Garam Masala Coconut-Banana Bread

My wonderful friend Bronwyn was here visiting this week and we were inspired to make some vegan yumminess….Well, not too inspired I guess since we never got around to actually making anything. But I did go out and buy about 5 lbs. of bananas, and I did salivate over the fantastic recipe for vegan banana bread from the awesome folks over at Post Punk Kitchen. Then I was looking at the Joe Beef cookbook my husband got (yes, funny, I know — a vegetarian reading a cookbook with “beef” in the title) and came across a slobber-inducing recipe for Cardamom Banana Bread. I decided to play with both recipes, adding my own twist.

Garam Masala is a classic Indian spice mixture of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, star anise, and peppercorns. I know it might sound strange to put something with cumin and pepper in a sweet baked good, but the subtle savoriness adds something really unique and delicious to the flavor profile and is balanced nicely by the sweetness of the brown sugar and the coconut milk. Coconut and banana are natural partners, but you could certainly omit the shaved coconut and swap the milk for soy or almond if you’re not a fan. This recipe is vegan.

Garam Masala Coconut-Banana Bread

Ingredients:

– 4 very ripe bananas

– 1/2 c. butter or margarine

– 1 c. packed light brown sugar

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 1/3 c. coconut milk, with 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar mixed in

– 2 c. flour

– 1 tsp. baking soda

– 1 tsp. salt

– 2 tsp. garam masala

– 1/2 c. shaved unsweetened coconut (I used a full cup here and I think it was too much — it made the bread super crumbly)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Peel bananas, place in a bowl and mash well. Set aside. *Do not mash until they liquefy or baking time will be altered

3. In a large bowl cream together butter (substitute) and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy

4. Add bananas, vanilla, and coconut milk to sugar. Mix well.

5. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add to wet ingredients. Do not overmix.

6. Fold in shaved coconut.

7. Pour batter into a greased 9×5 bread tin. *You can make muffins if you prefer — just reduce baking time to 30 minutes

8. Bake at 350F for 75 minutes, or until a skewer or knife inserted into the center comes out clean

9. Allow to cool 10 minutes in tin, and then transfer to a rack or towel to finish cooling

10. Enjoy!

And about 30 seconds later….

Pomelo-Coconut Tart with Candied Citrus

I love citrus desserts. It all started when I was pregnant. I was watching episodes of Dexter back to back and, in case you don’t watch the show, in Season Three, there’s this whole subplot where Dexter is trying to find “the perfect key lime pie” for a family friend on her death bed. Five months pregnant, bored out of my mind, lonely, and constantly starving, watching those episodes of Dexter was all it took to ignite the most hardcore craving for key lime pie in the history of ever. But it didn’t stop, and the key lime pie craving turned into a an insatiable hunger for all things sweet and citrus. Lemon meringue, orange sticky buns, blood orange sorbet….all were consumed in disgusting quantities….

Anyway, in the midst of my citrus dessert frenzy I started toying around with ideas about how to expand the classic key lime pie recipe to other citrus fruits….and although my daughter is 17 months old, I am just now moving out of the realm of fantasy into actually making it happen. *Sigh* there’s been a lot going on…and I am incredibly lazy.

This recipe calls for pomelos — which are more or less really big, slightly sweet grapefruits — but you could certainly use regular grapefruit (or lemon, lime, blood orange, or any other relatively sour citrus) in place of them. The crust is essentially a coconut shortbread, and the filling a revision of the classic key lime pie. Candied citrus 100% optional.

Ingredients:

Candied Citrus (needs to be done 1-2 days ahead of serving):

– 20-25 very thin (I recommend using a mandolin) slices of citrus, any kind

– 1 1/2 c. sugar

Crust:

– 1/2 c. sweetened coconut flakes

– 3/4 c. flour

– 1/2 c. cold butter

– 1/3 c. powdered sugar

– 1/4 tsp. salt

Filling:

– 2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk

– 2 Tbsp. finely grated pomelo zest

– 1 cup freshly squeezed pomelo juice

– 4 large egg yolks

 

 

Directions:

1. Place sliced citrus in a large casserole dish. Cover each piece well with sugar. Toss to coat.

2. Cover and place in refrigerator. Let sit 1-2 days, tossing occasionally.

3. Preheat oven to 350F

4. Spread coconut over a sheet pan and toast, stirring occasionally until golden — about 10 minutes. Let cool.

5. Combine flour, coconut, powdered sugar, and salt in a large bowl

6. Cut in cold butter. Mix until dough just begins to form. (This can most easily be done by pulsing in a food processor, but I did it by hand and got the same result….with a bit more time and effort)

7. Form dough into a ball

8. Press dough into a tart or pie pan

9. Freeze until firm — about 10 minutes

10. Bake at 350F until golden  — about 25 minutes — then set aside and allow to cool completely

11. Whisk together freshly squeezed pomelo juice, zest, and egg yolks

12. Slowly add sweetened condensed milk, whisking all the while

13. Pour filling into pie crust (you will have some left over — I poured it into a tiny dish and baked it separately)

14. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until just set in the center

15. Let cool 30 minutes

16. Loosely cover and chill in refrigerator 8 hours or longer. Filling will set as it cools and bubbles in filling will disappear

17. Decorate with candied citrus. I also mixed together a little powdered sugar and water and coated the edge of my pie pan so that I could adhere toasted coconut for added decoration.

18. Serve chilled. Excellent with fresh sweet whipped cream…

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

It was my birthday last week, so I decided I was going to bake myself something really fun. I have been a coconut fiend ever since I was a little girl, and I have really been wanting to experiment with making coconut-milk dulce de leche and vegan caramel, so it didn’t take long to decide on these Toasted Coconut Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting. My father’s birthday is the day after mine (True story: if I had been born one day later, and another gender, I would have been Peik Johan III…), and since he was about to go out of town, we decided to celebrate our birthdays together.

Now, my Pops is a foodie. The man loves to cook, the man goes out to a good restaurant at least once a week, watches cooking shows, pre-orders cookbooks, etc., etc. Along with that culinary elitism also goes an unparalleled passion for animal protein. Like, seriously: my husband’s a meat-lover but he doesn’t even come close to my old man, not even the same ball-park. I daresay it even borders on mental illness…I’m not bad-talking my dad here — just having a little fun at his expense 🙂 For our birthday celebration I decided that I would challenge myself to see if I could bake vegan cupcakes good enough to slip by the old bear that nary a once-breathing thing was involved in our birthday yumminess. Success!

There are two common misconceptions about vegan food: 1)It never tastes good, and 2) It is always really good for you. Newsflash: any kind of food can be delicious or disgusting depending on the quality of the ingredients and preparation, and vegan definitely does not equal healthy — Oreos, Fruit Loops, and Sour Patch Kids are all examples of vegan junk food. Indeed, these cupcakes definitely expose both of those statements as falsehoods. I wish I could say these were good for you, but alas, find me a healthy cupcake and I’ll be your slave for life…However; creamy, decadent, and outrageously delicious, no one would ever guess these cupcakes were vegan, as my father proved…

Ingredients:

Yields 12 frosted, decorated cupcakes

Coconut Cupcakes:

– 1 1/2 c. flour

– 1 c. white sugar

– 1/2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes

– 1 tsp. baking soda

– 1 tsp. salt

– 1 c. coconut milk

– 1/3 c. vegetable or canola oil

– 1 Tbsp. dark rum, such as Meyer’s

– 1 tsp. vanilla

– 1 tsp. red wine vinegar

 

Coconut-Milk Caramel Frosting:

– 1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk

– 3/4 c. brown sugar

– 1/2 tsp. salt

– 3/4 c. Earth Balance, or other buttery spread (of course, if you are not a vegan you can use regular butter here)

– 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar, or more if needed

– 1 tsp. vanilla

– 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

 

 

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F, grease cupcake tin or ready with paper liners

2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, coconut, soda, and salt

3. Add milk, oil, rum, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Add vinegar last, then stir well to combine

4. Pour batter into tin and place in 350F oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer or knife inserted into the middle of cakes comes out clean

5. Set cupcakes aside and allow to cool while you prepare your frosting

6. Place coconut milk in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat

7. Once skin begins to form over the milk and small bubbles appear, stir gently while adding brown sugar and salt

8. Gently stir until sugar is dissolved completely and color is consistent. Turn heat to medium-low

9. Cook until reduced by half — about 20-25 minutes — stirring often and scraping down the sides of the pan

10. Remove from heat and set aside to cool (This coconut-milk caramel could also be used as a sundae topping for soy or almond milk ice cream, spooned over grilled bananas with chopped peanuts, or anything else you could think to do with regular caramel sauce!)

11. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat Earth Balance until smooth and creamy

12. Add 1 c. of the powdered sugar and beat until lump-free

13. At medium speed add vanilla to frosting, then slowly begin to add the cooled caramel sauce

14. Once caramel has been combined, add remaining 1/2 c. of powdered sugar. Evaluate your frosting — if you want it thicker and stiffer add more powdered sugar. (Just be careful not to over beat this frosting as it can “break”)

15. Spread your coconut over a sheet pan

16. Bake in your 350F oven for 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully — coconut can burn in an instant!

17. You are now ready to decorate your cupcakes! Use a pastry bag to pipe frosting liberally over cupcakes, or simply slather it on with a knife. Top with toasted coconut flakes.

18. Try not to eat them all at once….

Recipe for cupcake batter adapted from vegweb recipe, coconut-milk caramel and frosting recipe developed completely by my own trial and error and recipe my own.