Could It Be … SEITAN?

Yay yay yay, I finally get to post my Daring Bakers April Challenge!  Drop the cupcake confetti! Strike up the octogenarian marching band! Introducing:

Vegan Cheesecake Pops

Original Recipe from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

My Adjustments

First of all, I halved everything because as many wonderful friends that I have who humor my baking - I was afraid of having a freezer full of cheesecake pops haunting me day and night; tempting me with their charm as cheesecake pops are apt to do. Secondly, I replaced the (2.5) eggs with (3/4 C) firm silken tofu. For the heavy cream, I used Silk soy creamer combined with 3 T cornstarch - just in cake anything decided to get soggy. I shaped the bites into squares at first - no easy feat. Since I used a 9 inch cake pane, I decided to just slice the chilled cheesecake into squares after trying to shape the first four. I used semi-sweet vegan chocolate to dip and decided to forgo the use of shortening. Finally, I made a little mixture of confectioners sugar and water for a white decorative drizzle.

The Results

WOW. These were SO good. And precious. And POPULAR! In a coincidental turn of fate, my friend Dawn celebrated her birthday a few weekends ago and asked me to make - what else - cake lollipops for her Murder Mystery dinner. I couldn’t believe it when she asked me to turn on Martha Stewart because she was making lollipops out of cake. I was like, Martha Who? So already on top of it.

I really didn’t have much of a hard time with these at all. I was scared, since it was my first time making cheesecake AND my first Daring Bakers challenge. It probably went so well because I was extremely cautious and followed all the instructions carefully. Which is what I normally don’t do. Ever. Because I believe in anarchy and chaos and general rule breaking.

I walked these kids to Dawn’s party in an insulated case because I didn’t know how they’d hold up to the heat as I walked up the street (yay for having wonderful neighbors!). The party-goers, all dressed up as literary characters, gave these things a loving reception. Sure, people were getting murdered left and right, but that didn’t stop anyone from enjoying lollipops. Because that’s what life is really all about: Overcoming the bad stuff and eating good stuff.

The five most frightening women in New York

As of yesterday at 6:30 pm, I am in New York. I found out Wednesday afternoon that I had to fly out immediately and since I got here it has been a whirlwind of workworkwork. It’s great! I am so exhausted! I can’t feel my face! I haven’t slept in 48 hours because my first flight Wednesday night got cancelled after I sat in the airport (and on the plane) for 6 hours. I took another flight out at 10 AM Thursday, but jet lag and excitement have prevented me from the zzzz’s. In any case - I’m living out of a hotel and a suitcase for a month.

All I gots is a microwave. Mmm. Want to see what I can nuke? Didn’t think so. So for the month of May, this here blog will officially be all about reviewing restaurants in the city. I haven’t been able to eat out yet but damn did I have a good soy latte from Cafe Grumpy! No pictures yet - I’ve been working non-stop for the past 24 hours. Finally, I’m about to fall asleep and drown soak in a hot lavender filled bathtub. Tomorrow morning holds a run to Whole Foods and whoooo knows what else. Mystery! Intrigue!

Friday morning I woke up with a need for something involving chocolate and bananas - and I had 2 hours to get to a meeting on time. It was one of those weeks. Yeah. So, my mission was clear: The World’s Fastest Banana Bread. I ‘used’ the Lower Fat Banana Bread recipe from Veganomicon, but it would be a shame to credit this loaf to Isa and Terry because I didn’t have any time for measurements. Only time for eatin’. So this bread didn’t turn out quite how I’d hoped - a little uncooked in the middle and brown on the bottom. I think I had a manic attack of the stirring-arm so the bread was also a bit gummy due to overmixing. Too much apple sauce too. But you know what? Whatever. Whatever! Chocolate chip banana bread is what I wanted and it’s what I gots. It’s actually pretty great after hanging out in the freezer and getting toasty in the toasty toaster oven. Besides, I got to prove to myself yet again that my measurement-eyeballing skills are not quite honed. And that, my friends, is a good lesson to learn.

Wow! Arlo Guthrie wrote a song about me! Amazing that he would have the foresight in ‘65 to know how rad my vegan cooking would be in 2008. A true visionary, that guy.

Oh, you didn’t know? Hmm.

So I recently found myself engrossed in Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, a bio of Alice and the restaurant by Thomas McNamee. I haven’t ventured to the restaurant myself, but I love how adamant she is about having fresh, local ingredients. I’d take a just-picked Californian apple over the Chilean imports Trader Joes is messing around with any day. I hit up the Hollywood Farmers Market every Sunday, but last week I wanted to have people over to celebrate local California produce and share in some unadorned, unfancy, unpretentious, un-not-delicious vegan recipes.

The most unpretentious part of the meal - thanks to Dawn and Jesse.

The meal started out with a salad of lettuce, beets, and oranges. I sprinkled cumin over the beets because there’s something I really like about that combination. I tried a dish a few months ago in Ojai that was basically a big pile of cumin-y beets and I’ve just been mainlining the stuff ever since. The salad was served with and olive oil and vinegar dressing.

For the main dish, I made the Chickpea Cutlets from VCON, which I will now and forever refer to as “Ole Faithful.”

Every time I make these they are gobbled up. I served them with a Garlic Faux Aioli. Speaking of that, get pumped for a:

Recipe!

Ingredients

1 package Silken tofu - Mori Nu style

3 cloves of garlic

2 T mustard

1 T apple cider vinegar

Directions

• Blend it all together in a blender and then let it chill out in the fridge. Put it on your food. Cooking is harrrd.

‘Tis the season for some beautiful asparagus, so I roasted it all up with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and let it bask in its own heavenly glow.

CHECK OUT how pretty these potatoes are. Seriously. I am in love with purple potatoes. I also roasted these with rosemary, salt, and olive oil. I don’t have any post-roast pictures because it was dark outside by the time everyone arrived and my camera’s flash HATES food. Hates it.

And for dessert?

This was the easiest and most rewarding dinner I’ve made in a while. Everyone gobbled it up happily and hung around my living room playing fictionary into the wee hours of the night. My favorite kind of night: great friends, great food, and extra fancy pink wines.

Ever since my last (obnoxiously difficult)* bike ride to India Sweets and Spices, I have been jonesing for Indian food on the daily.  The problem with my style when it comes to cooking Indian, is that I haphazardly toss in every spice in my kitchen without regard to measurements.  Ok, it’s not really a problem until the time comes to write down my ‘recipe.’  Unless you count, “Ummm throw in some like coriander.  Like a little. And then a little more until it smells real nice,” as a recipe - then I think we’re all at a loss here.  So I’m going to do my best to explain what happened on my spicy Indian tofu morning adventure as coherently as possible.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 block extra-firm silken tofu

1 T canola oil

1 large white onion, chopped int 1/2 in pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t ginger, minced

1/2 C brocolli

1/2 C frozen peas

1 pre-grilled red pepper

2 T curry powder

1 T garam masala

1 t cumin

1/2 t cayenne pepper

2 T soy sauce

1 t turmeric

Directions

• Get out your big ole favorite skillet and heat the oil.  Add onion, and toss until coated.
• Throw in your garlic and ginger too.  Continue to heat onion, ginger, and garlic on a medium-high flame until onion appears slightly transluscent.  Don’t burn this stuff because burnt garlic is nasty.
• Add brocolli, peas, and peppers to the pan and toss until everything is slightly glistening from the oil.  Sautee veggies for about 2 minutes.
• Crumble the tofu into the pan, and stir until the tofu crumbles are incorporated into the vegetables.
• Add the curry powder, garam masala, cumin, soy sauce, cayenne, and turmeric, tossing to cover everything in the pan.
• Sautee for another 3 minutes or so, until the tofu just begins to get a hint of a toasty color.
• Serve that mess up with some roti! Or a dosa - even better.  Mmmm.  Someone make me a masala dosa.  NOW.

* Los Angeles, WTF.  Seriously, where are your bike lanes?  Why do all the sidewalks on Los Feliz Blvd. end abruptly with a foot-and-a-half drop-off?  Why do you hate happiness so much?  I get that a 35 MPH zone really means drive as fast as you can possibly go, but damn.  Chill out, people in cars.  We’re all trying to get to the same Indian grocer in the sky.

So here’s the deal. In Kentucky, my official homestate, there’s a Derby. A horse race. A gathering of people in large hats holding mint juleps. This all goes down at Churchill Downs in Louisville. There are several recipes originating from Kentucky, including the Kentucky Hot Brown, Burgoo, and Kentucky Bourbon Balls. None of these recipes hold a candle (at least in my mind) to the gooey, rich, sticky mess that is Derby Pie.

BUT WAIT!

I am not allowed to call this recipe Derby Pie. No one is. No one except for the sweet people at Kern’s Kitchen in Louisville. These clever folks managed to PATENT the recipe originating at the Melrose Inn of Prospect, Kentucky. They have a pie, yes a PIE, registered with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It’s really kind of incredible. So thanks to the creators of this pie, I bring you a veganized version of:

Chocolate Pecan Bourbon Pie

Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 batch of Pate Brisee or your favorite pie crust

2 C chopped pecans

1 1/2 C vegan chocolate chip

1/4 C soy milk

2 eggs worth of egg replacer (I just used corn starch since I was away from home and my kitchen full o’ goodies)

1/4 C bourbon

3/4 C maple syrup

1/2 t salt

Directions

• Prepare your pie crust and let cool for several hours.
• Preheat your oven for 350 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together soymilk and egg replacer.
• Throw into the soymilk mixture the bourbon, syrup, and salt, and mix thoroughly.
• Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts and pour into your pie crust.
• Bake until pie sets. It should take 40-45 minutes.

I am used to traditional recipe for this pie, and damned if this wasn’t as good or better than that! I might be cruisin’ for a bruisin’ with that statement, but California is a long flight from Kentucky and I doubt anyone is going to hop on a plane to come ‘git’ me. I did learn some valuable information from making this pie:

• I don’t need eggs
• I don’t need butter
• I don’t need sugar
• I don’t need milk
• … to put myself into a sweet pie induced coma.

Luckily I got to serve this thang to a bunch of vegans in Olympia at a wonderful potluck hosted by the generous Jayne. I had a really rough couple of weeks, work-wise, and was invited to spend some chill time at my parents home in Washington - so I flew up for a long weekend. I had the pleasure of forcing my way into a PPK Potluck while there! I have come to the broad generalization that vegans are great people. Period. Everyone brought food that was SO GOOD and I somehow managed to sample almost everything, as is made obvious by this red handed moment:

Cake! Donuts! Twix! Peanut butter chocolate chip bars! Tofu scramble! Mac n cheeze! Shortly after this picture was taken, I developed a massive headache from indulgance - so worth it. Apparently, I missed out on a Scrabble game by leaving early which means the day was not AS awesome as it could have possibly been, but it was up there. Meeting everyone was great - it’s good to know other West Coast-y vegans are out there.

I’ve got a stockpile of photos and recipes I need to post so expect to be bombarded in the coming week.