Showing posts with label vegan meringue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegan meringue. Show all posts
Friday, September 24, 2010
AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT-- CRUNCHY EGG REPLACER MERINGUES!
Orgran "No Egg" egg replacer meringues with melted vegan chocolate and pecans!
When I went to my local health food store, Edible Island, in Courtenay, BC last week, I spotted an item that was new to the store-- Orgran "No Egg"
, an Australian brand of egg replacer that I had heard of but never been able to try. I had read that it will whip up to an almost-stiff peak like beaten egg whites. Up until now, I had only been able to achieve that with Ener-G Egg Replacer
, and I have been wanting to try Orgran because it is more readily available outside of North America. So I bought a box and I checked out their website.One of their recipes caught my eye-- crunchy baked meringues. I decided to give it a try. Not that I ever indulged in them that much as a non-vegan, but many people love them. They are sort of a sweet, blank canvas for fruit, etc, as with the Pavlova, beloved in New Zealand and Australia.
UPDATE: THIS RECIPE WORKS WITH ENER-G EGG REPLACER POWDER!
I wasn't quite sure about the "citrus pectin", but I went to our little local general store to see what they had. All the had was "light pectin" for canning, so I bought a little packet. (After further research, I see that you can buy "modified citrus pectin", but it is very expensive--it seems to be used for everything from the effects of radiation treatment to arthritis-- and the cheap the canning pectin seemed to work!)
It's a simple recipe and is baked pretty much the same way that egg white meringues are baked. The results in their photo looked great, but I wasn't sure what to expect. In any case, I followed their recipe, using my canning pectin. I also wasn't sure what they meant by "pure powdered sugar", but I just used organic powdered sugar.
Here were the results after beating for 10 minutes:
It fluffed up tremendously! It made ALOT of fluff!
After baking them as directed for 2 hours at 250 degrees F, and letting them try out in the turned-off oven with the door cracked open, I was rewarded with 2 trays of lovely, crunchy meringues!
They were airy and crunchy and slightly chewy in the middle, as they should be, but I didn't think they were quite sweet enough. I think I'll use more powdered sugar next time, although there might be a structural reason for using less sugar-- you never know until you try!
We ate them with strawberries on top:
And we ate them with chocolate and pecans:
They kept well and didn't get soft. I'll experiment a bit more and post again. As I said before, it was not something I longed for, and it doesn't contribute anything in the way of nutrition (it is fat-free, though), but meringue is the basis of many beloved desserts, so, it's worth finding a vegan recipe that works even if you only use it on occasion! I want to see if this recipe will work with Ener-G Egg Replacer (UPDATE-- it does!), and I want to use it as the basis of some cookies with coconut, etc..
Al the best!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
A BUSY LABOUR DAY WEEKEND! CHEESEY VEGAN PATTY PAN SQUASH & CORN CASSEROLE
We had 8 guests for the weekend-- 2 of my daughters and their spouses, and 4 grandchildren, ages 15 to 6. I simply forgot to take pictures most of the time! When I did, the light wasn't great, but below is a bit of what we ate. On Monday everyone headed home, and DH and I went to one of our vegan potlucks, where 5 couples meet to eat great vegan food and chat up a storm. Again, the light was bad and the pics are not great, but the meal was very yummy and we could hardly walk out of the door! This time we had a rainbow theme and I chose yellow, mostly to use up our homegrown patty pan squash!
Friday night my youngest daughter and her husband and son came from Vancouver, so we were few enough to have a sit-down meal. We had a Middle-Eastern meal of hummous (my lower-fat version), Saniya, a Levantine dish in wish I use ground Field Roast Classic Grain Meatloaf instead of meat, topped with my lower-fat Taheena Sauce (recipes here). They loved the Saniya!
We had a green salad with our own tomatoes, olives, and wholewheat pita bread brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with the wonderful herb blend, Za'atar, and heated in the oven. We used this to scoop up both the hummous and Saniya.
Saniya with hummous
On Monday night, we attended a vegan potluck. I made a very simple patty pan squash (from our garden) and fresh local corn casserole in a creamy sauce with thyme and tarragon, with a topping of my "New, Improved" Okara Parmesan Substitute and Daiya vegan cheese. It didn't look like much (and the picture is bad-- sorry!), but it was really delicious! The recipe is below.
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| Cheesey Vegan Patty Pan Squash and Corn Casserole |
Printable Recipe
BRYANNA’S CHEESEY VEGAN PATTY PAN SQUASH AND CORN CASSEROLE
Serves 4
A perfect summer casserole—good enough for a main dish! (I quadrupled this recipe for the potluck!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 medium patty pan squash, trimmed and sliced into thin wedges
(you could substitute just about any summer squash, actually!)
(you could substitute just about any summer squash, actually!)
1 ear of fresh sweet corn, kernels sliced off the cob
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup nut milk or full-fat soymilk
salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup of your favorite vegan parmesan substitute (I used my homemade version)
about 2 ounces Daiya grated white vegan cheese (or your favorite type)
Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onions and sauté them slowly until they are tender and beginning to brown. Add the patty pan squash and corn kernels and sauté until the squash is almost tender enough to serve, but not quite. Stir in the herbs and then the milk. Taste for salt and pepper.
Transfer the mixture to an oiled baking dish (unless your skillet can go in the oven!) and cover with the parmesan sub and then the grated vegan cheese. Place under your broiler on the second rack setting own from the broiler. Broil the casserole for 5 to 10 minutes, or until it gets bubbly and hot. Serve immediately, or you can keep it warm in a low oven until serving time.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
VEGAN LEMON MERINGUE PIE!
UPDATE:
Alice from Angel Food just told me that they discontinued the meringue mix! Darn!
Well, stay tuned-- I'll have to invent something myself.
Why another dessert so soon, when we are on the WW Core Food Plan (I have lost 14 lbs and DH has lost 17!)? It was DH's birthday on Thursday (yes, we are both Geminis!), and I promised to make him a vegan lemon meringue pie. We had invited two other couples, so I figured one pie would serve the 6 of us with no leftovers-- perfect for a little splurge! I planned to use my low-fat olive oil pastry, and try out the meringue topping made with the Angel Food Vegan Meringue Cookie Mix.
The pie was a great hit with our omni guests! They couldn't figure out how I did it without egg whites!
Printable Recipe
BRYANNA’S VEGAN LEMON MERINGUE PIE
Makes 1/ 9” pie
6 servings
Make this delicious treat the morning of the day you plan to serve it. This recipe has 3 components—crust, filling, and topping. It sounds complicated, but it really is not. Just follow the sequence as I describe it.
For the topping, you need a packet of Angel Food Vegan Meringue Cookie Mix. The mix (which comes from NZ) is available online from Angel Food. Theyhave a list of international vendors who sell it, but I don't know how up-to-date-it is because the US and Canadian vendors listed don't seem to carry it anymore. So, contact Alice here if you want updated info.
You also need some Instant Clear-Jel (read about it at the end of this blog post). It isn't available on store shelves-- here in Canada I had to get 11 lbs. of it from a bakery supply company (Snowcap), but maybe a bakery would sell you a smaller amount.
You can now order it in Canada from the Gourmet Warehouse (Vancouver).
In the US, you can mail-order it from (and I believe that they all ship to Canada): amazon.com
Barry Farm and
King Arthur Flour
In Australia/NZ you can order it from the Angel Food online catalog.
Make and assemble the pie as follows:
1.) THE CRUST:
BRYANNA'S LOW-FAT, CRISPY OLIVE OIL PASTRY
Servings: 6 Yield: 1 crust
This crispy pastry is very easy to handle and quite low in fat (about 1 tsp. of olive oil per serving).
1 cup unbleached flour (NOT pastry flour)
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup ice-cold water
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the cold olive oil briefly. Add the water and mix with a fork until it hold together. Handle as little as possible. Lightly form it into a ball and refrigerate, covered, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
On a lightly-floured piece of baking parchment, roll out the dough to fit a 9" pie pan. Bring the pastry up to the inside top of the pan and flute it, to make a shallow shell-- not over the edge. Trim the top edge neatly. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Place a square of foil or baking parchment over the dough and weight down with a layer of dried beans. Bake 6 minutes. Remove beans and foil and bake 8-10 minutes more, or until it begins to turn golden. Remove from the oven and cool the pastry on a rack.
Reduce oven heat to 212°F. Make the Filling while the pastry cools.
2.) BRYANNA’S VEGAN LEMON MERINGUE PIE FILLING:
This filling is tangy and decidedly lemony!
Whisk together in a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom:
1 c. light unbleached organic granulated sugar
2/3 c. nondairy milk
7 T. orange juice (for color)
6 T. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
Stir constantly until the mixture is thickened and translucent.
Immediately whisk in:
1/2 c. fresh or organic bottled lemon juice
2 T. grated lemon zest OR 2 tsp. lemon extract
1 T. vegan “buttery" spread (try my homemade palm oil-free vegan "Buttah")
Cool this for 5 minutes. Pour it into the cooled pie shell and smooth the top evenly. Set aside.
Immediately make the Meringue Topping as follows:
3.) ANGEL FOOD’S VEGAN MERINGUE TOPPING:
Have ready a packet of Angel Food Vegan Meringue Cookie Mix (see info about this mix and where to purchase it in text at the beginning of the recipe).
1. In a stand mixer
with a whip, beat together for several minutes, until starting to fluff up (you may have to stop the machine and scrape the bottom of the mixer bowl if there is any dry powder not being incorporated into the mix):
2 T. sachet A
1/4 cup water
2. Add:
1/4 cup water
2. Add:
3/4 cup superfine (caster) sugar
(I just briefly grind granulated organic unbleached sugar in a clean, dry electric coffee/spice mill—BCG)
Whip for several minutes. Again, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure you have incorporated all of the powder and sugar.
3. Add:
(I just briefly grind granulated organic unbleached sugar in a clean, dry electric coffee/spice mill—BCG)Whip for several minutes. Again, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure you have incorporated all of the powder and sugar.
3. Add:
2 1/2 tsp. sachet B
4 tsp. Instant Clear-Jel
(See info in the text at the top of the main recipe for other places to purchase)
Whip again for several minutes, until it is really fluffy, and you can’t see any granules in it (scrape the bottom and sides as necessary to make sure all of the Clear-Jel gets mixed in).
You can see in the following photo that there are still granules of Clear-Jel showing:
Place spoonfuls of the meringue onto the surface of your pie. The mixture is very thick and sticky. It will spread out a little when baked and the tops of meringue “blobs” will smooth out somewhat, so allow for that. I used 10 spoonfuls around the edge and one larger one in the center.
Bake at 100°C (212°-215°F) for about 20 minutes.
Cool the pie on a rack and then refrigerate until serving. Serve the same day it is made.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 410.5 calories; 14% calories from fat; 6.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 348.8mg sodium; 121.8mg potassium; 86.4g carbohydrates; 1.1g fiber; 61.1g sugar; 85.3g net carbs; 3.1g protein; 8.6 points.
Enjoy!
4 tsp. Instant Clear-Jel
(See info in the text at the top of the main recipe for other places to purchase)Whip again for several minutes, until it is really fluffy, and you can’t see any granules in it (scrape the bottom and sides as necessary to make sure all of the Clear-Jel gets mixed in).
You can see in the following photo that there are still granules of Clear-Jel showing:
Place spoonfuls of the meringue onto the surface of your pie. The mixture is very thick and sticky. It will spread out a little when baked and the tops of meringue “blobs” will smooth out somewhat, so allow for that. I used 10 spoonfuls around the edge and one larger one in the center.
Bake at 100°C (212°-215°F) for about 20 minutes.
Cool the pie on a rack and then refrigerate until serving. Serve the same day it is made.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 410.5 calories; 14% calories from fat; 6.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 348.8mg sodium; 121.8mg potassium; 86.4g carbohydrates; 1.1g fiber; 61.1g sugar; 85.3g net carbs; 3.1g protein; 8.6 points.
Enjoy!
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