Of New Tools, New Year's, and New Locales

In honor of the Jewish New Year (late last week), I bought an apple, peeler, slicer device from Bed, Bath and Beyond. John and I receive those ubiquitous 10% and 20% coupon mailers nearly every week, and I was ready to take advantage of a deal. Normally, these things sell for about $30 elsewhere. However, this store has them for $19.99. I wound up getting mine for about $16.

The symbolism about eating apples and honey for the holiday is said to be tied to wishing people a sweet and healthy new year. Since I'm no longer a honey-eater, my holiday honey would be agave nectar.



I'd thought about bringing an apple pie to Mom's for dessert, but since John and I have been preparing daily for our road trip to Maine, we haven't had all that much time to do anything else. So, I searched for a very easy apple recipe. I found this one at epicurious. While it doesn't live up to it's name "Heavenly Apple Cake," it was enjoyed at Mom's nonetheless. Please refer to the original (linked above) when you make the alterations below.

My alterations were pretty extensive, down to the style of cake itself. I turned it into a tri-layer, upside-down apple cake, hence the apples on the top. To make this again successfully, I'd probably just keep the top layer and mix the apples in with the batter to get a more even consistency. Layering them this way (in a Bundt pan, no less) led to gaps. I'm not sure I'd use a Bundt pan again either, and now understand why the original recipe called for a 9-inch springform pan. But I didn't feel like digging out my springform pan from the cabinet by the fridge. It's just one of those cabinets with too many items in it. You know how it is. In the next house...

Here are my changes to the original:

1. 2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat instead of 3 cups of ap
2. Oat bran for the wheat germ
3. 4 large Braeburn apples for the 6 small Rome, Granny Smith or Yellow Delicious apples
4. 2/3 cup of canola oil for the 1 cup of vegetable oil
5. 1 2/3 cups of agave nectar for the 2 cups of sugar (next time, I'd use 2 whole cups, the cake could have been a little sweeter, even with the sweet apples)
6. 1/4 cup of pineapple juice for the 1/2 cup orange juice
7. Baked at 325 degrees F for 55 mins instead of at 350 degrees F for 1 1/4 hours. In fact, I'd probably bake it for five fewer minutes next time, just because it would make the cake moister yet.

Here's my process:

Peel,



core,



and slice the apples. (I'm so impressed with this simple device! It took just minutes to peel, core and slice 4 apples. Just wish I knew how to slice them thinner. If you have any tips on this, please post them in the comments.)



Sprinkle with lemon juice, mix well, then add 1/4 cup of the agave nectar and the sugar. Make sure that the apples are completely coated. Set aside.



Mix the dry ingredients.



In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until foamy.



Add the oil, vanilla and the remaining agave nectar. Mix well.



Add the dry mixture to the wet, alternating with the juice, until the batter is well blended.



In a prepared pan, place a layer of the apples.



Then, add the cake batter.



Then, another layer of apples.



Bake until golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean.



Let cool in the pan for at least an hour before turning the cake out onto a rack to cool completely.



The top should have a carmel-like quality to it around and on top of the apples. When the cake is cool, slice and serve. Oh, and enjoy!



The cake has a very tender crumb, cinnamony flavor and delicious apple bits throughout. It's a great cake to bring to any party because it's light, healthy and tasty.

Just as an aside, no posts next week since we'll be in Maine, specifically on Mount Desert Island. Yes, it's a great name, but it's pronounced Mount "Dessert" Island. We've been there before, and had a lovely time. Here's our photo journal from our last trip (you'll have to scroll down just a tiny bit to get to the Maine part). I hope you'll enjoy it while I'm away.

Have a great week!

P.S. If you're keeping up with the weight loss story, I'm still losing -- 15 lbs total!

Summitting My Own Everest

Yes, indeed, after much noodling with many recipes, I have conquered the Everest that is shortbread. If you're new to this blog, my main challenge is to alter recipes, specifically desert recipes, to fit within my dietary restrictions. Where this comes into play with shortbread is in the ingredients. Traditional shortbread does not contain any liquid ingredients (butter is still solid at room temperature, and sugar, while considered a liquid ingredient in the most technical sense, still behaves as a dry ingredient in terms of strict liquid/dry ratios).

So, how did I manage those gorgeous shortbread slices above? Well, I turned once again to one of my favorite cookbooks, Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. If you've been here before, you might remember the Moosey Hamantaschen I altered. Given the success rate with Moosewood recipes, I thought I ought to give their "Halvah Shortbread" a try.

I grew up (for the most part) with my Dad. When my Mom would come to pick me up for a visit, sometimes we'd drive into Caldwell, NJ (not far from Dad's) to the local cheese shop for a treat. That treat was fresh halvah, a sesame treat made with honey and sometimes nuts. The shop owner would carve a thick slice from a giant wheel and pack it in stiff white paper before handing it to me for safekeeping until we could sit somewhere and enjoy it.

When I initially saw the recipe, I put it aside because it seemed like a winter treat. But the nights are growing chillier these days, and I had a hankering for some halvah.

I made quite a few substitutions and changes to get the recipe just right:

1. Cut the butter by 1/4.
2. Used 1 cup of agave nectar instead of 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
3. Used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour instead of 2 cups unbleached pastry flour.
4. Used 1/2 cup coconut flour.
5. Reduced the oven heat to 325 degrees F, and baked it for nearly an hour.
6. Used one tart pan instead of two pie plates, and made mine super-thick (hence the extended baking time).

Just a warning: These are very rich, yet not too buttery so they can become habit forming. The tahini gives the cookies an other-worldly flavor that people just can't put their fingers on when they try them without knowing it's the sesame paste. In short, I think they're heavenly.

When I brought these to a gathering last week, they were snapped up pretty quickly (even though I was late, and folks had already had other cookies). The highest compliment came from actions, not words. As soon as I'd placed the container with the other goodies and took my seat, a friend quickly rose to his feet and headed over for a taste before anyone else could grab a shortbread slice. I guess I'm getting a reputation from my baked goods.

Here's the recipe as I made it:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup tahini (I strongly recommend Maranatha brand organic tahini. It's superb.)
pinch of salt
1 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup toasted pecans, ground
1/4 cup pecan halves (for decorating)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a tart pan.
2. Cream the butter with the tahini.
3. Mix in the salt and agave nectar until smooth.



4. Slowly add the flours until well incorporated.



5. Mix in the nuts. Your dough should be creamy, but very thick.
6. Spread the mixture into your prepared tart pan and decorate with the pecan halves.



6. Bake in the center of the oven for an hour, but check it every 15 minutes so that it doesn't become too brown.



7. When the edges begin to brown, use a piece of aluminum foil to cover the edges. An easy way to do this is to measure out a piece the size of your pan, fold it in half and cut out a center section an inch or two from the edge, so your middle section can brown in peace.



8. Let it cool in the pan for 20 minutes (it should still be pretty warm, if not hot), then remove it by putting a flat surface (like a cutting board) on top and upending the tart pan so that your flat surface is now on your counter and the pan is face down on top of it. Remove the pan and cut into 1/4 in. slices. Cool the slices on a rack.



9. And, for Pete's sake, try one while it's still warm!



These are now my favorite cookies. Let me know how yours turn out!

Altering A Food Network Cookie Recipe

Like you, I've amassed stacks of recipes from sites on the web, including the Food Network. The recipe below is one I've had at the front of my to-try book for nearly three-quarters of a year. It came in an e-newsletter, "12 Days of Cookies" that I had subscribed to when I was baking cookies as gifts during the winter holiday season.

It's a whole grain recipe, using oatmeal and whole wheat flour. On the other hand, the cookies comprise 1 1/2 sticks of butter. Oh well. They're very tasty, though. Crisp, rich, pecan-y, and buttery. Right off the pan, they're soft, but as soon as they cool, they develop a carmelized crispness that can't be beat.

Big caveat: the original recipe says to place them an inch apart. Don't believe it. Using agave nectar might have something to do with this, but these little guys spread a lot more than that (as you'll see in the photos below).

Please go see the original recipe for the exact details. Here's what I altered:

1. 1 cup of agave nectar for the sugars
2. Placed the cookies much further apart (after a near disaster).
3. Baked at 325 degrees F.
4. Baked for 7 minutes, turned the pans, then baked 4 minutes before they were golden brown.

Here are some photos of how it went:



First, I processed the nuts and the oats for about 2 minutes until they were well ground.



Then, I whisked the dry ingredients together.



Next, I beat the butter with the agave nectar, vanilla and egg.



Then, I added the dry ingredients to the wet to get the final mixture.



Next, in a plastic-lined loaf pan, I spread the mixture and covered it with a flap of plastic.



Then, I chilled it for about two hours until it hardened.



I removed it from the fridge, peeled of the plastic, and began slicing the loaf into smaller, more manageable blocks. From the blocks, I sliced off 1/4 in. thick slices and placed them onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.



Don't place yours as close together as these. That was a big mistake.

However, they baked up well after I'd separated them.



They taste even better than they look!

The "I Tried" Peach Pie

I really did. I tried to make a rustic crust by using oil instead of butter, but it just didn't fly. In fact, when I tried a bit of the crust before rolling it out, it tasted horrible. John nearly took a photo of the face I made because it was just awful, but I stopped him in time.

Regardless, I did end up making the pie with Elise's all-butter crust that I alter with agave nectar for the sugar. I really did want to make it vegan and cut the saturated fat, but it was not to be.

The original recipe is for "Rustic Raspberry Pie," from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking book that I love so. I used a combination of frozen peaches for the fruit, used a fraction of the sweetener (agave nectar, of course) and opted for the full 6 tablespoons of cornstarch to prevent any pie oozing when slicing.

Here's a short movie I made of the experience. Please forgive me for opting for the butter crust. It just wasn't worth carrying on with the awful crust. I will try to make the oaty one another day.

Do-It-Yourself Rice Dream (kinda)

Agnes, of A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise, posted this recipe for Cherry Ice Cream on her site nearly a month ago, and I finally made it using wonderful, dark sweet cherries I'd gotten locally when they were at their peak.



I made my usual alterations: agave nectar for sugar, etc. I also used Rice Dream vanilla enriched rice milk for the almond milk, but I will use almond milk in another one of her recipes, rest assured. Additionally, I added unsweetened carob chips and chopped toasted almonds at the end.





To be honest, I hadn't expected it to be creamy like ice cream at all because I know the nature of rice milk and how it freezes. On the other hand, it made the best cherry almond carob ice I've had yet. Man! This stuff is tasty. I recommend making it and eating it right away instead of waiting for it to harden. It's just lovely when it's soft.

Timing warning: You will need at least 8 hours to chill the recipe before adding it to your ice cream maker, so build in that time.

Here's the recipe how I made it.

Makes 8 servings (I used small ramekins filled to the top as my serving size)

Ingredients:

2 cups pitted and quartered cherries
1/3 cup agave nectar
2 cups vanilla rice milk
2 teaspoons arrowroot
1/4 teaspoon cherry flavor
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened carob chips

Directions:

1. Place 1 1/4 cup of the cherries and all of the agave nectar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until the cherries are soft.



2. Use a blender to puree the cherry mixture. (I used my immersion blender.)



3. Pour the puree back into the saucepan and add 1 3/4 of the rice milk. Bring the mixture to a boil.

While that's cooking, whisk together the remaining rice milk and the arrowroot.



4. As soon as the mixture boils, turn of the heat and whisk in the arrowroot mixture.



It thickens as it cools.



5. Add the flavorings and chill the entire mixture over night.



6. Chill your ice cream maker to the manufacturer's instructions and add the cherry mixture. Mine required about 30 minutes of churning, but in the last 10 minutes, I added the remaining cherries, the chips and the almonds.



7. Pack it in a container and freeze for an hour before serving.



8. I ate mine right away because it was so yummy.



By the way, this was the inaugural use of my new ice cream maker attachment for the KitchenAid mixer.



So, now I'd like to sell my Deni Scoop Factory. If you're interested, I'll take US$20.00 for it, plus shipping. It works just fine, comes in the original box with the recipe book. You can see photos and a movie of my use of it here.
First come, first served, as they say.

A Class Act

If you've ever visited the wonderful blog of David Lebovitz, you probably already know that he's an excellent dessert chef and highly amusing writer. More than that, I discovered this morning, he's a very classy guy.

Earlier, he posted with a title "Sugar-Free Chocolate Ice Cream." Curious, since he doesn't tend to do the sugar-free bit, I read more to find that he uses our friend agave nectar to make the delicious-looking ice cream. Now, for those of you who have been following along, you know how I feel about writers calling agave "sugar-free."

So, I wrote a short and very polite comment on David's post enlightening him to the fructose/glucose make-up of agave nectar. Not much later, he stopped by here to let me know he corrected the title of the post and recipe, and responded to my comment on his blog. What a class act!

In the past, I've stopped by other blogs and politely commented regarding the same issue only to be met with highly defensive, closed-minded responses. It was truly refreshing to have someone of David's stature respond in such an affirming and positive way. What a nice fellow.

I might not wait until Channuka for The Perfect Scoop ice cream book he published earlier this year. He's also written a handful of other lovely cookbooks I might have to buy sooner rather than later as well.

If you're in the least bit interested about life in Paris, you should definitely read his blog. He shares his wide range of experiences living in France as well as delicious recipes such as the one he posted today.

Help Raise Funds for Community-Supported Agriculture Programs

If this post seems familiar, it's because I'm running it at my other blog as well. It's just that important.

Ari, at Baking and Books blog, is reaching out to fellow bloggers and food folks to raise money for the Hazon organization. Hazon uses Community-Supported Agriculture programs and bike rides to accomplish its vision: "to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community -- as a step towards a healthier and more sustainable world for all."

Ari is offering a raffle (the prizes are top cookbooks!) to support a Hazon bike ride taking place in New York City during Labor Day weekend. Here's where the money goes (from the Hazon site):

• 30% is awarded as grants to external organizations. Some of the external grantees include the Adamah fellowship which is training a new generation of Jewish organic farmers and activists, and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies – the pre-eminent professional leadership program for environmental leaders in the Middle East; AIES students who are Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli will be at the New York Ride.
• 50% funds Hazon's year round programs, including Tuv Ha’Aretz, Hazon’s Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative and the Hazon Food Conference.
• 20% helps cover the costs of the ride

Essentially, Hazon devotes its resources to educating people about the environment and uses food as one of its educational mediums (according to Ari's site).

So, participate in the raffle, you might win a collection of cookbooks, you might not. Either way, it's a great cause to support.

Coconut Green Pie

A few weeks ago, I reworked a great vegan recipe from Dr. Mary Martin for Coconut Cream Pie. I didn't make a huge number of changes, but I (gasp!) deveganized the recipe by adding an egg instead of using so much arrowroot.

Speaking of arrowroot, the filling tasted way too arrowrooty, so I added 1/2 cup of agave to it. If I made this again, I'd save half the crust to make cookies, since she warns at the beginning of the recipe that there would be a lot left over.

Finally, other than the typical agave nectar substitution I make for the sweeteners, I used brown rice flour for the spelt flour in the pie crust.

I didn't get to taste them both together since the pie wasn't actually served at the party it was taken to that day. However, I tried them separately prior to putting it together, and Mom took the photo above when she tried it.

Recommendations: less arrowroot, add vanilla extract/paste, bake the crust as cookies and do something else, maybe a mousse with the filling served with a cookie on the side. Overall, though, it's a pretty tasty and colorful combination.

Here's a short film of my efforts. Hope you enjoy it!

Weight Loss Progress Update

It's been nearly a month since I posted about my efforts to slim down and improve my health. Well, so far, the results are great! I've lost 10 lbs and 2 inches on my waist (no where else, though). How did it happen? I've been cutting calories consistently, cutting saturated fats, and increasing my fiber intake.

Additionally, I increased my daily exercise to at least an hour. Not only that, but when walking or using the elliptical trainer, I've increased my speed/incline. The free weights are still the same, but I work the upper part of my body one day and my legs another. Finally, I use a big exercise ball for crunches, getting up from my desk periodically throughout the day to do a set of 20. I am for over 100 each day. I also put it in front of the TV, so if I'm lounging (not much of that these days), I'll be sitting on that big, green ball doing crunches.

I'm very determined to lose the weight, and since I'm seeing results pretty quickly, the calorie cutting is going to stay. I told John that if I keep this up and lose another 10 lbs by the time we go up to Maine (5 weeks from today), I'll even let him take photos of me during the vacation!

Best of all, I'm wearing shorts today I haven't fit in comfortably in more than a year! Yay Deb!

One final note, if you're in the same process, YOU CAN DO IT! Just stay vigilant, move more, and cut your calories while meeting your daily requirements for nutrients. If I can do it, you can do it. Please let me know how it goes.

The First Time I Ever Burn A Cake

Sometimes, making an alteration to a recipe just doesn't work out. Usually, I don't post those on my blogs, but I thought that I ought to be honest with this project, since some of you are probably doing the same things. First, my disclaimer with this particular recipe: It's the third I've made from this particular cookbook (Bob's Red Mill Baking Book) and it's my third failed recipe alteration from it. Now, I don't usually have this big of a problem with recipes from a single cookbook, so it might not be just my alterations.

That said, I used low-fat yogurt instead of butter for the fat in this recipe upon the advice of a poster in a recipe bulletin board. That's the last time I'm going to make that mistake. Now, substituting oil for butter changes the type of fat (and virtually eliminates saturated fat), but doesn't cut the entire fat numbers as much. However, now that I've learned the secret of using bean puree, I might just rework this one again.

I did capture my process on film, so for your enjoyment, it's included below.

A Very Short Rant

I really don't enjoy ranting at all, but sometimes it just must be done. There's an emerging trend regarding agave nectar that really concerns me -- people referring to it as "sugar-free" or referring to foods containing it as "sugar-free." It's simply not true, and could potentially harm people who think they can use a bunch of it because someone said it's "sugar-free."

Mind you, people with health issues like diabetes should be reading labels and doing their own research when it comes to putting things into their bodies. And, a writer is not responsible for those folks not doing their own homework. However, it is irresponsible for a writer not to do his or her homework and to tout agave nectar as "sugar-free" because it's not.

According to Dr. Cheryl Mitchell, who published "The Use of Nutritive Sweeteners in Organic Food Processing Operations," agave nectar comprises 70% fructose and 30% glucose, two naturally occurring sugars. Dr. Mitchell's bio reads: "Dr. Cheryl Mitchell is recognized as a world authority on sweeteners, rice processing, and the extraction and metabolism of inulin."

In this excerpt, Dr. Mitchell describes the metabolic differences between fructose and glucose:



That said, I'm really happy that folks are discovering how wonderful agave nectar is. It just would be beneficial to their readers to understand the bigger dietary picture.

Super Luscious Beany Brownies

Typically, I’ll alter one recipe at a time, but this one is actually a re-styling of two recipes. I had been researching how to replace fat (or at least a portion of it) in baked goods with pureed beans when I came across a blogged recipe by Su Good Eats. She’d taken an insanely rich and intensely chocolaty brownie recipe from Epicurious and turned it just a scootch healthier by substituting pureed white beans for half the butter.

I hope that I’ve continued in her tradition and made them even healthier by boosting the fiber further via whole wheat pastry flour and coconut flour instead of the regular cake flour. Of course, I also used agave nectar instead of the sugar (cutting it by 1/2 cup), and I used unsweetened carob chips and carob powder for the bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder. Finally, I added walnuts because they break up the intensity quite a bit.

These are definitely the most creamy and luscious brownies I’ve ever had. The most surprising thing was that they didn’t taste beany in the least. Nor could I detect the whole grain flour.

I can’t with any conscience say these are healthy, but taken in small doses, they can tackle a sweet craving pretty quickly.

Here's a short film I made of the baking process.