Holiday Cookies

Tonight and tomorrow are some of the busiest cookie-making days of the year. There's not too many days besides Christmas Eve that absolutely require a plate of cookies. Since I'm not working in a bakery mass-producing thousands of cookies this year, I decided to switch up the standard mix of gingerbread, snickerdoodles, spritz, and sugar cookies to include my favorite winter flavor: soy nog! I made these eggnog snickerdoodles from Amy's Healthy Baking using Silk Nog and adding some extra spices to both the batter and the spiced sugar because that's how I roll (insert bad joke drum roll here). I have a half a carton of soy nog left, and I'm hoping to make another soy nog cheesecake before I slowly sip away at it in the middle of the night.


I also decided that I couldn't forego classical cookies all the way, especially when making a new recipe (I mean you gotta have a fail-safe) so I made gingerbread mittens with my top secret recipe. My lips are sealed on this one and I don't think I will ever share it, but the recipe from the PPK is a very solid option if you don't have a top secret recipe of your own yet. Decorating gingerbread cookies is easily the best part of the holidays, so make sure to gather all your nearest & dearest to frost, sprinkle & snack. Happy holidays everyone!

S'mores Puppy Chow

It's crunch time! There's just a few more days left to get all those presents bought and wrapped for locals, and if you haven't gotten everything in the mail than you better overnight it to get there in time! In the craziness of the holidays, maybe you don't have time to bake anything super special but want a treat for an evening with friends or family. This s'mores puppy chow from Sally's Baking Addiction is easy peasy to veganize. Just grab a bag of Dandies mini marshmallows and everything else is pretty straight forward. You'll have your crunchy, sweet treat in less than 20 minutes.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Post-move I have been trying to reduce the amount of baking supplies I hoard. I found a pre-made Oreo crust at the very bottom of my box of supplies and knew it had been there for so long that I didn't remotely have a clue how old it was. A chocolate cookie crust called for one thing, pudding pie. Chocolate pudding pie is a tried & true classic. I have blogged about it before, so it's not enough to warrant a new post. However this time around I used So Delicious's new coconut whipped topping. While I think it tastes remarkably like Cool Whip, the texture was a little off for me. It was very heavy and quite hard to spread on top of the pie even though I had let it thaw overnight in the fridge & then beat it for several minutes to try to make it fluffier. I think if it were something that I was going to pipe whipped cream onto, it would be perfect for that & probably hold it's shape remarkably well. I have another tub in the freezer and a few more ideas for what I am going to do with it next.


Every year in DC my friend's host a vegan Thanksgiving dessert potluck. After 9pm once we have all gotten through dinners with our friends & family and maybe foraged through the meal to find the bits & bobs that are vegan, we get together to eat dessert together. Since I spent the last few years up to my knees in pie every holiday season, I decided to take a new route for the dessert potluck this year. I made an apple gingerbread bundt cake, tweaked from the apple cider cake recipe on Pickles & Honey. It went too quickly for me to photograph well. However, in my post-food coma I was wise enough to grab a few of the cookies I made to snap a photo of the next day. I saw these maple walnut cookies during Vegan MoFo on Shannon's blog. I decided to fore-go the frosting since there would be so many desserts and opted for a maple glaze & sprinkles instead.


Greg was in Europe for two weeks and while he was kind enough to bring me back German chocolate bars that are more amazing than I could have even expected, I also got a little stir crazy. I used that momentum to buy a bus ticket to New York and convinced my friend Melanie to go with me. Despite walking around in the pouring rain for almost 8 hours in a city that neither of us are fond of, we had a pretty nice day. I got an amazing hot dog made solely of root vegetables and then topped with more pickled vegetables and a kale caesar salad from Yeah Dawg. But most importantly and the sole purpose for the trip, I got a dozen macarons. Sweet Maresa's released her winter flavors, and I knew I needed to try them. Pictured are hot chocolate, gingerbread, black licorice, carrot cake, caramel pecan, and pistachio. All phenomenal, but I think the gingerbread macaron is one of my new favorites.
I have also fallen pretty under the spell of copper lately. I bought my first copper pan because it was beautiful and not too expensive. Greg's mom, who is an amazing hunter of antique & vintage goods, was kind enough to buy me these copper pots & pans. Just look at that double boiler! A very good start to my newest collection.


And almost a whole year after they were posted in Kristy's cookie swap, I finally made the gluten free turtle cookies I bookmarked. Considering that we are now almost halfway through this year's cookie swap, one could say that I am a little behind in my pleasure baking. I'm going to an in-life cookie swap this weekend, and I am struggling to try and figure out what I want to make. I have tossed around many ideas. Traditionally I feel like I should make gingerbread or snickerdoodles or maybe some snowflake & mitten sugar cookies. But I think I might mix it up. Maybe eggnog cookies? I made a batch of pistachio pudding cookies that I want to tweak and make a little better, so that might be a good option. The pressure of making something with no restrictions whatsoever. It's almost overwhelming.


One of my main routines since my move to Philadelphia has been drinking too much coffee and eating doughnuts. Dottie's Donuts has been growing super rapidly. Originally wholesaling on the weekends to a few coffeeshops, they have now expanded to 6 days a week and are being carried at so many shops! While my favorite is the classic cinnamon sugar, Dottie's really specializes in their interesting flavor combinations. The donut shown here was a Little Baby's exclusive with a glaze of Little Baby's smoked cinnamon ice cream, chocolate drizzle, and waffle cone chunks. Other favorites have included horchata, apple cider, and sweet potato. But they just keep cranking out amazing flavors like Silk nog and cranberry tangerine. If you are in the Philly area and haven't tried these doughnuts yet, you are really messing up.

Caramel Apple Puppy Chow

Memory works in mysterious ways. I have always been a person who associates a specific event or person or book with a food. While some of this might make sense, let's say associating waffles with Parks & Recreation. I mean it's not possible to watch more than two or three episodes of Parks & Rec without craving a waffle, am I right?! However, some of these associations are a little more ambiguous. For example, I associate Gilmore Girls with puppy chow. Puppy chow, muddy buddies, sweet minglers, whatever you call it. I don't make this link because Lorelai or Rory ever ate puppy chow or mentioned puppy chow ever in seven years of the show, but solely because I ate a whole batch of it while I watched the last episode of Gilmore Girls at the end of my freshman year of college. So when Gilmore Girls got added to Netflix, I started craving puppy chow. I restrained myself for a few weeks or maybe even a few months, but I finally caved and fell back in love with the crunchy, sickeningly sweet, totally addictive snack. If you haven't ever made it, you need to because it's simply & satisfying & combines three of my favorite things: chocolate, peanut butter, & breakfast cereal. Here's the Chex official recipe for basic puppy chow.


Once I knew that I was heading to the store solely to stock up on boxes of Chex cereal and towards that slippery snack slope, I started stumbling around the internet looking for variations on puppy chow. I found this recipe for caramel apple puppy chow from The Smart Kitchen Blog. I knew I had vegan butterscotch chips tucked away in my baking supplies and decided it was time to pull it out. If you haven't ever had the need for butterscotch chips before, the King David brand is vegan & can be found here. I modified her recipe a bit. Leaving out the coconut oil and adding peanut butter like classic puppy chow. This made the coating really thick and helped cut the cinnamon flavor on the cereal a tiny bit more. I am not entirely sure that this puppy chow is caramel apple flavored. But it's great, so don't question it and just go with it. I mean just look at the picture below. That bowl was all that was left in the morning after a movie spree. And I had to turn a few of those leaves over because I got powdered sugar on them picking pieces that "didn't look right" out of the bowl while I was snapping the pictures.



Caramel Apple Puppy Chow

1 box Apple Cinnamon Chex cereal
10 oz butterscotch chips
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar to coat

Pour your cereal into a large mixing bowl. In a saucepan, melt the butterscotch chips and peanut butter. Add this mixture to the cereal and fold until covered. Allow cereal to cool for a few minutes. In a larger tupperware container or in gallon ziplock bags, combine the cereal and powdered sugar. Shake really well. Let totally cool and then try to not eat the whole batch in one sitting. It's easier if you aren't watching Gilmore Girls.

Pavlova

These tiny pavlovas are a summer hold-over. Another small glimpse of warmth that I have been waiting to delve into. It's the season of apples and pumpkin and cinnamon and pecans and though I have happily been drinking cider and eating pumpkin bread these last few weeks, I'm not ready to wait for another year for fresh strawberries & sunshine until 7pm. But alas, this is the last summer baking that I did in 2014. I baked the meringues early in the morning on a day off using a recipe from Hannah Kaminsky's Vegan Desserts. A friend came over in the afternoon with beautiful farm-fresh berries. We watched About Time, and even though I had seen it before I quietly cried through most of it. And then I dried my tears and made the whipped cream and we assembled the loveliest baby pavlovas. Small and light enough to not feel weighed down in the summer heat. Simple enough to allow the ripe fruit to shine. Glorious. I could write them a love song, and it still wouldn't be enough.


We took a drive out of the city an hour for an apple festival. We bundled up and drank cider that was pressed right in front of us and then warmed in an older copper pot. The leaves made the hills yellow & red & burnt orange. With every gust of wind more leaves blew down, landing in my hair and sticking to my shoes. It was all so right & fleeting & we had to traipse around the little town for an extra hour because there's only so much more time before it's too cold and wet and icy to be outdoors for any longer than a quick run to the trolley. And on cool, rainy days like these it's easy to remember that winter isn't so bad with blankets and pots of tea and Love Actually streaming endlessly. Here's to making the most, no matter the time of year.

S'mores Macarons

I have been having trouble letting go of summer. I keep going outside without enough layers to keep me warm. Pretending that a cardigan or a sweater will be enough. I am not ready for these short, short, short days and all the darkness. My bones shake at the thought of snow. Winter is always a rough time for me. I have the tendency to hide in my bedroom and ignore the encouragements of friends to go out. I just want to burrow under blankets and watch endless hours of TV and not come out of my sad stupor until the spring. I am fighting these early signs of seasonal anxiety. Walking around outside, even if if just for a few minutes, to try and soak up as much vitamin D as I can. Remembering to wear socks & a scarf, and tucking an extra layer in my bag even if I think I won't need it. Avoiding sad music and books and films. Reaching out to friends and holding myself accountable for keeping all the dates I schedule. Writing postcards and quick notes to all the friends I miss, scattered across the country, to let them know just how important they all are to me.


These s'mores macarons were a going away present from my former housemate Carrie. She moved to Brooklyn right before I left DC, and sent these during a really stressful time. It's always such a nice surprise to have a really thoughtful gift show up. I have been obsessed with Maresa's macarons for some time and have written about them before here. I gushed about them repeatedly and convinced Carrie to split at least one order from their shop with me. I didn't think the almond macaron could be topped, but this s'mac was quite possibly the best treat I have ever eaten. They are charcoal shells, filled with toasted marshmallow, dipped in chocolate, and then sprinkled with cinnamon & molasses infused graham crumble. Maresa isn't shipping these delicate babies, so you'll have to visit New Paltz or head out to a Vegan Shop-Up to be graced with this particular piece of heaven. However, you can order all sorts of other magical flavors of macarons on the Lagusta's Luscious website! Now that I'm a few hours closer to the shop, I am planning a trip as soon as I can. Probably on a Tuesday so I can snag an eclair too!

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.