Lemon Bars, Episode 2: The Agar Agar Strikes Back

No surprise here, but this winter's been wearing me out. Sure, it's been cold. And there's been lots of snow. I can deal with that. But I just can't deal with a week of GRAY skies. I mean seriously. The trees are dead. The snow is dirty. I need some color here. (Note: The Photo below was taken at noon. NOON.)

I can handle single-digit temps and wintry mix if I can just get blue sky and sunshine a couple days a week. But no, a week of gray. This weather had me on the edge and I needed some color. So I did what always seems to make sense. I made some lemon bars. Bring the sunshine in.

A year ago, I battled my lemon bar demons. But that was back in my pregan (pre-vegan) days when butter and eggs were still in my fridge. A vegan attempt was long over due, especially since I have at least 3 different recipes to try. I started with Isa and Terry's version, since that's usually the best place to start.

The jury's still out on this recipe. As far as appearances go, these did the trick. They looked beautiful; bright, sunny, little gems in my dreary February world. I'm just not sure I liked the taste. (Though, to be sure, I kept eating them...)

They hardly had any lemon flavor, despite adding more juice and zest than the recipe called for. And the texture was just weird. Too solid, yet soft. Sorta like those fruit-shaped jelly candies. Weird.  Maybe I loved my pregan lemon bars a little to much for these to compare. Or maybe I screwed up the agar agar. It was my first time working with it, and it seemed a little too thick to me. Is there a manual for baking with agar agar?

So what's the deal? Have any of you made this recipe before? Does it just not suit my taste, or did I screw up? People, I need to know. Enlighten me.

Until then, I think I'll move on to the recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking. Lemon bars, you haven't heard the last of me...

Vegan Lemon Bars
from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

Crust:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 cup non-hydrogenated margarine 



Filling:

1 1/3 cups water

3 tablespoons agar agar flakes

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/8 teaspoon tumeric

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons arrowroot powder 

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from two large lemons)

1/4 cup soymilk

Extra powdered or confectioners’ sugar to decorate finished bars 



Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.



Pulse flour, powdered sugar and cornstarch in food processor. Add margarine in spoonfuls and blend, 8 to 10 seconds, and then pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle mixture into prepared baking pan and press firmly into an even layer with slightly raised sides to hold in the filling. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and then bake for 40 minutes; remove from oven and let cool. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.



In a sauce pot, soak the agar agar in the water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, zest your lemons and squeeze your lemon juice. Mix the arrowroot into the lemon juice to dissolve.



When the agar has been soaking for 15 minutes, turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes, or until the agar is completely dissolved. Add the sugar and tumeric and boil until dissolved, about 3 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and add the arrow root and lemon juice mixture, then add the lemon zest and soy milk. Wisk constantly until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. It should not be rapidly boiling, but lowly bubbling is ok.



Pour the mixture into the prepared crust, let cool for 20 minutes and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until the filling is only slightly jiggly and set. Use a sifter or a fine mesh strainer for sprinkle the bars with powdered sugar. Slice into squares and serve.

Milk and Cookies

I heard Santa might be going vegan this year. He's gotta stay healthy too! Thankfully, I've got lots of alternative holiday milks and vegan cookies for him to choose from. Should put me right at the top of that 'Nice' list.

Most of you should be familiar with Silk's Soy Nog. It's been around for awhile. I use this in my eggnog frosting for gingerbread whoopie pies with excellent results. I think that the consistency is perfect; it has that thick, creamy, eggy mouthfeel that you look for in an eggnog (or as close as it can come without any actual cream or eggs). I'm not blown away by the flavor though. I find myself always adding cinnamon or nutmeg, or some holiday cheer to help kick it up a notch. Still, I bet if I left a glass of this with a little nip of bourbon to help keep Santa warm, he wouldn't complain.

This year I discovered Rice Dream's Rice Nog. I'm a big fan of rice milks since I'm always looking to reduce my soy intake. The flavor of this nog was perfect: lots of nutmeg with other spices to round out the taste. As expected, since rice milk is notoriously thin compared to other milks, the consistency was nowhere near your typical egg nog. But I kind of liked that. It was light, and allowed me to drink more than I would normally be able to tolerate with eggnog's usual thick consistency. I'll leave this one out for Mr. Claus in case he needs something lighter and refreshing to wash down that Chocolate Candy Cane whoopie pie I plan on leaving for him.

West Soy makes a Chocolate Peppermint soymilk. I don't keep regular chocolate soymilk in the house anymore, because I drink too much of it. West Soy's beverage combines my two favorite things and is equally dangerous. Creamy, chocolatey, and a hint of peppermint flavor makes this an ideal holiday drink. And you can drink it cold, or warm it up for some hot cocoa action! I think I'll leave a big tall glass with some chocolate chip cookies for the man in red this year.

I heard that VitaSoy also makes a Holly Nog, but I was unable to find it in Philadelphia. Silk also introduced Mint Chocolate soymilk this year, but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. If you've tried either of these drinks, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to whip out my copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, and bake up a batch of tasty, cruelty-free cookies for Santa to enjoy.

Merry Christmas!

Introducing Ms. Abbien: The Gluten-free Vegan wonder!

Do you remember your freshman year roommate? Better yet, are you still friends with her/him? I'm lucky enough to have had the best roommate ever, whom I lived with for the rest of college, and we have not only remained friends, but still get to hang out from time to time. 

Abbie and I clicked over our love of Punk/Indie rock and an obscene pride in our Irish heritage. We bonded over eyebrow piercings and keeping a vegetarian diet on a freshman meal plan. We've changed a lot over the years, but some things, like our respective sweet tooths, have stayed the same. When I suggested that she come over and bake some oatmeal cream pies with me, I didn't have to ask twice. Bakin' cookies with Abbie is where it's at! Little Debbie, fear our skills. But I'll let Abbie tell you all about it...

I've known Colleen for many years, and I've known her to do many wonderful things. Working on perfecting a vegan oatmeal cream pie has undoubtedly been one of them.

Sometimes you just needs to taste your childhood. You know, something to distract you from all of those icky grown-up responsibilities that now consume your life. Well, I'm pretty sure my childhood is nestled somewhere between two oatmeal raisin cookies, right alongside baking with friends and family. So, heading into the kitchen with Colleen made perfect sense. It was a chance to channel inner girlhood, listen to some indie rock, eat (I mean test) cookie batter, and make gluten-free vegan oatmeal cream pies.

Wait! Gluten-free! Yeah, you heard me. It was time to bust out the alternative flours. Gluten-free baking can be tricky, and finding the right flour blend can take some experimenting. If you're looking for gluten-free flours or baking products, I totally recommend Bob's Red Mill. Not only does this brand have a huge selection of alternative flours, but Bob looks like he has a sweet beard. Who can deny the trustworthiness of an awesome beard? Is it just me? Well, in addition to Whole Foods and some traditional grocery stores, Asian grocery stores also carry many gluten-free flours (rice and millet flours, etc.).

As the world of gluten-free flours is vast, we used a blend from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. This book oozes wonderful information and ideas for vegan and gluten-free goodies.

We incorporated the blend into the recipe that Colleen uses for her vegan oatmeal cream pies and the smell of nugmeg and cinnamon added to my excited anticipation. Seriously, anything that produces that kind of cinnamon aroma in the kitchen has got to be good.

I often find that the challenge with gluten-free vegan baking isn't in the taste of the batter, but the right ingredients and the baking itself. I dare you not to be tempted to lick the computer screen. Look at that batter! That's full of gluten-free vegan deliciousness.

There were some adjustments with the actual baking of the cookies in order to find the right consistancy and shape. But that's part of the fun! Sitting around the kitchen, modestly nibbling the the edge of a cookie, hand on your chin, looking upwards in concentration trying to imagine all of the flavors, letting out the frequent "hmmm...". That's where it's at.

The cookies were pretty darn tasty and just needed the cream filling to make Little Debbie totally jealous. And for a brief moment, I forgot all about those pesky adult things I needed to get done, and enjoyed my first oatmeal cream pie, in like, forever. Well, I suppose there were many brief moments since then, seeing as they're all gone.

A guest post, how exciting! I hope you guys are ready for some more. My friendship with Abbie has seen many years and many bottles of whiskey, and now we're taking things to the next level. Abbie's agreed to become a regular contributor to the blog! Let me tell you why this will make Sweet Swallows even more awesome than it already is:

• Abbie not only bakes tasty sweets, but rocks the savory snacks too.
• Gluten-free and vegan means more allergies are covered, and more people are happy.
• Her camera skills are far superior to mine
• She's got a wicked green thumb and a bangin' garden to show for it.
• She's Rad. Obviously. End of Story.

So welcome, Abbie, and I look forward to more posts from you! And thanks for not giving away too many of my oatmeal creme pie secrets... But seriously guys, if you haven't already gotten a copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, I don't know what's wrong with you. It's got a ton of amazing recipes to keep all the vegans in your life happy, and to fool all of your non-vegan friends into liking vegan sweets. Win win. And all of the recipes can be made Gluten free. Which puts us up to win win win. Winners all around. 

Punk Rock Flea Market- Summer 2010

I know, I know. I've been slacking on pies in July. I haven't gotten that crust tutorial to you yet. (It's almost done! Really! There's just so much I want to share!) But I've been preoccupied. The Punk Rock Flea Market is this Sunday, and I've got a table.

Are you in Philly, or can you easily get to Philadelphia? Then you should definitely be there. Don't let the name fool you. It's more than just punk records and old ramones t-shirts (though you probably will find plenty of those). There's tons of vintage clothes and accessories, hand-made items, screen-prints, art, random old appliances and decorations, and all of that regular flea market fair.

R5 has a bigger location this year, so it's going to be huge. There's over 250 tables. You won't find any grandmas selling ceramic nicknacks, but you will find cute girls peddling delcious treats. Like me. This is why you should come. I'll have things like this:

and this:

and this:

and some of these:

definitely these:

and maybe, if you're lucky, some of these:

And a couple of other things I don't have pictures of. It's probably going to be ridiculously hot there, so I had to ditch cupcakes, peanut butter cups, things dipped in chocolate, and any other baked good I figured would be too delicate. But I'll still have some pretty delicious stuff for you to choose from!

So seriously guys, no excuses. This is the best flea market in Philly. It's worth the trip. And when you're weary from looking at all that stuff, come find me. I'll have a donut waiting for you.

Punk Rock Flea Market- Summer Edition
Sunday July 25 10am-5pm
At the Punk Rock Flea Market Dome (461 N 9th St- Right across from Starlight Ballroom)
Just south of the intersection of 9th and Spring Garden
All Ages to Enter/ 250+ Vendors/ Re-entry all day long!
$3 Admission Donation

Chocolate-orange Filled Hearts

I don't want to fool you with all these heart shaped items, but February and Valentines day are my LEAST favorite time of year. I've always been the kind of girl that went straight from Christmas/New Year's to thoughts of shamrocks, leprechauns and Irish Whiskey. Okay, okay, it's true, every year up until this one has found me sans-sweetie and occasionally bitter about love. But besides that, I just can't see what's so exciting about forced declarations of love and cheesy pre-packaged gifts to "prove" said love. I'm all for giving and receiving gifts but prefer it to be sweet and spontaneous as opposed to dictated by a date on the calendar. And then last year I met the love of my life. (Simultaneous "awww"s and puking sounds inserted here). And then a few weeks ago I found a set of nesting heart-shaped cookie cutters on sale and some recipes for yummy V-day themed cookies and decided to quit being bitter and just make some god-dammed cookies.

This particular recipe drew me in with the pretty picture, and honestly, who doesn't get excited about anything FILLED WITH CHOCOLATE? The reviews were another story, and proclaimed this cookie to be "tasteless rocks." Because I love a challenge and am cocky enough to think I can fix any recipe, I decided to give these a Voltron kitchen makeover. (Voltron kitchen being the name of the kitchen in my apartment. Just go with it, I'll explain later.) Ken wasn't too excited about them, as orange marmalade is number 3 on the list of foods that he'd nuke out of existence if given a chance (followed behind Pop Tarts at Number 1 and fruit roll-ups at Number 2), but he liked them enough that this cookie is now added to the list of "Baked goods that have not made it out the door before being entirely consumed."

Are these my favorite cookie? Not by any means. Were they as terrible as the reviews said? Judging by the quickness with which they were consumed, obviously not. Could they be made better? Absolutely, and I've got a few ideas about that. Will I continue to ask questions and then answer them myself? I promise this is the last one, for this post at least.

*Note: This recipe starts with Alton Brown's sugar cookie recipe and alters it. If you're not familiar with AB's recipe, you can find it here. It's a good standard recipe to build off of. It's not meant to be sweet, as the cookies are meant to be coated with icing, sugar, etc. I recommend generously covering them with sanding sugar before baking if you need your cookies sweet. 

Chocolate-Orange Filled Hearts

adapted from Food Network website

3 c. flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup earth balance vegan butter, softened

1 cup + 1 tbsp sugar

1 egg,  beaten

1 tbsp soymilk

1 tsp vanilla

Scant 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Ghiardelli 84% cacoa bar)

2 heaping tbsp orange marmalade

1 egg white beaten with 1 tsp water

Sanding sugar

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until well blended, then add the egg and milk and beat until well incorporated. With the mixer on low, gradually add flour until mix pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic, and chill for 2 hours. 

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Stir together the chocolate and the marmalade. Using confectioner's sugar to cover the surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness (mine were probably larger) and cut out hearts. Place about 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, and place 1 tsp chocolate mix in center, spreading out leaving about 1/4 inch from the edge (I definitely used more than 1 tsp, as I only had enough filling for half of the dough). Using the egg wash and a pastry brush, brush around the edges of the cookies, place another cookie on top, and press together. Brush tops lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for 10 minutes, or until done. Let cool on the pan and transfer to a rack. 

*I only used 1/2 of the dough, and came up with about 20 cookies. I used the rest of the dough the next day to make sandwich cookies filled with jam, which I'll be sure to tell you about soon. 

Filled February Continues...

I like themes. Always have. Some can be great, like theme parties (Luau's are a favorite). Sometimes they can be terrible, like theme restaurants (Planet Hollywood needs to go away. Forever.) And of course, who didn't love discussing the themes of a novel in English class (man's struggles against nature are universal). So I've decided to give my baking for the month a theme. And in honor of February being the month for lovers, I've decided to dub this month FILLED FEBRUARY, wherein all the things I make will have a filling or be filled with some kind of deliciousness. 

I've already made some lemon bars that I shared here. Recently I picked up some heart-shaped cookie cutters and decided to make some V-day inspired treats. Over at the smitten kitchen (which has quickly become my favorite foodie blog), I found a recipe for toasted coconut shortbread hearts that sounded lovely. But because I can't leave anything alone, I played with the recipe, cut out little windows, spread some jam on them,  and made some linzer-style treats that made Ken do his little cookie dance of joy. 

The dough is very simple, and was easily made vegan. Like all shortbread I've come across it's a little difficult to work with, and required lots of powdered sugar to roll out as well as several trips to the freezer to keep it chilled. Since Philadelphia was PARALYZED with white stuff, I had all the time in the world to play around and get covered in the other white stuff. (I'm talking about powdered sugar, people. Don't give me that look.) 

With a little love and a lot of patience the results were quite tasty. So tasty that only 6 of them made it out of the house. (Ken, I'm looking at you.) We're talking: Crunchy, slightly chewy, mildly sweet, a little salty and with that dreamy hint of toasted coconut hiding in the background. 

These cookies are great for blizzards, SNOWMAGEDDON, and any other time you're stuck in the house for a few days. And oh so nice to share with someone you love! And when you're snowed in with someone you love and Valentine's day is oh so close, well, who knows what can happen? (October babies?) Here's hoping this Valentine's day finds you filled... with love. ;-)

Coconut Linzer Cookies

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup toasted coconut (I used sweetened, if you use unsweetened, increase the sugar a bit and cut back on the salt)

3/4 cup earth balance buttery sticks

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

about 1 cup jam of choice

powdered sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread coconut on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until coconut is light golden, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Cool completely, then grind in a coffee grinder, food processor or blender until coarsely ground.

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Mix in salt and vanilla. Beat in flour in 2 additions. Stir in toasted coconut. Gather dough together, flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough disk on lightly floured work surface to scant 1/4-inch thickness (I used confectioner's sugar). Using 2-inch-diameter cookie cutters, cut dough into hearts. Using a smaller heart cutter, cut out "window" in half of cookies. 

Bake cookies until light golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely. (Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 1 week.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. 

Place jam in small saucepan on medium heat and stir occasionally. Once jam is warmed and thinned, spoon a tsp onto cooled cookie without window, bottom up, spreading jam out. Place cookie with window on top, bottom down, pressing down slightly so filling spreads. Let stand until jam cools and sets. Give your hearts to someone you love! (Insert groan for cheezy joke here.)