Vegan Fondant

1/2 tbsp agar powder
3 tbsp cold water
1/2 cup corn syrup
1½ tbsp vegetable glycerin
2 tbsp vegetable shortening
1 tsp almond extract
6-8 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

Combine agar, cold water, and corn syrup and heat over low heat for 3-5 minutes. Add glycerin, and shortening. Remove from the heat just as the last of the shortening has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract. Cool for a few minutes.

Place 4 cups confectioner's sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and stir in the wet mixture using a wooden spoon. Once the sugar is completely incorporated, add a small amount at a time until the mixture is no longer sticky, using your hands once it becomes to stick to stir with a spoon. Store in an airtight container, and let the fondant rest at least overnight before using.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake

One with booze, one without.

1 1/4 cups gluten-free oat flour
1/4 cup corn starch
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brewed coffee, cold
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp white vinegar

Sift or whisk together the oat flour, corn starch, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. In a medium bowl, mix the oil, sugar, coffee, and extracts. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well combined. Quickly stir in the vinegar and pour the batter into a greased 8" round cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.


1 1/4 cups gluten-free oat flour
1/4 cup corn starch
1/3 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 ener-g egg replacer
1/4 cup light rum
3/4 cup cold water

Sift or whisk together the oat flour, corn starch, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. In a medium bowl, mix the oil, sugar, egg replacer, water, and rum. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well combined. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Ground Tempeh Tacos

Shamelessly veganized and modified from Alton Brown's original recipe.

Taco Filling

Start by dicing 2 small (or 1 large) potatoes. Coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then roast at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes, stirring once midway through.

In a small bowl, mix together the following:

2 tbsp chili powder*
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground chipotle (or hot smoked paprika)
1 tsp ground coriander

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tbsp vegetable oil, then add:

16 oz tempeh, ground into small pieces
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp sea salt

Cook the tempeh uncovered, stirring occasionally so that the pieces can start to brown evenly, for 10 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup of veggie broth and cook, covered, for 3-4 minutes until the broth has mostly absorbed. Add your bowl of spice mix, the roasted potatoes, and 2/3 cup more broth and continue to cook, uncovered, until the tempeh is at the desired consistency - around 2-3 more minutes.

Tortillas

To serve, I took corn tortillas and lightly fried them in 1/3 cup of oil for 20 seconds on each side so that they were still pliable, and kept them warm in a 250 degree toaster oven while I made the filling.

*Chili Powder

Part of the reason this was so good was because of the homemade chili powder I used in the spice mix (also from Good Eats:

3 each of ancho chiles, cascabel chiles, and dried arbol chiles (stemmed, seeded and sliced) get dry fried in a pan over medium heat along with 2 tbsp whole cumin seeds until fragrant, around 4-5 minutes. Grind together in a coffee grinder or blender along with 2 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp dried oregano, and 1 tsp ground chipotle. Makes enough for my spice jar, this recipe, and a good bit leftover.

Sesame Garlic Tofu

Cube a block of firm or extra firm tofu and freeze overnight (this will change the texture somewhat, making it firmer and chewier). Allow the tofu to thaw, and let marinate overnight in:

1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp low-sodium tamari
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp cane sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp dried ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
red chili flakes to taste

This is best mixed together by beginning with the tahini and slowly whisking in the tamari, vinegar, and sugar, then adding the broth bit by bit.

Remove the tofu from the marinade and, while still wet, dredge in:

1/2 cup white rice flour or tapioca flour (see below)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt

If using white rice flour, the tofu can be deep fried or pan fried on both sides; if using tapioca flour, they can also be baked on a well-oiled pan at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Chili-Sesame Sauce

This is a quick and easy sauce for fried tofu.

2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
2 tbsp low-sodium tamari
1 tbsp agave nectar
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp potato starch

In a coffee grinder or using a mortar & pestle, finely grind the sesame seeds and pour into a small bowl. Add the chili sauce, bragg's, agave, and 3 tbsp of the water. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining 1 tbsp of water with the starch, then add this to the rest of the sauce. Makes enough sauce for 1 block of tofu.

Gluten-Free Cookie Dough

We freely admit to liking cookie dough better than actual cookies around here, so I like having a standby recipe to whip up a mini-batch of the stuff. I'm not at all into the taste of uncooked sorghum, so I use a somewhat modified featherweight flour mix for this (it's one of the reasons I started keeping white rice flour in my cupboard).

This is enough for two people to eat out of the bowl, or to freeze and throw into a batch of homemade ice cream. The recipe below is for chocolate chip cookies, but you can make a sugar cookie dough by omitting the chips tossing in another ½ tbsp each of sugar and earth balance.

2 tbsp white rice flour
1 ½ tbsp tapioca flour
1 ½ tbsp potato starch
1/8 tsp salt
2 ½ tbsp cane sugar
1 ½ tbsp earth balance
½ tbsp soy or nut milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp chocolate chips

In a very small bowl, briefly cream together the earth balance and sugar. Add the vanilla extract. In an even smaller bowl, combine the flours and starches, salt, and baking powder. Stir the dry mix into the wet, and add as much of the non-dairy milk as needed to bring the dough to the right consistency. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Eat until you feel sick!

(This recipe is not for baking. Seriously. Caveat crustulum.)

Gluten-Free Chai Tea Cake

I've been itching to try out a non-chocolate cake for awhile now, and started with the recipe for chai latte cupcakes from VCToTW (though the only thing I ended up keeping from the recipe was the flavor profile). I've been playing around with flax goo as an egg substitute and really like how much it binds and coagulates after baking if you make it an hour or so ahead of time, so I went with that instead of the soy yogurt the original recipe calls for. I used sugar whipped into a solid fat to get more of a rise out of the cake, upped the salt and baking powder, raised the cooking temp and lowered the baking time, threw in some coconut, and added some potato starch to my usual flour mix to lighten it some.

The cake is light and fluffy and it blows away the box mix that stole my heart all those months ago. We ended up eating half of it instead of dinner. Woops.

1 cup soy or nut milk
4 black tea bags or 2 tbsp loose black tea
¼ cup dried unsweetened coconut
½ cup earth balance, softened
¾ cup cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp flax seed
3 tbsp warm water
¾ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup potato starch
2 tbsp almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
pinch of ground black pepper

Pulverize the flax seeds in a coffee grinder, then mix thoroughly into the warm water. Let this sit for at least an hour before using - during that time it will become less like a thick slurry and more like a gelled mass (it's more pleasant than it sounds, really).

In a small saucepan, heat the non-dairy milk just short of boiling. Add the tea and coconut and cover, then let steep for 10 minutes. Strain out the coconut and remove the tea, squeezing any remaining liquid out of both. You should have around ¾ cup liquid left at this point.

In a large bowl, cream together the earth balance and shortening, then add the vanilla, flax goo, and tea-milk mixture and whisk together until well incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum, and spices. Whisk the dry into the wet, then pour the batter into an oiled cake pan. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until inside is tested to be dry.

We liked the cake so much as is that we decided not to frost it, though a double recipe made in separate cake pans and layered together with a lightly spiced vanilla coconut frosting wouldn't be a bad idea. If going without frosting, sprinkle some extra cane sugar evenly over the top of the poured batter before baking.