BAKE MY DAY: some like it hot

spiced apple cake with chili de arbol caramel

cayenne persimmon tart

sugar-free chocolate chili truffles

chocolate chili truffles

anaheim lime coconut pie

poblano almond chocolate cupcakes

For this week's BAKE MY DAY* I decided to use chilis to heat things up a bit. I wanted to try to use a variety of peppers from the Capsicum genus to provide different flavors and different levels of heat.

*BAKE MY DAY is a weekly event I host where I choose an ingredient or a theme and try to make several baked goods, accordingly. It gives me a great excuse to try a lot of new things!


Spiced Apple Cake with Chili de Arbol Caramel Sauce:I started off with this Holiday Bundt Apple Cake from Dessert, Diet and Dogs. I was happy to find a recipe that was using whole grain flours and agave and brown rice syrup for most of the sweetness. Unfortunately, I didn't have barley flour, so I substituted with whole wheat flour. The only other difference was that I added 1/4 teaspoon cayenne to the apples. When I mixed up the batter, it seemed a bit dry, but I baked it anyway. Perhaps I messed up somewhere (but I really couldn't figure out how), or perhaps I just slightly overbaked the cake, but it seemed the slightest bit dry. I'm taking full responsibility for that, though, and, otherwise, it was such a lovely cake, that I still recommend it.

I only added 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne because I didn't want the cake to be too spicy (only some like it hot, and I wanted to make sure everyone could enjoy the desserts). So, I chose to put most of the spice in the caramel sauce.

For the caramel sauce, I used this recipe because I wanted to use up my maple syrup. It tasted good, but it wasn't quite like caramel. I've used another recipe in the past that looked much more like caramel, although now I can't remember what recipe that was. (Does anyone have a caramel sauce recipe that you absolutely love?) I did add 2 dried chili de arbols (stems removed, but I added the seeds), chopped into little pieces. The sauce was spicy and delicious, and poured over lightly toasted spiced walnuts, it really made the cake (and totally made up for any dryness).

Cayenne Persimmon Tart:
When I was thinking about foods that chilis would go well with, one of the first things that came to my mind was mangoes. I love a mango with a little kick. Unfortunately, the mangoes this time of year just aren't good enough to cut it, so I decided to try something with persimmons, which have a similar flavor and happen to be in season now. I found Delicious Coma's recipe for a persimmon tart and decided to give it a try.

I used cold shortening in place of the butter and added cayenne to the spices to be sprinkled on top of the persimmons. The crust turned out quite good; however, the persimmons were not so good. My persimmons weren't ripe enough (and if you've ever had an unripe persimmon, you know how bad they are). I thought they might take on a sweet flavor when baked (much like a quince), but they remained incredibly astringent. But, the tart looked lovely and it would have been great had my fruit been better (and that's the easiest thing to fix, so I'm alright with that).

Chocolate Chili Truffles & Sugar-free Truffles:
recipe here

Anaheim Lime Coconut Pie:
recipe coming soon

Poblano Almond Chocolate Cupcakes:
recipe coming soon

vegan MoFo 05: lessons in risotto-style barley

risotto alla barbabietola

Despite the heat hovering (still!) over these early-autumn evenings, for the past few weeks I have been craving risotti of all flavors. A novice at making this rich dish, I still have quite a bit to learn. In my pre-vegan days, I depended on butter and parmegiano reggiano to makeup for my lack of know-how, but my more-recent dairy abstinence hasn't put an end to my desires for something creamy and satisfying.

I've made risotto with arborio and carnaroli before, but since I'm trying to incorporate more healthier whole grains into my diet, I decided to use pearl barley instead. I've seen this idea implemented several times before, most notably by Heidi Swanson here.

My first risotto-style barley was a few days ago. I roasted a butternut squash (it weighed 2.24 lbs before removing the skin and seeds) and added it to the barley at the end. I also added sage, saffron, arugula and toasted pecans. The taste was delicious and the texture was pretty good for the first try.

Then I tried a new version with beets, apples, beet greens, toasted walnuts and a hint of cloves. The flavors were nice, but I think the texture was still lacking. Risotto made from barley will never be as creamy as its arborio or carnaroli counterparts because it has less starch. But, after comparing what I did differently between the two recipes, I think I've learned a few things that will help bring barley to its fullest potential. Everything basically comes back to helping the grain release the starch slowly. Here are some tips to help:

1. You want to help the steam escape as the steam cooks the grain too quickly. Use a wide-based, shallow pan and if you have a fan above your stove, turn it on. Don't cover the pan with a lid.
2. Start by cooking the onion and garlic and then adding in the grains to toast. You only need to toast the grains for a few minutes, just until they're hot and you can hear them making a kind of hissing sound. For me, this was about 2-3 minutes.
3. When you add your liquid, make sure that it is warm. Cold stock (or wine) shocks the grains and will prevent them from best releasing their starch.
4. Stirring frequently (especially after new additions of stock) helps the steam escape and makes for a creaming risotto.
5. Add liquid in small batches of about 1/2 cup, and only when the rest of the liquid has been absorbed.
6. You may not want to use broth for all of your liquid (you may want to use water or low-sodium broth for a portion of the necessary liquid). Since you will use more liquid than when you typically cook grains, the taste and sodium of the stock may be too overpowering.
7. Keep the grains cooking on a low-medium heat. Cooking too quickly will result in a poorly-textured risotto.
8. Right before serving, add a bit more of olive oil and stir really well to incorporate, giving it a glossy finish and enhancing the creaminess.
9. Allow the risotto to rest a minute before serving it on plates.

And, now for the recipe:

Risotto alla Barbabietola
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup of pearl barley
4 cups of vegetable stock (you may not need all of this)
3 beets and their greens (if you don't have beet greens, use several handfuls of spinach or arugula, instead)
1 small apple
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup walnuts, lightly toasted

1. Set the oven to 425 F. Wrap the beets in foil or place in a pan and cover and set in the preheated oven. After about an hour, chop the apples into 3/4" chunks and put in the oven. When the beets and apples are tender, probably about 10-15 more minutes, remove them and allow to cool. Once the beets have cooled, remove peel and chop into 3/4" pieces.

2. Meanwhile, heat broth in a pan and keep at simmer. In a wide, shallow pan, saute onion and garlic until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add barely and toast for about 2 minutes.

3. Add wine and stir briskly until incorporated. Add broth 1/2 cup at a time, adding more only as liquid is absorbed. Continue adding liquid, stirring after every addition, until barley is just tender. The barley should be al dente, not mushy and not crunchy.

4. Add the beet greens and allow to wilt. Add the beets and apples and stir. Finally, add the olive oil and briskly stir one last time. Serve on plates and top with pieces of toasted walnuts.

vegan MoFo 04: apple ginger darjeeling jam

Apple Ginger Darjeeling Jam

I'm still blogging (and I still will be for a few more days) about "i like coffee, i like tea," the theme for this past Thursday's BAKE MY DAY. BMD is a weekly event I started this semester where I bake several vegan desserts and/or breads based on a theme, and invite lots of people over to help eat them. I wanted to try to incorporate the tea into the jam for the scones I was making, so I decided to use darjeeling tea which goes well with apples, ginger and cloves. I used granny smith apples to give a little tartness, but feel free to use a another variety if you prefer. Since I couldn't find a tea jam recipe, I improvised. I used the tea bags at two separate times; I'm not sure if that is necessary but the result was delicious with the perfect amount of darjeeling flavor. Feel free to experiment!


Apple Ginger Darjeeling Jam

2 lbs granny smith apples
8-10 bags darjeeling tea
2 inch piece fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 & 1/3 cups sugar (approximate; see below*)

1. Quarter apples and place into a 4 to 5 quart saucepan (leave the cores and skins on apples, as these parts contain a lot of pectin). Add water just enough to not quite cover the apple quarters on the very top and cover the pan with a lid.

2. Bring the water to a boil and add 6 of the tea bags and ginger root. After 5 minutes, remove tea bags and discard. Simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour until apples are very soft and have turned to mush.

3. Pour into a colander lined with three layers of cheesecoth. Hang over bowl for several hours or overnight, until no more juice drips from bag.

4. Measure juice. If you have two cups, use 1 & 1/3 cups sugar. Otherwise, adjust sugar amount accordingly.

5. Put juice into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the remaining tea bags and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and squeeze out liquid. Add cloves and sugar to the saucepan and continue to simmer until desired thickness is reached.**

NOTES:
*This recipe is based on 2/3 cup sugar to 1 cup prepared apple juice. If you get more than 2 cups juice from the apples, make more jelly based on this proportion.

**The mixture will thicken as it cools. One method to test thickness of jelly is to drop a little onto a very cold surface. If the jelly does not run, then it is thick enough).