Tag Archives: eggless

Egg-free Spelt Crepes

15 Jul

For a long time, I’ve been meaning to share with you a recipe for egg-free crepes…

All the recipes you see out there include eggs and I decided to modify my favorite recipe to get the same results.

EGG-FREE SPELT CREPES – recipe makes about 20 small crepes

1 ½ cups of organic spelt flour, sifted
½ tsp kosher salt
2 cups soy milk, plus 6 tbs
4 ½ tsp egg replacer mix
 5 tbs butter
1 tbs Olive oil, for skillet
¼ cup water, if needed
  1. In a small sauce pan over low heat, melt the butter.  Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together the egg replacer mix with 6tbs of soymilk.  Whisk together and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, sift flour and salt using a fine sieve.  Set aside.  It’s important to sift using a fine sieve, because organic spelt flour has little flakes that we should not include if we want a smooth crepe batter.
  4. Pour remaining soy milk into a blender.  Add the melted butter, egg replacer mix and flour.  Blend well for a few minutes.  Place the crepe batter in the same blender cup in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours.  I made the batter in the morning to use later in the afternoon.
  1. When you’re ready to use the batter…  move it around and see if it has the consistency of a light pancake batter.  If it’s too thick, add ¼ cup of water to make it thinner.
  2. Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 tbs olive oil and spread out using a paper towel.
  3. Pour one ladleful of batter into skillet into skillet, turning and tilting skillet as you’re pouring the batter.  The idea is to coat the bottom of the skillet with a thin layer of batter.  Don’t be discouraged if the first few ones are not as you expect.  It took me a few tried to get the right rhythm of ladle and skillet.
  4. Loose the edges of the crepe using an off-set spatula.  You’ll see the crepe bubble a little, very similar to pancakes.  Loosen the crepe delicately from the pan using a silicone spatula.  When you can move the crepe loosely by just shaking the skillet, after about 1 minute of cooking, flip the crepe using the silicone spatula.
  5. Cook on the other side for about 30 more seconds.  Just slide the crepe out of the skillet onto a plate lined with wax paper.
  6. Repeat the process all over until you finish the crepe batter.  Pass the oiled paper towel once in awhile in between crepes, as needed.

Serve immediately or store in an air-tight container for about 2 weeks.  The crepes have so much butter, they will not stick.

If you do store any in the fridge, just heat the up in a warm skillet for about 1 minute to make them soft and pliable again.  I used these crepes to make my Gateau de Crepes.  They’re also delicious to eat as a dessert with a filling of cajeta/dulce de leche or fruit jam.

Spelt Churros

12 Jul

My friend Angie’s mom, Doña Tina, is from Asturias.  They were just visiting Asturias this past Easter.  Angie came back with plenty ideas for us to make together.  Among them, a CHURRERA…  or a little machine contraption to make churros.  We just had to try it for our Spanish-inspired dinner menu recently.

Mariana and Natalia were super excited to make churros… they were asking for them the whole night.  Churros are sweet, crunchy and delicious.  What’s not to like??

The recipe is super simple… just 3 ingredients – flour, water and butter.  That’s it; Nothing to it.  All you need is a little bit of muscle to work the Churrera.  Or a second pair of hands is also very useful.  If you do not have a churrera, don’t worry – a simple pastry bag with a star tip will also do the job.

We used spelt flour for the job… and it worked out extremely well. 

 

SPELT CHURROS

1 cup  spelt flour
1 cup  water
2 tbs butter
a pinch of kosher salt
Canola oil for frying
Organic sugar for sprinkling on top

 

  1. In a medium saucepan bring the water and butter to a boil.  Dump the flour into the water in one swoop and start mixing it all together very briskly using a wooden spoon.
  2. After mixing the dough around the pan for a little while, about 1-2 minutes, take the dough out of the pan to cool off.
  3. After the dough has cooled, insert it into a churrera or pastry bag with a star tip.
  4. In a large skillet, place about ½ inch of oil for frying the churros… traditionally olive oil is used, but I do not like to use olive oil for frying.  Check the oil is at the right frying temperature by inserting a wooden spoon into the oil.
  5. Press the churros dough through the currera and into the hot oil.  Try to use a circular motion going from the center of the pan and spiral outward.  When you run out of space in the pan, cut the dough using kitchen shears.  That’s the traditional way the Spanish do churros.  If this is too complex, just draw some lines into the frying pan and cut the dough again using kitchen shears.
  6. Fry churros for about 10-15 minutes, until the dough is golden brown on all sides.  Spelt flour is a little bit darker than traditional white flour, so it’ll take a few minutes of frying before you start seeing the change in color and doneness.
  7. Take the finished churros out of the oil and place in a paper towel to drain.  Sprinkle with organic sugar on top.

 

These churros are spectacular and even more so with a cup of Hot Carob on the side.

Very Berry Sorbet

23 Jun

This week summer started officially, according to the calendar, because in Puerto Rico summer started since April, during Holy Week/Easter.  We have been feeling the heat for weeks…

To celebrate the “official” start of summer, our friends at Serious Eats encouraged us to share with them our favorite frozen treats in a feature Ice Cream Social.  I am a social person… and I have been meaning to make a berry sorbet for the longest time, so what better excuse than to share it with all my Serious Eats friends.

The cool thing… it only has 4 ingredients if you count the water and you only need a food processor and a freezer to make this sorbet.  I do not have an ice cream maker because my kitchen is so small I do not have the space for another gadget, so just like Alton Brown we need to multitask.  And nothing beats this in the natural and refreshing department – it only has berries and agave nectar…  Take that Häagen Dazs!!!!

 

VERY BERRY SORBET

8 frozen strawberries
24 frozen blackberries
¼ cup of water
1/3 cup of agave nectar
 

 

  1. Dissolve the agave nectar into the water.
  2. Place the frozen berries in a food processor.  I cut the strawberries in quarters to make them more even in size with the blackberries.

  1. Pulse your food processor a few times to start mashing the berries.  After a few pulses, let it process normally and pour the water and agave nectar mixture through the chute on the top.  You’ll see how the berries will turn into a slushy.
  2. If you’re not fond of sorbet with seeds, pass the mixture thru a sieve to remove as much of the seeds as possible.  If you don’t mind them, skip this step.
  3. Place in an airtight container and freeze for about 2-3 hours before serving. 

 

This recipe made about 2 cups of sorbet and it is super easy and super refreshing…  I use frozen berries I buy fresh and freeze them myself.  It’s super convenient to make smoothies at home and certainly to make this frozen treat.

Almond Praline

31 Dec

This is a recipe I originally learned from Diane Carlson, from the Conscious Gourmet.

This is a super easy recipe that will never disappoint you.  I have also used it to candy hazelnuts, cashews and walnuts.  You can easily eat these almonds by themselves or as a garnish for poached or roasted fruit – like my Roasted Pears with Blue Cheese or these Poached Pears in Orange Juice.

 

ALMOND PRALINE

1 cup sliced almonds
1 tbs maple sugar
1 tbs maple syrup
  1. Combine all ingredients and stir well with two forks.  Spread onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or Silplat.
  2. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 350F oven.  Stir occasionally, and remove from oven once they’ve become golden brown. 
  3. When you remove from oven, transfer them immediately to a cool bowl or plate for them to cool down.  They’ll become crisp as they cool down.  Separate them carefully.

Red Pepper Dressing

6 Aug

This is a dressing I’ve done mainly for the Yoga Center dinners… they love their roasted red peppers.  I’ve done it so many times without a recipe, so the last time around I decided to write it down to share it with all of you…

 

 Roasted Red Pepper Dressing

ROASTED RED PEPPER DRESSING

2 roasted red peppers
1 cup of eggless mayonnaise
3 garlic cloves
¼ red onion
6-10 olives
½ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbs garlic and herbs seasoning
1 tbs fresh parsley – you could use the dried kind in a pinch
1 tbs salt
1 tsp black pepper
¼ cup of water
½ cup canola oil

 

 

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender.
  2.  I add the canola oil last thru the hole on the blender cover to make sure the oil mixes well and will not separate afterwards.