Brownies and Applesauce

Dairy-free/Egg-free/Nut-free

Are we dating ourselves by borrowing that classic line from the Brady Bunch? You know the one, when Peter imitates Humphrey Bogart and says "pork chopsh and appleshaushe" in a very Humphrey Bogart-ish voice. No? Well, then, let's just move on.

The brownies in the recipe we offered up some time ago are still really good, but they take a lot more effort than this recipe does. And sometimes you just don't feel like pulling all of those ingredients out of the pantry...

Ingredients

• 1 box allergy-safe brownie mix (we used Pillsbury, which said it may contain milk ingredients, but we're still calling this dairy-free because the ingredients listing looked dairy-free to us)
  
• canola oil
  
• unsweetened applesauce
  

Steps

• Follow the steps and ingredient proportions on the box.
  
• In lieu of the eggs that the box calls for, use unsweetened applesauce. For each egg, substitute 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce.
  
• Bake according to the box instructions. We tried this in our test kitchen and found that the brownies had to cook longer than the box said (not a lot like double the time, but an extra six or eight minutes on top of the recommended 35, and then we let them sit in the hot oven for a few minutes with the heat turned off).
  

Note: We were so excited we couldn't wait to cut into them. That produced brownie crumble. We then let them cool down for a bit and they stuck together much better.

 

Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Dairy-free/Egg-free/Nut-free

We had a heck of a time finding a sugar cookie recipe that could be rolled out for use with cookie cutters, didn't bake up too hard but also didn't fall apart as soon as you took a bite. Oh, and it had to taste good, too.  Lucky for us, we found this on the johnandkristie.com web site. One batch bakes up into about 3 dozen medium cookies. Your mileage will vary (depending of course on the size of your cookie cutter).

Ingredients

• 1 cup margarine (we used Earth Balance)
  
• 1 cup white sugar
  
• 2 whole egg replacements (Ener-G) (yup, they used Ener-G Egg Replacer, which is what we would have used had they used eggs)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1/4 cup tofu cream cheese (Tofutti) (and again, they used what we would have substituted into the recipe - we must have access to the same stores)
  

Steps

• In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. 
  
• Stir in the egg replacement and vanilla.
  
• Gradually add the flour, baking powder and tofu cream cheese. You may have to use your hands at this point to finish the mixing. 
  
• Form the dough into a long loaf and wrap in cellophane. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
  
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or use a non-stick foil or parchment paper.
  
• On a lightly floured surface (or on more non-stick foil taped to your countertop) roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer to baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch between each cookie.
  
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bottoms and edges just start to get light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
  

Great-with-a-cup-of Coffee Crumb Cake

Dairy-free/Egg-free/Nut-free

We love this cake which we think tastes better than the Entenmann's version. We've made it a dozen times and our unsuspecting testers had no idea they were eating allergy-safe crumb cake. In fact, it's so good we've had to stop making it so often.  If you haven't had store-bought crumb cake in a while you would have a hard time distinguishing between the original and our version.

The crumb topping comes from an archived copy of Eating Well Magazine. 

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 Box of Yellow Cake Mix (We use Duncan Hines)
  
• 1 Can Sprite Zero
  

Crumb Topping

• 1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
  
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
  
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
  
• 1 tablespoon chilled butter cut into small pieces (we use Earth Balance)
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoon lightly beaten egg (we use 2 eggs worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer)
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
  

Steps

• Using an electric mixer, mix cake mix with soda for 2 minutes. 
  
• Pour into prepared baking pan. (we use 9 x 13).
  
• Follow baking instructions on box.
  
• Set the timer for half the total bake time for your pan type and size.
  
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt. Work in oil and butter with your fingers until coarse crumbs form. 
  
• Using a fork, stir eggs (replacer) and corn syrup into flour mixture until moistened. 
  
• When the timer beeps, check your cake for firmness. Your cake needs to be firm enough to hold the weight of the crumb mixture without it sinking. When ready, sprinkle crumb mixture over the cake and continue baking for the remainder of the baking time.