Soft and Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

The last time I made gingerbread cookies, Halloween skeletons to be exact, I may have said a few harsh words about the recipe.  I just adore soft, chewy cookies and I had wrestled repeatedly with various gingerbreads until I finally got the results I wanted.  I think my frustration with the process may have left me feeling somewhat uncharitable.  I believe I called the recipe "fussy."

I admit it, I was wrong.

Apparently, if I take the time to follow my own instructions, they're really not so difficult.  I wasn't wrong about the cookies themselves, though.  While stuffing an entire tree in his face, The Kid volunteered that it was "more good than it looks," which may have been prompted by one of my mini-rants about goodies that look amazing, but taste dry and boring.  (It's like a high calorie bait and switch.  I do make an exception for gingerbread for houses, since they are a construction material, but lets start labeling the recipes as "for building" or "for eating!")

So here is a recap of this lovely, soft gingerbread.  Just ignore what I said about it.

Soft and Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

(Click for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
3 C AP flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt


Wet Ingredients:
1/2 C nondairy margarine, i.e., Earth Balance, softened
1/2 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C molasses
2 Tbs orange juice


Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream margarine in mixer, then add brown sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Reduce speed, then mix in molasses and orange juice. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Wrap dough in plastic and chill in refrigerator at least two hours or overnight.


Preheat oven to 350F. Cut parchment paper to fit cookie sheets. You will need 3 or 4 pieces of parchment paper if using standard half sheet pans.  Generously flour one piece of parchment paper, and place about a third of the chilled dough onto the parchment. (Leave the remaining dough in the fridge.) Pat the dough down with with well floured hands, then roll it out to 1/4" thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice to cut out shapes, leaving the cookies in place on the parchment. Carefully remove extra dough from around the cookies and reserve it, then carefully separate the cookies so that they are at least 1/2 inch apart.  (A very thin spatula works well for this.)  Gently slide the parchment paper onto a pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.


As additional portions of dough are rolled out, knead reserved dough completely into the fresh and use less flour to roll out.  All of the dough can be reused, but the last cookies may be slightly less tender.


After baking cookies, allow them to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then move to cooling rack.  Once completely cool, decorate as desired.

I might have been wrong about the cookie recipe, but the icing did need serious improvement.  Here's the royal icing recipe I'm currently using.  I don't use egg replacer much anymore, but to me it still wins for this application, since there's no mucking about with corn syrup, cream of tartar, etc.


I skipped the fancy piping and just spread the icing on thickly with a spatula, then put sprinkles on immediately (before putting the cookie down!) so that the icing didn't have a chance to start firming up.


Allow icing to dry overnight, then keep in an airtight container with wax paper between the layers.

Royal Icing

(Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking, which has egg replacer in Every Single Recipe.)

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 Tbs water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 C powdered (confectioners') sugar
food coloring as desired


Combine Egg Replacer, water and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously until frothy.  Add powdered sugar and continue stirring until smooth.  Mix in food coloring.  (The trees pictured had about 4 drops of green food coloring.)


If needed, the thickness of the icing can be adjusted by gradually adding very small amounts of either water or powdered sugar.

In case you thought we'd forgotten all about tradition, we also made gingerbread dinosaurs.  (It's just not a celebration without edible sauropods.)  The Kid decorated most of those himself, but unfortunately they all got eated were not available for photos.  One sweet little dinosaur did manage to avoid extinction, so she's sending happy holiday thoughts to the Guppy!

I'm submitting my sprinkly trees to the Baking Bites Gingerbread Cookie Contest contest.  You can see the rest of the cookie cutter madness at the contest Flickr pool.

A happy, sugary, holiday season to everyone!

Gingerbread Skeleton Cookies

Update:  You can find a newer version of this recipe here.

Oh, I've been such a slacker blogger! The last month has been scary, and not in a good Halloween way. We've been fighting the homeowner blues, replacing both our dishwasher and a toilet, while discovering a few tricks the original contractor left behind. The Kid made it through an egg yolk challenge in preparation for the flu and H1N1 vaccines, but my post on that has been languishing in my drafts file while our computer recuperated from a bad video card in the shop.

To top it off I have almost 500 unread emails, while my Google Reader simply imploded once it reached 1000 posts. I am especially remiss in not thanking both Mel for passing on her Splash Award to me and to Marie for gifting me with the especially appropriate Lemonade Award. There's been no shortage of lemons around here. I'll try to catch up to the comments and emails as soon as I can!

I'm also late on the bandwagon with these clever skeleton cookies that made the rounds on the interwebs last Halloween. They were too adorable to resist, but you may decide that they are a trick rather than a treat, since my gingerbread recipe is just...fussy. I love the results that I get with it, nicely spicy and chewy instead of crisp, but perfectly soft gingerbread doesn't form easily. Continue baking at your own peril! (Or use another gingerbread recipe, instead.)

Dry Ingredients:
3 C AP flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 C nondairy margarine, i.e., Earth Balance, softened
1/2 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C molasses
2 Tbs orange juice

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream margarine in mixer, then add brown sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Reduce speed, then mix in molasses and orange juice. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Wrap dough in plastic and chill in refrigerator at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut parchment paper to fit cookie sheets. You will need 3 or 4 pieces of parchment paper if using standard half sheet pans. If you have rings that you can slip on the end of your rolling pin, break out the 1/4 inchers now. If you don't, well, the holidays are coming, and you'll be hinting for a set by the time these cookies are done! (They work best with a long wooden French rolling pin, and I suggest buying the pin and spacers as a set to make sure they fit together.)

Lightly flour one of your pre-cut pieces of parchment paper, and plop about a third of the chilled dough onto the parchment. (Leave the remaining dough in the fridge.) Pat the chunka dough down with floured hands, then roll it out to 1/4" thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes at least 1/2" apart, being sure to leave the cookies in place on the parchment. Carefully remove extra dough from around the cookies and reserve it, then gently slide the parchment paper onto the pan. (Usually I just cover my entire gingerbread cookie with a thin glaze, but since these were "for show" I brushed the excess flour from the cookies with a pastry brush before putting them in the oven.) Bake for 10 minutes.

Grab another dough hunk from the fridge and knead it together with the leftovers from your first sheet so that the extra flour is completely mixed in, then repeat the entire process until you run out of dough. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

Lemon Decorating Icing:
1 C powdered sugar, sifted (I'm serious about sifting it!)
2-4 Tbs lemon juice

Sift powdered (confectioners) sugar into a bowl, then stir 2 Tbs of lemon juice in with a fork or small whisk. Continue adding lemon juice by teaspoons until desired consistency is reached. Keep in mind that the icing needs to be firm enough to pipe fine details, but thin enough to squeeze from an icing bag without causing your hand to cramp and spasm. Adjust by adding additional juice or sugar. (It took me a couple of tries. The teddy bears are an example of too thin icing, while the really cute skeletons at the top were hard to squeeze out.) Again, if you've got a white icing recipe or safe commercial frosting that pipes well for you, go for it. I really like the lemon flavor with the gingerbread, but this recipe is also on the fussy side.

Unless you're making supersize cookies (not a bad idea!) use the finest piping tip you have to decorate them. I used my No 2. Make sure they dry completely before wrapping or stacking. These little guys were extra effort, but they are a huge hit with The Kid and make fantastic gifts.

Gifts for Families with Allergies & Asthma

'Tis the season to give and receive, which can be a minefield to navigate, even without easily aggravated medical conditions. Here are a few general guidelines, which are frequently overlooked by well-meaning loved ones:

• Always check with parents before purchasing a gift for a child, not, as the child is unwrapping, whisper, "I got XYZ, is that OK?" Don't make mom and dad the bad guys. Even better, ask for gift suggestions.
• If anyone in the house has asthma, don't purchase anything plushy, no matter how adorable. Do you really want to be on the side of the dust mites?
• If you are giving a toy with multiple parts or pieces, it's incredibly thoughtful to include a corresponding container to keep it in. For example, if giving LEGOs, buy a set that comes in a plastic box, or purchase a matching bucket.
• I shouldn't even have to mention it, but never, ever offer food to an allergic child without checking with a parent first. That doesn't mean waving a piece of candy from across the room (and in the child's field of vision) and yelling, "Can s/he eat this?" If you simply must show your love by giving food, have a label in your hand and the parent's full attention. Seriously, don't mess this one up.

Now on to the shopping:

• For the young music lover, check out Kyle Dine's album "You Must Be Nuts," which includes the superhero anthem "Epi-Man," the story of "Smellephant the Allergic Elephant," and the moving "Gluten Free Blues." You can preview the songs and either purchase or download the CD through his website KyleDine.com.
• Any family that has members with food allergies is faced with budget busting grocery bills. A gift certificate to Allergy Grocers, Divvies, Peanut Free Planet, Home Free Treats (which is giving away cookies with each order this month) or Whole Foods will be very greatly appreciated.
• Kids with Food Allergies has a very good selection of books geared toward allergic children, especially younger ones who are beginning school.
• If you are searching for a cookbook for a family with the Milk-Egg-Nut allergy trifecta, the popular cookbook author, Linda Coss, has written a sequel, "What Else is to Eat?" which can be purchased, along with her earlier works, at Food Allergy Books.
• This camera designed for kids is my top gift pick this year for my five year old son. Last year's winner was the Plan City Road & Rail Set from Plan Toys. I highly recommend all their products.
  
• If you are one the very special people who is trusted to babysit an allergic child, then one of the best gifts you can give parents is a (relatively) worry free night out. If you can watch the kid(s) for a weekend, even better.
  
• Finally, in the tradition of the holiday gift guides that always end with an incredibly expensive dream present, I suggest the all expense paid Disney vacation. The mouse has become the destination of choice for families who have children with food allergies for good reason. Alerting the staff at any of the Disney restaurants and resorts results in a personal chef trained in the arcane ways of food allergies and cross contamination (and who is able to recite the ingredients of every item on the menu) being sent to the table to personally take the allergic child's order. We experienced the treatment at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney in Orlando for The Kid's birthday this year. It was pricey, but worth it.

Don't forget that the holidays shouldn't just be about the stuff. Remember to cherish your families and pass on your traditions. Go ahead and create some new ones. May you and your loved ones have a safe and joyful holiday season!

Immigrant Pie

Never in a million years did I think that anyone else would pick the same holiday tune as me for this month's You Want Pies With That? challenge. When I saw yesterday that Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies had made a Fairytale of New York Pie, my jaw dropped. Not only that, but her take on it is brilliant. (It's an Irish drunkfest in a pie. The Pogues would love it.) I've been frantically searching for another seasonal song that moves me like that one. Nope. No such luck.

So I finally decided to soldier on. The number of religious customs and holiday traditions that merge in our family is just astounding. I'm amazed at how my husband's and my families carried their culinary heritage, from Latkes to Swedish Rosettes, with them to this country. The Pogues' song of heartbreak and drunkenness speaks eloquently of the dreams of the old world and new and their loss. To bring them together, I placed a traditional style European apple tart on a thoroughly American sweet potato crust.

Now I'm voting for Natashya.

Thanksgiving Fruit Salsa with Spiced Pomegranate Jelly

Cranberry is the traditional accompaniment to the Thanksgiving turkey, but in my family there is wide disagreement as to what form it should take. My dad always liked the stuff out of the can and my mom prefers a sauce made of fresh cranberries cooked with orange juice. I crave a relish of raw cranberries and candied ginger, while my husband and son, like my brother, won't touch anything made from the sour red berries.

This year I finally devised a dish to appeal to the differing cranberry factions. All the spices and flavors are here, but in a milder, sweeter package. Pomegranate has cranberry's deep red color and lovely antioxidants, but less tartness and far more kid appeal. One of the things I've learned as a mom is that it doesn't matter how healthy a meal is, if it never makes it into my child's mouth. That's not a problem with this side dish, which was almost more popular than the turkey! (I had to make a second batch of salsa just to get a photo of it.)

The first component, an easy refrigerator jelly, can be prepared up to several weeks in advance, but should be made the day before it will be served at the latest.

16 oz bottle Pom Pomegranate juice
thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled
cinnamon stick
zest from one orange
1/2 package pectin (2 Tbs if using Sure Jell)
3 C sugar

In a small pot, bring the juice, ginger, cinnamon stick, and zest to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Strain juice into a bowl. A jelly bag is traditional, but a colander lined with paper towel works just as well. Return juice to pot. Add pectin and whisk until completely combined. Stir in sugar and bring back to a boil. Again reduce heat and continue to stir while the mixture simmers for five minutes. (Do not stop stirring or the pot may boil over.)

Allow the pot to cool slightly, then pour into a clean container and allow to approach room temperature. Once cooled, cover jelly and place in refrigerator. Makes approximately 2 1/4 C.

The second component, the fruit salsa, should be prepared the same day it will be served.

juice of 1 lime
2 Tbs turbinado sugar
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 firm apple, peeled, cored and diced into small cubes
1 mango, peeled, pit removed and diced into small cubes
arils from 1 Pom Wonderful fresh pomegranate

Mix the lime juice, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl until combined. Add the apple and stir to cover all surfaces with the lime mixture. Gently stir in the mango and pomegranate arils.

Serve both the jelly and the salsa with roast turkey to make everyone happy. Makes enough for six to eight, but don't count on leftovers!

This post is my entry for the Pom Wonderful Fresh Fruit Recipe Contest. You can find contest information, pomegranate tips and lore, plus recipes for the rest of the year at the Pom Wonderful site.

Thanksgiving Menu

Just in case you were wondering. (Vegans may wish to avert their eyes.)

• Turkey. I swear by Alton Brown's brined turkey recipe. One year I even got into wrestling match with my mom when she tried to put the roasting pan back in the oven despite evidence from the thermometer, because she just didn't believe that much juice could come out of a fully cooked bird.
• Cornbread and Wild Rice Dressing is the reason I show up at the table. My family, too, but mostly the dressing.
• Homemade mashed potatoes (made with chicken stock to avoid the dairy) at my husband's request.
• Gravy made with some turkey drippings, flour, chicken stock, and seasonings.
  
• Steamed green beans with a little Earth Balance margarine and some nutmeg freshly grated over them.
  
• Grandma Annie's Candied Carrots.
• Possibly Buttermilk(less) Biscuits, despite the starch overload.

My aunt brings the blueberry pie and wine. I may be tossed out of the greatest pie baking club ever for this, but our Thanksgiving tradition is Marie Callender's frozen blueberry pie, which is egg, dairy, and nut free and The Kid loves. (We have several years worth of blueberry faced photos to prove it.) Plus my aunt gets to bring something, and I don't have to worry about ingredients or cross contamination.

Update: The blueberry pie is NOT from Marie Callender, but from Mrs. Smith. Marie Callender's pies have warnings due to being manufactured in the same facilities as peanuts (and possibly other allergens.)

You may have noticed that there is no cranberry sauce, relish, salsa, chutney or anything else on the list. There is a wide divergence of opinion in my family about the correct role of the cranberry at the Thanksgiving table, ranging from preferring its absence to liking the gelatinous canned stuff, to enjoying a nice relish with oranges and candied ginger. Every year, someone's been unhappy. In the next few days, I'll be posting a version of cranberry sauce that will knock everyone's socks off, even the haters!

Pumpkin Mini Pies

The Kid's Kindergarten class is having their Thanksgiving party today, where (almost) everyone will enjoy a slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. The teacher is good about letting me know well in advance about any food activities or events that I'll need to provide a substitution for, but it adds some additional stress to an already tight schedule. I decided to try to make something simple that would hopefully survive the trip to school in a five year old's backpack.

6 Mini Graham Cracker Pie Crusts (Keebler Ready Crust)
1 C cooked pureed pumpkin
1/2 C vanilla soy yogurt
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tbs corn starch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
turbinado sugar to sprinkle generously on top

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients except crusts and turbinado sugar in a medium bowl and mix until smooth. Fill pie crusts with mixture, dividing evenly between all six. Smooth the filling or give it a stir to create a spiral pattern. Place mini pies on a cookie sheet, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle pies with turbinado sugar to completely cover top surfaces. Return to oven for another 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

This is my first submission to Sugar High Friday. The amazingly popular event's theme this month is "All That Glitters,"so I'm sending my sparkly little pies to Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

Thanks for "Nothing" Thanksgiving Round Up

Thanks so much to all of you who were kind enough to send your recipes. This was the first food event that I've hosted myself, and, well, it's been a learning experience. Here's a few tips I managed to pick up:

• Ask your spouse, trusted friend, or any random passerby for a second opinion about event titles that seems witty, especially if it has the potential to be offensive or off putting.
• Allow a longer period for the event.
• Do not plan to post the round up while having house guests.

So without any further delay, here's the amazing Thanksgiving recipes in the order they were received.

Speedbump Kitchen sent an inspired allergy friendly Pumpkin Pie, Midwest Style. She adapted a no-bake pie recipe to be egg and dairy free with some surprising ingredients.

Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella modified the recipe for her beautiful Apple Maple Tartlets to be not just elegant, but vegan friendly.

Rianne of Art of Dessert has a young son with multiple food allergies, who is fortunate enough to have a talented professional pastry chef as a mom. She has sent not one, but three gorgeous deserts free of eggs, nuts, and soy.

First in the line up is a mouth watering Carrot Cake.

Then she reinvents the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Finally she shares her Muddy Buddies, a treat with certain kid appeal.

Apu of Annarasa Essence of Food shares Herby Oven-Baked Chips, a savory side dish perfect for a Thanksgiving feast.

Linds of This Abode turned on the creativity to bake an original Pie Crust free of all of the top eight allergens, a real feat. She leaves the filling up to you.

Maggie of Dog Hill Kitchen has another scrumptious vegan apple desert, Apple Phyllo Strudel. It hadn't even occurred to me that phyllo could be dairy free, now I'll be scouring the freezer case to find some!

Leigha of Food Allergy Family Fun sends two recipes for easy quick breads, Banana Bread and Pumpkin Bread, both of which can also be baked as muffins. Hopefully she'll share a photo of her next batch!

My contribution to the Thanksgiving table is an egg, dairy, and nut free Cornbread and Wild Rice Dressing.


A late, but enticing submission came in from Rachel of The Crispy Cook. Her Copper Pennies are vegan and gluten free, not to mention far more appealing than green bean casserole.

I'm not sure who started the tradition of drawing a name from a Kitchen Aid bowl, but The Kid himself did the honors, and the winner of the wild rice is....

Speedbump Kitchen. Thanks again to all of you who sent in your fabulous entries! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Cornbread and Wild Rice Dressing

Half batch of dressing without raisins.

1 recipe corn bread
1 qt chicken stock
1 C wild rice
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1 C golden raisins
3 Tbs chopped fresh sage leaves or 1 Tbs dried
3 Tbs chopped fresh flat leaf parsley or 1 Tbs dried
1 Tbs chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Note: Both cornbread and wild rice can be prepared up to two days in advance.

Thoroughly rinse wild rice. Add rice to 3 C chicken stock in a medium pot with a tight fitting lid and bring to a boil. (If using homemade stock, add 1/2 tsp salt.) Reserve remaining cup of stock. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Allow lake grown rice to cook for 20-25 minutes or paddy grown rice to cook for 45-50 minutes, or until all the stock is absorbed.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut corn bread into 1/2" cubes and place in 4 qt baking dish. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or fry pan to medium. Add onion and cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Mix in mushrooms, garlic, and celery, and cook another five minutes. Stir in raisins and seasonings until warmed through. Mix in cooked wild rice.

Gently stir contents of skillet into the cornbread in the baking dish. Once evenly mixed, pour remaining cup of stock over the dressing. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until cornbread is browned.

Thanks for "Nothing" Thanksgiving Round Up

Holidays that center on food are especially difficult for the dietary restricted. Now that we've made it through Halloween, we're coming face to face with the big one, Thanksgiving, which has finally motivated me to host my own event.

I'd like you to send me your best Thanksgiving recipes that fall into one or more of the following three categories:

• vegan
• gluten free
• "allergy friendly," i.e. free from milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish*

Post the recipe on your own blog describing how it meets one of these dietary needs. (Unless, of course, your blog is already vegan, gluten free, etc.) Link back to this post and send an email with "Thanksgiving Round Up" in the subject line to allergiesmom(at)gmail(dot)com and include the following information:

• your name
• geographic location (optional)
• blog
• permalink to post
• photo (which I may resize if needed)
  

You may repost an older recipe as long as you update it to include the event information. It would be especially nice if you modified a favorite recipe to meet one of these restrictions. If you live outside of the U.S., feel free to participate by posting an appropriate recipe for a seasonal celebration of your own.

To show my appreciation, I will randomly select one of the entries and send the lucky ducky a 12 oz bag of wild rice. In case I miss one of the finer points of vegan or gluten free cookery, I may ask someone more expert to check over the winning entry, so watch out for those marshmallows, extracts, and sweeteners! Please be very detailed about an ingredient if there could be any confusion.

The deadline is midnight EST on Saturday, November 15th, so that there will be enough time for the winner to receive the wild rice in the mail before Thanksgiving. I'll be happy to accept late entries, but they will not be eligible for the prize.

Thank you so much for participating in this event!

*I realize that the allergens I've selected are somewhat arbitrary, but they make up five of the top eight food allergies, and they are some of the ones we deal with in our house.

Spider Cupcakes & Halloween Tidbits

These spiders may look intimidating, but they will win you over with their sweet chocolate frosting and hearts of pumpkin. I'm still tweaking the pumpkin cupcake recipe, but the decoration is too delicious not to share.

To make them you will need:

• cupcakes of your choice
• chocolate frosting
• Cake Mate Chocolate Decors
• Wonka Runts
• Twizzlers Pull 'N Peel
• a chopstick
  

Peel off two strands of a Twizzler and cut both into quarters. Frost a cupcake, then immediately dip the frosted top into a small bowl of Chocolate Decors. Insert two of the banana Runts as the spider's mandibles, then use the chopstick to make deep, evenly spaced holes for each of the spiders legs about a quarter inch from the edge of the cupcake. Insert Twizzler legs and place two more Runts as eyes. Grab another cupcake and repeat.

Halloween, the holiday that inspires well meaning individuals to offer potentially deadly candy to food allergic children, is looming, and I am overdue in sharing my own strategy for taking candy from a child, plus I've got some good links. We do go trick-or-treating, but only after doing the prep work. Before the big event, I put together a basket of safe candy and non food treats, such as stickers. Then I use the basket as a not so subtle visual aide when we have our final talk about not eating any candy before going out. Once we get home, we ceremoniously read the ingredients on each piece of candy that has them, and for each one that gets surrendered, The Kid gets to select an item from the safe basket. (It's a little tedious, since I know perfectly well that they're all going bye bye, but it's a valuable reinforcement, and my child enjoys the ritual for some perverse reason.)

The last Food Allergy Blog Carnival, hosted by Alisa of Sure Foods Living, was Halloween themed and has lots of good stuff. There's a good new site called Allergy Free Halloween, and FAAN and Allergy Moms both have good guides for surviving Halloween.

Don't forget to take pictures of your little darlings in costume and submit them to Enjoy Life's online Halloween Party. If you submit a photo before Nov. 5th, they will send you $5 in coupons. Here's the details:

How to Participate:
1. Take a photo of your child dressed up in a costume.
2. Email the photo and your name & address to enjoylifenf@gmail.com (printed coupons will be snail mailed)
3. Enjoy the Party!

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Sweetest New Year Cookies

L'shana Tovah!

When this girl from a family of Lutheran pastors decided to marry a nice Jewish boy, my future husband and I did a lot of talking about what was important to each of us and made some decisions about how we would raise any children together. That's when I discovered that the place that I drew the line was around my recipe box. Although I was comfortable exploring a different spiritual home, I wasn't willing to give up my family's traditions, especially the culinary ones.

At first, combining our heritages seemed easy. I found a Star of David shaped iron, and began making my family's Swedish Rosettes, which are cooked in oil, for Chanukah. I thought I had found my footing, keeping what was important from the past, while creating new traditions for my own family. Then my extraordinary child came along, and I discovered that the only thing harder than changing an entire year's worth of holiday traditions to compensate for his food allergies, was adapting the meals from two of them.

These cookies began their long evolution as a very old recipe for Lebkuchen, a honey based type of cookie, which is a distant cousin of both gingerbread and fruitcake. Citron has been replaced with apple, the egg and nuts have been stripped out, and I've added some lift to compensate for the loss of the eggs. They are delicious evidence that families and traditions do change, and that change is sometimes sweet.

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 C honey
1/3 C packed brown sugar

Dry Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C oat flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice

Additional:
1 cooking apple, grated
1 Tbs lemon juice

*if you do not have nut allergies, you may substitute 1/4 C ground pecans

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Core, peel, and grate the apple and stir in the lemon juice. In a heavy bottomed pan or Dutch oven, slowly bring the honey to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir the flour mixture into the honey in small batches. The dough will become very stiff, and you may need to place the pan back onto the still warm burner to help combine them. Once the the flour is mixed in, stir in the apple mixture. Place dough in a covered container, and allow to cool in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare the glaze (recipe below.) Line cookie sheets with quick release aluminum foil (preferred) or grease the sheets (you'll be scrubbing them later). Put several ice cubes in cold water in a small bowl and get a wide bottomed glass. Using two spoons, drop dough by tablespoonsfuls onto cookie sheet two inches apart. Dip the glass into the ice water and use it to flatten each cookie. Bake cookies for ten minutes.

After removing cookies from oven, brush glaze on immediately with a pastry brush. Allow to cool on pan for ten minutes, then remove to cooling rack. It's easiest to just slide a cooling rack underneath the aluminum foil and pick up the entire sheet of cookies together.

Glaze:
1 C powdered sugar
1 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs water

Whisk together in a small bowl.

Happy Mother's Day!

Piña Colada Cupcakes

Last night was time to bake, so that The Kid wasn't the only preschooler without a cupcake in his hand and frosting on his face for Valentine's Day. First I considered making an applesauce cuppy cake, since I'd be able to effortlessly make a nice moist batter without egg while reducing the fat. That seemed a little...boring. Maybe crushed pineapple instead? Much better! With a cherry frosting, so it would taste like a pineapple upside down cake...then I decided to mix in some shredded coconut. As soon as the smell of pineapple and coconut hit my nose I said "It's a Piña Colada Cupcake!"

I'm a sucker for umbrella drinks, and I was sorely tempted to start mixing rum and cream of coconut for the frosting, but I stayed on the straight and narrow. With the help of a brand new book on cake decorating and my mom's old Wilson decorating kit from the 1970's, I even got up the courage to try piping the frosting for the first time!

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 C cake flour, sifted
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 C dairy free margarine, softened
1 C sugar
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple
1 tsp vanilla extract

Additional:
1 C sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper baking cups. Sift together all dry ingredients into a small bowl. In a separate small bowl, toss together the coconut and several tablespoons of the flour mixture. Set both bowls aside. Cream margarine and sugar together in a large mixer bowl. Continue mixing and add pineapple and vanilla. (Don't worry if you get a cottage cheese texture, just continue beating the mixture until the "curds" are smaller.) Add flour mixture in small portions while still continuing to mix until completely combined. Stir in coconut by hand.

Divide batter evenly into muffin tin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven when a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then frost.

Frosting:
1/3 C dairy free margarine, softened
3 C powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs cherry spreadable fruit or cherry preserves
12 maraschino cherries (optional)

Cream margarine in a mixer bowl, than gradually add sugar while continuing to mix. Once combined, mix in the rest of the ingredients except cherries. (I had planned on adding vanilla soy milk, but the frosting was so tooth achingly sweet, that I switched to lemon juice plus vanilla extract.) Frosts one batch of cupcakes!

Raspberry Orange Cookies

There are an infinite variety of Danish butter cookies. Recipes just for raspberry butter cookies include ones sandwiched, cut into shapes, and rolled in sesame seeds or almond bits. These ones are rolled in sugar and flavored with orange extract, rather than the more typical vanilla or almond. Since they normally depend heavily on butter for flavor, it is important to use a good tasting margarine. (I like Earth Balance Buttery Sticks.) It's not a bad idea to taste the margarine beforehand to make sure it's not too salty and reduce the salt in the recipe if it is. The orange flavor in the cookies is fairly subtle, so I'll probably add some orange zest to the next batch.

2 C dairy free margarine, softened
1/2 C sugar
2 tsp orange extract
4 C all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
sugar to coat
seedless raspberry preserves

Cream margarine, sugar, and orange extract together. Gradually mix in flour and salt until completely combined. Divide dough into two balls, and wrap each separately in plastic wrap. Place dough balls in the fridge and allow to chill for at least one hour. (Nothing to stop you from only making one ball, but it lets you keep half the dough chilled while working with the other half.)

Preheat oven to 400F. Shape dough into 1" balls, roll in sugar, and place 2" apart on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Flatten slightly, and make an indentation in each ball using thumb. Fill centers with raspberry preserves, being careful not to overfill. Bake 12-14 minutes until edges very slightly brown. Makes 4-5 dozen yummy cookies.

Latkes I: Basic Latkes

2-3 lbs russet potatoes (about half of a 5 lb bag)
1 large onion
1 Tbs dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
vegetable oil for cooking

Begin heating 1/4" to 1/2" vegetable oil (I like canola) in an electric skillet or large frying pan to medium high. Peel potatoes and onion, then shred in a food processor. Mix potatoes and onion with seasonings, then place in a colander either over a large bowl or in the sink. With clean, wet hands, place a handful of the potato mixture between palms and squeeze out any additional moisture while making a nice palm-sized patty. Gently place the patty in the heated oil, and continue squeezing and shaping latkes until out of room in the skillet. Fry until bottom side is golden brown , then flip over and cook until second side is also a lovely shade. Place on paper towel to drain, then step back as it is snatched up and eaten. Continue the latke assembly line until all the potato mixture is gone. Serve with Tofutti "Better than Sour Cream" or applesauce.