Who says pies have to be round?

squaring the circle with vegan pumpkin pie

I was trying to make a pumpkin pie for a dinner party at Stevie’ and Hegui’s and discovered that I don’t actually own a round pie dish. So I used of a square pan instead! I knew it might look kind of odd but a pie is made in a pan so I reasoned it would be okay. And since this one is vegan, it seems perfectly natural to present it in a distinctive way. Suddenly necessity becomes meaningful and “just right,” which is so often the case with cooking, don’t you think?

Now you’re probably thinking, why in the world are you making pumpkin pie in May? Well, I bought some extra cans of pumpkin during the holiday season so I could enjoy pie out of “pie season.” Stores stop selling canned pumpkin this time of year, which can totally crimp your style.

The pie is unbelievably festive too with the addition of this vegan Cool Whip type stuff from Trader Joes. So, cheers to a non conventional themed square shaped pie not in pumpkin pie season!

My vegan crust is based on this recipe.

square pumpkin pie all around

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cold water
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp vegan butter
¼ tbsp salt
3 tbsp agave nectar or honey
1 can pure pumpkin
½ cup coconut or soy milk
1 tsp Trader Joes pumpkin pie seasoning or similar
More agave nectar for pumpkin mix

Pre heat oven to 450F.

Mix flour, cold water, vegan butter, salt and honey together until smooth and it forms a ball. Oil a square pan with veggie butter (oh, okay, round is fine too). Press out the dough to cover the bottom and sides of your pan. Bake crust for ten minutes until crispy on edges. Take it out and let it sit for a few minutes.

Mix pumpkin, coconut milk and the pumpkin pie seasoning together. Add agave nectar to sweeten to taste. Pour pumpkin mix onto pie crust and put back in oven for 35 minutes. Let cool for about a half hour or so.

When ready to serve whip out the Trader Joes vegan dessert whip and voila pumpkin pie right before summer!

one mouth-watering slice of starfruit

I never gave too much thought to starfruit, or carambola, as it is called elsewhere outside English speaking countries in the western world. I only got drawn to it after a trip Steven and I took to Brazil together several years ago. On a visit to the State of Espirito Santo our friend and host surprised us every morning with delicious freshly made unusual tropical fruit juices. Some unusual even to me because though I am from Brazil, food culture varies widely from region to region, just like in the U. S. Some fruits produced in the northern states never reach the south where I grew up. One of these our friend, Luiz, used to make the morning juice: carambola!

Steven was ecstatic when he saw the huge bag of starfruit being triturated in the blender that first morning. At the time we were living in NYC. A single piece of “exotic” carambola at our favorite gourmet shop, Balducci’s, probably cost 5 bucks. And there was our friend with at least two dozen, happily and somewhat mundanely making them all into juice! It was fun thinking we were drinking a pitcher of fruit juice that would probably cost over a hundred dollars back home. What a glamorous life!

my whole star fruit from 99 Ranch Market standing on end

I think that for a fruit to be delicious, it doesn’t necessarily have to come in bold flavors. And this is certainly the case with starfruit. It has a waxy skin with a crunchy texture. Steven believes it has an apple-like texture with a totally different flavor. That flavor is mild: faintly light, juicy, sweet and tart, subtly redolent of watermelon, passion fruit, apple, grape, pineapple and pear, individually or all combined. It’s great to eat just as-is, but you can also add it to salads, use it to creatively garnish desserts (think Independence Day), and of course, if you’re in Brazil and/or have a carambola tree in your backyard, or better yet, have a lot of money to burn, juice it!

Carambola originally comes from Southwest Asia and was brought to the Americas over 100 years ago. It has very few calories, and is a good source of potassium. Learn more about it here.

carambola side view

The other day after watching hang-gliders in Fort Funston we went shopping at an Asian supermarket in Daly City, 99 Ranch Market. I found the biggest starfruit I’ve ever seen there. It probably weighed a whole pound! It looked so gorgeous I had to get it. We ate this carambola as a snack while cooking dinner. It tasted exactly like Brazil. I can’t wait to go back for more. Carambola, you truly are a star.

The white corn cake that Fer from the Brazilian blog chucrute com salsicha made the other day caught my eye because she uses an ingredient of which I have plenty in my pantry: harina de maiz nixtamalizada, or Mexican corn flour. It’s been sitting around since Steven prepared delicious vegetarian tamales awaiting the next tamale cook-off because we didn’t know what else to make with it.

Brazilian style corn cake with Mexican nixtamalized corn flour

Fer is based here in Northern California. She shares the same trouble I do when it comes to buying corn flour for Brazilian dishes. In the US it is ground too coarsely. So she resorted to the Mexican corn flour which has a similar texture to the Brazilian. I think that’s wonderfully creative in-and-of-itself and has given me loads of new ideas already.

I’ve wanted to test this flour for some time but never got around to doing it. I guess was afraid that the way the corn was processed, nixtamalization, would impart a different flavor to the cake. Well, that was completely wrong. Thanks for debunking that myth, Fernanda!

I basically followed her recipe except that I used pastry flour in the combo corn-wheat flour. This made the cake extra fluffy. It came out deliciously corny, not too sweet and super moist.

Brazilian style corn cake with Mexican nixtamalized corn flour

key ingredients for Brazilian style corn cake with Mexican nixtamalized corn flour

1½ cups harina de maiz nixtamalizada (Mexican corn flour)
2½ cups whole milk
2 cups pastry flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup canola oil
¾ tsp fennel seeds

Pre heat oven to 400F.

Grease a large baking pan with canola oil and set aside.

Put corn flour in a large bowl, add milk and whisk together to combine. Let this mix sit for about 5-10 minutes. Add eggs and mix it again to combine. Blend in pastry flour, salt, sugar, fennel seeds and baking powder.

Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve with a nice cup of black coffee.

Anna’s almost secret family recipe: chocolate cake with cooked frosting

I’ve been a fan of Anna’s blog, Keep It Luce, since shortly after she started publishing. Her Great Aunt Sue’s recipe for chocolate cake with cooked frosting really resonated with me. I’d neither had the cake before nor heard of “cooked frosting,” both of which made this intriguing. But it was the story of her grandfather on his 92nd birthday, weakened by chronic illness, and the intimate portrait of her family life that was so beautiful and memorable. It stuck with me, perhaps because in certain ways it reminded me of my own grandfather. And one day, finally, it was time to make the cake myself.

I served this at the end of a veggie dinner party for eight. I wasn’t sure what to expect as this is my first-ever chocolate cake from scratch. I knew that the cooked frosting was the bomb, as I’d tasted it while icing this ultra moist cake. It was a giant success. One guest asked for some to take home. I gave him a big slice in a doggie bag. I brought the rest to an afternoon barbecue party the following day, much to the delight of the hostess. (I couldn’t let it stay at my house as I’d have gobbled the whole thing up myself in a day or two, then felt guilty about it.)

Basically I followed Anna’s recipe exactly though I did add some rum to the frosting. Also my cake required a bit longer to set than is suggested in the Keep It Luce recipe: about an hour to 70 minutes.

Anna’s almost secret family recipe: chocolate cake with cooked frosting

for the cake:

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
¾ cups unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 cup hot coffee (I made the cake right after breakfast)
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

for the frosting:

1 cup whole milk
5 tbsp flour
½ cup butter (1 stick) at room temp
½ cup veggie shortening
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp rum

to make the cake:

Pre-heat oven to 325F. Grease and flour a 9”x13” baking dish.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Mix coffee, oil and milk. Gradually mix dry ingredients into the liquid. Once incorporated, beat for about 2 minutes. Add eggs and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat another 2 minutes.

Pour into prepared dish and bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Carefully invert from dish onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.

to make frosting:

In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup milk. Beat in flour and whisk vigorously. Mine reminded me of a roux.
Cover and let cool completely.

Combine flour/milk mix with remaining ingredients and beat until combined. Mmm!

Once the cake has cooled, place on serving dish and frost. Dust with more cocoa powder (optional).

This cake is unbelievably good. Thank you for the delish family recipe, Anna!

Things with custardy fillings, textures and flavors taste like heaven to me. I love Portuguese custard pies, crème brûlée, flan, English bread pudding and of course, any decant cream-soaked French toast. A toast to French toast, I say!

decadent French toast

Last Friday I went to the new La Boulange bakery that has just opened nearby my office in the Financial District of San Francisco. My co-workers Caroline and Megan wanted to taste their popular open faced smoked salmon sandwich and soup for lunch. It looked delicious, like everything else on the menu. The pastries seemed amazingly crispy and browned to perfection. While waiting in line, I couldn’t take my eyes off of this shinny, glossy, sesame seed-covered, braided brioche (challah). It was begging to come home with me. What can I say? I’m irresistible.
I used the brioche for this marvelous breakfast the next morning.

key ingredients for decadent French toast. Mmm, that brioche loaf looks good!

decadent French toast

1 challah/brioche loaf cut into thick slices (about 6 to 8 )
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup half and half
½ tsp Kosher salt
3 tbsp sugar
~ 1 tsp canola oil
powdered sugar

Add eggs, sugar and salt to a bowl and whisk until incorporated. Add half and half and whisk again to combine. Soak bread slices on both sides for about ½ minute each. Allow bread slices to soak up liquid to almost completely saturate them with the cream mixture. Don’t let them break apart though, as it will ruin the presentation.

Meanwhile heat up a skillet with ½ tsp of canola oil, add as many slices as your skillet accommodates and fry them for about 3-4 minutes, flipping them half way. Be careful not to burn or under cook. Transfer to a serving platter, repeat with remaining. Dust powdered sugar over and serve. We had ours with some blueberries, butter, maple syrup and a nice big cuppa strong coffee.

frying the cream soaked brioche

dig in!

My friend, Stevie, a WC bigwig, just had a birthday. I couldn’t make it to see him physically that day, as I’m so glamorous that I was travelling abroad or something equally fabulous. But I missed him, so the next time we met for dinner, I brought over a pumpkin pie with a message, “Happy Belated Birthday,” in red cake icing.

cream cheese pumpkin pie

The process of making the pie and doing all the mixing feels good during the gloomy weather we’ve been having in San Francisco. Creating the dessert feels cheerful and productive, and you get the reward of sharing deliciousness with friends. Every year when it gets cold outside I crave comfort food like pumpkin pie. I try to make my pies healthy, without too much fat or eggs. I’ve been experimenting so this time I tried it with cream cheese for a different flavor. Look here and here for some more variations.

cream cheese pumpkin pie

“Whole Foods” pre-made whole wheat pie crust (making it easy as pie as you don’t have to roll out the dough!)
one package of cream cheese
one can of pure pumpkin
½ cup of maple syrup
¾ cup of pure cane sugar
½ cup of soy milk
3 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice from “Trader Joes”

Pre heat oven to 375F.

Soften the cream cheese and mix it together with the pumpkin, soy milk, sugar, maple syrup and spices until you get a smooth texture with no lumps. Fill your pre made pie crust. Then bake for 45 minutes for a yummy pie. Cool and decorate if you want.

The cream cheese adds a certain pleasant thickness and consistency that was different from other pies I’ve made. We all enjoyed this with a refreshing after-dinner drink.

These date bars are my mother’s recipe. She got it from a cookbook on bars and cakes, though I’ve no idea its name. They have to be my all-time favorite dessert that she makes: I like these even more than her celebrated homemade cream puffs or Italian Christmas cookies. Last year, she mailed me a care package for the holidays that included a small container of date bars. Yum! They got a bit mashed up in the post but it hardly mattered.

Medjool date bars with almonds

me and the folks on vacation to wine country this fall

Whenever she makes them, I feel young. Though the funny thing is that we never ate these when I was a child. I don’t think that she discovered this amazing recipe herself until I had already left home for good. Yet, I feel that they’re part of my entire culinary life back to my earliest memories. Strange how the mind works. I know it isn’t true yet I cannot help believing we’ve always enjoyed these date bars in my family. Could this be what initially attracted my father to my mother? Hmmm…

Maybe not, but if the quantum physics people are right, perhaps that’s exactly what happened in some alternate universe.

It’s nice to dream.

Medjool date bars with almonds

1½ lbs Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup sugar
¼ plus ¼ tsp salt
½ cup sliced almonds
1½ cups flour
1½ cups rolled oats
½ cup brown sugar
12 tbsp butter

Add dates, sugar, ¼ tsp salt and orange juice to a saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer for five minutes, covered, until the fruit softens and forms a thick paste. Set aside.

Grease and flour a medium baking dish—mine was an oval one about 9 by 14 inches. The original recipe calls for 9” by 9”. Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Mix flour, oats, remaining salt, and brown sugar together. I used my food processor with the dough blade. Roughly chop butter and process into dry ingredients until coarse crumbs form. Press half of oat mix into base of baking dish. Cover with cooked dates. Top with remaining oat mix. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until the crust slightly browns. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Cut into bars.

cranberry sour cream upside-down cake

I found this wonderful recipe for cranberry upside-down cake on Moveable Feasts, a great foodie blog that we’ve been following and enjoying for a while. Right now, Barbara, with a group of other blogger friends, is in the middle of this really engaging series called “Gourmet’s 50 Women Game Changers in Food,” where she’ll post a biographical sketch of one famous woman chef/entrepreneur at a time with one of her recipes which she prepares as part of the story. It is truly amazing to learn about these talented folk and all the interesting ways that they’ve made food their passion and life. Follow this link for the recent story about Nancy Silverton from La Brea Bakery, among other places.

Anyway, back to the cranberry cake. I’ve been on the hunt lately for an appropriately Thanksgiving-ish dessert that seems original. I’m not too into chocolate (I know, it is a real flaw) and I’ve already been asked to prepare classic pecan pie, so another pie’s out. So what could be better than a cake with cranberries?

In her post, Barbara warns about the caramel spilling out of the dish while baking. I used a deep 10-inch glass baking dish and placed mine on top of a baking sheet covered with foil to catch any spillage. There was a bit though really not much at all. Because my dish was larger in diameter, I needed more cranberries to cover it. Also, her recipe specifically calls for “unsulphured molasses,” but I’m not sure what that is. I had some date molasses at home already, so used that instead. Otherwise, the recipe is essentially the same.

The cake had a dense almost poundcake texture that was really complimented by the sour sweetness of the cranberries, caramel and sour cream. It makes a wonderful dessert and is excellent for breakfast, too. This yummy treat is well on its way to becoming a holiday classic in my home.

cranberry sour cream upside-down cake

2½ cups fresh cranberries
2/3 cup light brown sugar
12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp date molasses
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Thoroughly grease baking dish with butter. Then cover base of dish with wax paper cut to size.

In a small pan, add 4 tablespoons melted butter, brown sugar, molasses, and ¼ cup water. Bring to boil, mix then pour into base of prepared cake dish.

Next fill base of cake dish with cranberries, making sure to lay them evenly and cover caramel sauce as much as possible.

Sift together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat eggs together with sour cream. Add remaining butter to egg mixture and combine. Add flour mix to egg mix and beat until smooth.

Gently cover batter over cranberries. Bake 50 to 60 minutes. Test for doneness with a clean toothpick. Remove from heat and let rest for 15 minutes. Then run a small knife around the edge of the cake and gently invert into a serving dish.

This is not something that I’ve ever tried before: deep frying apple rings in a corn flour batter. I read about it in the New York Times Magazine recently. The article had a dozen recipes for apples. Of course, I was only drawn to the deep-fried section Aside from this one, they recommended a way of making tempura-style apple rings, which sounded great but looked more complex; plus the more widely-known apple fritter.

batter fried apple rings

This dish calls for corn meal, but I didn’t have that, so I used corn flour instead. I made this for breakie, though I think that it could be a fun sweet-treat, especially served à la mode with vanilla ice-cream. If you’re feeling particularly frisky, then add hot fudge or caramel sauce and some whipped cream. Now that sounds good!

batter fried apple rings

2 medium apples—I used Granny Smith
½ cup flour
½ cup corn meal or flour
1 cup buttermilk
1/8 tsp cayenne
Canola oil to fry with

Peel and core apples. Cut into about quarter inch thick rings. Soak in the buttermilk.

Mix dry ingredients together. Toss apples into flour mixture. Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Let drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Our next-door neighbor, Ann, keeps bringing us fresh produce from her country home, and we like it. Thanks for your amazing generosity Ann! This summer we were regaled many times with ultra fresh tomatoes, basil, bok choy, sweet corn, lemons, eggplants, oranges, and pears: all delicious and organically produced, and all consumed with gusto.

rustic pear tart

We had a huge bag of pears, so I decided to bake something with them. I wanted something easy because it was mid-week and I didn’t want to spend the evening in the kitchen. While checking my google reader I spotted the perfect recipe: Torta Rústica de Pêra from my blogger friend, Fernanda. Her recipes are incredible; so are her writing, blog design and pictures! Congrats Fer and happy birthday to you!

This tart is extremely simple to make because the puffy pastry dough is store bought. I have used this same kind in a very successful savory tart before. It works perfectly every time. The only problem with this tart, if it truly is a problem, is that once you start you can’t stop eating it.

rustic pear tart ready for the oven

rustic pear tart

8 organic pears
1 container Duflour puff pastry (2 sheets), defrosted
½ container apricot preserves, I used Bonne Maman
1/3 cup water
Egg wash (1 egg plus 1 tbsp water beaten)
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
Few drops of lemon juice

Pre heat oven to 350F.

Lay parchment paper on two large baking trays.

Dust the surface of your counter top with flour. Stretch each puffy pastry, giving it a rough rectangular shape. Place them on paper lined trays.

Add water and apricot jam to a saucepan, stir and warm until it becomes runny. Remove from heat

Remove tops, bottoms and core pears, cut into thin half moon shaped slices. I did not peel mine, to add to the rusticity. Brush puff pastry with egg wash. Arrange pears over pastry, slightly overlapping one another. Squeeze few drops of lemon over pear slices. Brush with melted apricot jam. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Watch it for the last 10 minutes to prevent burning.