Kettle Pop(corn) Rocks!

Egg-free/Dairy-free/Nut-free

We don't know who the genius is that thought up combining salty and sweet and popcorn in one awesome combination, but whoever they are, we owe this brilliantly wonderful person a debt of gratitude and a big kiss on the lips. 

Not only is this little dish among the best fair fare we have ever tasted, it is totally dairy-free, which is next to impossible to find at your local county-fair type of event. After the standard inquisition (Would you please tell me the ingredients in this? No butter? No eggs? No nuts? Really? Hmmm, well, I guess it will be okay...) turned up the fact that this scrumptious deliciousness was safe for our kids, (and a whole grain to boot! can you say "fiber"?) we bought it up by the bag (no no, the extra-extra-large size, please) full. 

The only problem was recreating it at home. Thanks to the Internet, we found a recipe that works like a charm. And thanks to Al Gore, for creating the Internet!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup (scant) canola - or your favorite cooking - oil
  
• 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels (the white are the best, and are definitely worth the extra money)
  
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  
• A few shakes of salt
  

Steps

• Before you begin, make sure you have some sort of vessel that you can pour the popped corn into when it's done cooking. If you don't, you'll have a burnt-on mess and nasty-tasting popcorn.
  
• Add oil to a large-bottomed stock pot for which you have the cover.
  
• Add three popcorn kernels to the oil.
  
• PUT THE COVER ON THE PAN.
  
• Heat the oil and kernels over just-slightly-higher-than-medium heat.
  
• When you hear that the three kernels have popped, move the pan off the heat, add the sugar and stir like a madwoman so the sugar doesn't burn or crystalize on the bottom of the pan. About 30 seconds ought to do it. We like to use a wooden spoon to stir the sugar, but we're creatures of habit and anything would probably do just fine. Use whatever floats your boat. 
  
• Add the kernels and stir the pan one or two more times, for good measure.
  
• PUT THE COVER BACK ON THE PAN.
  
• Return the pan to the heat.
  
• Alternate letting the pan sit for a few seconds with shaking the pan for a few seconds (around 30 second and 5 second intervals, respectively).
  
• When you hear that the popping has slowed, remove the pan from the heat.
  
• Immediately pour the popcorn into the waiting vessel. Do it in batches so you can evenly salt the popcorn. The popcorn will be sticky and you won't be able to just give the popcorn a salt shower before chowing down. Try not to let the popcorn sit on the bottom of the hot pan. After you've dumped some out, tilt the pan so the popcorn doesn't rest on the bottom. 
  
• Tell your children that you messed up the batch and that you need to try again. If they ask why you're eating if it's no good, tell them you're testing each and every piece to see if any of it is salvageable. 
  
• Repeat. 
  

I'm a sucker for a Snickerdoodle

Egg-free/Dairy-free/Nut-free

What a bummer these turned out to be. Other recipes we've tried for cake-mixes-turned-cookie-dough have been good, but not so much with these. To us, they tasted like cake mix, not cookies. Stay tuned, though, for a cake-mix-cookie recipe that is super simple (which makes it super brilliant!) that tastes truly terrific.

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix (read the label to be sure that yours meets your food allergy situation)
  
• 2 eggs-worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer (1 tablespoon Ener-G beaten with 4 tablespoons water)
  
• 1/4 cup oil 
  
• 3 tablespoons sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  

Steps

• Spray a cookie sheet with your favorite choice of baking non-stick sprays.
  
• Combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
  
• Stir to combine the cake mix, Ener-G, and oil. 
  
• Shape cookie dough into one-inch balls.
  
• Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar.
  
• Place dough balls on the cookie sheet.
  
• Using the bottom of a drinking glass, press each dough ball into a flat disc.
  
• Bake 8 to 9 minutes.
  
• Look at them on your counter every day and consider whether they're worth the calories. Um, we mean Enjoy!
  

Bake me a boatload of Oatmeal Cookies

Egg-free/Dairy-free/Nut-free

In solidarity with our children, it's been a good, long time since we've had any nuts. So long, in fact, that while sampling one of these cookies today, we could swear we tasted a certain nuttiness to them. Knowing the ingredients that go into making them, and that the list included no nuts of any kind, was a huge comfort. 

These cookies, from the Quaker Oats website, are equally delicious with chocolate chips as they are with raisins, so take your pick, or don't, and use a little bit of both. The original recipe was for chocolate chips, and that's how it's written here. In parentheses, you'll see the substitutions we made for our batch. 

As for the "boatload," this recipe makes a ton of cookies! You can easily get 5 dozen from these proportions, so if you don't want that many lying around the house, reduce the recipe by the proper amount to suit your need for a cookie fix.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound margarine or butter, softened (it's horrifying to think of it as half a pound of butter, but yes, you're reading that right) (and BTW, we used 1/2 of a 16 ounce tub of Earth Balance 100% Vegan margarine)
  
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  
• 2 eggs (we replaced it with 2 eggs' worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer: 1 tablespoon Ener-G beaten with 4 tablespoons water)
  
• 2 tablespoons milk (we used vanilla flavored soymilk)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (we used between a splash and 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract)
  
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) (we used it)
  
• 2 1/2 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked) (we used quick)
  
• 2 cups (12 ounces) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (see note above - in previous batches, 1 1/2 cups of regular sized chips was plenty, and we're chocoholics!)
  
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional) (duh, we omitted this, and used an additional 1/2 cup, for a total of 3 cups, of oats to make up for some of the bulk lost to the absent nuts)
  

Steps

• Heat oven to 375 degrees.
  
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well and set aside.
  
• In a large bowl, beat margarine and sugars with an electric mixer until creamy. 
  
• Add eggs, milk and vanilla; beat well.
  
• Add combined dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
  
• Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and nuts (but again, we left those out), mixing well.
  
• Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
  
• Bake 9 to 10 minutes for a chewy cookie or 12 to 13 minutes for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets, remove to wire rack. 
  
• Cool completely, store tightly covered.
  

Update 7/2/08:

I wanted to make a batch of cookies, and these came to mind. If you've been paying attention recently, you know that I'm crazy about calorie burning these days and therefore didn't want too many of these lovelies lying around in the kitchen, beckoning... So, instead of making a full batch, I went for half. I halved all of the ingredients except the flour (because I didn't feel like trying to measure out 7/8 cup of flour) and the chocolate chips. I went with 1 full cup of flour and about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips.

But the important thing here is that instead of egg replacer, I whizzed up some silken extra firm tofu that I had in the fridge from the Bella Biscotti baking. I measured out 1/4 cup to equal one egg, took the electric beater to it (because I didn't want to make the mini-food processor dirty, and although I don't think it made a significant difference, it probably would have been generally better if I had gone to the extra trouble) and proceeded with the recipe as usual. They turned out great (!) and I will be pulling this rabbit out of my hat again and again.

P.S. According to my calculations, the cookies clock in at about 70 calories each. That's less than 10 minutes on the treadmill per cookie.

Soft and chewy (and delicious!) chocolate chip cookies

Egg-free/Dairy-free/Nut-free

These are so good. The recipe comes from the Silk website, and we're giving it to you exactly as it was written by them. But, we used less chocolate chips than they did, with outstanding results. If you're looking for a crunchy cookie, this one isn't for you. It's soft and light, without being crumbly. Yummy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter or organic shortening (we used Earth Balance 100% Vegan margarine) 
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/4 cup Vanilla Silk Soy Milk (we used another brand)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (extract? that's what we used)
  
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (we used dairy-free, nut-free chips)
  

Steps

• Preheat oven to 350.
  
• Cream the butter/margarine/shortening until light and fluffy. 
  
• Slowly add Silk, cream well, then add vanilla.
  
• Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
• Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, then fold in the chocolate chips.
• Drop by teaspoons on parchment lined cookie sheets. 
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Better-than-the-average-box Brownies

Egg-free/Dairy-free/Nut-free

The first of many recipes we've found online, printed and tried. Apparently, it came from Theresa Kingma's cookbook - can't verify it because we got it from a bulletin-board post from someone who got it from this cookbook. But we can verify that it was really good! Our food allergy restrictions happen to include nuts, eggs and dairy (among others), so we use nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free products. You should use whatever suits your family's sitch.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups flour
  
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  
• 1/2 cup water
  
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
  
• 1 cup dairy-free, nut-free chocolate chunks or chips
  
• Optional Topping: egg-free mini-marshmallows or confectioner's sugar
  

Steps

• Preheat the oven to 350. 
  
• Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan.
  
• Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and baking soda. Set aside.
  
• In a large bowl, combine the oil, water, corn syrup, vanilla, and vinegar, blending thoroughly.
  
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well.
  
• Fold in the chocolate chunks or chips.
  
• Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
  
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.