I have been messing around trying to figure out a decent vegan vanilla wafer cookie to keep on hand for the off-spring. Can’t say I have mastered anyhting near a wafer but I didn’t happen upon a happy mistake that I would like to share because they are my new favorite cookie. I’m going to go ahead and call these January 10th Cookies because that is when I nailed my favorite version. They are sort of a weird vanilla/sugar/snicker doodle type of thing, probably been done but I am calling it my own since I followed no recipe, so there.
January 10th Cookies
preheat oven to 350˚F and line a cookie sheet with parchmant
makes about 24 cookies
2 cups flour (272g) (I used all-purpose, but plan on trying other flours as well)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ground ginger
2/3 cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup safflower oil (or any other light oil)
2 tsp molasses
1 tbls ground flax seed (I love this in cookies, it adds a chewiness however it is optional)
Brown sugar for sprinkling
(lovely gift from hubs up there, Nigella mixing bowls, so heavenly to hold and mix)
Mix dry in large bowl (minus flax if using). Mix wet (+flax if using) in medium bowl. Lightly fold wet into dry, don’t overdo it, a few lumps are good. Drop by the rounded tablespoon onto your cookie sheet and then sprinkle with brown sugar, or don’t, whatever.
These are good, really really good, like get them the hell out of my house good.
Pumpkin Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
makes about 3 dozen
2 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1 1/3 cup rolled oats
1 3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
generous 3/4 cup maple syrup
2/3 vegetable oil (I use safflower)
2 tbls molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT PIE MIX) or fresh cooked pureed strained over night
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbls ground flaxseed (optional but adds a nice adds chewiness)
1/2 - 1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 - 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Mix the flour, baking, soda, oats, salt and spices in a bowl. In a larger bowl mix the oil, syrup, pumpkin, molasses, flaxseeds (if using), and vanilla. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet in 3 batches until combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries.
Drop by the tablespoon onto your cookie sheets. These don’t spread much at all so you can put them fairly close to each other. You can smash them down some with a fork if you want a flatter cookie. Bake them for 16 minutes at 350˚F, if you are cooking both sheets at the same time rotate them top to bottom half way through. Remove and let the cookies cool for a minute on the cookie sheet then transfer them to a cooling rack.
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Unless my stats lie, there are more than 4 of you stopping by here. A nice hello would give me some much needed motivation to keep going! Don’t be shy….
It refuses to warm up here in the northwest but that isn’t stopping me from making ice tea and pasta salad, I sure as shit am not sharing with mother nature however, she gets NOTHING. I cracked open about 20 cookbooks today to see the different ideas for macaroni salad. Most of them I wouldn’t touch with a 40 foot fork, but I was able to piece meal one together that turned out really yummy. This is close to the one in Veganomicon but I nixed the radishes and sugar, plus they use way more vinegar and I am just not down with that.
10oz bag macaroni
few tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup Veganaise or regular Mayonnaise
1-3 tsp Agave nectar (go easy here to start, I only used 1 tsp because I don’t like things sweet) you can also use sugar but you will need more, maybe a tablespoon to start
2 carrots, shredded
1/2-1 cup fresh or thawed frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste
Start some water boiling. Meanwhile in a large bowl mix the vinegar, Veganaise, agave nectar. Add the carrots, peas and 1/4 tsp salt or to taste. Boil the macaroni until it’s tender and then drain and rinse until cool. Mix the macaroni in, cover and put in the refrigerator to chill. Mix it a few times while it’s in there so the dressing saturates everything evenly.
This is VERY light, not heavy like many macaroni salads. The flavors are subtle and I noticed I could even taste the pasta which is unlike most dressing dominated pasta salads, that was a huge plus for me. I could see this being good with some sort of simple dried fruit, like currants, in it too.
Now for dessert. I made these amazing cookies the other day, they are sin. I tried to veganize them by using apple sauce in place of the eggs, they tasted amazing but they spread a bit more than I would like so I need to adjust something. I am pretty sure it’s the fat (I used shortening) that makes cookies spread, so that might be the problem and not the apple sauce. I’ll try again and get back to you. Feel free to throw me any advice.
I felt that my thighs were not big enough tonight and sandwiched some Rice Dream in between two of these bad boys and ATE.IT.ALL. Yes I did thank you very much.
December 16, 2007 at 4:14 pm · Filed under Cookies, MP3
How about a Christmas MP3 to accompany your reading
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These are my favorite ginger cookies. I have a couple other ginger cookie recipes, but these are by far the yummiest. They are soft and chewy on the inside and just a bit crisp on the outside. Definitely a great cookie to make for friends, co-workers, the mailman, whoever. They are a snap to make.
Sparkly Ginger Cookies
(makes about 2 dozen)
4 tbls turbinado sugar (the Sugar in the Raw type, what you are going for here is course sugar)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup milk of your choice (mine being soy)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets, or line with parchment. Put the raw sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a separate large bowl, mix together the oil, molasses, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and combine well. Roll into 1 inch balls, flatten into 1 1/2 inch disks, press one side into the raw sugar and place the sugared side, up. place about 1 inch apart and bake 10 to 12 minutes, let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling racks.
Now then, just for you dear readers I wondered if I could make this recipe work with cookie cutters. The dough as is, is far too soft and would be very messy to work with.
I ended up rolling it flat between 2 pieces of parchment on a cutting board and throwing it in the freezer for about 15 minutes, just until it firmed up. That did the trick.
but after baking them you can see they spread quite a bit…
So it works, but personally I prefer the traditional round version.
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I want to give this product a plug…
It is the first of its kind I can’t smell or taste on my baked goods, I highly recommend it.
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One more plug. Linda and I caught a well needed break movie yesterday… No Country for Old Men
Seriously one of the best movies I have seen. I can’t stop thinking about it, I want to see it again. I figured I would love it to some degree seeing as the Coen Brothers directed it, they did not disappoint.
December 7, 2007 at 9:28 pm · Filed under Cookies, Random
They are full of refined sugar, butter, white flour and love. They won’t make you fat, if you don’t eat them, but you should make them anyway. They are simple to make, pretty and most importantly yummy.
Soft and Chewy Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
(the line-up, but I forgot the cinnamon)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
16 tbls unsalted butter, softened but still cool (if all you have is salted omit the salt)
1 cup (7oz) granulated sugar plus 1/2 cup for rolling dough
1 tbls brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 375˚F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or spray with nonstick spray. Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl.
Either by hand or with an electric mixer, cream the butter, the 1 cup granulated sugar, and the brown sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 mins, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg and vanilla; beat at the medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.
Place the 1/2 cup sugar and as much cinnamon as you like in a shallow bowl and mix. Fill a medium bowl with cold water. Dip your hands in the water and shake off the excess (this will prevent the dough from sticking to your hands and ensure the cinnamon sugar mix sticks to the balls). Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball then roll around in the cinnamon sugar mix and place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Using your butter wrapper, butter the bottom of a drinking glass and then dip into the cinnamon sugar. Flatten the dough balls with the bottom of the glass until they are about 3/4inch thick, dipping the glass in the sugar to ensure it doesn’t stick.
Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges and their centers are just set and very lightly colored, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets top to bottom half way through the cooking. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 3 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.
These are a simple and lovely cookie, perfect for someone on your holiday gift giving list for sure.
YUM
I had been eyeing the Maple Walnut Cookie recipe in VWaV for a long time. But it has nuts in it and that is just not something I want in cookies. I decided to try it sans nuts. I made the recipe per Isa’s directions and it turned out less than cookie dough-ish and more like runny soup. I double and triple checked the ingredients, I followed it correctly, who knows what happened. These would never hold up so I added oats and flour until I had a ‘cookie’ batter. Baked ‘em and decided they weren’t pretty enough so I made chocolate ganache to drizzle on them. These might just be my new favorite cookies, well almost, I can’t forget the coveted pumpkin cookies.
I much prefer grade B maple syrup, it is so much more pungent and flavorful than grade A. Lucky for me I can get grade B in bulk at my local market otherwise I’d be broke. What is with the cost of maple syrup?
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and now for something as sweet as maple, although they obviously still aren’t so sweet on each other
I was trying to figure out something fun (and not so hard on a head cold) to do yesterday with Owen. We ended up making chocolate chip cookies. Nothing like being snotty sick and making food to share…want to come over for cookies?
