The Smiling Onion

Vegetarian and Gluten-free Cooking

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Banana Spice Muffins

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I didn’t plan to bake today. But sometimes, inspiration just strikes and the mixing bowls have to come out. Of course, knowing your baking triggers can be helpful when it comes to acceptance. Here are mine:

-Rain or snow

-The remnants of rain or snow (snow-covered trees, clouds of fog, etc.)

-Waking up early without an alarm

-A clean kitchen

Today, waking up at 7 to a light dusting of very pretty snow and realizing that I had the morning free set my internal baking clock to “Go.” And why fight that? Especially when it resulted in these surprisingly healthy (you wouldn’t know it from the taste) banana spice muffins that happen to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined-sugar free. Yum!

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Coconut-Cacao Cookies

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So due to this frigid January, my oven is getting a serious workout. You’d think the three batches of cornbread I made last week would have been enough to slow the baking roll, but apparently I can’t help whipping up cookies, biscuits, and blini rolls left and right. Have I been procastibaking? I’d like to say no, but that could just be denial.  (And yet, who’s to say that using up a little over a tablespoon of the two bags of cacao nibs I found in the cabinet recently isn’t the most productive use of my time?)

Speaking of cacao nibs, those nutrient-packed, antioxidant-rich morsels are just part of what makes this cookie perfect for an energy-boosting snack. High in protein and fiber – think rolled oats, almond flour, flax, and quinoa – eating just one is a filling and delicious way to fuel up while out and about. And with no refined sugar, you don’t have to feel too bad for eating more than one, should you decide to. The batter is super easy and can be made in one bowl (plus a small pot for melting the butter) and there is no shaping required  – simply drop them onto your sheet trays and they’ll be good to go. So, recovering procrastibakers: don’t worry. This recipe won’t keep you off task for long and may actually prove beneficial for task-accomplishment, given the cognition-boosting properties of the cacao nibs. (Uh oh, is justification/rationalization using half-read scholarly articles  an impediment to recovery?) Meh, who cares, go make some cookies!

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Jalapeño Cornbread

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Is there anything more comforting than chili and cornbread on a cold winter night? And is there anything more disappointing than buying a beautiful slice of cornbread somewhere and then having it be dry, crumbly, and generally lacking? Disappointed with the cornbread offerings near me, I decided to create a moist, cakier version of the classic – with jalapeños thrown in for spice, of course. Try it with my easy vegetarian chili for a simple, satisfying dinner.

I’m actually up to my ears in this cornbread right now, because I decided to make three batches: one with dairy and eggs, one with dairy but no eggs, and one completely vegan. I’m happy to report that all three were enjoyable in their own right, but I’ve decided to keep working on the vegan version before posting it. The other two batches came out great, though, with the egg-free one just a little bit cakier than the batch with egg. I actually preferred it, though my husband liked the breadier texture better.

This cornbread is absolutely delicious warm out of the oven or cold from the fridge. It’s extremely flavorful – tender and buttery with wonderful jalapeño notes. While it’s fabulous on its own, I can’t help but fantasize about some delicious pairing ideas. In addition to the aforementioned bowl of chili, here are some of the ways I’ll be enjoying the three batches of cornbread I have on my hands:

  • With collard greens and lentils
  • As a sandwich – with cheddar and tomato
  • By itself, cold from the fridge
  • Warm, with butter or ghee
  • Topped with avocado (growing up, my best friend and I were OBSESSED with cornbread & avocado)
  • With tomato soup
  • With Mexican-style black beans and sour cream
  • “Loaded” – topped with beans, cilantro, tomato, avocado, cheddar, and salsa/sour cream
  • With cajun-style tempeh or tofu and kale

I could keep going, but I don’t want to make you too hungry… [Read more…]

Maple Teff Muffins (and a Review of Tenera Grains Teff Flour!)

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As the rain pours down in New York City and gusts of wind slam against our windows, I’m drinking a nice, hot cup of earl grey tea and enjoying a basket of fresh-from-the-oven teff muffins, slathered with grass-fed salted butter. I haven’t felt this peaceful in a while.

Later today, things will get done. The state of the bedroom matches the weather – it’s a tornado of papers and clothes that need to be sorted and folded. And laundry awaits, too. But right now, sitting at the table watching the cat admire the rain, muffins, tea, and butter are all-consuming.

I can thank the kind people at Tenera Grains for making these muffins happen. Seeing that I use teff quite frequently in my recipes (check out more teff flour recipes here), they offered a bag of their freshly milled flour in exchange for an honest review. It’s been sitting in the cabinet for a while now, urging me to make injera, or waffles, or pizza crust, or … the call that finally got through to me … muffins! I absolutely love teff flour in muffins because it’s high in protein (which gives you a nice boost in the morning, helps cut the sweetness, and adds moisture to gluten-free baked goods) and has a hearty, nutty flavor that reminds me of bran. In fact, these muffins are quite similar to my Mystical Applesauce “Bran” Muffins which also use teff, with a few notable changes:  banana instead of applesauce, maple syrup instead of agave, and more teff flour. Just like that recipe, however, I’ve used the same baking powder/baking soda combo (see why here) and remained true to my tradition of making a “mystical” dozen (11 muffins instead of 12).

Well, Tenera teff flour did not disappoint! The muffins came out moist and delicious – with a lovely, nutty maple flavor and a light and airy texture.

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Apple-Ricotta Tart with Pumpkin Seed Crust

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Tuesdays must be lucky because I have an incredible Fall dessert to share with you today. Imagine a light and creamy maple-ricotta mousse tucked inside a rich, buttery grain-free shortbread crust. Can you taste it? Okay. Now add some fresh apple slices and a couple honey hazelnuts to the mix. All good? Great. So just focus on the crust for a second – can you taste the freshly ground pumpkin seeds in there? They’ll be the rich, nutty savory hint that pops through. Now don’t forget to let that note intermingle with the fresh, brightness of the apple slices and the creamy ricotta mousse…

Having trouble holding all those flavors together in your mind? No worries. Let me take you through how to make this beauty so you can taste it for real. But first, a quick note about what inspired this dessert: Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

For me, Rosh Hashanah signals the beginning of Fall, the beginning of apple season, the beginning of the long, bountiful “time-to-eat-all-the-time-especially-sweets” season that continues with Thanksgiving and doesn’t end until after Valentine’s Day. I’ll be going home to Massachusetts soon for my family’s annual Rosh Hashanah walk on the Mount Holyoke Range and apple picking in Ashfield. We’ll each take some time to think about the year that’s passed and the one to come, and then we’ll have a delicious meal and dip apples in honey to symbolize our hope that it’s a sweet one.

Hence this apple tart. It screams Fall – apples, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts – short of sprinkling on some colorful leaves, I’m not sure how it could honor the season more. And of course, the Rosh Hashanah elements of apples and honey are represented. But what’s more, while there’s an elegance about it, there is also a homey, comforting quality that seemed appropriate for the holiday.

After all, what do most of us want when entering a new year? Sure, there are always things to change: new beginnings remind us to be creative, daring, unafraid to take risks. That’s your pumpkin seed crust right there. But there is also something to be said for holding on to some familiarity –– to comfort, to home. We tend to feel better about starting anew when we have some sense of security and grounding: for this, Fall, baking, and apple slices seemed like a good place to start.

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5-Ingredient Chewy Cinnamon Cookies (Vegan and Grain-Free!)

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I’ve been having some trouble with will power lately. Specifically when it comes to sugar cravings. It all started with my wedding a couple weeks ago (yay!) when the catering company left us an entire fridge shelf filled with gluten-free mini key lime pies. Suddenly, it was key lime pie for breakfast, snack, “lunch dessert” (which normally does not exist in my household), and of course, dinner dessert. Yeah – a mini key lime pie is one of those awesome desserts you can justify eating for breakfast – I mean, you’d eat a lemon bar, right? What’s the diff?

After the pie fiasco, I was at my local grocery store when I spotted a ridiculous sale: THREE Ben and Jerry’s ice creams for ten bucks. WHAT?! That’s basically like getting a whole pint of ice cream free, given that the lowest price I’ve ever seen for Ben and Jerry’s is around five bucks. I’m actually not a huge purchaser of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream because it has a LOT of crap in it compared to other comparable brands like Haagan-Dazs (and when I do buy ice cream I normally try to buy organic, grass fed milk, etc. anyway which rules out both of the above-mentioned big guys) but…I mean three pints for ten bucks?! And Ben and Jerry have been super politically involved lately – I should support them for that, right? I don’t know if I’m convincing you, but I sure convinced myself.

Now, once you have three pints of ice cream in your freezer, it is very, VERY hard not to indulge at every possible occasion. Especially when your freezer is packed full as can be and you can barely close the door because of all the gluten-free flours you have stuck inside. So really, every time I went to the freezer to get some ice cream, I was actually just doing my duty to clean it out. Three pints take up a lot of space, and we needed that space.

Which leads me to these cinnamon cookies. Another way to clear freezer space, of course. I had just 1/2 a cup of white sugar left – so why not make some cookies and get rid of the bag? I would actually be ridding my freezer of sugar in the long run, so it was totally justifiable. In fact, these cookies would be great mixed in to some of my remaining ice cream …

Okay, so you can see how things might have spiraled a bit out of control. But hear me out – the recipe for these cookies is actually super awesome. And if you are going through something similar and want to indulge a sugar craving fast, these guys are really quick and easy. Just five ingredients, completely grain-free, completely vegan, lovely cinnamon flavor, wonderful chewy texture. Make them! You can stop eating sugar tomorrow.

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Date and Ginger Scones

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There is something about the word “breakfast” that is just downright appealing. It implies something well beyond the “crap, I have to leave right now, I guess I’ll just grab this package of instant oatmeal” meaning of the word. No, in its natural state, I would argue that “breakfast” is the type of affair that’s suggested by the phrase “Let’s do breakfast.” Or better yet, “I made breakfast.” You know … the meaning of the word that triggers images of steaming tea and coffee mugs, wonderful smells wafting out of the kitchen, cozy pajamas, rain patter on the windows, sleeping kittens, etc. (Sleeping kittens?! Okay, maybe I’m alone on that last one, but I do find it to be one of those comforting images the word breakfast evokes.)

Anyway, in case I’ve completely lost you with the whole “breakfast” thing – consider the word “scone.” Are we on the same page now? These date and ginger scones are part 1 of what I consider to be the perfect breakfast – part 2 being a mug of tea. They definitely fit the “wonderful smells wafting out of the kitchen” criteria too. And…if you are having one of those “crap, I have to leave  right now” mornings, they are an excellent grab ‘n go option that will allow you to transport the elegance of “breakfast” to the road.

Oh, I should mention that this is a super easy, 1-bowl recipe!

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Cinnamon Sugar Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate-Whiskey Cream

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Do I even need to write this post? Doesn’t the title say it all?

Okay, fine.

Three days before Valentine’s Day, I realized I would be remiss if I didn’t post a delicious treat for you to make for your honey (or your mom, cat, best friend, self … whoever you are planning to spend Valentine’s Day with this year!) Disclaimer: Please don’t actually feed these to your cat; that would be pretty dangerous. Anyway, I could probably have whipped up a nice pudding, or mousse, even a brownie…and it would have been fairly straightforward and probably wouldn’t have taken me two days to create, photograph, and post. But…for some reason, I had my heart set on a sandwich cookie. Not just any sandwich cookie – a grain-free, dairy-free sandwich cookie with a chocolate-whiskey filling. (I’m very sorry, vegans, this cookie does have 1 egg in it and I didn’t have time to try subbing it with a flax egg. In the process of developing these cookies, however, I did come up with a delicious 5-ingredient vegan cinnamon lace cookie that I will be posting soon!)

Why did I have my heart set on a grain-free, dairy-free sandwich cookie with a chocolate-whiskey filling? Who knows. Possibly it was a dream I had (food is a main character in the vast majority of my dreams), or maybe I liked the romantic notion sandwich cookies suggest – two halves making a whole, each one bringing a little bit of delicious (aka chocolate-whiskey cream) to the relationship, all that sentimental dribble.

In any case, I knew what I wanted to make, and even though I started this process with only three days between me and Vday, the sandwich cookie gods were with me!

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Coffee-Scented Gingerbread with Amaretto Cream

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Holiday greetings from San Antonio! I’m here with Bobby (my fiancé) and his family, enjoying the 70 degree weather and filling up on Indian food – one of your best options if you happen to be vegetarian in Texas. (For a complete list of the best San Antonio vegetarian spots, email me – I’ve had a couple years to figure it out :p)

Despite the warm weather, we are gearing up for Christmas, which is quite an affair down here. Bobby’s family is insanely large, and in just two days, we all get to be crammed in one home (luckily the homes are much bigger here than in New York) and fight for survival – er – celebrate. And this year my family of Yankee Jews are going to join in on the festivities for the first time! It should be a Christmas to remember.

I’m getting in the holiday spirit by baking, of course. And there is nothing that screams “holiday” quite like the smell of freshly baked gingerbread.

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Raspberry-Rose Cookies

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I wish I could photograph the smell of these cookies. Seriously.

And don’t take that lightly – the glory of mid-fall brings with it so many sensory pleasures that it takes a lot for anything to wow me these days. You know what I’m talking about – unbelievably crisp air, the awesome sound of leaves crunching under your feet, that unparallelled fall light … not that I’m complaining here, but it kind of makes most other things pale in comparison. Smells that normally do all sorts of good things for me – coffee in the morning, cut flowers, even really awesome Chinese food (which usually has a whole forbidden-thing going for it too since its rarely available gluten-free) – get an “eh.” But these cookies – oh my gosh. When copious amounts of butter meet rose syrup, raspberries, and almonds and then decide to party together in an oven, even fall takes a backseat to the sensory pleasures that unfold.

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