Fall In Love with Cooking Again and Again

March 8, 2024


I love pots and pans. No; let me correct that. I adore pots and pans. My husband gets more anxious when I walk into a kitchen store than into a jewelry store.

And I especially love great, well-made cookware that is, simply stated, gorgeous. I have cooked with all of the big brands, all with great and well-deserved reputations for craftsmanship and quality of cooking.

I have lusted (yes, lusted) after Mauviel from the first moment my eye caught the gleam of their copper cookware. The designs, the swoop of the graceful handles (designed for comfort in your hand), the variety of sizes; the comfortable weight of each piece was simply perfection in my mind.

Cooking with Mauviel has been orgasmic (sorry if this offends, but each time I use these pans, it’s transcendent for me…truly). They’re gorgeous and cook like nothing else I have every used in my fifty years of cooking, professionally and at home.

Cooking is my life. The kitchen is where I feel most myself; it’s where I express myself most creatively. I grew up moving between the worlds of art and cooking. In both these realms, I was able to put myself out into the world in a vulnerable state, asking the world to accept my art…or my food.

As a result, I see cooking as an art form. So in order to express myself well in the medium of food, I need gorgeous tools, from wooden spoons to cutting boards…to my cookware.

One of the pieces Mauviel sent me to use was a set of canele molds, adorable little copper fluted molds with stainless interiors. Now, canele are made from butter, eggs, rum and a bit of flour to create their unique crunchy exterior and custard-like interior. I thought, now what? As a vegan of forty years, I decided to come up with a recipe that would honor the tradition of these richly flavored pastries from Bordeaux.

And I did…first try. My canele molds are well-used now and I serve them with pride.

But more than gorgeous, what has me smitten with Mauviel is how it cooks. Sure, a pan or skillet can be pretty and look lovely on your stove, but when a gorgeously designed pan can cook with even heat, marrying performance with beauty. Now we’re cooking.

With a wide range of more than 1000 products that appeal to the professional and home chef, there’s no cooking challenge you can’t face and no meal that won’t be masterful. From copper to stainless to aluminum, there seems to be a pan for every recipe.

Vegan Canele

Makes 4 canele

205 grams oat milk

100 grams coconut sugar

15 grams vegan butter substitute (plus more for the molds)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon orange extract

65 grams sprouted whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer

Pinch sea salt

Mix together oat milk, coconut sugar and vegan butter and place over medium low heat. Cook until the butter melts. Turn off heat and stir in vanilla and orange extracts.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, egg replacer and salt.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, whisking to create a smooth batter. Cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours or more. When ready to make canele, bring the batter to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F and place canele molds on a baking sheet.

Melt about a tablespoon of vegan butter in a small pan. Pour into the copper molds and with a brush, make sure the molds are well coated. You may see a bit of butter pool at the bottom of the mold. That is ok.

Whisk the batter to loosen it and pour evenly into the molds to fill to ¾ full.

Bake at 475 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 55 minutes.

Remove the canele from the oven and carefully invert them onto a cooling rack while hot.

As they cool, they will form a crisp outer shell and maintain an almost custard-like interior.

Cook’s Tip: If you hold the canele until the next day, you can recreate the crisp exterior by simply placing them in the molds and baking for 5 minutes at 475 degrees.