Ritz Cracker Knockoffs (dairy free)

Yes, I’m still trying to find something that a teething 7-month old can gnaw on. This time, instead of revisiting the graham cracker, I decided to explore other options… Ritz Crackers here I come.

The only real problem I have with Ritz Crackers is that when I read the title, I read “Ritz Carlton” and then it makes me really wish I were in San Francisco enjoying an amazing girls weekend with my sisters. Has it really been almost 5 years since our trip?  Man that was fun. If anyone has access to Ritz Carlton, Club Level accommodations (at a steep discount or FREE) let me know, I’ll see if I can take those off your hands for you. J

Ok, RITZ CRACKERS, back to RITZ CRACKERS – ugh! I’m too easily distracted.

I went with a recipe that was posted by Steph at The Cupcake Project because, according to her post, she has already done the work to find the homemade version of the recipe that tastes most like a Ritz. Since I would be making make adjustments for allergies I figured starting with something that was already close to the real thing would probably be a good idea.

These crackers don’t take forever to make and can be pulsed in a food processor to move the process along. They are flakey and crisp and have just the right amount of salt to compliment the flavor. Best part, my teething 7-month old ate them without choking. YAY. 

The downside…he may have still been allergic to something in the dough - Palm Shortening? Coconut oil? Baking powder? It’s hard to tell because we haven’t ever seen him completely relived of all symptoms. It appeared that maybe his eczema got a little worse after he ate the cracker. If anyone else is dealing with food allergies I’d gladly accept any insight as to why the ingredients may have caused a reaction.

Vegan Ritz Cracker Knockoffs

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Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

½  tsp salt

6 tbsp butter flavored palm shortening, chilled (or unsalted butter)

2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)

2/3 cup warm water

Topping (optional)

½ tsp salt

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, and 1/2 tsp of salt in the food processor.
3. Pulse to combine.
4. Add shortening and pulse to combine until dough looks like coarse sand.
5. Mix water with coconut oil, turn processor on low and add to dough. Process the dough until it begins to form a ball.
6. For a crispy cracker, roll dough out as thin as you can, 1/8-inch or thinner. 
7. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough out.  You can make them Ritz-shaped or any shape that you like. With a toothpick poke holes in the cracker so that they don’t puff when you bake them.
8. Bake the crackers on a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet for ten minutes or until the crackers just begin to brown.
9. TOPPING: While the crackers are baking, melt the remaining butter and mix in the remaining salt
10. As soon as you remove the crackers from the oven, brush them with the salty butter.
11. Let them cool on a wire rack then eat.

Source: Adapted from The Cupcake Project

Gwenevere

Fauxstess Cupcakes

Perhaps you’ve seen a cupcake like this before?

From the time I was small, I’ve been a big fan. Come to think of it, the original Hostess Cupcake may have been the start of my cake obsession. I really like cake, “good cake”, as the Barefoot Contessa would say.

I saw these little knock off cupcakes all over the web and I knew I wanted to try to make one. When I saw that Cook’s Country had a rendition all their own, I knew this would be the version I would try first. Their recipe did not disspoint. The cake is so tender and moist. I think I will actually start using it as my go to chocolate cake recipe (when my cake doesn’t have to be stacked or loaded with frosting – because I don’t know if this cake has the tensile strength to stand up to much frosting.)


The only problem I had with these cupcakes is that they looked like everyone elses. How do you make something so great, just different enough to add your own “signature”?


As I thought about how I could do this, a popular  poem kept coming to mind….

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Not that my version of these cupcakes have or will make any huge LIFE differences for me or anyone else for that matter but they certainly can represent the opportunity. No one can know for sure where our choices will take us but even if the choices seem insignificant, like changing the pattern of icing on a cake, they may just make all the difference. We’ll never know unless we take that road.

Fauxstess Cupcakes

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Makes 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

CUPCAKES

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup boiling water

1/3 cup cocoa powder (natural unsweetened)

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon instant espresso (optional)

¾ cup sugar

½ cup sour cream

½ cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FILLING

3 tablespoons water

¾ teaspoon unflavored gelatin

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups marshmallow crème

GLAZE

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

CUPCAKES

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and adjust oven rack to middle position. Grease and flour wells of 18 muffin cups or put in paper liners.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk water, cocoa, chocolate chips, and espresso (if using) in a large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Whisk in flour mixture until incorporated.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out with few dry crumbs attached, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool cupcakes in tin 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and cool completely before filling or frosting 

FILLING

1. Combine water and gelatin in large bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Microwave until mixture is bubbling around edges and gelatin dissolves, about 30 seconds. Stir in butter, vanilla, and salt until combined. Let mixture cool until just warm to touch, about 5 minutes, then whisk/stir in marshmallow cream until smooth; refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. (I let mine sit overnight and then when I was ready to put it into the cupcakes I just stirred it up to loosen it a bit.
2. Transfer 1/3 cup marshmallow mixture to pastry bag fitted with small plain tip; reserve remaining mixture for filling cupcakes.

ASSEMBLE CUPCAKES

1. Microwave chocolate and butter in small bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 30 seconds.
2. Cool glaze to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Hollow out a cone from top of each cupcake and fill cupcakes with 1 tablespoon filling each. Replace tops, frost with 2 teaspoons cooled glaze, and let sit 10 minutes.
3. Using pastry bag, pipe curlicues (or center road marks) across glazed cupcakes. Serve. (Cupcakes can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 2 days.)

Notes: Cooke’s Country advises to use the cone method to fill the cupcakes because the cake is so light. Piping the filling into the cake will compromise it’s stability and the cupcake will fall apart.

Source: Adapted from Cook’s Country: Chocolate Cream Cupcakes

Gwenevere