Praise the paleo gods for this red velvet cupcake recipe, which takes the grain, gluten, refined sugar, and low-quality oil out of the mix while keeping the cupcakes moist, fluffy texture and delicious in taste.

You can enjoy more of what you like – sweet anything – without the intense sugar rush or pounds-packing ingredients. You can even get a vegetable serving (hello, beets) out of these cupcakes!

Paleo Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

Makes 24

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 2 medium beets
• 3 organic pasture-raised eggs
• 1 cup melted coconut oil1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup blanched almond flour
• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

For the frosting

• 2 (BPA-free) cans coconut milk, refrigerated
• 10 Medjool dates, pitted.
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• Dash of sea salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Wrap each beet in aluminum foil and place them into the oven. Cook for one hour. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees and remove the beets from the oven.

Let the beets cool at room temperature. Once cool, use clean hands to peel/rub off the beet skins. Chop the roasted beets and puree them in a food processor or high-speed blender. To the beet puree, add eggs, coconut oil, applesauce, and apple cider vinegar. Blend until smooth.

In a separate large bowl, sift together the remaining cupcake ingredients. Fold the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredient mixture until evenly combined.

Fit 24 muffin tin cups with paper or silicon liners and fill each evenly with the red velvet cake batter. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Scoop only the firm part of the canned coconut milk into a food processor or blender. (Save the liquid for a smoothie or soup.) Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor or blender and blend until thick and smooth. Pour the mixture into a tin bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator to set and thicken further.

Once the cupcake have cooked and cooled to room temperature, lather each with the frosting. Serve and enjoy!

Related on EcoSalon
21 Most Ridiculous Cupcakes
Vegan This: Vanilla Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery
Vegan Roasted Garlic and Beets Recipe

The post Paleo Red Velvet Beet Cupcake Recipe with Coconut Cream Frosting appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnThe joy of delving into a good cookbook.

When I was home earlier this summer, I asked my mother for a recipe. She pulled out her worn 3-ring binder. This binder is blue, has yellowed pages falling out of it and has sat in the same place on the bookshelf for as long as I can remember. In it are recipes scratched in her handwriting of her earlier years, additions by her sisters, and almost four decades’ worth of recipe inspiration ripped from magazines.

My natural instinct when I need a recipe is to go to that online thing that starts with G. For my mother, it’s to go to her recipe shelf. If it’s not in the blue book then there has to be a recipe that can be improvised on elsewhere among the culinary titles. In fact, it was only recently that she called to tell me that she was wondering about a specific recipe and went to her computer herself to search around the internet for it (normally she calls me and has me cull the pages and select a few links, her personal search engine so to say).

I am ashamed to say that I have not started such a recipe collection myself. Raised in the digital age, my own is a mish-mash of bookmarked links and emails that I always plan to organize but never get around to. But although I am quick to tap in a search query that combines a few ingredients that I have lying around and I don’t know what to do with (raspberry, kale, go…), I have an affinity for my small cookbook stash.

The collection is small because I have limited space, and it’s worth committing to the tried and true: The Essential New York Times Cookbook (Amanda Hesser what would I do without you?), Vår Kokbok (a Swedish essential) Swedish Cakes and Cookies, a few from Moosewood Collective, Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking, and Sheila Lutkins’ All Around the World Cookbook. There are a few others here and there, but that is the staple collection and it doesn’t shift very much. I have a favorite recipe in each, and they all have numerous dog eared pages.

In need of dinner inspiration? Sit on the couch with a few of the books and a pen and paper and good things are bound to happen.

There is something that happens with cookbooks that doesn’t happen with food blogs or obsessively looking at food porn on Pinterest. Away from the screen, you engage with a recipe in a different way. You take time to think about the preparation and the process. That is why I prefer predominantly text cookbooks; you are not seduced by photos the way you are int he digital world, your are swayed by words and culinary combinations. A good cookbook is the one you can put your trust in; let it guide you through the cooking process.

And that is what a cookbook should be: a guidebook, a resource. The kind of thing you can go to again and again and again. Not because you loved one recipe, but because no matter how many times you read it, you’ll always learn something new. That is what I discovered in Roots: The Definitive Compendium with more than 225 Recipes, which arrived at my doorstep just a couple of weeks ago.

Let me restate the fact that I am hesitant to add new cookbooks to the collection; my appetite for more food inspiration is countered by an acceptance of the reality of space, and the fact that too many cookbooks can be a bad thing. But Roots was meant to be added to that space, it hit all of my cookbook expectations. It’s a resource (and a good one at that), the photos are beautiful but the recipes aren’t over dominated by them, the story is personal, and in reading it, you get a lesson in food. For example, I had no idea that carrots are believed to have originated in Afghanistan.

I had never given root vegetables much thought, but after reading through numerous sections I soon wondered how I had gone without this book for so long. Sauteed beet greens with a little lemon juice will now certainly be a regular concoction.

Newly obsessed with root vegetables, I caught up with Roots author Diane Morgan to learn more about the cookbook, the most underrated root vegetable out there and her favorite recipe (hint: it might be the only time I am ever tempted to make a cupcake, because these look good).

This book is such a valuable resource. Why do you think something like it hasn’t been done before?

There are a couple of much older books focused on the “common” root vegetables (beets, turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes), and there are encyclopedic books written on vegetables, but an encyclopedic book written on the large family of root vegetables along with a large selection of recipes hasn’t been written until now. I went looking for the book I wanted to own and realized it didn’t exist, so I decided to tackle the subject and write the book I wanted to own.

As a very comprehensive guide, this cookbook packs in a lot of information. How long did the research and writing process for it take? Any glitches along the way?

It took me two and a half years to develop the book proposal, and then research and write the entire book. I am not a botanist(!), so the research to make sure I found all the edible roots that exist was challenging. Even as I was turning in the manuscript I would double check some exotic root to make sure it was classified properly. With regard to glitches, there is a lot of confusion between malanga and taro and it took me time to resolve the distinctions. They are fascinating roots with interesting cooking properties. The high starch factor makes them delightful to mash and terrific as fritters.

I am assuming you ate a lot of root vegetable dishes while doing recipe development. Are you sick of them now? Or do you incorporate more roots into your diet than before?

I have never tired of eating roots. They are so varied and so seasonal that something that goes out of season, such as celery root, delivered a new-found excitement when I see it again the next season.

What was the most interesting thing you learned while writing the book?

There were many interesting discoveries, but I did love learning about all the edible tops – beet greens, radish tops, carrot tops, turnip tops – all are edible and highly nutritious.

Which is the most underrated root?

It would be a toss up between rutabagas and burdock root! Rutabagas take on many flavors – they are delicious when braised in beer and also paired with apples for a wonderful wintertime sweet galette. On the other hand, burdock root, used commonly in Japanese cuisine, is amazing when paired with mussels. If you love mussels then you must try my recipes for Steamed Mussels with Burdock Root, Shallots, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes.

If you had to pick one, what is your favorite root and why?

That’s like asking which is your favorite child. They all have such unique characteristics! However, since writing the book, I have incorporated the dark orange-fleshed sweet potatoes into my diet more often. They are an incredible superfood, packed with vitamins. I roast them or even grill-roast them and then rewarm them for breakfast. Skip your morning toast and eat a sweet potato!

Can you share one of your favorite recipes with us?

While I have many favorite recipes in the book, I am delighted with the Red Velvet Cupcakes because it is so unexpected and most folks think red velvet cake is made with food coloring, when, in fact, the gorgeous magenta color of the cupcakes comes from pureeing fresh-roasted beets.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream

These darling magenta-hued cupcakes are brilliantly colored all the way through. No food coloring is used here; the color comes from pureeing freshly roasted beets. I tested the recipe with canned beets and the color is drab and faded, but given how easy it is to roast beets this simple step can be done while you measure and prepare the ingredients for the cupcakes and buttercream. I finely chop the roasted beets and then puree them in a food processor. It is important to let the machine run for a couple of minutes, scraping down the sides of the workbowl once or twice, until the puree is completely smooth.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes

• 2 cups/200 g sifted cake/soft-wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups/342 g puréed red roasted beets
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp/225 g granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup/180 ml canola oil
• 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Orange Buttercream

• 1 1/4 cups/280 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’/icing sugar
• 1 tbsp heavy (whipping)/double cream
• 1/2 tsp pure orange oil (see Cook’s Notes)
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 tbsp fresh orange juice

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F/180°C/gas 4. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the beets, sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, stir in one-third of the flour mixture, and continue stirring just until the flour disappears. Do not beat or overmix. Repeat, adding the remaining flour mixture in 2 batches.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing the batter evenly and filling each cup almost to the top of the liner. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Let the cupcakes rest in the pan, set on a wire rack, for 10 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely, about an hour.

To make the buttercream, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a mixing bowl with a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter on low speed. Add the sugar, cream, orange oil, and vanilla, and beat until incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add the orange juice, a little at a time, until the buttercream is fluffy and smooth.

When the cupcakes are completely cool, spread a thick layer of buttercream over the tops, swirling the frosting to decorate the tops. Alternatively, the frosting can be transferred to a pastry bag and piped around the tops of the cupcakes. The cupcakes can be made up to 2 days in advance. Store, covered, at room temperature.

Cook’s Notes
Pure orange oil is an essential oil cold pressed from the rind of oranges. It is different from pure orange extract. Look for pure orange oil in the baking section of natural foods stores, at baking supply stores, or Middle Eastern grocers. Two brands I see often is Boyajian or Frontier.

The cupcakes freeze well and are handy to have on hand for a party. Freeze the cupcakes unwrapped on a baking sheet/tray. Once frozen, wrap them individually, first with plastic wrap/cling film and then with aluminum foil. The cupcakes can be frozen up to 1 month. Unwrap the cupcakes and thaw at room temperature.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

The post Foodie Underground: For the Love of Roots and Cookbooks appeared first on EcoSalon.

Slice the calories, fat, and sodium with a cauliflower-based alternative

Pizza very well may be the world’s favorite food, but it can really bust your diet. The more mainstream it has become, the further it has diverged from the use of authentic, high-quality ingredients as well as the larger the serving sizes have become – the bread is thicker, the number of toppings defy the point of the dish, and the amount of cheese is greater.

But one thing that has never changed is its difficulty to digest. The pairing of protein and starch, from the cheese and bread respectively, is a classic train-wreck in the stomach. Protein requires an acidic environment for stomach enzymes to digest it and the addition of starch weakens the mix, making it exhausting for your body to process a slice. This is why you may experience extra bloat on pizza night and feel tired quickly. Not to say you shouldn’t enjoy the traditional combination when you crave it, but whenever you’re looking to tighten those abs or avoid the sluggish feeling, keep this knowledge in mind!

This is even before we get to pizza’s nutritional stats. Using Pizza Hut as an example, in a 12-inch medium size pizza, one slice bears 240 calories, 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 530 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, and only 1 milligram of dietary fiber. And, let’s get real, who ever stops at just one slice? Double, triple, or quadruple those numbers and you’ll realize just how much saturated fat, sodium, and empty carbohydrates you are consuming in just one sitting. Regular consumption of pizza can lead to raised blood pressure, weight gain, an increase in blood-sugar levels, and cardiovascular diseases.

To avoid the hard-to-digest starch and protein combination and reduce the sodium, fat, and empty carbohydrate levels, I created a recipe that uses cauliflower as the base. Cauliflower has a natural cheesy aroma when cooked, so you can omit cheese altogether without missing out of the flavor. Full-fat yogurt holds together the cauliflower crust, and the “icing” on these mini pizza cupcakes is made up of a simple cooked cherry tomato sauce. Enjoy!

Mini Cauliflower Pizzas

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

For the Crust

• 1 head cauliflower, grated in food processor
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup full-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

For the Marinara

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Dash of salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the crust, pulse the florets of one head of cauliflower in the food processor until rice like. Cook in a saucepan over medium heat with 1/2 cup water. Cover saucepan with a lid and let steam for 5 minutes, mixing every minute or so to make sure the cauliflower does not brown. This step softens the cauliflower. Once softened, remove from heat and let cool in a large bowl before adding the wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk the yogurt, egg whites, basil, oregano, salt and garlic powder together. Pour the wet mixture into the cooled cauliflower mixture. Fold until thoroughly combined.

Scoop the cauliflower crust mixture into muffin cups that have been greased with coconut oil. Pack them in firmly until they reach the top of the tin. Flatten the top. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the tops have browned lightly and the edges begin to pull away from the tin.

While the pizzas bake, prepare the cherry tomato marinara sauce. Stem and slice in half 1 cup of tomatoes. In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté the tomatoes in 1 teaspoon of coconut oil with 1 diced garlic glove, 1 teaspoon oregano, and a dash of salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes have broken down.

One cooled, line the edges of the cauliflower crusts with a knife and remove each carefully.

Top each cauliflower crust pizza with a spoonful of the cherry tomato marina.

Photo Credit: Kohtzy, GlowKitchen

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Nutritional Breakdown: Pizza’s Healthier Half Takes Center Stage appeared first on EcoSalon.

Vegan cupcakes based on Sex and the City’s famous Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake recipe.

From New York City to Dubai, we’re living in a sugar coated world of cupcake mania. Many reports (like this one from the UK Telegraph) put the addiction blame on the famed Magnolia Bakery.

What started 16 years ago as the tiniest of local cupcake spots on Bleeker Street in New York City’s West Village, has now become an over-heated sensation. Sex in City, followed by Saturday Night Live’s “Lazy Sunday” and The Devil Wears Prada, have all been accused of instigating and spreading the cupcakes-gone-wild craze. Flash through old episodes of Sex in the City and you’re sure to find the one where Carrie and Miranda munch on frosted treats outside the original Magnolia Bakery – back in the day before lines circled around the block.

“I have a crush,” Carrie confesses to Miranda, lips lined with pink buttercream frosting. Was it a cupcake crush? Tourists who happily fork over $48 and more than three hours of their time to take the official Sex in the City Hotspots Tour in New York City–  including a stop at this very spot – can answer best. Walk inside the flagship Bloomingdale’s, or simply follow the trend from New York to Chicago, LA to Dubai or the 120 new locations in the works, and you’ll see that a bad case of the Magnolia cupcake crush is taking the world by sweet-toothed storm.

My memories of Magnolia Bakery go back to those one-location wonder days, post Sex in the City. As a transplanted New Yorker, I recall once dedicating an afternoon standing in the Magnolia line – for what felt like hours – simply to snag a cupcake for a friend’s birthday. Five years later, I tasted a tiny crumble of the infamous Vanilla Vanilla Magnolia Cupcake.

Fast forward to today where I’ve masterminded a vegan, gluten-free edition – starting with the original Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake recipe, compliments of Magnolia Bakery and the Food Network. While this is no baking adventure for the weary, the results are well worth it.

If you’ve already tried your hand at vegan baking, eggs, you well know, can put you in a baker’s bind. Especially when it’s four eggs you’re substituting which serve as a binding agent for your wet and dry ingredients. Since I’m always striving to merge decadence with health, I used a flax seed mix in lieu of eggs?

Flax seeds, it turns out, have been traced back to human consumption since 3000 B.C., and for good reason. It’s even been reported that King Charlemagne, recognizing the incredible health benefits, enacted a law requiring his subjects to consume the tiny, golden seeds daily. Today, flax seeds have been studied and recommended as a preventative treatment for nearly all ailments – from cancer to heart disease to diabetes. Rich in omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidant-rich lignans and soluble and insoluble fibers, flax helps cancel out the sugar-high effects of these cupcakes, making them virtually guilt free and easy to digest.

The Original – Magnolia Bakery’s Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 6 to 8 cups confectioners’  sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

The Vegan and Gluten-free Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake Concoction

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

For a gluten-free, self-rising flour mix

• ½ cup sorghum flour
• ½ cup brown rice flour
• ¼ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup tapioca flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt

For the gluten-free all purpose flour mix

• ½ cup sorghum flour
• ¼ cup brown rice flour
• ¼ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup tapioca flour

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted vegan butter, softened
• 2 cups vegan sugar
• 4 tablespoons ground flax seeds blended with 12 tablespoons warm water (let sit for two minutes to meld)
• 1 cup non-dairy milk (For an extra creamy version, I made my own almond milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted vegan butter, softened
• 6 to 8 cups vegan confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cupcakes:

Line 2, 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. In two small bowls, combine each of the flour blends, separately. When mixed separately, whisk together the two blends (self-rising and all purpose). Set aside.

In a large bowl, on medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until fluffy, for about 3 minutes. Slowly add the egg mixture, in 4 small doses, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated. Be careful not to overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to ensure the ingredients are well blended.

Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of plant-based food coloring (like beet juice) and mix thoroughly.

Because vegan frosting tends to melt easier than it’s dairy counterpart, store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes.

Images: Jennifer Barckley

The post Vegan This: Vanilla Cupcake Recipe From Magnolia Bakery appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnThe deceptively low-maintenance French treat: coming to a shop near you?

I (almost) hate to go on another anti-cupcake rant.

“What’s wrong with cupcakes?” a friend recently asked me.

I raised my eyebrows. “Did you miss my whole I-hate-cupcakes ‘thing’?”

A third friend standing with us nodded in agreement; every time someone mentions the word cupcake around me I see her eyes roll as they glaze over with the “here she goes again” look.

“I know you hate the cupcake trend, but do you really not like actual cupcakes?”

“No.”

I was caught eating a cupcake at a wedding once. Never again; the photographic evidence is too much to bear. Well, not exactly: On another occasion I was sent a full dozen, the frosting so purple I expected a unicorn to jump out of the box. I ate half of one. But, other than that, I am a 100% cupcake abstainer.

Sure, they’re good. It’s hard to find something with sugar that isn’t. But this does not mean we should be building shrines to cupcakes, serving them with grilled cheese or launching (multiple) reality television series about them. As insult to injury, I am often asked, “What’s the next cupcake?” I have learned the hard way that if you complain about one thing enough people expect you to offer up an alternative.

There are a lot of answers to that question. If the blogosphere is to be trusted, whoopie pies and cake pops are both strongly in the running for dessert du jour.

And then, there is the macaron.

The truth is, the macaron is often deemed the “next cupcake.” Maybe it’s the size, maybe it’s the color. A French delicacy, a macaron is the darling just-right blend of almond flour meringue and creamy filling. Add in a pop of color and inventive flavors like cassis and caramel and you have genius with a sweet tooth.

Yes despite its wantful status, and I hate to be the bearer of less-than-sweet news, the macaron is not the next cupcake. Why? First of all, it’s French. This is inherently problematic. Freedomaron just doesn’t have a good ring.

Second, macarons are too difficult to make go mainstream. Anyone can add some water to a mix and turn out a set of reasonably decent cupcakes; macarons take effort.

And so, these also-ran treats are everything that cupcakes are not. Cupcakes are for crying into one’s pillow on a Saturday night after raiding the fridge yet again. Macarons are for those who revel in their freedom and cheer to it with bubbly. Cupcakes are the minivan. Macarons are the Tesla. If a cupcake were a travel partner, they would be the one that wants to eat at Red Robin because it’s familiar. I’m sorry, cupcakes, but it’s true.

Fearing mutiny amongst my foodie friends over this unending dessert drama, I decided I had better be proactive and bake up some macarons myself. Naturally, I enlisted a first mate to help.

First item of business: find a recipe. Macarons seem like the kind of thing that doesn’t respond well to a whole lot of fussing, so we went with a basic, straight-forward recipe from the domestic goddess herself, Martha Stewart.

First Mate Sarah and I set off on our baking voyage, impressed and surprised at how much easier macarons are to make than you would expect – baking can be hard work, and macarons are a wonderful culinary self-esteem boost. You just can’t spend a few hours making macarons and not feel like you’re the best thing to ever hit the kitchen. (I am pretty sure that could be used in a pick up line.)

This being Foodie Underground inspired, there were some improvisations. Who needs a pastry bag when there’s Ziploc? (Not eco, I know; you find me an alternative and I will send you a batch of macarons.) Egg whites that have rested overnight, what? (Yes, that is a recommended element of most macaron recipes). We’re trying to make a working woman batch of macarons here, I barely made it to the store to buy almond flour. I would have ground my own, but knew the finely ground option would be just a little better.

And soon, there we were, dozens of round, fragile almond disks cooling on the rack.

“Ganache time?” I say to Sarah. “I’m thinking we should put in some salt – because what’s not love about dark chocolate and salt?”

“I actually have this really good black salt we can use!”

We give each other the look only foodies can give, and moved on. When a person maintains four varieties of artisan salt in their pantry it’s the only appropriate response.

When it comes to macarons, it’s all about the filling. Our basic recipe for ganache (the name for a blend of dark chocolate and cream) promptly developed into three different versions: classic, vanilla and sea salt. Spread onto one macaron cookie and top with another. Put on a pretty plate, serve…and impress your friends. Or ship them to your mother for her birthday.

Homemade macarons are surprisingly painless and so rewardingly elegant. And, as it turns out, the fact that the macaron will never be the next cupcake is cause for celebration.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Image: Julien Haler, cocinzenl, Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Why Macarons Are Not the Next Cupcake, But Deserve Your Respect appeared first on EcoSalon.

A look back at the stories that inspired what we ate and how we ate it. 

When it comes to comnsuming, it’s not just about what’s on the table, it’s about how it got there and how it is being enjoyed. Over the last year we have come to make our Food section reflect our mindset of “good food, from good places, with good people.”

Food sustains us and brings us together and gives us a common ground, no matter who we are. At times complex, and at others, very simple, food is a topic that we can all gather around. Here are 10 stories that proved this point and have defined this section in 2011.

Dr. Marion Nestle Weighs in on Food Issues

When the federal government launched MyPlate, the Harvard School of Public Health came out with their own version called the Healthy Eating Plate. To get perspective we chatted with one of the leading voices on food, Dr. Marion Nestle, to get her perspective on eating better and how to change the food system.

The Replacements

Burned out on the cupcake trend just like we were? Fortunately there were plenty of replacements, and we hope that 2012 gives us more macarons and cookies delivered out of second story apartment windows.

Global Street Eats

Food is one of the best ways to explore a new culture, and nothing gives a real look into a country and its people like street food. In this article we took a look at 10 street foods that defined their home countries to give you a salivating virtual world tour.

Behind the Scenes at an Urban Winery

It’s nice to buy wine that’s made just a few blocks from your apartment. Enso Winery in Portland, Oregon is leading the way for urban viticulteurs, getting their grapes from local vineyards and making their wine in the same warehouse space as their welcoming tasting room.

How to Shop, Cook and Eat More Sustainably

The post The 10 Stories That Defined Food in 2011 appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnSuddenly, sweet potato fries don’t seem so bad.

Heard of butternut squash? Of course you have. I don’t know how one couldn’t, what with it being whipped into some not-your-average-squash creation in every organic, hipster and farm-to-table restaurant these days. Fitzgerald, were he around today, would have surely noted this celebrated starch; the butternut even has its own website.

It’s ravioli. It’s risotto. It’s sauce. It’s bread. It’s pie. It’s fries. It’s roasted, toasted, baked, braised, glazed, and available conveniently cubed at the grocer. Somewhere, someone has named her offspring after this thing that is not a yam. I don’t know if it’s made it into candles and body scrubs because I haven’t been to the beauty aisle in a while – what with being busy tracking down squash recipes and all – but I can only imagine what’s going on over there given what’s going on online.

Last week, I walked over to grab coffee at one of my favorite bakeries when I saw it: a gluten-free, vegan, butternut squash cupcake.

I momentarily paused before whipping out my phone to document this disaster in proper 2.0 style – I do hate to be that girl, but hey, I was already in a vegan gluten-free bakery. I snapped a semi-blurry photo and shared it with the world. Foodies, there’s a new cupcake in town, and it’s called butternut squash. The ubiquitous squash is precariously close to verging into beet, goat cheese and walnut salad territory. Or sliders. Or olive oil in desserts.

What about the acorn? Why aren’t we seeing roasted acorn squash fries on every brew pub menu? Or delicata? Even the name is refined – “I’ll take a glass of bubbly and some delicata, please” – and the cooking opportunities are equally endless.

Butternut is delicious, and totally versatile, which is wonderful, but we foodies may wish to observe a moment of gustatory introspection (as opposed to the more standard routines of navel-gazing, porn, and drool-tweets) and remind ourselves that we’re talking about a squash. A squash.

On that note, I’m off to eat lunch, with a nice bowl of one of my favorite dishes from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking, Chunky Lentil Soup, full of healthy lentils and two whole cups of diced…butternut squash.

You just can’t win them all.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: theilr, Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Give It Up, Butternut appeared first on EcoSalon.

15 aesthetically pleasing foods you can make with pumpkin.

In honor of Halloween, which we assume many of you will be celebrating in various ways over the next few days, this week’s Foodspotting Friday is dedicated to the most iconic of fall foods: the pumpkin.

Put it in a cupcake, a creme brulee or even on pizza, the pumpkin is so versatile you might as well eat it three meals a day. Enjoy!

Ginger Cake and Pumpkin Ice Cream

Pumpkin Soup 

Pumpkin Donuts

Goat Cheese and Pumpkin Pizza

Thai-styled Pumpkin Custard

Pumpkin Waffles

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Pumpkin Tortellini

Pumpkin Tiramisu Parfait

Pumpkin Mousse

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Tempura

Pumpkin Cupcake

Pumpkin Porter

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: Damien Palladino, Randy F., Luka, Melissa, Alexa Andrzejewski, Golden Elephant, Tiffany Yeo, Madam Charcuterie, William Lockie, Mike Fabio, Rich, ElwinRansom, Chuco Townsend, Mims, Stacy

The post Foodspotting Friday: Did Someone Say Pumpkin? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Cupcakes and the people who blog about them.

Despite the ongoing dispute over cupcakes at EcoSalon HQ, I stand by my loathing. It’s not cupcakes per se, it’s the entire cupcake trend that’s turning baked-good-loving people into frosting zombies.

How do I know this? I have a Google alert that rounds up the best “cupcake” hits of the day for me, and let me tell you, if this alert is any indicator of our future, we are headed down a grim path – one dotted with red velvet crumbles and copious sprinkle drifts. Cupmudgeon? Guilty as charged.

Don’t believe me? Just take a look at these ridiculous cupcakes. Even I can agree that cupcakes make for a great 10 year-old’s birthday party, and they’re fun on a Sunday afternoon picnic, but do we really need to be trying to make them haute cuisine, or, even worse, make them look like items that they’re not? If there is any better proof that people need jobs, I cannot find it.

1. Knitting Cupcakes

Bring these to a Stitch and Bitch session and you’ll probably have most attendees doing more of the latter.

2. Cupcake Stuffed Strawberries

It’s bad enough to pretend cupcakes are healthy by making them fruit based, but putting a cupcake into a strawberry? It’s in there.

3. iPhone Cupcake

Nothing screams fanboy more than showing up to the office with these.

4. Muppet Cupcakes

They were so cute on screen, but now…my childhood has been destroyed.

5. Starry Night Cupcakes

Van Gogh would have cut his ear off for less.

6. Lego Cupcakes

No matter how much they beg, your child does not need this sugar overdose.

7. Corn on the Cob Cupcakes

Thanks, Martha, for keeping it classy.

8. Hamburger Cupcakes

Sliders were already overdone, now this?

9. Taco Cupcakes 

Taco Tuesday anyone? Somehow I just want to stick with chips and guacamole.

10. Sushi Cupcakes

I dare someone to eat these with wasabi.

11. Flower Pot Cupcakes 

I like my flowers living, thank you very much.

12. Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Note: you can’t make a leftover sandwich with these.

13. Broccoli Cupcakes

Sadly, there is an entire blog devoted to not just cupcakes, but cupcakes with things inside of them.

14. Brain Cupcakes

It’s like a Halloween dessert gone horribly, horribly wrong. Serve these to your children and they will probably end up in tears.

15. Cupcake Bouquet

Throw this to the bridal party and see who gets frosting in their face.

16. Egg Cupcakes

Which came first, the cupcake or the cuteification of the cupcake?

17. Scorpion Cupcakes

Serve up with a side of pest control?

18. Stiletto Cupcakes

The worst kind of ladies night possible.

19. Billiard Cupcakes

At least now we know there’s a manlier version of cupcakes.

20. Spaghetti and Meatballs Cupcakes

Would anyone really eat this?

21. Pro Life Cupcakes

As Ms. Magazine put it, the problem with the Cupcakes for Life Campaign and National Pro-Life Cupcake Day, “the complexities of the abortion debate cannot be reduced to a cupcake.” Our thoughts exactly.

And finally: The Most Absurd, Totally Inappropriate, Completely NSFW Cupcake. You have been warned.

Images: The Kitchn, vegan yum yum, 1 Fine Cookie, cafemom, iCanHasCheezburger, New York Times, hello naomi, Martha Stewart, Smiley’s Sweets and Creations, While We’re Waiting, ajumma’s pad, just jenn rants and raves, luux, The Kitchn, street anatomy, Dots Treats Cupcakes, Cutest Food, La Culinaire, Hoosier Homemade, NJ.com, Smiley’s Sweet Creations, Bitch Media

The post The Glucose Overdose of Cupcake Culture appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon’s Foodie Underground columnist explores the cultural ramifications of cupcakes.

A matter of grave importance. One that divides educated women everywhere. Hotly debated in the halls and Skype chats of EcoSalon, one editor loves it; another dismisses it as “glorified gluten” and a columnist – yours truly – despises it.

It’s the matter of cupcakes. And the fact that they’re everywhere. No really, everywhere. Even in mini versions.

Trendy cupcake stores are one thing, and even if I can’t get behind the popularity of the baked good, I’ll agree that they’re colorful, cute and, if you have a sweet tooth, taste good. But restraint is not a virtue Americans possess, and so we weren’t satisfied with adorably stenciled hole-in-the-wall cupcake shops. Instead we had to make the cupcake a national trend on a level of the beanie baby. Cupcakes have literally taken over. I’m too frightened to check QVC.

It Began with Cupcake Crap

When I saw the package of cupcake push pins at a local bookstore, I immediately snapped a photo and sent it to two fellow cupcake haters. “No. Just no,” was the immediate SMS.

iPhone covers, baby blankets, semi-scandalous Halloween costumes, tattoos…you can get it all a la cupcake. But really this is just another symbol of our need to consume more. It’s not that this stuff is covered in images of a saccharine baked good, it’s that none of it is stuff that we really need. But marketers know our sweet tooth, and they know what feeds it, and a cupcake product is apparently it.

Blogs

Just take a quick second and Google “cupcake blog.” The variety and quality out there is about as bad as the tumultuous sea of mommy blogs and World of Warcraft art. There are some decent ones which actually take cupcake baking to the next level, and as a foodie with a love for good food photos, even I can appreciate, and then there are the ones that make This Is Why You’re Fat look good.

Cupcake Creations Gone Wrong

At the grocery store last week I stopped and stared at the latest copy of Women’s Day, which prominently featured what looked to be corn on the cob as the cover story. Upon closer look, it turned out to be a photo of “corny cupcakes,” brown butter frosted cupcakes covered in jelly beans so they looked like sections of corn, oddly positioned next to a “15 minutes to a trimmer tummy” headline. Well, then.

The only thing worse than a cupcake is another food product that incorporates cupcakes, cupcake stuffed strawberries being a prime example. No, not a cupcake with strawberries in it, but vice versa. Like a culinary science experiment gone wrong. Equally as bad as a Push Pop Cupcake and a cupcake kabob. Or you can always go for a raw cupcake, which in my book is up there with the weirdness factor of veggie bacon.

TV shows

In a recent discussion with some friends, I asked, “did you know that there’s a reality show about a cupcake shop in D.C.?”

“Yeah, and then there’s Cupcake Wars,” another friend pitched in.

Helpfully, Cupcake Wars features thrilling food competition, cupcake style, vetting the best of the best cupcake bakers against each other. DC Cupcake is a little more absurd; think Real Housewives meets fluffy frosting. Did you know you can make an engagement ring and even a wedding dress out of cupcakes? Pardon me while I ponder the impending demise of our society.

Hygiene Products

As if stuffing yourself with overly sugar filled baked goods wasn’t enough, now you can brush your teeth and keep your lips hydrated with the stuff. You can even make your dentist happy by keeping your gums healthy with cupcake flavored floss.

Cupcake Camp

Just like good ole summer camp, but replace the sleeping bags and mosquitoes with frosting and sprinkles. And this in one of the pastry capitals of the world? Non merci.

Sure, they might help fight terrorism, but at the end of the day, do you really need another cupcake, cupcake?

Image: kristin_a (Meringue Bake Shop), Cupcake Project, Magazine Time, TLC, Lost at E Minor, Sugar Daze, lamantin

The post Burned Out on the Cupcake Trend appeared first on EcoSalon.