Super Yummy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey everyone! This is Aaron writing this one. We figured that I should be the one to share this recipe being that I'm the one doing the baking. Yes it's true, I used totally dislike baking. I love cooking, but baking always intimidated me. Most likely because I was always watching Jenny bake, and she is really really good at. But sorta recently I got over my fear and started baking things whenever I got the chance. I really like the idea of Vegan Baking. It's really not all that different from traditional baking, but I love all of the creative substitutions that are used in vegan recipes. Namely, the "flax egg". To make a "flax egg" you just combine a certain amount of flax meal with a certain amount of water…whisk together, and let it sit until it thickens. This will take the place of an egg in most recipes. I know it's a simple concept, but it still impresses me (I'm a cheap date). And there is another big bonus to vegan baking…you can ALWAYS lick the batter bowl…never ever a chance of salmonella from raw eggs. :)

Anyway, we had a very flavorful dinner the other night and we needed to finish the evening with some chocolate. I found this awesome recipe for Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and within minutes I had the ingredients prepped and was popping the dough in the oven. There are lots of vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes out there, but Jenny and I can totally vouch for these. They're really really good, and they stay soft and moist. Lots of other chocolate chip cookies get hard, and I'm not really into that type of cookie. These were so easy to make, and we've already added them to our stack of reliable go-to recipes.

Here's what you need:

2 Tablespoons flax meal

3 Tablespoons water

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cups + 2 Tablespoons or 1 ¾ sticks Regular Vegan Butter or margarine, at room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

2 teaspoons molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350F, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1. First prepare your flax mixture, or what is often referred to as your "flax egg".

 In a small bowl whisk together the flax meal and the water. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes so the mixture thickens. 

2. Now it's time to combine the dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until well incorporated. Set aside.

3. In a separate large mixing bowl cream the Vegan Butter and sugar until well mixed. Then beat in your flax mixture from step 1, followed by the molasses and vanilla extract.

4. Now add your bowl of mixed dry ingredients into you larger bowl with the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Mix until combined. I used a wooden spoon, but being that the dough is pretty thick, you may want to use your hands to really get in there. Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Form the dough into 1 ½ inch sized balls. Space the balls out on the cookie sheets so that they're about 2 or 3 inches apart. You should get between 22 - 24 cookies. 

Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets halfway through the baking time. Being that they really don't turn golden brown, it's a good idea to keep a close eye on the clock. When they're done, take the cookie sheets out of the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheets for a few minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack.

The cookies will have a perfect, moist texture. We stored ours in an airtight container, and three days later they were still perfect.

Again, these cookies will definitely be in our regular rotation of trusted recipes. We hope you love them as much as we did! Thanks for reading!

xo, Aaron…and Jenny says hi!

Vegan Chai Spice Snickerdoodles

So Aaron, the self described non baker is now eating his words. Finally, I think he has to admit that not only is ok with baking…but it's a full-on hobby of his. He started with muffins, and soon they became a breakfast staple around here. Then he moved onto baking cookies (we gotta blog the amazing almond thumbprint cookies he made!), and last night he baked his first from-scratch cake! 

This recipe was one of his first attempts at from-scratch cookies. With Fall weather settling in it's the perfect time to warm up the house with fresh baked cookies. And the scent that filled our home and studio was better than even the best candle in the world could offer. The recipe comes from one of our favorite books: Isa Does It. This is a Vegan recipe, but I promise you that these could easily be a bake sale favorite! Or a fave at your local coffee shop. They bake up so incredibly perfect! I'd even say beautiful! Perfect texture and size! We love BIG cookies around here. This is the perfect cookie to have with a cup of coffee or tea. 

Here is Isa's recipe: (Aaron didn't change a thing)

For the topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch cloves

For the cookies:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons non-dairy milk (Aaron used almond milk)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the topping ingredients together on a dinner plate. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix together oil, sugar, syrup, and milk. Mix for at least a minute, until it resembles applesauce. Aaron believes this step was key…you really want to stir it all the way until it's the right texture. Then mix in vanilla.

Sift in remaining dry ingredients, stirring as you add them. Once all ingredients are added mix until you’ve got a pliable dough. Get in there with your hands to mix, it’s the easiest way to get the dough to come together.

With clean, moist hands, roll dough into walnut sized balls. Pat into the sugar topping to flatten into roughly 2 inch discs. Transfer to baking sheet, sugar side up, at least 2 inches apart (they do spread a little). This should be easy as the the bottom of the cookies should just stick to your fingers so you can just flip them over onto the baking sheet. (Aaron agrees with Isa…the formed cookies easily flip onto the cookie sheet.) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, they should be a bit browned on the bottoms. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

If you love snickerdoodles you'll love this unique take on a classic. You might be hesitant to add the cloves to the topping in the beginning, thinking that the taste might be overpowering…but it is not…these are sweet and delicious, and not "overly spiced" at all. 

Give them a try!! And check out Isa's blog for lots of amazing recipes!

Vegan Date Bars

The past 3 days with Lieutenant Dan here at home with us have been a dream. He already feels like Family...with a capital F. It feels like he's always been with us. We can't believe how much the little guy has already adapted to our daily routine. Carlos is loving having him around, and we couldn't be more happy about that. Zero aggression at the food bowl, and there doesn't seem to be any territory issues. We actually feel like Carlos has a sense of just how small and delicate Dan is.

But jeez, with all this dog stuff the week has flown by! We are doing our best to work on orders without being distracted by that cute little guy staring longingly at us. We want to just eat him up all day! We could go on and on...but this post is actually about baking! We were in the mood for something sweet, crumbly, and wholesome tasting. Something sweet that's mostly nuts, oats, and fruit. We had just picked up some dates on our last shopping trip and wanted them to be the base of whatever dessert we'd decide to bake. So we found this recipe for Vegan Date Bars and just had to give them a try!

We really didn't veer too far off course from the original recipe. Just slight adjustments. In the end they turned out to be exactly what we were craving. Sweet but not too sweet, crumbly, crusty, filling...and easy!

Here is what you will need:

lightly greased or sprayed 9" x 13" baking pan

Date filling:

2 cups pitted chopped dates

1/2 cup coconut sugar (we used light brown sugar instead)

1 1/4 cups water

1/2 cup almonds finely ground

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Crust:

3/4 cup vegan butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups Quick cooking oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

First, we prepared our filling. We chopped our dates into fine pieces in the food processor.

Then, in a skillet we added the chopped dates, the water, and the 1/2 cup of light brown sugar (again, feel free to use coconut sugar instead) Next, we stirred and cooked it over medium high heat. Then we turned the heat down a bit and cooked it until it thickened. Once thickened we added the vanilla and almond extracts, and the finely ground almonds. We stirred it until it looked like the pic above. Next, you'll transfer it to a bowl to cool for a bit.

Now for the crust. We creamed the vegan butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. We used our Kitchen Aid, but you can always use a hand mixer.

Next we added the flour, baking soda, and salt...and mixed it some more.

Then we added the oats and mixed well. Don't expect it to turn out like dough...it will be crumbly.

But the crumbly texture is exactly what you're looking for. Next you'll sprinkle half of the crust into your prepared pan. Then press it down with your fingers.

The next layer is the filling. It's pretty thick and sticky, so your best bet is to drop spoonfuls of it all around. Then you can use a spoon to smooth it out in an even layer over the entire bottom crust. Press and spread carefully so that you don't pull up the bottom crust. 

Then cover the filling with the remaining crust mixture and press down. You'll pop this in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Then remove and let cool for about 5 minutes. Then cut into squares while still warm.

They really turned out great. We think there is a perfect ratio of sweet filling to nutty/oaty, just-ever-so-slightly salted crust. We have them stored in an air tight container in the fridge. We each ate one first at room temperature and then today had one straight from the fridge...and both of us liked the chilled version even better. The original recipe says they freeze well, and can thaw on the counter for an hour. Aaron's mom had one with coffee and said it was perfect. 

We highly recommend these! I was just about to try to formulate some terrible pun/joke about not having to go out to a Bar for a Date...that you could stay home and have the Date in the Bar or whatever...terrible idea...but too late now! Anyway...enjoy some Vegan Date Bars! They are no joke! derp.

xo, Jenny & Aaron

and Carlos and Lieutenant Dan