Dairy-free substitutes taste, look like real thing

Food & Moore

Carol Moore

LIFESTYLES

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Eggs are not dairy; dairy comes from cows and includes milk, cheese, cream, butter and buttermilk, as well as all components of milk, such as casein, whey, milk solids and lactose. Dairy-allergic individuals might also have problems with goat and sheep milk.

These foods also contain dairy: most margarine, most whipped topping, most non-dairy creamer, most chocolate and parchment paper.

Depending on the degree of intolerance, lactose intolerant individuals might want to avoid dairy products such as milk, cheese, butter and foods containing just lactose.

Also troublesome are those foods containing lactose derivatives such as: lactalbumin, lactoferrin, lactulose, and lactaglobulin. Some lactose individuals can tolerate yogurt, however.

The following foods are not dairy: cocoa butter, cream of coconut and lactylates.

Kosher labeling can be very helpful in finding foods that are dairy-free. Because kosher means you can't mix meat and dairy, kosher foods are certified as either dairy, meat or non-dairy. Here's a helpful tip for understanding kosher labels: dairy products have a "D" next to a kosher symbol.

Dairy-free products will have a kosher symbol, but no "D." They also may have the words "pareve" or "parve," which indicates clearly that the food is dairy-free.

A product made on dairy equipment might have a "DE" kosher label. Check with the manufacturer if you think this might be a problem.

Regardless of the kosher symbol, you should always double-check the ingredient list, as mistakes occasionally are made.

Some dairy-free substitutes taste, look and feel so much like their dairy counterparts, you shouldn't have to compromise that much in most cases. Good substitutes include:

- Butter: non-dairy unsalted stick margarine, such as Fleischmann's.

- Milk: non-dairy soymilk, ricemilk, water, juice, Rick's non-dairy creamer.

- Cream (not for whipping): Silk soy creamer, Coffeerich non-dairy creamer.

- Whipping cream: Rick's Richwhip.

- Sour cream: Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream.

- Cream cheese: Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese.

- Buttermilk: Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream, plus water and balsamic vinegar.

- Chocolate: your favorite non-dairy, such as Blommer (through choclat.com), Scharffenberger, Chocolate Emporium, Lindt (may contain traces of dairy).

When using dairy-free ingredients, you will find that margarine might work as an exact substitution for butter, but you might need to add oil - to flatten cookies, for example, or if brushed on pastry. You can add flavor by adding vanilla or toasted pecans. Baked goods may not brown as well, but substituting all-purpose flour for cake flour or changing position in the oven might help.

Here are some other tips for using dairy-free products:

- Soymilk works well, but doesn't taste good when reduced for long periods.

- Soy creamer doesn't reduce well, either, but non-dairy creamer can be cooked down. Neither one will thicken as fast as cream, so a thickener may need to be added.

- Richwhip whips like cream and should be stabilized like whipping cream, but it cannot be heated.

- Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream can be used as an exact substitution.

- Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese gets watery when beaten.

Here are some Dairy-Free Recipes for you to try, along with resource information.

Dairy-Free Chocolate Blintzes

Makes 24 blintzes

Cheese Filling:

1 1/2 lbs. soy cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. gluten-free vanilla

1/2 tsp. grated orange zest

To make the cheese filling, blend together the soy cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and orange zest.

24 Chocolate Crepes (recipe below)

3 tbsps. soy margarine, melted

Sliced strawberries

1/2 cup lightly toasted slivered almonds

To assemble the blintzes, preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Lightly butter the parchment paper.

Lay the crepes out on the counter. Fill each crepe with 2 tablespoons of the filling. Resist overfilling the crepes; they will puff while baking. Fold the opposite edges to the middle of the filling to create a pillow. Make sure that the filling is closed in tightly. Arrange the blintzes on the jelly roll pan, not touching but close together. Brush the tops with the melted margarine. Bake for 15 minutes or until puff. Serve 2 per person with some strawberries and a sprinkling of the almonds.

Chocolate Crepes

2 tbsps. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup soy flour

3 tbsps. sugar

Pinch of salt

3 eggs

1 1/3 cups milk

3 tbsps. vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter

Mix the dry ingredients together. Put the eggs and milk in a blender or food processor. Blend. Add the dry ingredients and blend again. Strain and refrigerate for 20 minutes. When ready to make crepes, whisk in the oil or melted butter.

Dairy-Free Banana Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups Basic Gluten-Free Mix

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp. gluten-free baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. xanthan gum

1/8 tsp. salt

2 bananas, peeled and mashed

1/2 cup gluten-free rice or soy milk

1/3 cup canola oil

2 egg whites

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 cup chopped lightly toasted walnuts

Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

Mix together the gluten-free mix, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, xanthan gum, and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients.

Whisk together the bananas, rice milk, oil, egg whites, and lemon juice. Pour into the well in the dry ingredients and stir until blended. Fold in the nuts. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes or until done.

Tiramisu (Dairy-Free)

Serves 6-8

Must be made 1 day ahead

Savoiardi (Ladyfingers):

3/4 cup sifted cake flour, spooned into a measuring cup

1/4 tsp. salt

3 large eggs, room temperature and separated (be sure all tools and bowls are grease-free)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

6 tbsps. sugar, divided

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Powdered sugar in a sifter

Filling:

2 tbsps. water

3 large pasteurized egg yolks, room temperature (*for regular eggs, directions follow)

1/2 cup sugar

8 oz. Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, room temperature

1/2 stick unsalted non-dairy margarine (such as Fleischmann's), room temperature

3/4 cup Richwhip, thawed

Soaking Syrup:

3/4 cup hot brewed coffee

2 tbsps. sugar

2 tbsps. non-dairy marsala wine, rum, Godiva or Kahlua liqueur

Topping:

1 oz. finely grated non-dairy semisweet chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with kosher parchment paper (such as Reynolds brand).

2. In a small bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Set aside. Place the egg yolks in a large mixer bowl. Beat on medium speed, adding 1/4 cup sugar gradually. When all of the sugar has been added, increase the speed to high and beat until the egg mixture forms a "ribbon." Beat in the vanilla. Sift the flour mixture into the egg yolks, but do not mix together.

3. Transfer the egg whites to a large, clean, grease-free mixer bowl. Add the cream of tartar and using clean, grease-free beaters, beat the egg whites until very foamy throughout. Gradually add the remaining sugar and then beat the whites just until they form soft peaks. Gently fold the eggs from the bottom of the bowl to the top. Continue to beat the eggs until stiff, but not dry. Stir 1/3 of the whites into the batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

4. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag with a 3/4-inch round tip. Pipe ladyfingers 3- 1/2 x 1-inch wide, leaving 1/2 inch between each ladyfinger.

5. Sift powdered sugar over the ladyfingers. Let them rest a few seconds and then sprinkle on more powdered sugar. Bake 4 minutes. Move the top cookie sheet to the lower rack and the lower cookie sheet to the top rack. Bake 4-6 minutes more until the ladyfingers are golden. Remove the sheets from the oven and slide the parchment paper onto cooling racks. Remove the ladyfingers from the parchment paper before they cool completely. The ladyfingers can be made 2 days ahead of assembly or can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost them before using.

6. Before making the filling, preheat the oven broiler. Place the ladyfingers on a cookie sheet, flat side up and broil them about 6 inches from the heat source, until the flat sides look toasted and firm (1-2 minutes). Set aside to cool.

7. For the filling: Boil 2-inches water in the bottom of a double boiler.

8. In a metal mixer bowl (preferably with a handle) or in the top of the double boiler, whisk the water and egg yolks. Gradually whisk in the sugar.

9. Set the bowl over the boiling water and whisk until the eggs reach 120-130 degrees or 49-54 degrees C - very warm, but not so hot they hurt your fingers. It will take only a minute or two. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat the mixture until it is room temperature and the egg mixture is pale and thick (5-8 minutes).

10. Place the cream cheese substitute and the margarine into a large bowl and blend the two together with a wooden spoon (Do not beat or the mixture will get watery).

11. Stir 1 cup of the egg mixture into the Tofutti mixture. Gently, whisk until smooth. Fold in the remainder of the eggs.

12. In a small bowl, beat the Richwhip on high speed until it forms moderately firm peaks. Fold into the egg mixture.

13. For the syrup, combine the hot coffee, sugar and marsala in a small bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

14. To assemble the tiramisu, dip half of the ladyfingers into the warm syrup, and place, flat side up, in an 8x8-inch square glass baking dish. The whole bottom of the pan should be covered. Spoon on half of the filling. Dip the remaining ladyfingers and place flat side down into the filling. Spoon on the remaining filling. Cover the pan with nonstick foil and refrigerate overnight. Before serving, sprinkle the top with grated chocolate. Cut the Tiramisu into portions and use a small, square spatula to remove them from the pan (the first piece may be difficult to remove).

Variations:

Individual tiramisu can be made in champagne glasses. Make several layers as directed above, but add grated chocolate on top of each layer of filling to delineate the layers.

Notes:

If you overbeat the egg whites so that they are stiff and dry, the cake will not rise properly. You'll know if you have over-beaten them because they'll ball up and look like little bits of Styrofoam when you try to fold them into your batter. If this happens, add another egg white into the beaten egg whites, and beat briefly to combine. Continue to fold the egg whites into the batter using all but 1/2 cup of them (to account for the extra egg white that you added).

For the ladyfingers, if you have trouble visualizing size, draw the shapes on the curled side of the parchment. Turn the parchment over so that when you start piping, you will not be piping onto the ink.

If you don't want to pipe out the ladyfingers, spoon the batter onto the parchment paper, shaping it with two regular, oblong soup spoons. These will be fatter than the ones that are piped but will work just fine.

If you are short on time, packaged ladyfingers may be used in place of homemade ones. They don't usually contain dairy, but be sure to check.

* For the filling, if using regular eggs, increase the water to 4 tablespoons. Whisk the water, 3 egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow metal bowl. Simmer 2-inches water in a skillet. Have a rubber scraper, instant-read thermometer, a timer and a large mixer bowl near the stove. Place the shallow bowl into the simmering water, and cook the egg mixture to 160 degrees F. (71 degrees C. 30-60 seconds), rapidly stirring with a rubber scraper and checking the temperature every 15 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a large mixer bowl and continue with the recipe.

Dairy-free Resources

Books:

"Amazing Dairy-free Desserts," Penny Wantuck Eisenberg - more information on ingredients and where to find them and recipes for everything from dairy-free ice cream, cheesecakes and custards to cakes and pastry. www.pennyeisenberg.com.

"Dairy-free Made Easy: Thousands of Foods, Hundreds of Tips, and Dozens of Recipes for Non-dairy Living," Alisa Marie Fleming - stay clear of the recipes, but use the great information on eating dairy-free, and the huge list of dairy-free foods, www.godairyfree.com.

Organizations

Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network - a wonderful nonprofit that can provide you with up-to-date information on dairy-free eating. They also issue mail and email warnings when the status of a food changes (each kosher certifying agency will also do this). www.foodallergy.org.

Web Sites:

www.pennyeisenberg.com - recipes, links and tips

www.godairyfree.com - everything you want to know about dairy-free

www.foodallergy.com - the Web site of FAAN (see above)

www.ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stevecarper - Steve Carpers Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse - lots of great material and links to lactose-free information

www.shopdairyfree.com

www.choclat.com - excellent chocolate, both bar and chips

www.enjoyLifefoods.com - for dairy-free mini-chips

www.scharffenberger.com - excellent unsweetened and bar chocolate

www.tofutti.com - to locate stores that sell Tofutti products