Soft Sugar Cookies with Icing

 Happy halloween, everyone! To those who a) are young enough to go trick-or-treating or b) don't have midterms to study for, have a blast. I'll be here facing the spookiest thing of all, which is my GPA. I even made this cookie dough in advance since I had so little spare time today- but hey, my siblings will probably share the candies they glean tonight with me. I love those miniature adorable chocolate bars.

A cookie-decorating station!

 My little sister is having a halloween party, and I wanted to make a homemade version of the classic soft sugar cookie one finds pre-iced in myriad colours at the grocery store, perhaps a little suspicious in their extended lifespan but still delicious and sweet. I've made some modifications to half the dough to try making it vegan, with the consequence of it being denser and chewier, but still tasty. I think it's the shortening that really makes them feel like the supermarket ones.

To the left are the non-vegan ones- they're more soft and pillowy. The vegan ones (right) are chewy and almost fudge-like in the chocolate version.

Cocoa variant, non-vegan

I added sprinkles to some of the vegan batters to give it a cool effect (and so I wouldn't forget which was which) and I like it! The dough wasn't really cuttable, except for the vegan chocolate cookie dough, which was firmer than the rest. I also made some icing to complete the experience, and got some candies with which to give a halloweeney decorating job.

I used licorice allsorts to make eyes, candy corns, jelly beans, jujubes and sprinkles- but any cool looking candies will do. The idea's that my sister and her guests can do some cookie decorating as an activity, which always makes them taste better. As for the flavour of the cookies, they're pillowy, sugar and soft- pretty much exactly what I wanted, the appeal of the nostalgic soft supermarket sugar cookie but without additives or an indefinite shelf life. They can be made for just about any holiday you want and customized, too. The icing also works really well- it's spreadable and sticky enough to hold on all the large toppings.

Soft Sugar Cookies with Icing
From Allrecipes.com

For the Cookies:
3 C. AP flour
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1 Tsp. Salt
1 C. Shortening
1 C. Sugar
2 Tsp. Vanilla (or vanillin, for that store-bought taste)
2 Eggs, or equivalent replacer (see notes)
1/4 C. Milk (or milk replacer- not a low-calorie, watery one!)

(Note: To make cocoa variation, I used 1/3 C.+ 1 TBSP  dark cocoa powder in the place of an equal volume of the flour, and half the vanilla. For a more exciting or seasonal look, you can also add sprinkles or food colouring to the dough. The recipe is easy to make successfully vegan, because there's no butter in the recipe to be missed, and the eggs are only really for structure- I tried batches of chocolate and vanilla both vegan and not. Just make sure that the sugar, et cetera, is also vegan in that case!)

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt (and cocoa, if using). Set aside.

Cream the shortening and sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs, one by one. Beat in the dry ingredients one third at a time, adding the milk in between additions in two halves. 

Refrigerate 30 minutes. Towards the end of that time, preheat the oven to 180℃.

Shape the dough into uniform balls and press down with your palm or a glass to make circles. You can try cutting the dough with cookie cutters, but this can be tricky as it's very soft.

Bake for about 10 minutes, and allow to set on the sheets. Let cool before frosting.

For the Icing:
3 C. Powder sugar
1/4 C. Butter, or shortening (grocery store cookies would use the latter, and make the recipe easier to veganize)
1 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla, or vanillin
Approx. 2 TBSP Milk, or milk replacer
Food colouring, if desired

Beat the ingredients together, adding just enough milk to give a spreadable consistency, until fluffy. Spread only only cool cookies.

Neo-Classic (Vegan) Crepes with Pear-Walnut Filling

My experiments with vegan cooking and baking continue! This is a recipe I've tried in both sweet and savoury styles and it goes really well either way. Besan/gram flour/chickpea flour is an excellent egg replacer in a lot of things, and also helps give an eggy flavour/colour as well. It's also nutritious, so. 

I'm a legume lover in any context (and chickpeas are one of my faves) so this recipe was a natural choice. While it doesn't taste anything like chickpeas (probably for the best here) it's absolutely fantastic. 

I modulated the recipe to suit a sweet filling with some vanilla soy milk on top of the water, vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of sugar. I added a spoon of flaxseed meal just because I love it so, and also because it tends to help along the binding of egg-free baked goods et cetera. The potato starch is mostly responsible for that here, however- so you can skip it if you aren't as enthusiastic about flax as me.

Try substituting half the wheat flour for buckwheat for something different. I made them that way in the savoury manner with some vegan cheese and herb-roasted cherry tomatoes and it was delicious. Really, anything you'd put in a standard crepe goes. Here I tried a filling of diced pears, spices and walnuts that's worth a shot since they're in season, and tastes a bit like an autumn pie filling. Nice.

Now for the caveats- it took me a good two practically-inedible misfolds of crepes to get the heat and oil level just right, so don't give up. Try thinning the batter, or lowering/increasing the heat, until you get them to not stick and also cook nice and evenly. Take your time- they go really fast once you get it right, even faster than regular crepes. I made mine a bit on the small side, too, so that they'd be less likely to tear- but I made a couple of big ones and they were just fine. 

I plan to try further variations, maybe with a pseudo-cheese filling using vegan cream cheese, apricots, and so on. I made some with a sour cherry-apricot jam mix and it went well, but a little cheesy action never hurt anyone. 

Neo-Classic Crepes
Adapted from the Bean by Bean: a Cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon

1 TBSP Flaxseed meal (optional)
2 TBSP Potato starch
1 TBSP Oil, either neutral or with a nice flavour (like olive or nut oil)
about 2 2/3-3 C. water (I used 2 2/3 C. water and 1/3 C. soy milk)
1/2 C. Chickpea flour/besan
2 C. AP flour (I used 1 1/2 C. of AP white flour and 1/2 C. graham flour)

2 Tsp. Vanilla extract and 1 TBSP sugar, if making sweet
1/2 Tsp. Salt (increase to 1 Tsp. if making savoury)

Oil and/or melted vegan butter, to fry

Pulse potato starch, flaxseed meal, oil and salt with 2/3 C. of water in a blender or food processor.
Add the flours, sugar and vanilla (if using), and an additional 2 C. water and blend until completely smooth. Keep adding water (I used vanilla soy milk here) until the consistency is of thin/table cream.

Use right away or refrigerate for up to a week. (I refrigerated it overnight, which I think helps relax the gluten.) When ready to cook, use a cast iron or nonstick pan. Heat to medium high and once hot, add a small amount of oil. Pour some batter onto the oiled pan and tilt to spread around. Cook until the surface no longer looks "wet", then flip. After another 15-30 seconds, take off the pan and place onto a plate to be filled.

Pear-Walnut Filling
Note: this is enough for about half of the above batch of crepes. Make more as you see fit.

5 Small pears, peeled, cored and diced
2 TBSP Sugar
1 Tsp. Vegan butter (optional)
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
Generous pinch of cloves
Small handful of walnuts, crumbled to bits

Heat the sugar, spices and vegan butter (if using) on medium-high. Add the pears and mix well. Stir to coat evenly in sugar-spice mixture and cook on medium-high until the juices released are thickened. Add walnut pieces and vanilla and take off heat, covering with a lid, and leave for 5-10 minute to soften while you work on the crepes.

Nalesniki- Polish Pancakes

One recipe that hardly qualifies as such is my mother's nalesniki. I don't know how she does it- she never follows a recipe, but they always come out fantastic. I guess it's just an instinctual thing, but I still like to quantify, so I got her to measure her ingredients until I found what seemed to be the "ideal" starting combination of ingredients. One thing that amazes me is how she skips all the steps I assume to be essential, often not sifting the flour, never adding salt, and mixing the batter very thoroughly without loosing tenderness. But I'll accept this unorthodox lack of methods and materials consistency if it means my favourite pancakes in the world.

I've tried to make these myself a few times, but I fell into such pitfalls as assuming a greater need for eggs than there are (you really only need them to bind the batter) and adding too much milk relative to water (they shouldn't be too thick). You also need a really good, reliable pan- this can take a while, but once you find "the One" it'll never let you down.

The absolute best way to serve these, in my opinion, is with sour cherry preserves and sour cream. However, the options are limitless as what you have on hand- we use all types of jam, nutella, a mixture of cottage cheese with sugar and fruit, a spread made of ground walnuts, honey and cinnamon, and essentially whatever else looks like it might be good.

The only very important thing to remember is to use enough butter for both flavour and sticking-avoidance. It takes some practice to perfect these, but they become a second nature to make very quickly. It's good to have one person filling and rolling them up while the other works the pan, so it never gets left batterless- that would make it burn. Try doubling the recipe for extras- they freeze excellently.

If you haven't ever tried this style of pancake, it's pretty much the standard for Central and Eastern Europe, with every region and nation having its own variations, not to mention every household. Some are thicker and some are thinner- some have more egg or fat, and some are more watery. It can all be experimented with as you go until you get them exactly how you want. If you don't add sugar or vanilla, and add a half teaspoon of salt, you can also make them savoury with such fillings as spinach and cheese or mushrooms. They're delicate and soft but also just chewy enough, and are all-around my favourite for a reason.

Nalesniki
Makes about a dozen

675 ml. Milk, 3.8% preferred
2 TBSP Sugar (use homemade vanilla sugar if you want more flavour!)
1 TBSP Oil (we use almond or hazelnut oil, but any neutral oil is fine)
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
300 g. Flour (pastry flour is better, but AP is fine)
2 Eggs, medium to large
Water as needed (fizzy mineral water is better)
About 1 Tsp. butter per pancake, to fry
Filling- Jam, preserves, cheese filling, chocolate spread and so on
Optional: Sour cream etc. to serve, depending on the filling

Mix the milk, sugar, oil and vanilla. Add the eggs and flour, sifting if very clumpy. Mix with whisk attachment on medium-high (or by hand) until well-incorporated. Thin out the batter with about 1/2 C. water to begin, adding more if necessary.

Heat up a good crêpe pan (something that distributes heat well, especially good is a cast iron pan) on high heat, then reduce to medium and melt a piece of butter. Ladle on about 1/4 C. of the batter and tilt the pan to coat evenly. The first will take the longest to cook, and might not come out well, but they do get better with each attempt- flip once it no longer has wet spots on the surface and cook for another thirty seconds before flipping onto a plate and spreading with filling and rolling up.

Keep warm in a 80℃ oven until ready to serve- give any optional toppings on the side.

Classic Pumpkin Pie

Despite my pie-adverse parentage (I don't understand them either), this is still a beloved favourite that must grace the thanksgiving table. Even though we regrettably hardly observe thanksgiving (sigh), the Pumpkin Pie has to happen. With marzipan pumpkins. 

What makes it special is both the use of homemade roasted pumpkin puree (gotta write down the process for that here sometime) and heavy cream, which is much nicer than canned pumpkin (still passable in a pinch, though) or condensed milk. It's got my favourite flaky butter pastry, lots of creaminess and spice (plus rum) and is topped with both whipped cream and marzipan. It's very easy to make, despite the length of the recipe- I just went into a lot of detail. In addition, many of the steps can be done in advance- like making the marzipan pumpkins (a week in advance in the fridge, or even more in the freezer) or the crust (also can be pre-made, frozen and thawed already in the pan for straight-to-oven convenience). 

I made two crucial mistakes in my pie, mostly due to hubris- One, I forgot to turn the heat up as high as I should have for the blind-baking, so it didn't get as flaky as I wanted. Two, I used a little too much cream, so the filling was a little too liquidy and cracked on top. Still tasted great, though.

The filling is very soft and silky, and contrasts well with the crust. There are a thousand variations of pumpkin pie I'd like to try, but this is the classic for sure. You also don't need to have ready-made pumpkin pie spice, which makes it easier- that stuff tends to sell out right around thanksgiving. Mmmmmmmmmm pie.

Here's a previous year's attempt for reference- poured in too much filling that time. It seems I just can't win.

Classic Pumpkin Pie
Adapted from Baking, by Peter Jameson

For the Crust:
1 Recipe All-star pie crust

Roll out dough and drape overtop a 9" or 10" pie pan or cake pan. Press into the pan as tightly as possible. Allow to refrigerate for about 15 minutes to relax, then trim excess dough, leaving about 1-2 cm around the edges. 

Press the edge until it just reaches over the sides of the pan, using a fork. You can also take the excess dough trimmings and roll out to cut small shapes with a cookie cutter, and overlap those around the edges. If you really can't get it to look good, don't worry- the whipped cream can be used to cover it up later on.

Poke the crust with a fork throughout and refrigerate another 15-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 200℃. 
To blind-bake, use baking parchment or aluminium foil to coat the crust and press down. Weigh it with baking stones or old inedible beans/rice- these will prevent the crust from puffing up too much. Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden. 
Remove the weighing insert and if too puffy in any place, push down gently with a fork. Return to oven for another 15 minutes.

For the Filling:
15 Oz. Pumpkin puree, preferably homemade
1 1/2 C. Cream, 30-35%
1 C. Light brown sugar (or a 1:1 ratio dark brown:white, or even 2:1 if you really like the brown sugar taste)
3 Eggs
1 TBSP Dark rum (optional)
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1 /2Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. Ginger
1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp. Cloves
Pinch of cardamom
1/2 Tsp. Salt

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Mix eggs and sugar until well combined with a whisk. Add the pumpkin puree, rum and vanilla. Whisk in the dry ingredients.

Pour the filling into the pie crust- it might be a bit too much, but you can always bake the excess in ramekins or (if you're very daring with raw eggs) eat it as-is.

Bake the filled pie for 30 minutes at 170℃, covering the crust trim with aluminium foil if it is browning too quickly, until the filling is not liquidy but still jiggles a bit when the pan is shifted- the top of the pumpkin will be browned lightly, smooth and shiny.

Let cool at least an hour before adding whipped cream.

For the Decorations:
1/2 C. Cream, 30-35%
2 TBSP Powdered sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Tsp. Rum extract, optional

200 g. Marzipan
Red, yellow and green food colouring
about 12-14 whole cloves

Beat the cream, powder sugar and vanilla until firm peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Divide the marzipan into 150 and 50 g. Add a couple of drops each of red and yellow food colouring to the 150 g. piece and knead in. Once the right shade of orange is achieved, divide into 12-14 spheres. Use a toothpick or chopstick to lightly press "segments" into the spheres to mimic the look of a pumpkin. If it becomes too soft or oily, refrigerate for 10 minutes before continuing.

Knead a drop or two of food colouring into the 50 g. piece, until it is the right "leafy" colour. Form small ovals and press down to form leaves- press these on top of the pumpkins, indenting slightly with your finger to form a concavity. Press in a clove for the "stem". Any excess green marzipan can simply be eaten, or used to roll out thin "vines" as an additional decoration. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To assemble, fill a star-tipped pastry bag with the whipped cream and form rosettes or swirls around the edge of the (cooled!) pie. Make one rosette for each pumpkin, then place them in the centre. Keep the whole pie refrigerated until ready to eat.

Whole Wheat Butter Biscuits - Petit Beurres

Whenever my family goes to Europe, we somehow end up buying whole wheat butter biscuits. It's just a given. When we go to a grocery store to get some supplementary snacks for our touristing, it's always these- I suspect because the "whole wheat" gives them that health aura that overshadows the "butter biscuit" part for my dad. Well, it's still a biscuit- but I'm not complaining. They're delicious.

I found that they tasted even better than the regular butter biscuits- more nutty and texturally interesting, with the whole wheat flavour complementing the butter well. I decided that I had to try to do it myself, before starting a mad search to buy them at Starsky or the like. They probably have them somewhere, but this way I can ensure they're really all-butter and free of additives.

I used graham flour (from hard red wheat) in my first batch- though I suspect the ones I bought were made with a mixture of whole wheat and white pastry flour, since the texture was way different. Not bad- but different. They're a lot less delicate, but taste fantastic, and everyone who tried them thought them superior to the bought ones. The taste of the butter works very well in the thin, browned biscuit, as well as the taste of toasted whole wheat. The cane sugar was a touch to give a little more complexity to the biscuit, but isn't necessary. The baker's ammonia is likewise an idea I had to make the cookies more biscuit-like and crispy, but baking powder will also work. I didn't roll all mine out to equal thinnesses, regrettably- next time I'll make sure they're all uniformly thin, since many turned out too thick. Getting them very thin will help make them crispy, which is one of my main goals.

The dough is nice in that it holds its shape well, allowing you to make all kinds of cut-outs. I tried out my new cookie cutters, courtesy of the magic of internet shopping, to make both the classic squares and some cute Miffy and panda shapes. Even after baking, the details were there- Nice. There's these stampers you can use to spell messages out on cookie dough that would work great here. It also reminds me of that Polish folk-design stamping rolling pin that I really want. Somebody stop me. 

In my next batch I'll try out soft, white wheat whole grain pasty flour. If that isn't quite right, I'll try a 50/50 blend of white and regular whole wheat and work from there. Until then, these are good enough to hold their own- they'd be awesome in the place of graham crackers for a richer, less sugary taste in crusts or for s'mores. Adding cinnamon or cardamom might also be nice, instead of the vanilla. I'll be making them again to have with tea regularly, freezing any extras for later since they've got enough wheat germ to go stale otherwise.

Even if you don't normally like whole wheat baked goods, try them. Whole wheat can be a very good thing, trust me. It belongs here.

Whole Wheat Butter Biscuits- Petit Beurres
Adapted from Simply So Good

100 g. Butter
1/3 C. Water
100 g. Sugar (I used 60 g. white and 40 g. cane)
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Baking ammonia, or baking powder
250 g. Graham flour, or any fine whole wheat flour

Melt butter in saucepan. Add water (reserve 2 TBSP), sugar and salt.

Let cool to room temperature. Dissolve ammonia in reserved water (this isn't necessary for baking powder) and add along with vanilla and flour. Knead together and refrigerate at least 3 H.

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Roll out very thin (about 2 mm) and cut into desired shapes. Bake for 8-10 min on parchment..

Vegan/Gluten-Free Black Bean Brownies

I normally avoid "healthy" adaptions of baked goods like the plague, on the grounds that they're usually only marginally better for you in reality, or not worth eating after the sheer amount of change to the original recipe making them a veritable Frankenstein of the trendy superfoods-du-jour. Or both. I especially abhor "skinny" versions of recipes for many reasons, mostly coming down to my hatred for the prevalent thinness-obsessed culture. But I digress! Healthy recipes are certainly a good thing, provided that a) they're supposed to be that way and not merely butcherings of classic recipes with less fat/sugar/more kale n' quinoa and b) actually taste good!

I was very suspicious of the idea of a healthy brownie from the start, but the thing about these is, I trust the presence of black beans to be a good idea. After all, I love all kinds of bean-filled sweets. Anko paste in mochi, red bean fritters and mooncakes, mung beans and black-eyed peas as well. I've even read some european recipes using white beans as a peasant-friendly, economical filler ingredient, and I hope to try that one day as well. A brownie with black beans didn't seem like such a bad idea, especially if it was promised to be moist and fudgey (my preferred state of brownie).

These are far from one-trick ponies. They don't only have the protein kick of black beans (and the fibre!) but also are both vegan and gluten-free. You can easily make them without nuts, too. The cocoa powder completely replacing flour makes them very chocolatey despite the absence of actual chocolate. The flaxseed binding them in the place of egg adds omega-3s to the mix. They're very accommodating to unrefined sugar, too. You can really use any oil you like to bake with- but a nut oil is the best in my opinion. I used almond. Along with the walnuts, they ensure that these brownies are moistened with only the healthiest of lipids.

And they really are nice and moist! While not really much like a typical brownie, they've got a nice chocolatey taste and go down great with a cup of tea. I won't be stopping my search for the perfect (butter-containing) brownie anytime soon, but these are going to the permanent collection of recipes-to-return-to. Even if you're skeptical, try them out- they're definitely tastier than a protein bar and far cheaper to make. It's good for you and tasty. Fantastic.

Black Bean Brownies
Adapted from Minimalist Baker

1 3/4 C. Cooked black beans, drained and rinsed if from a can
3/4 C. Cocoa powder
2 TBSP Ground flaxseed
5 TBSP Water
3 TBSP Coconut oil, or other favoured vegetable/nut oil (e.g. walnut, almond)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 C. Fine raw cane sugar 
1 TBSP Agave syrup
1 1/2 Tsp. Baking powder
1/3 C. Walnut pieces, or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Line a muffin tray with paper cups, or grease with oil. Combine water and flaxseed in food processor and let sit about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients (except for the toppings) and blend well. Make sure there's no bean pieces left whole. You might want to add a tablespoon or two of water if it is too sticky.

Distribute between muffin cups with a spoon. Push any nuts or chips into the top with a spoon. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Let cool in pan for half an hour before removing.