Sunday, December 28, 2008

xmas means sugar, right?

(pumpkin oatmeal cookies, molasses snaps, sugar cookie sticks, meltaway shortbread, sugar-plum stars, chocolate thumbprints with cranberry or chestnut, PB and chocolate bonbons, PB-fruit-coconut-almond bonbons, and 12th century nutmeg spice cookies)

Merry season everyone! Those cookies up there are the symbols of festivity I decided to make lest there be no christmas cheer in my heart at all. Not to say I didn't have a wonderful and family-filled trip home, but somehow... I'm feeling distanced from the traditions. No big surprise really... age and a certain mistrust of buying shit will take their toll, making it a very good thing that my heart will always ring with passion for cooking at least. And so, there was the night of a million cookies. Or rather, maybe six or seven batches. It was AWESOME. Just me and a table full of flours and extracts and whisks, neatly and precisely churning out dough after dough, and pulling perfectly browned trays out of my mom's oven (that actually WORKS). I was so surprised it only took me a couple of hours - with the notable exception of the shortbread, which had me up to wee hours with the hand-whipping and chilling and 45 minute baking times but it was worth it in every way a mind can conceive. Move over butter - baking for so long turns EB into something intensely delicious, toasty and redolent and I'm glad I left it unadorned in it's proud "cadillac-of-margarines" glory.

Then I made a cake, inspired in large part by these lilliputian mandarins my mom picked up. It's the mandarin-orange-spice cake that has it's own full colour glamour shot in extraveganza, and it's glossy photo is more than deserved. The cake itself isn't over sweet, instead it's spicy and moist (and very christmas-y!), and a perfect vehicle for rich almond butter citrus icing that tasted a lot like magic. Should have been cashew, but you use what you have. Almonds have more personality anyway!

Giant slice for me? Oh, you shouldn't have! No really, you take this slice, I'll have the rest of the cake...... :D

It's a christmas day tradition at my dad's to have non-vegan belgian waffles with berries and cream, and every year previous I've made myself happy with (actually pretty good) fruit salad and maybe a tofurkey brat fried up with ketchup. But this year I was offered a spot in the waffle maker and I figured why not? I made the ppk apple waffles that were so good my step-mom jumped on the leftovers and I started to seriously consider spending my mall money certificates on a novelty waffle iron. They even picked up a bottle of whippy edible oil topping that in very very small doses (ie: once a year) I actually enjoy.

Later christmas dinner, the photo of which I considered not posting even at all. It's a little smooshy! But yummy. So much so! I made red wine and maple baked tempeh, roasted potatoes with mushroom gravy, sesame broccoli, butternut squash with fresh thyme and garlic oil, rye stuffing, roast parsnip, turnip and carrot, dill and avocado salad, and lime-glazed beets. Just excellent, I was moaning all over the tempeh, which is always a treat to me, and even managed to save room for dessert - an apple cherry crumble with almonds and pecans that I will NOT post because it looks a little like something undergoing surgery but I can assure you was almost addictive with some Vitasoy Holly Nog splashed on top. (Said Nog also made my oatmeal xmasserrific my whole week home, I love that stuff.)

Here's to a new year and to Xmas being through and to all a goodnight (I can't wait to get back to school!!!)


EDIT: At Joanna's request, and because it's available online anyway, I'm posting the Mandarin cake recipe.

Mandarin Orange Spice Cake

1 3/4 cups spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp each nutmeg, cloves, and allspice
2/3 cup maple syrup
4 tbsp canola or other natural oil
3 tbsp mandarin orange juice, freshly squeezed (about 3 mandarins)
1 tbsp mandarin orange zest
1 tsp fresh gingerroot, grated
3/4 cup rice milk or soy milk
1 recipe Creamy Mandarin Icing

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. In a smaller bowl combine the maple syrup, oil, orange juice and zest, ginger and soy milk and whisk together to emulsify the wet ingredients. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix with a fork gently; do not beat. Pour into a lightly oiled and floured 8x8-inch cake pan, a Bundt pan, or an 8-inch springform pan. Bake 35-40 minutes. Check to see if cake is done by inserting a toothpick into the centre of cake; it should come out clean. Let cool on a rack before removing from the pan. Decorate the cake with Creamy Mandarin Orange Icing and garnish with edible flowers such as tangerine gems or calendula.

Creamy Mandarin Icing

1/2 cup soy margarine
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cashew butter
1 tbsp mandarin orange zest

Blend all ingredients in a food processor on high for several minutes until very creamy and thoroughly combined. Chill icing for 1-2 hours. Spread onto thoroughly cooled cake and decorate with grated orange rind and calendula flowers. Keep cake chilled until serving. Variation: Add 1/2-1 tsp each of beet powder and turmeric to dye the icing an orange colour. Add a small portion of each at a time as you blend the icing, until you reach a desired colour.

16 comments:

Amy said...

It all looks incredible! Yum! I want waffles and cake....and I want cookies too! (I can't decide, I want it all :P)

Anonymous said...

Can I come and live with you? Or can I at least come over next Christmas? You are so awesome.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

AMAAAAAZING EATS & TREATS!!!

Happy New Year, Liz!!

jessy said...

i just drooled a bit onto the paperwork on my desk! seriously. ahahahahahaa. awesome! xmas totally = sugar! yay! and that mandarin-orange-spice cake = the best EVER! sounds sooo good - and i love the "money shot"! w00t! your waffles - totally wish i had some this morning instead of crappy oatmeal. and red wine & maple baked tempeh sounds so awesome - especially with all the other gloriousness on your plate!mmmmmmmm!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, what a huge beautiful array of goodies! I'm glad you had a good Christmas. I'm also a little jaded by the commercialization of it all, and am secretly glad it's all over for another 48 weeks.

Joanna said...

your cake is stunning!! care to share the recipe??? i want to make something for wednesday night but i haven't decided yet. i'd love to try this out.

Eileen said...

CAKEWANT.

yay recipe! now to bust open the entire bag of clementines.

Theresa said...

zomg, what a delicious christmas! I'm like you--anti-buying-useless-crap plus not religious means that christmas is nothing more than an excuse to over indulge. But what a good excuse it is!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is one seriously impressive cookie platter! Even I wasn't that prolific in the kitchen for holiday gifts this year! ;)

Anonymous said...

'The night of a million cookies' ?!?!?
YOU.ARE.MY.HERO.

Anonymous said...

What beautiful food! Yummers.
I lost the holiday spirit for a few years, but it has since came back. It helps to get away from the evil commercialness it's better. Baking helps too!

Amey said...

that cake is so beautiful! I LOVE the way you decorated it. Extraveganza is one of the few vegan cookbooks that i DON'T have... so thanks for sharing that recipe.

Ruby Red said...

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, your xmas dinner plate looks magical! All right, any plate is magical if it has tempeh, butternut squash, beets, and parsnips on it. WOW.

And if you were a Sesame Street star, I think they would call you "Cookie Machine" instead of cookie monster...that's a heck of a lot of cookies! I think cookie-making is fun, but I do one batch at a time and feel fulfillment. You certainly have lotsa cookie love!

Hooray for waffles on Christmas morning, too! I had almond butter banana oatmeal because that's what I really really wanted, but waffles always look prettier. I think the apple ones are Isa's only waffle recipe I haven't tried!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

Your cake looks sooo pretty! The cookies are all really cute too.

Sarah P said...

I WANT IT ALL

T said...

That cake looks like pure joy- so freaking cute!