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.

Mac and Cheese, Please

I've been doing so awesome with my new year's goal of trying a few new recipes each week. You just haven't seen much of it, because not everything has been exactly photo or blog-worthy. (Curried sweet potatoes and Banana Cream Pie, I'm looking at you.)

But this mac and cheese is different. This is a "stop-whatever-you're-doing-and-make-this-now" kind of dish. And I don't even really like mac and cheese, vegan or not. But seriously, this stuff is addictive. And I was totally amazed at how CREAMY the sauce was with with no milk of any kind (not cow, soy, almond or rice). And you probably have most of these ingredients already in your pantry. There's nothing stopping you, really.

The ingredient list is long, and it makes a lot of dishes, but it's totally worth it. It's the perfect comfort food on a cold day when it feels like the snow is never going to end and spring will never come. Which has been most of this week in Philly. So I've spent my snow days eating this mac and cheese, crocheting a baby blanket and watching hour after hour of Ken Burns' The War. Just call me Grandma. I'm ok with it.

Vegan Mac and Cheese
from the VegNews Go Veg Guide

Pasta:
4 quarts water
1 tbsp sea salt
8 oz macaroni

Bread Crumbs:
4 slices bread, torn into large pieces
2 tbsp vegan margarine

"Cheese" Sauce:
2 tbsp (about 1 medium) shallots, peeled and chopped
1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup water
1/4 cup raw cashews
2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup vegan margarine
1/4 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika

Start by cooking the macaroni to al dente (or follow instructions on box). Once cooked, drain and rinse with cold water, then set aside.

To make bread crumbs, place torn bread slices and margarine into food processor, and pulse until medium-fine in texture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sauce pan, bring shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion and water to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are very soft.

Meanwhile, in a blender, combine cashews, salt, margarine, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, pepper and cayenne. (Mine didn't process very smoothly, but I don't have an awesome blender. Don't worry if it's not smooth, just start to get things combined.) When vegetables are done, add to blender and process until smooth and creamy.

In a large bowl, toss the pasta with the cheese sauce until completely coated. Spread into a 9x13 pan, sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and bread crumbs are lightly browned. Eat it up, yum!

Lemon Bars for a Gray Day

January and February can be brutal in the Northeast. They're filled with cold, gray days where the wind whips chilly and brisk and creeps deep into your bones making you feel like you'll NEVER BE WARM AGAIN. Even the cheeriest of optimists can get a case of seasonal affective disorder, and for those of us who live closer to the edge on a good day, winter's not pretty. In the depths of winter, most days it's a triumph if I get out of bed, let alone out of the house. Under-employment isn't helping much either. One day last week, not only was the sky dark gray all morning, but it had been raining too. ALL DAY. There's nothing worse for a delicate psyche than January rain. So I decided to do something about it.

I decided to make some lemon bars. A co-worker of mine had been begging me for close to a year to make him some lemon bars. He doesn't like chocolate, he doesn't like pies, he doesn't like anything "weird or healthy". Therefore, he doesn't like most of the treats I bring in to pawn off. Now, don't get me wrong, lemon bars are great, but all previous attempts had turned out terrible. The short-bread crust was always difficult to work with and burned. The lemon filling would over cook and I'd have a weird-looking light yellow very tart souffle. Lemon bars consistently got filed under "NEEDS WORK". But this day was so gray, and the only thing we really had in the house was a surplus of lemons. I figured if nothing else, the color would help cheer me up. So I decided to give it another go.

And do you know what happened while they were in the oven? It stopped raining and the sun came out! It was as though the heavens were rivaled by the defiant YELLOW of these little treats, and decided to show them who's boss. Fine by me! I've been known to say that my baking is a little magical, and I think this only helps prove it. But really, it's a good thing the sun came out because as usual the shortbread crust was a bitch to work with, and got just slightly overcooked, and I thought the filling got over cooked as well. But once I calmed down, and the the bars cooled down, I found that I was very wrong. Not only had I overcome the weather, but I had finally defeated my lemon bar demons. The crust is so so so so so very buttery and chewy and fall-apart-delicious. And the filling is a wonderful combination of sweet and tart. Needless to say, these were quickly devoured by anyone who came into contact with them. And my co-worker, finally, was happy with me. And I made it through another gray winter day to bake again...

Pucker-up Lemon Bars

(*note*: these are not vegan, and not even dairy free. I cheat sometimes with the butter. But I assure you all that next time I make them, I will use earth balance sticks in the crust, and will report back. I haven't looked into making lemon curd without eggs... can it be done???)

Crust:

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1/8 tsp salt

Cream the butter and the sugar until light (use a mixer with the paddle attachment if you've got it). Mix the salt and flour together, then add to the creamed mixture and mix on low until just mixed. At some point i used my hands to scrape and mix because it was so dry, that's all that would work. I gathered it together into 3 balls, one large and two smaller, and placed it into a well-greased 9x13 ince pan.(Someone, please, give me some pointers on working with shortbread!!!) Press the dough into the pan and about 1/2 inch up on the sides. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, or until just lightly browned. Place on wire rack, leave oven on, and make the filling.

Lemon filling:

4 eggs

1 2/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp + 1 tsp lemon zest (about 5 med lemons)

2/3 cup lemon juice (juice of 5 med lemons)

2/3 cup flour

Mix all of the ingredients together. I used the whisk attachment on my kitchen aid mixer. Pour into the crust and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until 5 minutes after the filling has set.* Allow to cool on wire rack before cutting. Sift confectioner's sugar over pieces if desired.

*My oven runs a little warm, so I always check everything at about halfway through the time on the original recipe. The original recipe stated 30-35 minutes, but I cut down on the lemon filling, so I should have cut my time WAY down. Instead, I checked at 20 minutes and it was done (looking very dry and like a souffle or quiche, YET AGAIN ::sigh::). Thankfully, they weren't ruined, but next time I think I'll start checking at 10 minutes. You might want to do the same.