The second problem is me overthinking. By which I mean, it's got to be weird enough that it stands out as representative of its time, but not so weird as to be gross. I loved looking through the recipe book for the elementary school cafeteria. (I forget what decade, maybe the 70s?) It had recipes that would call for four quarts of milk or sixteen bananas. One recipe I considered making was banana pudding, which called for bananas, gelatin, milk, and sugar. There were several macaroni and cheese casseroles as well.
Then there was the cookbook from a local synagogue from the 80s. It was fun in a way, but the recipes were all too familiar. Some of them are in my own family cookbook, and I've already made them. So that would be pointless.
The recipe I settled on was honey prune bread. It came from a USDA pamphlet from 1953 called "honey: some ways to use it." It's different, but not unappealing, and it requires few enough substitutions that I think I can get away with not telling my co-workers that it's inauthentic. I used Earth Balance where it calls for shortening, and soy milk where it calls for milk, but I think one can argue that Earth Balance is shortening and soy milk is milk. Oh, did you mean dairy milk? I thought you meant any kind of milk ...
I do eat honey, though that would also be easy to replace (with agave), so that left the two eggs. The substitution worked out well here, as I was able to make a multi-purpose addition. The recipe actually called for sour milk, which I assume means milk that has gone bad. Whoops, I poured mine down the drain last week! Just kidding, I would've been afraid to cook with the expired soy milk that I threw away, especially since it smelled horrible! What I did was, I added some vinegar to my non-soured soy milk. This not only made it taste sour, but the vinegar interacts with the baking powder and soda
in the dish to add more leavening. You know that science project kids do that involves making a volcano with baking soda and vinegar? That's why vegan baked goods occasionally have vinegar in them, to add puff. In this case, I got the desired sourness along with the leavening.
Another role that eggs serve is adding moisture, so I actually substituted silken tofu as well. When I veganize things on my own, I sometimes use two different egg substitutes, since I'm not sure which quality is needed: binding, moisture, or leavening.
Anyway, it worked out fine, and in addition to a loaf of bread for work I made a batch of muffins for myself.
They came out moist and fluffy. Success! I bet these would also be good with figs and/or dates instead of prunes.
Honey Prune Muffins
3 Tbsp Earth Balance1/3 cup honey
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup silken tofu
1 cup white flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup prunes
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 tsp lemon peel
Pour milk and vinegar into a cup and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350.
In blender, mix Earth Balance, honey, sugar, and tofu until well blended. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour through salt) and stir until thoroughly mixed. Chop the prunes and walnuts well (can do both together). Add the honey-tofu blend and the sour milk to the dry ingredients and stir lightly with wooden spoon until fairly well mixed. Add in the prunes, walnuts, and lemon peel and stir until mixed. The prunes will stick together, so it helps to add them in little clumps spread out over the dough, so you don't have to break them up.
Pour into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 24 minutes, or until well browned.
