Vegan Spelt Date-Sweetened Apple Fritters

These are crisp on the outside, and moist and fluffy on the inside. Great smothered in maple syrup!

I've been gone a long time. No excuses, except that I've been working on a project, which will be revealed in my next post. In the meantime, I've been replacing a lot of my all-purpose flour with spelt flour, since we found out that my husband has a mild wheat intolerance. Did you know that a lot of people have this and don't know it? His symptoms included bloating, slight itch in the throat or mouth, constipation, and fatigue, but there are other symptoms that may arise and they don't always happen right after you eat wheat- which is why it's so hard to diagnose. The only way is to cut out the wheat and see if there's a difference in how you feel.

Spelt is an ancient grain, related to wheat but different. How? You can read an interesting article that explains it well here. Celiacs shouldn't eat it, but people with wheat intolerances have had success with it. It doesn't react exactly like wheat flour, but it can be manipulated to be a good substitute in some recipes.

We've also been cutting down on refined sugar, and I've found dates to be a good substitute. Now, these aren't exactly a health food, as they are deep fried to a golden fatty deliciousness, but I'm thinking you could probably pan fry them quickly, then finish them in the oven to reduce some of the oil.

This recipe makes a big batch- like 2 dozen or more. You can halve it, if you don't want so many.

Ingredients:

(Dry)

2 C. spelt flour (white)

1 tsp. salt

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

(Wet)

1 C. whole pitted dates

1 1/2 C. soy milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 C. chopped apples (about 2 large peeled apples)

Maple syrup for dipping

Spinz:

Heat soymilk and dates in a sauce pan until just boiling. Turn off heat and let soak for about 10 minutes until softened. Sift together spelt flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon and set aside. Chop the apples in a food processor into small chunks, and transfer to a mixing bowl. Blend the date and soy milk mixture in the food processor until dates are finely minced (make sure to vent the processor if the mixture is still hot). Add the date mixture to the apples, then mix in vanilla. Add the dry mix to the wet until just combined. It should resemble a thick pancake mix- if it's too thick, add a little soy milk. Heat oil to 330 - 350 degrees F. Slide in the batter one heaping tablespoon at a time into the hot oil. If you put in too much, it won't cook on the inside. Brown (a couple of minutes each side), then remove and drain. Keep finished ones warm in the oven if desired. Drizzle with maple syrup.

Superfruit Jelly Donuts

Vegan food is supposed to be healthy, but deep fried jelly-filled donuts? (Oh no she di-n't!) Uh, yeah... I did (sigh). I only took that one bite (for picture's sake), and the rest of the crew devoured the rest- really! Well, at least that one bite had something wholesome in it:

My new favorite fruit spreads!

Crofters makes these incredible new Superfruit spreads that are not only packed with deliciousness, their sweetened with fair trade sugar, organic, and have 1/3 less sugar than the average jam! Plus they have varieties like Maqui and Passionfruit blended with Morello Cherries and Red Grapes (which I used in the donuts)... antioxidant heaven!!
My other favorites right now are wild blueberry fruit spread and pomegranate jelly- all the ones I've tried are fantastic! And, they're reasonably priced at around 5 bucks.

I've been playing around with donut recipes, and found that I liked this one by Lisa's Thoughts blog (which I adjusted slightly), because it had a great slightly sweet flavor, tender texture, and turned out nice and crispy on the outside. It didn't puff up as much as I would've liked, but they were extremely delicious regardless!

Here's the recipe:

Makes 12-15 donuts

2 1/4 C. unbleached ap flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C. sugar
3/4 C. soy milk
3 T. Earth Balance margarine
1 package dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
N-ergy Egg Replacer (for one egg)
oil for frying
powdered sugar for dusting
Crofter's fruit spread of choice for filling

In a small pan, heat sugar, soy milk, and margarine until margarine is just melted. Stir mixture and set aside to cool to luke warm temperature. Add yeast to it, and set aside to let blume.

Whisk together the egg replacer and water in a separate bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour and salt, then add both the wet ingredients and knead for a few minutes, adding another 1/4 cup or so of flour to make a soft, pliable dough.

Let sit in an oiled, covered bowl, in a warm place for an hour. Then, tear off golf-ball sized balls of dough and flatten to about 1/2 inch. Place them onto a prepared cookie sheet about an inch apart. Cover, and let sit for another hour.

Heat oil, fry on both sides for a couple minutes each, or until golden and puffy. Let cool, then fill each one by opening a hole on the side of the donut with a chopstick. To ensure even filling, you can use the chopstick to open up the inside more, being careful not to poke any holes.

Dust with powdered sugar, and enjoy!

These spreads are so good, I find myself putting them on everything!