Gallette Update (aka Les échec épique)

As we are preparing for Sammys (vegan nugget) party in Cleveland, I thought I would pen a quick update to the Gallette veganization I have been attempting.  After going through and explaining the history and emotions brought forth by the almighty Gallette, I assumed it was merely a few quick modifications to the recipe, and I would be spending most of my time trying to tweak the taste.  Nothing could be further from the truth (can we say "Epic Failure"???).

Lets start with the base recipe:


Ingredients

• 2 cups butter
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 9 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

First, I halved this since I was experimenting.  I subbed Earth Balance for butter, but only 3/4 a cup.  I used Yogurt as well 1/4 cup.  I used Ener-G egg replacers in the equivalent of 4 eggs.  I ran these through the blender to get them good and fluffy.  So far so good.

I heated up the iron and got to work.  First few were sticky, but as I went on, it got a little better, but I still had to use a fork to pry off each one.  After tossing the first 6-8, I managed a small batch.  The cookies were marginal at best.

Second modification, I used 1 cup of Earth Balance (no yogurt) and added a bit more sugar.  I also doubled the vanilla.  This turned out miserably.  Every one burned to the iron, i tried high heat low heat, short time,.. everything. I greased the iron, but every time, I had to scrape off the burned remains.

After twittering and googling a bit, I decided to re-season the iron.  Note that this thing is 60+ years old, its an ancient beast,  but has been working fine.  So regardless, i cleaned the iron, wiped on canola oil on the business end, and baked it at 350 for an hour.  I did this in the evening, and then again in the morning.  By evening I was ready to try again.

Third time (the charm?) I took the batter from last night, and whipped in a little canola.  The iron had a nice surface that looked ready to rock.  It wasn't.  One after another after another. burned, scorched,.. I was planning to photo document this, but I was so pissed, and frustrated with airing the smoky house out, I never once went for the camera. It was all I could do to keep from tossing everything in the back yard.  I took about an hour off, chatted on twitter, and tried again on a different burner at greatly reduced temperatures, still no good.  The batter was not holding together, so it just cooked to the iron.  

I cleaned the iron one last time, dispatched the remaining batter to the insinkerator, and decided to regroup on the recipe.  I'm also trying a new seasoning method. More times, higher temp.  I was told to make it smoke, so thats what I will do.  The recipe? well something in there is not binding my cookie, I am inclined to ditch the Ener-G and try something new.  Batch 1 had moderate success, so maybe yogurt is the key... Things to think about.

Well, I have a few days to contemplate it, as we wont be back until the first, so for now I'll have to deal with this setback, and think about the recipe.  This is not over in the least. Just a minor setback.  I'm going to bet Grandpa ruined a few batches over the years, we just never got those sent to us :)

Stay tuned...................