Literary Post: Farmer Boy. Keeping House. Pound Cake.

I got a set of Little House books, paperback with the solid sky-blue binding, when I was seven. I deemed the first book “babyish” and “stupid”. My friend Edda tried to sell me on it: “But it’s so neat! They go spend Christmas with their cousins!”

Eh, thought I. Cousins are NO BIG DEAL. I only had one at that time in my life, and he was considerably younger and considerably far away. (These days I have to admit Edda had grounds to speak with some expertise on the awesomeness of cousins, however, having quite a horde of them herself.)

No, I was far more interested in the gruesome idea of putting one’s mouth on a pig bladder and blowing it up like a balloon. Aside from that, Little House in the Big Woods held little appeal for me.

The third one, Farmer Boy, I had no interest in, either. It was a BOY story, about BOYS, and surely it was therefore BORING. But finally I read it and it immediately became my favourite in the series, and I think it still is (though Little Town on the Prairie is awfully close.)

The entire series talks about food a lot. I have to admit, most of the food doesn’t appeal to me at all, but I felt I could hardly do a literary food series without giving some sort of nod to the Little House books. Pickled watermelon rinds were out. Salt pork was out, and blown-up pig bladders definitely out.

And then I remembered this:

That day they made ice-cream again, and they ate the last cake. Alice said she knew how to make a pound-cake. She said she’d make one, and then she was going to go sit in the parlor. Almanzo thought that wouldn’t be any fun. [...boring paragraph where Eliza Jane tells Alice not to sit in the parlor, blah blah blah...]

That afternoon he came into the kitchen to see if the pound cake was done. Alice was taking it out of the oven. It smelled so good that he broke a little piece off the corner. Then Alice cut a slice to hide the broken place, and then they ate two more slices with the last of the ice-cream.

(My friend graciously typed the quote up for me, since my own copy of the book is currently in storage. I left her bracketed comment in because it amused me.)

I decided to experiment with the notion of pound cake in the sense that the Wilders would most likely have eaten it: the 1:1:1:1 ration of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs. I tried it first with flax eggs, and that was a gooey, strange piece of denseness. I tried it the second time with Ener-G Egg Replacer. It was still fairly gooey, but extremely tasty. The third and final time I added a little baking powder just to lighten it up and make it less gooey.

So, here are the weights (quarter-pound of each of the main ingredients) converted to cups, because I hate weighing, and in the event you do too, this makes it easier for everyone.

1 stick vegan margarine
1/2 c sugar
7 T water
2 1/4 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder

Cream together margarine and sugar. Add water and egg replacer and beat together. Add flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix until incorporated.

Bake at 350 in a greased mini loaf pan for 55-60 minutes. Toothpick should come out clean.

The end result: It’s still not the light-fluffy-lemony pound cake we’re all familiar with today. However, it’s got a really lovely flavour and a nice tender texture that would be perfect for eating with fresh berries in the summertime.

Kind of like shortcake.

Maybe even with… ice cream.

And now I’ve had a birthday.

And I’m 30, and I really don’t care. In fact, I’d like to flaunt it. 30, and flirty, and thriving, right?

Definitely.

So, my life this past week has been utterly insane and I’m reeling from all the insanity and struggling to keep my head above the water, so to speak. We had a bonfire on Sunday afternoon/evening (I’ll post about that later) and it was loads of fun but also loads of work and I made probably enough food to feed three times the people that showed up. I’m not complaining; we had very good attendance, but I think we’ll be eating Brasilian rice the rest of our lives.

Anyway, due to that, I haven’t slept well in about a week. I think too much while preparing for things and then I think too much afterwards. So. Much. Stimulation. And when I don’t get enough sleep, I begin to get incredibly irrational about everything, and life is miserable and there are lots of tears and everything is disaster and nuclear bombs and despair.

So I almost didn’t make myself a cake because I was feeling so low, but then I decided I would, because why not, even though I’ve been cooking a lot and I’m sick to death of the kitchen and I already have at least 3 kinds of cookies in large bags in the freezer and I’m kind of sick of sugar. Yes, me, sick of sugar.

So I made myself a cake. I call it the Minstrel Boy in Prison Cake. If you don’t get the reference, keep reading and you’ll get some hints later on.

I’m very picky when it comes to carrot cakes. I’ve tried a lot of recipes for them and while they’re all pretty good, the one I grew up with is still my favourite. It has all the elements I consider essential for a carrot cake, not the least of which is CRUSHED PINEAPPLE omnomnom.

So, let’s interject my mom’s carrot cake recipe here, veganised.

In large mixing bowl, sift together:

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

In separate bowl, whisk together:

2/3 c veggie oil

4 T water + 1 T Ener-G egg replacer (this is equivalent to 2 eggs)

1 c finely grated carrots

1/2 c crushed pineapple in juice, undrained

1 tsp vanilla

Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir until moistened; beat 2 minutes at medium speed on electric mixer. [I did it by hand and just stirred it around a few times, definitely not for 2 minutes.] Bake at 350 in greased/floured 9×9″ pan for 35-45 minutes, whenever toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan if you plan to remove it.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz. vegan cream cheese (I had Follow Your Heart brand in my fridge, but you could also use Tofutti)

1 T vegan margarine, softened

1 tsp vanilla

 2 c powdered sugar

In small bowl, beat cream cheese, margarine, and vanilla. Mix till light. Gradually add sugar, beating till fluffy. If necessary, add a bit of non-dairy milk or water to make it the correct spreading consistency.

This cake does need to remain refrigerated when not in use. (Or “pie”, as GooGoo insisted on calling it. She wanted to eat the “HAPPY BIRDAY” PIE all morning.)

***

Now, what about the minstrel boy?

The minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you’ll find him;
His father’s sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him;
“Land of Song!” cried the warrior bard,
“Tho’ all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy right shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!”
The Minstrel fell! But the foeman’s chain
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he lov’d ne’er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;
And said “No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and brav’ry!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free
They shall never sound in slavery!

Now, if you still don’t get it, read the poem carefully and go back and look at the cake again.

And finally, here is a picture of a seriously awesome birthday present for you to enjoy looking at.

Oh yes I will. Expect recipes with pinenuts (that you can sub sunflower seeds for) in the future. *rolls around in the culinary gold that is pine nuts*

Literary Post: Homer Price. Doughnuts Made With Minimal Labour-Saving Devices.

I have to admit: I’m rather appalled at how few of my friends, including friends I consider fairly well-read, have the slightest inkling who Homer Price is. I first made my acquaintance with him through an old school reader in which his first adventure involving Aroma the Skunk and some interesting radio robbers was (slightly abridged). Afterwards, the book was on my shelf as much as it was on the library’s. Maybe more.

At any rate, one of the most iconic stories in the book involves Uncle Ulysses’ newest labour-saving device, a doughnut machine, that has a technical glitch and won’t quit making doughnuts after a rich lady comes along and mixes up a gigantic batch of doughnut batter one night while Homer is alone in charge of Uncle U’s lunchroom. The machine was a new-fangled contraption that dropped the rings of batter into hot fat, flipped them over, and pushed them out a chute into a bin ready to gather up and eat.

In a whole doughnut
There’s a nice whole hole
When you take a big bite,
Hold the whole hole tight,
If a little bit bitten
Or a great bit bitten,
Any whole hole with a hole bitten in it,
Is a holey whole hole,
And it just plain isn’t!

I realise I already featured a Robert McCloskey book in my Literary Food Series, but who can pass up doughnuts?

I have two things to say about doughnuts:

• I reject the spelling “donut”.
• Baked doughnuts are da bomb.

So, with those two points in mind, here’s a doughnut recipe for you. This is (rather greatly) adapted from a recipe I first tried during home ec.

This is a picture of my first test batch of doughnuts. They were exactly like churros. See the end of this post for what to do if you want to recreate the churro doughnuts.

Preheat your oven to 400. Spray your doughnut pan(s).

With a handmixer, beat together:
2/3 c vegan non-hydrogenated margarine
1 c sugar
2 T tapioca flour
1/2 c water

Add, stirring by hand just until blended:
3 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c non-dairy milk

Put batter in pans, spreading evenly with a spoon. I had the batter come up pretty much to the rim. Put in the oven and bake 18-20 minutes. While they are baking, prepare the coating (described below) if using. Otherwise, just remove them from the pan when they’re done and allow to cool on a rack, or eat them while warm.

Optional coating:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c melted vegan margarine

While the muffins bake, melt margarine in a small saucepan and mix sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Immediately after taking the muffins out of the oven, dip them in the margarine and then the cinnamon-sugar. This amount is enough for dipping just one side. If you want to dip both sides, just double it.

I promise this recipe only makes 12.

Nomming on a sample doughnut from my 3rd and final test batch. Light, fluffy, perfect.

If you want a flavour/texture like churros, make the following changes: reduce water to 1/3 cup, fill doughnut pan slots only 1/2 full, bake at 350 for around 25 minutes, dip in the coating, and eat.

Literary Post: Flicka, Ricka, Dicka Bake a Cake. THE Cake.

Maj Lindman’s “Flicka, Ricka, Dicka” series (and the corresponding “Snipp, Snapp, Snurr” series) were staples of my childhood reading experience. These girls are industrious, helpful, model little citizens without being preachy about it. They seek to help those less fortunate and the elderly, make sure they right wrongs, and are willing work hard for things they want, and unhesitatingly give up the things they’ve worked for to help someone else.

In Flicka, Ricka, Dicka Bake a Cake, the girls want to give Mother a surprise for her birthday and an aunt helps them to bake her a cake.

I always thought this cake looked so delicious. My mind’s mouth said it should be cherry-flavoured. The book was kind enough to detail what all the girls dumped into the bowl to make the cake:

…butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, cream, and raisins were all mixed together in the big blue bowl.

They frosted it with pink frosting and put small pieces of candied fruit all over the frosting. Here’s the picture of the girls rejoicing over their finished product:

So… where to begin? I decided to use a recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook as a starting off point, and this is what came of it: a cake that tasted like a Pillsbury funfetti cake. In other words, totally a classic birthday cake flavour that is intensely sweet but quite fantastic.

(One note: I used almond milk. If you want a more creamy milk for the “cream” you could skim the cream off canned cocoanut milk and use that, but I don’t think it’d make that much difference in the end.)

The Cake

Sift together:
2 c all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

In separate bowl, mix with a mixer:
1/2 c vegan margarine
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1 c non-dairy milk
1 tsp cherry flavour (I used the liquid from a jar of maraschino cherries)

In small bowl, whip until frothy:
4 eggs’ worth Ener-G Egg Replacer (1/2 c water+2 T powder)

Combine the margarine and flour mixtures in a bowl. Using a handmixer, beat about 30 seconds at low speed and around 2 minutes on high speed. Fold in egg replacer and thoroughly incorporate. Then fold in 1/2 c golden raisins.

Bake in a bundt pan (I used an angel food cake pan) at 375 for 30-40 minutes and allow to cool. Remove from pan to cake plate when completely cool.

My finished cake

The Frosting

3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c vegan margarine, softened
2 T non-dairy milk
2 T maraschino cherries
A few drops red food colouring

Blend cherries and milk together in a blender until cherries are well pulverised.

In a bowl with a hand mixer, blend margarine and powdered sugar until crumbly. Add milk/cherry blend and beat until smooth and fluffy. You can add more milk if needed. Spread over the cake. Decorate with golden raisins (or, alternately, sliced almonds).

GooGoo’s 3rd Birthday

GooGoo is 3.

Three years ago GooGoo joined our family and our life has been quite an adventure ever since. GooGoo is feisty, stubborn, sweet, and beautiful. Despite the bedtime battles that have raged ever since she entered the world and her tendency to throw fits, gnaw her fingernails, pull out her hair, and say “no” a lot, she is still becoming more and more fun all the time. She can talk to us, she loves to help in the kitchen stirring food and wiping tables, she sings Jesus Loves Me and Jingle Bells and loves to look at books, “reading” them to herself. (Somehow the sentence “Jesus a comin’ to trailer” always manages to get into any story she might be “reading”.) We wouldn’t trade her for any other little girl. She keeps us on our toes. She loves her little sister.

For her cake, I was inspired by this pin. I had made the dress earlier this year and it was too big at the time, so I figured she could wear it for her birthday and, of course, the cake had to match. I did two layers of cake: vanilla and chocolate gluten-free from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, using mint extract in them, and filled and frosted the sides with chocolate frosting. (I’ll talk more about the cake when I review this book next month.)

I had to frost the cake at least partly in chocolate because I don’t like white-frosted chocolate cake.

She had a nice party with some great-aunts-and-uncles, grandparents, and of course us.

gggggqrtejjjjjjjghfddeeeefghrdeey42 <—This is GooGoo’s message to you.

Gingerbread People and Felines and Phantoms, Oh My!

How to turn gingerpeople into gingercats.

These gingerbread cookies were a yearly Christmas tradition at my house for many years. They are very soft and tasty and a great hit with everyone who has tasted them.

Erik, the Phantom of the Opera: This was the first year I went all-out on these, I think, in 1999. My camera was lousy in those days. Sorry.

1 1/2 c light molasses
1 c packed brown sugar
2/3 c cold water
1/3 c shortening
7 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix molasses, brown sugar, water, and shortening.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350. Roll dough 1/4″ thick on floured board. Cut with floured gingerbread cookie cutter or your favourite shaped cutter. Place about 2″ apart on lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool.

I made a pattern out of brown paper bag for these angels and cut them out with a sharp knife.

To decorate, use a mixture of icing/powdered sugar and non-dairy milk or water. Usually about 3 c sugar to 2-3 tablespoons of the milk or water. Use a small round tip on an icing bag.

One year the pirates (and one dunce and his duck) took over completely.

This is what I think of being eaten.

Chocolate-Ginger Muffins

I really need a flour sifter.

I keep looking, but the antique stores charge too much for something that’s used, and the thrift stores haven’t turned up one for me yet. And I’m too cheap to go buy a new one. Maybe that’s lame, but there it is.

Anyway, so I use a fork in the meantime to smush up my dry ingredients if I have dry lumpy stuff like brown sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda in.

Speaking of recipes with dry lumpy stuff, here’s a recipe. For THESE.

Ever since my secret sister at church gave me some dark chocolate-covered ginger from Trader Joe’s a while back, I’ve become a little obsessed with the combination. At first I was like, “Uh… chocolate? Ginger? How does that even go together?”

But it DOES. It’s actually really amazing. So I’m on a quest to ginger-ify various chocolatey things.

I found this basic vegan chocolate muffin recipe and adapted it a bit for my purposes. Here’s my version.

Chocolate Ginger Muffins

Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl:
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c white flour
1/2 c cocoa powder (just regular – I used half carob in the pictured batch because my cocoa stash was very depleted)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used a little under 1/2 cup)
1/4 c minced candied ginger (optional)

(If you have a flour sifter, that’s awesome. If not, use a fork.)

Add in the following:
1 1/2 cup natural unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla

Stir just until combined. Spoon into 12 regular prepared muffin cups or 24 mini ones. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

And then eat them.

Update since I originally wrote this post: I NOW HAVE A FLOUR SIFTER.

Cookbook Review: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

This is the second installment in the dessert trilogy by Isa Chandra Moskowitz of Post Punk Kitchen and Terry Hope Romero. I have spent a lot of time drooling over the pages and dreaming of the tasty cookies I could make. GooGoo likes looking at it, too.

Here is a sum-up of all the recipes I’ve tried so far.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The dough was amazing, but cookie dough generally is. I found the batter to be way too runny and had to add another 1/2 cup of flour to be able to pick it up and shape it. The cookies were very tender, a little bit on the cakey side in texture. My husband thought they were all right but a little lacking in flavour. I liked them, but I think I still like the veganised classic Toll House recipe best. I also thought that the addition of walnuts would be nice, because to me a chocolate chip cookie just isn’t itself without walnuts.

According to another poster on the PPK forums, reducing the oil to 1/2 cup makes the consistency perfect without having to add more flour.

***

Carrot Raisin Spice Chewies

I’d wanted to make these from the get-go, but was always missing something. I sometimes had walnuts but not cocoanut, or no raisins, or no orange zest, or whatever.

Finally one lovely day I realised I had everything to make these cookies except raisins and an orange, so I indulged. I made a double batch so I could freeze one batch and share the other with our Friday group. (Note: one batch of the glaze was enough to drizzle over a double batch of cookies, if you drizzle like in the photo above and don’t slather it on like plaster.)

My husband expressed approval, which is a very good sign. I liked them but wasn’t quite as excited about them as I had thought I might be (I was expecting a flavour more like carrot cake). Next time I’m going to take the time to hunt down my fine grater for the carrots so the carrot gratings are less noticeable, and I think that’ll help solve my problem for me. Seeing large gratings of carrot in a cookie is just wrong to me. :-p I also only had the super-fine cocoanut on hand and I know that larger flakes would have given more yummy texture.

But they are good and I do plan to make them again.

***

Chocolate Fudgy Oatmeal Cookies – These are easily my favourite that I’ve made out of this book so far. Chocolatey, oaty, the zing of dried cherries? Cannot fail. The dough was amazingly good and a really good consistency – I found that letting it sit 10-15 minutes helped it stiffen up a little which helped to drop the cookies a little more easily, but even freshly mixed it was manageable.

I did change a few things. I didn’t have chocolate chips, so those were missing (and while they’d be good, I found the cookie to be very satisfying without). I used approximately half whole-wheat/half white flour because I was almost out of white flour. For my non-dairy milk I used carob Rice Dream and for the cocoa powder I did half cocoa/half carob powder because I had some carob powder that I needed to use up.

Tragedy: I can’t seem to find photos of these, and I was SURE that I took some.

***

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Tender goodness. This was my first time making cookies with an oil rather than a solid fat, so the process was new to me, but the results were Most Tasty. Then again, I just love oatmeal raisin cookies and it’s hard to go wrong with them, I’ve found.

The second time I made them, I used 1/2 cup white and 1/4 cup wheat flour, and the results were very nice.

***

Magical Cocoanut Cookie Bars – I haven’t made these personally, but have eaten them several times made by a friend. They are super rich and absolutely delightful.

***

Nutter Betters

The Nutter Betters were really lovely. I’m usually not hugely into peanut butter cookies. They’re good, but not my favourite. But one day I decided I reeeeeeeally wanted to try these, and so I did. I opted to make squirrel-shaped ones. (If you choose a special shape, remember to use a cookie cutter you can flip over to do mirror image cookies with for sandwiching!) I wouldn’t say they really taste like Nutter Butters all that much – not quite crispy enough, maybe? – but the flavour was good and the filling is not overly sweet, just immensely fattening. I would definitely make these again.

***

Cookie Dough Scoops

I don’t have a cookie scoop (boo), so I pressed this into a small Pyrex and cut them into cubes instead. They were Delicious. I think the only thing I’d change would be to reduce the vanilla just a touch; it overpowered the chocolate a bit, I thought.

***

Cherry almond cookies – I made these to take to a potluck and didn’t have time to take a picture. They were well-received and I thought they were good but just a touch on the salty side, which was odd to me because the amount of salt called for seemed normal.

***

City Girl Snickerdoodles

I don’t really care all that much for snickerdoodles, quite honestly, but for some reason one day I got the urge to make some. So I did. And they were… eh. The first tray was a little gooey, which I was not too concerned about since it’s an eggless recipe, but it still was just weird. By the time I got to the third and last tray I’d figured out exactly how long the oven really took to bake them thoroughly… so yeah. It was not that exciting of an experience and they came out very flat and wafery, and not particularly cinnamon-y like I thought they ought to be.

***

Graham Crackers

Very nice. Of course I had to use my IKEA fox cookie cutter, because that’s how I roll. How I don’t roll is thin enough dough, so these were more cookielike than crackerlike in the centre, though the legs and tails of the foxes were nice and crispy crunchy. This was my first time using raw sugar, too, and I think the texture was a little affected. I like that these specifically call for whole wheat flour and part of the sweetener was molasses, so they’re reasonably healthy.

Also, the recipe makes a lovely pie crust for recipes like Optionally Pink Peppermint Pie.

***

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles

I was squeamish about these, quite honestly. Chocolate and cinnamon is pushing my taste combination limits, but to throw cayenne in there too? Ack. Yet I really, really was curious and wanted to try them, so after I had a much braver friend (in another state) say she made them and loved them, I finally made a batch for our Friday night study group since the meal was to be baked burritos.

I was surprised. They were actually really good. The cinnamon is subtle, and the warmth of the cayenne doesn’t really hit you until afterwards, and it feels warm and glowy. (I should add I was still chicken enough that I only put in half the amount of cayenne, but I think next time I’ll probably do the full amount just to see how that tastes. Yes, I did say next time.) Mr Pine Nut walked in whilst I was baking them and he said they had a Very Strong Smell. He didn’t say whether that was good or bad. Ha! He didn’t get a chance to eat any of them. The fact that all the kids present ate them and some ate more than one is a pretty good indicator of a good cookie.

If you’d like to try a couple recipes out of this book, Isa has shared a few on her site.

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Arroz sin leche

This is my first time participating in Virtual Vegan Potluck! I was stumped what to make for a while that would be easy but tasty. One of my friends on Facebook who is Peruvian suggested I do arroz con leche (rice pudding).

Since I’ve never made a rice pudding and a quick Google search showed me I had all the basic ingredients to make it, that’s what I’ve brought to the table for this virtual potluck. I added a few little twists of my own, such as cranberries instead of raisins, and, of course, without actual milk.

Autumnal Rice Pudding

In a saucepan, stir together the following:

3 c cooked brown rice
3 T sweetener (I just used plain sugar)
3 T vegan margarine
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
3/4 c non-dairy milk (I used soy, but any will do)
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c dried cranberries (you could use other dried fruit)
Pinch salt

Heat to boiling and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes (more or less depending on the consistency you’re going for). Mine was thick enough to be moulded.

Serve with a dash of nutmeg, walnuts, and extra cranberries for garnish if desired.

Return to An Unrefined Vegan * On to Veggie V’s Vegan Adventure

Vegan MoFo #13: Chopped/Vegan Challenge Entry!

Judges! I present to you:

Butternut Coffee Cake with Popcorn-Walnut Streusel and Apricot-Rosemary Glaze

***

Isa Chandra Moskowitz has had two Vegan/Chopped competitions before, neither of which I was able to participate in, unfortunately. This time, I decided I’d go for it, because I had two of the ingredients and knew I’d be going shopping to be able to get the other two.

Our mystery ingredients were butternut squash, popcorn, rosemary, and apricot preserves.

Here’s my recipe, adapted from this pumpkin coffee cake recipe.

Before you start mixing the cake or streusel:

First, roast or otherwise cook your butternut squash until soft and puree it. I roasted mine and it took forever, then I just mushed it up with a fork.

Next, strip a sprig of rosemary of its leaves and put the leaves in 1/2 cup apricot preserves to steep. Do this in a small pan of some kind, because you’ll be heating it up later. You’ll leave it there between 30-60 minutes, depending how long it takes to get everything together. Mine was in about an hour.

Apricot-Rosemary Glaze

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease and flour 9-inch cake pan.

Next, prepare your streusel.

Take 1 T unpopped popcorn and pop it. I only have an air popper that you have to pop 1/2 cup at a time, so I did this step on the stovetop.

Set aside and mix the following:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cut in:
3 tablespoons butter or margarine

Stir in:
1/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/2 c popped popcorn, slightly broken up if desired
Set aside.

Popcorn-Walnut Streusel

Now prepare your cake batter.

With a handmixer, combine:
1 1/2 cup pureed butternut squash
Egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs (I used Ener-G in this case)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar

Add and combine:
1 stick vegan margarine, softened

Add:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix just until incorporated. The batter will be thick. Spread roughly half the batter into a 9×9″ pan. Sprinkle with roughly half the streusel. Plop the remaining batter on top in drops and spread around a little bit so some of the streusel shows through, then top with remaining streusel.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and continue to bake until a toothpick comes out clean. 40-50 minutes total.

Toward the end of the baking time, heat the preserves and rosemary over low heat until hot, then keep hot until cake comes out of the oven. Drizzle over top.

Hot and Fresh!

My thoughts: It was light, fluffy, and super good. I don’t really like apricots, and the rosemary really threw me for a loop, but the taste of this was really delightful. The popcorn is a fun texture for the streusel. I’m totally making this again.