Lemon Cranberry Loaf

I was in a pinch one evening wanting to have some kind of loaf in the house for a friend's weekend visit, but had no more time to run to the grocery store for anything.  The bananas I had on hand weren't ripe enough for banana bread, but I did have plenty of lemons and fresh / frozen cranberries.  I was more than happy with how the loaf turned out, tangy and sweet with the fresh pop of the cranberries.  The texture would fool anyone into thinking there were eggs in the batter, soft, moist and bouncy without being wet and heavy.

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 3/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 350gm (12oz) pack firm silken tofu (so 175gm or 6oz)
• 1/3 cup light oil of your choice
• 1 cup soy (or rice, almond, etc.) milk
• 3 lemons, zested and squeezed
• 1 - 2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• approx. 1 cup frozen / fresh cranberries (can use up to 1 1/2 cups)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare a loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients.

Zest the lemons, placing the zest in a medium bowl.

In a blender or bullet, combine the silken tofu, oil, soy milk, and lemon juice.  Pour mixture into the medium bowl with the lemon zest, add the extracts and stir to combine.

Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the wet mixture into it.  Stir gently until well combined.  If the batter feels a bit too thick, add a little bit more soy milk.  Fold in the cranberries.

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 45 minutes before checking.  The top should be a little golden, and the loaf should feel 'bouncy' when tapped lightly on top.   

Lemon Squares

If lemon squares are your deal, then this is the recipe for you.  I found it on the Vegweb site five years ago, added it to my recipe box, and then never made it until today!  And me being a total lemon square fiend, I really have no clue how this happened.  Well, there's no looking back after today, that's for sure.  And best of all, this recipe whips together in less than 20 minutes, how's that, eh? (Okay, now you know I'm Canadian...)

ingredients:

crust:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp) Earth Balance Buttery Spread
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

filling:

• 3 egg equivalents, prepared (all I had in the house was cornstarch, so I did 6 Tbsp with equal parts water)
• 2 1/2 - 3 lemons, juiced and zested
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon extract if you have it, you can omit this if you don't have it
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper, right up the vertical sides as well.  This makes removal of the squares so much easier. 

In a bowl combine the crust ingredients and press into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking, prepare the egg replacer, whip it up a bit and add the remaining ingredients, mixing together really well.

Pour over baked crust, pop in the oven and bake 20 - 25 minutes, or until somewhat set.  

Allow to cool, preferably in the fridge, before cutting.

Recipe from vegweb