Vegan MOFO - Day 20 - Remembering Aunt Jo

We lived close to most of our relatives growing up. This was a great thing as a kid. We got to spend a lot of time with our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My dad hated holidays and most people. In hindsite this had to stink for my mom. She forged on and made sure our holidays were always spent with the family. Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's side of the family and Christmas Day was spent at Aunt Jo's with my mom's side of the family.

Aunt Jo took over the matriarchal duties as my grandmother aged. She feverishly cooked a huge Thanksgiving feast for a crowd of 20 or so hungry relatives. I can remember the smells of her kitchen and the vast amount of food she cranked out. She had a pool table in her basement. It was covered up for the buffet spread. She would start the same process over for Christmas day. What I didn't appreciate as much then as I do now, is all of the hard work and love that went into her holiday cooking.

Aunt Jo was the one who made sure we all had a loving place to be on the holidays, even when the family was getting a bit crazy and fragmented. We lost Aunt Jo to breast cancer in October of 2006. Sadly those extended family dinners have been lost along with her. Here in AZ I do my best to bring our "family" together around the holidays. It is so important to be with those you love the most whenever you can, especially around the holidays. It is such a magical time. I think of Aunt Jo often when I am cooking the holiday feast.

My mom had this fantastic recipe for Pecan Balls. I loved those powdered sugar covered buttery treats. A few years after I moved to Arizona, she sent the recipe to us. It said Aunt Jo's Pecan Balls. I should have known this recipe came from her! She always had something going on in the kitchen or in the sewing room (a discussion that warrants it's own post). I took the easy way out on this one. I didn't have to do the conversion for her recipe. Terry Romero came up with a version in her new book Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. She called them Nutty Wedding Cookies, I call them little snow balls of love. Thanks to Terry for bringing one of Aunt Jo's recipes back to life for me.

Vegan MOFO Day 11 - Iron Chef - Pears and Nuts

I missed yesterday due to travel once again. I am hoping to make up for lost time this weekend. To this end I bring you my contribution to this week's iron chef challenge. This week's ingredients were pears and any type of nuts. Apparently as a hypothyroid sufferer, I am supposed to avoid pears. I don't eat them very often, so I figured why not throw caution to the wind. I found some lovely local organic red bartlett pears at Whole Paycheck. They were so sweet and juicy, it was hard not to eat the plain, but I had a mission.

My original idea was to do something in puff pastry, but I didn't want to wait for it to thaw. Then I thought about taking the super easy route and making a smoothie. Suddenly this adventurous spirit came over me and I decided to do something I had never done before; create my own cheezecake recipe. Honestly I was concerned about screwing up something with lots of expensive ingredients, but what the hell, isn't that what being iron is all about anyway?

I bring you my very first original cheezecake style recipe.

Pear Maple Cheezecake with Toasted Pecan Oat Crust

For Crust

1 C chopped pecan pieces, toasted
1 C quick cooking oats
1 Tablespoon granulated cane sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup Earth balance, melted

In food processor put pecans, oats, and sugar. Process until it resembles a meal. Drizzle melted Earth balance and vanilla over the mixture and blend with a fork.

For Filling

12 oz. package extra-firm silken tofu (preferably organic)
1 8 oz. containter non-hydrogenated toffutti cream cheese
2 Tablespoons light coconut milk
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons brandy
2/3 cup maple syrup
1 Tablespoon dark molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch allspice

Preheat oven to 350. In food processor, crumble tofu. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Make a slurry with coconut milk and cornstarch. Add the slurry and the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Make sure to scrape sides a couple of times. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes. In the meantime, lighty oil a 9" springform pan. Press crust mixture on bottom. Pour filling on top of crust. Slice unpeeled pears in uniform thin slices. Arrange in a circle, slightly overlapping, starting from the center and working your way out to the edge of the pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes reduce heat to 325 and bake for 30 more minutes until cake only wiggles slightly. Cool to room temperature on a rack then refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

I haven't cut into it yet, so I am not sure how the recipe turned out. I wanted to type it up before I forgot how I made it. I will post a follow up here tomorrow when we cut into it. The filling pre-baking was really good. I have high hopes for this one!

The results are in. This is a wonderful fall treat. The crust is my favorite part. It is wheat free too! The maple, pecan, pear combination is really good. The texture came out very creamy and rich. I may add a bit more cornstarch to give it a slightly more firm texture, but it really is quite tasty as is. If you try the recipe, let me know how yours came out.