Mommy Cooks

Vegetarian Marshmallows

Some of the girls in my Girl Scout troop this year are vegetarian.  I was rather surprised to find out that they cannot have marshmallows and Jell-O, as gelatin is made from animal products.  This left me a bit nonplussed -- Girl Scouts make s'mores, and for s'mores you really have to have marshmallows!

So the hunt was on for vegetarian marshmallows.  Ready-made ones seem to be very hard to come by, and so I started searching for recipes.  One at About.com's dairy-free cooking site seemed promising, and I even managed to find agar-agar flakes, a seaweed product, at a small local health-food store.

I could not, though, get the agar-agar flakes to dissolve completely, and so the first few batches were gritty and unpleasant, and tasted vaguely like the smell of the beach.  I am not sure how determined I am to perfect a recipe on my own -- since there may be a much better one out there that I just haven't found yet, and to be honest, my own need for them is somewhat limited, not to mention that agar-agar flakes are absurdly expensive -- but I post my version here in the meantime.

These marshmallows are very soft, and they toast rather quickly over an open flame, but make pretty decent s'mores.  You will need to be careful not to let them drop off of the toasting skewer once they get hot!

Vegetarian Marshmallows

1/2 cup hot water
2 tablespoons agar-agar flakes
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 egg whites
a pinch of cream of tartar
3 tablespoons powdered egg substitute, such as Egg Replacer
1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla
powdered sugar

Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.

Pulverize the agar-agar flakes in a clean coffee grinder.  Add the flakes to the hot water and let dissolve as much as possible.  Alternatively, let the whole flakes sit in the hot water, stirring occasionally, as much as 15 minutes, then strain.

Put the sugar into a small saucepan, and strain the water and agar-agar flakes into it; stir well.  Over medium heat, stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes, until the mixture is thick and syrupy.

At the same time, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, until fluffy and stiff, about 5 minutes.  Gently fold in 1 tablespoon of the egg substitute.

Carefully, in 3 or 4 additions, pour the warm sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the egg whites, beating well between each addition.  Add the remaining 2 tablespoons egg substitute and 1 teaspoon vanilla, and continue to beat at medium speed until the mixture is glossy and stiff, about 2 minutes.  Add the rest of the vanilla to taste, if desired.

Spread the marshmallow cream into the prepared pan and place in the refrigerator or freezer at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight.

To cut individual marshmallows, sift the powdered sugar in a plate, and remove the parchment-lined marshmallows from the pan.  Carefully cut with a sharp knife -- you will need to wipe the knife frequently -- and roll each marshmallow in the powdered sugar.

Makes about 30 marshmallows.  Active work time, about 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Apple Dip

We made this treat for Julia's birthday snack at school this week.  She has a little way lately of rolling her eyes back into her head and smiling dizzily whenever she thinks that something is really good, and when she first tasted this, the performance lasted nearly a full minute -- and so she was quite giddy when I suggested it as her contribution to the celebrations.

I misread the original recipe when I first made it, and used four packages of cream cheese instead of three to this gargantuan amount of brown sugar, but upon reflection we actually like it better with more cream cheese.  It's a little less toothachingly sweet, and it goes further at a party!

It's best with Granny Smith apples, I think -- the tartness and brown-sugary-sweetness together are wonderful -- but Galas are nice, too, and really, you can hardly go wrong.

Cream Cheese Apple Dip

32 oz. cream cheese
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
Granny Smith apples

Beat all ingredients except the apples together until well-blended.

Core and cut the apples into wedges, and serve with the dip.

Keep covered in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

Makes about 16 1/4-cup (2 oz.) servings.  Preparation time, about 5 minutes.

Easter Eggs

Quaker Ridging Dishcloth

This dishcloth is based on the Quaker Ridging stitch in Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  It makes a beautifully simple cloth.

Quaker Ridging Dishcloth

Materials: 1 ball Lily Sugar 'n Cream in color 00084 Sage Green; US 5 (3.75mm) or 6 (4mm) needles.  Gauge: about 5 sts per inch/2.5 cm.  Finished size: approx. 7 x 5 in. (18 x 13 cm).

Cast on 45 sts.

K 2 rows, P 1 row, K 1 row.

Begin patt:

Rows 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10: K.
Rows 2, 6, and 9: P.

Rep these 10 rows 6 times more.  K 1 row.  Bind off loosely, and weave in ends.

Note: The cloth will shrink a little vertically with use and washing.  An extra pattern repeat has been added to make up for this.

Orange Sorbet

It was very hot today -- just right for orange sorbet, a perfect summer afternoon flavor.

This recipe is based on the one in "Cook's Illustrated"'s The Best Italian Classics.  They recommend that you add 2 teaspoons of orange zest, but we found this far too bitter, and after some experimentation decided that the juice alone made a sorbet that was a nice balance of sweet and tart.

We use Valencias from local groves, and have discovered that sometimes the sorbet is a pale, rather creamy orange, and sometimes brightly vivid, according to the particular oranges -- but always delicious!

Orange Sorbet

2 cups fresh orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vodka
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Whisk the sugar into the orange juice until completely dissolved.  Add the vodka and lemon juice.  Refrigerate if necessary until completely cold.

Prepare in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about 4 servings.  Active work time, about 3 minutes if you don't have to squeeze the oranges; freezing time, 20-25 minutes.

Garterlac Dishcloth

Garterlac Dishcloth

Pattern by Dave of "Criminy Jickets", free pattern available here and here (PDF version)
1 ball Lily Sugar 'n Cream in color 00202 Midnight Magic Ombre
US 5 (3.75mm) needles

This clever entrelac dishcloth is not as hard as it looks.  Once you can get your mind wrapped around the fact that you are knitting a flat piece that appears three-dimensional on the needles, entrelac makes a nice change of pace from back-and-forth garter stitch.  (Said wrapping may take a bit of practice, mind you -- I tried this cloth a while back and didn't get past the first few triangles, but this second time took a mere afternoon of uninterrupted knitting.)

Mine was a bit, er, pointy at the intersections -- I had to laugh at myself for primping it with the steam iron.  Ironing dishcloths for a photo shoot! what next?!

Äppelformar

In honor of Thanksgiving, Laura's second-grade class is doing a unit on immigrant ancestors this month.  This morning they are having an "immigrant banquet" in which they share foods of their ancestors, and Laura decided to bring something Swedish.  This has been a favorite recipe of mine for some years, discovered in the old Time-Life Scandinavian Cooking book. Äppelformar -- "apple shapes" or "forms" -- are little apple-filled pastries, like a little muffin-shaped pastry.  You can also make the filling with applesauce -- during those long, dark, Swedish winters, perhaps, when there are no fresh apples to be had -- but I like the fresh ones in combination with the light tartness of the jam and the crunchy almonds.

Äppelformar

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (divided use)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tart cooking apples
3/4 cup apricot preserves
slivered almonds
confectioners' sugar

For the pastry, cream 10 tablespoons butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs.  Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the butter mixture, blending well.  Shape the dough, wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper, and chill for 1 hour or more.

For the filling, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over moderate heat.  While the butter is melting, peel, core, and finely dice the apples.  Add the apples to the butter, and cook 1 or 2 minutes, shaking the pan to coat the apples with the butter.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Lightly oil or butter 12 muffin tins.  Cut off 1/3 of the dough, roll it out about 1/4 inch thick, and using a 2- or 2-1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles.  Work the dough scraps back into the remaining dough, divide into 12 pieces, and press each piece into the bottom and sides of the muffing cups, extending the dough slightly above the rim of the cup.  Divide the filling between the lined muffin cups.  Top each with about 1 tablespoon of the apricot preserves and a sprinkling of almonds.  Cover the apple filling with the dough rounds, folding the edges down over the tops to seal.

Bake for 40 minutes or until lightly golden.  Loosen gently with a knife, and let cool in the tin.  Lift out with a narrow spatula or knife.  Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Makes 12 äppelformar.  Active work time, about 30 minutes; total preparation time, about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Rocky Road

We volunteered to bring something for the bake sale at school this year, and so -- since the more we bring, the more tickets we get for the game booths! -- I made two things, Peanut Butter Squares and this Rocky Road, both from Nigella Lawson's scrumptious How to Be a Domestic Goddess.  They are both very simple and quick, very easy for the girls to help with, and went over very well with everyone who snitched -- I mean tested -- them.

I've adapted this recipe somewhat, feeling that real rocky road uses almonds, or in a pinch cashews (which is what I had in the cupboard this afternoon), and doubling it so that I could fill our quota of a dozen with two in a bag.

Rocky Road

14 oz. milk chocolate
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
6 oz. cashews or whole almonds
2/3 cup miniature marshmallows

Line a baking sheet or tray with wax paper.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave until smooth.  Roughly chop the nuts, and mix them into the chocolate with the marshmallows.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto the lined baking sheet, and leave to cool, preferably not in the refrigerator.  (The cold of the refrigerator will take away some of the gleam of the chocolate.)

Makes 24 sweets.  Active work time, about 10 minutes.

Simple Tomato Sauce

Every time we go out into the garden now, we come back with tomatoes.  The two cherry varieties are about three times the size of the other two, and producing enormous quantities.  The San Marzano is slow but steady, and I have gotten a grand total of two ripe tomatoes so far from the Big Rainbow -- beautiful and fascinating things, yellow mottled with orange, huge and weighty -- but both had been bored by insects enough that I was not willing to taste them. (Eeeuw).  The Black Cherry and the Sweet Chelsea are racing, I think, to see which can produce more. 

Yesterday David and the girls went out in the evening and gathered a colander-full, five pounds, mostly of the Sweet Chelseas, and this morning I made sauce.  This recipe is adapted from one in "Martha Stewart Living", and really is simple, as well as tomatoey.

You can use any kind of tomato in this sauce with good results.  I found that it was a bit thicker when made with only Romas, as the cherries have less meat in them, but then David likes runnier sauces, so that's not a problem.  Using a variety of tomatoes in each batch will give you more consistency of flavor between batches, but I think it's interesting to have a hint of, say, Black Cherry now and then.

Use a really good olive oil, as with only four ingredients a dreary oil will make a dreary sauce.  I also use the fancy Mediterranean sea salt in this.

If you use a blender to purée the sauce, be sure to remove the center insert from the lid, then cover the lid with a kitchen towel, before turning on the blender.  I don't even want to think about how many times I've wiped soup off of the undersides of the kitchen cupboards before somebody told me to do this!  The hot air and liquid inside the blender expands at a fantastic rate, and will push off the lid the moment the power goes on.  Removing the center insert will allow the hot air to escape more-or-less harmlessly, and holding a kitchen towel on top of the open part will keep splashes inside.  You can certainly leave the sauce chunky, but it has such a wonderful creamy consistency when puréed that I always make it that way now.

This recipe gives quantities per pound of tomatoes, and is quite easy to increase.  I've done it with one pound -- which makes enough sauce for about a half-pound of pasta, for our dinner that night, and takes about half an hour -- and with yesterday's five pounds.  The only thing you need to change is the size of the pan, and possibly the simmering time.

Simple Tomato Sauce

2 tablespoons good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
1 heaping teaspoon chopped garlic
1 pound ripe tomatoes, cored if necessary, and coarsely chopped
scant 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste

Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic, and stir for 20 seconds -- do not let it brown.  Stir in the tomatoes and salt, raise the heat, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer vigorously, stirring often, until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly, 15 to 25 minutes.

Carefully purée the sauce, in batches, in a blender or food processor, and season with more salt if desired.  Serve immediately, or let cool.

Store the sauce in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups per pound of tomatoes.  Active work time, about 30 minutes.

German Pancakes

The other day we made a German pancake for lunch -- also called Dutch baby pancake, "Dutch" probably being a corruption of "Deutsch".  It's a cross between a Yorkshire pudding and an omelet made with a bit of flour -- it's not like the usual cakey pancakes, but instead rather dense and eggy.  Laura said, "It looks really weird, but it tastes great!"

Regardless of its origin, it's very tasty and easy to prepare.  This version was printed in the Orange County Register a while back, and touted as a lookalike for the German Pancakes served at the Original Pancake House -- we've made them a number of times since, and it's rapidly becoming a family favorite.  I would never have thought of mixing maple syrup and lemon wedges, but it's absolutely delicious.

It swells up rather alarmingly in the oven, then when you take it out it falls faster than you can say "ausgezeichnet" -- faster than I can say it, at any rate.  Quite fun.

German Pancakes

3 large eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter, melted
powdered sugar, for garnish
maple syrup and lemon wedges, if desired

Preheat oven to 475° F.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer, or whisk by hand.  Mix in the milk, cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla, until the sugar is dissolved.  Sift in the flour and mix until smooth.  Let the batter stand about 10 minutes.

Coat the bottom of a 9- or 10-inch oven safe skillet with the melted butter.  Pour the batter into this pan, and bake 15 minutes or until golden brown on top and dark around the edges.  The pancake will rise dramatically during baking.

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool about 1 minute; it will collapse as it cools.  Loosen the edges of the pancake with a spatula, then slide it from the pan onto a plate.  Dust with powdered sugar. 

Serve promptly, with maple syrup and lemon wedges.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.  Preparation time, 15 minutes; total time, 30 minutes.