I stopped eating meat mainly because I was 14 and it seemed like a cool thing to do, but then found I didn’t miss it and haven’t really missed it  in the [redacted] years since. While I believe that it makes sense to reduce the number of animal products we use, I have never had much of a rationale for vegetarianism, and never felt much inclined towards being vegan. I’m way too lazy to monitor my diet that closely – living with three committed omnivores, I am okay with picking the sausage out of my favorite lentil soup. I’ll cook meat for everyone else, although they have to make their peace with the fact that I won’t taste it to check how it is. What about your family? Do you have a pescatarian in your midst? Or lurking lactose intolerance? How do you handle multiple dietary needs around the table?

So back to the subject of this post. Despite being happily ovo-lacto myself, my most beloved cake recipe is, by chance, vegan. It’s a Bundt cake and pretty much my stock answer to “what should your birthday cake be?” Although it’s extremely easy to make, it falls into the category of a special occasion cake so it’s not a one I make or eat too often, and that’s not right. When I started seeing cookies baked from cake mix around the internet, a little light  went off over my head. Could this be a way to get a dose of chocolate spice deliciousness whether it’s a birthday or not?

Indeed. Baked for ten minutes, these cookies are delightful puffy, pillowy little cakelets, gooey with chocolate chips and perked up with cinnamon and cloves. But try underbaking them by a minute or two, and you will get what I consider the ideal consistency, which is amazing, almost pudding-y. And  what with them being vegan and all, no worries about raw eggs – go ahead and eat a spoonful or two of the dough, you have my permission.

The canonical version of the cake does not include raisins, although they are in the recipe as written on an index card in my mother’s file. These are to be soaked in brandy or other liquid, and while I scornfully cast out the raisins, I do include that liquid; coffee (what else?) in our household. Feel free to booze it up if you have some handy.

Chocolate spice cookies

Since the original cake is by nature a bit heavy, I used some whole wheat flour in the cookies to give them some heft. You could use all all-purpose, but add the coffee/liquid gradually to see that the mixture doesn’t get too thin. It will thicken some if you refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight.

Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen smallish cookies

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup applesauce
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• ¼ cup brewed coffee, cooled (or brandy, or other liquid of your choice)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Method

• Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, spices, baking soda, salt and cornstarch. Add the sugars. Stir in the applesauce and oil, then add the coffee and mix until fully combined. The dough will be soft.
• Scoop the dough out in rounded teaspoons on the baking sheet.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until just puffed – leave them to set for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a plate to be gobbled immediately cool.

How do you try out a new recipe? Do you follow it to the letter, or are you a tinkerer? For years, I didn’t cook often enough to feel confident deviating from the written word; the recipe was law unto the kitchen. But after being forced to improvise when I was living in a rented apartment in the Balkans without cookbooks or measuring cups, I got used to following my own instincts over the stovetop. It helps that I was mainly cooking for myself, and I kept the bar pretty low; Valerian or anyone else daring enough to join me generally wasn’t familiar with what I was trying to do, and didn’t know any better if something came out wrong.

And now? Now I can’t just follow a recipe – I have to tinker with it, either because I have to (lack of required ingredients/tools/skill) or because I want to (impulsive! Picky!).

I can’t remember how I came across this post about Isabelle’s braided hazelnut bread, but when I saw the photo, I immediately wanted to give it a try. So I did. Immediately. I barely looked at the actual recipe, because what really caught my eye was the beautiful effect with the layers of dough and filling. I threw together a slightly-sweet dough, easy-peasy, and we even had some leftover walnut and poppyseed fillings stashed in the freezer.

And then… problems. Getting the baking time right took a little experimentation – the first time I made it, the oven was too hot and the top got a lot browner than I wanted. Even baking at 350° seemed a little hot on the second time around. I got the best results with a cooler oven, then raising the temperature to get the top edges just nicely browned without drying out the center. I ran out of the frozen filling and had to make my own,even.  Oddly, no one complained about having a lot of not-quite-perfect pastry-ish bread to sample.

The technique for getting the fancy layers is simple, but you have to be careful as you twist the floppy, juicy strands. Once you’ve rolled up the dough into a nice compact log:

I recommend transferring it to the baking pan before cutting the center splice:

Then gently cross the two strands over each other to create the twist:

So, will you give this recipe a try? Or just improvise? Because you know, you’ve got to have a slice of this beauty.

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Brunch Twist
adapted from Our Kitchen

Any of the fillings we’ve posted earlier would be great in this bread, I think, but the walnut one I used here was luscious.

Ingredients

Makes one fairly large loaf

• ¾ cup milk
• 1½ tsp instant yeast
• ¾ tsp salt
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2¼ cups flour
• Filling of your choice: try one from here, or use jam, or cheese for a savory option. You’ll need about a cup of whatever you’re using.
• glaze: ¼ cup powdered sugar whisked together with the juice of one lemon

Method

• Make a sponge: warm the milk to just below boiling, then set aside to cool to lukewarm. In the meantime, in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the yeast and half a cup of flour. Stir in the milk and leave until puffy, about 15 minutes.
• Stir in the salt, sugar, and oil, then begin adding the flour. You may not need the last quarter-cup; the dough should be rather soft, but not sticky. Using the bread hook attachment on your mixer, or with your hands, knead until silky and smooth.
• Place in a greased bowl, cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 2 hours. You can also leave it in the fridge overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly-floured surface. With your hands, gently pat it into a rectangle – this will help it keep its shape as you roll it out. Roll the dough out as thin as you can, turning several times to be sure it isn’t sticking to the work surface; you should end up with a rectangle about 18×24″ (30×45 cm). If you’re having trouble getting it to an even thinness, let it rest for a minute or two then roll some more.
• Spread the dough with your choice of filling, leaving about a 1″ lip along the edge.
• Roll up the dough along the short edge, finishing with the seam on top. Press gently to seal, then move the roll to the baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut all the way through the roll lengthwise, leaving about 2″ (5 cm) at one end uncut.
• Handling the dough very gently,  and keeping the cut edge up, lay one strand of the bread over the other, alternating so you have a twist shape. Tuck the end under for a neater appearance.
• Bake for 20 minutes; raise the oven temperature to 375° (180°C) and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes or until the top begins to brown.
• Allow to cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before brushing the glaze over the top. If you can, wait another few minutes before you slice and serve.

 

I have been reading about Kim Boyce’s cookbook Good to the Grain for a few months now, and lo and behold, I got my very own copy for my birthday this past week. The concept behind these recipes is baking with whole grain flours not (only) for health reasons, but to enjoy the specific flavors each grain brings. I’m sold!

The first recipe I aimed to try was the one for scones with a layer of jam in them — perfect Saturday breakfast fare. Alas, my stop at the grocery store yesterday didn’t yield barley flour, only flakes, but if there’s anything I learned from living outside the US, it’s not to let a pesky lack of ingredients stop me from making something delicious. I bought the flakes with the intention to process them to a flour at home.

I made a few other changes to the recipe as written, mainly because, well, frankly I am lazy. Boyce directs you to cut up cold butter into small cubes and work them into the dry ingredients with your fingers. I grated the butter straight from the fridge into the dry ingredients and then rubbed it into the flours. I didn’t feel like opening two sticks of butter, so I just used 6 tablespoons in the scone dough itself, and reserved two to melt for the topping. I was perfectly satisfied with the richness so I don’t think you’ll miss the tiny bit of extra butter.

However, the scones did spread rather more than would be ideal and ended up rather thin, and I suspect that the coarseness of the ground barley flakes was an issue. Pulsing the flakes in our little food processor didn’t make a uniform, fine flour, and probably I should have compensated by adding a little extra measure. The scones were light and tender in any case, and I really liked the little extra texture the uneven grind of the barley added. Boyce says the dough will be sticky, and it was; I struggled a bit to get the unbaked scones onto the baking sheet. However, with a sheet of baking parchment under them, after baking they lifted off without a crumb left behind, even where the jam oozed out and made some tempting caramelized puddles. With a cup of coffee, these really were the ideal weekend breakfast.

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Strawberry Barley Scones, adapted from Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain

I used low-sugar strawberry jam from (where else) Trader Joe’s; Boyce includes a recipe for making your own jam, but that’s for another time.

Ingredients

Makes 8 scones

• 1 cup plus 2 Tbs/150 g barley flour (add an extra tablespoonful if you grind your own flour from barley flakes)
• 1 cup/100 g all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup/50 g brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1¼ tsp kosher salt
• 8 Tbs (113 grams) cold butter, divided
• ½ cup/235 ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• ½ cup/8 Tbs strawberry jam
• 1 Tbs granulated sugar

Method

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/190° C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt, breaking up any lumps.
• Grate about 6 tbs of butter into the dry ingredients; melt the remaining 2 tbs and set aside to cool.
• Working quickly with your fingers, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a mixture of small to medium lumps of butter well-coated with the flour. Do not overwork the mixture, you don’t want the butter to get too warm.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Pour this mixture into the dry mixture and mix until just combined. The dough will be sticky.
• Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface. Divide the dough in half, and pat one half into a circle about ¾” thick and 7″ across. Spread the jam across the top. Pat out the other half of the dough into a circle the same size (make sure there is plenty of flour on the work surface) and place it on top of the jam layer, pressing down slightly.
• Cut the dough into 8 wedges using a knife or bench scraper, and (very) carefully place them onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving a good inch or so of space between them.
• Brush each wedge with the melted butter, and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are starting to brown.

Here is the promised third Czech Christmas Cookie. You can find a similar recipe in the December issue of Sauveur magazine, although they call it an Austrian cookie, which raised my blood pressure. Luckily there are bloggers out there who will correct these mistakes.

Anyway, these cookies have a deep walnut flavor, buttery richness, and are amazingly tender. That is what makes them my favorite. Beware – you can  eat an awful lot of these before you know it. They’re that good.

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Vanilla Crescent Cookies – Vanilkové rohlíčky

Ingredients

Makes about 60 cookies.

• 1 cup walnuts
• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 stick of butter

Method

• In a food processor, grind the walnuts until they form a crumbly paste.
• In a large bowl (of a stand mixer if you have one), combine the ground walnuts and the other ingredients. With the paddle attachment, or with your fingers, blend until a smooth dough comes together.
• Form the dough into a ball, then shape it into a disc and put it into the fridge for 30 min to rest.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F/190° C.
• Cut the dough into ½” strips, roll them into a rough log shape and then cut those into ½” slices.
• Roll the small slices and then curl them to make a crescent shape.
• Place them on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to brown.
• Let them cool and dust with powdered sugar to serve. Enjoy.

Töki pompos is the Hungarian name for this specialty, and once I got my hands on a piece I understood why fair-goers waited in the icy wind for their own slice. Soft dough with an artery-busting topping of sour cream, onions, bacon and cheese is just what you need to fortify yourself for braving the crowds at the vásár. Even if you don’t make it to the fair, this is easy to make at home, although you might need to open a window and let in some fresh air to really recreate the atmosphere.

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Oven-baked lángos (Töki pompos)

Since I’m not a porkophile, I leave the bacon off my piece, and just go a little heavier on the smoked cheese. If you don’t feel like making dough yourself, prepared pizza dough will work in a pinch.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 8 oz/220 grams floury potatoes (about 1 large potato)
• 2½ cups/320 grams flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup/160 ml water, reserved from cooking the potatoes

For the topping

• 1 cup/200 grams sour cream
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 4 oz/110 grams thick-cut bacon, cubed (optional)
• 1 large purple onion, thinly sliced
• 4 oz/110 grams smoked cheese, grated

Method

• Peel and roughly chop the potato; cook in a pot of boiling water until pieces are easily pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes.
• Drain, reserving 2/3 cup of the cooking water. Set the water aside to cool, and mash the potatoes.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt.
• Stir the mashed potatoes and water into the dry ingredients, and mix until the dough comes together. Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes until it is smooth and a bit sticky.
• Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover with plastic and leave it to rise for about 2 hours or until doubled.
• When the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, 200 C.
• On a well-oiled baking sheet, roll or pat out the dough to about ½ inch (2 cm) thick, then bake for 8-10 minutes or until it is just beginning to turn golden. Set aside to cool.
• While the dough is baking and cooling, prepare your toppings. Chop the bacon, slice the onions, grate the cheese. Put the garlic through a press or use a microplane, and mix it into the sour cream.
• When the dough is cool enough to touch, spread on the sour cream, then sprinkle the onions and bacon evenly over the top. Sprinkle the cheese over it all.
• Return to the oven to bake another 10-12 minutes until the cheese has browned and the bacon is cooked.
• Slice and serve.

There is nothing fancy, nothing sophisticated about lángos. It is simple, greasy and so delicious that when Katy’s friend came from NYC for her second visit to Central Europe, she refused all fancy restaurants and asked for lángos.

Unfortunately, modern ideas about health are killing lángos stands. What rubbish! The deep fried dough is full of vitamin B, and the salty garlic water, which you spread over the lángos, is brimming with allicin. If you decide to eat it topped with cheese and sour cream, you get protein and calcium as well! Why, it’s practically health food.

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Langos

Ingredients

Makes about 6 large or 10 smaller langos

• 12 oz/330 grams floury potatoes
• 3 cups/400 grams flour, plus more for flouring your work surface
• 1 sachet (7 grams) instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/3 cups/3 deciliters milk
• Oil to deep fry
• —————————
• To serve:
• Garlic
• Sour cream
• Grated cheese (Emmental or another firm, mild cheese)

Method

• Peel, roughly chop and boil the potatoes. While they are cooking, stir together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
• When the potatoes are soft enough to pierce easily with a fork (it doesn’t matter if they start to fall apart a little), drain off the water and mash them while still hot. Add the milk and make as smooth a paste as you can – don’t worry if there are small lumps.
• Stir the potato mixture into the dry ingredients; when it is well combined, turn it out onto a clean surface and knead for a few minutes (you could also use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment). The dough will be soft and sticky; if you find it too sticky to work with, add a little flour, but don’t worry too much. Place the dough in a large, clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled in bulk. You can also put it in the refrigerator overnight at this point, if you prefer.
• When you are ready to fry the langos, heat about 2 cups/half a liter of oil over medium heat in a pan (we used our big non-stick skillet). While it is getting to frying temperature, you can prepare the langos. Flour your work surface liberally, and have more flour ready to sprinkle on the dough. For each langos, scoop out about ½ cup of the dough and blob it onto the work surface. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough and pat it out to about ½ an inch/2 cm thick. If you use plenty of flour it won’t be too sticky, I promise!
• The oil is hot enough when you toss in a tiny scrap of dough and it bubbles fiercely. Carefully place the langos in the oil one at a time (2 might fit in a large pan, but don’t crowd them) and cook about 3 minutes or until the bottom is a deep golden color. Turn with a fork or tongs and cook another 3 minutes. Remove from the oil and allow to drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all langos are cooked..
• To serve, traditionally the langos is brushed with a mixture of garlic paste and water or oil. Crush a couple of cloves of garlic in a press or using a microplane grater, and mix with about 2 Tbs water or olive oil.
• On top of this, if you dare, spread sour cream and sprinkle with grated cheese. Enjoy!