Vegan Bake-off

This weekend I was one of 20 bakers selected to participate in the first vegan bake-off, held at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY. http://www.veganbakeoff.com/

There were 3 judges:

Sarah Gross, the founder of Rescue Chocolate (http://www.rescuechocolate.com/), whose peanut butter pit bull chocolate bar is a must try. She is also the organizer of the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival (http://nycvegfoodfest.com/), which is coming up in just a few short weeks.

Myq Kaplan, a comedian and creator of the podcast "Hang Out with Me." (http://myqkaplan.com/)

Adam Sobel, owner of the Cinnamon Snail, the most amazing food truck. Ever. And it's vegan. If you live in NYC, you MUST try Cinnamon Snail. Some of my favorite are the ancho chili seitan burger and the seitan al pastor sandwich. http://www.cinnamonsnail.com/

For the competition, I created 250+ cookie sandwiches and named them "Girlfriend in a Sugar Coma (I know, I know, it's Speculoos) Cookie Sandwiches." For those of you who don't get the reference, one of my favorite Smiths songs is called Girlfriend in a Coma, and the chorus goes like this: "girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know, it's serious..." For those of you who are wondering what Speculoos is, all you need to know is that you should run out and buy some right now. Okay, okay, I'll give you a little more than that. Speculoos are Belgian cookies (marketed as Biscoff in the US), and it comes in an addictive spread. The cookies are ground into a paste (like the consistency of peanut butter), and the result is cookie butter. I used the Speculoos spread in the filling of the cookies, and turned it into a frosting-like filling.

There were awards for 1st/2nd/3rd places, and the audience choice award. I received one of each! I received the 3rd place award AND and the audience choice award. How awesome is that?!

Recipe: Banana Crumb Cake

Ingredients
Crumb Topping
1 1/2 sticks Earth Balance vegan butter, melted (equivalent to 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Cake
3 very ripe mashed bananas
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 stick Earth Balance vegan butter, softened (equivalent to 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a 9x9 square pan with aluminum foil by draping 2 pieces of the foil in a criss-cross patten over the pan. This will allow you to lift the cake entirely out of the pan when it's finished. Lightly grease the pan (after foil is placed) with a little Earth Balance, cooking spray, or vegetable oil.

Make the crumbs. Whisk the warm, melted earth balance with the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the flour and mix in (with spoons or hands). Set aside.

Make the cake. In another mixing bowl, mash the bananas really well with a fork. Then mash in the Earth Balance. Stir in the sugar, applesauce, and maple syrup until combined. Next, add in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until just combined; do not overmix.

Spread batter into greased pan.

Break apart small pieces of the crumb mixture and add to the top. Cover the batter evenly with the crumbs.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350ºF. The crumbs should be slightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean.

Recipe: Minterdoodles

My husband asked me to create these one day when we were eating snickerdoodles. "Wouldn't it be great if there was chocolate in these? Ooh, and mint too! Snickerdoodle meets chocolate and mint. Like a...minterdoodle!" And the minterdoodle was born. I suppose you could call these mint chocolate cookies, but minterdoodle is just more fun to say.

Makes about 24 cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup vegan margarine (I used earth balance buttery sticks)

2 tsp peppermint extract

2 1/4 tsp Ener-G egg replacer

3 tbsp hot water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions

Beat the sugar, margarine and the peppermint extract together. In a separate bowl, whisk the Eener-G egg replacer with the hot water. Make sure there are no lumps and that the mixture looks foamy. Then add it to the margarine/sugar/peppermint mixture. Beat until very fluffy.

Whisk the dry ingredients together. Add to batter and beat until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for approximately 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350º F. Take dough and form tablespoon-sizes balls. Place onto parchment covered cookie sheets and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!