VEGAN BAKING! Oh My!

I've been learning some new tricks in the kitchen the last week or so...I've finally decided to try my hand at some vegan recipes to begin to expose Annelisa to the glories of baking!

Vegan as defined by Merriam Webster: a strict vegetarian who consumes no animal or dairy products.

Although we do not abide by this definition in our household for most of our food consumption; for baking, vegan recipes are winners! NO EGGS!! I'm truly terrified of what eggs may hold for Annelisa at her next exposure, so I have decided that I'm not buying them anymore. Why have a food in the house that only I can eat?

I've taken a pretty significant vacation from baking this summer, partly because it's summer! It's easily 90 + degrees each day here in North Texas; wait, who am I kidding...it's closer to 100 + each day! I really don't have much need to make the house any hotter than necessary! But this whole egg avoidance issue has really gotten to this mama. Thanks to Pinterest and my friend, Google, I am slowly overcoming my fear and diving back into baking...but for all of us! If we can't all eat it, than I won't be making it!

Since last weekend, I've made three "breakfast" breads. Each has been enjoyed more than the last. AND each has been feed to my little lady!

First up!

{Photo credit to the blogger at Prevention RD}

Zucchini Muffins found at this link. These were a great way to use up my lone zucchini from the farmers market. I cut the recipe in half as I only had one cup of shredded zucchini. I then chose to bake them in my mini muffin tin. I also only used unbleached all purpose flour as I don't tend to keep any whole wheat pastry flour on hand. On the whole, these were thoroughly enjoyed! Gone in about three breakfast. You really wouldn't have known that they were egg free! :) Next time I need to use up a zucchini, I'll be headed back to this recipe to make more of these!

Next....

{Photo credit to the blogger at Charlotte's Kitchen Diary}

Cranberry, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread found at this link. This was delicious! I think I enjoyed it more than Annelisa! I opted to add gooey chocolate chips and the sweet tang of Craisins, yum-yum! This recipe required some additional math for me as it has the temperature in degrees Celsius...the conversion chart I used recommended 320 degrees Fahrenheit, I opted for 325 as it seemed more "normal"  with my baking experiences. The bread turned out beautifully! This loaf lasted about three breakfasts (and snacks) as well. I didn't make it truly vegan as I used whole milk, however one can easily switch to a soy, rice, or almond milk if desired. It was a really tasty recipe!! I highly recommend it!

The last bread was Pumpkin Bread! I married into a family with a wonderful pumpkin bread recipe. I really struggled with replacing the recipe with one that just wouldn't hold up to a pretty tough critic, my husband! I turned to other recipes for egg-less inspiration, I Googled away to find egg replacers and decided to use ground flax seed and water to make a gel like slurry that can replace an egg. The two worries I had in doing this were: 1) that my ground flax seed slurry would change the flavor of the bread due to the flax seed oils going rancid in the freezer, 2) that replacing all three eggs in the recipe the bread wouldn't turn out as well as the past. So with many a prayer I followed the tried and true recipe: 

Pumpkin Bread 

Mix: 

1 cup vegetable oil (I used a blend of Canola, Sunflower, and Soybean Oils from Crisco) 

3 cups sugar 

3 tablespoons ground flax seed (mixed with 9 tablespoons water, let sit for two minutes before using in recipe) {Or 3 eggs} 

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 15 oz can pure pumpkin

Add the following to the wet ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

(I sift all of these together before mixing with the wet ingredients.)   

Blend until just mixed, pour into prepared (greased and sugared) loaf pans (use powdered sugar instead of flour)

Two bread sized pans bake at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours 15 minutes, begin checking at 1 hour 45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. 

or 5 inch loaf pans, makes nine (great for gifts!) bake at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour 30 minutes, begin checking at 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for twenty minutes, then cool completely on wire racks. Store well covered and refrigerated. 

Great toasted and served with butter or cream cheese. 

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It turned out perfect!! You couldn't even tell a difference between the egg version and the egg-less...granted we operated on memory, but you get the idea! This was by far Annelisa's favorite of all the breads I've made this past week! 

Now, I need to start thinking about how I'll manage to do my Christmas cookie making this year...there are a lot of recipes to evaluate! Yum....just starting to think about all the "research" I might need to do! :)