Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Choc Chips.

I had some left over mashed some pumpkin after making the Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf from the Post Punk Kitchen website (it was delicious by the way but I forgot to photograph it).

So the next day I decided to try these Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies (also from the Post Punk Kitchen).  I made a half batch (as I only had half a cup of mashed pumpkin) but it still made heaps of cookies.  I think you would only want to make a full batch if you planned on sharing them.  As this batch was eaten entirely by Dear Husband and myself, half the amount was definitely enough!

The only changes I made to the recipe were to leave out the flax seeds (I didn't have any), substitute the walnuts for choc chips and to add 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.  The result was quite yummy but my cookies turned out quite soft and cakey. Like a cross between a cookie and a scone - but quite delicious.  I think they would be great with the walnuts too but I was more in the mood for chocolate than walnuts at the time.  I plan to try them with the flax seeds next time.

Midnight Cookies

Last night after watching the movie "Morning Glory" (which I really enjoyed despite having never heard of it before last night and it being pretty predictable), my husband and I had a hankering for donuts.  One of the last scenes involves a grizzly Harrison Ford, actually, I won't describe the scene in case you haven't seen it and want to watch it.  Our internet searching brought up some yummy sounding recipes for vegan donuts, but unfortunately I did not have a full compliment of ingredients for any of the recipes :(

However, by that time the urge to bake and eat was too strong so I had to make something.  What could I bake at midnight with the contents of my pantry?  The recipe I came up with is loosely based on Afghan biscuits - which by the way apparently originated in New Zealand.   Why are they called Afghans?  I dunno.   Internet searching throws up a few possibilities as to why - none of which seem very PC.  First Anzacs, now Afghans.  How awful!  What will I be baking next!

Well, as my cookies have a few significant differences I have taken the liberty of renaming them Midnight Cookies in honor of the ideal time to bake them.  I am sure you could make some changes depending on what is in your pantry when the craving strikes eg throw in some nuts instead of the sultanas or coconut.

Midnight Cookies
Makes about 22 cookies

Ingredients:
150g margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup soy milk
1 cup plain flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sultanas

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180oC
2. Line two trays with baking paper.
3. Beat the margarine and sugar until fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla essence and soy milk and beat well.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with metal spoon until just combined.
6. Drop tablespoon sized blobs onto the lined baking trays.  They will not spread much at all so you can space them pretty close. 
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on how moist vs crunchy you want them to be.
8. Allow to cool.
9. If you want to (and you have some in your pantry) add a dollop of melted vegan chocolate to the top of each cookie. 
10. Grab a glass of cold soy milk and enjoy!

For the chocolate on top of my cookies I melted 6 pieces of Sweet William dairy free chocolate from the multipack with a dash of canola oil.  If you are melting chocolate in the microwave be very careful not to overdo it or you will ruin the chocolate.  Make sure that your bowl and stirring spoon are very clean.  I do it in spurts of 30-45 seconds stirring after each blast.  Adding a dash of oil helps to keep it smooth and makes it easier to spread.

NB - the photos were taken this morning.  Not very good that there are only 8 biscuits left - considering I made 22 last night and there were only 2 of us here to eat them last night.

Actually make that only 6 biscuits left!

Anzac Slice

I love Anzac biscuits, they are just so delicious in all their golden syrupy, chewy glory.  Chewy because that is how I like them - out of the oven in no more than 18 minutes.  Revered since childhood in Australia and New Zealand because of the association with brave soldiers who we pictured as carrying them around in biscuit tins.

It might seem like a strange choice for a moderate pacifist.  But it is an obvious choice for a vegan - the recipe never included eggs due to war time scarcity.  And of course it is very simple to replace the butter with vegan margarine.

For this batch I ditched the coconut, reduced the sugar and added some nuts, seeds and dried fruit.  I squished the mixture all down in a tin rather than forming separate biscuits.

I was enjoying them all the more because I was kidding myself that they are somewhat healthy.  Hmmm.  I don't like my shiny new kitchen scales anymore.  Heartless tool of scientific inquiry!

I cut the slice into 24 squares resulting in the following nutritional data per serving:

• 710 Kj = 170cal 
• 3.3g Protein
• 9.9g Fat
• 17.4g Carbs
• 9.1g Sugars

And, I might add, calculating the values for each of the ingredients took considerably longer than I had expected.

Oh well, at least the nutritional value of the slice is much higher than chocolate cake.  There is a good range of proteins, some fibre and zero cholesterol (as in all vegan food).  Well, that's me convinced - might just have another one now with a cup of tea!

If you want to try making them, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup seeds
1 cup dried fruit
1 cup nuts
125g margarine
1/3 cup golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

For the slice pictured I used:
Seeds - 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and 1/4 cup each of sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds
Dried Fruit - 1/2 cup each of sultanas and cranberries
Nuts - 1/2 cup each of walnut pieces and slivered almonds

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180oC.
2. Grease and/or line a baking tray with baking paper.  I used a rectangular 30cm x 20cm tray.
3. Lightly toast the seeds under a grill. 
4. Combine all the ingredients except the last 3 in a bowl, mix well and form a well in the centre.
5. Place the margarine and golden syrup in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until melted.
6. Dissolve the bicarb in 1 tablespoon of boiling water and then pour into the melted margarine mixture.  It will froth up (This is my favourite bit!)  Immediately pour this into the dry ingredients and mix well.
7. Press down well into the tray
8. Bake for 18 minutes, or longer if you would like a more crispy slice.
9. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then slice into squares.  Allow to cool fully before removing from the tray if you can (my husband and I tend to eat at least 2 squares worth each while it is still in the tray).

Ginger Kisses

I fell in love with ginger kisses while living in New Zealand.  But then one fateful day I bothered to read the ingredients and was disappointed to see they contained "animal fat".  This imprecise description could mean that the fat came from just about any animal.  And it almost certainly indicates inhumane and disgusting slaughter house practices.  Yuck!!!!  So I have been meaning to try making my own for years.  

Warning!!  This recipe is:
- unhealthy

- addictive

My next sweet vegan recipe will be far healthier.  Promise.  I am thinking maybe a protein pumped version of Anzacs with some nuts and seeds.

I spent a lot of time over a couple of days reading about ginger kisses on line.  (Embarrassing really!)  So I garnered clues from lots of sites.  The recipe that I followed mostly is here.  And for help with veganifying it (ie replacing the eggs) I decided on a suggestion on the PETA website.

Vegan Ginger Kisses:

Makes about 24 complete kisses.

Ingredients 

185gm non-dairy margarine (⅜ of tub)
⅔ cup brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
3 tablespoons* (60ml) of water
2 tablespoons (40ml) oil - I used canola
¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Beat the margarine until soft.  Add the next 5 ingredients and beat on high speed until fluffy.
3. Sift together the 4 dry ingredients.
4. The gradually add the dry ingredients to the marg mix and beat on low speed.  I sifted the dry ingredients again as I added them.
5. Shape into half walnut sized balls.  If you want to roll them into balls you might need to refrigerate the dough for ~20 minutes.  And if you want to press down with a fork you may need to dip the fork in flour to stop it from sticking.
6. Bake for ~ 8 minutes.  Do not over cook. 
7. When cool sandwich together with mock vanilla cream filling.
8. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving. 

I often don't bother to sift ingredients, which for some recipes is ok.  But sometimes sifting will make a big difference.  I think that the double sifting probably adds to the lightness of these cookies.  So I suggest you take the time to sift in this case.

Vanilla Cream Filling 

Ingredients:
65gm margarine (⅛ of a tub)
1½  cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 tablespoon soy milk

Method:

1. Beat the butter on high speed until soft.

2. Add the soy milk and vanilla essense and beat until fluffy.

3. Add the icing sugar and whip the hell out of it.

I tried a few different ways of shaping my cookies, including piping them.  But the pipped ones were fussy, messy and frankly looked a bit too much like doggy do-do.

Blobs - shaped using two spoons and then a little patting to smooth them a little. 

Rolled into balls, flattened and marked with a fork.  I liked these best.

The ginger kisses are still delicious before refrigerating.  I know this because I ate 2 at this stage - greedy, greedy!  But they were a little more like a melting moment (ginger moments?).  After a few hours in the fridge they acquire a softer, moister, more cakey texture which is more similar to the traditional kiwi ginger kisses.

 

*An Australian tablespoon is 20ml, as opposed to everywhere else in the world where a tablespoon is 15ml.  We like things big in Aus!   :)

Sassy Shortbread Cookies with Nephews.

Two of my adorable nephews came to stay for a sleep over.  So of course we baked!  We always bake with Aunty Mandy - the difference this time is that it was vegan baking.

With a 6 and 7 year old at work I did not think it would be a good idea to experiment with a recipe of my own designing so we used this one: Sassy Shortbread Cookies.  However we did find that we needed to add a some extra flour (about half a cup) to make it into a workable consistency for little fingers.

I am not sure what is meant by "not tub margarine" in the recipe, but I used half of a tub (i.e. 250gm) of Nuttelex light and it seemed to work just fine.  Although come to think of it, maybe that is why we needed the extra flour.

Here is some photos of our fun afternoon.  My kitchen looked like a disaster zone by the time we finished, with sticky finger prints everywhere.  But it was definitely worth it!

The kitchen is still pretty clean at this stage.

Let the mess making begin!

That's just how I roll...

Zach: "I am just like a real chef!"

Ready to go into the oven.  I love Sam's skater complete
with knee pads, and Zach's shooting star.

Getting creative with icing and sprinkles.

The finished product.  We are so proud of ourselves!

Yum!

Cheers to a job well done!

Chewy Cherry Ripe Cookies

A friend made these for book club a few months ago.  There were so delicious that I asked for the recipe and have been planning to make them for ages.  Apparently I needed the motivating kick of my vegan apprenticeship to finally do so!

I am not really sure what the etiquette/copyright is of publishing recipes, but I guess it is okay if the original source is acknowledged.  Anyway, this is more for my own records and perhaps no-one else will ever read it.

My friend based his offering on “Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies” on p 234 of Veganomicon by
Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  He morphed the cookies into a cherry ripe version.  Apparently inspired by me telling him that Cherry Ripes have gelatine.  (What!  Cherry Ripes have gelatine!  But why do they have to go ruining something so yummy by including gelatine you may ask?  Beats me!!!)

I stuck pretty closely to my friends version, but upped the cherries a little, and the cherry jam, and downed the sugar.  Result:  YUMMO!  Chocolate craving satisfied!

Ingredients:
16 glacé cherries, chopped into quarters
1/2 cup cherry jam
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon almond essence
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup cocoa
1 & 1/3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup dessicated coconut

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Combine dry ingredients (excluding the sugar)
3. In a separate bowl combine all the "wet" ingredients and the sugar.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing with a wooden spoon as you go.
5. Roll into walnut sized balls and press down with a fork on a lined baking tray.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool for 10 minute (if you can resist for that long!)