December Recipe: Soy Chef Appetizer & Dessert Winners
Ramp up your culinary game at holiday parties!
Try Cassidy Perry’s Spicy Black Soybean Tostadas
and Creighton Ward’s Soy Milk Cream Puff Flight
Cassidy and Creighton will make you a culinary star!
These chefs took home silver medals during the November Soy Chef competition in Little Rock.
You can add soybeans to your holiday table like these culinary students did.
What was the Soy Chef competition?
Students at the University of Arkansas PTC – Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute (CAHMI) were challenged during 2023 to create American dishes that they love using minimally processed soybeans.
Cassidy and Creighton took home top appetizer and dessert category honors!
Take a lesson from these student chefs and start using whole black soybeans, soy sprouts, soy milk, soy cream, and tofu in your recipes to maximize the nutritional profile of your dishes.
It was a joy to see these student chefs in action, creating their dishes in the UAPTC-CAHMI competitive kitchen.
You can learn from them as well!
If you haven’t done so already, check out the Soy Chef Virtual Field Trip video. Follow these winning chefs right into the kitchen during the competition.
Why eat whole soy foods?
There are some things you should know.
Learn from dietician Mandie Smith!
Good news! The future of food is local, sustainable, nutritious, and delicious.
Join me in celebrating the gifts of the season, including the work of Cassidy and Creighton!
Enjoy!
Cassidy Perry’s Spicy Black Soybean Tostadas
Getting Ready: This recipe brings fresh and tasty to your plate!
You can prepare your pickled red onion and soybean sprouts, soybean sauce, and guacamole the day before or earlier in the day and refrigerate until ready.
Step 1: Prepare Pickled Red Onion and Sprouts
Ingredients:
Small red onion
12 oz. soybean sprouts
4 oz. apple cider vinegar
6 oz. water
2 tbsp. honey
¼ tsp. cloves
⅛ tsp. pepper
⅛ tsp. salt
Directions:
Combine vinegar, water, honey, cloves, pepper, and salt in a pot.
Bring liquid mixture to a boil.
Cut onion into slices and mix with the sprouts.
Pour the liquid mixture over onions and sprouts and let sit.
Step 2: Prepare the special Soybean Sauce. SO easy!
Ingredients:
16 oz. cooked soybeans
14 oz. soy milk
2 tbsp. cilantro
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
Whole lime, juiced
½ tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. white pepper
Directions:
Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until creamy.
Step 3: Get the Guacamole Ready!
Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados
½ onion
2 Roma tomatoes
3 tbsp cilantro
1 jalapeno
2 garlic gloves
1 lime juiced
½ tsp. sea salt
Directions:
Add pitted and peeled avocados to bowl and mash.
Dice tomatoes and jalapeno.
Mince cilantro and garlic.
Add all ingredients and mix.
Step 4: Make the soybean and veggie topping.
Ingredients:
1 onion
6 green onions
4 garlic cloves
½ tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
16 oz. cooked black soybeans
1 jalapeno
8 oz. corn
½ red bell pepper
10 oz. cheddar cheese
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
16 oz. vegetable oil (for frying tortilla chips)
10 corn tortillas
Directions:
Place the onions, garlic, cumin, and chili powder in a food processor and chop until finely minced.
Add beans, jalapeno, corn, and bell pepper to mixture in processer, and mix and blend until these ingredients are rough chopped.
Add 2 tbsp. vegetable oil to a large skillet and heat on medium heat.
Add bean mixture and cook until soft and fragrant.
Remove from the skillet and keep warm.
Wipe out skillet and add the rest of the oil and heat.
Cut tortillas into quarters and fry. (Tortillas can also be baked in an air fryer or oven over high heat).
Remove tortillas from skillet and set aside to drain on parchment paper or paper towels.
Step 5: Assemble your Tostada Masterpiece!
Place a small dot (approx. 1 tsp) of soybean sauce onto a plate.
Place a tortilla chip on top of soybean sauce.
Place 1 TBSP of black soybean mixture onto each tortilla chip.
Garnish with guacamole and bean sprouts.
Yum on a chip!
Creighton Ward’s Soy Milk Cream Puff Flight
Pumpkin Pie, Dark Chocolate Cherry Pistachio, and Brown Butter Blueberry Cream Puffs.
This wonderful array of cream puffs will have everyone talking. Creighton stepped up her game during the competition by both piping in the filling the old-fashioned way, and cutting off the tops and filling, using the caps as part of the presentation. Very creative.
You get to choose which option you like the best or do all three like Creighton did!
PREPARE YOUR CREAM PUFFS
Getting ready: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place in the freezer.
Step 1: Make the Craquelin
Note: Craquelin is a dough-like cookie used to complement pastry items.
Craquelin Ingredients:
4 oz. butter, softened/at room temperature.
4 oz. brown sugar
6 oz. soy flour (made from milling and sifting whole soy beans, spice grinder can be used)
(Yes. Creighton really did this!)
Directions:
In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and sugar together, then add flour in parts of 3 and beat until it is the consistency of pie dough (with a paddle attachment).
Place dough on a table and press together.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place dough in freezer to chill while making the Pate a Choux.
Following the preparation of the Pate a Choux (Step 2 below), place the chilled dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out until it is very thin. (About the thickness of 3-5 sheets of paper)
Roll the chilled dough and cut into circles equal to or slightly smaller than the diameter of the Pate a Choux that you have piped onto the chilled parchment paper on the baking sheet. Keep Craquelin disk in freezer until ready to use.
Use the craquelin to top the Pate a Choux before baking.
Step 2: Make the Pate a Choux
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Soy Milk Pate a Choux Ingredients:
4 fl. oz. soy milk
4 fl. oz. wáter
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
5 oz. AP flour
3.5 oz. butter
5 eggs
Directions:
In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, salt, sugar, and butter and heat to a boil.
Once boiling, add in flour and cook till mixture coats the bottom of the pan.
Remove from heat and mix in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
Add in the eggs one at a time.
Pipe into desired shapes on parchment paper on a pre-chilled baking sheet, top with craquelin, and bake at 400° F for 10 minutes, then 325° F for 18 minutes.
NOTE: Bake the cream puffs until they feel “light.” If they feel heavy, they’re not ready. Super important to NOT open the oven door for the first 10 minutes of baking.
Step 3: Prepare your Pastry Cream, Cream Puff Fillings, and Toppings
Soy Milk Pastry Cream Ingredients:
2 cups soy milk
3.8 oz. sugar
90 grams egg yolk
1.25 oz. cornstarch
1 oz. butter
Directions:
In a saucepan, heat milk and half of the sugar to a boil.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolk, the rest of the sugar, cornstarch, and mix.
Temper the egg mixture with the boiling milk, then return to the heat and cook until thickened.
Put in a bowl over ice and fold in butter.
Let chill in the refrigerator.
Moving on to prepare your filling(s) and fill your cream puffs!
Option 1. Pumpkin Pie Cream Puff
Pumpkin Tofu Filling Ingredients:
2 oz. pumpkin puree
2 oz. silken tofu
1 oz. brown sugar
Clove, 1 pinch, (less than 1/8 tsp)
All Spice, 1 pinch, (less than 1/8 tsp)
Nutmeg, 1 pinch, (less than 1/8 tsp)
Directions:
In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix with a whisk.
Put into a piping bag and fill the cream puff, being careful not to overfill.
Option 2. Spiced Apple Cream Puff
Option 1. Spiced Apple Filling Ingredients:
½ cup apple filling
Cinnamon 1 pinch, (less than 1/8 tsp)
Nutmeg 1 pinch, (less than 1/8 tsp)
Clove 1 pinch, (less than 1/8 tsp)
All Spice 1 pinch, (less than 1/8 tsp)
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and fold with spatula.
Use a piping bag to fill cream, cut just the very top off the cooled cream puff to fill.
The top of the cream puff can be placed over the filled cream puff ready to garnish prior to serving.
Option 3. Caramel Cream Puff
The caramel sauce can be used on any cream puffs as a garnish as well as on the Caramel Pastry cream puff.
Caramel Sauce Ingredients:
½ cup sugar
3 oz. butter
¼ cup heavy cream, room temperature
Directions:
In a saucepan, dry caramelize the sugar.
Add in butter and stir until melted.
Add in room temperature heavy cream and stir.
Caramel Pastry Cream Filling Ingredients:
186 grams Soy Milk Pastry Cream
2 Tablespoons of Caramel
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and fold with spatula.
Put into a piping bag and fill the cream puff, being careful not to overfill.
OR, cut off the very top of a cooled cream puff and fill.
OPTION 4: Dark Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Cream Puff
Cherry Pastry Cream Ingredients:
186 grams soy milk pastry cream
2 Tablespoons of Cherry filling
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and fold with spatula and use to fill cream puff.
Cut just the top off each cream puff before filling.
Set cream puff top aside to use with garnish prior to serving.
Dark Chocolate Pistachio Ganache Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons dark chocolate
½ chopped Pistachios
Directions:
Melt the dark chocolate and combine with the pistachios.
Use immediately to coat the filled cream puff.
Option 5: Brown Butter Blueberry Cream Puff
Brown Butter Glaze Ingredients:
2 oz. butter
1 oz. soy milk
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup powdered sugar
Directions:
Brown the butter in a skillet.
Add the remaining ingredients, making a cornstarch slurry with the lemon juice and cornstarch.
Whisk to combine.
Cook until slightly thickened.
Set aside to use before serving.
Blueberry Pastry Cream Ingredients:
186 grams soy milk pastry cream
2 Tablespoons of Blueberry filling
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and fold with spatula and use to fill the cream puff.
Cut off the very top of each cooled cream puff and fill.
Step 5: Plate Your Cream Puffs!
Ginger Whipped Cream Ingredients:
250 grams heavy cream
25 grams powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ginger powder
Directions:
Combine all in a bowl and whisk till stiff peaks form.
Use to garnish the plate when cream puffs are all filled.
Caramel sauce and other glazes can be used as a garnish before serving.
Get ready to dazzle your friends and family!