Mexican Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies (PS they are Vegan)

Festive-looking Vegan Cookies

     A couple of months ago, Jake sent me a link to a cookie contest for the LA Times.  The winner would be published in the newspaper and it seemed like a good way to begin trying to publish recipes.  Last year, Jake and I experimented with making Vegan cookies and came up with several good ones.  Applesauce Oatmeal, Tofu Mint Chocolate, Banana Peanut Butter and my favorite, Mexican Chocolate Pumpkin.  I brought in the cookies to my coworkers, who are not Vegetarian, let alone Vegan, and to my surprise, they loved the cookies.  They raved about them, and still ask me to make them whenever the topic of cookies comes up.  It turns out, this was one of those contests where you could vote 10 times per day; every day until the contest ended.  My friends and family spread the word and everyone voted quite a bit, but alas, I did not win the contest.  There were people with thousands of votes, which doesn't really seem like the most honest or truthful way to hold a contest.  (I recently went back to the link and saw that someone had commented on my recipe with kind words about Vegan cookies http://latimes.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=21592&s=5686339&i=1&m=X#SD.)

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     Vegan baking, is actually very easy.  The items to replace are the eggs and butter and milk chocolate.  The butter is easily replaced by Earth Balance buttery sticks (which taste almost identical to butter)or margarine, and the eggs can be replaced by a number of things, pureed pumpkin, applesauce, tofu, banana, or a store-bought egg replacer.  It's also very easy to find chocolate that is not made with milk or other animal products.  The best part about Vegan baking, is that you can eat the dough or batter along the way without worrying about salmonella from the raw eggs.  That way, you can adjust flavors along the way, ensuring that you will have a cookie to your liking in the end.  Salmonella has never stopped me before with dough, but with Vegan baking, I can eat the dough without getting a stomach ache.  

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     I made 4 batches of these cookies and gave them to my coworkers wrapped in plastic and tied with ribbon for a holiday present.  Most of them ate all the cookies within minutes of receiving them, and my Vegan coworker Crystal was very pleased as well.  These cookies aren't overly sweet, and can be made on the chewy under-baked side because there is no fear of raw eggs. 

Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cookies with Pumpkin

By Jake J. Thomas and Kaitlin Fasse

1 Earth Balance vegan buttery stick
1 cup evaporated palm sugar
¼ cup organic pumpkin puree
¼ tsp each of vanilla extract, baking soda, nutmeg and salt
2 cups of flour
1 ½ packages of Ibarra Mexican Chocolate, chopped into small pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Bring the buttery stick to room temperature and cut into tablespoon sized pieces. Cream the butter in a mixer (on speed 2 or 4) with the paddle attachment for a few seconds. Add the palm sugar and continue whipping on speed four until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

3. Add the pumpkin, vanilla and nutmeg and continue to mix until combined.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients ½ cup at a time to the wet ingredients and continue to mix until combined. Once combined, check the consistency of the dough by pinching it to see if it holds its form (you can taste it at this point too!). Add more flour if needed.

5. Add the Ibarra chocolate and mix until the chocolate is dispersed throughout the dough.

6. Using an ice cream scoop (or two spoons), scoop out balls of dough and place on a baking sheet (no need to grease it). Flatten the balls a little with the back of a fork.

7. Bake the cookies for 12-16 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through to ensure even baking. Take the sheet out and let cool for about 3 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool entirely. 

 

Challah!

Video by Jake J. Thomas

Featuring Julia Fogelson, Caroline Carpenter, Jake J. Thomas,

and of course, Luck.

    

     While flipping through all the various baking books I have, I came across Challah several times.  I have always admired this bread, the way it is beautifully browned with pale seams and the gorgeous braided pattern it is baked in, but have never attempted to make it.  I think I have been intimidated by it in the past but after making it, I know that it looks more difficult than it actually is.  While I was thinking about making Challah, my friend Julia messaged me and shared a Challah recipe with me from her friend, and asked if I would make it with her.  I was very excited to do it, especially when she mentioned that she liked to add dark chocolate nibs.  After confirming plans with Julia, I came into the kitchen to discover that Caroline was also in a baking state of mind and was getting ready to make an apple pie.  It was the first apple pie she had made by herself but had been watching her mom bake them since as long as she could remember.  I helped her with which pie crust to make and started to get excited about making the Challah and having two wonderfully sweet baked goods to eat later that cold, rainy night.

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     I should probably mention that Julia and Luck are seriously in love with each other.  Luck was so excited to see Julia, and was jumping around in circles, smacking her tail into the cabinets, doors, and legs of everything in her radius (even though Jake had walked her about 15 miles earlier that day).  After they said hello and got reacquainted, Julia and I set out to make the Challah.  The recipe we used was from one of Julia’s friends and was a very relaxed recipe, so different from the one I had seen in Martha Stewart’s cookbook.  The recipe said things like “after the yeast is partying,” ”let cool until doesn’t burn your finger,” and “mix in the salty eggs” and I was excited to try it out.  The bread is prepared in a similar fashion to other breads I have made, but the dough was incredibly sticky.  I hoped that no one was noticing the difficulty I was having kneading the dough but I started to panic a little bit.  Luckily, Julia was busy with Luck and Caroline was playing the guitar and by the time they came into the kitchen to check on the dough, I had incorporated enough flour to get it under control.  We set the dough to rise, and Caroline showed me how to play dominos.

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     After letting the dough rise again, and adding the chocolate nibs, I kneaded the dough until it was smooth; not too dry, not too sticky.  We divided the dough in half and got ready to braid.  Julia divided her half into four pieces, rolling each into a log shape.  Then she attached them all at the top and began to braid, taking the far right strand, placing it over two, and under one, and repeating until the end where they are all pinched together.  We brushed them with egg wash and put them in the oven.  When the Challah was done, we immediately sliced into it and burned our fingers eating the delicious eggy, doughy, soft, sweet bread.  It was wonderful, and still good the next day (although there was hardly any left).

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Challah Recipe
Adapted from Julia's Recipe

2 cups milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar per
2 packages active dry yeast
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. salt
6 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 egg beaten with 2 Tbsp. cold water
Poppy seeds if desired
Dark chocolate bits

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter, milk, and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until homogeneous.

2.  Transfer the milk mixture to a large bowl.  Dissolve the yeast and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes until it is activated.

3.  While the yeast cultures, whip up the eggs and salt in a separate bowl.  Once the yeast is cultured, add the egg/salt mixture and mix to combine.

4.  Add the flour, one cup at a time and mix until mostly combined.  Empty the bowl onto a well floured board and sprinkle a layer of flour on top of the dough. Be prepared to use up to 2 cups of flour to knead the dough.

5. Knead until fresh to the touch, not too sticky or too dry.  Add the chocolate bits and knead until fully incorporated and evenly distributed. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

6.  Punch the dough down, and transfer back to the cutting board to cut in half.  Separate each ball of dough into 4 logs.  Braid by attaching the four logs at the top and pulling the far right strand over two and under the last.  Continue doing this until you have reached the end, pinch the ends to seal.

7.  Place the braided dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet and let rise another 30 minutes.  Mix the egg wash and apply to the bread, making sure to get in the cracks of the braid.

8.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, and checking to make sure it is baking evenly and not burning.  Remove from the oven and slice immediately, or let cool and store in plastic wrap.

Biscuits

 Video by Jake J. Thomas

    

     I have to say, that one of my very favorite baked things to eat is a biscuit.  When made correctly, they are fluffy, full of flaky layers, buttery, and warm.  They can be dense little bricks though too (which I have made several times).  I have made this biscuit recipe before, but this is the first time that the biscuits turned out to my liking.  I'm not sure if it's because I have been in the bread zone, or if the weather was the perfect in temperature and humidity, or if I was just lucky, but whatever the reason, I did not make little bricks this time.   

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     My friend Eileen's dad's girlfriend Louise, (phew) makes the absolute best biscuits I have ever had.  Eileen brought them into work one day, wrapped up in a kitchen towel inside of a basket. They were towering little sculptures of flour and butter, and were as light as a feather.  Maybe I was channeling Louise's Southern roots when I made the biscuits this time, or maybe it was just luck.  The word biscuit refers to different things in North America than it does elsewhere.  A biscuit is a cookie of sorts every where but in the US which is why the root of the word means "twice baked" (as they are first baked and then dried) implying a hard, brittle texture that varies greatly from the light fluffy biscuit in North America.  Maybe that's why I made those little bricks before...

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     Biscuits are delicious eaten straight out of the oven, while they are still burning your fingers, with butter, with jam, with peanut butter, with cream cheese, under sauce, over cobblers, eaten cold, eaten hot, eaten lukewarm, eaten as dough...as long as they aren't little bricks, they are good with just about anything.

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Finished Biscuits

#47 Flaky Biscuits

From the Tassajara Bread Book

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

[Makes 12 biscuits]

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine flours, baking powder, and salt.  Cut butter into dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, two knives, or rub gently between hands until pea-sized pieces are formed.

Make a well in the center and add the eggs and milk.  Beat the eggs and milk with a fork until smoothish.  Then continue stirring with the fork, gradually incorporating flour, until all moistened.

On a floured board, knead the dough just enough to bring it together.

Roll the dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick.  Fold in thirds.  Turn dough a quarter turn, and repeat rolling and folding.  Repeat once more.  (The rolling and folding make a flakier biscuit).

To make the biscuits, roll out the dough again to a 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut into rounds with a floured cutter or glass.  Place on an un-greased sheet, and bake at 425 degrees for about 8-10 minutes until the bottoms are browned lightly and the tops are slightly golden.  Keep an eye on them--they get dry if over baked.

Technically, this is still considered baking...

The baked/stuffed pumpkin

     On a long rainy Saturday, when I had planned on making pasta with tomato sauce for dinner, Caroline came into the kitchen with her laptop and a recipe recommendation for a baked/stuffed pumpkin from her mom.  (I am working backwards a little bit, as this was before Thanksgiving and I was getting into a autumn mood).  It sounded great, but needed some tweaking as it was not a vegetarian recipe.  We immediately started to brainstorm about what we could fill the pumpkin with.  Roasted vegetables, cheese, lasagna noodles, pine nuts, potatoes; we were really getting into it.  We decided on garlic breadcrumbs (like the recipe called for), roasted butternut squash, sauteed onion, chard, carrots and celery, wild rice with black beans, and layers of mozzarella, Parmesan, and Gruyere cheese, with creme fraiche, and herbs.

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  While this recipe certainly takes a while, it is well worth the wait.  First, the pumpkin needs to be cleaned and the guts need to be removed (I really hate this part, it feels like pulling hair out of a drain, but it's worth it), we saved the seeds and roasted them which was a nice snack while we waited for the pumpkin.  The first layer was the wild rice with the black beans.  Next we laid down the sauteed garlic, onion, carrots, celery, butternut squash, and swiss chard.  Then we added the breadcrumbs with garlic.  In between each layer, we added creme fraiche in addition to Gruyere, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese as well as salt and pepper, sage, thyme, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  After all of the layers are put into the pumpkin, it needs to bake for two hours.  The smells pouring from the oven are like the songs of the sirens to Odysseus; it is almost impossible not to pull it out of the oven and start devouring it.  Again, luckily we had those roasted pumpkin seeds.

 

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     Once the pumpkin was finally ready, we were so excited and could not wait to scoop it out. It was delicious, savory, warm, spicy and complex, everything we hoped for and more. I knew that this dish would be a wonderful vegetarian addition to the Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house, so I emailed my mom the next day telling her all about it. I ended up making the stuffed/baked pumpkin for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! I believe this will be a new addition to the standard Thanksgiving traditions.

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130704456 

Stuffed Baked Pumpkin

Adapted from NPR

by Caroline Carpenter, Jake J Thomas, and Kaitlin Fasse

1 or 2 sugar pie pumpkins, cleaned and gutted (save the lid)

1 cup wild rice

1 can of black beans

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

garlic, to taste

small bunch of Swiss chard

1 packaged of pre-cut butternut squash

4-5 pieces of stale bread, cut into squares and toasted with garlic

Creme Fraiche

Grated Mozzarella, Gruyere, Parmesan

minced thyme and sage

salt and pepper

nutmeg, cinnamon (or cinnamon sticks)

butter.

     

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 with the rack on the lower third.  Wash and clean the pumpkin, remove strings and seeds.  Rub butter on the inside of the pumpkin and lid and salt and pepper generously.  Place on a baking sheet or pan and set aside.

2.  Cook the rice, following package directions and combine with one can of   beans.

3.  Saute the onions, carrots, celery, chard and garlic.

4.  Toast the breadcrumbs with garlic for a few minutes in a pyrex baking dish.

5.  Set the pumpkin on the baking sheet and begin to assemble.  Start with the rice and beans, add the onions, carrots, celery, chard, butternut squash, and garlic, then the breadcrumbs.  In between each layer, add the cheese, creme fraiche, herbs and salt and pepper.

6.  Finish with a layer of cheese, place the lid back on the pumpkin and bake for about 2 hours, checking on it occasionally. If desired, remove the lid to brown the cheese on the top.

7.  Carefully remove the pumpkin from the oven.  You can either scoop out of it, or cut it into slices like a pie.

Enjoy