Vegan Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's gets cold outside and I suddenly need to bake. Tonight I made Chocolate Chip Cookies. I've got this recipe down so I don't even screw around with trying others anymore.



Here is the Tollhouse Cookie recipe veganized:

Vegan Tollhouse Cookies
See High Altitude Vegan version below.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
6 Tbsp warm water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance vegan margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) vegan chocolate chips [1]

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

Combine flax seeds and water in a bowl and set aside.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Set aside.

Beat margarine, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Stir flax mixture well and then add half of it. Mix well. Add the other half and mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. [2]

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

High Altitude Vegan Tollhouse Cookies

Ingredients
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
6 Tbsp warm water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance vegan margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tsp water
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) vegan chocolate chips [1]

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

Combine flax seeds and water in a bowl and set aside.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Set aside.

Beat margarine, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Stir flax mixture well and then add half of it. Mix well. Add the other half and mix well. Add the 2 tsp water and gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. [2]

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

1 - most semi-sweet chocolate chips are vegan but double-check the ingredients.
2 - I bake 2 dozen and the roll the rest of the dough into 1 inch balls and put them on plates in the freezer. When frozen, move to a freezer bag. Then anytime you want a cookie, put it on a cookie sheet and bake about 15 min or so, until done.

Dandies Marshmallow Smores Bars

I got a free sample of Dandies vegan marshmallows in the mail last week - Thanks Chicago Soy Dairy!!!! To show off the meltability and brownability (is that a word) of the marshmallows, I made smores bars. These are super easy. They took about 10 minutes to put together and throw in the oven. The recipe is from All Recipes. Some changes to the recipe: I didn't use quite as much margarine as called for. I baked the bottom layer for 5 minutes before adding the chocolate and marshmallows. I also threw some extra graham cracker crumbles on the top. I hit them with the broiler for about 2 minutes at the end of the cooking time.

The marshmallows were crispy and brown and tasted great the next day too.



I only made a 1/2 batch so I only used half the bag. I have the other half for campfire smores this weekend while camping!

Dandies Marshmallows are great! Run out and get some. They might be the best tasting marshmallows I have ever had (vegan or not).

Another year. Another cake.

Tomorrow (Weds) is Mike's birthday! He wasn't home tonight so I spent the evening making his cake. I like the way it came out this year. Once I get the color frosting mixed up and in piping bags I have a hard time stopping! I think I stopped just in time this year. Here is the recipe for the cake.

Triple Ginger Cookies

These are the best cookies I have made in a while. I was worried about the amount of lemon zest called for. I was afraid it was going to overpower the ginger cookies, but it was the perfect balance- just a light lemon undertone. They are nice tiny little spicy gingersnaps. Yum.



The recipe is from 101 Cookbooks. I used Ener-G egg replacer in them and Earth Balance Margarine.

I can't stop making these Skanky Pumpkin Squares

These might be the best thing ever. Every time a pumpkin comes in the house we make these pumpkin squares. And a pumpkin comes into the house about once a week from our CSA.

The recipe is from Vegan Addict. I have tried these with both AP flour and also with White Whole Wheat flour. The latter is a little grainier, but I can't decide which I like best.

I have had a bit of a problem with the middle sinking a little, but that hasn't affected the flavor at all. It just provided a larger vehicle for the frosting. I guess I just need to keep making these until I figure out the right high altitude adjustment. :P

Tiny Little Pies

We accidentally got a double CSA share this week (long story) and that meant that we had 2x as many apples and pears. I decided to chop the apples and saute them in EB and sugar as a filling. I used that filling to make Apple/Pear turnovers with Puff Pastry (no pic) and tiny apple pies. Some of the pies have a top crust and some have a streusel topping. I then put all of them in the freezer. Some nice cold winter day there will be pie.

This week has been brought to you by the vegetable: Pumpkin

Holy Pumpkin! I have a lot of pumpkin. So, don't be at all surprised that almost everything I post this week will be made with Pumpkin! In addition to the 3 main courses I made over the weekend (for next week - but that's another post), pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin muffins... I still put 4 cups of pumpkin puree away in the freezer. This big guy, an Aluminum Squash, made 6 cups of pumpkin puree! We forgot to get a picture of this pumpkin until after we sliced it open:



The first cup of this pumpkin puree went into Pumpkin Cookies. This recipe is from Dabbles with Apples. These are soooo good and the crunchy brown sugar in the frosting is the best! They are like little cupcakes in the shape of cookies. I didn't change anything about this recipe, but I did need to add a little more powdered sugar to the frosting.



Psst - Liz... you need to make these!

Vegan Smores

I've been thinking about smores for about 2 years. I ordered 2 boxes of Sweet & Sara Vegan Marshmallows off the internet and made rice krispy treats with them a couple of weeks ago. The leftover marshmallows in the fridge have been taunting me ever since. The 3rd grocery store I checked today had graham crackers without honey, milk, or eggs in them. Its amazingly tough to find vegan graham crackers. Keebler makes some though; they are just hard to find. We also picked up a ghiradelli dark chocolate bar at the regular grocery. And then within 5 minutes after we got home, we had smores:

If you want to make these at home, place the marshmallows on a pan that has lightly oiled parchment paper on it (nonstick foil would probably also work). Put the marshmallows under the broiler on high. They should be very close to the broiler. Watch them closely and when they brown, turn them 1/4 turn. Do this until you have cooked at least 4 sides. When the marshmallows are melty and brown, place one marshmallow on top of one graham cracker with a square of chocolate. Squash the marshmallow down with the other graham cracker.

Iron Cupcake Challenge: End of Summer Vegan Strawberry Basil Cupcakes

I've joined the Iron Cupcake Challenge. The Iron Cupcake challenge is simialr to Iron Chef in that there is a secret ingredient that must be used in the cupcakes. This month's ingredient: Basil! When I heard this month's ingredient, my brain immediately went in two directions: Summer (strawberries, lemonade, basil) and also to Thai food. I came really close to making a Thai Basil cupcake with coconut, ginger, basil, and chiles but it seemed too close to last month's challenge of chiles. And also, Mike, my husband, was really pushing for strawberry! I was a little worried that basil in cupcakes would be really weird, but it was quite tasty.

As part of the Iron Cupcake challenge I am competing with other cupcake bakers in the internets to win fabulous prizes from our lovely sponsors:Etsy artist Metal Sugar, Head Chefs by Fiesta Products, Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, Jessie Steele Aprons, Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home.



Note the recipe below has both high altitude and regular instructions. I have only tested at high altitude. This cupcake started with a Vegan Lunchbox recipe for vanilla cupcakes. Your house will smell amazing when you make these. And if you are scared of the basil, you can make this recipe without it. For plain old strawberry cupcakes, omit the basil and lemon juice.

End of Summer Vegan Strawberry Basil Cupcakes

2 1/8 cups cake flour or unbleached AP flour
2 tsp baking powder (1 tsp at high altitude)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/8 cup cane sugar
~3/4 qt organic strawberries (1 c. puree)
1 Tbsp cane sugar
16 basil leaves
2 T lemon juice
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp natural strawberry flavor (Frontier brand)
1 tsp natural red food color (Select Natural brand)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or 375 at high altitude). Line muffin tin with paper cupcake liners (optionally spray paper liners depending on what kind you are using).

In large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Set aside.

In a food processor, puree the strawberrries with 1 Tbsp cane sugar. Tear the basil leaves and add them to the food processor along with lemon juice (so the basil does not turn black). Puree. Measure out 1 cup of the puree (you may have extra puree which you can either drink or consider adding to the frosting). Mix the strawberry puree with the soy milk, vinegar, vanilla, and strawberry flavor.

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix with a hand-held mixer until smooth. Add the food color and mix to combine.

Fill each muffin cup to about 3/4 filled. Bake for 20-23 minutes. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes and the move to a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting. See Strawberry frosting recipe below.

Makes 17-18 cupcakes.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
4 cups-ish of powdered sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) Earth Balance Margarine, softened
1/2+1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2+ 1/4 tsp strawberry flavoring
1 tsp natural red food color
Soy Milk

Using a hand mixer, cream the butter and then add ~1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add the vanilla and strawberry extract and ~1 Tbsp soy milk. Beat with the mixer. Add more sugar (you will add the sugar very gradually). As the sugar incorporates, add more. If the mixture gets too dry, add more soy milk. Continue in this manner until the frosting looks almost white and is the right texture/stiffness for frosting the cake. Add the red coloring and mix until incorporated.

Sugared Basil Garnish
Basil leaves
Sugar

Wash basil leaves. Damp dry on a paper towel. Press each side of the leaf into the sugar.

Vegan White Birthday Cake

I've been working for a couple years now (I only make one a year) to make a good white birthday cake for my husband Mike. This is what he requests every year. I used to make him the one from Cook's Illustrated, but it didn't veganize well. This version of birthday cake came out really good. This is a modified version of The Joy of Vegan Baking's Vanilla Cupcakes along with some Cook's Illustrated techniques. Usually I decorate his cake, but we were in a hurry to get to the movie theatre to see Iron Man, so the decorating this year is very lame. And wow, my lighting was bad!



White Birthday Cake
shortening (for greasing pans)
2 3/4 cups PLUS 1 Tbsp CAKE flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder (2 tsp at high altitude)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer
2 Tbsp water
1 3/4 cups Almond Milk
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup Earth Balance Margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup water


Preheat oven to 375F (395F for high altitude). Grease two 8" cake rounds with shortening. Line the bottom of each with parchment cut to the correct size. Grease the parchment. Flour both cake pans. Set aside.

Combine cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the ener-G with 2 Tbsp water with a small whisk or a fork. Mix for 30 seconds to a minute, until smooth and creamy. Mix the ener-G mixture with almond milk and 1/4 cup water. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. This might take up to 5 minutes so be patient. Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and 1/4 cup water beat until smooth and combined.

Add the flour and the almond milk to the margarine mixture in batches. Add a little flour (about a cup), then add a little almond milk mixture (about a 1/2 cup) until it is all mixed in incorporating each addition as it is added.

Pour 1/2 the mixture into each cake pan. Bake until the centers spring back noting that it may not brown much on top. I'm not sure how long this will take at regular altitude, but at high altitude temperature it was 35 minutes. Be careful not to open the oven until the cake is nearly done (use the oven light to check on it). Remove from oven and cool for about 2 minutes. Invert cake onto a rack, gently pull off the parchment, and then invert onto another rack. Do this for both cakes. This takes me 3 cooling racks to accomplish. Cool completely before frosting, about 1 1/2 hours.



Buttercream Frosting
I've always done this by eye, so I don't have exact amounts. It is pretty easy though.
4 cups-ish of powdered sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) Earth Balance Margarine, softened
1/2+1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2+ 1/4 tsp almond extract
Almond Milk

Using a hand mixer, cream the butter and then add ~1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add the vanilla and almond extract and ~1 Tbsp almond milk. Beat with the mixer. Add more sugar (you will add the sugar very gradually). As the sugar incorporates, add more. If the mixture gets too dry, add more almond milk. Continue in this manner until the frosting looks almost white and is the right texture/stiffness for frosting the cake.

Thanksgiving desert redux - Pumpkin Cheesecake

Tonight I made a Double Layer Pumpkin Lemon Cheesecake (recipe linked) with a Pecan Oat Crust from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. This pie was really tasty and the crust was fabulous. You should definitely make this crust the next time you make a pie that calls for a graham cracker crust. It was so nutty and rich. I only made 2 small modifications to the cheesecake. I added some lemon zest and a pinch of salt to it.

I really don't think that last night's pie fiasco was a result of a bad recipe. I really think the canned pumpkin was bad. I had two cans of pumpkin yesterday - 2 different brands. One can went into the pie and another can went into the rolls. When I opened the second can for the rolls, I noticed that it smelled much better and had better color. The previous can was more solid. I just chalked it up to the fact that they were different brands, maybe the pumpkins weren't as great the day the other can was canned... but now I wonder how sick I would have been if I had eaten more than a 1/2 bite. Weird.

Apple Streusel Pie

This is my grandmothers recipe which I've used for many many years and has been veganized. I let this one get a little dark on the top, but it will still taste just fine.



Vegan Dutch Apple Pie

Filling Ingredients
6 large apples (or 7 medium sized), peeled and sliced (I prefer Granny Smiths)
3 Tbs vegan margarine
1/4-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 deep dish pie crush (make your own or just buy one)

Topping Ingredients
3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 Tbsp vegan margarine


Preheat oven to 425 F.

Poke holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork and blind bake the crust for about 9-10 minutes. Take out of the oven and set aside.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Topping: Mix the flour, cinnamin, and brown sugar. With a fork or pastry cutter, work in the butter till it becomes incorporated and crumbly. Set aside.

Filling: Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the apples and stir to coat. Cook for about a minute or two until they just start to soften a little. Stir in the sugar and the cinnamon.

With a slotted spoon, move the apples to the pie crust, leaving behind the juices (they will make the pie soggy). Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon if you wish. Sprinkle/pat the topping over the apples.

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 15. You may need to add a foil collar around the edge of the crust after the first 15 minutes if the crust starts browning too quickly.

Cool and eat with some vegan vanilla ice cream.

What to do with 12 lbs of Apples??

After apple picking last weekend, we wound up with 12 lbs of apples. I got a bunch of green granny smith apples because they are so good in pies. The first thing we made was a German Apple Cake from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. It was sooooo yummy. And it definitely did not last long. Since the recipe was pretty healthy (low sugar, low-fat) we ate it for breakfast a couple of days. Here are some pictures:

Chocolate Chip Cookie update - better the next day

This is an update to my previous entry about the chocolate chip cookies from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's new cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking. These cookies became amazing the next day. Normally cookies are best right out of the oven, but when we tasted them right out of the oven, they seemed to greasy. The next day, that element was gone and the cookies were great.

The Joy of Vegan Baking

I was so excited when the UPS guy brought me Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's new Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook a few days ago. It is a beautiful cookbook with lots of pictures. It is a much larger book than I expected. There are so many recipes and so little time.

Tonight we made the Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were yummy, but I have to admit that I like Dreena Burtons recipe in Vive Le Vegan better. That may just be a matter of taste. These were heavier and on the greasy side, but they were very crispy.



Sometime in the next couple of days (after we go apple picking this weekend), we will be trying out her recipe for German Apple Cake. I can't wait.

See the update on this entry.

Almond Butter Chip Ice Cream

Summer is here and we decided to experiment with the old ice cream maker. You may see a few ice cream recipes over the next few months. Here is one that I have been wanting to make for a while:

Almond Butter Chip Ice Cream


2 c. French vanilla soy creamer

1 1/2 c. almond milk

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. fresh ground almond butter

2 T. arrowroot powder

1/2 cup toasted chopped almonds
1 bar dark chocolate bar, in shavings or ground up in the food processor
1/4-1/2 cup additional almond butter to swirl in.

Mix ¼ cup of almond milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.

Combine soy creamer, remaining almond milk, and brown sugar in a saucepan and heat. When hot, whisk in almond butter so it is thoroughly incorporated. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and immediately stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Add chopped nuts and chocolate shavings in the last five minutes of freezing.

As you put the ice cream into a container to store in the freezer, occasionally add some dollops of almond butter into the mix.

Chocolate Cupcakes take over the World

Another cupcake from Isa's cookbook. I made this batch of chocolate chocolate cupcakes to take over to a friends house for dinner tomorrow night.

PS. The chocolate frosting swirled on top looks a bit like a pile of poo. :o

S'mores cupcakes take over the world

S'mores cupcakes from the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World:

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last week we made Red Velvet Cupcakes out of the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. They were really good. I like this cookbook, with one reservation. I do not like the frosting recipes because they contain shortening which gives the frosting a slick feel. I have found that replacing the shortening/margerine mixture called for in the frosting recipes with all margerine fixes the problem. We also made the Chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream frosting. I think the Chocolate ones were better than the Red Velvet (and didn't contain red food coloring), but I forgot to take a picture of those. Here are some pics of the Red Velvet cupcakes:

Chocolate coconut balls

I made some really yummy and healthy snacks for lunch this week. They are chock full of oat bran and almond butter. The recipe is from the Vegan Lunchbx. Here is the recipe. I used more almond butter than it called for to help them come together (along with a tablespoon of water). I cut the recipe in half and it made about 12 balls (1.5 in). I used unsweetened coconut.

I didn't make them into honeybees, instead I made them into little bunnies by adding the slivered almonds as ears instead of wings.