Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies

I'm not a New Year's resolution type of person so I don't really have any promises to myself or hold any particular expectations, but lately I have been trying to make little life changes to just stay as focused & healthy & happy as possible. For example, I've never been a messy person. Ever since I have lived on my own, I have kept things generally tidy. Maybe a tiny mess here and there, dishes left in the sink for one day because I am too sleepy to wash them after dinner, or a pile of jeans & cardigans that I plan on wearing again before washing. But I have even been trying to break those habits. While I make my coffee in the mornings I have been tidying up the kitchen. Putting away all the dry dishes, rinsing out the sink, wiping down the counters. I make the bed before leaving the house & place the pillows and blanket in their proper places on the couch.


I stopped drinking diet soda a week ago. Something that I have long had a problem with and always mean to stop doing. I've also been consistently packing my lunches in the mornings so that I don't eat garbage from a convenience store while I'm at work. I've been taking B12 and making sure our grocery cart has more greens in it than it did before. I'm trying to come up with more interesting dinners so that we aren't tempted to eat out as frequently as we did in DC. Just little things that I am trying to make routine. I remember hearing before that it takes 60 days for something to become a habit, so I'm on my way.
While searching for dinner ideas, these peppermint hot chocolate cookies from Bakers Royale crossed my path. I made a batch & shared it with a few friends because dessert will always be a part of my life no matter how much kale I am eating. I believe that sugar is ok occasionally, and I hope you do too!



Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies
recipe inspired by Bakers Royale, cookie recipe adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

1/2 cup non-dairy milk of choice
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips (divided into 2 half cup portions)
1/2 cup Suzanne's Ricemellow Creme
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbl agave
3 candy canes, crushed to pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or a silpat mat. Combine milk, oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix until combined. Add flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and baking powder and mix until dough forms. Fold in a half cup of the chocolate chips. Using a 2 tbl scoop, portion dough onto tray. Flatten with palm and then make a large indention with thumb. Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are firm and allow to cool. Fill wells with Ricemellow creme. In a double broiler combine remaining half cup of chocolate chips, coconut milk, and agave. Heat while whisking until a smooth ganache forms. Allow to cool for several minutes, then pour on tops of cookies with a spoon and smooth on top of the cookie. Sprinkle with candy cane pieces. Allow ganache to solidify before eating unless you want a huge mess!

Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

These last few months have been interesting for me. My whole life I have been busy. Balancing work and school and friends. Since childhood there hadn't really been a time where I had an extended vacation. Sure I have had a week off here and there, but it's always been filled with travel. My summers in college were filled with extra classes to prepare best for graduate school. I would only take a class or two, but then I would still spend the rest of the day in lab tinkering around with my algae cultures. I graduated college in the summer, and moved from Tennessee to Baltimore the next day. After a few semesters I decided I didn't want to pursue a phD anymore and started work for Roots Market building their bakery. The first few months were long and then the next 2 years were so busy that they slipped by without my barely noticing. So these last few months in Philadelphia, I have only been working part time. I have had more free time in my life that I did since I was a child. While I have a few large projects that I haven't mentioned yet to the general public, I honestly haven't made much progress on them. I have really been reveling in being able to do whatever I want. And while I have felt my share of guilt for not being more proactive or successful just yet, I'm trying to enjoy it.
I got my library card and have ready ten books since we moved. I've visited a few museums and parks. I've binge watched TV and written long letters to all the friends I miss in places all over the country. I've slept in and gone to bed whenever I want. I have been casually tinkering the the kitchen, developing new recipes and making old favorites for no one other than myself. It's the first time in my life that I haven't been so consumed by stress that I feel like I am melting down. It's been so nice.
Today it's twenty degrees, windy, bitter cold and the steps are still icy from the snow we got earlier this week, but my kitchen is warm and sunny. And I listened to The Goodbye Party & Radiator Hospital and danced around the kitchen, singing and baking banana bread and drinking tea. And while I know that this period of time is coming to an end and I'm ready to challenge myself again, I'm really happy that I let myself have this break. And I'm ok with wallowing in my emotions and really letting myself feel for the first time in too long.


This pavlova is one of the recipes I have been tinkering with. The last time I made meringue I used Ener-G egg replaced and while it help up nicely, I don't find it to have the most appealing flavor. This time I used a soy protein powder. The meringue whipped beautifully and tasted much better out of the bowl. I accidentally under-baked these a little which you can't see but can tell while eating because they are a little too chewy and not crisp enough. The whip is the new So Delicious cool whip again, but I have decided that it's not something I will be purchasing any more. It's time to invest in a little nitrous whipped so I can make my own perfect coconut whip cream with more consistent results.
Because of the cold, I wanted to make a heavier pavlova than I did in the summer so chocolate raspberry came to mind. While I tried to make chocolate meringue THREE times, each time the meringue melted in the oven. I have a feeling that the fat in the cocoa powder and the soy protein must be chemically incompatible, so I gave up and went for a ganache on top. Classic, simple, delicious. I also made a chocolate whipped cream and while it covered up some of the flavors of the cool whip that I didn't enjoy, I don't think that it looks very nice. The ganache is the more attractive way to go while chocolate meringue is eluding me.

Halloween Black Cocoa Cookies

I have now been a resident of Philadelphia for three weeks! I have taken public transportation several times a week, and didn't get lost even once! I've managed to find a bank and a grocery store and even develop some semblance of a new routine. This was one of the first things that I baked in my new oven (which doesn't have a timer?!), and I was mostly just happy that the cookies remotely turned out. I have had bad experiences with new ovens in the past, and it's reassuring to know that the temperature isn't off by 40 degrees and doesn't have wild hot spots. I may have let these cookies sit out for 36 hours trying to find a few minutes of sunlight to photograph them. The morning after I baked them I tried to photograph them outside five minutes before I needed to leave for work using a black table cloth. However it was very wrinkly from my not-so-careful packing, and it was a different sort of spooky than what I was going for with these Halloween cookies. I finally realized the light in my kitchen window is quite reasonable around noon and was able to snap these photos. Learning a new houses's light is a tricky thing indeed, but at least this time it involved treats!


Spooky Black Cocoa Cut Out Cookies
makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size of cookie cutters used

8 oz Earth Balance margarine
1 cup sugar
2 Ener-G eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup black cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 oz Tofutti cream cheese
Cream margarine and sugar. While this is creaming, combine hot water and Ener-G powder to make egg replacer & allow to thicken. Add Ener-G eggs & vanilla extract to sugar mixture. Beat until combined. Add half of the flour and mix. Add remaining flour, cocoa powders, baking powder, and cream cheese. Beat until a thick dough forms. Portion into two disks, wrap in wax paper, & allow dough to chill in fridge for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough between wax paper to approximately 1/3" thick & cut out shapes. The dough will hold up fine for multiple rollings. If your fridge or freezer will fit a baking tray, chill the cut cookies for another fifteen minutes before baking. Bake 12-14 minutes until edges are firm. The centers will still be soft, but will firm up slightly as they cool. If you would prefer to have classic sugar cookies, simply replace cocoa powders with additional flour. Some of these cookies are pictured as well!

Natural Black Glaze

2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup black cocoa
3 tbl agave nectar
2-4 tbl non-dairy milk of choice
In a large bowl add powdered sugar and black cocoa. Whisk until cocoa is evenly distributed. Add agave and 2 tablespoons of non-dairy milk. Whisk until combined. If mixture is too thick to whisk, add additional milk. However, glaze goes from too thick to too thin, very quickly so be careful to add liquid in very small amounts, whisking to check consistency frequently. Dunk tops of cooled cookies, shaking to remove excess glaze. Allow to harden for at least 4 hours before attempting to stack. I also decorated the cookies with a vanilla glaze (some tinted with a natural green dye) and sprinkled a few of the cookies with naturally dyed sanding sugars. The dye and sanding sugars are from Confection Craft, a really lovely small business based in Portland!



Black cocoa is pretty important to get the coloring of the cookies & glaze as dark as possible. You can buy a pound of Frontier fair trade black cocoa for less than $16 here! But if you can't find it locally and really don't want to order it, you can try replacing it with an extra dark cocoa. While it will still taste similar, it will not be quite as spooky. If you aren't opposed to artificial dyes, you could instead add a few drops of black dye and use regular 'ole cocoa powder in both of the recipes. But at least consider using fair trade cocoa, it's pretty important to protect the livelihoods of many people in the world.

Samoa Cheesecake

A few months ago I bought a tin of raw coconut sap crystals because I wanted to try them, but I didn't really have any intentions for it. I knew that it boasted all sorts of claims like being high in nutrients and having a low glycemic index making it diabetic friendly. But being someone who doesn't generally avoid cane sugar, it just kept sitting around. Eventually I forgot to buy sugar for long enough to work my way to that unopened tin of coconut sugar in a late night baking spree. I knew that it didn't taste like coconut, but had more of a caramel flavor. But while I was thinking about the combination of coconut and caramel, I knew there was no other flavor duo that would suit me that night. So I settled on a samoa cheesecake. Last year I made these homemade girl scout cookies, and they were easily some of my favorite sweets ever baked. I decided to turn them into a new medium, because all I have been craving this year is cheesecake. And I made it gluten free so that I could share it with a few friends.
While I used coconut sugar, it could easily be substituted for regular cane or brown sugar in these recipes. The brown sugar would help lend the filling a similar caramel note that the coconut sap crystals add. If you want to read a little more about various sugars, I highly suggest Fork & Bean's guide to sweeteners.



Samoa Cheesecake
one 9" or several mini cheesecakes, varying based on size of pans used

Coconut Shortbread Crust
8 ounces cookies (I used these gluten free animal crackers which are very reminiscent of shortbread)
4 ounces coconut (flakes or shredded)
10 tbl shortening

Pulse the cookies and coconut to crumbs in a food processor. Melt the shortening. Pour over the cookie and coconut crumbs and mix with hands until fully incorporated. Press firmly into the bottom of your springform pan(s).

Cheesecake Filling
24 oz non-dairy cream cheese, I prefer Tofutti
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tbl vanilla bean paste or scraping from 3 vanilla beans
2 tbl Ener-G beaten into 1/3 cup hot water

Make your cheesecake filling by beating the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and Ener-G together until smooth. Pour into crust filled pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes until the cheesecake appears set. Allow to cool for at least 4-6 hours before attempting to slice the cake. I find that overnight is best.

Coconut Caramel
1 can full fat canned coconut milk
1 1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 tablespoon brown rice syrup
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
pinch sea salt
4 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

In a small sauce pan combine coconut milk, sugar, brown rice syrup, cream of tartar, sea salt, and Earth Balance. Allow to come to a low boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the mixture has thickened into a syrup and smells like caramel. It will also darken in color. Once removed from heat stir in vanilla extract and allow to cool.
While the caramel is cooking, spread your coconut on a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. After 4 minutes stir the coconut to ensure that the coconut isn't browning unevenly. Remove when at least half of the coconut is lightly browned and continue to stir on the pan while it is cooling, as the coconut will continue to toast while the pan is hot. These steps can be done while the cheesecake is baking to limit your time in the kitchen.

Ganache
1/3 cup dark chocolate
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon agave nectar

In a double broiler heat all ingredients whisking frequently until the chocolate has totally melted and the ganache is smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for several minutes before assembling the cheesecake.

Assembly
For the mini cheesecakes, I held the cheesecake upside down and spooned ganache over the bottoms. I was afraid of dipping them like I would samoa cookies because my gluten free crust was a little fragile. If you have a full size cheesecake, I might forego the ganache dip. I toyed around with the idea of scattering mini chocolate chips along the bottom of the crust before adding the cheesecake filling to give it some semblance of a chocolate dipped bottom, but I ended up holding back on my 9" cheesecake and did regret it later.
Pour your caramel over the tops of the cheesecake until it comes to the edges. Top with ample toasted coconut flakes, and ganache stripes to mimic the cookie. Also whatever you do, don't combine your coconut and caramel before topping your cheesecake. I tried it, and it ain't pretty y'all.

It is as Easy as Vegan Pie

In the never ending slew of arbitrary holidays, like national donut day, squirrel appreciation day, and bring your daughter to work day, I finally remember that's it's national pie day! Normally I would celebrate pie day in March, but hey, this arbitrary holiday finally works in my favor. I was offered a review copy of Hannah Kaminsky's newest cookbook Easy As Vegan Pie back in October. The holidays came and I got all sorts of bogged down, and three months later I am finally done baking three of the pies so I can give you a complete opinion!

I made the speculoos pumpkin pie first thing. It was October, and I was set on trying a new kind of pumpkin pie. The speculoos filling sounded like it would make the typical pumpkin pie heavy and maybe a teeny bit too rich, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much lighter it was than I expected. It was creamy and gently spiced. A delightful new twist on an old favorite. I over-baked mine a teeny bit so the top cracked, but it was nothing some coconut whip and coconut whip beating with additional speculoos spread couldn't fix. If I hadn't been so set on trying Hannah's perfect pie crust recipe, I would have probably tried it with a speculoos cookie crust too.


The cannoli pie was next on my to-bake list. Made from a rich cashew mascaparone and an ice cream cone crust, you can't go wrong. It was rich and satisfying. The cannoli pie recipe was unlike anything I have ever made before, which is something I have come to expect from Hannah's books. She has a knack for twisting classics into something new & refreshing.
I made the Greek silk pie just after New Years. Made with containers of Greek style coconut or almond yogurt, it was a much healthier twist on silk pie. While much more resolution friendly than you average pie, I felt the need to top it with more whip and an extra dusting of cocoa powder to fully indulge my sweet tooth.

There are so many more recipes I plan on working my way through. Hello snickerdoodle pie, we'll be officially meeting before the end of winter. Her lemon chia seed meringue is first on my list for the spring, and the Southern girl in me was thrilled about the chess pie! Aside from the phenomenal recipes, there's beautiful photographs to accompany each pie and all sorts of phenomenal sides & toppings to further enhance your baking like coconut bacon, vegan honey syrup, & speculoos cookies.
For the gluten free folks Hannah has provided a great tart shell recipe, and for those inclined towards the savory side there's all sorts of quiche, tarts, & even a wasabi pea pie! If you haven't added Easy As Vegan Pie to your bookshelf yet, I highly recommend it.

Rocky Road Cupcakes

Thanksgiving is finally over, and everything is back to normal in the bakery. It's easily the biggest week of the year, so Christmas always seems like a piece of cake afterwards. It's easy to keep my chin up from here on out. After almost 400 pies, my fingers were a tiny bit sore from all the dough pinching & dish washing. I was certainly sleepy, but I was happy everything had gone so well. I even came home after three 15+ hour days and made myself two more pies. Because that's totally sane and normal right?!
The holidays are really difficult. My family lives eleven hours and one time zone away. I work the day before and early in the morning after most holidays, so there isn't really any time to go home even if I flew. The best I can offer is exchanging a few pictures and some teary phone calls, at least the digital age provides those comforts to my mom. I just hope she really knows how much I love her, and that I would be there if I could. I know bakery life isn't what you expected for me & that it certainly keeps me away from home for longer than you would prefer. But just know that I am really happy & I am doing what I love. This time might be a little rocky, but it will be worth my effort in the end.



Devil's Food Cupcakes
one dozen cupcakes

1/2 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup black cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brew your coffee. Whisk together water and flax seeds allowing to thicken for a few minutes. In a small bowl combine coffee, flax mixture, oil, vanilla and lemon juice. In a larger bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Create a well in the center and fold in wet. Mix until just combined. Portion into cupcakes. Bake for 16-18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Marshmallow Cream Filling
1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine
1/2 cup shortening
1 ten oz container Suzanne's Ricemellow Creme, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat margarine and shortening until fluffy. Add 5 oz of the Ricemellow and beat again for several minutes. Add vanilla extract and powedered sugar. Beat until combined. Fold remaining half of Ricemellow into the frosting with a spatula. Core the cupcakes using one of my favorite kitchen tools or with a paring knife. Fill the cupcakes with the marshmallow cream!

Almond Frosting
1 cup shortening
1 cup Earth Balance margarine
7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbl almond extract
2-4 tbl almond milk, until preferred consistency

In the bowl of standing mixer with a whip attachment or in a bowl with a handheld mixer, combine shortening and Earth Balance margarine and beat until combined and fluffy. Add half of powdered sugar. Beat until incorporated. Add remaining sugar, extracts, and 2 tablespoons of the almonds milk. Beat until fluffy. Add more almond milk if needed. Pipe on top of cupcakes and let chill in the fridge for at least one hour before dipping in ganache.

Ganache
4 oz semisweet or dark chocolate
1/2 cup canned coconut milk

In a double broiler, combine chocolate and coconut milk and heat until the chocolate begins to melt. Whisk until totally smooth and remove from heat. Allow to cool for several minutes until the ganache is still pourable but not hot to the touch. Invert the cupcakes and rotate the frosting in the ganache in one swift movement. Top the cupcakes with a handful of sliced almonds and Dandie's new miniature marshmallows before the ganache sets.


I was searching for a devil's food cake recipe, and stumbled across this one from My Vegan Cookbook. The picture didn't look quite dark for me so I modified it a tiny bit with black cocoa powder. The brand I use is Frontier, and it's fair trade and organic to boot. But if you can't find black cocoa, you can replace it with some Dutch processed cocoa to get a nice color & flavor.
I am not a huge cake fan, but this cake is really terrific. They have a light, airy texture but taste rich & flavorful. The cupcakes take a while to bake and assemble, but it's worth your time. They will definitely impress everyone you make them for. People will ooh and ahh, and isn't that why we bake during the holidays?! So bake a big batch, and share them with your neighbors. Especially if they have a Bernese Mountain dog you want to pet. The tactic totally works. That's the main reason my neighbors are getting a cookie basket again this year.

Pain au Chocolat

Let's make something totally clear. I am a huge fan of buying rolls of puff pastry. It's not that the stuff is hard to make. It's just that it's really labor intensive, and I generally can think of several other things that I would rather spend my time doing. However, if you have never tried to make puff pastry from scratch I think it's worth the attempt just to have an understanding of how great an invention frozen pastry is. Vegan Dad has a really great recipe and explains the process perfectly.
I wanted pain au chocolat. So I took my prepared puff pastry and rolled it out to a 9x13" rectangle. I pressed mini chocolate chips into around two inches of dough and then cut that into 6 pieces along the 13" side using a pizza cutter so that you have 6 strips, each 2x9" with two inches of that coated in chocolate. Now roll it up starting with the chocolate. Place it onto a parchment lined sheet tray with the seam down. Brush the tops with coconut milk and sprinkle lightly with sugar. I baked them at 400 for about 15 minutes, until they were totally golden and flaky. Let them cool a few minutes before you bite in, or you will burn your tongue on molten chocolate. The temperatures and times will vary on your pastry and oven, but start with whatever the recipe you are following says and then just check your oven frequently to make sure they are browning evenly.
Whatever you do, make sure that your pastries are on parchment paper and not wax paper. I feel like recently I have heard several stores of people spending their whole days making puff pastry from scratch and then putting their croissants into the oven only to have a smoky mess a few minutes later, because they accidentally used wax paper. Don't let this tragic tale become yours.


I was curious about gluten free pain au chocolat and found a recipe in BabyCakes Covers the Classics. Obviously it isn't a laminated dough so it couldn't be the same, but these were more like cookies to me. I will have to dig a little deeper and find a gluten free puff pastry recipe to give a whirl.


Also today is the most magical day of the year. It's DC VegFest! So I will be spending my whole day in this beautiful 70 degree weather, eating snacks and talking to all my favorite local businesses and non-profits. If you are in the area, I highly suggest coming out. It's from 11-6pm at Yards Park! I will be at the Conscious Corner table (booth 6) for most of the afternoon if you want to come say hello in person or buy a cupcake!

Cream Puffs

When I think of the dessert that I probably miss the most since going vegan, it is definitely cream puffs. I have never had an acceptable version without all the eggs & cream. I remember eating cream puffs larger than my oversized mug of coffee my freshman year of college. I have missed them since. But not any longer!
After the little bump that was my eclair failure, these cream puffs were smooth sailing. I found the recipe last month while reading Quick & Easy Vegan Bake Sale. The steps in the choux recipe are fairly similar to that in the eclairs, but using a chia egg instead of flax. They puffed up quite nicely and I filled them with the same cream from Miyoko's eclair recipe. I dipped them in a gianduia ganache that I thinned out a wee bit too much. I will definitely be making these cream puffs again!

Eclairs (or not)

Miyoko's eclair recipe from this month's VegNews!
I was waiting in a line at the grocery store that I work for when I first saw the cover of this month's VegNews. There's a beautiful crepe cake. I thought about how badly I wanted to be eating a slice of that instead of the salad I was buying. But then it caught my eye, "classic French food veganized" & "custard filled eclairs". I sat down with that magazine and don't have a faint idea of what the salad was like. I read all of the recipes multiple times daydreaming about those eclairs.
I put them on the schedule for the month with my heart full of hope. But it didn't quite work out as planned. While Miyoko's recipe sounds perfect, I think my trouble came with the flax egg whites. After boiling them for the minimum amount of time they were practically un-strainable and impossible to accurately measure since it was almost a solid instead of a gel. I proceeded ahead anyways hoping for the best, but knowing that it probably wouldn't work. My eclairs tasted great. But they never rose and stayed quite doughy and instead of staying the shape I piped them sort of spread out into fat ovals. I tried to bake them for longer just to see if I could save it, so they turned into cookies. Which I still sandwiched together with pastry cream & dipped in chocolate, because why not?! It was almost like I intentionally made milano cookies.
I will definitely be giving this recipe another chance. And I did enjoy her pastry cream recipe, so you should at the very least try making that. I haven't made the crepe cake that initially reeled me in to the cover, but I am sure it is only a matter of time!

Momofuku Compost Cookies Veganized

Easily the most inspiring cookbook I read in August was the Momofuku Milk Bar book by Christina Tosi. The food photography is stunning. Every recipe is totally original and innovative. The whole book is beautiful from cover to cover. While many of the recipes would be a tad bit tricky to veganize with all the gelatin and milk powder and what not, the compost cookies caught my eye right away. All the flavors and textures are magical. I didn't make them the way suggested since I had already just filled my rice crispy treats with potato chips, so I upped the amount of graham cracker crumbs and pretzel bits. I am glad I didn't make a half batch like I normally do with cookies, because these flew off the sheet tray almost before I had time to properly photograph them. It doesn't matter what you have in your pantry, it will work in these cookies.


Momofuku Compost Cookies Veganized
original recipe here!

1 cup Earth Balance
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tbl corn syrup
1 Ener-G egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers
1 1/3 cup crushed pretzels
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp malt powder
pinch of ground coffee

Beat Earth Balance, sugars, and corn syrup in a mixer until combined. Add prepared Ener-G egg and vanilla extract. Beat several minutes until fluffy. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to mixer bowl. Beat until just combined. Add all the mix-ins. Using a large ice cream scoop, portion out the cookie dough & slightly flatten the tops. I piled all the scooped cookies into a tupperware lined with parchment. Chill the dough overnight. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm & browned.


If you haven't heard of Mind of a Chef yet, it's a PBS show (also on Netflix)featuring David Chang, who opened Momofuku Noodle Bar. While some of it's really interesting, the show has a lot of footage revolving around meat so I tend to skip through them when something comes up I don't want to watch. Towards the end of the season Christina shows up in the show. She makes a burnt miso apple pie in episode 13 (Soy), and all of episode 14 (Sweet Spot) is centered around her recipes! It's worth watching for just her techniques. It really makes me want to invest in acetate strips for making layer cakes. Look at this beauty! There's a few other Milk Bar recipes I think I might make my way to eventually. Those blueberries & cream cookies sound pretty great. And an Arnold Palmer cake! I highly suggest checking out the cookbook if you are looking for a little inspiration or if you are thinking about opening your own bakery someday. Her story will motivate you.

Neiman Marcus Cookies

I first went vegan in college. I had a lot of friends who were also vegan, so I learned a lot about cooking by observing them. Making dinner was easy. Most of the time I just wanted salad, soup, or a stir-fry anyways. But I didn't really know much about baking. I remember browsing lots of "easy, vegan recipe" type pamphlets and learning about substituting eggs with apple sauce or mashed bananas. I didn't really think about it too much past that. Until there was a boy coming over. One that I wanted to impress. So I decided to make a batch of the infamous Neiman Marcus cookies, but vegan. These were the cookies I grew up. One of the only recipes that I remember my mother making from scratch frequently. I knew they were good enough to woo a boy.


What I didn't know then was that eggs serve a lot of purposes in baking. And that mashed bananas and applesauce don't generally work very well for cookies, where eggs generally bind things instead of just adding moisture (Side note: I did study biochemistry, I should have realized that it applied to my food the same way it did in my textbooks). I remember making the dough and thinking that it tasted delicious out of the bowl. I scooped them and put the trays in the oven. I ran upstairs to check my outfit for the fifteenth time. I came back down when the timer went off to find a soft mess. The cookies didn't really bake for the most part. The edges were a little firm, but you couldn't pick them up off the tray without them falling into pieces. Inedible, but at least the house smelled like fresh baked cookies instead of Cher's dilemma a la Clueless.


After my attempt went so badly, Neiman Marcus cookies sort of slipped out of my mind. I have made many cookies since then. Chocolate chip, sugar, thumbprint, pignoli… I didn't think those oatmeal chocolate chip cookies again until I saw this recipe for Vegan Marcus Cookies on Namely Marly. I needed to redeem my self of that terrible cookie failure right then and there. I couldn't wait until I had gone to the grocery store to buy the rest of the ingredients I needed, so I switched things out & halved the recipe to boot . They turned out so well. I am so happy she reminded me of that silly night and how much I have learned since then. You should make her recipe. I will let you know what tweaks I made, since my cookies look a little different than hers. Since I had run out, I replaced the corn starch with potato starch. I omitted the nuts (I just can't get behind pieces of nuts inside my cookies) and pared down the chocolate a little to make them a tad less sweet. I also used more grated chocolate than chocolate chips, since I had a small block of fancy chocolate in the cabinet for far too long.


Is there a recipe that has defeated you before that you have recently revisited or are planning to whip into shape soon? I'm always curious what confounds people. I had a friend recently tell me that her first cheesecake somehow exploded and potentially caught fire in the oven. But I know she is going to remedy that soon. I'm always stumped by the simple things, like perfect pudding & not-to-sweet vanilla buttercream. Here's to mastering it all, one recipe at a time.

Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

In the summer, I have a tendency to keep the bowl for my ice cream machine in the freezer as often as possible. This allows me to make ice cream as soon as the urge hits. Which happened late at night this past week. It was too hot in the house to even consider turning on the oven, and a popsicle or smoothie wasn't going to cut this craving. The fro-yo place closest by was already closed, and I knew it was time to learn to make it myself. I made chocolate, because that was the ingredient that I had on hand. But I am going to make it again with fruit (Raspberry with dark chocolate chunks?! Top of the to-do list).
I have been trying to eat a little less sugar at home while my recipe development at work is at a recent high. I have been working on a new gluten free product line, and while that's really exciting, it has led to several stomach aches from constantly nibbling on cookies and quick breads that I am in the process of tweaking. So this recipe has just enough sugar to take the bitter edge off the yogurt, but not enough to give you a sugar buzz.


Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
makes 1 quart

1 cup almond milk
9 ounces chocolate (I used Agostoni Gianduia)
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups yogurt (I used Amande almond yogurt)

In a small pan combine almond milk, chocolate, and sugar. On medium heat, stir frequently until the mixture is totally melted and smooth. Allow to cool several minutes and whisk into the yogurt. Chill batter before adding to your ice cream machine, freezing as directed.
If it is the middle of the night and you need your frozen yogurt now, then you could take a shortcut by simply throwing the almond milk, chocolate, and sugar in your blender and pureeing until as smooth as possible. Then you could add the yogurt and pulse is briefly before throwing this mixture directly into your ice cream machine. It will not be as smooth as the melted version, but you will save an hour or two & the little chocolate chunks you end up with aren't so bad. Not that I know from experience.

I used an unflavored almond yogurt which tastes much less sweet to me than the coconut yogurt I normally eat for breakfast. If you opt to use coconut yogurt in your fro-yo, you might not need to add any sugar at all. It's all about personal preference, but I like mine fairly tart. Also the chocolate that I used is hazelnut flavored, which lends a bit more kick to the yogurt. I am sure that it would be equally delicious with plain dark chocolate, but you could add some chopped hazelnuts to replicate the flavor I enjoyed & add a bit of texture. If it hadn't been near midnight when I was making this, I probably would have stirred in a few teaspoons of instant coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor.

Somebunny Wants Marshmallows

If you know Jenna then you are probably already sick of our love affair. Unfortunately for you, I am not. My best friend is finally coming to visit me in DC next week, and it is all I can do to continue to focus at work and not shout it from the rooftops. I am going to take her to all the very best spots (here's lookin' at you Malcolm X park) & encourage her to eat more food than humanly possible. I have a list going of all the things we have to do, but I also know that there is an 80% chance we will be too busy laying on my bed talking about all the little things we have missed in each other's live the last few months to actually accomplish them all! If you have ever been here, I am curious to hear what your favorite things about the District are. And if you are nearby but haven't visited the monuments after 10pm, then you are sorely missing out. Consider that fair warning.


Jenna happens to work for a lovely little all natural marshmallow company called Kerfluffles. Now that they have created endless magical flavors like strawberry shortcake and dreamsicle, they are working on their vegan recipe! I was so excited to get a sample of their first successful test batch. Keep in mind that these are purely experimental & could be totally different from where they end up in a few months, but they were delicious none the less. I had to remove the bag from Greg's hands so that I could save a few to melt in my hazelnut hot chocolate. I drank a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows made by my best friend, on my porch in a cool summer evening's rain storm. Things can't get much more dreamy than that.


I will be really excited to see more vegan marshmallows for sale. It's always nice to have multiple options! It's a luxury that I sometimes forget exists. Also can we talk about how cute their branding is? I couldn't help but break out my bunny bowls. It's the only thing I thought could rival their postcard in "aww" factor. Ya know, aside from all the disgusting pictures Jenna and I are gonna take together next week.

Tin Roof Sundae & Chocolate Milk

Aside from Just Like Honey & Ricemellow Creme, I have found a third product that I really love from Suzanne's, their Chocolate Rice Nectar . The easiest thing to liken it to is Hershey's syrup. It's thick and pourable. It's smooth and chocolatey and sweet. The best part is it doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup, potassium sorbate, vanillin, and other artificial flavors. Their rice nectar is just brown rice syrup and cocoa powder. It stirs into almond milk to make chocolate milk, much like Hershey's syrup. The chocolate syrup also makes a great topping, in case you too wanted to make a sundae. A tin roof sundae is generally vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and spanish peanuts. I didn't have any spanish peanuts around, so I just used what was lying around in my cabinets. I also used Luna & Larry's Vanilla Island coconut ice cream. It is currently my favorite store-bought vanilla ice cream. Homemade will always be better.


I know it's a little late for spring cleaning, but I have been feeling that urge strike me. Maybe it's just because people are moving in and out of my house again. Maybe it's because I am feeling a little too cluttered. Last night I finally hung up some of the artwork I have had leaning against a wall since January. This week I am hoping to clean out my closets and get rid of all the clothes I never wear anymore, or don't fit, or bought intending to alter but won't get to. I also want to clean out the kitchen cabinets and donate all the pans and dishes we don't need.
I feel like I have to purge a lot of my possessions about once a year to keep myself from gathering way too many unnecessary objects. In the last week I have been given a second ice cream machine and a milkshake machine! While neither of those are going anywhere, I also have at least one broken blender, a griddle I have never used, and two panini presses.
There is a shed full of bicycle parts that haven't seen daylight in years. They have been stacked in there with half used bottles of spray paint and gardening equipment since several seasons before I moved in. I am hoping to tackle it all. Let's hope I can keep up this motivation to get further than just reorganizing the spice rack again.

This week I have also cleaned up my Google Reader finally too. I decided to switch to Bloglovin, since I have heard a few dissapointing things about the way pictures look in Feedly. I pared down my reading list and am hoping to feel a little less overwhelmed when I unplug from my computer for a few days in a row. If you want to join me on Bloglovin, you can do so here!

Local Favorites: Charm School Chocolates

On Sunday, I told you that I have been having a rough month. I also wrote that post shortly after having a really rough morning. I intentionally didn't buy bagels or oatmeal or any breakfast foods, because I knew I had a loaf of bread that needed to be eaten. I woke up and made my coffee, got out the strawberry jam, and then realized some sneaky culprit had snatched my loaf of bread. I was livid. I walked around the kitchen for ten minutes trying to formulate some satisfactory breakfast options from the empty cabinets. The effort was futile. I wake up HUNGRY. And not eating within thirty minutes of getting out of bed, that feeling quickly turns into HANGRY. I put on jeans and shoes as quickly as possible to head to the nearest coffee shop for a bagel. While waiting in the brunch traffic to order my bagel, I saw these white chocolate crunch eggs. They were too cute, and I deserved a treat for being so patient while my stomach was grumbling so loudly.


I have seen Charm School Chocolate's products popping up in little baskets on the counter at Sticky Fingers for a few months now. I finally had a sugar craving that could only be satiated by a chocolate bar, and splurged one one. The white chocolate bar surpasses all vegan white chocolate I have had, including the stuff I have made at home. It's creamy and smooth without even a hint of waxiness. And in true form, there are flecks of vanilla bean dotting the bars. The eggs were the same chocolate as the bars, but contained brown rice cereal to add a layer of crunch that was really satisfying. And beautiful! They apparently also had chocolate peanut butter eggs earlier in the week, but I was too late to the party on those. I know a few people who got the Valentine's chocolate boxes they made and were blown away, you can see how beautiful they were for yourselves here. I can't wait to see what Charm School Chocolates comes up with next. I have been pretty keen on all their seasonal & holiday items, so I am sure there is much more to come.