Latkes

Traditionally, latkes are made with eggs, but I find that garbonzo bean (chickpea) flour works very well at binding the shredded potato together.  Some people eat latkes with apple sauce, but I don’t really see why.  Potatoes deserve ketchup!

Ingredients:

2 large russet potatoes

1/2 C garbonzo bean flour

1/4 C water

2 tsp salt

1/4 onion, diced (optional)

canola oil

Instructions:

1.  Preheat a nonstick saute pan to med-high.  In small bowl, mix garbonzo bean flour, salt and water and set aside.

2.  Peel and shred the potatoes.

3.  In large bowl, mix the potatoes with the flour goo.

4.  Add a spoonful of oil to the pan.  Spoon a quarter of the potatoes (or less, if you want smaller latkes) into the pan, forming a patty.  Cook 4 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom.  Flip, add a touch more oil and repeat.

Serve hot with ketchup.

//

Read Full Post »

Festivus Sugar Cookies: Sprinkled

Jo and I made these frosted sugar cookies last year for Festivus, Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxing Day, Yule… Whatever you happen to celebrate in the month of December these sugar cookies have it covered! It’s a basic sugar cookie recipe, but what gives them that holiday spirit is the endless hours of decoration involved! Not that it wasn’t fun, but after a few hours…you start to feel as if you’re made of sugar too! 🙂 I opted for a quicker, yet equally festive decoration technique this year. If you want a more low-maintenance holiday cookie, choose sprinkles! Play with different cookie cutter shapes specific to your celebration needs… This recipe makes about a baker’s dozen 3- or 4-inch stars, and can be doubled quite nicely.

Ingredients:

1/2 C Earth Balance vegan butter
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/4 C turbinado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 TBSP hemp milk
egg replacer: 1/8 C mix of canola oil and milk
2-2.25 C oat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
decorating sugar, various colors

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, cream the vegan butter with the sugar. Add the vanilla, milk, water, and milk/canola combo. At this point the mixture may look a bit clumpy and gross. Put the hand mixer away and add in the dry ingredients to the clumpy mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine to beautiful cookie dough consistency. Adjust the moisture content as needed – you want a firm but soft dough…no tackiness or feeling of being to wet, or so dry that it crumbles apart.
2. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for an hour to overnight, or quick chill in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. If you opt for the quick chill, only work with small batches at a time, leaving the remainder in the freezer to keep chilled. Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. Place cut shapes in the freezer (on the baking sheet if need be) while the oven preheats.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Sprinkle cookie with decorating sugar in your choice of color just before going in. Bake for 8-10 minutes for a softer cookie, 12 minutes for a crisper cookie. I like the softer cookies, so they’ll poof a bit as seen below, but then they’ll cool to a perfectly soft sugar cookie! I find it best to send in a scout cookie – if it spreads to much, you may need to add more flour and rechill. Let rest on cookie sheet a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Happy Baking!

Read Full Post »