Currently viewing the tag: "vegan cookies invade your cookie jar"
It’s a rare day that I have brown rice syrup, dark brown sugar, and a whole bunch of pecans lying around in the pantry. Combining their delicious forces, I whipped up VeganCookiesInvadeYourCookieJar‘s caramel pecan bars. I tried this recipe out before with great results. This time around I spread the buttery crust and sticky caramel into a longer pan, making thinner more brittle-ish bars. I also threw in some almonds that were laying around.
As you can see, I overcooked some of the caramel slightly. The darker caramel is right on border of a bitter burn. This, along with a sprinkling of sea salt, made these bars robust, savory and sweet.
Baked to perfection this time, this is my new favorite thing to do with Silken tofu. What else is there to do in a winter snow and thunder storm? [Never in my 33 years have I hear thunder and seen lightening during a snow storm.] Anyway, just look at them; golden blond like summer-kissed highlights. And they’re absolutely fantastic-tasting.
Wanting to use up my potatoes, I tried something like this. I mashed up the boiled Yukon gold beauties with some veggie stock, soy milk, nutritional yeast and assorted spices. Bam! That’s the bowl on the left. I steamed up some spinach and Brussels sprouts for some added texture. Pictured is the deep green of slightly over-steamed spinach.
Sausage (Tofurky) and some Vidalia onion saute in the pan. Vidalia onion is my favorite onion. That’s the protein… and more vegetables to add into the starch and greens. Do you want to know what I love about Tofurky sausage? I can eat it raw as I chop it in discs; I can eat it raw and not worry about tofurky worms.
Brussels. They’re probably my dessert-island vegetable. Oh my darling baby cabbage heads! I couldn’t find much on the interweb about ancient gods that worship their leafy bulb… so I will be the first. I want to say that I am highly suspicious of those who do not like Brussels sprouts but I wouldn’t want to insult my mom.
Here’s the finished dish, an easy transportable lunch for the week. With the above ingredients I mixed a wedge of vegan cheddar, Follow Your Heart, and broiled it for 7 minutes. Looks good, huh?
This week’s sweet treat is VCIYCJ‘s Call Me Blondies, which are like one huge moist delicious chocolate chip cookie. This recipe has been Post-it-ed since I got the cookbook. I think I never made ‘em because there was no picture next to the recipe to motivate me. I was foolish. I’ll admit it.
My 8×8 batch sunk a bit in the middle because I eagerly took them out of the oven and it was a bit too soon… maybe because I had been in the kitchen hours already… maybe because patience is something I struggle with… maybe I ought to use Blondies to analyze my personality.
Here they are. Prettier than most women but maybe not Blondie in her hey-day. And not cooler than one of my favorite film characters:
Snowflake time.
Christmas morning and Santa came!
Making quick use of the Electrician‘s new waffle maker and Williams Sonoma waffle tongs.
Christmas sugar cookies.
All dressed up.
Banana everything cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Santa came again at my folks’.
Pancake in her festive collar.
Strolling leisurely back to my apartment from the G train with none other than Ms. CandyPenny, we decided to turn around to check to see if Champ’s Family Bakery was any closer to opening its doors, offering Williamsburg its first all-vegan bakery. The last few times I had done a walk-by it was shackled up with no indication if they’d be honoring their loose opening date projection. As we walked towards its corner, past the old summer sidewalk Italian ladies, I noticed the fresh paint gleaming through the big windows… “It’s open!” I exclaimed with glee! CP and I were ecstatic to have stumbled upon Champ’s, which only opened its doors the day before.
The shiny new display cases were half empty but I reeled at the potential of their space in days to come, when they celebrate their grand opening this weekend. The treats they had were the standards: chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, pignoli cookies, berry and chocolate chip scones, hearty muffins, carrot cake cupcakes and a full-size carrot cake… plus rocky road. {I sound like Chunk listing off the flavors of ice cream.} I bought a jumbo rocky road cookie, elated to show my support for the new all-vegan spot. The counter gals were just as excited as I was as the small handful of eager customers drank it all in… It is safe to say that we were all food bloggers tracking vegan leads. CP noticed the Discerning Brute in attendance, confirmed by his thorough report posted yesterday.
The cookie was tasty, very similar to Isa’s rocky road base cookie in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Similarly, Champ’s cookie left an almond extract trail that lingered deliciously the whole walk home. It is unfortunate that vegan marshmallows don’t bake very well and transform into tacky and shiny wauds. They’re one of my favorite confections. I look forward to trying more treats from Champ’s as they broaden their offerings and veganize traditional bakery fare (danishes!) As an accomplished vegan baker in my own right/an outspoken guardian of the sanctity of vegan food for 10+ years, I say to Champ’s: Bring It On. Like you have in the world of sandwiches. I look forward to returning again and again and again…
This past weekend was the Electrician‘s Memorial Day barbecue. Although a meat-heavy grill event (I was the only vegetarian besides a veg-curious 11-year-old girl), care was taken that I’d need not settle for a less than full plate of scrumptious bbq fare. But of course! The vegan-only grill saw as much action as the one with the ribs, franks and burgers! There were vegan sides a-plenty including grilled papaya and cole slaw & potato salad made from scratch with this thankful vegan’s dietary restrictions in mind. Below: With ease and deliciousness, Tofurkey beer brats and Amy’s Texas Burgers (not pictured) get their stripes.
It’s the meat analog that provides the texture, that nostalgic barbecue bite. But I am a gal who loves to pile on the fixins and pile up the sides. Here, notice the piles on my brats: ketchup, spicy brown mustard and relish along with a delicious impromptu pico de gallo the Electrician whipped up on-the-fly in a show of sudden and decisive force. The yummy salsa included chopped watermelon (!) along with the tomato, onion and a vinegar & spice blend unique to the minute it was prepared. Also on the plate below, that made-from-scratch vegan potato salad and red cabbage slaw. Just wonderful!
Adding some dainty pink veganess to the party, I took care of desserts knowing I needed to represent on the side of sweet… and on the side of vegan. I pleased the curious majority with my mini-cupcakes! I opted to whip up VCTOTW‘s basic chocolate mini and pipe ‘em with pinked buttercream and a blueberry. They were a big hit and I know for sure I squashed some pre-concieved notions of vegan desserts. Success!
And I did not stop there! I also brought VCIYCJ‘s Rice Crispy Squares. Though the heat merged them into one rectangular treat, I collected several “mmm”s off these babies. I also made peanut butter blondies, also from VCIYCJ. I have been wanting to make these for quite some time, ever since I found out the Electrician was a fan of peanut butter treats.
A week and a half out of the classroom and I was a bit irked I had nothing to show for it in the refrigerator. Realizing the end of my free time was near I rose at the crack of dawn to beat the day mayors to the supermarket and maneuver my double-decker cart gracefully through empty aisles. Food shopping! I mapped out my needs and supplied myself with the goods for a loaf of bread, a sandwich stuffer and a sweet: three necessities for the week.
I decided on a whole wheat flax bread, using this recipe. Here is the pile of yeast within a blend of bread flour, whole wheat flour and vital wheat gluten, among other more viscous ingredients underneath. (Ok, I just wanted to say “viscous”.) Let’s also admire the ground flax seeds invading the yeast crater. I ground these up although the recipe was calling for whole flax seeds. I wanted to lessen the probability said seeds would hide under my lip, like they sometimes like to, only to cause embarrassment later. Does this happen to you? I eat a lot of flax.
I also made a batch of eggless “egg” salad for the week! I got the recipe from the first vegan cookbook I ever bought many moons ago: Easy Vegan Cooking. The book, by British author Leah Leneman, is out-of-print here in the states. I rarely use it. But with time enough to flip through a book languidly before bed, I found plenty recipes I’d like to tackle. Many of the adapted traditional British dishes strike me as a bit odd but worthy of experimentation, like creamy banana risotto, the Toad in the Hole (see Bone Shaker’s version here) and potato scones. The egg salad below was a super-easy concoction. I added some freshly ground black salt for some enhanced sulphuric eggyness and a boat-ton of one of my favorite garnishes–green onion.
Next up, the sweet for the week. Having most of what I needed for Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar‘s Cowboy cookies, besides the nuts and chocolate chips, I created my own nut-free version with chocolate bottoms. Since I didn’t flatten out my golf-sized dough balls, they baked a bit macaroon-shaped. With a mix of light, dark and granulated sugars, the cookies came out sublime. Sweet craving preemptively satisfied? Check.
And here is the best loaf of bread I have made thus far. I know, I know. I keep saying that! But cutting a warm slice of this soft and supple bread and smearing it with Earth Balance and my strawberry-mango jam, I was in heaven. Oh, the simple pleasures in life! Now if only I had a bread-slicing machine. I wouldn’t have to suffer through messily uneven jagged cuts that jeopardize the integrity of a sandwich… deliciously.
For friends who enjoy sweet vegan treats, Christmas stretches on and on for days. Below are my final gifts for giving, VCIYCJ‘s gorgeous caramel pecan bars…
And sweet coconut and cashew dark chocolate bars, a kind of mistake that turned out quite delicious.
The tower of sweetness, complete for Rocky Road cookie dividers, sat upon adorable mini-cast iron skillets and a bag of Sweet & Sara‘s mini marshmallows (not pictured), just in time for the hot cocoa season.
I had to be very selective about who received a holiday cookie care package this year. Next year, when I am through studying to be a master of the universe, you’ll all get them.
The chocolate chip cookie is a must in any cookie assortment. Using Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar‘s recipe I got delectable buttery cookies rivaling my favorite cho-cho chip recipe. They have a lighter texture which complemented the assortment greatly.
Also from VCIYCJ (okay, they’re all from VCIYCJ!) are the Rocky Roads. Thick, brownie-like batter gave way to chewy deliciousness, chock full of chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and chopped almonds.
Cranberry and white chocolate biscotti were the adults of the cookie family, perfect for coffee-tipping and practicing your Italian accent.
Yeah, the Lazy Samoas were out of this world. With a truck-ton of shredded coconut and coconut oil, these babies were a short cut to those well-loved Girl Scout cookies. I’d like to experiment further in the veganization to attain the layered texture of the original but he taste of these was spot-on.
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