Vegan Desserts: Rebuilding Traditional Standbys

Nature provides the simplest of desserts: fresh fruit. For the holidays, this can be dressed up by presenting the fruit in a fruit bowl arrangement or by carving it into fanciful shapes. A quick search of Amazon.com reveals three books upon this subject: Complete Step by Step Vegetable and Fruit Carving by Nidda Hongwiwat and Richard Goldrick (Hardcover - 2005), Exquisite Vessels (Vegetable and Fruit Carving, Book 2) by Burinpat Choowong (Hardcover - 2005) and Food Art: Garnishing Made Easy by John Gargone (Paperback - Nov 2003). If purchasing a book to enable enjoying this edible art form is not a budgetary option, your public library can provide the necessary information.

Next, beyond fresh fruit is the fruit pie.

Easy Fruit Pie:

1/2 cup solid shortening (Crisco works just fine for this)
1 cup white flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup ice water

Cut the shortening, salt and flour together till it looks like bread crumbs. Pieces pinched together should be able to make a clump that crumbles apart readily. At this stage, you may mix crumble or whatever as much as you wish. If the mix seems a little too crumbly add a tiny bit more shortening, if it seems sticky or oily, add more flour. When a good consistency is reached, add the ice water. It is important that the water be as cold as possible without actually being ice. Once the water is added, it is important to blend the mix as quickly as possible with minimal handling. It should make a soft lump of dough. Place 1/2 the dough on a floured board. Flour one side, then turn it over, with the floured side up. Flatten with hands or a rolling pin till it is about 1/4 inch thick. Place over a greased pie tin or glass casserole dish. Put the other half of the dough on the board and roll it out. Fold in half, use a knife or fork to create a pattern of holes in the dough. Lightly sprinkle flour on the crust that has been placed in the baking vessel, add 1/2 of whatever sugar or spices desired for the fruit. Pour in the fruit filling. Put the other half of sugar and spices on top. If it is a low-acid fruit such as blue-berries, add a tablespoon of vinegar at this time. Position the second crust over the top of the filling so that it hangs over the side of the baking dish. Use your thumbs or a fork to crimp the edges of the two crusts together. Use a case knife to trim away the extra dough from the outside of the baking dish. If the ingredients are raw (sliced apples, etc.), bake in a slow oven--350F, till the filling begins to bubble and the crust is brown. If the filling is pre-cooked, as in tinned pie mixtures, cook at 375F till the filling is heated through and the crust browns.

Short-Bread and Berries:

Short Bread:

1/2 C. of soft butter or butter flavor Crisco
1/4 cup of light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of flour

Cream the shortening and sugar together. Stir in the flour. Roll the mixture out quickly about 1/2 inch thick on a floured board. Cut into shapes. Bake at 350F till lightly browned.

Berry Mixture:

1 cup berries
2 tblspns. flour
sugar to task
1/4 cup water

simmer on stove top, stirring occasionally till mixture thickens.

Top short breads with berry mix and serve. Add a non-dairy whipped topping if desired.

Vegan Cake:

The difference between bread and cake is a very short line. Cakes usually have sugar and eggs added. Although this may seem like a small difference, baked goods actually involves chemical changes in the ingredients that occur during the process of heating the materials. One of the crucial differences in bread and cake is the effect of the protein stiffening of the eggs in the mixture. For an ovo/lactate vegetarian, this is not an issue. For the Vegan, it is. So the crucial part of creating a Vegan cake becomes reproducing the effect of the egg with some other substance. I will be frankly honest in saying that my efforts in this direction are still a work in progress, but here is my recipe to date:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter flavored crisco
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tspn. vanilla or other flavoring
2 cups flour or enough to make a soft dough
1 tablespoon baking powder

cream the sugar and shortening. Add the applesauce, soy milk and the vanilla. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Stir together. The dough should be soft, nearly liquidy. Pour into a greased baking dish and bake at 350.

Theoretically, the applesauce replaces the egg. So far, the flavor isn't bad, but the texture isn't quite right.