Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars

I have no idea where I found this recipe for chocolate caramel shortbread bars, but I knew I'd have to make a variation of it from the moment I saw it.

Mine were made in a 10 ½" springform pan, lightly greased for easy removal. I used the provided shortbread recipe, but with icing sugar (rather than granulated) because I have icing sugar to use up. I also substituted vegan margarine in place of the butter. Likewise, the chocolate topping recipe was followed almost exactly, with vegan margarine again and agave syrup rather than corn syrup. I had to break drastically from the linked recipe's caramel component because of the high amount of dairy in it. I was inspired by a recipe I found for vegan dulce de leche. My version follows:

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• ⅛ tsp baking soda (to prevent curdling)
• salt, to taste

Combine the first four ingredients in a small saucepan, stir. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and allow to gently bubble, stirring every 10 minutes or so, for about 2 hours. These steps make the vegan dulce de leche.

To make the caramel topping, heat the dulce de leche to "soft ball stage" (although I see I ought to have gone to firm ball stage) and pour over the cooled shortbread. When that has cooled fully, pour the chocolate topping over that, smooth it out, sprinkle with sea salt and place in the fridge to chill. Kara and I got to these before they were fully set, but they were too tantalizing to pass up.

As for the results, the caramel and chocolate were so good, but I confess that I would have liked a shortbread base which was less crumbly and more like a familiar candy bar with similar ingredients. Next time, I think I'll try adapting the shortbread recipe from this knock-off recipe.

Food for thought, Part I

Debbie Does Salad: The Food Network at the Frontiers of Pornography

by Frederick Kaufman for Harper's Magazine from 2005

Vegan Stroga*not*

Meal planning around here tends to involve choosing three different dishes which we intend to go for a couple of dinners worth of servings each. I've recently been able to convince Matt that having a meat-free dish every week makes good economic, health and environmental sense, so there's usually a meat-less dinner option in our weekly dinner menu.

I've got a small selection of vegan cookbooks and cracked one open last week for inspiration. I hit the mother lode when I discovered a meatless take on traditional Beef Stroganoff, so I thought I'd try my hand at making one for tonight's dinner.

My version follows:

• olive oil, for the pan
• 3 leeks, washed, green parts trimmed off, and thinly sliced
• 2 large shallots, sliced lengthwise
• medium yellow onion, halved and sliced lengthwise
• 16 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• water
• ½ head of roasted garlic
• 12 oz. container of vegan sour cream
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• splash of apple cider vinegar
• dash of dry mustard

Sautée the onions, shallots and leek in the olive oil with salt until they have softened and begun to caramellize (mine went a bit over, but you couldn't tell from the finished product), add the mushrooms and continue sautéeing until the mushrooms start to lose some of their water. Add water to the pan and cook until you're satisfied that the flavours have melded (keep adding water to the pan as necessary so that the mixture doesn't dry out). Squeeze in the roasted garlic and mash it into the mixture. Add the sour cream substitute and stir well to incorporate. Season with the salt and pepper, and sparingly with the cider vinegar and dry mustard. Serve over noodles and be amazed that something that tastes this good doesn't have any meat in it.

Dairy-free peanut butter pie!

It's probably been close to a decade since I had peanut butter pie, what with the fact that I've had a mild peanut sensitivity for as long as I can remember, and that the recipe for the pie usually contains whipped cream and cream cheese. Still, I've been toying with the idea of making a dairy-free version for years, and was finally inspired enough to give it a shot today.

I based it on Canadian Living's Chocolate Peanut Butter pie recipe, which I have in a Canadian Living Holiday Best magazine that I've had since shortly after moving out of my parents' place. I used vegan margarine and pre-packaged Oreo crumbs for the base. Vegan cream cheese, WOBButter and more vegan margarine were included in the filling. Additionally, I made up a batch of Mocked Whip Cream from the Friendly Food cookbook to substitute for the whipped cream called for in the recipe.

The filling was surprisingly easy to make. For future reference, I should note that I've had better success using Earth Balance margarine in the mocked whip cream — it just ends up fluffier. All I had to do to really enhance the flavours was add a bit of salt. Then I shaved some chocolate over top and placed the pie in the fridge to set. We should have a fantastic dessert after dinner tonight!

Yum.

The aforementioned bánh mì.

Impending yumminess

Yesterday, I got to try an offering from the much-lauded Banh Mi Boys: their five-spice pork belly bánh mì. Bruce graciously allowed me to sample the duck confit bánh mì and the braised beef cheek bao that he got. All items were predictably delicious and left me with an appetite for more of their menu choices. In lieu of regularly scheduling trips downtown for the sole purpose of eating from this establishment, I decided now would be a good time to expand on my own personal repertoire of bánh mì selections.

Previously, I have made both do chua and chả lụa successfully. Those who are interested in following in my footsteps should note that the chả lụa recipe I consult has moved.

I have enjoyed Fontaine Sante's Traditional Végé-Pâté in place of the traditional (dairy-laden) bánh mì spread, but found that I missed something that animal liver added to the sandwich. Under normal circumstances, I abhor eating liver because I find the taste overpowering, but on a bánh mì, it complements the flavours nicely. Don't ask me how that happens, it's sandwich wizardry, or something.

I set out to find a good, dairy-free liver paté and found a recipe which uses chicken livers and coconut milk. The determining factor in why I chose this recipe was that my absolute favourite beef marinade uses a similar flavour profile, with balsamic vinegar, rosemary and garlic.

I made up a batch today, using duck fat for the seal, cracked black peppercorns instead of green ones, and whole garlic cloves rather than chopped cloves (since everything was going to be puréed any way). I've already had some of the spread on an impromptu bánh mì-inspired toast and am happy to say that it's the only liver spread I've actually enjoyed.

I also managed to make do chua and prepare a chả lụa mixture for steaming tomorrow (hooray for long weekends!). I might even be crazy enough to attempt to make homemade baguettes for this.

Well, I'm looking forward to this...

I decided I'd treat myself on Mother's Day to a batch of my favourite chocolate chip cookies. I also realized that I haven't had triple chocolate cookies since I was a teenager, due to the fact that dairy started being an issue for me around that time. Fortunately for me, I also realized that there are now passable (if not better than their dairy counterparts) dairy-free/vegan substitutes for milk and white chocolate.

So, today, I made up a batch of vegan white chocolate for use in what I'm hoping will be a fantastically delicious batch of triple-chocolate cookies on Sunday.

On a technical note, adding room-temperature ingredients to relatively hot cocoa butter causes the mixture to seize. To remedy the problem — as with seizing Hollandaise sauce — add a bit of cold water to the mix and whisk until it becomes smooth again.

Next day update: sadly, the white chocolate didn't set due to the addition of water. Mental note: wait for the cocoa butter to cool down before adding the remaining ingredients. Looks like these will be double chocolate cookies.