Grandma B goes Vegan

My Grandma B was a GREAT baker. I've been lucky enough to have some of her recipes passed on to me. I remember helping her make Christmas cookies, even though I'm sure I ate more then I helped. Here are some of my favorites!

Grandma B's Banana Bread

I know, everyone has an awesome banana bread recipe, but I SWEAR this is the best. I've tweaked it and veganized it, but it's just the bomb. It's moist, fluffy and makes you all warm an fuzzy inside

Banana Bread
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. earth balance
1/4 c. shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs-Ener-G replacer
3-4 smashed bananas (I go 4)
1 tsp. baking soda in 1 Tbs hot water
2 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c nuts (or more)

Cream together with mixer, sugar & "butter". Add "eggs", baking soda mixture, & vanilla and mix. Add flour and salt, little at a time while mixing. Then add bananas, mix and then add nuts. Spread into prepared (greased & flour) loaf pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for one hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.

I changed the "butter" amount from my Grandma's original recipe. It did call for a complete 1/2 c. of butter but I changed it to 1/4 c. and added a 1/4 c. of shortening. This made it a lot fluffier, and moister, all butter tends to make it drier. Also, I use bananas prefrozen. I think this adds some moistness also to the bread. If the banana have too much liquid when they thaw, I do drain it off.

Next up.....

Butternut Ball Cookies

I've totally avoided making butternut balls since I turned vegan. These are my favorite, and I just didn't think the Earth Balance could pull it off. Well I'm tickled to report - IT DID!! Goods confirmed after sampling MANY, you could NOT tell the difference. Here is the very simple recipe...

Butternut Balls

2- 3/4 cups of flour
3/4 c. power sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. Earth Balance "butter"
1 tsp. vanilla
2 -1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Sift flour, sugar and salt in separate bowl. In larger bowl cream "butter" and vanilla. Mix flour and cream mixture well. Add walnuts, mix. Roll approx. 2 tbs (a little shy) of mixture into balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or when sides get tanish. Roll in powder sugar when balls are still hot/warm. [FYI- if any of them make it to your freezer- these puppies are excellent to eat frozen!]
And the final recipe...

Raisin Filled Cookies

The recipe that I have for these, is very vague...so hopefully I filled in the blanks correctly...well I guess I did because the cookies turned out very yummy. Goods calls them Raisin Pies since they are so big.

Raisin Filled Cookies

4 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. shortening
1/2 tsp salt
2 "egg" replacer
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c of soy milk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend together flour, baking powder, shortening and salt in one bowl. Mix together sugar, eggs, milk, baking soda, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Then mix everything together. Put in refrigerator to chill.

THE FILLING

1 lbs raisins (approx 2 1/2 c.)
1 c. white sugar
2 c. water

Cook - Simmer the raisins, sugar and water for 15 minutes. Thicken with arrowroot until mixture is like gravy. (I used 3.5 Tbs. of arrowroot)

Assembling- Roll out chilled cookie dough (Good's job- he is the BEST roller!). Using two different size glasses, cut the dough (larger glass for top of cookie) . Place filling mixture on smaller dough circle and cover and seal with larger dough circle.

Baking- this is were it got a bit crazy...not sure if it's because I made them so big (like 3" diam) but I baked them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. My vague recipe doesn't state how long they should be in the oven, but I've read other recipes that call for 8-10 mins.

The end.
Enjoy your holiday!