highly recommend it.

Challah

I am normally the sort of person who gets things done quickly and efficiently. But lately all the things that need to do are purely self motivated and without deadline. So I have been putting them off for longer & longer. I have still been baking. I have about seven things baked and photographed, but I haven't made a single peep on this little space in two weeks for no real reason other than I haven't sat down & told myself that it was time to make it happen.
I got a pretty gross flu type thing, and for the last week while I laid in bed for hours on end, I kept thinking that I would magically write a new blog post. But that never happened. Instead I read six young adult books. Because teen fiction is really my main drive at this point in the winter. It keeps me from growing stir crazy at work on my lunch breaks or rolling out endless cinnamon buns, and it keeps me pedaling the stationary bike at the gym. It has also been winding it's way into my dreams. I keep waiting to find out that I am truly a witch or that I can overcome the government in a post-apocalyptic society. I re-read one of my favorite books, the Golden Compass. I read all three books of the Infernal Devices (which is infinitely better than the Mortal Instruments). I read Divergent & Insurgent, and am currently the 89th hold on the last book in the trilogy. I just checked out three more random young adult books today, A Great & Terrible Beauty, Legend, and Daughter of Smoke & Bone. So forgive me if things are a little quiet around here. I just keep hoping to grow into my magical powers that will help me break this spell of winter.


I can't remember when I made this challah. I had promised Greg numerous times that I would make it, and I finally kept my promises. It's Isa's recipe from the PPK. The bread was wonderfully soft and fluffy and a beautiful shade of yellow. I felt like the banana flavor was a little too strong for me, so next time I might try to use either pumpkin puree or applesauce or some other sort of mixture to replace it. I forgot how much I love braiding bread. It's been so long since I was on a bread kick. There was a time where I was making the the yeast braid from Seitan is my Motor once a month or more.
Also in the last week I have learned that it is very difficult, but not impossible, to cook & eat dinner with a book in your hand. If you are right handed you probably want to save that hand for the stirring and what not, but you can set the book down on the edges of the stove that aren't hot and turn the pages with your right hand when needed. Also, it's best if it's a book that you bought so you don't smear pasta sauce or soup all over the pages before you return it to the library & sadden an actual teen. They have volatile emotions, so it could cause an uproar. And they might be a witch or a fairy or demon hunter, so it could turn out badly for you. Consider yourself forewarned.

Soy Nog Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

The holidays have finally come and gone. The new year is rapidly approaching. If your past month was anything like mine you probably have ample cookies tucked away in cabinets and half finished containers of nog in the fridge, already starting to get pushed towards the back behind those takeout containers and almond milk. This is the perfect recipe to help you finish off those cookies and nog. I started looking around for recipe inspiration and was really intrigued by Meet the Shannon's soy nog cheesecake, but I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. It was 9pm, I was already in pajamas and was set on making nog cheesecake now. So I took their beautiful recipe and tweaked it to fit my needs.
I made the crust from some gingerbread cookies that I rolled out too thin and baked a bit too long. They were too crisp to put into the cookie baskets I made for our friends & neighbors, so I tucked them away at the time not sure why I was saving them. But low and behold, they were perfect for making cheesecake crust. The spice balanced nicely with the creamy filling, and I didn't have to throw cookies away. One of the utmost offenses known to man. Also, if my cheesecake looks a little soft it's not because the recipe will give you a too soft filling. It's solely because I took the cheesecake out of the oven ten minutes before it was done baking. I suddenly got really tired and decided it was time to turn the oven off and go to sleep. Late night baking: you win some, you lose some. Waking up with soy nog cheesecake, a win. Even if it's a little under baked.



Crust
13 ounces gingerbread or gingersnap cookies
1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine.
Crush the cookies to crumbs in a food processor. While those are being pulsed, melt the Earth Balance in the microwave. Pour over the cookie crumbs and mix with hands until the butter is fully incorporated. Start with 1/2 cup of melted Earth Balance. If the cookie crumbs still aren't wet enough to hold together when you squeeze it in your hands, then add another tablespoon or two. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 or 10" springform pan. I used a 10" pan.

Soy Nog Cheesecake Filling
3/4 cup Silk soy nog
3 tablespoon EnerG Egg Replacer
28 oz Tofutti cream cheese (3 1/2 tubs)
3 tablespoon coconut flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoon flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
scraping of one vanilla bean

Heat oven to 350. Warm the soy nog and whisk in the egg replacer. Allow to thicken and slightly cool for several minutes. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment combine all the remaining ingredients. Add nog and beat until the batter is smooth. Add to springform pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until the center of the cheesecake is only slightly wiggly but appears firm. Allow to cool overnight.

Almond Crescent Cookies

Today marks the first snow day in the District. Luckily I had the day off, so I slept in a little and didn't mind waking up to a sky full of flurries. I tucked myself into an extra layer and laid on the couch watching Love Actually before everyone else woke up. I will never under-appreciate the joy of lazy, quiet mornings. After I was moved to tears a few times even though I have the seen movie roughly nine hundred times, I decided it was time to start baking cookies. What better treat for the first snow then a powdered sugar dusted almond crescent cookie?!
I only had a handful of almonds on hand, and there's no way I was trudging out into the slippery streets or taking off my pajamas, so I used almond meal for the majority of the almonds in the cookies. Most recipes you will look out call for coursely ground almonds, and almond meal is quite a bit finer than that. That means my dough is a little more crumbly than you might expect from another recipe, but it still has the melt in your mouth almond flavor and a bit of a smoother texture.



Almond Crescent Cookies
Approximately 30 medium sized cookies

1 cup Earth Balance margarine
1 cup sugar
2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond meal
1/3 cup almonds, ground into small pieces
1/2-1 cup powdered sugar, for dusting the cookies

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the margarine and sugar together. Add extracts and beat until fluffy, approximately 2 minutes. Add flour and almond meal and beat until dough forms. Fold in the ground almonds. The dough will be crumbly, but should hold together when squeezed in your palm. Taking roughly 1 tablespoon of dough, roll it in your hands to form a log while applying more pressure to the ends so they are slightly tapered. Curve the dough into an exaggerated crescent moon shape, as it will be less apparent after the cookies are baked. Bake on parchment covered trays for 14-16 minutes until the edges are slightly golden but the middles of the cookies are still soft to the tough. Allow to cool before either rolling in powdered sugar (more traditional) or dusting with sugar(prettier).


Is there a Christmas movie you watch repeatedly every year? Love Actually is the only one I consistently stick with, but let's be honest, it's the only one I truly need. I adore all of the story lines, but Natalie & the Prime Minister are my favorites. Natalie's got a foul mouth, big thighs, & a sweet disposition. A lady after my own heart. If I was really being true to the movie, I wouldn't have let the snow steer me towards crescent cookies, but would have instead made chocolate biscuits. Good thing there's two more weeks before Christmas, so I can probably watch the movie at least four or five more times by then.

Rocky Road Cupcakes

Thanksgiving is finally over, and everything is back to normal in the bakery. It's easily the biggest week of the year, so Christmas always seems like a piece of cake afterwards. It's easy to keep my chin up from here on out. After almost 400 pies, my fingers were a tiny bit sore from all the dough pinching & dish washing. I was certainly sleepy, but I was happy everything had gone so well. I even came home after three 15+ hour days and made myself two more pies. Because that's totally sane and normal right?!
The holidays are really difficult. My family lives eleven hours and one time zone away. I work the day before and early in the morning after most holidays, so there isn't really any time to go home even if I flew. The best I can offer is exchanging a few pictures and some teary phone calls, at least the digital age provides those comforts to my mom. I just hope she really knows how much I love her, and that I would be there if I could. I know bakery life isn't what you expected for me & that it certainly keeps me away from home for longer than you would prefer. But just know that I am really happy & I am doing what I love. This time might be a little rocky, but it will be worth my effort in the end.



Devil's Food Cupcakes
one dozen cupcakes

1/2 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup black cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brew your coffee. Whisk together water and flax seeds allowing to thicken for a few minutes. In a small bowl combine coffee, flax mixture, oil, vanilla and lemon juice. In a larger bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Create a well in the center and fold in wet. Mix until just combined. Portion into cupcakes. Bake for 16-18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Marshmallow Cream Filling
1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine
1/2 cup shortening
1 ten oz container Suzanne's Ricemellow Creme, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat margarine and shortening until fluffy. Add 5 oz of the Ricemellow and beat again for several minutes. Add vanilla extract and powedered sugar. Beat until combined. Fold remaining half of Ricemellow into the frosting with a spatula. Core the cupcakes using one of my favorite kitchen tools or with a paring knife. Fill the cupcakes with the marshmallow cream!

Almond Frosting
1 cup shortening
1 cup Earth Balance margarine
7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbl almond extract
2-4 tbl almond milk, until preferred consistency

In the bowl of standing mixer with a whip attachment or in a bowl with a handheld mixer, combine shortening and Earth Balance margarine and beat until combined and fluffy. Add half of powdered sugar. Beat until incorporated. Add remaining sugar, extracts, and 2 tablespoons of the almonds milk. Beat until fluffy. Add more almond milk if needed. Pipe on top of cupcakes and let chill in the fridge for at least one hour before dipping in ganache.

Ganache
4 oz semisweet or dark chocolate
1/2 cup canned coconut milk

In a double broiler, combine chocolate and coconut milk and heat until the chocolate begins to melt. Whisk until totally smooth and remove from heat. Allow to cool for several minutes until the ganache is still pourable but not hot to the touch. Invert the cupcakes and rotate the frosting in the ganache in one swift movement. Top the cupcakes with a handful of sliced almonds and Dandie's new miniature marshmallows before the ganache sets.


I was searching for a devil's food cake recipe, and stumbled across this one from My Vegan Cookbook. The picture didn't look quite dark for me so I modified it a tiny bit with black cocoa powder. The brand I use is Frontier, and it's fair trade and organic to boot. But if you can't find black cocoa, you can replace it with some Dutch processed cocoa to get a nice color & flavor.
I am not a huge cake fan, but this cake is really terrific. They have a light, airy texture but taste rich & flavorful. The cupcakes take a while to bake and assemble, but it's worth your time. They will definitely impress everyone you make them for. People will ooh and ahh, and isn't that why we bake during the holidays?! So bake a big batch, and share them with your neighbors. Especially if they have a Bernese Mountain dog you want to pet. The tactic totally works. That's the main reason my neighbors are getting a cookie basket again this year.