After geeking out for about an hour on the floor in front of the vegan cookbook section of Barnes & Noble in Baton Rouge recently, I finally settled on this one:
The guy who wrote it seems so awesome...if only he were single ;)
So far I've made two things: Candied Walnuts (fast and yummy dessert when I was having a sugar craving the other night) and Chocolate Pecan Pudding Pie. For some reason I struggled with his pie crust recipe, though. After two tries, I really could not get something that behaved at all like a pie crust. The recipe calls for solidified coconut oil, and mine kept melting quite quickly, so that may have been the issue. The A/C in my apartment doesn't make it into the kitchen, which is roughly the size of a shoebox, AND I had the oven on. Still, I think a "soul food" recipe should be compatible with a hot Southern kitchen!
Eventually I gave up and went to Whole Foods and bought a frozen crust. And the pie turned out to be just as awesome as it sounds.
However, none of it was consumed last night, because my dinner guest and I proceeded to stuff ourselves with Seitan and Herb Stuffed Mushrooms and Maple-Mustard-Glazed Potatoes and String Beans, two recipes I hadn't tried yet from one of my favorite cookbooks, Vegan With A Vengeance. I ended up with WAY more stuffing than I could fit in the mushrooms, so I'll probably buy some more mushrooms and stuff them later.
Then the pie became breakfast this morning.
Not sure how this will work with solidified coconut oil, but you can freeze your fat to help with temperature. I'd also recommend freezing utensils (whatever you're going to cut/roll it with, if possible), and trying to bake-ahead in a cooler temperature kitchen.
ReplyDeleteAlso, though it isn't the healthiest, Crisco is vegan, and they make it in butter flavor. A little bit goes a long way.
Yeah, I don't have a rolling pin so I used a wine bottle, which I had put in the freezer beforehand. Probably should have put the bowl in the freezer too...
ReplyDeleteEarth Balance makes a vegan shortening too, but I haven't tried it. I like their "butter" but it doesn't behave like dairy butter in baked goods.