So this post is a little mash-up of my homemade goodies. Enjoy!
The first item on the list is cornbread. As the easiest bread/baked thing out there, there’s really no excuse as to why you SHOULDN’T make this. As usual, I used the recipe straight out of The Joy of Vegan Baking, and it was super easy. This tastes best when eaten fresh from the oven, slathered with some Earth Balance spread and maybe some raspberry jam. Yum!
Since I was a little girl, I have always loved potato bread and just potatoes in general. This next item is from Veganomicon and had quite a few steps to it, but nothing too difficult. After letting the dough rise for about 2 hours, one additional step that I found annoying was that you had to leave the dough in the muffin tins to rise another half hour. It helps if you have several tins on hand and since I only had one, it took me quite a while to have everything ready. However, the additional rising time makes the buns extra fluffy and voluminous, so it is a crucial step. Delish and piping hot straight from the oven!
This is just 1/2 of the dough, it was twice this size!
Rising in the tins
Finished! :)
The next kitchen creation is Apple Strudel, also from TJOVB. This may seem like a labor-intensive process, but it was actually quite do-able and the baking time was a mere 20 minutes. The most annoying thing was brushing the butter on each layer of phyllo (the phyllo itself is a bit tricky to separate) , since you do have to take care not to rip the sheet, though it does get easier with each successive stroke. I substituted the lemon juice with orange which was an acceptable swap (of course lemon juice would probably have been better), since it was a citrus, after all. Be careful when transferring the strudel from the assembly area to the baking sheet, since contents may fall out.
Apples prepped for filling
Toasted almond slices
Assembling the strudel: buttering each phyllo sheet. I used the brand Apollo Fillo, which was only about $3.99 and baked wonderfully.
Strudel filling placement
Lots of juice came out, but it was still yum!
Inside shot
For my last creation, we have a modified version of the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie. I added crushed whole hazelnuts and subbed roughly 1/2 the flour for whole wheat, and they came out delicious! Be sure to maintain the quantities of nuts and chocolate chunks as per the recipe. The dough was very stiff and was a bit of a problem when using the hand-held mixer, since it kept sticking to the prongs. However, with a bit of persistence, this recipe yields amazing and even maybe a little healthy of a late-night munchy. Don’t over-bake if you like softer cookies, as always.
Crushing hazelnuts
So sticky!
Yum!
These last two items are just a random add-in from Tahini @ St. Marks. The first, which is a pecan phyllo (as you can see I love the stuff), was very nutty and sweet, but quite steep at 2.99 each. 4 out of 5 carrots.
This was the chocolate roll and I have to say, I LOVED it! There was the right amount of crunch, nuttiness, chocolate and honey in this roll. Highly recommended! 4.7 out of 5 carrots.
