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.