Dessert

Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding

Delicious. Yields 4 half-cup servings.

High quality chocolate chips a la Guittard will work in this recipe. Cheap chocolate chips won't melt appropriately; you'll want to finely chop a bar.

Ingredients Step
65 g (⅓ c.) sugar
30 g (⅓ c.) cocoa
2 T. cornstarch
⅛ t. salt
In a saucepan, stir together.
2 c. milk Slowly stir in, stirring until smooth and combined.
Heat mixture over medium-low head, stirring constantly, until the pudding thickens. It will bubble and coat the back of the spoon (about 5-10 minutes).
3-4 oz. (85-115 g) chocolate, finely chopped Add and stir vigorously, until the pudding is very thick and smooth (about 30 seconds).
1 t. vanilla Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Pour into ramekins. Cover each ramekin to avoid forming a skin (possibly with plastic wrap).

Source: Ali Slagle (NYT Cooking)

Spice Cake

Uncle Gene's favorite.

You can substitute butter for shortening and slightly scant the buttermilk to make up for the liquid difference.

Ingredients Step
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2¼ c. (270 g) cake flour
1 c. sugar
1 t. baking powder
¾ t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. cloves
¾ t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
Sift dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Grease and flour two 9" round cake tins (1½ inch deep).
¾ c. brown sugar
¾ c. shortening
1 c. buttermilk
Stir into the flour mixture, then beat for 2 minutes.
3 medium eggs Add and beat in for 2 minutes.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake 20-35 minutes, obeying the toothpick test.
Cool slightly and remove from pans.
1½ c. brown sugar
¼ c. cream (ideally clotted cream or cream from the top of non-hydrogenated milk)
2 T. butter
1 T. vanilla
As you remove the cakes from the oven, prepare the frosting: Bring ingredients to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, then use a hand blender to beat until creamy, adding a little cream if necessary to make it easier to spread. Spread it onto the cake while the cakes are still warm.
Cut cake while warm.

Source: my grandma

Kolacky

A classic.

Ingredients Step
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
½ lb. butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 T. sugar
1 T. milk
Cream together.
1 egg yolk Add. Mix in.
2 c. cake flour
½ t. baking powder
Whisk together, then add to wet ingredients.
Chill 2 hours or overnight.
2 cans Solo pie filling (e.g., prune, apricot) Take a baseball sized ball of batter. Roll it out using cake flour. Cut it into squares, then place the squares onto ungreased cookie sheets. Dab on filling, then fold up the two side corners of each cookie. Bake 10-12 minutes.
powdered sugar When cool (or after freezing then thawing cookies), sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Source: Cathy Sorensen

Plain Cheesecake

A 9" cheesecake. You must make it the day before so it has time to set up -- but it's a nice dense cheesecake in the Eli's style.

The tricks to non-cracking cheesecake: use room temperature ingredients, introduce minimal air, don't overbeat your eggs, keep a stable oven temperature (no peeking!), free the crust from the pan, and cool the cheesecake slowly.

Springform pans will work, but they may leak -- you may want a dedicated cheesecake pan if you make this often.

For a vegan cheesecake, the Daiya brand New York Cheezecake comes highly recommended (yes, truly, Daiya).

Ingredients Step
32 oz (4 containers) cream cheese
⅔ c. sour cream
4 large eggs
Pull out and let rise to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Ensure the rack is in the center of the oven.
1½ c. graham cracker crumbs (1 package)
2 T. white sugar
1 T. brown sugar
7 T. melted butter
Combine (probably in the food processor), then press into a 9" round pan. Place the pan on a cookie sheet lined with foil (just in case).
32 oz cream cheese Stir gently until smooth and creamy, scraping as needed.
1 c. sugar Stir gently again until creamy, scraping as needed.
⅔ c. sour cream
1½ t. vanilla
⅛ t. salt
Stir until well-combined, scraping as needed.
4 eggs One at a time, lightly beat each egg and then gently stir into the cream cheese mixture. Do not over-mix. Scrape sides as needed.
Tap the cheesecake batter against the counter until you're satisfied that you've eliminated most of the air bubbles you introduced during mixing.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 325 for 50-75 minutes, until the edges are slightly puffed and possibly turning light golden brown, and the center is still jiggly like Jell-O.
Turn off the oven and open it, letting it cool for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, use a knife to gently loosen the crust from the pan -- but leave the ring attached.
Let the cheesecake cool until it is near room temperature (1-2 hours), then refrigerate the cheesecake overnight before serving.

Source: Sam Merritt

Tapioca Pudding

A decent amount of hands-on work, but delightful warm or cold. The milk can be replaced with dairy-free alternatives (up to ⅔ coconut milk). Makes 3½ cups.

Ingredients Step
⅓ c. small pearl tapioca
¾ c. water
Soak in a saucepan for 30 minutes. Do not drain if there is remaining water.
2¼ c. milk
¼ c. sugar
2 egg yolks
¼ t. salt
Add to saucepan. Stir over medium heat until boiling, then simmer uncovered for 10-15, stirring often.
2 egg whites
¼ c. sugar
Beat together until soft peaks form, maybe 5 minutes. (The egg whites should quickly curl and fall into themselves, not holding their shape.)
OPTIONAL ADD-INS
2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder PLUS 2 T. sugar
1 oz. dark chocolate pieces
⅔ c. finely chopped fruit (dry or fresh)
Stir in to hot tapioca mixture. Let cook ~1 minute.
Temper the egg whites with the hot tapioca (transfer at least ¾ c. tapioca). Then gently fold the warmed egg whites into the hot tapioca mixture in the saucepan.
Stir and cook pudding over low heat for another ~3 minutes.
½ t. vanilla Cool 15 minutes, then add vanilla.

Source: Bob's Red Mill