Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!

My lovely aunt from Vegas is in town and tonight we got together and made these yummy cookies. These are from "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar". Great book with so many varieties of vegan cookies!

Oatmeal Walnut and Date Cookies

I wanted cookies today so I made these yummy cookies out of stuff I had in my pantry. I used spelt instead of all purpose flour and used olive oil instead of safflower. They were so easy to throw together and came out really delicious! I can see myself making these again real soon. Recipe is from Alicia Silverstone's book "The Kind Diet". You can find the recipe link here.

Avocado Sandwich & Xmas Cookies

Avocado, tomato and Daiya cheese sandwich. Been living on these sandwiches the past few days. We got several giant avocados that had to be eaten asap! They were delicious.


I made these cookies for christmas: chocolate chip, white chocolate and rainbow chip plus pumpkin oatmeal raisin. 


My boss made me these cute christmas tree cookies that were creatively dyed green with liquid chlorophyll! They were so soft and sweet. There were more but I ate most of them on the way home from work yesterday!


We spent xmas eve with our dear friends/neighbors and watched National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. My omnivore neighbor surprised me by making these vegan chocolate chip mint cookies! She went all the way and used spelt flour, agave syrup and grain sweetened chocolate chips. They were gorgeous and so yummy!


Dozen after dozen, I saw these come out of the oven. They are so beautiful.


Here's my neighbor holding up a plate of her first ever vegan homemade cookies! I was so touched that she made these for me. She said vegan baking was easy! :)

Hurrah for Vegan Biscotti!

I think I must be dreaming. I haven't had a biscotti in a million years it seems! When I went vegan, I pretty much said goodbye to these sweet cripsy italian cookies that I loved having with a coffee. The biscotti that you can buy at your local coffee shop or specialty store were off limits because of the ingredient list which traditionally contains eggs. Today I was craving biscotti and after shopping at Whole Foods and ogling the pretty holiday biscotti packages, I decided that I would make my own today. I knew there were a couple recipes in Veganomicon so I hurried home and got to work. I used the 'Almond Anise Biscotti' recipe but omitted the anise as I didn't have any. I also ran out of canola oil so I subbed olive oil with no problems. And instead of whole almonds, I used slivered almonds, mmm! The egg replacement in the recipe was ground flax seed that was whisked with soymilk. They did the trick and in about an hour, I had beautiful golden crunchy biscotti!




They were so heavenly dunked in coffee.

Beautiful Beautiful Cookies.

Oh, these are just so beautiful and heavenly. I'm going to a family wedding tomorrow and planned to bring some food and dessert to the reception. I decided on a recipe for Ma'amoul B'Jowz from 'The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook'. As much as I love middle eastern food, I am not an expert and the last time I checked, Ma'amoul were described as shortbread cookies filled with dates or nuts and made with semolina flour. The recipe that I used did not require semolina, only white flour and the nut filling was not encased in the dough but rather filled partially and not covered on the top. So I can't say how authentic this recipe is. If someone knows, please let me know!

Authenticity aside, I have to say these cookies are absolutely gorgeous. They are soft and buttery (I used Earth Balance margarine instead of butter), slightly sweet and scented/flavored with orange blossom water. The walnut/sugar/cinnamon filling makes them all the more perfect. I really hope the wedding guests like them.


I hope I made them as pretty as they are pictured in the cookbook.




I have a Ma'amoul mold so I tried making a few with it. I need to practice as these weren't as pretty. And I think I need to fill them more as you can see there is not much filling inside when I cut it open.

Potlucky.

Foods that I slaved away to make but had much fun doing it. I was lucky that it all came out great! Hope everyone enjoys them at the party.


Spanakopita from 'Vegan with a Vengeance'. These were quite challenging to make. I was originally going to make a large pie but thought that individual servings would do better at a party. They came out really cute and have been taste tested by my husband. He gives them two thumbs up. (The party has not yet started and I saw him sneak another one and steal away to his room!)


Prospect Park Potato Salad from 'Veganomicon'. I've made this several times and it's always a hit.


Beautiful bean salad (kidney, white, fava) seasoned with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley.


Isa's famous chocolate chip but with added mocha chips. Yay!

I also made fresh salsa and hummus which came out fabulously as well.

Casserole and Cookies.

Creamy Chickpea Tahini Casserole (the famous recipezaar recipe) with spinach and olives. I love this to bits.


Isa's recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I added coffee flavored chips to mine. The best cookies ever. These were gobbled up in record time!

$5 Footlong and Cake Mix Cookies!

When you're lazy and don't want to cook or spend a ton of money on lunch, take advantage of the $5 sandwich deal at Subway. If you're a vegan, you can easily get a mouthwatering "Veggie Delite" sub stuffed with every vegetable they offer. Make sure you get white italian bread as it's the only bread that's vegan. Also skip the cheese and mayo. Mine has lettuce, tomato, red onions, olives, green peppers, cucumber, spinach, avocado, pepperoncini, jalapenos, mustard and oil and vinegar. I ate half of this for lunch and will have the other half for dinner.

Ok, get ready for a junk food alert! If you're in the mood for quick junk-foody cookies, look no further than a box of Duncan Hines cake mix. I got the idea and recipe for these cookies from Vegan Guinea Pig.


The plain ones on the left were my first batch. They were dropped by rounded TB on a cookies sheet and baked up kind of puffy looking. The frosted ones were rolled in a ball and flattened between my palms and baked up more cookie-like. The frosting is Duncan Hines Chocolate Fudge. As sweet and cute as these cookies are, I will most likely stick to homemade "from-scratch" cookies next time as they are not full of processed ingredients as these are. But if you want a quick sugar fix and all you have in your pantry is a box of cake mix, give them a try!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's 65th birthday and tomorrow we are throwing her a big bash to celebrate. She personally requested cookies: white chocolate macadamia nut cookies to be precise. I followed Isa's chocolate chip recipe and used dairy free white chocolate chips and delicious macadamias. I also made chocolate/white chocolate as well for those of us that prefer real chocolate. I also made birthday cake for her. It's banana cake (her favorite) with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream in the center and then frosted with vanilla buttercream all over. I'll try to get a pic of the insides tomorrow.

Sharing the vegan love...

Over the holidays I was able to get in touch with lots of family, one of who is N. my dear cousin on my father's side. She is very much interested in healthy eating and asked me questions about vegan cooking and eating. I gave her some recipes to try and gave her my blog info. As of a few days ago, she has completely surprised me by deciding not to eat meat and has become very excited about vegetarian cooking! I am super proud of her and I can't wait to share with her more recipes and the joys of being meat free. You know, when I tell people about my choice and how good it feels, a lot of them seem interested in trying it. And if just one person tries going meatless at least once a week that is amazing enough for me! But for my cousin to really go for it, I just can't tell you how happy and proud I am!

We've been emailing back and forth and this morning she emailed me some pictures of what she's been cooking up. These look absolutely fantastic!


First up: Thai Green Curry with Bamboo Shoots, Tofu and Yams. Heaven! She based this curry off of my recipe here.


Served over what we call in Thai "Kanom Jean" which translates as literally "Chinese Dessert", hehe. It's not a dessert but a very delicate and thin noodle.


What looks like a delicious bean salad. I have to ask her more about this. It's calling my name!


Me thinks these are Isa's chocolate chip cookies! I shared this recipe with my whole family at christmas. Yum yum...

Can't wait to see more of her cooking!

Cookie Time: Holiday Baking Part 1

I have a big family bash on the 25th and instead of presents this year I am gifting my relatives with vegan baked deliciousness. Today I baked dozen after dozen of cookies. I've 3 kinds and they are all decadently yummy...


Sparkled Ginger Cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance. Oh my word, these are good. Kind of crispy and chewy with that spiciness that is oh so right.


Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Walnut from Vegan with a Vengeance. These are the perfect fall cookie. They bake up soft and tender with the most amazing aroma as you bake them.


Isa's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Perfection, perfection. When I want chocolate chip cookies with a tall glass of soymilk, I will go for these.


And all together.

Tomorrow: Cake!

Pesto on Pizza and Baked Goodies.

Everytime I order a pizza delivery, I always always make a pesto sauce to dollop on top. It's so yummy and will probably always be the way I eat delivery pizza forever. Husband called me up from work and suggested pizzas for dinner. I said yes but then thought "Oh no! I have nothing to make pesto with!" No basil, no spinach... So I got creative with some edamame and cilantro. The result was lovely. I think this sauce will go really well with pasta.


Edamame Cilantro Lime Pesto

1/2 cup cooked edamame, shelled
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup walnuts
handful of cilantro leaves
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup olive oil or more
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process to desired consistency. Add more olive oil or water if you want a thinner pesto.


Tomorrow we are visiting some friends who we haven't seen for a while and I wanted to bring something for them for the holidays. I made Isa's Mocha Chip Muffins (but made them into a loaf) and also her Chocolate Chip Cookies. I haven't tried either of them yet as they are gifts but they are so beautiful. Check it out!





EDIT: I just sampled one of the cookies. OMG! Heaven....

VeganMoFo: Cookies on a Sunday.

I have the house to myself again and the last time I was alone I made pumpkin cookies. Today I made these lovely cookies with almonds. They are really moist, "buttery" and chewy.

I was inspired by an almond cookie recipe here and made some modifications.

Sugar Cookies with Almonds and Chocolate Drizzle

1-1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup soft Earth Balance margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (you can probably use almond extract here for more almond flavor but I ran out!)
2-3 TB (or more) soymilk
chopped almonds

Chocolate drizzle:
1/3 cup chocolate chips, 3 TB soymilk

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine flour, margarine, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the soymilk a TB at a time and stir with a spoon until the dough starts coming together. It should be fairly moist but not runny. Once it starts coming together, I ditch the spoon and use my hands to thoroughly combine the ingredients to make a soft moist dough. If you feel it's too dry you can add a bit more soymilk. Take a teaspoon full of dough and roll into a ball with your hands and then flatten with your palm. Keep in mind that whatever size they are when you flatten them will be pretty much the size you'll get after baking. Dip top side into chopped almonds and lay on greased baking sheet. Do this with the rest of the dough. You'll get about 14 cookies. Bake for 12 minutes and let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet before removing. While the cookies cool, make the chocolate by microwaving the soymilk for 1 minute, then adding the chocolate chips and stirring until it all melts. Let the chocolate cool for about 10 minutes. After the cookies are completely cool, drizzle with chocolate.

Vegan MoFo: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies and Cardamom Coffee

Fall is here and pumpkins are to be seen everywhere. I have not yet shopped for any pumpkins to cook with but I did have some canned pure pumpkin that I wanted to make a dessert with. I found this cookie recipe at the PPK. I had all of the ingredients (except walnuts and raisins) so I decided to spend my solitary Sunday (husband was at a friend's watching football) baking these delicious treats. Wow, the smells coming out of the oven were heavenly. It reminded me that Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner. Yay!

I enjoyed my soft and tender cookies with a very aromatic cardamom flavored coffee by Cafe Najjar. I bought this coffee from lebanesefoodmarket.com. They have a great assortment of lebanese groceries and cookware. I bought a Ma'amoul mold there too which I haven't used yet. (To be seen in a future blog post!) I love this coffee. It's fairly strong and has a gorgeous cardamom fragrance and flavor. If you don't want to buy this, you can probably put a few teaspoons of cardamom into the coffee filter along with your regular ground coffee to give it flavor. I've done that with cinnamon before and it worked well so I can't imagine why cardamom wouldn't. In any case, coffee and cookies are a great combo no matter what flavors they are!

VeganMoFo: Tea For Two

Had a good friend over yesterday for tea. I love tea parties. I don't care if it's for two or twelve, I really enjoy preparing tiny sandwiches and treats to share. Along with a pot of black tea, little sandwiches were in order. I made two delicious standbys: joni's tofu egg salad finger sandwiches and open face cucumber/cream cheese. I used Tofutti brand non-dairy cream cheese. I love this stuff. My friend loved the tofu egg salad. If you like egg salad, this tastes very similar. My friend bit into one and said "Oh my god, this is good!". She suggested that curry powder and sultanas would be good additions. That sounds so good to me. Will try it next time.



I also made tartines, which are baguette slices covered with some kind of spread or different layers of ingredients. I made these with cream cheese, sliced cucumber and balsamic tomatoes with basil.



And for dessert we had leftover birthday cake and cookies. My friend made these beautiful vegan cookies. On the left are Anzac biscuits which were so amazing. I've never had Anzac biscuits before. They had oatmeal and coconut in them and were so chewy and addicting! The ones on the right are Okara Molasses. These were good too, soft and mild with a hint of molasses flavor, more "health foody" but still delicious. I plan to get these recipes from her asap!



ANZAC Biscuits (recipe from my friend)

Ingredients

* 1 cup each of plain flour, sugar, rolled oats, and
coconut
* 4 oz (1 stick) margarine (Earth Balance works fine)
* 1 tablespoon golden syrup (Lyle's brand is
available at Cost Plus. It's a little pricey per jar,
but the flavor can't be replicated)
* 2 tablespoons boiling water
* 1 teaspoon baking soda (add a little more water if
mixture is too dry)

Method

1. Grease cookie sheet and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
(You can use a non-stick cookie sheet or line a regular
cookie sheet with parchment paper)
2. Combine dry ingredients.
3. Melt together margarine and golden syrup. Combine water
and bicarbonate soda, and add to margarine mixture. (I do
this in a glass measuring cup in the microwave, and add the
other stuff when done: about 35-40 seconds)
4. Mix margarine mixture and dry ingredients.
5. Drop teaspoons of mixture onto tray, allowing room for
spreading. (I use a small ice cream scoop. The scoops should
be a tad larger than a small superball or smaller than a
golf ball)
6. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool
on tray for a few minutes before transferring to cooling
racks.

I find that 15 minutes is a little long. The cookies end up
a little too crunchy. It depends on your oven.

Vegan Desserts.

Yes, it can be done. A luscious pie, a sweet piece of cake or chewy cookie made without eggs, butter or milk! I'm not much of a baker but I realized I have to be friends with my oven when it comes to dessert. Being a vegan, I can't always go to any market or restaurant and buy or order dessert. I have to make my own or go to a store that specializes in vegan baked goods (Mani's Bakery in L.A. have vegan desserts.) But I don't mind having to bake because making your own means you can share with the ones you love or even have a whole cake to yourself, which is what I've done on occassion. ;)

These are just a sampling of vegan desserts I've made over the past year and a half.


Cherry Crumble Pie. I think this is one of the first vegan desserts I've ever made. I made sure to use a store bought pie crust that had no animal ingredients in it. A good one is Marie Callenders brand that you can find in your grocer's freezer. Recipe here.


Dulce Sin Leche cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. These are gorgeous. A moist cupcake with a coconut-caramely flavor and a coconut buttercream topping.


Rum Raisin Cake with Rummy Buttercream. This recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World as well. I just doubled the recipe and made a cake from it.


Mini Cake Donuts. These are unbelievable. Recipe here.


Almond Rosewater Cookies. So soft and chewy and buttery! I veganized a recipe I found here. I substituted Earth Balance margarine for the butter and added sugar for sweetness.


Chocolate Chip Cookies. Gotta have these in your cookie jar at all times.


Peanut Butter Mousse pie with gobs of peanut butter, pretzel pieces and chocolate ganache drizzle. Pie recipe here.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. I've posted about these before but because they are so amazing I had to share these again. Recipe here.