Sweet Corn Tomalito (Corn Pudding)

Shown here with bean and cabbage tacos, this sweet corn pudding can be used as a side dish, a dessert, a breakfast, or a snack. Be sure to make extra as you'll probably have it for all of them!


Ingredients:
5 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup corn flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons milk or milk alternative

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter/margarine, corn flour, and sugar until light and fluffy.
   
2. In a food processor or blender, blend one cup of the corn kernels with the water and cornmeal just until smooth. Stir into the corn flour mixture.
   
3. Mix in the remaining corn, baking powder, salt, and milk until the batter is smooth. Pour into an 8x8 inch glass baking dish or the top pot of a double boiler and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
4. If using a double boiler, put an inch or so of water in the bottom pot and place the top pot above it. If using a glass baking dish, set it on top of a large saucepan of simmering water. Steam for 50 to 60 minutes, or until firm. Check the simmering water occasionally and refill if necessary.
   
5. Stir pudding before serving to give it a consistent texture.
   

What We Do:
Smart Balance Light margarine with flax seed is non-hydrogenated, vegan, and soy-free so we used that. We used rice milk and it came out great, but now that we have the MimicCreme open, we'll use it. We also buy aluminum-free baking powder.

Cookie Dough

This stuff is delicious as batter and nearly half didn't make it into the oven. Great for keeping in the fridge to grab a spoonful when you're wanting something cold and sweet. And since there are no eggs, you don't have to worry about the raw batter making someone ill.


Ingredients:
2-1/4 cup unsifted all purpose flour
1 cup softened (not melted) non-hydrogenated, vegan margarine
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 oz of vegan chocolate chips
5 oz of another cookie add-in like chopped pecans, coconut flakes or more chocolate

Directions:
1. If you want to bake them into cookies, pre-heat the oven to 375F.
2. In a large bowl, cream the brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, applesauce and margarine until it has a still chunky but somewhat smooth texture.
3. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl.
4. Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture and stir. When the combined ingredients are smooth and thick, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (or other ingredients you desire to a total of about 10 oz).
5. If you want to use this as a raw dough (which I recommend) then cover the bowl and refrigerate it. Eat by the spoonful once chilled.
6. If you want to bake any of the dough into cookies, drop them on a greased cookie sheet and bake them for 10 minutes or when they are soft enough but solid enough to eat.
7. Remove from oven and place the cookies on a cooling rack.

What We Do:
While any applesauce will work, Santa Cruz' cherry applesauce gives it a distinctively delicious taste.

Special Diet Considerations:
We used Smart Balance Light margarine with flax oil as it is vegan and soy-free. The other Smart Balance margarines are not vegan, and many margarines contain soy, so watch the ingredients if it is of concern.

Source: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=15307.0

Jen Z's St. Nicholas Cookies & Royal Icing

We enjoyed Jennifer Z's delicious vanilla cookies with royal icing shaped in bishops' mitres on St. Nicholas Day along with candy canes to symbolize the bishop's staff. Thanks to her generosity, now you can enjoy them, too!

Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup safe margarine
1 cup sugar
2.5 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 Tbsp oil, 1.5 Tbsp water, 1 tsp baking powder, mixed together
2.5 cups flour

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Beat margarine and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, salt, and oil/water/baking powder mixture. Stir in flour until well mixed.
2. Shape cookies into balls and drop onto cookie sheets. Flatten cookies with a glass dipped in sugar (wet glass the first time, then dip in sugar before each cookie). ...OR... Roll out about 1/4" thick and cut with a cookie cutter.
3. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.


Icing Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk substitute or water
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
assorted food coloring

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth.
2. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
3. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

What Jen Does:
Jennifer uses rice milk in the icing. If I'm not mistaken, she uses Fleischmann's unsalted margerine.

The original recipe author adds, "I actually put the icing into zip baggies and cut a very small corner off and pipe the icing onto the cookies. They will dry over a period of several hours and you will be able to put them in bags without having the icing stick."

Special Diet Considerations:
Catherine notes that McCormick and many other brands of almond extract use oil of bitter almond, meaning it is extracted from fruit stones and is not actually from nuts. Therefore, I'm labeling this recipe as tree nut-free. I bet it would taste good with almond milk for those who can have it!