Awesome Vegan Gingerbread

Stock Your Pantry, Episode Four: The Joys of Silken Tofu, continued!

The aseptic, silken tofu in a box is just about the perfect pantry item.  You can use it for so many things and it lasts forever in your pantry (like 8 months!).  And it is CHEAP, like $1.79 at Wegmans for a box of Firm Silken Mori-Nu. It is a very versatile egg replacer, as you have seen once already!  Now we will use it to replace eggs in a traditional holiday treat, gingerbread!  I love Nigella's version, which I made last year just before going vegan.  I wanted it this year, and decided to veganize it.  It worked out perfectly and I wanted to share it with you. 

Nigella’s Sticky Gingerbread, Dawn’s Vegan Version:

Makes 20 squares.

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons non-dairy butter (Earth Balance is the best for baking)

¾ cup dark corn syrup (Karo)----I used 2/4 cup Karo and ¼ cup Light Agave

¾ cup Molasses

2/3 cup packed organic, soft dark brown sugar (I used Trader Joe’s Organic)

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger----I used organic chopped ginger in the jar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon plus about 1/3 tsp baking soda, dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm water

1 cup organic, unflavored soy milk (vanilla would be ok, too)

2 tofu “eggs,” beaten to mix.  Use 4 oz (1/2 cup) firm silken tofu, blended.

2 cups King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat flour (much better nutrition and taste than all-purpose flour).

Nigella calls for using a 12x8x2 pan (who has this??) and if you happen to have it, go ahead and use 350 as your oven temp.  Anyway, I was using a 9x9 cake pan, so I used 360 degree oven due to changing the size of the pan.  Line your baking pan with parchment paper.  If you don’t have parchment, you can use Aluminum foil, but be sure to grease it well with butter.  This is very sticky gingerbread!

Process tofu in a food processor or blender until smooth.  You could do this by hand with a fork or a tiny wisk o’doom, too.  Put your dry baking soda in a little mixing bowl and put the water in a microwavable coffee cup or whatever (do not combine yet).

In a saucepan, combine butter through cloves.  Prep your flour, the only truly dry ingredient in this recipe!  Measure the flour and sift it into a large bowl. Now, melt the ingredients (butter through cloves) over a low to medium heat. Heat the water slightly and make your baking soda mixture.

Take butter mixture off the heat, and add the soy milk, tofu and dissolved baking soda in its water.

Pour in the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the flour, beating until well mixed.  Make sure all the flour gets wet and incorporated.  It will be a very liquid batter, so don’t worry.  This is part of what makes it sticky later.

Pour it into the prepared pan and bake for about 60 minutes (45-60 if you use the larger pan) until risen and firm on top.  Try not to overcook, as it is nicer a little stickier, and anyway will carry on cooking as it cools.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the gingerbread cool in the pan before cutting into 20 squares or however you wish to slice it.  Dust w/ confectioner’s sugar or leave plain (I love how Christmassy it looks with the confectioner’s sugar):

Make ahead tip: Make the gingerbread up to 2 weeks ahead, wrap loosely in parchment paper and store in an airtight container.  Cut into squares as required.

Freeze ahead tip: Make the gingerbread, wrap in parchment paper and a layer of aluminum foil then freeze for up to 3 months.  Thaw at room temperature for 3-4 hours and cut into squares.

Happy Holidays!