Classic Apple Hand-Pies

As much as I love new food and new flavors in foreign places, sometimes I miss the taste of home.

Tangier is an incredibly sensory city. Every sight, smell, sound and texture is all-consuming and ever-changing. At first it all felt so foreign and chaotic, until I walked by a little Moroccan donut stand and the smell of fried dough and sugar suddenly brought me back to being up in Northern Minnesota, sitting by Lake Superior in the middle of July and eating a glazed donut from the World’s Best Donut Shop. Bizarre how just one little smell can transport you so far away from where you are.

Late night parade in the Old Medina

Now the chaos feels familiar to me. The hollering street vendors, sticking my hand into bags full of dried fruit and grains, music from the mosque rising up to the rooftops- this is my home for now. But I still like to walk past that donut stand and think about Grand Marais.

I wanted to recreate the smell of something comforting and familiar in my own kitchen (well, my friend’s kitchen, seeing as I’m ovenless) and what better way to do that than with classic, all-american apple pie. I completely missed the apple pie season... but better late than never, right?

Oh and since everything in Tangier is artisanal and unstructured, good luck finding any sort of measuring cup. I’ll give you guys the real measurements, but the way I actually measured everything was a little less exact:

Despite this, they still ended up absolutely delicious and my friend from Chicago and I savored the sweet flavors of apples, cinnamon and nostalgia.

Classic Apple Hand-Pies

makes 6 hand-pies

Dough (adapted from Oh, Ladycakes):

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup vegan butter or margarine, cold

1 tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

6-8 tbsp cold water

Filling:

4 apples, peeled and sliced into small pieces

3 tbsp water
1 tbsp vegan butter

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp all-spice

1 tbsp flour

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients, using a fork or two knives. Once the mixture is crumbly, stick the bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes to get everything nice and cold. Take it out and add the water, one tablespoon at a time, just until the dough sticks together. Knead for a minute, form it into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and put the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour. 

Prepare the filling by combining the apples, water, butter, sugar and spices in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat on low and mix occasionally, cooking until the apples are soft. Stir in the flour to thicken and remove from heat.

Preheat your oven to 400º. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out onto a floured surface and using a bowl or cup, cut circles about 5 inches wide. Spoon the filling onto half of each circle, leaving a small border so that you can fold the dough in half and press the edges down with a fork. Poke holes in the top of each hand-pie for ventilation and sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. 

Grapefruit & Yogurt Scones

Here is what I have discovered: spring makes me restless. 

I guess they don't have the saying "spring fever" for nothing, but I've never noticed it so clearly before! I'm just so sick of my old routine- it's time to do new things, go new places, create, get inspired... 

But I still have four weeks of school.

Not that I can't do any of those things in college- that's what college is for, isn't it? It is just a tiny bit harder when you have exams and paper deadlines and such. I guess I have to cure my spring fever in little ways. When my feet get restless: go get a studio and dance. When my mind gets restless: focus on a good book (I just started this one!). 

When my hands get restless: bake scones and make them delicious.

Done and Done.

Grapefruit & Yogurt Scones (loosely adapted from Joy the Baker)

makes 6 scones

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp margarine
1 grapefruit, zested and cut in half
1/2 cup soy yogurt (plain or vanilla)

1. Preheat your oven to 425º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, grapefruit zest and salt in a large bowl. Add in the margarine and using your fingers, crumble it into the flour mixture until combined. 
3. Mix in the maple syrup and yogurt. Cut out each segment of the halved grapefruit, as if you were eating it out of a bowl, and fold them into the batter. 
4. Place the dough onto the cookie sheet and form it into a circle with an 8 inch diameter. Sprinkle the top with sugar, if you like, and cut the circle into 6 pieces. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops and edges begin to brown. Serve warm with a cup of tea!

These use such simple ingredients and are the perfect mix of sweet and tart. They are a little moister than most scones because of the grapefruit juices, but still have that wonderful flakey and crumble-y texture.

Do you get spring fever?

Clementine Cupcakes

Slowing down is one of the hardest things for me to do. I'm so used to having every minute of my day filled up and even though I get stressed, I kind of enjoy it. I like having purpose. So now, having time to just sit at home and do nothing is really bizarre. It was an adjustment at first, but now I'm finally relaxing into just reading a book, doing crossword puzzles or listening to music while I can! I started a new book- Tinkers- and it's amazing so far. New Years Resolution: read more books for fun.

With all this spare time, I can finally experiment a little more with baking! I'm not exactly sure why, but my family tends to go crazy buying clementines in the winter. I decided I would put them to better use than just sitting in the fruit bowl...

These cupcakes are the perfect mixture of sweet and tart and are just so pretty! Because of the usual holiday overload of decadent sweets, I decided to make these super low-fat. However, if you don't like the texture of low-fat desserts (think less fluffy but more moist), you're welcome to sub out the applesauce for more canola oil.

Clementine Cupcakes with Clementine Vanilla Glaze

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp clementine zest (about 4 clementines)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups soy milk

1 tbsp egg replacer

3 tbsp applesauce

1 tbsp canola oil

3 clementines, peeled

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350º and line or grease a cupcake tin. 

2. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, zest, baking powder and soda and salt.

3. In a cup, whisk 3 tbsp of the soy milk with the egg replacer. Puree the three clementines in a blender until liquified, then pour only 1/4 cup of the puree into a small bowl and mix it with the "egg," milk, applesauce, vanilla and oil.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners- about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup clementine puree
2 tbsp soy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and slowly add in the powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth.
2. Once the cupcakes are done baking, dip just the tops into the glaze for about 10 second each so that they can absorb the sugary goodness. Let cool on a baking sheet and serve with a clementine slice on top.*

*I attempted to make caramelized clementines by slicing them and coating them with 2 tbsp of oil and 1/4 cup of sugar and baking them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400º. I'm not sure if they ended up completely caramelized, but they taste delicious and look good on top of the cupcakes! You can try this if you want and maybe vary the method a little.

These would be excellent to bring to a New Year's Eve Party! It's always good to bring your own dessert if you are vegan, because otherwise you just have to cry silently in the corner while everyone else eats cake. It's pretty sad. These will save you, I promise.

Lemon Ginger Scones

Home for the holidays at last. I survived finals week! I think they all went really well in the end, so now I just get to sit back, relax, and bake all day if I feel like it! Although, because I've been so wrapped up in school I completely forgot that Christmas is in 3 days. I can't completely relax- I need to do some serious Christmas shopping.

My first pre-Christmas present to my family, however, was to make them something yummy for breakfast. I've been wanting to try out vegan scones for a while, so I veganized a basic recipe from this really old cookbook we have laying around and they turned out great! Perfectly buttery, flakey and not too sweet. The lemon and ginger flavor is pretty subtle, so they're best served with jam or some extra earth balance. 

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Lemon Ginger Scones

makes 8 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup (4 tbsp) cold earth balance 

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup soy creamer

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1. Preheat your oven to 425º and lightly grease a 9" round pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a fork, add in the earth balance and chop it up until crumbly.

3. Mix in the applesauce. Then stir in the creamer, lemon zest, lemon juice and ginger. You may want to use your hands.

4. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 2 minutes or until smooth. Stretch the dough out into a circle and press it into the 9" pan so that it covers the whole surface. 

5. Cut the dough into 8 slices and separate the edges slightly so they are easier to cut later. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops just start to turn golden brown.

This is great scone base- if you take out the lemon and ginger, you could add anything you want! Fruit, nuts, chocolate... whatever your heart desires. These would be great for christmas morning :)

Also I just finished watching this movie, one of my favorite holiday classics! 
What's your favorite holiday movie?

One More Final to Go...

...and then it's home for the holidays! I can't wait. It will be great to see family and old friends again and actually have a real kitchen to bake in!

In the meantime I'll cram for my history final while I cram my face with cinnamon sugar rolls.

My boss at the pizza restaurant I waitress at is a perfectionist about the consistency of his pizza dough and usually ends up throwing a bunch away at the end of the night. I hate to see decent food wasted, so yesterday I offered to take some home and see what I could do with it!

You absolutely cannot go wrong with dipping something in butter, sugar and cinnamon. I melted some earth balance, rolled the dough balls in cinnamon sugar and baked them at 350º for about 20 minutes or until the tops turned golden brown. Then I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to whip out the last of my leftover cream cheese frosting. Thanks to these babies, my friends and I had a very productive and very delicious study session.

Sorry for the mediocre lighting in these, we made and ate them all between 10pm and 1am.

This is me once I'm all done, wearing my super awesome "vegan" shirt:

Wish me luck!

Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes

Since I'm still in the thick of studying for finals, it's sometimes even hard to find time to eat! This cupcake is the perfect solution: breakfast and dessert all in one. I just need a big cup of coffee and I'm set. Who needs healthy meals like lunch and dinner... right?

Don't worry, I'm actually eating real food too. I just wish I could eat one of these for every meal- they're that good. I brought a plate of these cupcakes over to a dancers potluck and they were a hit. I was sneaky and didn't tell anyone they are vegan, but no one even guessed!

Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes

makes 1 dozen

Cinnamon cupcakes (adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World):

1 cup almond milk (or any other kind of non-dairy milk)

1 tsp vinegar

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2  tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350º and line a cupcake pan.

2. Combine the almond milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside to curdle for at least 5 minutes.

3. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. 

4. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla to the almond milk mixture and stir well.

5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until just combined. Then fill up the cupcake tins about 2/3 of the way full.

6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Make the frosting while they bake. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
1/4 cup earth balance
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Cream together the cream cheese and earth balance in a medium bowl. Stir in the vanilla.
2. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, whisking as you go until it is smooth and fluffy. You could either use an electric mixer or good old-fashioned elbow grease, like my friend and I did!

Mmm just look at that melt-in-your-mouth frosting.

These were definitely worth the extra-long study break!

If you're in the midst of finals like I am, here are a couple of my favorite relaxing study songs: 

Jose Gonzales

Iron and Wine

Regina Spektor

Does anyone else have good suggestions for study music?

Creativity and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

"Creativity is problem-solving"

That's what my choreography teacher said to my class the other day and it just completely makes sense. In dance, when you get stuck in a pattern of the same movements, you have to solve the problem and find some new way to move. In photography, if the angles or the lighting aren't working out, you have to solve the problem and find a way to make the picture beautiful differently than you had originally planned. Even creativity in cooking is problem-solving. If something goes wrong, you just have to see what you can do with what you're left with. 

Remember way back over Thanksgiving break when I messed up that pecan pie caramel sauce and ended up with this? Well, even though it wasn't what I was trying to make, that sugar tasted pretty yummy- kind of like maple candy. I couldn't just throw it away! Instead, I decided to save it and use it to top off these delicious muffins. See? Problem solved, muffins made.

These taste like something you would get at Starbucks, but vegan and much healthier! 

Iced Banana Chocolate Chip Crumble Muffins

2 1/2 large bananas
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
maple sugar
1/2 recipe white icing

To make the maple sugar:
Combine 1 cup of brown sugar with 1 cup of maple syrup in a sauce pan. Stir over medium heat and let it boil until it turns into crumbly sugar then immediately remove from heat. If you don't feel like doing this, just a sprinkling of brown sugar would be tasty too.

1. Preheat your oven to 350º. In a large bowl, mash the bananas, then stir in the applesauce, oil, sugar and molasses. 

2. Stir in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Fill muffin tin with the batter, about 3/4 way full for each. Top with maple sugar or brown sugar, and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Once the muffins are out of the oven, let them cool for 10 minutes and then drizzle with white icing.

Muffins are best made and served with love.

Peanut Butter Thumbprints

When life gets really crazy, I always try to make more of an effort to luxuriate in the little things. Lately I've been taking comfort in big mugs of tea in the morning (like my personalized mug? my mom's friend made it for me when I was 6!), study breaks with friends where we just sit around and talk about girly things, making really awesome work-out playlists, doing spins and leaps in dance, working on this blog, and really good cookies. Little things like this make the weeks leading up to finals so much more bearable.

My friend Melissa and I have recently been baking together whenever we need a break from work. What this means, really, is that I bake while she reads Cosmo and keeps me company. It's a nice little tradition :)

Yesterday, we made these amazing cookies! They just go to show that you can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.

Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies

makes about 30 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla

filling: chocolate chips, nuts or jelly

1. Preheat the oven to 350º and line two cookies sheets with parchment paper.

2. Mix the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in a medium bowl. Combine the peanut butter, oil, syrup, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and stir until creamy.

3. Add the dry into the wet and stir well- you may want to use your hands.

4. Roll the dough into balls about 1-1 1/2 inches wide and place them on the cookies sheets. Then press your thumb into the center of each ball and fill the center with anything you like! I used chocolate chips, but jelly/jam would also be delicious.

5. Bake cookies for about 15 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown. Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a plate, or else they will crumble! They harden as they cool.

These cookies are the perfect mix of salty and sweet, so they will satisfy any late-night-study craving.

Pumpkin Pancakes

So busy so busy so busy. My head is constantly spinning these days! This weekend I'm going to need to take a day to sleep in, relax, and whip up another delicious batch of these amazing pancakes. I made these while I was at home also- if you couldn't tell, I basically just went home and spent all of Thanksgiving break in the kitchen!I'm pretty sure the main reason my family misses me now that I'm gone again is because they don't have a constant stash of fresh-baked treats on hand. They'll just have to wait until Christmas... 

In the meantime, I'll have to make these pancakes for my friends and me. They are light,fluffy and super easy to prepare. Now that it's December it may be a little past pumpkin season, but if you have some leftover like I do, you should definitely head on over to Vanessa's blog for the recipe and try them for yourself!