Chocolate Surprise Desserts

This is a simple and playful dessert inspired by the buttercream filled marzipan frog at the Swedish Bakery in Chicago. They're great for a dinner party because everyone likes chocolate (for the most part), they're small therefore promoting the portion control idea, and they're just the cutest.

To assemble, make a half recipe of the vanilla cake and a half recipe of the buttercream from the strawberries and creme cake (which can be elevated a little more with some fresh vanilla bean), and 12 ounces of good dark chocolate.

Prepare the cake and let cool and prepare the buttercream. To assemble, use a small biscuit cutter (1.5") about the same size of a shot glass and cut out circles of the cake. Cut these in half horizontally so they're not too tall. Top with a cookie scoop of frosting or a large rounded tablespoon. Now you want to temper the chocolate and the trick here is to melt it very slowly. Remove from heat before the chocolate is completely melted and stir until smooth. Now pour over your assembled cakes and make sure they're completely covered. Let these sit at room temperature for a half hour or so until it's hardened.

Now it's time for creativity. Decorate these however you want. If you want to be more classy, steer away from the faces and use the buttercream to pipe an elegant pattern. However, if you're going for the whimsical presentation, have a great time.

These taste wonderful with the sweet and dense cake, light airy buttercream, and the intense bitter chocolate. Everyone will be impressed and satisfied.

Lemon

I'm a HUGE fan of lemon meringue pie but quite honestly, any store bought versions are impressively bad. They either have heavy and dense crusts, overly sweet lemon curd, over or under cooked meringue, or a lovely combination of these unfortunate problems. This dairy free beauty has a light and flaky crust, tart lemon curd, and perfectly cooked meringue topping. This is an overall great adaption of the Cook's Illustrated recipe.

Use the pie crust recipe from the quiche. Once it's chilled, roll out and form into the pie shell. Refrigerate the rolled out dough. Then after a half hour, crimp the edges and refrigerate for another hour or so until perfectly firm. Once that's all done, preheat the oven to 400. Cover the pie crust with tin foil and fill with pie weights or beans. Bake for about 15 minutes and then remove the tin foil and, reduce the temperature to 350, and bake for another 10 minutes to achieve the slightly browned crust.

Lemon Curd:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups cold water
6 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons earth balance butter replacement

Meringue:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Now that your pie crust is cooling and looking wonderful, it's time to prepare the filling. In a large sauce pan that is a non-reactive surface (none of that nonstick stuff), mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and water and bring to a simmer over medium heat whisking occasionally until it begins to thicken and then stir more frequently. The mixture will start to become translucent after several minutes at which point you need to add in the egg yolks two at a time. Then, whisk in the zest, then lemon juice, then the butter. Bring this whole thing to a simmer vigorously whisking. Remove from heat and cover with plastic wrap making sure to have the plastic touching the surface of the lemon curd to prevent the development of a film.

Meringue time! In a small saucepan, bring the cornstarch to a simmer with 1/3 cup water whisking frequently until the mixture thickens and starts to become translucent. Then let it cool while you go to whipping those whites.

Heat your oven to 325 and mix together the sugar and cream of tartar in a small bowl. Then put the egg whites and vanilla in your stand mixer and mix on medium high with the whisk attachment until frothy (about 30 seconds or so). With the motor running on high, slowly pour in the sugar/cream of tartar mixture and whip to soft peaks. Finally, pour in the cooled cornstarch mixture in and continue to whip until you have stiff peaks.

Pour in the slightly cooled lemon curd into the pie crust and then pour on the meringue smoothing out with a rubber spatula and swirling to make those little peaks throughout. The trick here is to spread the meringue all the way to the crust and make sure it's touching the crust that way it'll attach and not shrink while baking.

Bake the pie for 20 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Pie

This is always a crowd favorite and no one will ever know that it's dairy free. The addition of dairy free cream cheese gives these pies a velvety texture and if you use actual pumpkin puree verses the canned stuff, it will be lighter and even more spectacular.

Graham Cracker Crust
5 graham crackers
3 tablespoons sugar
2 ounces chopped pecans (1/2 cup or so)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 tablespoons earth balance butter replacement, melted

Pumpkin Pie:
1 8 ounce package of tofutti cream cheese, softened
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks
1 cup light soy milk
1/4 cup earth balance butter replacement, melted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 whole vanilla bean, seeded (or you can just use an additional 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 325. Place the graham crackers, sugar, chopped pecans, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a food processor and pulse until completely combined (about 15- 2 second pulses).

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the melted butter. Stir with a rubber spatula to combine and then firmly press into a 9" spring form pan or a 9" pie dish. Bake for 15 minutes until the edges are slightly browned and then let cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 350 and then start working on the filling. Beat the cream cheese in a mixer on medium high for a few seconds. Add in the pumpkin puree and beat until combined. Then add the salt and sugar and beat until combined. Beat in the eggs, soy milk and melted butter until combined. Finally, beat in the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger (yeah you probably guessed it...) until combined.

Pour the mixture into the cooled pie crust and then bake 50 minutes until the filling is set. Remove from the oven and allow to come to room temperature before diving into this heavenly pie.

Honey Cornbread Muffin

These cornbread muffins are extremely versatile and can be made days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container. Even more importantly however, they're moist! For some reason, the result of many cooks' attempts to create cornbread is a combination of dry and flavorless bread. This recipe will provide 12 regular sized muffins.

**A handy way to measure things like molasses, honey, and maple syrup, spray your measuring cup with baking spray before pouring in the ingredient and it will pour out much easier.

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder (yes, a tablespoon is correct)
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup soymilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup earth balance butter replacement
1/4 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 400. Melt the butter and let cool. In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Then in a medium bowl, combine everything but the butter. While whisking the wet ingredients, slowly pour in the butter. Don't be concerned if the butter solidifies in little balls because it will melt while cooking and produce steam.

Stir in the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Now here comes the trick that I picked up from Alton Brown. Once the batter is made, it's best to scoop out the batter into the muffin tin and then let it sit for a half hour. DO NOT TOUCH THIS once you have dolled it out. The baking powder will begin to work its chemical magic and produce little bubbles throughout the batter that will give it a more even rise that will stay risen after baking.

After the batter has rested for a half hour, bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Pistachio Marzipan

This is a very versatile recipe. It'll impress anyone because it's completely homemade, it is a great alternative to almond if someone is either allergic or just doesn't like almond, and it just tastes spectacular!

1/4 cup shelled pistachios
3 ounces confectioner's sugar
1 ounce corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon flavorless oil

You want to first toast the pistachios in a 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes (NO LONGER because if they burn, they're trash). Cool and then put the pistachios in the food processor and blend until they're a powder. Next, add in the confectioner's sugar and blend until they make a paste. Add in the corn syrup and oil and process until they come together as a dough. At this point, pat the dough and tightly wrap with plastic wrap and place in an air tight container. If you wanted to color this, you would want to place a few drops of food coloring in the just made dough and knead it in until the dough is the right color, then wrap and let rest.

This will keep well in the fridge for 6 weeks or so wrapped tightly in the air tight container. You can roll it out to cover a cake (this recipe will make one 9" disk so if you want to cover a cake, you should double this recipe). You can also use like I did to fill a cake and make marzipan flowers.

The Best Vanilla Cake

This recipe is great for a number of reasons. Number one, it's an adaption of a great recipe by Cake Boss's star and baker Buddy Valastro. Second, while sometimes a vanilla cake can be dry or flavorless, this one is incredibly moist and oozing with flavor. Third, this is more of a baseline recipe that can be easily altered for different flavored cakes (i.e. the addition of chocolate, or almond extract, rum, etc.) Finally, and arguably most importantly, this recipe shows that you can have a spectacular cake that is completely dairy free.

2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups silk live vanilla yogurt (this is important)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup soymilk

Butter and flour 2 9" cake pans and insert parchment rounds that are buttered and floured to make removing your cakes a simple task. Preheat the oven to 350 and this is important. Do not think about placing these cakes in the oven as soon as it beeps. Your oven may say it's preheated but truth be told, it is almost certainly not at the right temperature and placing your cake in an under heated oven can ruin a baked good. I suggest you get an oven thermometer and not insert your cakes until it reads 350, however, if you don't want to do this you should simply preheat and wait at least 15 minutes after it beeps to place the cakes in.

I suggest you leave the yogurt and soymilk out for an hour or so before assembling to bring them closer to room temperature.

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, place in the cake flour, sugar, yogurt, vegetable oil, baking powder, vanilla, and salt in the standing mixer and mix on slow just until the ingredients are mixed in (a few seconds). Then increase the speed to low-medium and mix for a minute until the mixture is smooth.

With the motor on, mix in 1 egg at a time adding the next egg in as soon as the previous has been absorbed. Stop the motor periodically to scrape the sides and bottom with a rubber spatula.

Then with the motor running, add the soymilk 1/2 cup at a time, stopping after each addition to scrape the batter. Mix for a final minute or so to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed (however make sure you are not mixing on high speeds).

Now here is the tricky part of this recipe (but absolutely worth the extra step). To keep these cakes from crowning, the batter needs to be between 70 and 73 degrees (or if your house is a bit colder like mine is, you want the batter to register at room temperature). To test this, plunge the thermometer in the middle of the batter and if it's too cold, leave on the counter for a few minutes and if it's too warm, let cool in refrigerator for a few minutes.

Evenly distribute the batter between the two pans and bake for 25-30 minutes (I can almost guarantee that it will take at least 28 minutes but you should check the cakes at 25 minutes). You can insert a toothpick into the cake to see if it comes out clean but I'm not a huge fan of doing this. The tops of the cakes will be slightly springy and it should be a little golden on top when the cakes are done.

Rest the cakes in the pan for about 30 minutes and then invert them onto a cooling rack and remove the parchment paper and let the cakes completely cool. Here's the cool thing that I learned from Mr. Cake Boss - freezing cakes. Once the cake comes to room temperature, placing the cake in the freezer for an hour or two is important for a few reasons. First of all, by freezing the cakes they will be much easier to level and divide into layers (just make sure you don't freeze them into rocks because that's very dangerous as your knife may attack you after bouncing off the boulder you call a cake). The other cool aspect (forgive the pun) of freezing the cake is that unlike refrigerating a cake which leeches out moisture, freezing the cake locks the moisture in.

Shortbread cookies

As you can tell by the picture, I made these into adorable santa cookies as was pictured in the magazine (Best Holiday Cookies). For the sake of time, I'd suggest simply rolling these out to about 1/2" and bake. You can eat these unadorned because they taste great but you can also use the butter cream recipe in the Strawberries and Cream Cake to frost these and they will be great.

As far as the number of cookies this makes, once the dough is rolled out you can use any cookie cutter or simply cut it into any size squares you want. You are the master of your cookie size.

1 cup dairy free margarine at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Preheat your oven to 325. In your stand mixer, beat the margarine on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Then scrape the sides of the bowl and beat the sugar into the margarine until combined. Then scrape the sides again and beat in the milk and vanilla until combined. Reduce the speed to medium low and slowly beat in the flour until your mixer starts shaking (and looking like it can't take much more - this depends on the quality of your mixer but since I don't have a thousand dollar professional grade mixer and you probably don't as well, this dough is a little tough). Once you reach that point, use a spatula or wooden spoon to incorporate the rest of the flour.

Now you can roll out the dough to 1/2" and cut out the shapes you want. Bake them for about 12-15 minutes until the edges are very lightly browned. I would absolutely suggest you take these out a little early verses a little late because if these overcook, they will be dry, stiff, and horrible.

If you REALLY want to spend a long time making cookies and want to make the santa cookies, when you finish making the dough, remove 1 cup of dough and set aside and then with the remaining dough, work in red food coloring until it's the right shade of red. This will make 12 cookies so for each one, roll one 1" ball of red dough, five 1/2" balls of red dough, one 1" ball of regular colored dough and four 1/2" balls of regular dough. To put them together, flatten out the 1" red ball to about 1/2" thick and flatten the 1" regular colored dough ball to same thickness and attach. Attach four of the red 1/2" balls for legs and arms and then attach the four 1/2" balls of regular dough to those. Next, use the remaining 1/2" red ball to form into a little hat and attaching to the head. Finally, use mini chocolate chips for eyes and buttons and bake these for 12-15 minutes at 325 degrees. Once the cookies are cool, use butter cream to make the beard and hat decorations and use a red cinnamon candy for his nose.

Maple Glazed Chicken

This recipe is mentioned in the mashed sweet potatoes and is extremely easy.
This recipe serves 4

2 tablespoons maple syrup
4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper to season

Heat a pan to medium high heat and place a little oil to coat the pan. Season the chicken breasts and place them in the pan. Depending on the size of the chicken breast, cooking times will vary. For the medium sized ones I used, it takes about 3-4 minutes per side. Once the chicken is cooked, brush the tops with maple syrup and flip and brush the other side. Then flip, cook for 5 seconds and remove from heat. If you wait too long and let the maple syrup cook, it'll burn fast. No more than 5 seconds a side. I served them with the mashed potatoes and a nice salad.

Wasabi Chicken Pastries

The pastry dough for this recipe is from Rachel Allen and it is spectacular. Not only is it wildly easy to make, but it can be filled with anything you want and can be used for both sweet and savory applications. The only thing to remember is that if you plan on filling it with something that has a decent amount of liquid in it (therefore producing condensation while it cooks), make sure to make a few slits in it so the dough doesn't pop.

If you need to clear your sinuses and love wasabi, this is a great recipe but like I said, you can fill it with whatever you want for a wonderful dinner. I provide the measurements for flour and water by weight because when you're making something like a pastry dough, accuracy is vitally important.

6 tablespoons earth balance butter (I prefer the stick kind because it's easy to measure)
8 ounces flour
4 ounces water
1 egg
2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon wasabi paste
1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
1 tablespoon kethup
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced pepper
extra egg for the egg wash
For the pastry, sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Place the butter (cubed) in the 4 ounces of water in a sauce pan. Heat gently over medium high heat until the butter has melted and bring the mixture to a boil. As soon as it comes to a rolling boil, take it off the heat, scramble the egg and pour it in the well in the flour, and aggressively stir as you pour in the hot liquid until it comes together as a dough. Spread the dough out onto a large plate and let rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a half hour.

While the dough is refrigerating, season and cook the chicken breasts on the stove top on medium high heat (cooking times vary depending on size). Once the chicken is cooked, remove them and place them in foil. Then reduce the heat to medium, and saute the onions and peppers until they're soft and cooked (about 5-6 minutes).

In a bowl, place the wasabi paste, ketchup, and mustard and whisk together. Then dice the now cooled chicken and place in the bowl with the sauteed onions and peppers and mix together until fully incorporated and let cool. You don't want this mix to be hot when you put it in the dough. WARNING - when the wasabi paste comes in contact with the hot onions, the steam will burn your eyes and be wildly uncomfortable (I found out first hand). Keep your head back when you mix all of these.

Once the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 425 and lightly flour a surface and roll out to 1/16" and cut in 4 1/2" circles (this dough will make 12 pastries each being .75 ounces of dough). On one half of the circle, put a tablespoon of the chicken salad mixture down. Then, use the egg wash to fold over the dough to make a crescent and seal this with your fingers. Then use the fork tines to close the seal and make a nice pattern. Brush the pastries with egg wash and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are beginning to brown. If you're not sure if the pastry is cooked at 15 minutes, place a toothpick in and if it comes out clean, you're good to go.

You can serve them while they're hot or room temperature.

Sweet Potato and Roasted Banana Mash

This may sound kind of weird but it's wonderfully sweet, healthy, creamy, and a fantastic side dish for something like a maple glazed chicken breast. Furthermore, it's pretty easy to make and gets all of its sweetness from the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes and roasted bananas.

4 medium sweet potatoes
2 ripe bananas
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup almond milk or soy milk
1 tablespoon margarine

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice your bananas in half lengthwise and sprinkle the cinnamon over it. Roast until the bananas are soft (it really depends on the size of the banana but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes). Remove the bananas from the oven and puree in a food processor and place in a large bowl.

Now for cooking the sweet potatoes, it depends on your preferred method. I microwaved mine but you can do it in the oven if you like. Once the sweet potatoes are cooked, let them cool and then process them as well. Once they are pureed, add the milk and margarine to the warm puree and puree again just to incorporate the milk and margarine. Then stir the sweet potato puree with the banana puree and serve.

Homemade Pasta

So if you have a pasta machine, this is a pretty easy thing to accomplish and it absolutely tastes better than dried pasta from a box. It is definitely more labor intensive than opening a box so if you're not going to have time to do it right, go with the boxed stuff because it's better than poorly made pasta.

Here's a wonderful rule of thumb for pasta making that I learned from Jamie Oliver. For every 100 grams of flour use 1 egg. To make enough pasta for a few people to have reasonably small portions, you could make dough with 100 g of flour and 1 egg. However if you're making a large dish or you just want to make a decent amount of pasta for 4-6 people, I'd double it. Also, if you make too much you can always hang the fresh pasta until it dries and then store it.

100 grams of flour
1 egg
dash salt

Here's the classic way to make pasta. Place the flour in a large mound (if you want to be really authentic, throw the flour mound directly on your counter top but you can certainly do this in a bowl). Make a well in the top and pour in the egg. Carefully whisk up the egg being certain that you don't get the flour everywhere and then once the egg is scrambled, slowly begin incorporating the flour until you have a cohesive dough.

Then, flour a board or your counter and pour out the dough. Now to be quite honest, you have to knead the hell out of this. You will have to knead this for at least 15 minutes by hand (No shortcuts). You'll know when this is done because miraculously, it will be a smooth and elastic dough.

Brush the dough with olive oil and then wrap in plastic wrap for at least a half hour (but I usually do an hour so I have time to clean up and sit for a few minutes).

Then when you're ready to roll this dough out, break it into sections and then re-wrap the remainder until you're ready to use it. Follow the instructions for your pasta machine and remember that when you cook this stuff, it cooks REALLY fast. Like in 2 minutes so watch it.

Shakshuka

Shakshuka is one of my favorite Israeli dishes. I can still distinctly remember eating this wonderful dish on the roof of a Jerusalem apartment looking out toward the West Bank on a hot spring day. This is a really easy recipe to make and yet it's fun for dinner parties and is a nice and healthy filling dish. I served this in individual souffle ramekins but you can easily serve this in a baking dish or cast iron skillet.

This recipe serves 4 so alter it based on the number of people you want to serve

2 cups tomato sauce (homemade is absolutely best but you can use store bought)
4 eggs
Fresh thyme and parsley for garnish

Preheat your oven to 350.

If you're using the souffle ramekins, pour 1/2 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of each ramekin and then carefully crack an egg over each being very careful not to pop the yolk because then this will just be messy. If you like runny yolk (which is really how this should be eaten because it adds a wonderful richness to the dish), bake for about 20 minutes. Start checking around 15 minutes because essentially, once the egg white has set and there is no longer any liquid whites, you're done. If you are like my girlfriend and do not like runny eggs, you'll need to cook this closer to a half hour until the yolk is fully set.

Garnish with fresh chopped herbs and serve immediately, just beware of the dish because it's really hot.

*If you're using a baking dish or cast iron pan to make this, simply place the tomato sauce in the bottom and crack the eggs around the pan.

Fall Vegetable Stew

This is a fantastic recipe for a few reasons. First of all, it's extremely healthy and yet warm and satisfying making it a wonderful cold weather dinner. Also, you can substitute different vegetables if you don't like what's in this recipe and customize a stew to perfectly please yourself and your guests. This recipe serves 4 at 300 calories a serving.

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup sliced leak
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup water
3/4 cup dark beer
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
3 chopped jalapenos (seeds and all. You can remove this if you're not a spicy food fan).
1/2 cup chopped parsnip
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup uncooked pearl barley
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons cream sherry (more or less depending on your taste. I personally think sherry adds a wonderful richness to soup)
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium high heat. When the oil's warm, sautee the leaks for about 2 minutes. Then add the water, beer, and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Once it's boiling, add the celery, carrots, parsnips, dill, barley, thyme, bay leaves, and sherry and return to a boil. Then cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Then stir in the lentils and cover and cook for 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes, throw away the bay leaves.

Now this part is great because it's an extremely healthy way to thicken a soup. Remove 1 1/2 cups of soup and put it in your food processor. Make sure you remove the plug on top to let the steam out but put a towel over it unless you want to redecorate the walls in your kitchen. Once it's pureed, return it back to the soup. Bring it back to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Then, you're ready to eat.

Addictive Gingerbread Cookies

My one problem with these cookies is that is quite dangerous to keep them around the house (they will be eaten frequently)! Also, they're equally fun to decorate and they make your house smell like gingerbread, which is never a bad thing.

1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup best life margarine (dairy free)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour + additional 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon preferably grated (but can use ground) nutmeg

Start by melting your 1/2 cup of margarine. Once it's melted, pour in the sugar and molasses and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is no longer grainy. Then take it off the heat and let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients (except for the additional 1/4 cup of flour) and whisk. Then make a well in the middle and pour in the cooled molasses and butter mixture. Stir until incorporated and then add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and stir until the batter is thick and completely mixed. Then knead the dough a few times to make it smooth and then wrap in plastic wrap and let chill, preferably for at least several hours to overnight.

When you're ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 and take out the dough and cut off 1/2 to roll out on a floured surface while keeping the rest of the dough covered and refrigerated. Make sure your rolling pin is floured and your surface is floured and then roll out the dough to about 1/4". Then cut out your shapes and place on a baking sheet (**NOTES - You really need to use a rimless baking sheet for these and I used a very large baking sheet so if you're using a smaller one, roll out the 1/3 of the dough instead of 1/2).

Bake for 8-10 minutes until just firm. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack. Repeat these steps and continue making your cookies. This recipe should bake about 2 dozen 3" gingerbread men.

For the icing - you need:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons almond milk
a few drops of your desired flavor (vanilla, almond, or my favorite - PEAR)

Combine the above ingredients until smooth and glaze those cookies. For pear extract, I'm sure someone sells it but it's pretty easy to make for yourself. Just peel a few pears and chop them roughly. Heat them in a heavy bottom sauce pan until they are mushy and swimming in pear liquid. Then strain the pears and put the liquid back in the sauce pan. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook until it reduces to a thick syrup. Let it cool and put it in a bottle and you have a pear extract to put in this glaze.

Raspberry Souffle

Souffles have quickly become a staple for desserts at my house. They are light, smooth, and yet sweet and filling. The trick with this souffle is to remember to completely cool the raspberry mixture before you mix it with your egg whites because if it's still hot, it will deflate your whites which will give you a nice baked raspberry soup. Also, to make the folding of the egg whites easier, thoroughly whisking in 1/3 of the whipped egg whites to the raspberry mixture lightens it making it easier to fold the remaining whipped egg whites.

This recipe serves 6
10 ounces raspberries
1/2 cup sugar + extra for greasing the ramekins
5 egg whites
1 teaspoon corn starch
Best life margarine for greasing the ramekins

First, take the butter and rub it thoroughly throughout the ramekin so that every part of each ramekin is covered. Then pour in a scoop of sugar in the ramekin an turn to coat everything and then pour out the loose sugar into the next ramekin and continue to coat them with sugar. Then refrigerate them so that they can chill while you prepare the rest of the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 350. Put the raspberries in a heavy bottom sauce pan and cook on medium with 1/4 cup of the sugar until the fruit is completely soft and macerated (about 4-6 minutes). Strain the mixture so that you are left with the liquid and discard the seeds/chunky raspberries left in the strainer (or eat them if you're like me). Then, mix the corn starch with a teaspoon of water and pour it in to the raspberry mixture and whisk to combine. Then set aside to cool.

In a clean bowl (if it's not clean, the whites will not whip), whip the egg whites on high until they are soft peaks. Then pour in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whip until stiff peaks. Take 1/3 of the whites and whisk them thoroughly into the cooled raspberry mixture. Then carefully fold the rest of the egg whites into the raspberry mix.

Pour the mixture into the prepared ramekins, place the ramekins on a baking sheet, and place in the oven for 12-15 minutes until it has puffed up and is lightly golden on top. Remove from the oven and eat immediately because as the folks at Cooks Illustrated say, "Souffles wait for no one!".

Noodle Kugel

I have never met a kugel I don't like. The noodles, cream cheese, raisins, and cinnamon are the hallmarks for the most incredible Jewish comfort food. That being said, not only is it difficult to make dairy free, but it is also a caloric nightmare. In my opinion, this version is just as good as the traditional versions but it is incredibly slimmed down.

1 tablespoon bestlife margarine
12 ounces egg noodles
2 cups silk live yogurt
2 cups tofutti cream cheese
2 eggs
2 additional egg yolks (and if you're making souffle for dessert, those remaining whites come in handy)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup raisins

For the topping:
1/2 cup corn flakes
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 and coat a 9"x13"x2" baking pan with baking spray. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and cook the egg noodles for about 6 minutes because you want them a little al dente. When they're finished, strain them, rinse them, and stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter. Set aside to cool.

Put the silk live plain yogurt and cream cheese in a mixing bowl with a paddle and mix on medium high until smooth and combined. Then mix in the eggs, sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest and mix to combine. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the raisins. Then pour in the noodles to the bowl and stir to combine and pour the entire mixture into the greased pan.

Then, crush up the corn flakes and mix them with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour the mixture evenly on top of the kugel. (**If you wanted to prepare this ahead of time, you should do everything but put the topping on and refrigerate for up to a day). When you're ready to cook, put the kugel in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the top is golden.

Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

As a kid, I actually never had a taste for chocolate. Over the years I began to develop the taste for chocolate but it hasn't been until recently that I have started to like dark chocolate. This recipe is adapted from several different recipes because none of them were exactly right for me and they are truly incredible! They are crispy and chewy on the outside with an almost fudge like center. Furthermore, you can even make them for a passover dessert because they are flour free and they are the perfect dairy free treat because they naturally are butter and milk free.

1 cup chocolate chips (use good ones)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar divided in half
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 400 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a glass bowl, melt the chocolate chips and let cool slightly (if you microwave them, microwave on 30 second intervals for 2 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a large bowl beat the egg whites to soft peaks on high speed. Then beat in 1 cup of powdered sugar until the mixture looks a little like marshmallow creme (don't try and beat them to stiff peaks). In a medium bowl, combine the remaining cup of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, corn starch, and salt. With the mixer on low, combine the dry ingredients and egg white mixture until incorporated. Then pour in the melted chocolate and stir until completely incorporated and the batter starts to become harder to a ganache consistency.

Scoop out a tablespoon of the batter at a time, put the scoop in your hand and roll to make a perfect circle and then place it on the cookie sheet. Make sure to space them 2 inches apart because they spread out. Now here's the important note. You need to constantly wash off your hands in warm water after every 3 cookies because otherwise, the chocolate becomes very difficult to roll and you'll make a mess. Do not make a mess because on top of having to clean that up, your cookies will be impressively unattractive and I think that's a disservice to these beautiful treats. (This batter will make 24 cookies).

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until outside is cracked.  They will be soft when you take them out, make sure to let them cool before eating.

The great thing about these cookies is that they're relatively low calorie and very rich so just a few for dessert with a good class of red wine and some berries, you have yourself a dessert that won't hurt you after. Plus, they keep pretty well at room temperature in an air tight container but to be quite honest, they will not last long enough to worry about. Trust me.

Bacon and Tequila Pinto Beans

This recipe if from the Rick Bayless cookbook and it is incredible. If you are a bacon fan, which I happen to be, cooking this will make your house smell like bacon (fantastic!) This recipe is also great because it keeps pretty well for a week or so and gets better as the flavors are allowed to combine so feel free to make it a day or so before you're ready to serve it.

8 ounces pinto beans
1/2 cup cubed pork shoulder (or 2 ounces bacon)
4 thick slices of bacon
1 small white onion - diced
2 jalapenos (one if you don't like things too spicy) - seeded, stemmed, and diced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons tequila
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro

Rinse the beans thoroughly and put them in a medium sized pot (like a dutch oven). Cover them with 5 cups of water and remove any beans that float. Then, put in the pork shoulder or bacon. Bring the beans to a boil and then reduce the temperature to medium-low so you can keep the beans at a gentle simmer (partially covered). You'll need to cook them for about 2 hours stirring occasionally and adding water when necessary so that there's about 1/2 inch water above the beans.

Then in a fry pan, cook the remaining bacon until crisp. Then remove the bacon onto some paper towels and pour out all of the bacon grease EXCEPT for 2 tablespoons. Then, using the bacon grease, put in the onion and jalapeno and cook over medium heat until they're golden brown (10 minutes or so). Then, scrape the onions into the beans and season it with salt.

At this point, you want to cook the beans for 20-30 more minutes to let all the flavors come together. Also, you don't want to add any more water so don't worry that the water level will drop because this isn't soup.

Now, if you're serving this right now, crumble the bacon over top and stir in with the tequila and cilantro. However, if you're storing this, keep those additions off until right before you serve because that way, you'll taste the fresh tequila and have the crunchy contrast to the creamy beans.

Here's a note about rinsing the beans. I know it's tradition to soak the beans over night but Rick Bayless (highly acclaimed, James Beard Award winning chef) insists that soaking beans is unnecessary. Quoting from Mr. Bayless himself, "after having cooked almost 12,000 pounds of beans a year for most of the nearly ten years we've had Frontera and Topolobambo, I've learned quite a few things. Many are simple confirmations of what we've been taught all along - except one thing: I was taught to soak beans and I no longer do. Never having seen Mexican cooks soak beans, I've come to the conclusion that they know what is right. Soaking does practically nothing but reduce cooking time. Soaking doesn't really make the beans much more digestible, which is what we were all told. Yes, soaking and throwing out the soaking water does have some effect, the scientists now tell us, but nothing we should count on. What makes beans more digestible is a steady diet of beans, the diet nutrionists tell us we should have anyway" (241). So there you have it, from the man himself.

Drunken Fruit Salad

I decided to cook myself a festive Rick Bayless inspired meal tonight and so I created this special fruit salad. The great thing about this recipe is that you can use any fruit you have lying around or any fruit that you like the best. I wanted to mix a little fall flavor with Caribbean flavor so I used a combination of watermelon, mango, pear, and apple. This turned out to be a very refreshing side and my new favorite fruit salad.

1 pear chopped
1 apple chopped
1 mango chopped
3 cups watermelon
1 lime juiced
2 tablespoons torn mint
1 tablespoon (more if you like) of tequila

Place all of the ingredients into a bowl, mix, and refrigerate until you're ready to eat it. It's that simple and the combination of the mint, lime juice, and tequila creates a margarita like macerating liquid. The other variation that turns out nice is to create a ginger and mint infused simple syrup

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons mint
2 tablespoons ginger

Bring all ingredients to a boil, remove from heat, and cool in a container for at least 24 hours to let all the flavors infuse.

Cider Glazed Chicken with Horseraddish Apple and Pear Salad

This amazingly light yet filling dinner came from an article I was reading in Cooking Light about a cider glazed chicken breast with rice and stuff. My issue with the recipe is that if you're going to use cider as a deglazing liquid, don't hide the apple, make it shine! So then I started thinking about what I like to eat with apples - horseradish, pears, and cheese (but this is dairy free so no cheese). So with this recipe, the chicken is browned in the pan, splashed with cognac (yup... Brandy also goes well with apple), and then the cider and horseradish is reduced to make a sauce to finish off the chicken.

Here's what you need:
4 Chicken cutlets
1 cup apple cider
1/3 cup cognac
1 tablespoon grated horseradish
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 pear
1 apple

First, take 4 chicken cutlets and make sure they're an even thickness (I prefer between 1/4 and 1/2 inch for quick pan cooking). Season your chicken, light on the salt if you're concerned with heart health, and begin heating a non-stick pan over medium-high heat with a little olive oil. Once the pan is lightly smoking, place the chicken cutlet in and don't touch it for at least 3 minutes (my chicken cutlets were pretty thin so I cooked them 3 minutes a side but you might need to cook them longer depending on thickness). Turn and cook on the opposite side and then when it's ready, take the pan off the heat and pour in the cognac.

**IMPORTANT - If you've never flambeed anything, there are a few things you need to be extremely careful of with this. If you pour the cognac in the pan from the bottle and the pan is too hot, the pan can ignite and sent the flame right to the bottle blowing up the bottle in your hand (that's not good). Aside from that, make sure you pour in the cognac in off the heat and swirl to cook out the alcohol. Then remove the chicken and place in a foil tented plate.

Next, pour in the cider, mustard, and horseradish and cook on medium heat until the mixture is thick and syrupy. Once it's reduced, put the chicken in the pan and reduce the heat to low to warm the chicken in the sauce.

As far as the salad, chop up the pear and apple and warm them in a small sauce pan very briefly. You don't want them to caramelize, just warm and soften slightly. Place them at the bottom of the plate and then put the chicken on top with a nice pour of sauce.

Bananas Foster Bread

Ok so if you know me, you know I LOVE banana bread. However, more than that, I love banana anything. Over the past year I've been experiencing with different classic recipes with amped up banana flavor like bananas foster pancakes, and sweet potato and banana mash (with a little maple syrup and walnuts - yum). I recently came across a recipe for a lighter banana bread with a bananas foster twist that I just had to try and it came out amazingly well. For those of you (like me) that go to places like Yankee Candle to get candles to make your house smell like the fall, avoid the mall and make bread. Seriously, my house has never smelled so good!

Preheat the oven to 350 and coat a 9"x5" loaf pan with cooking spray. Create the banana mixture:

• 1 1/2 cups mashed banana (3 bananas)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons of melted earthsmart butter replacement 
• 3 tablespoons cognac 

and place it all in a non-stick skillet. Cook the banana mixture over medium heat just until the mixture starts to bubble and then immediately remove from heat and cool.

Add the banana mixture to a large bowl and add in:

• 1/3 cup silk plain yogurt, 
• 2 eggs
•  1/2 cup of packed brown sugar 

beat on medium speed until it's completely mixed.

In a separate bowl, measure out:

•  6.75 ounces of all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
•  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice. 

Add the flour mixture to the to the banana mixture and mix until it is just incorporated (dear god, don't over mix this batter).

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about an hour (I took mine out at around 55 minutes - just check with a toothpick). Once it's out of the oven, put the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pan so it can cool directly on the cooling rack.

Now it's glaze time! Take

• 1 tablespoon of melted earthsmart butter, 
• 1 tablespoon cognac, and 
• 1/3 cup of powdered sugar

 and whisk until smooth. Pour this glaze over the warm bread. You can still do this after the bread has cooled but it won't be completely the same. When you pour that glaze over the warm bread, it seeps into the loaf adding an extra dimension of moisture and greatness.

Smore Cupcakes

Who doesn't love smores? You cannot go wrong with these amazing chocolate cupcakes with a graham cracker crust and a french meringue frosting. The meringue component is a little labor intensive and may be tricky if you've never done anything like that so you can substitute that with a simple marshmallow fluff frosting. (8 ounces of marshmallow fluff, 3/4 cup softened butter replacement, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla - beat these together and use freely).

For the graham cracker crust, line the muffin tin with the 12 papers, preheat the oven to 350, and get your ingredients together.

3/4 cup crushed graham crackers (about a half a package or 4 graham crackers)
2 tablespoons earth balance butter replacement- melted and slightly cooled
1 tablespoon sugar

Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor until they're finely ground, then add the butter and sugar and combine. Put a tablespoon of the graham cracker mix in the bottom of each muffin paper and press down firmly with something small and round (I used the bottom of my 1/4 cup measure because it's flat on the bottom but you could easily use a shot glass or something). Then bake these for 5 minutes and then remove from the oven to cool.

Then in a large bowl, sift together the following ingredients:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
7/8 cup flour (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
3/8 cup cocoa powder (6 tablespoons)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a medium bowl, whisk together the following ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kahlua

Make a well in the dry ingredients and then (this is important!!) - Put 1/2 cup water on the stove and bring to a boil. Right before it's boiling, pour the wet ingredients into the well and GENTLY FOLD. Then fold in the boiling water. This makes a pretty soupy batter but it does work and it makes the cupcakes very moist - I HATE DRY CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES! Fill each tin 3/4 the way (I used an ice cream scoop because it gives you perfect and even cupcakes).

Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Then let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Once they're cool - it's meringue time. There are a few things that can royally screw up meringue. Your mixing bowl for your stand mixer must be clean. If it's not clean, those whites will not whip (say that a few times fast - not easy) and you will have a flat meringue. The second thing is that your egg whites need to be at room temperature. Finally, do not over beat these because then you get this broken mixture that is extremely unappealing. Now that we're done with the disclaimer, let's beat some eggs.

Put 6 egg whites, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar in your stand mixer bowl and place it over a pot of simmering water. Put a candy thermometer into the bowl and constantly stir (not whip) over the heat until the temperature reads 160. Then remove the bowl and put it in the mixer and beat over high heat until you have stiff peaks. Once you're close, pour the vanilla in and stir to combine.

Once they're at stiff peaks and are all shiny and glossy, frost those cupcakes and enjoy.

Beer Bread

I love my Cuisinart Breadmaker. I just want to start with that sentiment because this recipe for incredible bread doesn't utilize that wonderful machine. Anyone who has ever used a bread machine knows that you just throw the ingredients in to this pan, push a few buttons, and then come back several hours later to a flawless loaf of bread. However, this recipe is basically just as easy and it's done in a drastically short amount of time.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey (or sugar if you prefer)
1 12oz bottle of beer (MAKE SURE IT ISN'T FLAT!)

Preheat your oven to 400 and grease a loaf pan. I used a really small pan (8"x3.5") but you can use a normal pan with the same proportions (since I had to throw away a little batter).

Whisk together everything but the beer. Then open the beer, pour it in, and fold until it is mixed but please don't over mix. Pour contents into pan, even out with a spatula, then bake for 35-40 minutes (if you're using the smaller loaf pan, start checking at 25 minutes). Once a tooth pick inserted all the way through the middle of the loaf comes out clean, you're ready to take it out of the oven.

Let it cool for 15 minutes and then remove from the loaf pan and continue cooling on a rack, or if you're like me, start eating as fast as possible because warm bread is simply irresistible.

Truffle and Vegetable Quiche

Quiche really is a great versatile dish to be used from anything ranging from an informal brunch to an elegant lunch. My biggest issue with making quiche is that I'm definitely not a fan of pre-packaged frozen pie crusts and furthermore, making pie crust can be extremely challenging. If it's too dry, it cracks like crazy when it's rolled out and yet if it's too moist, it's too soupy. Even worse, too often homemade pie crust can lack that incredible flakiness and that problem is even worse when you make a dairy free pie crust. This pie crust recipe is by far the best I've ever used and the secret ingredient is... vodka. Yeah I know that sounds strange and seems like it would add an awful taste but the truth is that the vodka increases the moisture content of the dough making it much easier to roll out but when it's cooked, the vodka evaporates quickly and leaves the crust incredibly flaky.

Crust:
3/4 cup and 1/2 cup flour separated
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons earth balance butter replacement (very cold and cubed)
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (cold and cut into two pieces)
2 tablespoons COLD water
2 tablespoons very cold vodka (please don't use cheap vodka like that crap consumed in college dorms)

Quiche:
6 eggs
4 tablespoons tofutti cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
vegetables of your choice

Topping:
1/2 tablespoon earthsmart butter
drizzle of truffle oil

For the crust, place the 3/4 cup flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor and give it 2 one second pulses. Then add the butter and shortening and blend for about 10 seconds. Then scrape down the sides and add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse about 5 one second intervals. Then remove the dough into a bowl and sprinkle the water and vodka over the dough.

This next part is important. Use a rubber spatula and press down on the liquid into the dough repeatedly until the liquid is incorporated. Then form into a ball and flatten into a 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes and up to 2 days.

Then when you're ready, remove the disk and VERY GENEROUSLY FLOUR your service and roll out to about 1/8 inch and place in the pie pan and refrigerate for about 15 minutes. Heat your oven to 425. Place the eggs in a bowl and beat at least 4 minutes and increased in volume (pale and yellow). Add the tofutti, garlic powder, and salt and beat for another minute until well incorporated.

Line your pie crust with the vegetables in whatever pattern you like best. Pour your egg mixture over top (I brushed my crust with egg wash but that's optional) and cook for 15 minutes. Then turn down the heat to 325 and cook for another 15 minutes until the quiche is set and jiggles very slightly.

Then after letting the quiche cool for about 15 minutes, melt the butter replacement and whisk in the truffle oil and then brush the top of the quiche evenly with the truffle butter. It gives this quiche amazing flavor and since we're not working with flavorful and creamy cheese, we've got to add flavor in other ways.

Balsamic Chicken with Balsamic Pomegranate Sauce

This is a chicken recipe I made today based on my love for balsamic vinegar, marinated chicken, and the amount of flavor this dish has with an incredibly low amount of sodium. The other great thing about this dish is that you can do all the prep work for the marinade in the morning before work (or class) and then come home, saute the chicken quickly, finish it in the oven, and have everything done in less than a half hour. I paired mine with creamy polenta and a summer spinach salad.

Chicken Marinade:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup dry sherry
small pinch of salt
1 diced garlic clove
3 medium sized chicken breasts

Chicken:
1/4 cup grape tomatoes
1 large clove diced garlic
1/2 white onion diced
2 portabella mushroom cups sliced in strips
Balsamic Pomegranate Sauce:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon pomegranate juice

For the chicken, place all of the ingredients in a plastic bag and let marinate for at least 2 hours. Once you're ready to prepare dinner, pre-heat the oven to 375 and then place all of the ingredients for the sauce in a sauce pot and then over medium heat, bring the sauce to a boil and reduce until thick and syrupy (about a half hour).

Once you start that sauce, heat a 10 inch skillet (oven proof) with a tablespoon of olive oil until the oil starts to smoke. Shake the excess liquid and brown each side for about 2 minutes (watch this because the marinade makes it easy to burn).

Then take the skillet off the heat, place the vegetables in the pan around the chicken and put the whole thing in the oven for 12-15 minutes until your thermometer reads 170 degrees.

Then put a little sauce over the chicken and enjoy with your choice of sides.

Strawberries and Creme Cake

This is a cake based on the traditional strawberries and cream cake but I combined a few recipes to make it dairy free. The biggest issue with making this cake dairy free is making a whipped cream frosting. I've done a lot of research trying to find a good and easy way to make a dairy free whipped cream and there are plenty of recipes using tofu or whipped soy milk and vegetable oil, but they all seem a bit off. My decision for this cake was to completely side step that issue and go with a FANTASTIC butter cream frosting. The cake and strawberry recipe is a dairy-free adaptation from the cooks illustrated and the icing is from the Who You Callin' Cupcake cookbook.

Cake:
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
5 eggs (2 whole, 3 separated)
6 tablespoons earth balance butter substitute (I prefer the stick version because it's just easier to use for baking) - melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla

Icing:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup earth balance butter substitute
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons soy milk

Strawberry Filling:
2 pounds strawberries
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons kirsch


For the cake, pre-heat your oven to 325 and grease and flour a 9" x 2" cake pan and put a greased parchment paper round in the bottom of the pan. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and everything but 3 tablespoons sugar. Then, whisk in the eggs, melted and cooled butter substitute, water, and vanilla and whisk until just smooth.

Using the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium low speed for a minute or so just until the whites become frothy. Then, turn up the speed to medium high and slowly add in the remaining sugar and whip until the egg whites reach the soft peaks. For this step, keep a good eye on the whites because essentially, you'll be finished when you see waves starting to form in the egg whites. Turn off the mixer, give the whites a good whisk or two using the whisk attachment by hand and then add 1/3 of the whites to the batter and stir until smooth (I like using a rubber spatula for this). Then carefully fold in the remaining egg whites.

Bake for between 30-40 minutes. (*Ok - I absolutely hate these broad cooking ranges but I read a great suggestion in Ina Garten's cook book recently that helped. About 28 minutes into the baking, check the cake with a toothpick and if the top is golden and the tooth pick comes out of the cake with no crumbs, then your cake is done. However, mine took about 35 minutes).

When your cake is done, let it cool in the pan for about 20 minutes and then invert it onto a cooling rack and flip it right side up to cool for at least 2 hours. While the cake is cooling, you can work on the other components.

For the strawberries, wash your strawberries and pick through them to find 24 medium sized and nice looking strawberries to set aside for later. Using the remaining less-perfect strawberries, stem them and quarter them and place them in a bowl. Then stir in the 4 tablespoons and of sugar and let it sit for about an hour (stirring it every 15 minutes or so).

When it's done macerating and the strawberries have released about 1/2 cup of juice, strain the strawberries and place them in a food processor and the juice in a small sauce pan with the kirsch. Pulse the berries about 5 - one second pulses and set aside. With the berry juice/kirsch mixture, simmer until it has reduced to about 3 tablespoons and is a thick syrup. Then pour the syrup into the pulsed berries and set aside to cool.

Then for the icing, using your stand mixer and paddle attachment, beat the shortening and butter substitute until it's light and airy on medium high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then turn down the speed to low and slowly pour in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and finally the soy milk. Scrape down the sides and beat on high for at least 15 minutes. I've found that this makes a nice airy icing that is similar to the whipped cream in it's lightness and is good enough to eat on a spoon (which I certainly do...)

To assemble this cake, divide the cake into three layers. On the bottom layer, use the reserved whole berries, halve them, and line the outside of the cake with the berry halves face down. Then in the middle, pour half of the cooled berry puree and spread to the berry perimeter. Then take 1/3 of the icing an using an offset spatula, spread the icing almost to the very edge. Then place on the next layer and repeat the previous steps. Finally, place on the final layer and ice with the remaining icing and remaining berry halves.

Finally, take a nice sized slice of that cake and enjoy it. It's a wonderful summer desert and relatively low calorie as well.