I grew up eating gingerbread--my mom's background was German-Pennsylvania Dutch and she always made gingerbread around Christmas. Come to think of it we always had gingersnaps in the house and she would use them to make German dishes like Sauerbraten with Dumplings.
Most people are not a big fan of gingerbread because they don't like the flavor of ginger--my husband included. When I told him that I was making gingerbread doughnuts he was not jumping with joy. His response to me was..."out of all the doughnut choices you're making gingerbread doughnuts?" But what would Christmas be without gingerbread and I'm not a big fan of gingerbread cookies...so gingerbread doughnuts it was!
This recipe makes 10-12 doughnuts and the batter is very thick. It helps using a small spoon to spread the batter in the pan. For the powdered ginger I used China Ginger from Penzeys Spices. During Thanksgiving were up in Portland visiting family and we stopped by their retail store and purchased this ginger. It has a clean flavor with a nice kick from the heat--truest to actual fresh grated ginger.
For the toppings have fun with it, but flavors that pair well with ginger are chocolate, dark berries and cinnamon. I made a cashew milk chocolate-ganache, a white icing glaze mixed with wild blueberry preserves, and the old standby of cinnamon sugar. My favorite flavor was the wild blueberry, but they all were delicious!
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger (more or less to taste)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 1/2 tsp coffee extract
2 tbsp molasses
1/4 cup cashew milk or other non-dairy milk
1/2 cup organic applesauce
1 tbsp ground flaxmeal mixed with 3 tbsp warm water to make a flax-egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil (plus more for greasing the pan)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease doughnut tin and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, sift all dry ingredients together.
- In a larger bowl, whisk all wet ingredients together.
- Using a spatula add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just combined. If batter seems too thick then add one tbsp cashew milk or non dairy substitute.
- Spoon batter into doughnut tin and smooth with spoon.
- Bake on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes.
- Let cool for about two minutes before turning out on a cooling rack and repeat with remaining batter.
- Let doughnuts cool completely before dipping in icing and decorating.
Enjoy and Happy Holidays to All!
Growing up my mom always had pickled beets in the back of the refrigerator. Unfortunately she combined them with eggs in a large jar, but I avoided the eggs and went for the beets. I always felt that it was a strange combination (pickled beets and eggs), but I guess it was her German upbringing.
Lately, I can't get enough of beets. I just love their earthly flavor and vibrant color and they go really well with fennel and orange. Also, when you pickle them it gives them a nice tang, which compliments their earthiness and brings out their natural sweetness. This salad is beautiful and can be served any time but is a really nice first course to serve to impress your dinner guests. Normally, I would make this with both red and golden beets and alternate the beets on the plate, but the market only had red at the time. Whatever color beets you use, it's still a beautiful salad and absolutely delicious!
While growing up my mom was a single mom raising two kids and working full-time. She didn't have a lot of time or money to prepare elaborate meals, but she always used the freshest ingredients possible, made every thing from scratch and surprisingly we ate a wide variety of cuisines. She had and still has a great palate and is one of the hardest people to impress when cooking. Since my mom is now 82 years old, my sister cooks for her and my sister will call or text me saying that mom thought her dish needed more seasoning, etc., etc. I tell my sister not to take it personally because mom is one tough food critic. Whenever I visit I always cook for my family and I'm always nervous cooking for my mom, even though I cooked in a professional kitchen. Some of the best chefs in the world are home cooks and mom is definitely one of them!
- In a large stock pot, heat canola oil on medium heat and add chopped onion, celery, carrot and parsnip and cook for about 10 minutes until vegetables are soft.
- Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about two hours until stock has reduced in half.
- Strain stock into another bowl, clean out stock pot and return stock to pot. You should have 8 cups of liquid. If less, add additional water to reach 8 cups.
Homemade Noodles:
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp Ener-g egg replacer, plus 2 tbsp filtered water
6-8 tbsp cashew milk, or other non-milk substitute
2 tsp dried parsley or 1 tbsp finely minced fresh parsley
Method:
- In medium size bowl, add flour, kosher salt and parsley, stir to combine.
- In a small bowl whisk together egg replacer and water.
- Form a well in the center of the flour, add egg replacer mixture and 6 tbsp cashew milk and form mixture into a ball with your hand, adding additional 2 tbsp of cashew milk if needed.
- On a lightly floured surface knead dough until smooth, about 5 minutes.
- Divide into two pieces, form into a ball and wrap and let sit for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
- When ready to roll out, lightly dust a board with flour and roll dough into a square shape about 1/8"-1/16" thick. Cut with a pizza cutter or knife and let sit out until ready to add to soup.
Soup Ingredients:
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium sized carrot, sliced on a bias (about 1 cup)
2 stalks celery, sliced on a bias
1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, diced
1 tsp fresh minced thyme
1 tsp poultry seasoning
3 tbsp vegan "chicken" flavored seasoning
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
8 cups stock
Homemade noodles or wide egg-free noodles of choice
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Note: If you purchase noodles instead of making them from scratch, you'll need to add flour to thicken the soup. You can do this by adding a small amount of flour and cashew milk to create a slurry and then stir it into the soup. The soup will thicken up while cooking. Also, you can add diced Gardein "chick'n" to the soup. I prefer the soup without it. I tried a sample and felt it didn't add any additional flavor and I didn't like the texture.
Method:
- Add onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, fresh thyme, poultry seasoning, chicken flavored seasoning, and salt and pepper to the broth. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.
- Bring soup back up to a rolling boil and add homemade noodles, stirring to make sure that they don't stick.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 10-15 minutes until noodles are tender.
- Add fresh parsley and additional salt and pepper if desired.
Tomorrow is the start of Oktoberfest in München Deutschland and it runs until the 3rd of Oktober. I've never been to München during the actual Oktoberfest, but I can only imagine how fun it would be having experienced the atmosphere of a Hofbräuhaus while vacationing in Germany.
I grew up eating German food, well actually it was referred to as "Pennsylvania Dutch". My great grandparents, on my mother's side, immigrated to America from the Rheinland in the 1800's and settled in Pennsylvania. Funny...but as a young girl I always thought that my family was from The Netherlands "Dutch" instead of Germany "Deutsh". Anyway, growing up I remember my mom preparing potpie, spaetzle, sauerkraut, sauerbraten, funnel cakes and anything and everything pickled, and I've tried to carry on the tradition of serving a German meal on the first day of Oktoberfest throughout the years.
- Set up a steamer pot for the sausages. Add equal parts water/beer in the bottom of the steamer. Do not fill the liquid above the steamer tray.
- Tear six pieces of aluminum foil to wrap the sausages. You want them to be about 8"x8" or 10"x8" in size.
- Heat a saute pan on medium, add 1 tbsp olive oil and cook mushrooms until golden brown and all moisture is evaporated. Add diced onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft. Transfer mixture to a food processor and let cool.
- Heat vegetable stock to a simmer, remove from heat and pour a 1/2 cup of vegetable stock over textured soy protein to rehydrate. Let sit covered for 15 minutes. Drain remaining liquid and press TSP with the back of a spoon to remove any remaining moisture. Add TSP to the mushroom-onion mixture in the food processor and pulse 10 or 15 times until you have a fine grain. Do not over mix--you want it to have some texture.
- Whisk spices together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Transfer mushroom-onion-tsp mixture to a large bowl and stir in spice mixture until well combined.
- Next stir in vital wheat gluten until combined and then add 1 cup cooled vegetable stock and stir to combine.
- Divide mixture into 6 equal portions and working with one portion at a time, place the mixture onto the bottom edge of the foil and form into a 4-5" log. Roll up the foil like a tootsie roll and twist the edges tightly to close.
- Bring the steamer to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high and place sausages on steamer tray. Cover and steam for 35 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for about 5 minutes and then remove. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes before unwrapping.
- To serve, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan and cook sausages, turning frequently until golden brown. Remove and slice on a bias or serve in a bun.
Potato Salad:
2 lbs red potatoes, washed and quartered
1 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup finely minced parsley
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp unbleached sugar or agave syrup
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
4-5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Method:
- Boil potatoes until fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Be careful not to over cook--you don't want mashed potatoes.
- While potatoes are cooking heat a saute pan on medium and add 3 tbsp olive oil, mustard seeds and red onion.
- Cook until onion is soft, about 3-4 minutes and then add Dijon mustard, sugar and apple cider vinegar. Stir to combine and heat through. Turn heat to low to keep warm.
- Drain potatoes really well and place in a large bowl. Immediately pour over warm onion-vinegar mixture and stir to combine.
- Add celery, parsley, green onion and salt and pepper to taste.
- You may need to add more vinegar or olive oil depending on taste.
- Keep warm or serve at room temperature.
Red Cabbage/Sauerkraut:
1 small head of red cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup red wine
1/4-1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
Note: I'm not a big fan of caraway seeds and so I do not add them to my cabbage. If you like them then I'd start with adding a 1/2 tsp. Also, this cabbage is great with diced apples as well.
Method:
- Heat a large saute pan on medium, add olive oil, cabbage and cook for a couple of minutes until cabbage softens slightly.
- Add red wine and cook until wine is evaporated.
- Next add red wine vinegar, brown sugar and salt and pepper to taste and cook until cabbage is cooked and liquid is absorbed.
