OATMEAL CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Yayyy it's officially the end of the semester! Congrats to all my student friends graduating this semester! A secret: The real world is just like college except with bad suits and more coffee. It would suck, except for awesome delicious vegan cookies, like the ones I'm about to share with you.
You're welcome.

Vegan/GF Oatmeal* Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
Musical Accompaniment: Alexi Murdoch: "Slow Revolution"

2 cups walnuts, finely chopped 
2 cups bob's redmill gluten free oats
3/4 cup gluten free all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup agave nectar
3.5 tbs earth balance, melted (or any kind of vegan butter/margarine)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tazo chocolate disk (or vegan chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350
Spread vegan nonstick spread (i used earth balance) on cookie sheet
put 2 cups of walnuts in food processor and grind until very fine
Mix together the flour, half of the oats, baking soda, cinnamon and brown sugar
Add to food processor and grind for about half a minute
Mix together agave nectar, melted earth balance, applesauce and vanilla extract
Add to food processor and mix until sticky (about 30-45 seconds)
Pour contents into a large bowl. Fold in the other half of oats.
I didn't have chocolate chips handy, so I put 1 bar of  tazo chocolate in the food processor and turned it into chocolate chunks. Or you could be a normal person and go buy some vegan chocolate chips. Or add rasins. The possibilities are endless!
Scoop into 1 teaspoon balls and add to cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden.

^^Allison inhaling the cookies :)

* Whether or not oatmeal is acceptable for people who avoid gluten is up for debate. Since I was making these cookies for a friend of mine whose partner is strictly gluten free, i wasn't taking any chances. So I bought Bob's Redmill Gluten Free Oats. yes, they make those. :)

Arugula and Black Bean Pasta

It's as easy as it sounds and perfect because I have been spending every waking minute writing papers for finals instead of cooking elaborate feasts.  Let's get right to it, shall we?

Arugula and Black Bean Pasta
Musical Accompaniment: Jeff Buckley, Grace

Ingredients:
1/2 lb of rotini (or any thick pasta)
2 tablespoons of earth balance
1 garlic clove, minced
2 handfuls of washed arugula
1/2 can black beans
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Juice from 1 lemon

Cook pasta as usual.
While pasta is draining, heat the garlic clove in the earth balance on medium heat.
Add black beans and stir until coated.
Add pasta to the garlic/earth balance/bean mixture and stir until well mixed
Put the two handfuls of arugula on top, cover for 1 minute (so the arugula steams, but is not wilted).
Remove from heat.
Add lemon juice and sprinkle with pepper and salt.

Vegan Ginger-Oatmeal muffins...

...With apples and almonds!

Ah yes, my quest for yummy vegan baked goods continues. I hope some of you are still with me, after my temporary break-up with facebook (it just had to happen.) But the breakup has given me SO much extra time to write and bake and (most importantly) spend time with my friends and family. So I don't miss it at all.

But I digress. Coming home to Pennsylvania always makes me crave what I lovingly call "country" foods. Salty oat cookies and apple pie have been on my radar for quite a while now, so I decided to take a stab at combining the two in a vegan-friendly fashion. My dad has been hasseling me for a while about how much weight I've lost since my transition to veganism (about 10 lbs... and those of you who know me know that I really didn't need to lose 10 lbs). I suspect this weight loss is due to the fact that I don't eat things with as much saturated fat as the average person... but my dad thinks its because i'm not getting enough protein. So I added some protein powder to this recipe so he'd be happy. I might add that you actually can't taste it at all, so hey, why not?

Vegan Ginger Oatmeal Muffins
musical accompaniment: Taylor Swift, "Mine" (she's from my hometown!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPBwXKgDTdE

Ingredients:
2 cups oatmeal (quick oats are fine)
2 cups flour
2 cups orange juice or water
1 cup applesauce (see recipe below or from a jar is fine)
1 teaspoon of salt (more for salting the tops)
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 scoop  spirutein vanilla protein powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 Degrees
Soak the oats in the orange juice for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, make the applesauce: peel and dice apples (I found that 2 average sized apples makes about 1 cup of applesauce.) eyeball a good amount of agave (or sugar if you don't have agave/don't care about calories). Heat over medium heat until just mushy, sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Transfer mixture to blender and add 1/2 cup of water. Blend until it has a nice apple-saucy consistency. I'll let you decide whether or not you want it to be chunky (I prefer it that way).
After 10 minutes of soak-time, add applesauce to the oats, mix until evenly spread throughout.
Add salt, baking soda and baking powder
Add spices and almonds
Add flour-- stir to mix in, but don't over stir (you want muffins not hockey pucks!)
Scoop mixture into muffin tins (about 3/4 of the way up... they'll rise)
Optional-- sprinkle salt on the tops of the muffins

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean
Most yummy when served warm!

Strawberry-Vanilla Biscuits

I first made these to be scones, but for whatever reason, they came out as biscuits. Not that I'm complaining. they're light and fluffy and have just the right amount of sweet.

Oh, did I mention that they're gluten free, vegan and sugar free too?

(Yeah, I thought you'd like that.)

I based this recipe off of the Raspberry Scone recipe in the BabyCakes cookbook (buy it if you don't have it! it's aaamaazzzinnngg). Since I couldn't find any affordable raspberries,  I made these with strawberries... I bet they'd be good with just about any berry that is in season though! The smell of these baking woke my roommate (Allison) and her boyfriend, who promptly inhaled one.

Vegan/gf/sf Strawberry Vanilla Biscuits
 Musical Accompaniment: Jai Uttal & Ben Leinbach "Loveland"

2 cups Bobs Redmill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 cup chopped strawberries (I forgot to pick mine up at the farmers market, so I just grabbed a bag of frozen strawberries and chopped them up-- be sure to check if there's added sweetener! I hate it when they do that)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup veggie oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon
1/4 cup warm water

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease cookie sheet (or line with parchment paper) These will be a little runny as they're baking , so make sure the sheet has raised edges so the inside of your oven doesn't become strawberry flavored.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Add in the oil, agave and vanilla.
Stir together until a thick crumbly batter is formed
Pour in warm water and mix until the batter becomes sticky (do not overmix)
Gently fold in strawberries and slowly mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Using an ice cream scooper or whatever you've got handy, scoop out small balls of the dough and place on cookie sheet, about 1/2 inch apart.
Cook for 10 minutes on the middle rack, then rotate sheet 180 degrees. Cook for another 10 minutes.
Optional: Remove from oven, and drizzle agave nectar or raw cane sugar if you've got some (or both!). Place back in oven for another 5 minutes.

The cooking times may vary. My biscuits had to be in the oven for about 25 minutes total in order to get that nice golden crust. Keep an eye on them!

Vegan Chedder and Chive Scones

Before I start, I know I misspelled cheddar. I did that on purpose, grammar snobs.


Now that I'm working a somewhat typical 9-5 at the Department of Justice (until next week, that is, when the government shuts down...jerks) I've been craving something small, savory and filling to take with me to work and eat with my coffee. For a while I was baking my own potato chips, but that wasn't doing it. I missed... CHEESE.

This happens sometimes. But it's important to recognize that if you're a vegan and you're missing cheese, what you're probably missing is salt (and that usually means you're dehydrated, btw). But I was really missing cheese, and nothing was helping satisfy the craving. As the days went on, I realized it wasn't just any cheese, it was the cheddar and chive scones from the cafe where I worked during college. Lucky for me, I was in charge of baking for a while, so after flipping through a couple scraps of recipes scrawled on paper, my memory was jolted and I began the task of veganizing the recipe. This will make about 30 small round scones, though it depends on the size of the scooper you use.

Warning: this dough is a mess. seriously. If it gets everywhere, you're doing it right.

Vegan Chedder and Chive Scones
Musical accompaniment: Rusted Root "Faith"

You will need:
A bunch of chives, chopped finely (aim for 1/2 a cup) Dried is ok, but fresh is better.
Your favorite vegan cheddar, grated (I use Daiya because it melts amazingly and is already grated)
A tub of vegan sour cream (I use Toffutti Better than Sour Cream... because it is)... should be about 1 cup
1 cup unflavored soy milk
3 cups of flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix togethr flour, baking powder, salt, sugar. Throw in chives and cheese.
Toss mixture with your hands just so it's all evenly distributed
Mix in sour cream and soy milk. stir lightly with a fork (do not over mix)
create a ball with the dough (as best as possible. it should be ridiculously sticky and getting everywhere at this point).  Place dough ball on lightl floured surface.
Knead dough 8-10 times, just to ensure it's evenly sticky.
flatten dough out to be about an inch thick.
With an ice cream scooper, or whatever you've got handy, scoop out chunks of the dough and place on a non-greased cookie sheet, about 1/2 inches apart. Cook for 20-25 minutes, until the tops become just slightly golden brown.

These are delicious right out of the oven. Since I made 30, I had to eat them all before my roommate woke up put them away in the freezer. They freeze and reheat like magic.

 

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

I made these spicy babies for my vegan co-worker's birthday. Turns out, there are 2 other vegans in the office! Who knew that so many health-conscious people worked for the government! I swiped this recipe from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" and tweaked it for the spices I have in my cabinet:




Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk
4 chai tea bags
1/4 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated veggie shortening
1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine
1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F
Spray/line cupcake tins

Heat almondmilk until almost boiling, add tea bags, cover and turn off heat. Allow it to steep for about 15 minutes. Stir and squeeze to gently extract soymilk from bags and discard.

Mix together oil, yogurt, sugar, vanilla and tea mixture until smooth. fold in flower, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Small lumps are alright.  Fill tins and bake for about 22 minutes, or until spongy and a toothpick comes out clean.

Mix together all ingredients for the buttercream frosting with an electric mixture until peaks form.  Wait until cupcakes are cool before spreading it on top!

Vegan Lemony-Coconutty Cupcakes

While most people spend their spring breaks in warm places near water, like Mexico or California, I spent mine at my parents' house in the woods of Pennsylvania. Not that I dislike the woods-- I grew up here, in fact (which usually accounts for my disconcerting awkwardness in social settings...) After doing some yoga, sipping some tea and browsing the United Nation's website for job openings,  I decided to peruse the baking pantry. Lo and behold! The perfect ingredients for lemony-coconut cupcakes! So while I didn't get to go to the beach, I can take a bite of one of these babies and let the sun shine in.

The recipe I used was based off of the Coconut Lime cupcakes recipe in "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" (if you do not own this book, close the computer and go buy it. Seriously. It's that good). I'm usually no good at baking because I'm terrible at following instructions exactly, and on top of that, had ZERO limes in the house. So, I tweaked the recipe for lemons and added a special touch of Jess-ness and thank god it turned out delicious. (Otherwise my parents would have been extra pissed about the mess I made in the kitchen...) I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Unlike most of my recipes, please note that the icing (while delicious) is completely NOT HEALTHY. But hey, nobody eats a cupcake to be healthy, amiright?

Vegan Lemony-Coconutty Cupcakes
Musical accompaniment: Hoba Hoba Spirit, Trabando (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8k5bKfGDhI)

Cake Ingredients:
1/3 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup coconut milk (about half a can of coconut milk)
1/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 medium sized lemons juiced
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Icing ingredients:
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated veggie shortening
1/2 cup non hydrogenated margarine
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/3 cup lemon juice
Handful coconut flakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over low heat. If you don't have coconut oil, canola oil should do the trick.
Once the coconut oil is liquified, mix it in a medium sized bowl with the sugar, coconut milk, almond milk, vanilla extract, coconut extract lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir thoroughly.
Next, add the flour, baking soda and baking poder. Mix until smooth
Finally add the coconut flakes. Stir to make sure everything is incorporated evenly.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cupcake looks golden and a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly.

While cupcakes are baking, beat the shortening and margarine together until fluffy. add the sugar and continue to beat. Add vanilla, coconut extract and lemon juice. Beat for 5 minutes. Finally add Zest and coconut flakes and mix to distribute evenly. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Important: DO NOT attempt to put icing on cupcakes until they are completely cool. If you jump the gun on this, the result will be nasty slimy looking icing that gets all over the place. I speak from experience...

Happy Springtime!! :)