Vegan Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls & Making Roots

Well hello there! It's been a while.

Last time we talked I might as well have been a different person for all of the changes that have happened in my life, big and little, internal and external. It’s next to impossible to summarize, so I’ll just tell you a bit about what’s going on currently.

It’s practically summer in Tangier these days, which means this is the month of events and wrap-ups. I just finished two separate dance performances, one that I choreographed and danced in and another where my lovely friend Natalia directed and we both danced. Now I’m preparing for a showcase of my dance classes that I teach throughout the academic year and once that is over I can finally start to look ahead and begin anew with summer adventures & projects.

I guess the major change in me since last fall is a sort of focusing- a honing in- on what is important to me and where that will most likely take me in my foreseeable future. As a freshly-turned 23 year old (am I though?) I’ve realized dance is more than just a passion- it’s truly my career and my life. I train harder, dig deeper and push myself more than I ever have in this field. 

I also have started to finally form some roots. Even though my freelance work and endlessly itching wanderlust will keep me traveling, the wonderfully weird city of Tangier, Morocco, is a place I can call home now without flinching. In fact, it feels good to say it. This is my home.

I tell people that 3 things happened successively when I came to Morocco about a year and a half ago. First, I fell in love with the country. Then I fell in love with my work. And then I fell in love with a Moroccan. He cinched it. Yep- I’m getting rooted in this city, and I’m happy about it.

The lovely news about all of my projects and performances wrapping up this month, is that now I have more time for simple pleasures. Reading, writing, yoga in the sun, and of course, baking. 

I go through these weird phases where I get obsessed with using yeast in everything I bake. It's usually when my stress levels are higher and I need to knead some dough to get it all out. Hence, yeasted cakes, yeasted rolls, yeasted everything. Let's stop saying yeast and just look at how delicious these are:

It's strawberry season here, so time to get crazy. These rolls are fluffy, sticky, finger-licking goodness. No excuse not to make them.

Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls (vegan)
makes about 8 rolls

Filling

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp water

1.5 tsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Dough

125g vegan margarine/earth balance

100g sugar

350g flour

5g yeast

160 ml lukewarm coconut milk

Icing

2 tbsp softened vegan margarine

3-4 tbsp coconut milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

Begin by mixing the yeast with 80 ml of lukewarm coconut milk until the yeast is dissolved. Whisk in 25g of the flour, then cover with a cloth and let sit somewhere warm to double in size and get frothy, for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, prepare the strawberry cinnamon filling by combining all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir and let simmer until the strawberries get mushy and a compote forms. Take off the heat and let chill in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Once the yeast is doubled, combine the remaining dough ingredients and knead until a sticky dough forms. If it is too dry, add a bit of water, one tablespoon at a time. Knead for about 5 minutes before transferring to a greased bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place for another 45 min-1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and roll out your dough into a large rectangle on a floured surface. Spread the strawberry filling evenly, leaving about a 2 cm border around the edges. Carefully roll the dough into a log and cut 8 slices, placing them in a greased baking pan. If any filling falls out during this delicate process, just use a spoon to tuck it back into the rolls once they are in the pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until they are risen and golden-brown on top.

While the rolls are cooling, prepare your icing by whisking together the margarine, 2 tbsp of coconut milk, powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla with an electric hand-mixer. Add more coconut milk a tablespoon at a time until it is a thick, dripping consistency.

Dollop the icing over the buns and serve warm. They are best eaten the same day, but they will last (if for some crazy reason you have extras) for another day or two in an airtight container.

~
I'm so happy to be back! Happy spring/early summer, everyone.

Vegan Coffee Crumble Cake

I had a friend from America who visited me in Tangier a while back. We were making plans with another friend of mine and while on the phone with him, I said "So are you still in the coffee?" My friend looked at me funny and said "Excuse me, what did you just say?"

"I asked if he was in the coffee- that's normal, right?"

Apparently I've forgotten how to speak english. Because here in Morocco, are you in the coffee is a perfectly acceptable way to ask if you are at a cafe.

And let me tell you- the cafe culture here is huge. Somedays, I wake up and leave my apartment around 9am and while walking past the cafe just next door, see an old man in his kandora with a glass of cafe au lait in front of him and a smoking cigarrette nestled in the ash tray. I go out, do my thing around the city, and coming back around 4 or 5pm, see the same man with what appears to be the same glass of coffee and the same cigarette, still burning at the same length.

At night, instead of overflowing bars and clubs, you'll find hundreds of chatty cafes filled with teens drinking cappuccinos, juices and hot chocolate. Sometimes on particularly social weekends, instead of bar-hopping like I would do in University, I find myself cafe-hopping to see different friends. I kind of love it.

Needless to say, I drink a lot more coffee here than I ever have in my life. And as if drinking loads of coffee wasn't enough, why not consume it in an edible form as well? This is not just coffee cake as in you-eat-it-with-a-cup-of-coffee cake. This is coffee-infused deliciousness.

Cinnamon Coffee Crumble Cake
vegan

makes 1 loaf cake

100 ml soy milk
150 ml strong coffee- cooled
60 ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
225g granulated sugar
210g flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 tbsp flour
50g brown sugar
30g cold vegan butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 180º C and grease a loaf pan. In a large bowl, mix together the soy milk, coffee, oil, vanilla, lemon juice and sugar. Sift in the remaining dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Don't over-stir! Pour the batter into your pan and stick in the oven- it will bake for about 30-40 minutes total or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Make the crumble topping as soon as you put the cake in, by combining all of the ingredients in a small bowl with your fingers. After the cake has been in the oven about 20 minutes, take it out, sprinkle the crumble on top and let it bake the remainder of the time. If you put the topping on right away, it will sink into the cake and, granted, still taste great, but won't look as pretty. Let the cake cool, slice, and enjoy with more coffee!

Triple Berry Crumble

What happened to summer? Usually it is the time when I stay at home and relax, pick up some restaurant shifts, chill with friends, ya know. But ooh no this summer was quite the beast.

Not only did I travel around Europe a bit, experience Ramadan in Tangier, and film an upcoming dance video, but I also visited this strange place called the USA for three weeks. Besides the fact that I almost forgot how to speak english and my frequent exclamations of "why is everything so big??" it was wonderful to be back and spend time with family and friends. 

I spent a week in Minneapolis, riding my bike as much as possible without my legs falling off and soaking up that bizarre, bittersweet nostalgia that comes with going home after a long time. Then my parents and I drove up to Montreal to see my brother in his amazing new life at the École National du Cirque. After a week of exploring and developing a huge crush on that city (blog post to come...), I flew to New York. Upon arrival, I felt like I was flailing around trying not to drown in a sea of people, so I promptly took a bus to Boston to escape the madness and see my cousin. 

That is where the food comes in. My cousin, her girlfriend and I visited the greatest farmers market where berries were cheaper than water. We bought boxes and boxes and the only thing left to do was bake with them. Voila, the triple berry crumble was created. And devoured. 

Triple Berry Crumble 

vegan

adapted from Baker's Royale

Filling

170g (6oz) raspberries

170g (6oz) blackberries

170g (6oz) strawberries, chopped

2 tbsp cornstarch

1/3 cup sugar

Crumble

150g spelt flour

3 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp chopped pecans

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

4 tbsp cold vegan butter substitute (I use earth balance) chopped into pieces

Start by making the filling- combine all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and stir over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Pour into an 8x8" pan (I used a weird 5x10" but both totally work) and let cool while you make the crumble. 

In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, then add the butter substitute either with your fingers or a pastry cutter. You want it to be clumpy and crumbly. Let it sit in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 200ºC. Once it is ready, sprinkle the crumble evenly over the fruit and bake for 25-30 min, or until the top is golden brown. Let cool and eat your heart out. 

Peach Pie Crumble Bars

Okay, I have no excuse anymore. It's deep summer. I am finished with work (for the most part). I am on a sort of vacation and suddenly I have this funny thing called free time. What do I do with myself for the next month?

Here's my plan so far:
-travel until I'm broke
-read more books
-bake things for friends and make them happy
-write for this blog again

Actually, I've already got the first one covered. I am currently in the midst of a two week trip to Rome, Istanbul and Barcelona. Travel stories and photos coming soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to give you guys a little sweet taste of what I've been cookin' up in my kitchen. These bars are like a summery explosion in your mouth. Nothing beats butter, sugar and fresh peaches. Make these, sit on the grass with bare feet, soak up some sun, and be happy.

Peach Pie Crumble Bars
(vegan option)
adapted from The Tart Tart

makes about 12 bars

Crust:
245g flour
75g rolled or instant oats 
110g sugar
40g brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
180g cold butter, cubed (or can easily substitute cold vegan margarine for vegan option)
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water

Filling:
1 kilo fresh peaches or nectarines, cut into small cubes
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp orang blossom water (optional)
juice of half of a lemon
85g brown sugar
15g cornstarch

Preheat your oven to 190ºC. Start by mixing all of your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the cold butter, using your fingers to combine until it reaches a sandy texture. Mix in the cornstarch and water and form 2/3 of the dough into a ball, placing in the fridge while you make the filling. The other 1/3 of the dough should stay crumbly, but you can put that in the fridge to chill out too.

Mix all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and stir well to coat the peaches completely. Set aside.

Take out your dough and press it into the bottom of a well-greased 9x9" pan. Spoon the peach filling evenly on top, and sprinkle with the remaining crumbly dough. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden brown. Let cool for about 15-20 minutes before cutting into bars.

Yes, I know it's hot and your oven will only make it hotter. These are worth it. Sorry not sorry.

Pineapple Almond Upside-Down Bars

So I thought that making gluten-free and vegan cakes would be the death of me. But in fact, after discovering rice flour and cheap almonds at my favorite little hanut, I've discovered that it's not too bad. It's actually kind of an adventure. And this particular adventure with pineapple and dates and buttery goodness was definitely a success. Upside-down cakes have always been one of my favorite things to make, but the dense consistency of this particular dessert makes it really more bar-like than cake-y. Whatever you call it, trust me when I say you'll want to eat the whole pan down to the last crumb in one sitting.

I teamed up with the lovely Valerie from Nuance & Bubbles for this recipe, combining flavors from her tropical Puerto Rican beaches and my Tangier coastline to create a delicious international fusion. Head on over to her blog for the whole post and the recipe!

More updates on life this weekend. For now, lots to do, lots to do.
Just keep dancin'

Oh, and you can follow Nuance & Bubbles on facebook, twitter, and instagram :)

xx

(Almost) Raw Chocolate Orange Torte

Last week I finally was able to wrangle a friend into teaching me Darija (the Moroccan dialect of Arabic) on a weekly basis, and you know what? I forgot how much fun it is to learn a new language. We will put aside the fact that I'm learning it from a cute young Moroccan guy with adorable broken english and just focus on the fact that language is amazing. New sentence structures, grammar, vocabulary- man, I should have been a linguistics major. Granted, every time I try to pronounce the Kh I sound like a cat coughing on it's own fur and when I try to do that throaty R I sound like one of the Muppets, but you know, it's a process. Practice makes... well, better.

It may be difficult, but I love that I'm figuring out that I can make these sounds with my mouth that I didn't even think were possible. It's like biting into a new and delicious and totally foreign piece of fruit with each new word. 

In fact, Darija is almost as delicious as this Almost Raw Chocolate Orange Torte. 

(Did you see what I did there?)

             

But seriously. This tri-layered torte is smooth, creamy, and just raw enough to sort of trick your brain into thinking this is really more of a health food than dessert so let me just eat one more sliver. Make it two.

(Almost) Raw Chocolate Orange Torte

Crust
150g almonds (we toasted them for extra flavor, but that's definitely not raw, so it's totally optional)
3 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp tahini or other nut butter
1 tbsp sweetener (we used dark brown sugar but you could also use maple syrup or raw honey)

Filling
200g raw cashews, soaked for 2-3 hours or overnight
150g medjool dates, soaked for 1-2 hours
150g vegan dark chocolate
1 tbsp orange zest

Ganache
100g vegan dark chocolate
3 tbsp soy or almond milk

Begin with the crust: line an 8" or 9" round pan with a piece of parchment paper. Pulse almonds in a food processor until ground into a meal. Add coconut oil, tahini and sweetener and mix with your fingers until it starts to stick together. Press into the bottom of the pan and stick in the fridge while you make the rest of the layers.

To prepare the filling, melt the chocolate in a double boiler and scoop it into your food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth & mousse-like. Spread the filling evenly on top of the crust and place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour.

In the meantime, make the ganache by melting the chocolate and soymilk together in your double boiler. Whisk until smooth and set in the fridge to cool until the rest of the torte is set. Once it's all ready, flip the torte & crust out of the pan onto a plate and pour the ganache over the top. Slice, serve & smile.

Striped Coconut Shortbread Jamprints

My days have been especially rich lately- full of friends visiting, showing them the sights and the craziness of life in Tangier, cooking, brainstorming for new projects, and as always, dancing through the mornings, evenings, and sometimes late into the night. Dance has consumed my life recently, in the most wonderful way. If my body doesn't move in some sort of creative or challenging fashion for more than 24 hours, I get all restless and antsy. 

The thing is, though, I don't do it for the performance. I dance and choreograph for the process. I love creating something original and watching it unfold and meld before your eyes. You feel the push and pull of it, and sometimes feel the push more than the pull when things aren't going so well, but it's amazing how things always come together when you least expect them too.

I think this fascination with process ties in with my love of cooking and baking. The quiet processes of rolling out dough, melting chocolate, folding batter, each one adds to the anticipation and surprise found in the final result. These cookies especially, in the way the dough only begins to stick together after repeated kneadings and squishings. The outcome is a crumbly shortbread cookie, lightly flavored with coconut oil and sweetened by chocolate and jam. Trust the process, relish the cookie. I made these for my dear dancers and they were a happy success. 

Striped Coconut Shortbread Jamprints

vegan & gluten-free 

adapted from Redpath Sugar

makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies

50g rice flour

100g gluten-free oat flour

2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

60g powdered sugar (we made it homemade)

3-4 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp vanilla soy or almond milk

50g dark chocolate

mixed fruit jam

Preheat your oven to 350º (175º C). Combine the flours, cornstarch, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Using your fingers, mix in 3 tbsp of coconut oil and the soy milk, kneading until it comes together in a sticky ball. If the dough is too crumbly, add the extra tbsp of coconut oil. It will take about 3-5 minutes of working it through your fingers for it to start sticking, so you know, don't lose hope. Form the dough into little balls and set them on a baking sheet, pressing down the centers with your thumb. Bake for about 10 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges. 

While the cookies cool completely, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Generously drizzle the chocolate over the cookies, let it harden for a a couple minutes, and finish up with a little scoop of fruit jelly plopped into each thumbprint center. 

Sunshine, Spice & Everything Nice

For the past 2 months, every time I chat with friends or family from Minnesota, they start the conversation with well it snowed another 6 inches today, no big deal. 
Sorry guys, but I gotta say I don't miss that at all. I got my fix of snow and a white Christmas while I was home for 3 weeks in December, but that was all I needed. 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Scones with Honey Coconut Cream

They stare at me while I
craaave yoou

This is the song I was singing to these scones the whole time I made them. What, you don't sing to your food? Psh, crazy talk. All the cool kids do it.

No-Bake Chocolate Truffle Tarts

Oof. Valentines Day is coming up and while it may not be a big deal in Tanger, the blogging world is filling up with red and pink and heart-shaped this and that. So I've decided now is a good time to confess my deep, deep love

for solo travel.

Here's the deal. I'm pretty young. And as much as some of these women here in Tangier would love to marry me off to a nice Moroccan man asap, I'm really in no rush to fall for any one person. The way I see it, you don't go searching for those kind of things. They usually catch you off guard. 

Sesame Orange Cookies

In the past couple days, 3 notably exciting things happened.

1. I taught my first dance class at the conservatory here. By the end, no one was crying and the women were smiling and sweating, so you know. Success.
2. I took my first ride in a Moroccan grand taxi. If you've been here you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, picture a can of sardines. Now picture a car of sardines. Now picture a small car of 7 people (driver included) who look like sardines in a can, smushed together for an hour on the way to Tetouan. It's an essential if not slightly uncomfortable experience.
Somehow I managed to squeeze my hands down to my purse, pull out my camera and take the following picture of the stunning mountains surrounding the city.

Garlic Greens & Golden Tahini Sauce

Well here I am. Back in this weird, wonderful city we call Tangér, Tanja, Tangier.

I can't believe that I almost forgot how much I love this place. In less than twenty minutes you can walk through the busy bustling medina, through the markets, through the maze of the Kasbah, and suddenly you walk through an archway and the portal takes you to out onto a stunning view of the bright blue sea, sailing beyond colorful patchwork rooftops.

Frosted Eggnog Cookies

*UPDATE: These cookies have been given a little make-over on my new website, www.rubyjosephine.com. 

Click here for the updated recipe!*

This is the season where I perpetually smell like flour, butter, sugar and spice. 

Do you smell cookies?

Yeah, that's just Ruby. 

The things is, I don't always love eggnog- I kind of feel like I'm slurping pudding out of a cup- but anything is better in cookie form. My family even said these were so good they might become a new holiday tradition, which is saying a lot because we take our Christmas traditions pretty seriously. Everything we do, down to the music we listen to, the ornaments we hang, the friends we see, the Christmas breakfast we make, we have been doing it all since before I can even remember. Christmas is my rock among the other crazy fluctuating things in life.