Nutcracker Sweets

I asked my sister Cynthia if I could include her NUTCRACKER SWEETS in this blog, and she said that was fine. She had gotten the recipe from the mother of a friend of her daughter, but thought she might have changed it a little, plus she gave it this name. I have made these for the dance school's fund-raising refreshment table during The Nutcracker Suite, where they seemed to sell well and no one knew they were eating a vegan treat. Try to find fresh pecans to make them with, as that is the most important ingredient.

 

INGREDIENTS

Crust

2 cups  — organic white flour and/or whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup — organic brown sugar

1/2 cup — organic plant-based butter

Sprinkle — vanilla

Middle Layer

1 cup — pecans

 

Next Middle Layer

2/3 cup — plant-based butter

1/2 cup — organic brown sugar 

Top Layer

1 package — dairy-free malt-sweetened chocolate chips

 

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, stir together two cups of organic white flour or whole wheat pastry flour and a cup of Sucanat, which is an organic brown sugar. With a fork, mix in half a cup of Earth Balance or organic Smart Balance non-hydrogenated butter substitute. Possibly you could try this with a bland oil, like sunflower, but since the rest of the ingredients are expensive, I have yet to experiment. I added a sprinkle of vanilla.

Curried Nuts

CURRIED NUTS are a simple vegan treat to make for a holiday party. In a heavy frying pan, roast about two cups of whole raw almonds mixed with some cashews. 

My cashews were already roasted and were supposed to be salted, but someone seemed to have forgotten to put the salt on, so this seemed like a good use for them. As they roasted in the pan, to which I added a very small amount of olive oil, probably a half teaspoon, I added a sprinkle of curry powder, tamari, and some nutritional yeast to taste. 

Keep stirring them and trying an almond every now and then, until they seem roasted enough and before the spices get burned. 

 

                                           

 

I made my own curry powder, and it had cayenne in it, so these nuts were hot. Your curry powder is probably different. I like the book The Spice Box for some good curry powder and garam masala recipes, as well as a lot of Indian food recipes. 

 

Making these is a quick way to have something special to bring or to serve to guests. Store them in a tin when they cool off. Mine all got eaten, so storage was no longer an issue.

Holiday Meal

Check out my last March's entry for SAVORY ROAST GLUTEN AND GRAVY as the centerpiece of a holiday meal. You cook the double batch of a rectangular slab of seasoned gluten the day ahead, and then lay it over the stuffing, also surrounding it with the stuffing. 

I know this doesn't sound very good in the telling, but those of us who can eat and enjoy seitan or gluten enjoy this dish. You can carve it up and use a knife to cut it into smaller pieces on your plate. It is chewy and not made up of anybody's muscle and flesh.

 

The GARBANZO FLOUR GRAVY has a yummy piquancy and rich flavor that enhances the mashed potatoes. You might be able to find garbanzo flour where gluten-free baking products are sold. Conversely, the gluten powder may be found in a larger natural foods or co-op store or where baking products are sold.

 

Make the recipes for the gluten and gravy, and then read on for all the other parts of the meal — the stuffing, creamed onions, mashed potatoes, mashed carrots and turnips, and cranberry relish.

Onion Soup

I made an ONION SOUP in about twenty or twenty-five minutes, and then, to see if I was leaving anything out, I checked out Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I guess I left out about two hours of cooking, the butter, and the beef stock. Oh, well.

 

Ingredients

1 — giant sweet onion [or two yellow onions] chopped in long pieces

2 tblsp. — olive oil

5 — garlic cloves, chopped

1 small piece — chopped red pepper [or 1/4 tsp black pepper]

1/4 cup — whole wheat flour to make roux [or 1 tblsp. ground flax seeds]

1/2 cup — nutritional yeast

3 tblsp. — tamari [or 1/4 cup light miso at the end]

8 cups — hot water, stock, or potato-cooking water

1/2 cup — sherry [or the juice of 1 lemon at end]

[Optional — 1/2 carrot and small stalk of celery, minced fine]

[Optional — 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella plant cheese and grated plant parmesan]

 

Method
I sauteed a giant sweet onion, chopped into long pieces, in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. I suppose you could develop the flavors with longer, slower cooking, but I was hungry.

I added five coarsely chopped garlic cloves and a small amount of chopped hot red pepper because there was a little piece waiting to be used up. [In another version, I added minced carrot and celery instead of the red pepper, and I added black pepper.]

Stir-Fried Rice and Gomasio

I had a bunch of steamed Chinese cabbage I needed to get rid of, plus I had used my rice cooker to make four cups of long-grain brown rice, so I decided to make STIR-FRIED RICE last night.

Ingredients

1 tblsp. — olive oil

2 — 1-lb blocks tofu, cubed into 1/2-inch-sized pieces 

To taste — tamari, toasted sesame oil, agave syrup, gomasio

1 — chopped red onion

Small amount — chopped hot red pepper

4 cups — cooked brown rice

3-4 cups — chopped steamed greens (Chinese cabbage, kale, collards, etc.)

To taste — more toasted sesame oil, olive oil, tamari, nutritional yeast, turmeric for color (1/4 tsp)

Serve with salad

 

Method

In a large frying pan add a tablespoon of olive oil and two one-pound blocks of tofu that are cubed into half-inch-sized pieces. Sprinkle it with tamari, toasted sesame oil, agave syrup, and GOMASIO. I will mention how to make that, below.

 

Add a chopped red onion and a small amount of chopped hot red pepper. The pepper isn't necessary, but it does add a nice touch of color and hotness.

Keep stirring it every now and then, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan throughout this process.

Bagels

Won't you feel clever for making BAGELS? There are only a few differences between the dough for bread or bagels and one extra step. If you make several dozen at a time, you can freeze them. This recipe will yield two dozen bagels and four large breads.

Ingredients

Lots of water — 8 cups

1 tblsp. — baking yeast

2 tblsp. — sugar

8 cups — organic unbleached white flour, germ added

1/4 cup — gluten powder (optional)

4 cups more — unbleached white flour

1/2 cup — oil

2 tsp — salt

4 cups — organic whole wheat flour, with extra to clean hands or if dough is too sticky, one cup or so

2 tsp — pick one: baking soda, salt, sugar (to the boiling water)

Small amounts — bagel toppings like sesame seeds, kosher salt, onion flakes, poppy seeds, or granulated garlic

Method

Start in a large bowl with two cups hot water and six cups cold water. That should be just warm enough to not burn on the back of your wrist. To this, add one tablespoon baking yeast and two tablespoons sugar.

Let it sit about five minutes before adding in eight cups of unbleached white flour (I like the organic kind with the wheatgerm added back in). Beat it one hundred times to develop the gluten. If you would like a dense bagel, more akin to a bagel shop's, you can add in some gluten flour at this point or gluten powder. This raises the protein content and will help make a denser bagel consistency, but it is not necessary for a delicious bagel. Let this sponge rise for twenty minutes.

Cornbread

I got out my cast iron corn-stick pans to make a batch of CORNBREAD. These corn-stick pans have seven indented shapes that are pocked with little holes that turn out stubbled sticks of crispy cornbread that are supposed to look like ears of corn. They don't look like ears of corn, too much, but they didn't hang around long enough that it mattered. You could also make these in a cast iron frying pan, bake it a little longer, and cut into wedges. They will be less crisp that way, but still great with soup or beans.

Dry Ingredients
3 cups — whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups — cornmeal (or 1 1/2 cups corn flour and 1/2 corn grits)
1 tblsp. — baking powder
1 tblsp. — chili powder
1 tsp — salt
1/2 tsp — sugar   

 

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup — sunflower oil
3 cups — water or soy milk
Oil or plant-based margarine for the pans

Method

Preheat oven to 425F degrees. You can either oil the pans or put dabs of plant-based organic margarine in each pan opening, and then heat the pans up while you mix up the batter. If you do this, the outsides of the sticks will be even crispier. I forgot to, and they were still good.