Spring Awakening!!

To ring in Spring and all its lovelyness, I made sugar cookies and decorated them! Carrie bought the cookie cutters back a couple of weeks ago, and after days of not putting them to use, I finally did on Sunday. And it was Easter to boot!




I was especially excited because I think my puppy, Tilly, looks like a bunny. Her skin is pink and visible through her sweet white fur, so I love to call her my pink bunny. Tilly got her very own pink bunny cookie! She loooooved it! She will be 5 months in a couple weeks.




I used the sugar cookie and buttercream frosting recipes from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I added about 5 frozen strawberries to the buttercream to make it pink, and it also gave it an amazingly yummy strawberry taste! I compensated for the juicyness of the berries by adding a bit more powered sugar.



I had so much fun decorating the cookies! I even made initial cookies for a certain someone... Check back in a couple days for carrot cake cupcakes! Yummm! I love Spring!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

After I got my wisdom teeth out, I realized how lucky I am to have Carrie, my best friend/roommate, and J, a sweet and vivacious love. Carrie drove me to and from the appointment, bought me extra gauze and brought me flowers and a lovely card. J came over the first night, made me soup and kissed my swollen mouth, made me fruit salad and yogurt the second day, drove me to classes and gave me good company.

With all the love surrounding me, I couldn't help but want to give it back...And I thought what better way than cookies!! Especially vegan cookies, which in my opinion are 150 million times better than not. Of course I couldn't sample them before I delivered them to my fabulous friends, but I was assured that they were DELICIOUS. I am happy to report, I am all recovered, and I tried one last nite...They really were DELICIOUS!

Love and light.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
From The Joy of Vegan Baking


1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
Equivalent of 1 egg (I used flax seeds - 1 Tbsp ground flaxseeds with 3 Tbsp water mixed in blender or food processor)
1 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup natural peanut butter, smooth or crunchy (I used creamy)
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy butter (Earth Balance Whipped)
3 Tbsp non-dairy milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup non-dairy semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the over to 375 degrees. Line 3 cookie sheets with wax paper or use 3 non-stick cookie/baking sheets.
In a small bowl, combine the first three ingredients. Set aside. Grind the flaxseed and water in a blender/food processor until thick and creamy (looks almost like gelatin).
In a larger bowl combine all other ingredients except the chocolate chips. Beat at a medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended (I did it by hand...Good for those muscles!). Add the flaxseed/water mixture. Beat just until blended. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips, and mix just until blended.


Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with the tines of a fork.
Back for 10-12 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Do not overbake. Remove from oven, and let the cookies cool on the sheet for 3-5 minutes before removing to let cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

This one's for my brotha, Steve!

The recipe (in The Joy of Vegan Baking) calls these Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies, but I would call them ity bity pieces of divinity, and I think my older brother, Steve, would agree. I made them over winter holiday, and he couldn't stop eating them. I mean neither could I, but it always fills me with joy to see someone I love enjoying something I made.

This time instead of using the flaxseed/water combination in place of the eggs I used Bob's Red Mill Vegetarian Egg Replacer. I love vegan baking because it really made me understand how unnecessary it is to use eggs when baking delicious sweets. The replacements are not only a ethical alternative but they are also a much healthier alternative. Less cholesterol, less fat.

Adding cocoa powder gave the dough a dark chocolate color.



The chips tended to fall out of the dough a little bit, but it was all good. I just pushed them back in or made my balls of dough more compact.



The peppermint extract (although only about 1/2 teaspoon is added) really adds a wonderful flavor to these cookies. They were the perfect pre-Christmas dessert. I know my usually quiet brother loudly agreed!

Yummy, yummy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

As I said in my last post, I got the book The Joy of Vegan Baking over the holiday break (which I spent at home with my lovely family in Connecticut-my homestate!). I was eager to get baking right away!

The first thing I wanted to make were oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My roommate, Carrie, and I are obsessed with the ones from Laughing Planet, so I thought I put myself up to the challenge of trying to recreate those delicious, dream-about-them-at-night cookies. Only there was one problem...There was no such recipe in the book. I did, however, find a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies, so I just decided it would be okay to substitute the chocolate chips.

The recipe calls for a mixture of flaxseeds and water mixed in a blender as a replacement for the eggs. It's amazing that the consistency of the mixture ended up looking a lot like egg whites! I made sure to buy vegan chocolate chips, soy butter and vegan sugar on my trip to Whole Foods, which by the way is like heaven.



The dough was pretty standard. Perhaps a bit drier than normal, but I think that was mainly because of the oatmeal. Needless to say, I was still pretty nervous when putting the cookies onto the cookie sheets. I was planning to send them to a certain someone for the holidays, and I wanted him to eat the cookies and be like "Damn girl!"



The cookies turned out so yummy! They were a hearty treat with the chocolate adding that extra sweetness I know I need in my life. I could definitely taste the nutmeg and the cinnamon too! I don't know if a certain Oregonian was saying "Damn girl," but I think its safe to say, he was probably munchin with a smile on his face!