Loved by vegans and non-vegans alike, this rich chocolate cake is the one I usually make for birthdays. Serve it plain, drizzled with Hot Fudge, or frosted with Vegan Chocolate Mousse.
Yield: 8 servings
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 tablespoons flaxseeds
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips* or 5.3-ounce dark chocolate (70 or 72%) broken into 1-inch pieces (1 ½ cups)
3/4 cup vanilla soymilk
* Fair Traded chocolate is strongly suggested.
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9-inch cake or loaf pan and set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Place the flaxseeds in a blender and grind to a powder. Add the juice, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla, and blend well.
4. Heat the chocolate chips and soymilk in a 1-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly about 3 minutes, or until the chocolate melts.
5. Add the melted chocolate and flaxseed mixture to the flour mixture and stir well to form a smooth batter.
6. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Let the cake cool 30 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve plain or frosted.
For a Change…
Omit the soymilk and use 1 ¼ cups juice. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a skillet over low flame stirring constantly.
Also, you can substitute other flours. If you like, use all spelt flour and substract 25% liquid from the recipe above. Or if you want to add more calcium and iron and use some teff flour, you may substitute up to 25% teff flour for the whole wheat pastry flour. Either way, this cake will please everyone.
VANILLA-SCENTED BULGUR WITH DRIED CHERRIES AND TOASTED WALNUTS
Four servings
2 cup water
1/3 cup dried pitted cherries
2 to 3-inch vanilla bean split lengthwise or 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup bulgur wheat
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup walnuts
2 cups plain yogurt
Optional: honey for drizzling
To prepare:
In a medium saucepan over moderate heat, add the water and cherries with vanilla bean. Cover and bring to a boil. Add the bulgur and salt reduce the heat to low and simmer until the water is absorbed; the bulgur is tender, about ten minutes. Remove the vanilla bean
While the bulgur cooks, in a small dry skillet over moderate heat, add the walnuts and toast, stirring often, until they are aromatic, become dark, about five to six minutes.
Spoon the bulgur into heated soup bowls, add one-half cup yogurt per person and top with walnuts. Drizzle a little honey or maple syrup over the whole affair for extra sweetness if desired.
You’ll flip for these delicious pancakes, made with naturally sweet teff and bananas. Although my family enjoys them plain or topped with applesauce, they also like dipping them in yogurt and Strawberry Sauce.
Yield: About 25 pancakes (3 inches)
2 tablespoons flaxseeds
2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups vanilla soymilk or apple juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoon safflower, almond, or canola oil
1 1/2 cups teff flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Optional: 2 eggs
1. Place the flaxseeds in a blender and grind until powdery. Add the bananas, soymilk, vanilla, honey, oil, and eggs if using. Blend well.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the banana mixture and stir until well combined.
3. Heat a griddle, cast iron skillet, or large frying pan over medium heat. If it does not have a nonstick surface, brush it with oil.
4. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the hot griddle and cook 1 1/2 minutes, or until the tops are bubbly and the edges are dry. Using a spatula, turn the pancakes over and cook another minute, or until the bottoms are brown.
5. Serve immediately with your favorite topping.
3 Cranberry recipes from Leslie Cerier’s cookbook Going Wild in the Kitchen
The Fresh and Sassy Tastes of Vegetarian Cooking
Available in bookstores everywhere
For your AUTOGRAPHED COOKBOOK, please click back to my website, Lesliecerier.com for ordering info, or see info at the bottom of these easy recipes.
Many thanks and happy holidays!
Tis the season to give thanks for the great harvest of organic fruits, vegetables and wild foods. Cranberries are a delicious wild berry harvested in Cape Cod, MA.
Cranberries are a rich source of fiber and vitamin C. They also contain a significant amount of vitamin A and potassium.
Cranberry Scones
If you love cranberries, you will go nuts for these scones, which you can whip up in just twenty-five minutes. Emjoy for a spontaneous brunch or snack.
Yield: 18 scones
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup raisins
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add the apple juice, honey, oil, cranberries, and raisins, and stir to form a moist dough.
3. [With floured hands?] Shape the dough in your hands into 2 1/2 inch rounds about 3/4 inch high. Place them on the cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
5. Transfer to a cooling rack for 15 minutes, then serve.
For a Change . . .
• For an exotic grain variation, replace the whole wheat pastry flour with a combination of 2 1/2 cups spelt flour and 1/2 cup teff flour.
• Instead of apple juice, use vanilla soymilk.
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Include this wonderful sweet and tart cranberry orange sauce at your next Thanksgiving feast. It is also a wonderful accompaniment to the Goat Cheese Mushroom Strudel on page xx.
Makes 2 cups
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 tablespoons maple syrup or to taste
1. Put cranberries, orange juice, and orange zest in a 2-quart saucepan. Bring the ingredients to a boil and reduce heat to a medium low. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the cranberries are soft.
2. Turn off the heat and stir in the maple syrup.
3. Adjust the seasonings, and add more maple syrup if desired.
Maple Cranberry Pecan Cake
If you haven’t baked with maple sugar, it is time. When making a fruitcake, maple sugar is the perfect sweetener to give pastries a distinctive flavor and fragrance without adding more moisture. Also, if you want to convert a maple syrup sweetened cake recipe from whole wheat flour to spelt flour, simply use maple sugar; all the other measurements remain the same.
Serves 6-8
2 tablespoons flax seeds
3/4 cup cranberry nectar or apple juice
1/4 cup orange or tangelo juice
(Fresh squeezed if possible from 1 orange or tangelo)
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon canola oil
2 cups spelt flour
2/3 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup maple sugar granules or 1/2 cup sugar
Topping
1/2 cup pecans
1 tablespoon maple sugar granules or sugar to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put flax seeds in a blender. Grind into a powder. Add cranberry juice and orange juice, and 1/4-cup oil and blend.
3. Put the spelt flour, baking powder, salt, maple sugar granules, cranberries, blended juices with flax seeds in a large mixing bowl, and mix well.
4. Oil one loaf pan with 1 teaspoon oil.
5. Pour batter into 9-inch cake pan.
6. Make the crumb topping: Grind pecans in the work bowl of a food processor. Add maple sugar to taste.
7. Sprinkle maple pecan crumbs on top of cake.
8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool for 30 minutes, and serve.
Variations
Substitute some chocolate chips for some or all of the berries.
Substitute blackberries or blueberries for cranberries.
Replace pecans with walnuts.
Change the juices to 2/3 cup orange juice and 1/3-cup apple juice.
To buy a copy of Going Wild in the Kitchen, simply send a check for $20 for your autographed copy. Please send your mailing address to Leslie Cerier, 58 Schoolhouse Rd, amherst, MA 01002. Special discount for multiply copies. Email Leslie@lesliecerier.com for discount.
