Making a Vegan, GF Muffin Oh-So-Cobblerific

This luscious bit of muffin-y goodness is somewhat based on the BabyCakes Ginger-Peach Corn Muffins recipe, except that I made a few key changes. Importantly, I turned it into a cobbler-muffin (or what John and I decided would be either a cobblin or a muffler -- you decide). That is, I loaded this baby up with a cobbler-like filling (hence the wee air hole toward the bottom of the photo).

Suffice to say, it's hardly your ordinary muffin. And, that's a nectarine, rather than a peach because the organic peaches in the stores here were unnaturally large and didn't smell like peaches. The organic nectarines, on the other hand, smelled like summer.

I also used a non-beany-based gf flour mix because I really don't enjoy the beany flavor in sweet baked goods. Because there were so many changes, I'm going to share my version here. Please let me know how yours turn out!

Summer Fruit Cobblins
Makes 12 standard muffin-sized cobbler-muffins

Ingredients
2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
6 medium-sized (smaller than a baseball) fresh nectarines scrubbed well, pitted and cut into 1-inch-ish pieces
The juice of one juicy organic lime
1/3 cup of the liquid sweetener of your choice (I used agave nectar. If you use maple or brown rice syrup, just remember that your muffins will have a maple or caramel flavor, which is fine. I'm sure it will taste great.)
3/4 cup of a non-beany, finely ground gf flour mix (I used King Arthur Flour's All-purpose GF mix, but you also could use Pamela's Artisan mix and it would be successful.)
1/4 cup blanched almond flour
1 cup corn flour (not corn meal; it's a very different experience, much less grainy)
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (although you don't have to use it; you could use chia or flaxmeal, although it might end up a bit crumbly -- try it and let me know)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger (dry ground)
1/2 cup very good, fruity olive oil (or if you don't like the flavor, use grapeseed oil)
3/4 cup liquid sweetener of your choice (I used agave nectar, but you could use maple or brown rice syrup)
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Whisk together the almond milk and vinegar. Put the mixture aside so it can become vegan "buttermilk."

2. Combine the nectarines, agave nectar, and lime juice, and stir until the fruit is well coated. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and pour the fruit and sauce into an 8-in. glass baking dish. Roast the fruit until it softens but doesn't burn or dissolve. It should take about 15 minutes. Let the fruit cool in the baking dish on a rack while you make the rest of the recipe. Set aside the "prettiest" 12 pieces you can find -- these will be the cobblin toppers.

3. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

4. In another bowl, mix together the liquid ingredients, then add them to the dry ingredients and mix the batter until smooth.

5. Turn down the oven to 325 degrees F and line your muffin pan with paper liners. Fill the liners half way with batter, then spoon a tablespoon or so of the fruit on top of the batter of each cobblin. Then add equal amounts of the remaining batter to each cobblin. Top each with one of the pretty fruit pieces you set aside earlier.

6. Bake the cobblins for 20-25 minutes until they are a lovely golden brown around the edges. Let them cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then out of the pan on a wire rack until cool enough to enjoy.

Here's a photo of what you should see inside:

Re-altering Plates or My New Gluten-Free Life

Yep, I know it's been two years since I've updated this blog. Sorry about that. I've been updating Here and There regularly and been very active on Facebook, but it's not the same. And, I've gone gluten free.

Since November 2012, I haven't had any gluten in my food, and it's made a huge difference as far as my Hashimoto's Thyroiditis goes. I'd been having a lot of digestive distress and pain last fall, and before I found out that it was reproductive, I decided to give up gluten just in case I'd become sensitive. I had no idea that folks with autoimmune diseases like mine tend to benefit from giving up gluten.

Prior to the change, it seemed like each doctor's appointment (3x per year), my prescription needed to be increased to get my thyroid numbers right, and I was symptomatic. Since the change, all of my blood levels have been great!

All that to say, my plates have altered once again, and I'm beginning to re-make my recipes gluten free. The first is my Vegan Blueberry Apricot Cobbler.

Vegan Blueberry Apricot Cobbler (Originally posted here.)

Yields 12 servings (or 10 large servings)

Ingredients

Filling
5 cups fresh apricots, pre-pitted and sliced
4 cups fresh blueberries
2/3 cup agave nectar
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons Gluten-Free all-purpose flour (not the beany kind)

Topping
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup non-dairy milk (I used vanilla unsweetened almond milk for mine)
1/2 cup almond meal
1 1/2 cup Gluten-Free all-purpose flour (not the beany kind)
 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (makes all the difference)
1/2 teaspoon Pensey's baking spice (or cinnamon, if you don't have it, but you might want to consider ordering some because it's really great stuff, and they don't pay me to say that)
5 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons good, fruity olive oil (or experiment with another good oil you enjoy)

Directions

1. Lightly oil a glass 9x13x2 in. baking dish.
2. For the filling, gently mix together the fruit, agave nectar, flour, and salt in a large bowl and let rest.
3. For the topping, in a separate bowl, combine the apple cider vinegar and non-dairy milk.
4. In a large bowl, mix the almond meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the spices.
5. Add to the vinegar/milk mixture the remaining agave nectar, vanilla, and olive oil. Give it at least a minute of whisking.
6. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry mixture and combine until just mixed.
7. Give the fruit filling one more stir before pouring it into the prepared baking dish.
8. Scoop the topping on top of the filling.
9. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F while the topping rises. It won't rise a lot, but it will poof up a bit.
10. Bake the cobbler for 40 minutes, then check to see if it isn't getting too brown on top. You're looking for a nice golden brown. The filling should be good and bubbly.
11. Cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes before serving. It's best warm, but just as good from the fridge 4 days later.

The cobbler will keep at room temperature for 3 days. After that, if there is any left, and my guess is that there won't be, keep it refrigerated until it's gone.

Light As Air Cherry Fig Not-ins

From April 2010 photos

As I've said many times, one of my favorite cookbooks is Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. My copy is well worn, especially on pages I've used to make Altered Plates versions of dishes. I've also started to write my alterations on the pages because the slips of paper with my notes sometimes slip out or I make additional changes later.

In the photo above, you can see the outcome of my tinkering with Isa's Fig Not-ins. In my youth, I ate my share of Fig Newtons. These were quite different from the dense cookie of my past. My agave-nectar sweetened cookies were light and fluffy, more cakey than cookie, but lovely.

From April 2010 photos

Because my version uses agave nectar, I was very careful about not letting them brown too much. I'm going to continue to noodle with these a bit because I read on Isa's blog that you could use the dough to make Hamantaschen. My dough was way too wet for that, and I'd like to use coconut oil instead of the shortening to achieve a more butter-like result (however coconutty it may taste).

The cookies have a definite vanilla flavor, but the filling is king. The cherries add a great fruity flavor, while the figs and dates pull it down to earth. These cookies make an excellent light dessert for a big meal or a nice snack on their own.

From April 2010 photos

The upskirt view (can you use that on other descriptions than pizza?) shows how light and cakey this bar cookie is.

From April 2010 photos

Here's a really nice shot of the filling. I used organic Turkish figs and organic Medjool dates from the co-op combined with my favorite dark sweet cherries from Trader Joe's, and omitted the lemon zest. I also used considerably less sweetener overall because the fruit was sweet enough. The most important step here is the blending. I added this because the filling was way too chunky otherwise. As you can see from the photo, I didn't quite divide my dough evenly between the top and bottom, so you might want to do this better than I did (although it didn't affect how tasty these were at all).

Another cookie I used to enjoy as a kid was raisin bars. My mom would by these flat packages of cellophane wrapped bars with a wavy score between each cookie (making them about 3 in. long once separated from their brothers). I'd like to try to replicate those, and will work on that over the summer.

Here is the recipe as I made it, greatly inspired by the Fig Not-ins recipe on page 202 of Vegan with a Vengeance.

Cherry Fig Not-ins
Yield: 24 big cookies or 36 small cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried sweet cherries (unsweetened), chopped
1/2 cup Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
3/4 cup dried Turkish figs, chopped
1 cup filtered water
2 tablespoons agave nectar

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/4 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir while you heat it to medium.
2. When it starts to bubble, turn off the heat and either use an immersion blender (my choice, but be careful!) or a regular blender to blend all the big chunks out of the mixture. Set the filling aside to cool.
3. With a mixer in a large bowl, whip the fats with the agave nectar for at least 3 minutes, until they are well combined.
4. Mix in the arrowroot, almond milk, and vanilla until well combined. It will look a bit curdle-y, but that's alright.
5. In a separate bowl or a large measuring cup, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until all are incorporated.
6. Add the dry ingredients to wet mixture to form a light dough.
7. With well-floured hands on a well-floured surface, form the dough into a ball and split it into two. Wrap each dough ball in plastic and let it rest and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
8. When the dough has cooled, take it out of the fridge and its wrapping, and flour a large piece of parchment paper, your hands, and your rolling pin. Take one of the dough halves and roll it until it is about 9 x 15 inches. You can leave this on the parchment paper because it will be your bottom layer. Place this layer on a cookie sheet (I used a pan with 1 in. sides just in case the filling oozed, which it didn't). Roll out your top layer the same way, but set it aside for a moment.
9. Spread the filling thickly, but evenly on top of the bottom layer in the pan.
10. Here's the tricky part, take your top layer, still on the parchment paper, and turn it paper side up on top of the filling layer. Then, gently peel the paper off the top layer.
11. With a pizza cutter, or a sharp, long knife, cut the cookies into the size bars you wish. Do not separate them now. It just makes them super-easy to cut once they are baked.
12. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. When the oven is at temperature, bake the cookies for approximately 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
13. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then using the edges of the parchment paper, lift the entire batch out of the pan and onto a wire rack to cool for an hour before cutting along the same lines you made earlier. Separate the cookies, then let them cool completely.
14. Enjoy!

Vegan Pear-Cranberry Crisp

From February 2010 photos

A few weeks ago, my friends Bo, Rosie, and Tony visited for a celebration of vegan flavors. Now, understand that these folks are not vegan, nor am I, but I wanted to introduce some omnivores to the tastier and healthier dishes that can be found in the strict vegetarian diet. Tony was the most impressed with the massive spread and the dishes that kept emerging from the kitchen. He thought of going vegan right then!

Rosie and Bo were tougher sells, but this Pear-Cranberry Crisp sealed the deal. They enjoyed the granola-y texture and the fruity flavors. They also liked the ginger zip and the overall vanilla taste. It's the perfect warm dessert for a frosty evening (which tends to be the case in February), plus it lets me use up some of the thousand cranberries I froze back in the fall.

The recipe below is inspired by one of the same name found in the sadly out of print The Angelica Home Kitchen from the restaurant Angelica Kitchen down on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I also made the incredible Walnut-Lentil Pate as well as the Miso-Tahini Spread, which went over very well. (I'll be making the pate again for my mom and Dave's famous Flowers In February party to celebrate their gorgeous orchids blooming.)

From February 2010 photos

Above is another shot of the still-warm crisp topped with 3 small scoops of Vanilla Bean flavor Purely Decadent Coconut Milk frozen dessert. It was heavenly, to say the least. The scant leftovers were fantastic for breakfast the next morning.

Tip: Quick way to chop pecans is not to chop them at all, but to seal them in a plastic bag (or roll 'em up in a towel) and hit them with a mallet.

From February 2010 photos

Pear-Cranberry Crisp
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup barley flour
1 cup chopped pecans (I pummeled mine with a mallet instead of dirtying a knife.)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil of your choice (I used grapeseed oil.)
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla


6 firm pears, cored and cut into 1/2 in. sized pieces.
1 cup cranberries (I used frozen that I'd bought fresh and quick frozen back in November.)
2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
1/2 cup apple juice
3 tablespoons agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger (the more finely grated the better)
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Mix the flours, pecans, almonds, and salt together in a medium bowl.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, agave nectar and vanilla (from the top section of ingredients) until well incorporated.
3. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until crumbly. This is your topping. Cover and refrigerate until the next two steps are done.
4. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
5. Lightly oil a 9 x 9 in. baking dish and pour the fruit mixture into the dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes.
6. Take the dish out of the oven briefly, then sprinkle the crumble on top of the baked fruit. Cover again, making sure the foil does not touch the crumble, and bake again for 20 minutes.
7. Uncover the dish and bake until the topping is golden brown, approximately 15 minutes.
8. Serve warm.

Beanie-Greenie Brownies

From January 2010 photos

Yep, this is another recipe for brownies with beans, but my newest version is extra-special. I've cut the bad fats dramatically by using whipped fresh avocado as the primary fat. Avocado does wonderful things for brownies (as well as your skin and heart). First, it makes brownies rich in the most wonderful way. Second, they are fudgy in exactly the way you would expect chocolate fudge brownies to be, except that they are carob. Best of all, avocados are so nutritionally dense, we should be eating them more often, and what better way than with a brownie! (If you ignored the above link, you might re-think it and visit the California Avocado Commission for more info.)

From January 2010 photos

See? Super-fudgy.

These special brownies are another work of mine that Dave Grotto published within his 101 Optimal Life Foods.

While my brownies are carob, you could easily make these chocolate. Admittedly, I couldn't resist tinkering. Even though this recipe is well-tested by both me and Dave's test kitchens, I still had to tinker with it. I used 1/2 cup less agave nectar than I used originally and still found the brownies to be sweet enough for me. Your mileage may vary.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the format of the recipe as printed in Dave's new book is different than that of my Altered Plates postings (down to the use of the term agave syrup instead of agave nectar). However, I respect integrity, so below is the recipe straight from 101 Optimal Life Foods by David Grotto, RD, LDN Copyright © 2009 by David Grotto. The recipe is excerpted from the original book by permission of Bantam, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

To indicate any alterations I made, I'll include them in bolded font.

Greenie-Beanie Brownies
Servings: 48

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups unsweetened carob chips
3 tablespoons Earth Balance buttery spread, plus more for the pan
1/4 cup tahini
1 cup whipped avocado (easily done in a blender or with an immersion blender)
3/4 cup pureed cooked beans (I used cannelini because they have such a creamy flavor.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup oat flour (or coconut flour)
1 cup carob powder
2 cups agave syrup (I used 1 1/2 cups agave nectar.)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. (I waited until the batter was in the baking dish prior to preheating the oven.) Using Earth Balance buttery spread, generously grease a 13 x 9-inch pan.
     Mix together the carob chips, Earth Balance, and tahini in a large heatproof bowl. Bring a medium saucepan filled halfway with water to a boil. Turn off the heat and place the bowl with the carob mixture over the hot water. Whisk the melting carob mixture until smooth.
     Transfer the carob mixture to a stand-mixture bowl, and whisk in the avocado until incorporated. Whisk in the pureed beans until incorporated.
     In a separate bowl or very large measuring cup, sift together the dry ingredients; mix thoroughly with a fork until all the dry ingredients are combined.
     In a large measuring cup, combine the agave syrup with the vanilla.
     On the mixer, switch to the paddle attachment. Alternate adding 1/2 cup at a time of the dry and agave mixtures to the batter. When the batter has been mixed well, fold in the walnuts. Let the batter rest until the oven has reached temperature.
     When the oven has reached temperature, spread the batter into the prepared pan, making sure to get it in all the corners. It will be pretty thick. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a tester reveals a few moist crumbs. Let the brownies cool completely on a rack (at least 2 hours) before cutting into 48 pieces.

Nutritional Profile
110 calories, 4 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, 20 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 2 g protein.

From January 2010 photos

A Whole Different Kettle of Cranberries

From December 2009

As you can tell from my recent posts, I'm a bit up to my knees in cranberries. I love the tart snap of a fresh cranberry. When they pop, bursting their juices in these muffins, they add the most refreshing color to these oat-bran-heavy breakfast goodies.

This is another big alteration of an original recipe from the great new cookbook from the Moosewood folks, Cooking for Health. I'd almost begun reviewing the book again when I remembered that I already had on yet another cranberry-heavy recipe! My version of Moosewood's "Apple Muffins with Oat Bran and Dates" is vegan, and substitutes agave nectar for molasses, apricots for dates, and cranberries for the apples. I've also added in a little fat in the form of 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil.

In my baking career, I've made a few cholesterol fighters in my time, but I think these will become part of my daily diet. Between all the oat bran, flaxmeal, and walnuts in these muffins, my numbers will be decreasing in no time. Overall, these oat-y, cranberry muffins go a long way toward making healthy taste good.

Here's the recipe as I made it.

Cranberry Oat Bran Muffins (Greatly inspired by "Apple Muffins with Oat Bran and Dates" on page 52 of The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking For Health.)
Yield: 12

Ingredients:

1/2 cup soy or coconut milk yogurt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons flax meal
3/4 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 cup oat bran
1/4 rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Baking Spice by Pensey's
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, vinegar, flax meal, apricots, vanilla, agave nectar, and oil until well combined.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat bran, oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
3. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir until the dry ingredients are coated with the wet.
4. Fold in the cranberries and the walnuts.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin pan with paper liners.
6. Fill each liner to the top edge with the muffin batter. These won't puff up much at all, so don't worry about these being over filled.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a bamboo tester comes out clean.
8. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then tip out the muffins and let them cool completely on a wire rack. Freeze any that will not be eaten in the next 3 days.
9. Enjoy!

From December 2009

Cobbleriffic -- Vegan Blueberry Apricot Cobbler

From July_2009_Photos

Oh my friends, if you're a fan of blueberries, you must make this cobbler for yourselves. I was inspired (as always) by Elise's Apricot Berry Cobbler, but wanted to veganize it to bring down the fat and make it healthier. I made a lot of changes from the flour to using apple cider vinegar and almond milk instead of buttermilk, so it's now an entirely different recipe.

From July_2009_Photos

This is the most luscious and rich-tasting cobbler you will ever taste (not tooting my own horn, folks -- it was a big surprise to me too). Because I added almond meal to the whole wheat pastry flour, the cobbler topping became cookie/pie crust-like, and less biscuit-like (which was the best part of the surprise). I also wasn't sure if the olive oil would work instead of the butter, but it has now become my fat champion for its performance here. That would be an excellent slogan: "Olive Oil, My Fat Champion."

From July_2009_Photos

The filling is a good mix between quartered apricots and blueberries, but I'd bet anything that it would work just as well with raspberries, strawberries and peaches. In fact, I'd venture a guess that cranberries and apples would be winners as well. And, as always, I used agave nectar for the sweetener in the topping as well as the filling, but added a bit more flour to the filling to thicken it up.

As you can see from the photo above, the filling gets very pie-like. It is a dream to scoop up when serving, keeping together very nicely. You might want to keep some vanilla frozen dessert or topping handy. It makes a nice foil for all that blueberry, although I enjoyed it thoroughly with just a cup of my favorite herbal tea.

Finally, before I launch into the recipe, I wanted to share with you a bit of food chemistry fun. If you've been veganizing recipes for a while, you probably already know this, but you can make vegan buttermilk by adding apple cider vinegar to non-dairy milk to get the same effect. Not only does it tenderize dough, it gives it nice rise.

Just an ingredient/direction note -- when I write a recipe, the ingredients are listed in the order in which they are used. It's a pet peeve of mine when folks don't do that, and then I have to scramble to make sense of a recipe. So, if the list below looks a little weird, that's why. It's for your own good. :)

Ok, here's what you've been waiting for...

Vegan Blueberry Apricot Cobbler (inspired by Elise's Apricot Berry Cobbler)

Yields 12 servings (or 10 large servings)

Ingredients

5 cups fresh apricots, pre-pitted and sliced
4 cups fresh blueberries
2/3 cup agave nectar
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup non-dairy milk (I used vanilla unsweetened almond milk for mine)
1/2 cup almond meal
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (makes all the difference)
1/2 teaspoon Pensey's baking spice (or cinnamon, if you don't have it, but you might want to consider ordering some because it's really great stuff, and they don't pay me to say that)
3 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons good, fruity olive oil (or experiment with another good oil you enjoy)

Directions

1. Lightly oil a glass 9x13x2 in. baking dish.
2. Gently mix together the fruit, agave nectar, whole wheat pastry flour, and pinch of salt in a large bowl and let rest.
3. In a large glass measuring cup, mix together the apple cider vinegar and non-dairy milk. Let this rest as well.
4. In a large bowl, mix together the almond meal, whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the spices.
5. Retrieve the vinegar/milk mixture and whisk in the remaining agave nectar, vanilla, and olive oil. Give it at least a minute of whisking.
6. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry mixture and combine until just mixed. Do not over-mix this because it won't create a nice topping if you do.
7. Give the fruit filling one more mix before pouring it into the prepared baking dish.
8. Take out your small scoop and scoop the topping on top of the filling. You'll probably need to spread it around a bit.
9. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F while the topping rises. It won't rise a lot, but it will poof up a bit.
10. Bake the cobbler for 40 minutes, then check to see if it isn't getting too brown on top. You're looking for a nice golden brown. The filling should be good and bubbly.
11. Cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes before serving. It's best warm, but just as good from the fridge 4 days later.

The cobbler will keep at room temperature for 3 days. After that, if there is any left, and my guess is that there won't be, keep it refrigerated until it's gone.

From July_2009_Photos

Book Review: Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

From July_2009_Photos

These delicious and highly healthy pumpkin bran muffins are an Altered Plates version of Isa's Pumpkin Bran Muffins on page 167 of Vegan Brunch. I made 12 large and 12 mini muffins in my version of her recipe, and will undoubtably make them again with other fun modifications.

First, let me tell you a bit about the book. The photos are lovely, and there are many of them. The layout is very effective in that you don't often need to turn pages during a recipe (one of my major pet peeves in cookbooks). And, most importantly, the recipes are fantastic.

You must get this to add to your collection, even if you aren't vegan (which I'm not anymore, but eat veganly most days anyway). The recipes are easy to make for the most part, and like her other books, don't require a lot of hard-to-find or expensive ingredients.

And, if you are like me and have to noodle around with recipes because you have dietary restrictions, be comforted by the fact that her recipes (as in in her previous books) are so flexible that you can tune them quite easily without losing the integrity of the recipe.

From July_2009_Photos

That said, here's the recipe as I made it a few weeks ago (prior to the big fall).

Pumpkin Bran Muffins (greatly inspired by Isa's Pumpkin Bran Muffins on page 167 of Vegan Brunch.

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vanilla flavored, unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used almond)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup wheat bran flakes (you could also use oat bran, and I will next time)
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I used Pensey's)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 to 1/2 cup pepitas or shelled pumpkin seeds (depending upon how you decorate)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together until well blended.
2. Add the bran flakes and mix until well blended.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients except the walnuts, raisins, and seeds.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix by hand for about 30 seconds.
5. Gently fold in the nuts, raisins, and seeds, then mix for another 30 seconds. Let the mixture rest.
6. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and line 1 standard muffin pan with cupcake cups, and 1 mini muffin pan with mini cupcake cups.
7. Use a standard ice cream scoop to scoop out 12 servings into the lined standard pan, and a mini scoop to scoop out 12 mini servings into the mini muffin pan. Place in the heated oven on different levels.
8. Bake for 12 minutes before turning each pan 180 degrees and switching levels. Bake for another 10 minutes before testing with a bamboo skewer for doneness. When only a few moist crumbs stick to the skewer, take them out of the oven.
9. Let them cool in the pans for 5 minutes before transferring the muffins to wire racks to cool completely.
10. Enjoy!

These will keep for about a week in an airtight container. Since it's been hot out, I've kept mine in the fridge.

Best Vegan Thumbprint Cookies Ever!

From March 2009 Recipes, Reviews and Other Photos

My go-to vegan cookbook for cookies is now Eat, Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. I've made agave nectar versions of her cookies before with great success, but these are over the top.

Even though they're vegan they taste genuinely buttery. She uses maple syrup and brown rice syrup along with a little bit of sugar in her original recipe, so making the agave leap wasn't a big deal. However, I used a completely different technique to create the cookie.

From March 2009 Recipes, Reviews and Other Photos

I made two different versions of these -- one close to the original, with walnuts and a strawberry all-fruit spread for the middle; and in the other, I used almonds and a lovely plum all-fruit spread. Fantastic! The almond version is what I'm bringing to a St. Joseph's Feast celebration tonight, because traditionally, almond cookies are served (albeit, not ones like these) for dessert along with zeppoles.

From March 2009 Recipes, Reviews and Other Photos

The texture of the almond version is not as smooth as the walnut cookie, but slightly crunchy. I love that she uses barley and oat flour for these cookies. You can taste the oats much more in the walnut version than in the almond cookies. I'm definitely going to try these with other flours and nuts. I kept thinking that cashews would make an amazing cookie. With those, I'd probably make some kind of carob-y ganache to use as a filling.

Because I altered the recipe significantly, I'm publishing my version here. However, I strongly urge you to buy a copy of Dreena's wonderful Eat, Drink & Be Vegan for yourself.

The Best Vegan Thumbprint Cookies Ever (inspired by Dreena Burton's Jam-Print Cookies, from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan)

Yield: approx. 32 cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
3/4 cup barley flour
1/2 cup walnuts (or almonds, or your choice of nut or seed)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil (I used olive)
Just under 1/2 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Your choice of unsweetened fruit spread/jam

Directions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor, grind up the oats until they are almost powder.
3. Add the nuts/seeds to the oats and grind until the mixture resembles crumbs.
3. Add the barley flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, then pulse for a minute until everything is well combined.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, agave nectar, and vanilla until well combined.
5. Add the liquid mixture to the food processor and process until the dough collects itself. This should take a maximum of 40 seconds (and that's long).
6. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out the cookies, four to a row, evenly spaced, on the sheets. Place one of the sheets in the refrigerator.
7. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to a small bowl. You will use this to dip a small spoon into while you're making the depressions in the cookies for the jam. Dip the spoon into the water, shake off any excess water and use the spoon to gently make a nickle-sized depression (about 1/4 in. deep) into the center of your cookies. Wet the spoon each time. You'll need to do this and it makes it much easier, trust me.
8. Fill each of the depressions with your jam/spread of choice. Put that sheet of cookies into the fridge. Take the other sheet out and repeat step seven on those cookies while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
9. Bake the cookies for 7 minutes, then switch the sheets' positions in the oven and bake for another 7 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges.
10. Let the cookies cool on their sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. This is a very important step because the cookies could break if you don't.
11. Enjoy!