Sweet Cookie Recipe

From Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

This is a sweet and tasty baked good that I make to give desserts and ice creams more texture. They’re a little like goro (cardamom cookies), and you can bake them in a goro iron, a krumkake (Norwegian waffle cookie) iron, or on a baking sheet in the oven. They’re not reserved for Christmas.


Recommended Equipment:
krumkake iron or goro iron

Ingredients:
1/3 cup (50g) powdered sugar
1/3 cup (50g) flour
2 egg whites (50g)
3 tbsp (50g) unsalted butter, softened

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
2. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, and stir it all into a smooth batter with a hand whisk.
3. Use a spatula or palette and spread out small cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for about 3 minutes, or until they are light golden. Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet. They can be bent and shaped while they’re warm.
5. A cake box is the perfect storage place for sweet cookies. They keep there for 2 weeks.
6. Another way to make the cookies is to put 1 tablespoon of batter in a krumkake iron. Bake (over medium heat on stove top) until golden and shape them as desired. They can also be cut while they’re warm.
   

Recipe courtesy of Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

Norway [ print this recipe for Sweet Cookies ]

Bannocks Recipe

from Cook Wild by Susanne Fischer-Rizzi.....

This recipe comes from my Native American friend Shirley. She lives in the Yukon Territory in north-western Canada. Bannocks are part of every social gathering there; that is why the recipe is for fifteen people. If your ‘tribe’ is smaller, you can halve the quantities.

Recommended Equipment:
Cast iron pan or flat lid of a Dutch oven. You can also make bannocks on a hot stone, a roof tile or a muurikka.

Ingredients:
1 kg (2 1/4 lb) 7 1/2 cups flour
1 tspn baking powder
2 level tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (brown)
About 3/4 liter (1 1/2 pints) 3 cups cold water
About 500 ml (1 pint) 2 cups vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower oil, rapeseed oil) for deep frying.

Preparation:

1. Mix all of the ingredients into a dough and use immediately.
2. Heat some oil in a pan.
3. With a large spoon, take some dough, put it in the pan and press it flat to a diameter of about 5cm/2 inches. When the bottom of the bread has browned a little, turn it with a fork and brown the other side. The bannocks will be done when you flick them with your finger and they sound hollow. Serve hot.

Variations:
There are countless variations.

• In Canada they put cranberries in the dough. You could also use other wild berries such as blueberries, barberries or lingonberries.
• Some recipes use milk or powdered milk in the dough.
• Other possible ingredients include: raisins, grated coconut, pieces of dried apple, beechnuts, pine seeds, small pieces of cheese and bacon.
• You can also add wild herbs to the dough.

Bannocks make great breakfast food at campfires, and they also taste good as a side dish with stews and meat.

Fire: A mature fire with low flames for constant heat.

Makes about 30 Bannocks

Recipe courtesy of Cook Wild by Susanne Fischer-Rizzi

Canada [ print this recipe for Bannocks ]

Apple Pizza Recipe

Whenever it is pizza night at our house we either have Apple Pizza or Chocolate Pizza for dessert. Both of these use the Neapolitan Pizza Dough recipe so either could be served with Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Fresh Basil Pizza, or São Paulo Style Portuguese Pizza which also use the Neapolitan style dough as a base.

Recommended Equipment:
Pizza stone

Ingredients:
Neapolitan Pizza Dough
mozzarella cheese, sliced
apple, thinly sliced
honey
cinnamon, ground

Preparation:

1. Place pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
   
2. Next, use one of your Neapolitan pizza doughs and form a thin oval crust.
3. Cover it with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese.
4. Place apple slices on top of the mozzarella.
5. Drizzle honey over the apples.
6. Sprinkle cinnamon over the apples and honey.
7. Slide pizza onto the pizza stone in the oven and bake for 6 minutes.
8. Let cool for 3 to 4 minutes then serve.
   

Italy [ print this recipe for Apple Pizza ]

Book Review: Vegan Junk Food

Ever thought about becoming a vegan but your love for junk food got in the way? Well, now you have no excuse. Vegan Junk Food by Lane Gold features 225 animal friendly, good to the planet recipes that will satisfy vegans and non-vegans alike. Gold has been a vegan for 10 years and has also been a personal chef in Los Angeles for 5 years. She runs a catering coop that features seasonal, organic, and local specialties. She is a food justice advocate and she is also a volunteer at local farms.

Vegan Junk Food showcases Lane Gold’s talent for recreating classic recipes into vegan friendly dishes using creative substitutions. She manages to do this without compromising any of the dish’s original flavors. She is also adept at creating new favorites like Eggplant Bacon, Portobello Cheese Steak, and Sausage Puffs to name a few. This book is an valuable resource for anyone that is interested in incorporating more vegan dishes into their diet. It not only provides substitutes that you can use in your cooking, it also recommends specific brands. Some of these include the substitutions below:

Meat – textured vegetable protein (TVP), seitan or wheat meat, frozen meat patties (Gardein or Boca), Hot Dogs (Yves Veggie or Tofurky), soy chorizo, or Bacon Bits (Frontier’s Bac’uns).

Non-Dairy Milk – almond milk, hemp milk, rice milk, coconut milk, or soy milk.

Egg – use ground flax seeds and water, blended tofu, or applesauce as binders.

Margarine – use a brand that is not hydrogenated and is trans-fat free – Earth Balance

Table Sugar – vegan cane sugar, beet sugar, granulated and dehydrated cane juice – Florida Crystals

Brown Sugar – sucanat or whole cane sugar.

Powdered Sugar – powdered sugar made from organic sugar cane – Wholesome Sweeteners

Chocolate – avoid brands that use lecithin. Chocolate chips – Sunspire; Chocolate bars – Sjaaks or Nicobella.

Marshmallows – avoid brands that include gelatin. - Sweet and Sara, Dandies; You can also use marshmallow Fluff – Susanne’s Rice Mellow Crème.

Cheese – Daiya or nutritional yeast (www.bobsredmill.com)

In our review, we chose three recipes that were all part of the same meal. We decided to make the Tandoori Tempeh Pizza which used Onion Garlic Naan bread as the crust and Cucumber Soygurt Sauce as a garnish. Each of these recipes was easy to make and turned out perfect on the first attempt. Each of the recipes that we tried seamed to be very well tested as they did not require any adjustments to the original recipe. We're not vegans so some of the ingredients like Soygurt and Tampeh were somewhat foreign to us. However, they were easy to find at a regular grocery store. Each of the three recipes that we tried were exceptional and I’m sure we will be making each of them again soon. The naan bread was especially good and my mother-in-law (who is from India) could not believe that naan that was not cooked in a clay oven could taste this way!! We give Vegan Junk Food five stars out of five.

Juan-Carlos Paella Recipe

from Cook Wild by Susanne Fischer-Rizzi.....

A good friend of mine lived in Spain for a long time and found the love of his life there. He also learned how to cook the most delicious paella from Juan Carlos of Valencia, who told him that paella used to be cooked on the rice fields surrounding Valencia, on open fires fueled with rice straw. At that time, the paella consisted of rice, very few vegetables and rat meat - a rather unsavory story which our children relish. - Sabine Mader

Recommended Equipment:

• a paella pan or other large pan (inner diameter, about 12 1/2 inches) or a muurikka
• a small mortar and pestle for the saffron
• a stable stand for the pan

Ingredients:
3 chicken legs cut into pieces
olive oil
1 small can pizza tomatoes
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, plus some for garnishing
1 - 3 garlic cloves
1 generous pinch sweet paprika
1 pinch freshly ground pepper
1/4 tspn cayenne pepper
1 handful green beans, stringed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 handful thick white beans. soaked the day before
about 6 1/2 cups of vegetable stock
salt
2 1/2 cups short-grain paella rice
4 pinches saffron (saffron threads pestled and dissolved in warm water)

Preparation:

1. Brown the chicken pieces in oil in a large pan or a paella pan.
2. Add the tomatoes, rosemary, garlic, paprika, pepper, cayenne pepper, as well as the green and white beans, and let it all simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Now add half of the vegetable stock and season with salt (it should taste a bit too salty, as the saltiness will be reduced when the rice is added).
4. Add the rice to the pan in a strip down the middle so that the chicken mixture is divided in two and some rice is on the surface. Then spread the rice over the paella.
5. Dissolve the saffron in the remaining vegetable stock, gradually add it to the pan and let everything simmer until the rice is done. For an especially delicious flavor leave the paella over the heat so that it is lightly fried.

Fire:
Small cooking fire with constant flames. Continuously add small branches or logs.

Recipe courtesy of Cook Wild by Susanne Fischer-Rizzi

Spain [ print this recipe for Juan-Carlos Paella ]

Chai Tea (Indian Spiced Tea) Recipe

from Cook Wild by Susanne Fischer-Rizzi.....

I got to know and love chai during my time in India. Despite the hot weather there, the spiced tea had a stimulating and strengthening effect. Later, when I was trekking in Nepal, I appreciated this delicious drink again: it warmed not only my cold fingers but also my entire body, and gave me strength for the mountain trek. The milk for the drink had been taken from a water buffalo shortly before and gave the chai a particularly creamy flavor. Instead of water buffalo milk I like to add a dash of cream to my chai. As soon as winter starts, I drink my chai with galangal root to prevent colds.

Recommended Equipment:
a pot with a lid or a hobo oven
a sieve

Ingredients:
6 1/2 cups water
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods, squashed
1 slice fresh ginger, about 1/2 cm thick
2 cloves
1 generous tbsp black tea leaves (Darjeeling or English tea)
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup milk or milk-cream mixture

Preparation:

1. Put the cold water and spices in a pot with a lid. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.
2. Add the tea leaves and sugar and simmer without the lid for a further 2 - 3 minutes; if necessary, stir until the sugar has dissolved.
   
3. Finally, add the milk and bring to a boil. Strain and drink hot.

Tip:
Instead of ginger you could use galangal root (also called laos and available in Asian food shops). Both ginger and galangal root stimulate the body's defense mechanisms, protecting it from colds and flu.

Fire:
Fire with low flames or a Swedish log fire.

Recipe courtesy of Cook Wild by Susanne Fischer-Rizzi

India [ print this recipe for Chai Tea ]

Slow Cooker Québécois Pea Soup Recipe

Québécois Pea Soup is one of the most popular recipes in Canada's eastern provinces. It is a rich and hearty soup perfect for the cold days of the Great White North. Québécois Pea Soup is perfect for busy working families as it is easy to prepare in the slow cooker. You only need to saute the onions for a few minutes before adding them along with the other ingredients to the slow cooker. It only requires 4 hours of cooking in the slow cooker on low heat.

Recommended Equipment:
slow cooker

Ingredients:
1 pound of dry yellow split peas
8 cups water
1/2 pound of salt pork, uncut
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 tspn dried rosemary
1/2 tspn dried sage
1/2 tspn dried thyme
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Soak dried yellow split peas in a pot of water overnight. Strain water from the split peas. Add the split peas to the slow cooker.
2. Add the 8 cups of water to the slow cooker along with the piece of salt pork.
3. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onions in the olive oil until the onions become clear and translucent. Add the onions and the olive oil to the slow cooker.
4. Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker.
5. Cook for 4 hours on low heat.
   
6. Remove salt pork from slow cooker. Cut away the fat. Chop up the lean pieces of pork and add it back to the soup. Serve hot.
   

Canada [ print this recipe for Québécois Pea Soup ]

Tandori Tempeh Pizza Recipe

A super-flavorful pizza with an Indian flair, featuring warming spices and a cool cucumber dip. This reminds me of something you could order at a small out-of-the-way Indian eatery in London...best enjoyed at 2 A.M. after consuming many pints.

Ingredients:
1 6 oz. carton plain unsweetened soygurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tspn fresh ginger, grated
1 tspn salt
1 tspn cumin
1 tspn coriander
1 tspn chili powder (optional)
1/2 tspn paprika
1/2 tspn turmeric
1 8 oz. package of tempeh, chopped into 2-inch cubes
1/2 recipe of Onion-Garlic Naan or 6 whole-wheat pitas
1/4 onion, sliced thin

+ Cucumber Soygurt Sauce as a side dish or garnish

Preparation:

1. In a large shallow dish, add soygurt, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, salt, cumin, coriander, chili powder, paprika, and turmeric, using a whisk to combine. Add tempeh and marinate overnight for best results.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Place cooked naan on cookie sheet. Top with marinated tempeh and onions. Drizzle with olive oil.
4. Place sheet under the broiler and broil for 4 to 6 minutes watching carefully. Tempeh and onions should brown and naan should crisp but not burn.
5. Serve with Cucumber Soygurt Sauce.

Recipe courtesy of Vegan Junk Food by Lane Gold

India [ print this recipe for Tandori Tempeh Pizza ]