Lemony poppy seed shortbread cookies

Only two weeks to go before Christmas. I thought it would be a good idea to do some baking, since that is what I love so much about the holidays! I also really love vegan shortbread cookies, these are easy to make with only 4 ingredients! You can add things like I did... poppy seed and lemon zest, maybe even some crushed up candy cane would be nice.

Vegan Shortbread Cookies

1 cup vegan butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325
Using an electric mixer beat butter and sugar. Slowly add the flour and salt. If it seems a little dry add a tbsp of rice/soy milk. Roll out and cut into shapes. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

White chocolate cranberry cookies

I made these white chocolate peanut butter cranberry coconut oatmeal cookies ( that is a mouthful) early this afternoon. Sometimes I don't always have ingredients to make things I am craving....chocolate chips. I really didn't feel like driving to the store. So I rummaged around in the cupboard until I found things that might be tasty, when mixed together.

Jonathan bought me some white chocolate wonderful a few months back. It has been pushed to the back, only because we pretty much devoured the whole jar, except for the bottom part. You know when you get to the end of the container, but you keep it thinking that you might be able to scrape a good 1/2 cup worth? Well..I DID, and it turned into these!!


White chocolate cranberry cookies

3/4 cup earth balance coconut spread
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 egg replacements ( I used Ener-G)
1/2 cup white chocolate wonderful peanut butter
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350
With a mixer beat coconut spread with sugar, add vanilla and egg replacements
Continue beating until fluffy. Add the white chocolate wonderful.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients with mixer. Until well combined
Roll into balls and squish down. Bake for 9-10 minutes.
Allow to cool before storing.

Bake a little love

lemon sugar cookies

I made these for Leeluu's preschool valentines party tomorrow. Did you ever make the little paper bag mailboxes in school? I did. It was fun. We made some cards so she can deliver them to all her friends.

I have a menu plan for tomorrow evening..I am making ravioli and some kind of raw dessert.  What are your plans for valentines day, do you eat in or dine out?

Peanut buttah cookies

It's peanut butter jelly time!

Although it may seem as if I rarely eat vegetables, I can assure you that I do. Hahaha (: Peanut butter cookies are my dad's favourite, so even though he is on the other side of the country, these are for you, Dad!

These cookies were simple and quick to make and they are super squishy and delicious.


Peanut buttah cookies

1/2 cup earth balance butter
3/4 cup cane sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Ener-G egg replacements
1 1/4 cup peanut butter- smooth

11/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350
With an electric mixer beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add egg replacement and peanut butter. Continue mixing, adding flour,soda and salt. Once dough forms, roll into balls, place on a cookie sheet and squish down with a fork.
Bake for 10 minutes. allow to cool and consume with a glass of cold milk (non-dairy).

Walnut crescent cookies

walnut crescent cookies

Melt in your mouth goodness, these buttery walnut cookies are similar to that of shortbreads. Perfect for holiday sharing!

1 cup earth balance vegan butter
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tbsp vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup walnuts- toasted and ground

1/2 cup icing sugar

With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy.
Add the vanilla and mix.
Pour in the flour and mix until combined.
Add milk and walnuts. Mix until dough forms.
Place in the fridge for 1 hour or so.
On a cookie sheet, form into crescent shapes.
Bake for 15 minutes at 350.
Allow to cool and dip into icing sugar.

Vegan ginger cookies

These cookies are chewy on the inside with a crispiness around the edge. Depending on if you are super into ginger or not you can adjust the spice to your liking. I like mine super gingery :)

Vegan Ginger Cookies 
-adapted from Allrecipes.com
makes 18 cookies

1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 Ener-G egg replacement
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 cup raw sugar

Preheat oven to 345
With a mixer, combine shortening, oil, sugar, molasses and egg replacement. Beat until fluffy. Add dry ingredients. Mix until well combined.
Roll into golf sized balls, squish and dip top into raw sugar and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes.

Roots: vegan oatcake cookies

Living in Nova Scotia, there are things that you learn to appreciate. The humble oatcake cookie is one of  those things. Not quite a shortbread, and not an oatmeal cookie yet as much if not more tastier.

I find these in most bakeries and cafes across the province. These cookies have Scottish roots. Thinking there must be butter and egg in these....but nope just good ol'fashion shortening!

2 cups oats
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup hot water

Combine dry ingredients together in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, blend in the shortening until crumbly. Add hot water and form into a ball. Roll out dough and cut into rounds. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Chocolate chip coconut oat cookies

chocolate chip coconut oat cookies

It's a little harder to find time to blog lately and with vegan MOFO in full swing!! Not wanting to let the vegan team down I thought a simple cookie recipe would do the trick.

I have made these cookies twice this week. The first time I just wanted a classic chocolate chip cookie but realized I didn't have enough flour so I had to add some oats, realizing that I didn't have any rolled oats (we needed groceries badly) I used Leeluu's quick oats that she has for breakfast. Oats in the cookies... at this point I was ready to add other things, so coconut did the job.  They didn't last long, that must mean there good.


1/2 cup earth balance
1 1/4 cup organic brown sugar
1/4 cup sunflower oil
2 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 6 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 tbsp non dairy milk

Preheat oven to 350
Beat up butter and oil with sugar, add flax and vanilla.
Mix in dry ingredients. Beat until dough forms, add the milk.
Roll into balls and squish down on a foil lined pan.
Bake for 11 minutes.

Simone 1 week

Sugar cookies

This is an exciting month for vegan food bloggers everywhere because its VEGAN MOFO! I am super stoked to find a bunch of new blogs to read and recipes try out, along with the old timers. I don't have a theme because I am not that organized.  Just going to wing it and post as much as possible. I am having a baby in two weeks so hopefully everything goes well and I am able to post about my experience in raising a vegan family.

Leeluu has been bugging me to make some pumpkin cookies after she found the cookie cutter in the drawer. I could of eaten them without the icing... the cookies sorta taste like shortbreads. There is a basic sugar cookie recipe floating around, so I made it without the tofutti cream cheese. I just cut back on the flour a bit, so that the dough wouldn't be too dry.

1 cup earth balance butter
1 cup organic cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg replacements
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, add vanilla and egg replacement. Continue beating until mixed up.
Mix flour, powder and salt together in a bowl. Add it to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time. Mix until cookie dough is formed. Place dough on floured counter top, form into a big ball, cut in half and press into patties.
Refrigerate for 1 hour or so. Roll onto floured surface, cut out shapes. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.

For the icing.

Mix up 1 cup of icing sugar with 2-4 tbsp almond milk. Stir it up until it is smooth. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla, and a 1/2 tsp of almond extract. I used an orange gel food coloring, a very small amount goes along way! Dip a toothpick or the end of a sharp knife and run it through the icing mixture. Stir that up. Spoon onto cookies. The stem is a chocolate chip!

Sunflower, oats and chocolate chunk cookie

 

Now that I have my kitchen I have been cooking up a storm. I made these cookies and the kid kept asking "one more". I guess that means she liked them :)

Sunflower, oats and chocolate chunk cookie

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup earth balance- melted

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup almond milk

1- 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 375

Combine wet ingredients in a bowl.

Stir in dry ingredients.

Mix into a dough, form into balls.

Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and press down.

Bake for 10 minutes in the oven.

Classic peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies

Sunday morning peanut butter & chocolate cookie craving. Need I say more? It is an experience to bake and cook with no counter top or sink, but I have been managing. Its sorta like camping, except you don't have to stash the food in the car.

This recipe is adapted from food.com.

Classic peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies
makes about 26 cookies

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar- I used organic cane- but brown would be nice too
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup soy milk
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375
With an electric mixer blend the first 5 ingredients until creamy.
Pour in the flour, soda, and salt.
Mix until well combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Roll into golf size balls, place on a baking tray.
Squish down with a floured fork.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.



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Maple syrup animal cookies

Fun for the kids and easy to make! This recipe makes about 3 trays of cookies, if your cookie cutters are small. This recipe is from Domestic Affair, I really like how simple it is.This time I didn't add the flax seeds or the spelt flour. Just roll them out and cut out fun shapes. Watch out they go fast!

 

The quest for the ultimate vegan chocolate chip cookie

Let me start out by saying that this is by far the best vegan chocolate chip cookie I have made...EVER!

Usually I find myself returning to the same old recipe because I know it works, but there was always something missing. I like my chocolate chip cookie soft, with a little crisp on the edge.

To get this its all about the cooking of the cookie. Which is why I have experimented with how long the cookie is in the oven for. I use to put them in for 12 minutes, and always came out crunchier then I liked. Reducing the time down to 9 minutes, they might look under done, but trust me, pull them out and let them cool on the pan for 3 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

I tweaked this recipe that I found on vegweb.com and watched a few youtube videos, that is where I got the idea to add the molasses. Which is what I think was totally missing.

I will be selling these cookies at the market tomorrow (among other yummy treats), so come by and taste one! 2304 Hunter Street in Halifax (the corner of Hunter and Cunard)

2 cups flour
1 cup organic sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup veggie oil
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp black strap molasses

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
In a smaller mixing bowl combine wet ingredients.
Pour wet into dry and mix with a wooden spoon, until mixed up good.(I used my hands to really get it mixed up).
Roll into balls and squish down with the your fingers on a parchment lined pan.
Bake in the oven for 9 minutes. (this is the best for my oven, you might need to experiment with the timing on yours, every oven heats differently :)

Coconut Chocolate Macaroons

The good  folks at Tropical Traditions sent me a big jar of  Virgin Coconut Oil to sample. When the mail person delivered it to my door this morning I quickly opened the box, then the jar... took a sniff and stuck my finger into the thick coconut goop, tasted it YUM!

I love coconut, but I have never worked with coconut oil before. It sort of  reminds me of sun tan lotion:P  This is my first recipe. I wanted to keep that amazing coconut flavor. Rummaged through my cupboards and decided to make coconut macaroons, with a little chocolate flare:P  This is not to be mistaken for the french macaron, that I have been seeing all over the blog world.  Which is probably why I made these...subliminal messaging (must make macaron:P)

• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1//4 cup soy milk-(if I had almond I would of used it)
• 2 tbsp Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil-melted

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Mix wet ingredients in a seperate bowl.
Combine the two together. Stir it up.
Spoon onto a parchment papered baking sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Maple Flax Cookies

The weather hasn't been that great in my neck of the woods lately, very windy and rain/snow brrrr. I am getting excited for the weather to warm up. I am starting my tomato seeds next week! I have never had a yard veggie garden but I have been reading a lot about it and one of my friends told me she grew flax. Not that she got a big crop, apparently the flowers that the plant produces are very pretty.

We just bought a big bottle of maple syrup, and I have a huge jar of flax kicking around, and I remembered this recipe from domesticaffair.ca, this is one of my new favorite cookies! I didn't have spelt flour, I just used organic unbleached white flour.

                                              info about flax

After School Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

After school my kid has one thing on her mind...SNACKS!!
Who doesn't love coming home to the smell of  freshly baked cookies?

I feel very lucky to stay home a watch my kids grow up.

•  1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup sunflower oil
• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 1 cup cane sugar
• 2 tbsp ground flax seed-mixed with 6 tbsp boiling water
• 2 1/2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup raisins

Mix flour, soda, salt together.
In a separate bowl mix oil, milk, sugar, flax goo.
Add the wet to the dry mix well, add the oats and raisins.
Mix well.
Roll into balls and squish flat. Bake at 350 oven for 13 minutes

Peanut Butter Cookies

I was craving something sweet. These did the trick!


1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup cane sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
4 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp apple sauce
1 tbsp molasses
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp almond milk

With an electric mixer cream butter and shortening together, add sugar. Blend until light and fluffy.
Add peanut butter, syrup, apple sauce, molasses, mix together.
Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix together, add milk towards the end, just to bind it.

On a baking sheet, roll dough  into balls (a little smaller then a golf ball) and press down with a floured fork. Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes.
(even if they don't look done, pull them out and let them cool, for a soft chewy cookie)

Chocolate chunk cookies

I have always had a weakness for cookies, and becoming vegan has not had an impact on my love for them<3. Actually making cookies vegan is more economical for your pocket.

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup cane sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup water
• dark chocolate- chopped

(I like the presidents choice 70% bars, they run for about $3.50 and you can easily get two batches of cookies.)

In a large bowl mix together flour, soda,salt and cornstarch.
In a medium sized bowl mix sugar, oil, vanilla and water.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix it up, add chocolate.
Mix until it forms a dough like texture.
On a foil lined pan, roll into rounds, squish down and place a piece of chocolate on top.
Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes.