Introducing "Mud" - a vegan chocolate dessert

Mud, mud, I love mud.

I'm absolutely, positively, wild about mud!
I can't go around it, I've gotta go through it.
Beautiful, fabulous, super-duper mud!

If you're not familiar with the above little ditty you've probably never been camping nor were a member of a "scouting" organisation as a child. The song has been sung around many a campground fire and repeated with glee after numerous strong rainstorms.

I love mud. I love what can be done with mud... facial masks, pore cleansing, house building, children entertaining. Take some earth, simply add some water and it's amazing what you can accomplish with the resulting product.

Did you ever make MudPies as a child? Dirt in a pail, water added and served to loving, patient family members willing to pretend it's the yummiest dish they've ever consumed - what could be better?

How about serving them "mud" they'll actually want to eat?

Introducing "Mud" - a vegan chocolate dessert (free recipe!) from Mrs B bakes! It's a rich, velvety, sweet dish that's nothing like a mousse (no air), thicker than a custard or pudding and absolutely delicious!

Mud

1 (12.3 ounce/349 grams) package extra-firm silken tofu (I used an aseptic pack of long-life tofu called Blue Dragon) drained of excess liquid

1/4 plan milk replacement (I used oat milk but soya, almond, rice... would all work)

1 tbsp Simple Sugar Syrup (recipe follows) or 2 tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

300 grams (about a cup and a half) semisweet chocolate chips

Break up tofu into a food processor. Add the milk, sweetening syrup and vanilla. Puree until completely smooth.

Bring a small saucepan half-filled with water to a boil and reduce heat to low. Place a metal bowl over the saucepan while it's simmering (not a rolling boil). Put chocolate chips in warming bowl and stir with a spatula while it melts. Once completely melted (no solid chips left) remove from heat (don't forget to turn off burner).

Scrape down the sides of your food processor, replace lid and turn on. Using the feeder tube, pour melted chocolate into the running food processor and blend until fully incorporated.

Using your spatula, transfer the mud into a bowl (or an airtight container) and cover with plastic wrap (see photos for a handy tip!) and chill. Mud is ready to eat after just an hour!

(Caution: Mud is not a pudding; it's much richer. Please keep that in mind when serving Mud as too much could overwhelm the palate.)

Instead of placing the plastic wrap over the rim of the bowl/container - lay it flat directly on top of the mud, creating an airless space between the mud and the plastic.

Push the plastic wrap to the outer edges of the mud and smooth to ensure no air is trapped between the mud and the plastic.

Curl/fold edges on top of centre inside the bowl, again to ensure no air contacts your mud.

These simple steps can help keep your puddings, custards and muds from getting a strange film across the top or simply drying out!

Simple Sugar Syrup

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water

Bring both to a boil in a saucepan (you may need to stir a bit to ensure sugar is completely dissolved) then remove from heat and allow to cool.

Store in refrigerator.

That's it! It's that simple (hence the name) and can be used to sweeten any number of things. Works especially well in cold beverages such as iced lattes, iced teas... it dissolves a lot faster/more easily than solid sugar granules so now that you've discovered it I'm sure you'll turn to it again and again!

Prepping for our photo shoot...

YES soup for you!

Being unable to eat milk products has left me with a wanting for certain foods such as pizza, mac'n'cheese, cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches...

Thankfully, the list is small and I've stopped craving cheese so I'm able to find easy substitutes for these comforting foods.

Pizza is easy for me; I just use a yeast-free base and don't add cheese to my toppings. Problem solved.

Mac'n'cheese used to be an issue when I really wanted cheese but now it's OK. I sort of miss it but not enough to even take a bite of someone else's.

When it came to cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches I was really stuck. I can't have the cream in the cream of tomato soup; can't have the cheese in the grilled cheese sandwich and even finding the right bread for me can be tricky. Nightmare.

That is until last week when I decided to just wing it. Thankfully, for the first time I started writing down what I was throwing into the pot instead of guessing afterwards. This also allowed me to take accurate measurements so, if the experiment worked; I could share it with confidence that what I told you wouldn't result in something horrid!

Well, it definitely worked. It worked so well I decided that night was officially Date Night and (pardon the pun) made a real meal out of it!

Thick and Creamy Tomato Soup

In a large pot add the following:

1/4c Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 400g (14.5 oz) cans of chopped tomatoes (please approximate if your can size is different)

1 cup chopped spinach (mine was frozen)

2 bags of Steam-Fresh type mixed vegetables (I used Broccoli, Sweetcorn and Carrots by Birds Eye)

1tsp mix dried Italian herbs

1tsp Oregano

1/2tsp onion powder

1tbsp minced garlic (I use Very Lazy Garlic)

1.5L (about 6.5 cups) vegetable stock

Set aside 1 - 1.5 cups soya cream (I used reduced fat to great effect)

Bring this all to a boil allow to do so for about 10 minutes. Reduce to low heat and leave to simmer for about an hour (I left mine for about two hours and simply added some more stock later to thin it a bit but I like heavy soups).

Use food processor to blend the soup (make sure not to over-fill the food processor, this may mean you have to do two batches) and return it to the pot over low heat.

Just prior to serving add soya cream and stir to blend well.

I served this with garlic bread and it was a hearty meal that I intend to make a lot this winter. YUM!

Our backyard/garden/behind-the-flat/house-area is coming along nicely, the ground work is all completed and all that's left is to finish the decking!

I've been baking a bit lately:

Basic Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Mousse topping

Almond Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese frosting...

...and a surprise Chocolate Mousse filling

(Why do I feel the need to add the word "Vegan" when I say "cream cheese" considering the entire dessert is Vegan? I only bake Vegan but I worry that people will see "Cream Cheese" and get the wrong idea, I guess, so it's a little added emphasis that it's still OK even though it's called "cheese". I worry, though, that stressing the Vegan bit only there will lead to people to think that that's the only part that is Vegan. Oh, well. Can't please them all, as they say!)

See you soon!

Cookies with a sordid past

Several years ago Mr B made me some cookies that are fairly popular in Sweden called "Chokladsnitt" ("chocolate cuts") and were very yummy.

Mr B made these quite often and I normally brought them into work because it's difficult to justify two people eating an entire batch of cookies in one sitting.

When I first moved to London I was working with Her Majesty's Courts Service as Court Secretary in the now defunct* Marylebone Magistrate's Court (where Bob Marley was fined for possession of cannabis in 1977).

One of my responsibilities was with and to the Justices of the Peace. Three Justices of the Peace can sit together and hear certain types of cases here in England.

Every one of the JPs I worked with was monied to some level or another. There were even a couple of Ladies (titled, noble women, no exaggeration). One of these woman was so posh that when I spoke to her she'd look straight through me and not respond. At all. I didn't exist in her world, it seems.

She was not my favourite.

My favourite JP was a gentleman who, while not titled, had more money than god. He, unsurprisingly as we got along so well, was refreshingly down to earth.

The first time this wonderful man had Chokladsnitt he seriously proclaimed that "they simply -must- contain marijuana!" (imagine this said with a Queen's English accent) because nothing -legal- could taste that good.

Needless to say, they were a big hit and often requested.

Shortly thereafter, however, I was diagnosed with an egg-sensitivity. Total bummer as the Chokladsnitt normally contain at least one egg in most recipes (normally two if you add the pearl sugar).

It was quickly decided that we -must- discover a substitution for eggs. (I was intolerant to milk, too, but dairy-free margarine is reasonably easy to find, thank goodness.)

Eggs in recipes can be replaced by lots of things and it very much depends on the purpose of the eggs in the recipe.

For the Chokladsnitt the egg acts as a binding-agent. A few Google searches recommended using jam in place of eggs and when Mr B and I decided that we preferred cherries with chocolate...

A new star was born!

These modified Chokladsnitt have (on many occasions and in different places around the world) been baked in conjunction with the "standard" ones and by -unanimous- vote have come out as a resounding winner.

Mrs B bakes now presents Körsbär Chokladsnitt (I apologise, but because of the intricacies of the Swedish language I couldn't even -begin- to explain now to pronounce that!)

Let's call them Cherry-Chocolate Cuts or "Marijuana" Cookies (as they're known in our house).

The recipe is fast and fun. Great for a last minute treat and especially good when baking with children.

Cherry-Chocolate Cuts

500 ml (2 cups) plain flour

200 ml (just under one cup) sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon vanillin sugar (quick cheat: mix 1 drop of vanilla extract with a teaspoon of powdered sugar)

1 teaspoon baking powder

200g (7 oz or 1/2 stick) dairy-free margarine

3 tablespoons cherry jam (we prefer Morello)

Pre-heat oven to 190° C (375° F)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, forming a dough.

Don't do what I did here... As you can see my mixture is still very dry, very grainy. Don't mess up and use only -half- the required amount of margarine. It -will- make a difference!

This is -much- better!

Divide the dough evenly. Mr B makes six even parts while I have a difficult time dividing into thirds so just keep "halving" the dough until I get 8 even parts.

Now roll the dough into snakes. I love it when I can play with my food!

Use your fingers to press the snakes and flatten them a bit. **

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes.

Cool completely and cut at a "jaunty" angle. (This is how they're traditionally cut in Sweden and I think it adds to their personality.)

Serve and enjoy! (Store in an airtight container/bag. These should last a good few days, given the chance!)

*Marylebone Magistrate's Court has been mostly demolished and rebuilt into a Super Court. I worked in it in 2005 when it still had strange staircases, a diving board, tiles from the old bath-house and a "haunted" cell area.

**Please don't mind the gloves, they're there for two reasons that are, really, one in the same. I have very very sensitive skin. Because of this and eczema and psoriasis -I- feel my hands have aged prematurely. This is a source of major embarrassment for me and you'll never find a picture of me that -I- have posted/shared that shows my hands because of it. Also, I am allergic to most foods when raw. I can handle some "simple" salad-type veggies normally, but even then I have to be careful when getting them on my hands.

Besides, it's just so much more hygienic wearing gloves in the kitchen.

An homage...

To date I've lived in (at least) 25 different apartments/homes/places of accommodation throughout my life and am truly fortunate that I view "Home" as "where I am" so no matter where I am; I belong.

One thing remains consistent, however, and that is where I'm from. I'm from New England. That will never change and I am intensely proud of that heritage.

With a 2005 population of 14,239,724 it's a place as varied and wonderful as its inhabitants. Unless you've lived/worked/vacationed there it's impossible to explain all of the wonderful nuances that exist in an area just slightly larger than Washington state.

Because of the above reasons and many more my next experiment had to be Vegan Whoopie Pies.*

The original recipe idea/inspiration came from My Sweet Vegan written/developed by the clever and adorable Hannah Kaminsky.

Behold (the heavily modified version of the recipe**)...

Don't forget to click on the pictures to see them bigger!

Fresh out of the oven:

How to tell when you're doing too many things at once and might need to take a step back for a moment. Trying to pour a newly-opened 5kg bag of powdered sugar into a 1 cup measure:

With "Cream Cheese" frosting:

Because Mr B and I aren't major sweet-toothers (and value -not- largely increasing our BMIs) we give away most of what I make. The recipe I used made 6 Whoopie Pies and I think the next time I make them I'll have to consider for whom I'm making them... Inside a bakery? Sure! The larger the better! But if I were to make them as an order I'd definitely make them smaller. (Can you imagine that I used to eat a whole one of these in one go?!)

My solution for sharing/taste-testing and the transportation thereof.... Cut and box!

I have been having so much fun developing and testing these recipes and ideas with you as my moderators and cheerleaders so I thank you, humbly.

I'm not sure what to make next. I'm still waiting for my piping tips to arrive from The States as I'm desperate to make decorated sugar cookies.

Keeping in mind that I want to move away from chocolate for a bit do you have any suggestions as to what I should attempt next/think about including in my little repertoire?

*Also, just because I'm a geek like that... The recipe was found on page 76 of the recipe book and 1776 is an important year in New England's (and America's) history and 1976 is the Centenary of the USA as well as my birth year!

**solid brown sugar does not a good Whoopie Pie make I can assure you! Also, I don't own nor want to purchase Pastry Flour but there are wonderful substitution suggestions out here on the Interwebs so don't feel put off if, like me, you don't happen to have a bevy expensive ingredients. There is help out here/there!

Also, should you come across something that has you stumped; drop me a line! I'll do my -best- to find you the perfect solution either from my (limited) vegan-baking knowledge and/or my Search-Engine-Fu.