Vegan Crème Brulée Experiment
I decided to embark on the wonderful challenge of making vegan crème brulée. This has always been one of my favorite desserts, but I never considered trying to make a vegan version myself. I wanted to try to use a cashew base instead of relying on tofu, as I find that often desserts that have a subtle flavor and a good deal of tofu can some times be too plain. After mixing my first batch, I tested the uncooked custard before it went in the oven and it had a very strong cashew flavor. Since I had extra of all the ingredients, I thought it would be best to try another batch with a different recipe, to make a less intense version. Here are the results and recipes to go along with them.
Vegan Crème Brulee v.1 ¼ cup silken tofu ½ cup sugar 1 cup raw cashews ¼ cup Mimicreme or soy creamer 2 Tbsp corn starch 1 Tbsp vanilla 1 tsp lemon
Vegan Crème Brulee v.2 1 cup silken tofu ½ cup sugar ½ cup raw cashews ¼ cup Mimicreme or soy creamer 1 Tbsp corn starch 2 Tbsp vanilla 2 tsp lemon
The process for each version is nearly the same, version 2 just has to cook a little longer.
1. Preheat oven to 325° Place your dishes on a cookie pan. Depending on your dishes, this will make 4-6 servings.
2. In a food processor, blend the tofu until it is smooth. While the processor is still running, add the sugar and let blend until smooth before adding the cashews and soy creamer together. Blend until there are no chunks, this should take a few minutes. Finally, add the cornstarch, vanilla and lemon, blending until everything is combined.
3. Pour the custard into your dishes and place in the oven. Cook for 15-20 mins for version 1 and 25-30 for version 2. The outsides will be slightly firm and centers still slightly soft.
4. Let cool to room temperature and then place in refrigerator. Refrigerate for approximately 2 hours or until cold.
5. Sprinkle with sugar, enough to make a thin layer over the top of the custard. Use a butane torch to caramelize the sugar. If you don’t have a torch, you can try putting them under the broiler for a few minutes.
I was impressed at how good these were. Both have a strong cashew flavor, but it isn’t overwhelming. I believe this is mostly due to the flavor of the Mimicreme which is also made from cashews/almonds. I think next time I’d like to use a generic soy creamer to make it a bit lighter. Version 1 was much denser. The flavor was smoothed out when it baked and was very pleasing and rich. Version 2 was lighter and creamier but wasn’t quite as custard like. Back to back, they didn’t have major flavor differences, they did have the same ingredients after all, it was mostly just a difference of consistency and intensity.
I have only had one vegan crème brulée ever, which was amazing, so I know that a fantastic vegan version is possible. These were really good (I’ve eaten 3 already!) but I know they could be even better. This is one experiment I won’t mind repeating.
VeganMoFo III and deep fried brussel sprouts
The time has finally come for the Vegan Month of Food 2009. To start things off I wanted to share a fairly easy recipe for something undeniably delicious: Deep fried brussel sprouts. Oh yes, deep fried. Brussel sprouts are one of the most tasty vegetables in existence and there are so many great and easy ways to prepare them. This is one way that is a little unusual but absolutely worth trying.
Now let me preface this by saying that I’m no expert when it comes to frying things, especially in hot oil. So if I can do it, so can you. Please, oh please, be careful though, because this isn’t just hot oil, it’s burn off your flesh in an instant hot. Ok, if I haven’t scared you off yet, here is how to prepare these guys.
1. Fill a medium sauce pan half full with a high heat oil. I used a combination of safflower oil and vegetable shortening. Put the oil on the stove on high heat. It is best to continue using a frying/candy thermometer.
2. Wash your brussels and pat dry, removing as much water as possible. Cut the bottoms off and then cut each sprout in half. Remove any wilted or brown leaves.
3. When your oil has reached approximately 350° very carefully put the sprouts into the oil. I recommend pushing them off your cutting board with a knife or other implement so that your hands are nowhere near the oil. It will bubble and splatter!
4. Let the brussel sprouts fry, checking the larger pieces at the bottom occasionally with a spoon, to see when they start to brown on the outside. Once they do, remove them with a slotted spoon and place on a towel or paper bag.
5. Once you have taken all the sprouts out of the oil, place in a medium bowl. Season with salt, fresh ground pepper and a sprinkle of cayenne.
6. Enjoy!
Frying these sprouts makes them tender, crunchy and slightly caramelized. The flavors are gently enhanced by the spices and the heat of the cayenne is cut back by the residual oil. This is a great way to convince those who have misconceptions about brussel sprouts that they have an amazing flavor and are not a bland boring vegetable.
Donut Fever or mini donut disaster
This all too common ailment afflicts nearly as many as the flu, but it can be even more devastating to vegans who cannot easily satisfy their donut craving. Recently a friend of mine fell victim to this affliction, and a very rare strain known as mini-donut fever. As you may know, the only cure is to eat donuts, in this case mini-donuts. So we set out on a mission to make our own vegan mini donuts using the recipe from Vegan Yum Yum as a starting place.
It should have been an an easy enough task, with a clear recipe to follow, but things did not go as planned. Plain baked donuts are good, but blueberry sounded even better so we threw in a handful of wild blueberries to the batter of our first batch, but the batter was already looking awfully wet. We carried on, hoping for the best. The best was not so good. Despite the recipe saying that you should not grease the pan (it was non-stick anyway) the donuts stuck horribly, and because the added berries, fell apart when you tried to remove them. They still tasted rather good though, so we ate a few of the ugly bits.
Round two, we added more flour and greased the pan. This batch came out better than the last but as they sat out, became rather crunchy. I would still consider these fairly successful. We glazed them with a blueberry juice glaze which was fantastic and so pretty.
Next we decided to go for some pumpkin spice donuts. This time we abandoned the recipe completely. Bad idea. While these donuts had the correct consistency, fluffy and light, the flavor was just off completely. There was neither enough pumpkin nor spice. Three out of three taste testers agreed, these donuts tasted like…hay. Yep, you got that right. They tasted like dried grass. I’m sure you could pass them off to some unsuspecting health-food type, but that is not what we were interested in. We had already frosted them before we realized that they tasted so bad, so at least they looked pretty.
The unfortunate side effect of this endeavor is that I’ve now come down with donut fever myself. Look out for some more (hopefully more successful) donut making in the near future.
Also get ready because it’s almost time for Veganmofo 2009. I can’t wait to get cookin’. Last year’s veganmofo really inspired me to work harder on this blog and get it going from something that I did only for myself to something I shared with people.
