Spelt-Caraway Scones - Vegan Recipe

Today would have been my Irishy Grandma's 115th birthday. She would have loved these.  Happy St. Paddy's Day! 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Flax Egg  (1 T (7 g) flaxseed meal + 2 ½ T(37 ml) Water beaten up together in small bowl)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk such as Almond, Hemp or Oat Milk
• 3/4 cup spelt flour 
• 1 1/4 cups Unbleached All-purpose Flour
• 1 T Baking Powder
• 1/4 cup Maple Sy
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 2 T. Caraway Seed
• 1/4 C. dried Currants
• 6 Tbsp room temperature coconut oil (scoopable, not liquid or frozen) (or sun vegan butter)

Icing:

• 1 c. Icing sugar
• 2 T milk
• 1/4 tsp orange zest.  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit
2. Whisk in bowl: flax egg, non-dairy milk and maple syrup. Set aside.
3. In another larger bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and sea salt.
4. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut in the coconut oil until pea-sized clusters form
5. Spill in caraway seeds and currants
6. Add wet ingredients and combine lightly-- do not overwork the dough
7. On a silicone-sheeted or parchment covered pan, turn out the dough and carefully shape into a 1-inch high circle.
8. With a pizza cutter or knife, cut 8 equal size pieces. Make about a 1 1/2-inch space between the slices.
9. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges
10. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, or a little longer to ice
11. To ice or glaze, blend sugar and nondairy milk and mix until smooth- mix in orange zest
12. Drizzle or spoon over warm scones

Maple-Brown Sugar Glazed Tofu - Vegan, GlutenFree

Maple-Brown Sugar Glazed Tofu is a gift to you if you enjoyed ham as a part of your celebrations back in the day and were feverishly looking for a recipe online that gives you back some of that experience.  You will be missing the salt-piercing tongue paralysis of a cured ham, but you will also be missing the very dangerous cholesterol.  Tofu is the way to go if you want to enjoy a piece of "sham" with your Christmas or Thanksgiving.  And for those of you with religious proscriptions, it's CLEAN-- it's not even meat.  So win-win.

Want to know MORE about the health benefits of Tofu? Watch Dr. Michael Greger's videos HERE.

So here we go with the
INGREDIENTS (3 ADULT SERVINGS)

• 1# Block of Organic, non-GMO, EXTRA FIRM Tofu (bought mine at Costco)
• 1/2 C. Pure Maple Syrup OR Blackstrap Molasses (Molasses gives a darker glaze)
• 1/2 C. Brown Sugar
• 1 T. Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. Ginger Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste (May want to use Cayenne or Chipotle Pepper)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Press the tofu for 30-60 minutes-- makes a huge difference to the results
2. Set the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/205 degrees Celsius
3. Cut the tofu with a sharp knife to form 2-3 'steaks' (meaning you cut through the sides of the tofu to create 2-3 same-size rectangles as your original block).  Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on each side of the steaks.
4. With the same sharp knife, score through one side of each steak in a crisscross pattern.  Be careful not to cut through entirely!
5. Place tofu on baking sheet covered with parchment paper or silicone pad (to avoid use of oils)
6. Bake at 400F/205C degrees for 30 minutes, flipping after 15 minutes.
7. While the Tofu is baking, make the glaze, mixing together Syrup OR Molasses, Mustard, Cinnamon, Ginger and a pinch of salt in a sauce pan on the stove.
8. Whisk the sauce over medium heat until everything comes together, and then turn the heat to LOW.  Keep whisking for another few minutes until the sauce is smooth and thickening a little. 
9. Remove sauce from the heat (it will thicken as it cools)
10. Remove the slightly crispy tofu from the oven and turn the temperature down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degrees Celsius.
11. Brush the sides of the Tofu that have not been scored, first, and then turn and brush the scored (cut) sides, making sure that you are generously brushing the tofu so that lots of the sticky goodness sinks into the crevices.
12. Return to the oven and bake another 5-10 minutes.  Flip over to the sides that have been scored and makes sure that the cuts have received the syrup and are not sealed up (you can lightly re-cut them if so, and spoon on more glaze)
13. Remove from the oven and rebrush the tops with glaze.  Serve immediately.

(inspired by recipe at Rabbit and Wolves site)

OTHER DELICIOUS BAKED TOFU RECIPES:

Tofu, Baked with Spanish Rice
Tofu Stroganoff, with Veggies

5 Vegan Chinese Dishes

These five delicious vegan -- plant-based, no-animal-products-involved, you-make-yourself-- recipes are probably strike a familiar chord for you and quite possibly their non-plant-based form had a place on your "comfort foods" list before you decided to "go vegan".

Remember Dim Sum?  Well, you can get together with your vegan friends and enjoy that joyous experience again!

恭喜发财 / 恭喜發財 (Gōngxǐ fācái) Happiness and Prosperity!

 

1. SEA-VEGGIE ROLLS (or rolled salad)

 Mmmm-- these veggie rolls might not fit into your "Chinese food" box/idea, but it is one wonderful way to capitalize on all the raw greens that could potentially go into the salad course of a vegan Chinese meal, and includes the sea vegetable (nori) that is pretty common in many traditional Chinese and other Asian meals.  Check out the instructions for putting this awesome wrap together at Raw Foods For Truth .  (Go for the recipe, stay to browse all their other salivatory images like this one.)


2. VEGAN WONTON SOUP

Who doesn't love the taste and mouth textures of Wonton Soup?  But are those won ton noodles vegan when they are advertised as "vegetarian"?  Hmm.  How about make everything-- noodles and soup-- from scratch with a simple noodle recipe and a mouth-watering soup?  The soup is impressive, Darling!  Your wontons will be winners!  And all done with such kindness, thanks to the recipe (and images) at Spoons Of Flavor.com

3. SWEET AND SOUR CAULIFLOWER

There are any number of chop-suey-style recipes you can adapt to your vegan feast, but this sweet and sour cauliflower image (and recipe) from Kirbie's Cravings website really caught my eye.

4. VEGAN BATTERED CAULIFLOWER DIPPED IN VEGAN HONEY-SESAME-GARLIC SAUCE

 Happy Chinese New Year, darling!

Doesn't this delightful image (recipe and image from MARY'S TEST KITCHEN website) take you back to those wonderful meals that were more than the backstory to a great romance or family gathering?  And there are other delicious similar recipes at the same great site.  (Caution: There are many alluring images of Honey Garlic Cauliflower recipes online, but most of them include eggs to bake on the sauce-- no, no, darling!  Give those little chickens a chance and eat plant-strong!)

5. DESSERT: VEGAN 'EGG' TART

Here is a great video tutorial on making the yummy 'egg' tart (without any eggs) from East Meets West 

I agree that the pie shells have a sort of scary complexity for those of us who have NEVER been great pastry chefs.  However, if you watch this a few times you will pick up the tips and with a little confidence and the right instruction, you will be able to make this incredibly flakey VEGAN pastry.  Anyone who loved the traditional egg tarts will be sooooo grateful for this addition to your vegan feast! (YT Etiquette: If you do make the tarts, please be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to enjoy more of this chef's great instructional videos)


However, I also find that fresh lychee fruit can't be beat for the perfect light dessert after a great vegan Chinese meal. 

 

Image credit: Apartment Therapy

If you have any questions or comments, please post below!  If you try any of these recipes and want to post your pictures, I would be happy to do so on this page... just let me know in the Comments section below!

恭喜发财 / 恭喜發財 (Gōngxǐ fācái) Happiness and Prosperity!

Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies- Vegan, Oil-Free

These delicious chocolate chip cookies have chickpeas in them! And walnuts!  They are very tasty and healthy, with good Omega oils and proteins.  The cookies are soft inside and crunchy on the outside! The chocolate chips are, of course, a bonus!

INGREDIENTS & Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F, 180C or gas mark 4).  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

2. Put the following together in a medium mixing bowl and stir until combined:

• 1 1/4 C. (180 g) pastry flour
• 1 tsp.     (15 g)  baking powder
• 1 tsp.     (15 g) baking soda
• 1/4 tsp.  (4 g)  Salt

3. Put the following together into a food processor and blend until smooth:

• 1 1/2 C. (246 g) cooked chickpeas or 1 can (15 oz), rinsed and drained
• 1/4 C.    (120 ml) Nondairy Milk
• 2 tsp. (30 g)   Vanilla or Almond Extract (I used Almond)
• 1 C. (225 g) packed Brown Sugar

4. Mix in the wet mixture from the food processor with the dry items in the bowl.  Then mix in:

• 1 C. Chocolate Chips
• 1 C. Walnut Pieces

5. Place in 1 1/2 Tablespoon scoops on the sheet and into the oven for 15- 17 minutes.  Do NOT over-bake.  Cool and enjoy!

This recipe was derived from the fantastic The Great Vegan Bean Book: More than 100 Delicious Plant-Based Dishes Packed with the Kindest Protein in Town! - Includes Soy-Free and Gluten-Free Recipes! (Great Vegan Book) by Kathy Hester.