Thai Chick-Un Pizza

I guess I'm on a peanut butter kick. After devouring the remainder of those peanut butter cookies, and most of a box of Tagalongs, I decided that the main course for tonight's dinner should be Thai pizza. Luckily, Ashley, author and baker extraordinaire of "eat me, delicious", has adapted recipes for some of my favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods. I'm so happy I could throw a parade. Instead, I'll just have to start cooking with profe more than once a week.

So, we set to work. As an asian-american cat, he always approves of asian food. And as an enlightened being, he enjoyed the irie coloring of the pizza.

I hope you like jammin' [while eating this yummy pizza] too.


Thai Chick-Un Pizza
Adapted from eat me, delicious who adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan

makes 8 large slices on a 14 inch pizza pan. Feeds about 5.

Peanut Sauce*

2/3 cup organic creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (I used Bragg's)
4 large cloves garlic, quartered
2 heaping tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
1/4 cup soy milk
(I might use coconut milk next time)
1 tsp agave nectar/syrup
(note: I would add maybe 1/4 - 1/2 c. of crushed red pepper next time because I just ended up dumping 3 tablespoons on my slice of pizza anyway)


1 14-16 inch whole wheat pizza shell for thin crust (see recipe below)
(my pizza pan is either 14 or 16 inches)

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
(I used canned)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
(I used precut pineapple from Trader Joe's refrigerated section)
3/4 cup snow peas, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
peanuts, chopped (garnish)
fresh cilantro leaves (garnish)

To prepare peanut sauce:
In a food processor, add peanut butter, ketchup, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, soy milk and agave nectar/syrup, and puree until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Prepare a pizza pan with 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and a sprinkle of flour (I used Kamut flour) the pizza pan. Roll or stretch the ball of dough to fit your pizza pan. (Note: for a short cut, I frequently use Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough. For thin crust on a 14-16 inch pan, use about half of the bag of dough. For thick crust use the whole bag)


Spread peanut sauce evenly on pizza crust. In a bowl, lightly flatten chickpeas with a large spoon (or in palm of your hand), and distribute evenly over sauce. Distribute bell pepper, pineapple and snow peas evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on crust thickness), sprinkling on green onions for last minute of cooking, until the crust is golden and toppings have heated through. Serve sprinkled with chopped peanuts and cilantro if desired.




















Pizza dough recipe from epicurious

Ingredients

1 cup (or more) warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup unbleached white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten*
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Preparation

Whisk 1 cup warm water and yeast in small bowl; let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. Using on/off turns, mix both flours, wheat gluten, and coarse salt in processor. Whisk 2 tablespoons oil into yeast mixture. With machine running, gradually add yeast mixture through feed tube of processor. Process until dough forms ball, adding more warm water by teaspoonfuls if dry, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to floured work surface; knead until dough comes together.

Brush large bowl with 1 tablespoon oil. Place dough in bowl; turn to coat. Cover bowl with kitchen towel. Let rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch dough down. Divide in half; form into 2 balls. DO AHEAD: Place each ball in separate resealable plastic bag. Chill up to 4 days or freeze up to 1 month. Let chilled dough stand 1 hour or frozen dough stand 4 hours at room temperature before rolling.

*The sauce tastes a little salty by itself, but it evens out nicely with the sweetness of the fresh pineapple and red bell pepper.

nom nom nom :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

This week, and honestly on a craving for eating peanut butter cookie dough, I decided to make peanut butter cookies. Since I came back from New York, Profe has been following me around nonstop and curling up in this circular pseudo-fetal position in my lap, on my bed, and burrowing into the blankets to snuggle with me on the couch. Drawing my inspiration from his warm, endearing, and cuddly shape, I decided to return to cookies as a comforting expression of our reciprocal love.

Also, in both weird and awesome news: I found my doppelgänger. We both write food blogs, prefer vegetarian food, particularly enjoy baking desserts, post pictures of our cats, have or are working on a bachelor's degree in psychology, and talk about how our food was received by our significant others and family in our posts.

Scrolling through her blog, I found the recipe for these cookies, adapted from Dana Treat, which she got from Baked (phew!). I actually stumbled upon "eat me, delicious" after googling the recipe for a lemon coconut cake, wishing to emulate the incredibly moist and delicious lemon cake a woman was sampling at the farmer's market yesterday. What I found was even more irresistible. These are certainly the best peanut butter cookies I've ever made, maybe the best that I've ever tasted, and oh man, they are incredibly addictive. Normally I can stop at a sliver of pie or a half a cookie, but I think I've eaten roughly about eleven cookies, not including delicious heaps of dough I ate, of course. I forlornly gaze every couple hours at the dwindling cookie supply, which is down to single digits in the jar. This recipe is amazing. Please try it for yourself and succumb to inevitable cookie overdose with me.

Recommended beverage: unsweetened soymilk and/or coffee with a dash of cinnamon. (Dipping the already soft peanut butter cookies in unsweetened soymilk is heavenly.)

Makes 30 large Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
(make sure you have really fine salt. I used fancy larger-clumped salt and as a result the first cookie I bit into was a little salty)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch pieces
(I used salted butter)
1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
(I used 1/4 cup of light brown and 1/4 cup of granulated)
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
(I used about 1 tbsp vanilla extract)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
(I always buy the peanut butter with the fewest possible ingredients. The peanut butter's label I use reads: "dry roasted organic peanuts, salt")

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. The mixture will look light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and peanut butter and beat until just incorporated.

Add half the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat baking mats.
(I didn't grease or line the baking sheet, used a very thin spatula to transfer the cookies to the wire racks, and had absolutely no problems)

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared sheets, at least 2 inches apart. With the palm of your hand, very gently press each cookie down so it forms a very tall disk shape. Do not press too hard and do not press it flat.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with granulated sugar (I eliminated this step) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time (I didn't do this either), until the tops of the cookies just begin to brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the individual cookies to the rack to cool completely (Ashley of "eat me, delicious" said "although they are delicious warm" and I completely agree: I always prefer freshly baked cookies).