Banana Cream Pie Bites

I DARE you to eat only one of these.  Triple dog dare you.

I developed this recipe for the Boston Pie Experiment this last weekend.  It was a pie contest really (or maybe pie bonanza is a better way to describe it, with just under 30 different kinds of pies to be sampled), but I didn't enter to compete.  I kind of just wanted an excuse to bake a ridiculous number of pies and create a new recipe.

This recipe underwent many iterations over the last few weeks.  I tried almond milk and coconut milk (both vanilla and regular flavors). With and without gelatin.  With less Earth Balance and with more Earth Balance. As a whole pie and as tiny pie bites.  They were all delicious, but I finally settled on this recipe as the one that held up best under adverse conditions (read: outside of refrigeration for any period of time).  My co-workers tried it, and I made one for my friends for my birthday a few weeks ago.  It got rave reviews.

My personal goal was not to win the pie contest.  It was simply to have people like my pie, even though it was the ONLY gluten- and dairy-free pie amid 30 regular old gluten pies.

And they did.  I tried not to stare at people as they ate it, but I surreptitiously stole glances at them as they tasted this, an expression of surprise coming over their face as the flavors washed over them (first the lovely banana flavor topped with whipped soy cream, followed by the slight kick of the gingersnap crust).  I read their mouths through the din in the room as they commented to their friends, "That is REALLY good!" A few people came back for a second sample.  And one of the guys running the event even high-fived me after tasting it. 

It was a true test of taste to put a banana cream pie with a gluten-free crust and no cream (!) up against the buttery, flour-y, dairy-laden pies I was surrounded by.  But no one (that I saw) spit this out.  Most seemed to enjoy it, perhaps to their surprise.  And that's all the prize I wanted.

Banana Cream Pie Bites
This will make one regular banana cream pie or about 50 - 70 banana cream pie bites.

For the crust:
1 bag Trader Joe's Gluten-free Gingersnaps
2.5 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread

For the filling:
1 tbsp. brown rice flour
1 tbsp. sweet rice flour
1.5 tbsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp. white sugar
3 very ripe medium bananas
3/4 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk (Trader Joe's has a new vanilla coconut milk that works, too!)
1 packet Knox gelatin + 2 tbsp. hot water (don't mix until right before you're going to use it!!)
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread

If desired: Soyatoo Soy or Rice Whip to top (totally optional!)

For a whole pie:  A regular pie dish.
For banana cream pie bites: Mini-cupcake liners.


Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Put the whole bag of gingersnaps and the 2.5 tbsp. Earth Balance in a food processor and blend until very smooth and crumbly.  You want these to be very tiny crumbs that are well-incorporated into the butter.

If you're making a whole banana cream pie:  Pour the crumb mixture into a pie dish and pat it evenly around the sides and bottom of the pan.  Make sure you pat it down very firmly.

If you're making banana cream pie bites: Place a heaping teaspoon of the mixture into each mini-cupcake liner.  Using your thumb or the teaspoon, press it down firmly into the cupcake liner, creating a little well for the banana cream. 

Separate your egg yolks and whisk them lightly in a medium-sized bowl.  Set aside.

Rinse the food processor out and blend the bananas and coconut milk together for about 3 - 4 minutes, or until very smooth.  In a large sauce pan, combine the brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt and whisk together.  Add the banana and coconut milk mixture and whisk together.  Combine the Knox gelatin powder with 2 tbsp. of hot water, whisk together, and add immediately to the pot, stirring it in well (if you don't add it right away, it will become a block of gel).  Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly to avoid the flours settling, until it comes to a full boil.

When it comes to a boil, turn off the heat.  This is where it gets slightly tricky. You're going to add some of the hot mixture to the egg yolks, but just a tiny bit at a time, whisking each bit thoroughly into the eggs before adding more.  You're doing this to bring the temperature of the eggs up slowly so they don't cook or curdle on you.  Add about a tablespoon or less at a time until you've added about 1/3 of the banana cream mixture, and then return the egg mixture to the original pot and mix it in with the rest of the banana cream.  Return to medium heat and continue to whisk until it comes to a boil.  Boil for 2 more minutes (keep on whiskin'!) and then remove from heat.  Stir in the vanilla and Earth Balance Buttery Spread.

If you're making a whole banana cream pie: Pour the whole thing into the pie crust you prepared earlier.  Bake for 10 minutes at 350 F.  Remove from oven and let cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set.

If you're making banana cream pie bites:  Measure out a heaping teaspoon of banana cream for each pie bite. Bake for 6 - 8 minutes or until the edges of the crust are golden brown. If you're baking two trays at once, be sure to rotate them halfway through so they don't bake unevenly.  Let cool and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set.

No matter what kind of pie you're making: Top with Soyatoo Rice or Soy Whip and any leftover gingersnap crumbs before serving, if desired.  And try not to eat all of it yourself!

Healthy Truffles

You may be asking, how can truffles be healthy?  And with good reason.  Normally, truffles are buttery, silky smooth balls of intense chocolate.  They melt in your mouth and overwhelm you with their richness.  They embody indulgence.

People in grad school tend to do a lot of stress eating.  (Although, let's face it, I've always been a stress eater anyway, so I can't blame it entirely on grad school.)  Truffles, and chocolate in general, are an obvious default candidate for those frenzied hours of studying and snacking.  So I am in an ongoing quest to make my stress eating a little less awful by developing healthier versions of some of my favorite snacks.  My friend Sarah (whose adorable children I babysit) and I have been tweaking this recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough balls a little bit each time we make them, which is often (her kids devour them as quickly as she makes them.)  Sarah had the brilliant idea to add cocoa powder to the regular version to make a sort of "brownie bite," and from there, we just kept tweaking until this version came about.  In my chocolate-addled state of mind, I decided to take it a step further and roll them in cocoa powder (just to add to the chocolate quotient).  And, ta-da!  Truffles.

I brought some of these to school with me to share with some of my classmates, who loved them.  One friend said that the texture was great because it really fools you into thinking you're eating a truffle; another said they were simply amazing overall.  The best part is how quickly and easily you can whip up a batch because it's truly just a matter of throwing all of the ingredients into your food processor and hitting "blend."  And you can't really mess these up because you can always tweak them by adding a little more of one ingredient or a little less of another until you find the combination and texture you personally like.  The recipe is very forgiving in that way.  And if you don't feel like rolling them into balls, just put the mixture in a bowl and eat it with a spoon.  I won't tell (because I've definitely done that before). 

So go ahead.  Indulge.  Because now, it's healthy.

Healthy Truffles

7 Trader Joe's Fancy Medjool Dates (with pits removed)
1/3 cup cashews
1/4 cup gluten-free oats
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tbsp. Marshmallow Fluff or Vegan Ricemellow Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/2 tbsp. pure cocoa powder + 1 tbsp. for rolling truffles
1-4 tbsp. So Delicious Coconut Milk, as needed
1 tbsp. granulated sugar (for rolling truffles - optional)

Place the dates (be sure to remove the pits!), cashews, oats, vanilla, coconut, Fluff, and cocoa powder in a food processor and blend on the highest speed.  When the food processor seems to have done as much as it can with those ingredients, start adding the So Delicious Coconut Milk one tablespoon at a time.  You want these to be very creamy so the texture is like the inside of a truffle, but still firm enough that you can roll them into balls.  Continue to pulse on the highest speed so that they are as well-blended as possible.

On a plate, combine the 1 tbsp. cocoa powder and the 1 tbsp. sugar (you can leave the sugar out if you want, although they will taste slightly more bitter).  (If the mixture is too thin, you can put it in the fridge for a little while to harden it up before you roll it into balls.)  Remove the chocolate mixture by tablespoonful and roll into balls with your hands, and then roll in the cocoa and sugar mixture to coat.  Place on a plate.  Refrigerate them for at least two hours before removing them to a container where they are touching each other.  Eat as needed.

Samoa Girl Scout Cookies

Who out there misses Girl Scout Cookies?  Samoas, anyone?  You might not have to miss them quite as much if you make these.  They're not spot on, but they are - shall we say - reminiscent.  If you don't compare them directly to the gooey coconut-y fudgey deliciousness of Samoas, you'll probably like them even more.  Lose the comparison entirely and they become decadent.

I was lucky enough to host a friend of mine over the weekend, a friend who is scarily similar to me in many ways.  One thing we share is a love of baking, and we spent much of her visit in my kitchen, chatting endlessly as we made one delicious thing after another.  On the first day of her visit, we walked past a little cluster of hopeful Girl Scouts  in the Harvard subway station.  They were standing in front of huge stacks of cookie boxes, trying their best sales pitches/pleas on the passing commuters.  While we didn't buy any for obvious gluten reasons, they inspired us to try making Girl Scout cookies on our own at home.  After all, how hard could it be?

Not very hard, really - and fun!  All it takes is a good cookie base - we used shortbread, but feel free to try any other vanilla cookie base that you think would work - and then it's just a matter of the coconut cream and chocolate.  Easy to assemble, and despite being shortbread (aka butter-based), ended up tasting quite light and airy when all was said and done.  The shortbread base did become slightly crumbly, making the process of eating them a little messy.  There are two ways to remedy that.  You could use a different base, one that is more like a regular cookie, which will be softer and chewier.  Or - you can avoid crumbs by eating the entire cookie at once.  The choice is yours.  But if you're looking for a Samoa fix, these are the cookies for you.

Gluten-free Samoa Girl Scout Cookies

For the shortbread:

1/3 cup brown rice flour 
1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tbsp. tapioca starch
3/4 cup, or 1.5 sticks, Fleischmann's baking margarine or Earth Balance "Butter"
Sweet rice flour for dusting


For the coconut cream and chocolate drizzle:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp. coconut oil (can substitute Earth Balance Buttery Spread)
1/2 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup shredded coconut + 2 tbsp. for sprinkling over cookies
1/4 tsp. salt (or more to taste)
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
3 oz. Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 300 F.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

Using an electric hand mixer (if you don't have one, just do the best you can by hand), cream the butter until it is very smooth.  Slowly beat in the dry ingredients bit by bit until they are well mixed.  Using your hands, gather the dough into a big ball, kneading any uneven parts as necessary.

Break off the dough by tablespoonful and roll into balls.  Place them on the parchment paper and, after dusting with the sweet rice flour to keep from sticking, flatten with the bottom of a cup or a fork or spoon. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes, until they are firm to the touch, but not yet browned.  Remove from oven and let sit on the hot cookie sheets for another 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

In the meantime, prepare the coconut cream.  Melt the sugar and coconut oil together into a small pot and toast them together for about 1 - 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning/sticking.  Add the coconut milk and vanilla and stir well.  Simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes or until the mixture has reduced a bit and has become slightly thicker.  Add the shredded coconut and salt and stir in well.  Continue to cook for another 2 - 3 minutes, or until it has thickened more.  Remove from the pot into a bowl.  Let cool for a few minutes, then add the powdered sugar (which will help thicken it even more).  If yours still isn't very thick, you can try adding a bit of extra cornstarch as well.  Continue to cool.

In a regular nonstick pot, melt the chocolate over low heat. (If you have a double boiler, go ahead and use that!)  You could also microwave the chocolate in increments of 15 seconds if you prefer to avoid pots altogether.  Once it is melted, place it in a small baggie.  When you're ready to use it, cut a small hole at one of the corners to drizzle it over the cookies.

When the cookies have cooled, spread a layer of the cooled coconut cream on top, then drizzle chocolate over the coconut cream to your heart's content.  If desired, sprinkle some extra coconut flakes over the cookies before the toppings dry.  You can eat them right away, but the icing will still be slightly melty, so it works better to refrigerate them for a few hours before you serve them.

These can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.  If they last that long.

Creamy Asparagus Soup with Coconut Milk

  

Well, if you're like me, you ate way too many double chocolate espresso cookies in the last week.  Like, way too many.  And then, maybe you made a chocolate cake with coconut samoa icing to bring to a party on Friday (recipe for the icing forthcoming!).  And then maybe you had a huge helping of brioche french toast for breakfast on Saturday morning.  Maybe by Saturday night, your body had had it.

This is a soup for a detox day.  When your body is screaming for some nutritious goodness.  When all it wants is a damn vegetable, for Pete's sake.

This soup is so simple to make, and I suspect you could substitute a variety of other vegetables for the asparagus, if you don't have any of that on hand.  Or, you know, if you hate asparagus.  Try it with broccoli, or cauliflower, for instance.  I bet it would be fantastic.  Just a warning - this is a batch for a girl living alone and makes only about two cups of soup overall.  If you're cooking for several people, or if you want to have a bunch leftover, consider doubling or even tripling the recipe.

I owe the creamy texture of this to my aunt, who introduced me recently to So Delicious Coconut Milk, a lower calorie option to regular canned coconut milk.  It doesn't have a super strong coconut flavor in my opinion, and that makes it quite ideal for making creamy soups like this one without detracting from the flavor of the other ingredients.  I used So Delicious Original, which has only 80 calories per cup (and I only used one cup in the whole recipe!), but the So Delicious Unsweetened only has 50 calories, for those of you who want to trim even a few more calories off of this recipe.  Compare that to regular coconut milk, which can have - gasp - 480 calories per cup, or even lite coconut milk, with 180 calories per cup.  Not that I don't love to use regular coconut milk in my Thai curries, but it's not the most detox-friendly option.

You can feel good about eating this soup, is what I'm saying.  Your body will thank you.

Creamy Asparagus Soup with Coconut Milk
Serves 2

1 1/2 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 medium onion
1/2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 1/2 cups chopped asparagus (about 350 grams, or 3/4 lb.), with ends trimmed off
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/8 tsp. dried rosemary
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley + more for garnish
1 cup So Delicious Original Coconut Milk (or another creamy non-dairy milk)
1/2 tsp. salt + more to taste
Pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, melt the Earth Balance Buttery Spread.  Add the onion, ginger, and garlic and saute over medium-low heat for about 4 - 6 minutes, or until the onion starts to become translucent.

Clean and trim the asparagus and chop into small pieces (about 1 inch long).  When the onion is translucent, add the chopped asparagus and vegetable or chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Add the dried rosemary and fresh parsley, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the asparagus pieces are very tender.

Using either an immersion blender or food processor, puree the soup until very smooth.  Return to the pot and add the So Delicious Coconut Milk and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve immediately or chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving.  Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and drizzle with a little extra coconut milk before serving.

Spicy Thai Curry Soup with Bell Peppers and Pineapple

The warmth and spice in this lovely soup has been a welcome relief from the chilly maelstrom of snow that, more often than not, has swirled outside my window over the last month in Boston.  The trick to giving this soup the depth of flavor you'd expect from a Thai restaurant is to use a blend of curry pastes and a hint of brown sugar to complement and ease your taste buds into the spice.  Don't worry, though - this can be as mild or hot as you prefer, so don't be frightened away by the word "curry!"  Finely crushed pineapple works beautifully because the tiny pieces find their way into every spoonful, but you can use any cut of pineapple you like, big or small, and it will still taste fabulous.  Save this one for particularly horrible weather and have it ready to warm you up when you come in from shoveling.

Spicy Thai Curry Soup with Bell Peppers and Pineapple
Serves 2 - 3

1 - 1 1/2 tbsp. Taste of Thai red curry paste (add more or less to taste)
1 - 1 1/2 tbsp. Taste of Thai panaang curry paste (add more or less to taste)
1 can coconut milk (you can use lite if you don't mind sacrificing some creaminess)
1/4 cup soy creamer or So Delicious Original Coconut Milk (optional)
10 oz., or 6 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, fat trimmed and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 small or 1/2 very large red bell pepper, sliced into 2-inch pieces
1 small can crushed pineapple (with juice drained)
2-3 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt (more to taste)
Jasmine rice to serve (optional)

Put the curry pastes into a medium-sized pot and heat over medium heat for about 30-60 seconds.  Add the entire can of coconut milk and soy creamer and stir to mix with the curry paste.  Bring to a boil, then add the chicken.  Stir, then cover and simmer for at least 10 - 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  After the first 10 minutes, add the chopped bell pepper.  Wait another 5 minutes, and then add the drained crushed pineapple.  Stir well, and simmer uncovered for another 5 - 10 minutes.  Add the brown sugar and salt to taste.  When the soup is the thickness you desire, remove from heat and serve immediately.  Serve with Jasmine rice or on its own as a soup.