...Or so I hear! So I thought I'd put up my favorite carrot cake recipe:

Carrot Cake

3 Eggs

2 C sugar

1 1/4 C Vegetable Oil

3 C A.P. Flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 C grated carrots - about 2

(1 C chopped pecans)

1-20 oz. can crushed pineapple, well drained

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine eggs, sugar & oil in a large mixing bowl, beat well.  Combine dry ingredients, add to sugar mixture & beat well.  Stir in carrots, pecans, pineapple & vanilla.  Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour & 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10-15 minutes, remove from pan and let cool completely. 

I like to serve it as is, but you can dress it up with a glaze made from orange juice and powdered sugar if you'd like.

I haven't made this for ages.  I always considered this an easy everyday kind of cake because it doesn't have icing and there's no creaming any butter and sugar.  But, I also see ingredients that I try to avoid most days, vegetable oil, a.p. flour and sugar.  I should try to play with this recipe and make it more whole foods friendly - perhaps coconut oil, whole wheat and nut flours combined and honey? 

I got this recipe from the Fall 2008 issue of Cook's Illustrated.  This is what it says:

"Science: Dough Tenderizer

Pie dough gets its structure from gluten, long chains of protein that form when flour mixes with water.  But too much gluten will make pie dough tough.  That's why traditional pie doughs are so stingy with the water. We discovered that vodka lets you add more liquid (so the dough is easy to roll out) without toughening the crust.  Why?

Eighty-proof vodka consists of 60 percent water and 40 percent ethanol.  While gluten forms readily in water, it does not form in ethanol.  Thus, our recipe, which contains 4 tablespoons each of cold water and vodka, gets the benefits of 8 tablespoons of liquid (supple easy-to-roll dough) but actually has the equivalent of about 6 1/2 tablespoons of water- an amount that limits gluten formation and ensure tenderness.  As for the alcohol, it vaporizes in the oven."

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

2 Tbs. sugar

1 tsp. table salt

12 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" slices

1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces

1/4 cup cold vodka

1/4 cup cold water

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar and salt in food processor until combine, about two 1-second pulses.  Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there  should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around the processor blade.  Add remaining cup flour and pulse until the mixture is evenly distributed around the bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses.  Empty mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture.  With rubber spatual, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.  Divide dough into 2 even balls and flatten each into 4" disk.  Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Note: To me, this does have a slight alcohol taste after being baked. I don't fool with the processor, I just use my trusty pastry blender.  I'm not sure that you could completely substitute whole wheat flour for the white, completely, but you could try starting out with 1/2 & 1/2.  I know that white flour and shortening are unhealthy, but you are making PIE!

Here is the recipe that I use most of the time for pie crust.  It is wonderfully flaky.  I have been thinking that for all of the pies I plan to make for Thanksgiving, though that I will add a Tbs or two of vodka to make it less crumbly to roll out.

3 cups sifted ap flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup cold shortening

5-6 Tbs. ice water

Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening.  Sprinkle with ice water and lightly mix with pastry fork.  Gather with your hands into two balls and flatten and wrap and refrigerate.

Note: I have completely substituted butter with only a slight toughening of the crust (remember that butter has some whey still in it, the moisture content is higher than shortening).  I usually go with half butter and half shortening.

Both of these recipes are for two crusts. 

Don't forget to re-roll the leftovers, spread with butter, cinnamon sugar and roll up like cinnamon roll dough.  Slice thinly and bake for "snail cookies".  A tea time treat!