Walnut, raisin, honey and oat cookies (no dry sugar, no butter, no white flour)

These were another go at perfect quick cookies using walnuts and honey - pretty tasty, probably the best yet, although maybe could cut down the oil just a bit. This recipe.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup olive oil (or sunflower or vegetable)
1 tbsp mulberry molasses (or normal)
1 egg (beat with 1 tbsp water)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts

 In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (except raisins and walnuts) together. In a medium bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together (note: measure oil before honey so the honey doesn't stick). Mix the wet into the dry. Add the raisins and walnuts and mix. Chill for c. 20 min in the fridge.

Heat the oven to 335F / 170C. Dollop the mixture in heaping teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, and press gently with a fork. Bake for 15-20 min or until golden on the bottom of the cookie.


These came out good - perhaps a little soft/greasy, try reducing the oil a bit. Also, the recipe said they freeze well - test that next time. The flavour is all there though, and they stick together well despite not containing much flour. Could maybe also try cramming in a few more raisins+walnuts.

Mulberry, cranberry, wheatberry, walnut

All these berries seemed so coincidental - the wheatberries, the dried berries, the pickled berries, even the berry molasses appeared just when I was about to get out the honey. I am gradually plundering my cupboardful of preserves - these juicy pickled mulberries were from the first harvest of last year. So, salad or grain, either way, this is nice.

1 cup wheatberries, cooked until tender in ~ 2 cups water
~1 tbsp white miso
~1 tbsp mulberry molasses
~2 tbsp mulberry vinegar (from the pickled mulberries, top up with red wine vinegar if you don't have enough)
~2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper
~20 pickled mulberries
~1/4 cup walnut pieces
~2 tbsp dried cranberries
~1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
~2 tsp cacao nibs (optional)

Put the wheatberries on to cook, and in the meantime prepare all the other ingredients. To make the dressing, whisk the miso, mulberry molasses, vinegar, olive oil and some salt and pepper together in a small bowl and taste to check balance. Put the cooked wheatberries in a serving bowl and add the dressing. Toss and let cool a little. Add the pickled mulberries, walnuts, cranberries, parsley and cacao, mix up and taste to check seasoning etc. Eat warm or cold.

Strawberries with tahin pekmez

I bought some mulberry molasses (pekmez) from one of the Armenian grocers in Watertown a while back, because I thought it would be ambrosia, and I wasn't disappointed: it is sticky and rich and sweet, with a touch of tang but none of the sharpness of pomegranate molasses.  I love it, but I didn't really know what to do with it.  I was buying tahini in the (nearer, but not better) Turkish store in Allston a few months later and noticed they were selling containers divided in two with two spouts: one for tahini and one for mulberry molasses - aha!  I love mixing tahini with anything sweet - I eat it off the spoon, half tahini, half honey, or strawberry jam, or anything like that (originally inspired by Seb telling me the Turkish Germans eat tahini with 'marmelade' (ie jam, but I thought he meant marmalade)) - it's like PB+J, but even more yummy.  So I tried it and loved it.  I've long been in the habit of applying my tahini-honey mixture to sliced fresh apple (I got more into this habit after celebrating Rosh Hashanah with Andrea), but the tahini-mulberry molasses mixture makes a perfect dip for fresh strawberries.  I will figure out something more elegant to do with that combination eventually, for now it is just a wonderful snack:

1 tsp tahini and 1 tsp mulberry molasses, mixed til smooth in a puddle on a plate; a handful fresh strawberries, hulled and halved; dip and chew and smile.

4th July: No-bake chocolate pie

Independence Day is another one of those American holidays we never really know what to do for - we just don't have the back-history with it.  What I hear is you're supposed to have barbeques and eat pie and watch fireworks.  We failed to go out as I have a crappo summer cold, but we had a barbeque on the balcony (featuring the awesome marinated tofu and courgette again, plus a few mushrooms and potatoes, and S toasted bread on the grill).  And we did watch the fireworks from the Summit Park, which was hilarious: an awkward juxtaposition of middle-class families with pockets of super-drunk college students in Stars n Stripes bikini tops etc, all standing neatly organised in two long lines to see between the trees.  A huge lightning / rain storm started up pretty much the exact same time as the fireworks, it was awesome (we had an umbrella).

And, I decided we should have pie.  It had to be be a super simple pie, and should not involve switching on the oven, because it's still very hot and sticky, esp in our apartment under the heat-absorbing roof.  So that meant a raw-style pie crust, which I was totally in the mood for anyway.  And I felt like it should have fruit in it somewhere, although we didn't have much fruit in the house.  I daydreamed about pie while looking back through recipes I made before and at ppk, and ended up doing this...

Note: Today I made enough crust for a mini pie plus a half quantity of filling as I just wanted a wee one for S and me to share.  So quantities below haven't been fully tested, but should be about right for a full-size (8 in) pie.  If just making the filling for a quickie pudding snack a half quantity should be plenty.


Crust:
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup almond meal
3 tbsp linseed meal
pinch salt
1-3 tsp mulberry molasses

Filling:
3 cups fake milk
1/4 cup cornflour
1/3 cup sugar (half quantity = 2 tbsp)
3 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch salt
3 tbsp chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla essence

good handful raspberries, fresh or frozen (or chopped fresh strawberries)

First, prep the crust: put the pecan pieces, almond meal, linseed meal and salt in a blender and grind til smooth.  Add the mulberry molasses bit by bit and pulse til the crumbs are just starting to stick together. Empty out of the blender and then press the crust into a pie tin or dish lined with foil.  Put in the fridge until needed.

(Note, the molasses is just to stick the nuts together and add sweetness, alternatives could be soft dates or frozen banana, or maple syrup.  Be careful when adding not to add too much as it would become too soft and sticky and make the finished pie not come out of the tin properly).

Next, filling: put 1 cup of fake milk in a pan with the cornflour and whisk together until the cornflour is distributed and there are no lumps.  Then add the cocoa, sugar, salt and the rest of the milk and whisk together.  Bring to the boil, whisking constantly until it thickens.  Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and mix until it is melted.  Then add the vanilla and mix.

Assembly: take the prepared crust and sprinkle the raspberries evenly over the base.  Then pour the chocolate mixture all over the raspberries and fill up the crust (any extra can just be poured in a separate bowl).  Leave to cool, then transfer to the fridge and leave for a couple of hours or so.


I actually used both frozen banana and mulberry molasses as sticky stuff in the crust, and ended up with something a bit too sticky but very tasty.  I went ahead and used it anyway - the pie didn't come out of the dish very easily but it still tasted good.  So the quantities described above reflect what I was aiming for rather than what I actually did.  The chocolate pudding mix was great - super easy, using stuff I always have in the cupboards / fridge, good just on its own as well as as a pie filling.  It's a good alternative to the silken tofu based chocolate pudding I've made often, perhaps even a more pudding-y texture (and doesn't require silken tofu, which I don't have any of at the moment).  Really into cornflour thickening in desserts right now - nice smooth texture with no flavour distraction.  All in all the pie was really yummy - S had thirds - and with a little tweaking of the crust mix I think it could be awesome.  Perfect for a hot day's pie craving!

Bran muffins

(makes 12, very generously filled in my muffin tin - I can only just fit it all in)

3 cups bran
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup water
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup raisins or dates

Oven 350F.  Mix in bowl the bran, flour, soda, baking powder,.  Add sugar, molasses, oil, water, vinegar, raisins.  Mix.  Put in muffin tins and bake 35-45 min.


Made with a mixture of fine wheatmeal I thought was coarser and more like bulghur (from the Russian shop - label was in Russian, in my defence) and blended-up oats.  Was good - I quite enjoyed the texture from the meal, and they seemed really quite light, in a way - the least heavy vegan baking I've done so far.  I used a mixture of raisins and cranberries and it was good.

This recipe came from somewhere on the internet.  I think it may have originated from the How it all Vegan! cookbook, which is totally on my want list.


Edit 2012/08/27: I made these again recently.  This time I used carob molasses instead of regular blackstrap, and added some cinnamon and sesame seeds.  Still used a mixture of ground-up oats and the ground-up fine bulghur, and used raisins.  They come out very robust but I quite like it.  They aren't very sweet - I might add a little more sugar another time (I served them with strawberry jam on the side).  Would also consider using brown sugar, and/or increasing the molasses a little: I liked the carob molasses but could have used more for a stronger taste.  Also considered using mulberry molasses instead.  Could have added more sesame seeds (prob used ~1tsp - they were a little lost) / sprinkled some on top.