Daring Bakers January Challenge — Lemon Meringue Pie (Vegan Style)
Hi everyone, it's Jane posting today. I'm a Daring Baker, and today is our day to post on the January challenge.
This month's Daring Bakers challenge was Lemon Meringue Pie. I have to admit, I was rather downhearted when I found out what we would be baking. This was only my second month participating in the group, and last month's Yule Log didn't work out well. I didn't want to start off 0-for-2. I mean, vegan meringue? Not likely. But I joined this group to force myself to start baking again. Now that I'm vegan, I've had to re-learn a few things, some of which I've gotten and other things still require further study. But I do know that you can't make meringue without egg whites!
Not wanting to give up before I even started, I went out and purchased the ingredients for the rest of the pie. But what was I going to do about the meringue? I scoured the internet for vegan alternatives. I found one which uses agar and looked like the real thing. Unfortunately, I also found very mixed reviews on this topping and didn't want to risk it as I was planning on serving these to company. (Something I was taught NEVER to do!)
Ultimately, I settled on this concoction:
- 3/4 cup lite silken tofu (firm), crumbled
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons hazelnut oil, walnut oil or canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
The tofu would add some protein to the dessert which would compensate for the lack of nutritional value in the the lemon filling since I would be using Ener-G Egg Replacer, which doesn't have any protein at all. And this meringue alternative sounded like it would have a nice sweet taste. So now I had a plan of attack. Time to get to work!
We had the option of making a pie, or "tartlets." I opted for the tartlets, thinking I could customize them if any portion of the recipe didn't work out. A far less wasteful approach!
The crust was no problem. I've made crust many times before. This recipe was easily "veganizable" - I simply replaced the butter with vegan butter. Then I shaped the tartlets bottoms and into the oven they went. They looked very cute and I was optimistic.
Now I was getting in to uncharted territory... it was time to make the pie filling. I was able to follow the recipe exactly, with the exception of the 5 egg yolks, and a bit of yellow food dye which was necessary to make the lemon filling look like lemon filling. The Ener-G egg replacer has instructions for replacing whole eggs, egg whites, and egg yolks on the box. So, I prepared 5 "egg yolks." This was the second time I'd used that product and I wasn't really confident that it would work here. But, to my delight, the pie filling was delicious! It just looked a little weak. The lemon and lemon zest didn't really do enough to color the filling yellow. So that's where the food dye came in. Lemon pie filling should be yellow, after all!
Lane was hovering over me as I topped the tartlet crusts. He loves lemon meringue and knew I'd let him lick the spatula when I was finished. We "accidentally" broke one of the crusts, and so, we got a sneak preview of the lemon pie sans meringue. Again, it was truly delicious. Now I was feeling rather confident that this was a dessert I could serve.
But it was time to start thinking about the most troubling aspect of this pie, the meringue. I'd already decided on the tofu topping mentioned above.
People on the Daring Bakers board were commenting that the filling broke down when they put the pie back in to cook/brown the meringue. Well, I wasn't going to have that problem. My topping didn't need to cook. One hurdle down. Unfortunately, I didn't love the way my "meringue" tasted. Neither did Lane. It wasn't bad, it's just one of those things you either like, or you don't, and we didn't. Instead of topping the tartlets like a traditional meringue, I opted to put a light decorative line across the top. I thought the lemon alone wasn't going to be interesting enough, and the challenge did allow for a fruit topping of some sort, so I made a simple warm blueberry and sugar jelly.
When it came time for dessert to be served, I microwaved the blueberries and spooned them over the lemon tarts. Dessert was a hit which was evidenced by the fact that not one bite remained. Yay! My first successful Daring Bakers challenge.
Yule Log — Daring Baker’s December Challenge
Once upon a time, in my pre-vegan life, I used to love to bake. I'm not an expert baker, but I've always enjoyed it and feel I've met with a certain level of success. I'm often asked to bring a baked dessert when Lane and I are invited to dinner. Suffice it to say, I was confident in my baking abilities.
Then we became vegan and things changed. There is something about creamed butter and eggs and sugar that I have not been able to duplicate with vegan products. My confidence waned, and now baking intimidates me. My Kitchen Aid mixer has been gathering dust, and Lane has been missing homemade desserts. So when I stumbled upon the Daring Baker's, I thought it might be something that would help me recover my baking skills, or at the very least, get me back into the kitchen and baking again.
This month's Daring Baker's Challenge was my first official challenge. I was accepted into the group at the end of November so I wasn't officially eligible to participate in the November challenge, however, the recipe looked so intriguing, I tried it anyway. It was the Tender Potato bread which I blogged about here, and it was yummy. I'm so glad I took that challenge because this one was an utter disaster (for me), and might have dampened my enthusiasm for this endeavor.
We Daring Baker's are issued a challenge at the beginning of the month. We're all supposed to make the same recipe and compare results. You can learn a lot reading about how others interpret the recipes. Part of the challenge allows for individual creativity and it is very interesting to see what people can do! Then we are all supposed to post about our experiences on our blogs on the same day. This month it was the 22nd, however, Lane and I have been having some problems with our DSL over the last two weeks and I simply couldn't get my act together to get to the library to publish this post. At any rate, here is my tale of woe, a little late, but no less pathetic for being so!
The challenge was a Yule Log. Ok, I've made yule logs in the past, and jelly rolls, and had been successful, so this wasn't some strange new thing. All I'd have to do is replace a few key ingredients and I'd be fine. The rules require that you use the recipe as written, with a few exceptions; being vegan I'm allowed to substitute the non-vegan ingredients.
The Yule Log had three components:
- Meringue or Marzipan mushrooms
- A genoise cake
- A coffee buttercream frosting
The meringue was out, of course, so I attempted the Marzipan Mushrooms. The recipe looked easy enough and was vegan friendly. I followed the recipe exactly and to my dismay I ended up with a liquid, not a paste. What to do????? First I added some more powdered sugar, but that didn't help much and the mix was getting very sweet. I didn't think to also add cornstarch as someone subsequently suggested. I had used all my almond meal, but had slivered almonds on hand, so I threw those into the food processor, without grinding them up first! I have no idea what I was thinking, but it was a foolish mistake. Ultimately, I wound up with a crunchy almond slurry, not suitable for much. Someone suggested that I could use it in a dessert creation with apples, etc. But decorative mushrooms... nope! The slurry would have worked well as mortar on a gingerbread house! In my defense, I wasn't the only person to have trouble with this recipe. But still, it wasn't an auspicious start.
So now I was very frustrated as this was my only weekend to work on the challenge, and one component was not going to work out. Next was the cake. I'd been looking for egg-replacement powder for a while and hadn't found it in my local Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. The health food store that we shop at burned down in September and still hasn't reopened. I'd done some research on egg replacers. The recipe called for 3 eggs, 3 egg yolks, ¾ C sugar, ½ C flour, ¼ C cornstarch and a pinch of salt. Clearly replacing the eggs was going to be an issue.
My first thought was to use Mark Bittman's suggestion of 2 Tbs water, 1 Tbs neutral oil (I used grapeseed), and 1 tspn cornstarch (I used arrowroot). That didn't work.
For my second and final attempt (time constraints) I used silken tofu in place of the eggs. I wound up with something resembling a cake. So I proceeded to make the buttercream, using Healthy Start Shortening and Good Earth Soy Spread in equal proportions, in place of the butter. The "buttercream" actually came out swell. I was hopeful. I slathered the buttercream on and began to roll my log. It cracked. I used some of the almond slurry as mortar to hold things together. I managed to roll up the log and cut off the ends which were supposed to be used as decorative accents on the log (stumps and nubs). Lane walked into the kitchen at that exact moment and we decided a taste test was in order. That was the end of the December Challenge. I was out of time. The cake tasted gritty(the tofu?). The buttercream was edible, but we're not huge coffee fans so it wasn't worth saving. And you already read about the marzipan!
So, I failed my challenge, but at least I tried! I leave you with a lovely picture of a yule log at one of the bakeries we passed by this holiday season.
Here's to next month's challenge!
Baking Woes
As I sit here struggling with the December Daring Baker's challenge, I am researching my ingredient substitutions, specifically eggs in baked goods. I have two really good references at my side. The first is Ann Gentry’s Real Food Daily Cookbook
Anyway, the recipe calls for butter and eggs. Of course it does, who on this earth doesn't bake with butter and eggs, and maybe milk. All us vegans! The rest of the ingredients don't pose a problem, I've got them in my cupboard. But I still have this nagging sense of dread. Why? To date, I haven’t been happy with my baked goods and I think it is the fact that the eggs are not (easy to replace). Now I'm faced with baking again, but that is why I signed up for The Daring Baker's in the first place, to get me baking again!
For egg substitutions Ann Gentry recommends tofu, nut butters, fruit purees, or arrowroot. Mark Bittman recommends this recipe:
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon neutral oil (grapeseed or corn), and
1 teaspoon cornstarch (I’ll use arrowroot)
Mix together and stir until smooth.
The internet provides a whole host of other options, the most intriguing to me is something with ground flax seed. Intuitively, I think the recipe above will work best because it substitutes for the fat, the liquid, and the binding properties of eggs. Mr. Bittman also suggests 3 tablespoons of silken tofu could be used in place of an egg, but I’ve found it adds an almost gritty texture, and maybe changes the taste; in any event, when I’ve used tofu in place of an egg in baking, I haven’t been happy with the results.
If this recipe turns out to be a success (and I will have the opportunity to taste test), Lane will be bringing it to work for his office holiday party on Tuesday. If not, well I still have a few days to try and get some cookies together!
Merry Happy! -- Jane
Tender Potato Bread – Daring Baker’s November Challenge
Hi everyone. Today it's Jane who's authoring the blog post. Since I'm participating in The Daring Bakers challenges, I'll be the one blogging. Lane will continue to blog most of the other posts.
Anyway, The Daring Bakers December Challenge was issued today. We're all supposed to wait until a specified day to post about that month's challenge, and I most certainly will respect the rules! (My philosophy is, if you don't agree with the rules of the group, don't join the group... it's that simple.)
At any rate, it looks like it will be complicated to "veganize." So, since I'm feeling a little intimidated about this as my first challenge, I decided to take last month's challenge which seemed much more vegan-friendly (and which I can post about now).
The recipe was a "tender potato bread." The recipe called for 4 medium to large baking potatoes which were supposed to be no more than 16 oz. There was some commentary about using 8 ounces if you are a beginner. Well, bread I can do (I used to make a killer cheddar cheese braided bread loaf in my pre-vegan days), but it's been a while, so I used 12 ounces as a compromise. It was only 3 small russet potatoes. They looked so insignificant in the pot!
Overall, success. But the bread really didn't rise. I don't know if that's the potatoes (dense), or the fact that my yeast might be from another century. Regardless, I was a little nervous after my first rise. The recipe can be finished in a few different ways. It makes more than one loaf. The suggestions in the challenge are loaves, rolls and focaccia. So I made a small plain loaf and a focaccia with olive oil, salt, rosemary and maui onions. Lane wandered into the kitchen several times to see what smelled so good.
Finally it was done. And while I didn't get the results I would have hoped for, the small loaf resembles a doorstop, the focaccia was good enough that we ate 1/3 of it before I got it onto the cooling rack!
I will definitely try this again, but first I need to test my yeast and see if it is time to buy a new package!
Daring Bakers — We’re in!
Jane has just been conditionally accepted into a group called The Daring Bakers. She's very excited, and I must say I am as well. The Daring Bakers is a group of bakers who are challenged to all prepare the same recipe and then post about it. Being vegan means that Jane will have to alter the recipe a tad, but it is within the rules to do so, provided you have food allergies or ethical concerns regarding the food product. Anyway, that's what Jane told me about the group (and I may have gotten a detail or two wrong... I wasn't completely focused).
I think it's more about the artistic presentation, but it will get Jane back into the swing of baking. She's been pretty much out of it. For a while there I was getting muffins, and even though I loved them, she didn't think they were up to par. She also really didn't care for the pumpkin cookies at Thanksgiving, so we're both looking forward to this exercise.
I understand there is some degree of secrecy involved too... so all the posts re The Daring Bakers will be done by Jane, since she'll certainly be more conversant in the rules than I am. She did mention that last month's recipe was Potato Bread. Sounds yummy!
Go Jane!
