July 7, 2013

Carob Cupcakes

Posted by HI Cookery under 07 July | Tags: , , , , |
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Carob Cupcakes

Carob Cupcakes

July 7: Chocolate Day 

Carob is considered an alternative to chocolate. So out of curiosity, the skeptical chocoholics in us substituted cocoa for carob powder in a chocolate cupcake recipe. Everything looks like chocolate but the taste is…unique! Carob cupcakes bake up moist but are not as sweet or as heavy as regular chocolate cupcakes. Whenever we serve them for dessert, our guests sometimes cannot taste the difference. So carob cupcakes do turn out to be a sweet surprise! Try baking something deliciously different and use carob instead of cocoa flavor on Chocolate Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from Chatfield’s)

For the carob cupcakes

  • 1 ½ cups cake flour (see Notes)
  • ¼ cup carob powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 1 cup water

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cake flour, carob powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

 Carob Cupcakes

In a measuring cup or small bowl, mix together the lemon juice, vanilla, oil and water. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and blend well until smooth.

 Carob Cupcakes

Scoop batter into cupcake papers lining a muffin tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, testing for doneness. Remove from the oven and cool completely before frosting with the carob glaze.

Carob Cupcakes 

For the carob glaze frosting

  • 1 tablespoon carob powder
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon margarine
  • 2 tablespoons soy milk
  • ½ tablespoon corn syrup
  • 1/3 – ½ cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the carob powder, sugar, margarine, soy milk and corn syrup.

Carob Cupcakes 

Simmer over low heat. Then stir in the vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix well until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly until spreadable but not too liquidy. Frost the carob cupcakes and cool completely.     

Carob Cupcakes 

Notes

 

 

June 24, 2010

Honig-Johannisbrot Laib

Posted by HI Cookery under 06 June | Tags: , , , , |
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Honig-Johannisbrot Laib

(Loaf with St. John’s Bread

and Honey)

St. John's Bread

June 24: The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Islander sometimes gives up chocolate for Lent and substitutes carob in her recipes to satisfy her sweet tooth during the 40-day fasting period.

Curiously, carob powder or flour is referred to as St. John’s bread because the ground seed pods come from the honey locust tree. In the bible, Matthew 3:4 provides a description of the food that John the Baptist subsisted on while living in the wilderness: locusts and wild honey. But in Greek, the word for “locusts” may refer to carob pods instead of grasshoppers.

For our observance of the saint’s nativity, Islander baked a traditional German St. John’s bread called Honig-Johannisbrot Laib. While it looks a lot like a decadent chocolate dessert, this healthy carob loaf is naturally sweetened with honey—probably just the way St. John the Baptist would have liked it himself!

Recipe

(Adapted from Cooking with the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup honey
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup carob powder
  • 1 tablespoon orange rind, grated
  • 2 tablespoons carob powder (for dusting)

Directions

Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, stir the honey with sesame oil. Gradually add the flour mixture. Combine the egg with the water and beat lightly. Pour into the batter and mix. Add the carob powder  and blend until the batter has a smooth, deep chocolate color.

St. John's Bread

Add the orange rind and mix until the batter is well incorporated. Spread the batter into a generously-buttered loaf pan. Dust the top with two tablespoons of carob powder. Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for 70 minutes, testing for doneness. Remove from the oven, cool the bread completely on a wire rack, slice and serve.

St. John's Bread

Notes

  • Feast days of St. John the Baptist are on January 7 (Eastern Orthodox Synaxis of the Forerunner), June 24 (nativity) and August 29 (beheading).
  • Search our blog for other recipes posts using carob as an ingredient.