cook - vegan chocolate mousse

I did an internet search for "vegan chocolate mousse" and was delighted to see so many variations on this theme. Most use tofu as their base, although there were some that used coconut cream or avocado that I am curious to try someday. I chose a tofu-based mousse for our Valentine's Day dessert, just because it seemed like it might be lower in calories than some of the other options, and I am not sorry I tried it. Well, maybe I am sorry, because it was ridiculously yummy, and even more ridiculously easy.

Here is what I did:

First, I threw about 10 ounces of dark chocolate chips into a small saucepan and put it on the stove on the lowest heat setting. I stirred the chocolate at least once a minute while it slowly melted. You can, of course, use a double boiler here, if you're a purist, or, on the other end the spectrum, you could just as easily use the microwave to melt the chocolate as long as you use a very low power setting and stir often. The key with chocolate is to never let it get too hot.

While the chocolate was melting I threw the rest of the ingredients in the food processor:
1 12 ounce block of silken tofu (I used firm, but soft would be even better)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon brandy, kahlua, or creme de cacao (this is optional, but adds a lot of flavor)
1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk, but any almond or soy or rice milk would do)
pinch of sea salt

I pureed all of the above in the food processor until it was very smooth and silky. Once the chocolate was totally melted, I scraped it into the food processor, and blended it in to the pureed tofu mixture. I processed everything together until it reached a lovely light fluffy "mousse-like" texture, and then I spooned it into little serving cups. This made about eight portions (or six really generous portions.)

For the garnish, if you so desire, all I did was melt a little bit of dark chocolate, drizzled it onto a sheet of parchment paper in "heart" shapes, and then sprinkled the hearts with candy sprinkles. After a couple of hours the chocolate set up and could be gently removed from the parchment paper and used to decorate the mousse.

craft - yarn hearts

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a fun but very messy craft! These hearts are made of yarn that has been dipped into a cornstarch glue, then shaped into hearts and allowed to dry. Once completely dry they are quite hard, and make a rustic Valentine's Day decoration.

Here's what you need:

Yarn, cut into foot-long lengths (we used random yarn scraps, but found that cotton yarn worked best)
A sheet of parchment or wax paper
Heart shaped cookie cutters
Cornstarch glue (whisk together 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan, cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and appears shiny and slightly translucent, remove from heat)

Here's what you do:

Place a cookie cutter on the parchment paper. Take a piece of yarn, immerse it in the glue, run your finger and thumb along the length of yarn to remove excess glue, and gently place the yarn in the cookie cutter, allowing it to fall in loops. Repeat with more yarn until the heart looks good to you, gently press the layers of yarn down with your fingers and remove the cookie cutter. We found we had the best results when we frequently washed or wiped our hands to keep the glue-y messiness from getting out of hand. Manipulating the sticky yarn was tricky, but my six-year-old was delighted by the transformation from sticky, wet yarn to rigid decorative object!

cook - "art" cookies

These were a lot of fun to make, and were almost a craft as much as they were a baked good. The idea came from (of course) Martha Stewart . They're just a simple sugar cookie, rolled out and cut into rectangles, and then decorated with food coloring. I cringed a bit at the quantity of food coloring required, as I try to limit anything artificial in my children's diet, but this project was a blast and went a long way toward chasing the winter blues away!

As to the decorating, the instructions have you drop a few drops of color on a cookie, then blow the drops of color with a straw to splatter the colors around on the cookies. The six-year-old was able to manage this with no problem, but the three-year-old was a little challenged by it, so I ended up letting him use a paint brush, which was just as fun. I think next time we make them I may try watering down the food color a bit (to relieve my conscience) and just use paint brushes to paint designs or pictures. Definitely lots of possibilities!

Since we were just cooking for our little family, I halved Martha's recipe, and still got a lot of cookies out of it. This is what I did:

In a small bowl stir together with a whisk:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

In the bowl of a mixer, or using a handheld mixer, beat together until fluffy:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar

Then add:
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Gently mix flour mixture into butter mixture until well combined. Cover well with plastic-wrap and chill for 30 - 45 minutes.

When you're ready to make the cookies, pre-heat the oven to 325º. Roll out dough on lightly floured countertop until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Using a knife, cut the dough into rectangles or squares, and place cut shapes on lightly greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheets, leaving at least an inch between cookies.

Now you're ready to decorate. To follow Martha's instructions, drip food coloring directly on to a cookie, then blow through a straw to create a cool splatter pattern. Or, to make it easier for littler ones, drip some food coloring onto a little plate and allow them to paint the cookie with a paint brush.

Once the cookies are decorated, place them in the hot oven, and bake for about 15 minutes, or until edges of the cookies turn a golden brown.

This recipe made about 24 cookies, each about 2 x 2 1/2 inches.