Hannah Kaminsky has hit TV, Everyday Dish TV that is. This online vegan cooking show features demos from cookbook authors, bakers, and chefs, and Hannah was pleased to travel to Portland and become a part of it. She filmed the making of two recipes, but the Whoopie Pies is the first to be released. View the talented young baker at work in her Whoopie Pie web demo.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging for this announcement:
I’m coming to Portland! The so-called “vegan mecca” of the US, there are so many reasons to be excited about busting out of my little east coast home for a week to see another corner of the country. And, if anyone in the area is so inclined, you can see me! This weekend, Sunday the 29th at noon, I’ll be at Herbivore signing books, chatting it up, and most importantly, handing out free samples of some goodies from the book!
As if that isn’t enough exciting news, you might notice a new column in the July/August issue of VegNews just hitting shelves, by yours truly. Not only was I honored by being named one of the top 21 vegan blogs of the year (although I still have trouble believing it), but I also had the incredible opportunity to see my words in print for this wonderful magazine. Did you like it? Enjoy the recipes? Have suggestions for the next one?
Since my photos didn’t make it to print for some reason, here are my pictures of what the FroYo really looks like, in all of its meltingly delicious glory:
The vanilla base, straight out of the machine.
After being frozen a bit more solid and scooped.
The chocolate variation!
So, with all of that craziness said, I hope to either see you soon, or hear about your thoughts on the article (or both)!
Comment on this post at Hannah’s Blog, Bittersweet.
Among the hundreds of cookbooks on the market, Vegan.com selected My Sweet Vegan as one of the top ten vegan titles for 2008. When asked to share one of her favorite recipes for the Vegan.com top ten vegan recipes of 2008, Hannah selected the Root Beer Float Cupcakes from My Sweet Vegan. Hannah said, “People usually try this recipe out of curiosity, wondering if the cupcakes will actually taste like a root beer float … but once they take that first bite, their hooked!”
Root Beer Float Cupcakes
From My Sweet Vegan
Batter:
1 Cup Root Beer Soda
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
¾ Cup Granulated Sugar
⅓ Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Teaspoons Root Beer Extract
1⅓ Cups All-Purpose Flour
½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
¾ Teaspoon Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
Chocolate Ganache:
5 Ounces Dark Chocolate, Chopped
¼ Cup Plain Soymilk
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
Vanilla Frosting:
1 Cup Vegetable Shortening
3 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
2 Tablespoons Plain Soymilk
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a dozen muffin tins with cupcake papers.
In a large bowl, combine the soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes. Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously until slightly frothy. Integrate your extracts. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently introduce this dry mixture into your large bowl, being careful not to over mix. Distribute the batter evenly between the prepared tins, filling the cupcake liners approximately ¾ of the way to the top. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until evenly browned, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. After letting the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, remove them to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely before preparing the ganache. When the cupcakes are ready, combine all of the ingredients for the ganache in a microwave-safe container and microwave for about 60 seconds. Stir thoroughly to help incorporate the melting chocolate. If the chocolate is not yet entirely smooth, return the sauce to the microwave for 15 to 30 second intervals, stirring between each heating and watching carefully to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Drizzle the ganache in squiggles over the tops of the cupcakes. You will probably have plenty of leftover ganache, but I don’t see that as a particularly bad thing. Allow the ganache squiggles to fully cool and dry before preparing the frosting.
With your stand mixer, beat the shortening thoroughly, until creamed. Add in the confectioner’s sugar, and beat on a low speed, so as not to spray powder everywhere. Incorporate the soymilk and vanilla, and combine thoroughly, until the frosting is thick and creamy. Apply to your cupcakes and enjoy.
Yield: 12 Cupcakes
For her work on My Sweet Vegan, Hannah was recently interviewed and featured in the Stamford Advocate. Article by Moina Noor …
Think eggs, milk and butter are essential to scrumptious desserts? Hannah Kaminsky will try to convince you otherwise. Kaminsky, who is 19, recently published her first cookbook, “My Sweet Vegan,” which includes more than 70 recipes for goodies such as Root Beer Float Cupcake, Chai “Cheesecake” and Mocha Devastation Cake, for which she won a bake-off at the Dogwood Festival in Fairfield in 2006. (more…)
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Hannah Kaminsky will be interviewed on Vegan Radio. The show will air on Thursday, February 14, between noon and 1pm EST. If you are in the Northampton, MA area, tune in to 103.3FM. For out of area listeners, visit the station website www.valleyfreeradio.org for the web stream.
Following the show, a podcast of the interview will be available on www.veganradio.com.
Update: The show is now available here on Vegan Radio via podcast.
My Sweet Vegan was honored by a recent feature in the news for the Humane Society’s Factory Farming Campaign. The article is below, posts of the recipes to come in time for Valentine’s Day!
January 23, 2008 ~ My Sweet Vegan is full of delicious vegan dessert recipes.
“Nothing says Valentine’s Day more than chocolates and sweets. And Hannah Kaminsky knows something about desserts.
Her new cookbook, My Sweet Vegan: Passionate About Desserts, is winning the hearts of countless people who are falling in love with her amazing culinary creations.
What’s just as remarkable as Hannah’s desserts is the fact that she has achieved such success at only 18 years old.
Hannah also does her own photography, and each recipe is accompanied by a beautiful image so readers can anticipate what their dessert will look like.
She also maintains a popular blog, Bittersweet.
For treats to share with the sweetheart in your life this Valentine’s Day, Hannah offers her recipe for Cashew Crème Peart Tart and Strawberry Love Muffins, which she says are perfect for breakfast in bed.
Hannah Kaminsky whips up delicious vegan desserts in her kitchen.
From the Heart
When it comes to making compassionate food choices, Hannah says, “A love for animals is truly my primary motivation. It was unbearable to read about the cruelty that so many animals suffer.
I knew that if I could help others create delicious vegan foods to replace even a fraction of their traditional diets, the impact could be quite tremendous.”
And there’s a lot to love in My Sweet Vegan. When asked about people’s favorites, Hannah says that everyone adores the whoopie pies and that they are wonderful for sharing.
A personal favorite of hers is the green tea tiramisu, and she is also partial to the pumpkin pecan pie.”
After a recent feature in the Connecticut Post, Hannah had a reporter come to her house for an interview and dessert sampling for the Fairfield Weekly …
Hannah Kaminsky’s sweet veganism, Fairfield Weekly ~ By Starre Vartan
“Most 18-year olds are so busy crashing parties and figuring out where to go to college they can barely feed themselves, relying on chips-and-dip or a fast-food session before they fly off to school or work or wherever.
Hannah Kaminsky of Fairfield is different. She’s got a cookbook, My Sweet Vegan to her credit and a second on the way; this petite vegan spent much of high school in the kitchen instead of the mall, testing and refining recipes, creating vegan versions of classics and inventing new treats along the way. Anti-authoritarian views and a sweet tooth led her to creating her own desserts: “I hate other people telling me what to do and I can’t follow recipe directions, so I have to make my own.”
Hannah also creates crafts and takes pictures; her pursuits are detailed on her blog, Bittersweet (www.bittersweetblog.wordpress.com). It’s a fun, well-written site about the creative force that drives her, featuring posts about knitting, to sharing news of kitchen implements she’s discovered, or a new animal-free ingredient she’s trying out. There’s recipes, too.
It’s the recipes that got Hannah her book deal, which she worked on throughout her senior year and finished last summer before setting off to UMASS-Amherst.
Hannah was inspired by her vegetarian friends, who filled her in on animal-rights issues. First she went veggie, soon after began eating vegan, and hasn’t looked back since. And while she favors animal-free recipes and blogs, she reads about all kinds of cooking. “I subscribe to over 300 blogs, from Post-punk Kitchen to Have Cake Will Travel to the Fat Free Vegan,” she says. “I have a huge notebook and I’m always coming up with ideas. Sometimes I have dreams about recipes!”
These days, it’s not hard being a vegan baker, and Hannah uses all sorts of veg-based substitutions found in area supermarkets. “Eggs are the trickiest.” Apple cider vinegar gives moisture and lift to cakes and cupcakes. You can use bananas or apple sauce to add moisture. I like agave or maple syrup rather than honey.”
Some recipes required some real experimenting in the kitchen. “I sometimes have to try things four, five, or six times before I get it right,” she says. Visiting her family’s home in Fairfield recently, I enjoyed a top-secret treat: a vegan lemon meringue pie. She wouldn’t tell me how she created the light, usually egg-white based meringue topper, but the recipe will appear in her next book. In the vegan cooking world, it’s sure to create a stir, as this has been a sought-after, but heretofore hard-to-find recipe. As she writes in her book’s introduction: “It was unacceptable in my eyes to serve a good vegan pastry; it needed to be delicious by anybody’s standards.”
Hannah will be at Borders, 1499 Post Rd., Fairfield, on Feb. 2 from 2 to 4 p.m”
Hannah Kaminsky, author of My Sweet Vegan was visiting the Barnes & Noble in Westport, CT when a surprise camera crew from Channel 12 news arrived to do a story …
It is great to see the media so interested in the rising popularity of veganism!
To keep things current, we will be updating this blog with recipes from Hannah, plus news, events and reviews related to My Sweet Vegan and Hannah’s other upcoming books / projects. If you have any inquiries, questions on recipes, etc., feel free to contact Hannah.
