Stacey Makes It

Okay, so I didn't expect this to come out so delicious.  I've made a version using low-fat milk, but a co-worker of mine is vegan and recently had dental surgery so I thought this would be a good time to make another entry. It's (almost) vegan because I forgot some vegans don't eat honey.  You can substitute all the sugar / honey for agave nectar or maple sugar or whatever other sugar you want to use. Stacey's (Almost) Vegan Rice Pudding Ingredients 1c coconut milk, organic 2c flax seed milk 2c water 1c short grain rice 2 tsp coconut oil, organic 1/4tsp salt 1/2 tsp cardamom 2 tsp vanilla 3 tbs granulated sugar, organic 3 tbs honey I used this rice if you were curious. Rinse the rice a couple times in a 4 qt stockpot.  Then pour in all the other ingredients.  Originally this recipe was for 1/2 cup of rice and had less liquids, but I ended up putting a whole cup of rice and had to re-adjust.  Here's what it looks like with too much rice, ha...

A good friend of mine came to stay with me for a little while and she brought me some vegan treats she wanted me to re-engineer. Stacey's Raw Vegan Coconut Macaroon Ingredients 1 1/4c organic shredded coconut 3/4c almond meal 1/2 tsp salt 1/2c organic maple syrup 1/4c coconut oil 2 tsp vanilla bean paste Mix the dry ingredients together.  Mix the wet ingredients together and microwave until the coconut oil is liquid.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix with a fork.  Using a stainless steel scoop (or you can use spoons and form them with your hands), make balls with the mixture. Put the balls on a tray covered in plastic wrap and allow them to dry overnight.  This way the coconut will absorb some of the moisture and be softer. Store macaroons in an airtight container. Yummy! :) Thanks, Vidya.

About once a month, I go with my fiancé to visit his parents.  They are fond of za'atar , so I thought I'd try and make something with the herb mix. I've also been playing with pizza dough a lot since it only requires one rising before use. Stacey's Roasted Garlic Za'atar Twists: Dough 2c bread flour, organic 1-2c unbleached all purpose flour, organic 2 1/4 tsp yeast 1c water 1/2c buttermilk 2 tbs honey 2 tbs olive oil, organic 1 1/2 tsp salt Filling 1/2c-1c roasted garlic, mashed, mixed with olive oil olive oil, organic 1/2c pine nuts Za'atar 1/2c-1c shredded mozzarella Equipment standing mixer rolling pin bread stone - mine is something like this for pizzas, but you can get rectangular / square ones too instead parchment paper cookie sheet Combine the dry ingredients (with only 1 cup of the all purpose flour) in a standing mixer (you can use a big bowl and a hand mixer, or just use your hands if you have the patience and enduranc...

I've been doing a lot of yeast experimenting lately on my waffle questing. In this recipe, I wanted to find out if I could use yeast as a leavener for a sweet cake (not quite like panettone, more like a regular cake and less like a sweet bread).  I have not found out the chemical reason for it yet, but yeast doesn't like having too much sugar and it under-rises.  I read this on another website, but there was no explanation for why.  If I had to guess non-scientifically?  I'd say that since yeast uses the sugar for food, which later makes it expel gas, perhaps having way too much food turns them into gluttons and then they kill themselves overindulging before they ever get to make enough gas.  All you food scientists out there, feel free to correct me and tell me I'm a moron.  :) At least then I'll get my answer. In any case, here was my experiment. Stacey's Chocolate Yeast Cupcake Experiment Ingredients: 1 3/4c unbleached all-purpose flour, organic 1/...

Yes, it's been a long time again.  I'm having trouble adjusting to my new schedule of driving to Cupertino every morning and trying to get in a morning run.  Also, I've been experimenting with waffles and they're not always that great, so I've been embarrassed to blog them. This is a yeast waffle batter that I adapted to make muffins.  I loved how fluffy the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book recipe was coming out, so I decided to see if I could adapt it to make muffins. Stacey's Havarti Dill Yeast Muffin Ingredients  2c all-purpose unbleached flour, organic 1.5 tsp yeast 1 tsp salt 2 tsp dried dill weed 1 3/4c lowfat milk, organic 2 tbs honey (although 1 tbs is probably enough) 1/2c olive oil, organic 2 eggs, lightly beaten 5 oz lite havarti cheese, cut in chunks (but you can use regular) Muffin pan Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Then heat the milk to about 110F using a thermometer or your handy dandy te...

Okay, I know how I said I hate beer bread , but it turned out to be a lie.  Beer bread is lightning fast compared to regular yeast bread and it's also yummy.  But, my food-loving friends, there is a little secret to making yummy beer bread that doesn't taste like salty cake.  Shhh... it's bread flour. Bread flour makes beer bread chewy and delicious.  Here is my new favorite recipe that I've finagled through a myriad of experimenting. Stacey's Cheddar Onion Beer Bread Ingredients 2c bread flour, organic 1c whole wheat flour, organic 1 tbs baking powder 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbs sugar, organic 1 tsp dried dill 4.5 oz cheddar cheese, shredded or cubed small 12 oz beer (I use the cheap Simple Times stuff from Trader Joe's) 2 tbs olive oil, organic 2/3c onions sauteed/caramelized in 2 tbs butter (2 small yellow onions, or 1 large) Loaf pan First, chop the onions and caramel them in the butter and then set them aside.  Then preheat the oven to 375F. ...

So, these muffins were an experiment with olive oil.  Really I wanted to call them olive oil muffins, but even though I used EVOO, you could barely, if at all, taste it.  I suppose that means it was a success?  Perhaps if I want to showcase the olive oil more, I should use more of it, but this was really a test to see if I could start baking desserty type stuff with olive oil versus other types of cooking oils. Olive oil smells and tastes a little nutty to me, so I thought almond meal might go well with that flavor.  Then I happened to have some overripe bananas, so that's how that happened.  And everything tastes good with chocolate chips. I guess if I wanted to give them the title they deserve it would be... Stacey's Banana Chocolate Chip Almond Olive Oil Muffin Ingredients 1 1/2c unbleached white flour, organic 1/2c brown rice flour, organic 1c almond meal/flour 2/3c granulated sugar, organic 1 tbs baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/4 t...