September 11, 2018 by betsy

Single Vegan Microwave Chewy Ginger Cookie

For the first day of school this year, I made my Advanced Placement and Advanced Art students my favorite autumnal cookie: chewy Lemon – Ginger cookies. A hit! Even picky Bob loves them.

So, with Hurricane Florence bearing down on us and the likelihood of widespread power outages (read: only being able to use the microwave with our generator), I decided I better quickly test my formula for a ginger version of my single vegan microwave cookies.

It worked beautifully. These aren’t as big as my others because they lack chocolate chips and/or nuts. So count on this serving just one person.

But count on making them–like the others– over and over again.

Recipe:

2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons flour (I use white whole wheat)
2 + 1 tablespoons Stevia or Demerara sugar ( I highly recommend Demerera, as the dough needs that depth of flavor to taste like a true ginger cookie)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon vegan butter, melted or not
Oprional: 1 teaspoon Chia or flax seed meal
1 teaspoon non-dairy milk (I use soymilk)
2 drops vanilla extract
1 drop almond
A few grains sea salt

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients, using only 2 tablespoons of the sugar, with your fingers. Roll into a ball, roll the ball in the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar–you will have extra–place on a microwave-safe plate, and press gently to flatten into a disk about 1/2-inch thick . Cook at full power for one and a half minutes. Depending on your microwave’s power, you might have to adjust cooking time. Let cool slightly before devouring.

#vegan #veganrecipes #veganfood #veganfoodshare #veganfoodporn #plantbased #plantbasedrecipes #plantbasedfood #plantbasedfoodshare #plantbasedfoodporn

August 21, 2018 by betsy

Single Vegan Microwave Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookie

I had to do it…follow up my Single Vegan Microwave Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies with a yummy peanut butter version.

Like the others, it is ready in under 5 minutes, including 1 and 1/2 minutes of microwave cooking time.

First try was the charm and I discovered that
chia/flax/egg substitute not necessary.

Save 96 calories by using stevia!

Recipe:

3 tablespoons flour (I use white whole wheat)
2 tablespoons Stevia or Demerara sugar
1 tablespoon vegan butter
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon non-dairy milk (I use soymilk)
2 drops vanilla extract
1 drop almond extract
1 tablespoon vegan dark chocolate chips or small chunks
1 tablespoon roasted and lightly salted peanuts
A few grains sea salt if peanut butter is on the sweeter side

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients with your fingers. Pat into a cookie shape about 1/2 inch thick on a microwave-safe plate. Cook at full power for one and a half minutes. Depending on your microwave’s power, you might have to adjust cooking time. Devour warm or slightly cooled/cooked and it will hold its shape.

#vegan #veganrecipes #veganfood #veganfoodshare #veganfoodporn #plantbased #plantbasedrecipes #plantbasedfood #plantbasedfoodshare #plantbasedfoodporn

August 15, 2018August 15, 2018 by betsy

Single Vegan Microwave Oatmeal – Chocolate Chip Cookie

Single Vegan Microwave Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookie!

It is ready in under 5 minutes, including 1 and 1/2 minutes of microwave cooking time.

It took three attempts over three days, but I finally got it right. Recently I posted my recipe for a single vegan microwave chocolate chip cookie, but wanting something with some more healthful ingredients in it, I decided to try an oatmeal version.

Bob, my fiercest critic and greatest supporter, said the first one tasted good – a far cry from his “not bad” – but crumbled into a heap. So I tried it again and created an oatmeal-chocolate chip pancake.

Today’s version, however, was perfect: delicious, cookie-like in texture, and sugar-free because I made it with stevia, though you could use Demerara sugar if you prefer.

Recipe:

2 tablespoons flour (I use white whole wheat)
2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons Stevia or Demerara sugar
1 tablespoon vegan butter
1 teaspoon Chia or flax seed meal
1 teaspoon non-dairy milk (I use soymilk)
2 drops vanilla extract
1 drop almond extract
1 tablespoon vegan dark chocolate chips or small chunks
1 tablespoon broken walnuts

Sea salt

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients with your fingers. Pat into a cookie shape about 1/2 inch thick on a microwave-safe plate. Cook at full power for one and a half minutes. Depending on your microwave’s power, you might have to adjust cooking time. Sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt and let cool slightly before devouring.

#vegan #veganrecipes #veganfood #veganfoodshare #veganfoodporn #plantbased #plantbasedrecipes #plantbasedfood #plantbasedfoodshare #plantbasedfoodporn

July 16, 2018August 11, 2018 by betsy

Vegan Single Microwave Chocolate Chip Cookie!

Danger, danger… you will either love me or hate me for this one!!!

I just figured out how to make a Dangerously Delicious Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie for one in the microwave! Actually, I found a recipe online and tweaked the ingredients and cooking process.

They are perfect for when you have a craving, but don’t have a lot of folks to share them with, don’t want a lot of them hanging around, and don’t want many dishes to clean up.

Vegan Microwave Chocolate Chip Cookie

Yield: 1 large cookie (app. 3 1/2 inches)

1 tablespoon melted vegan butter (I use earth Balance)
2 tablespoons Demerara sugar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 drops almond extract
1 tablespoon vegan chocolate chips or chunks 1 tablespoon broken walnuts or other nuts

In a very small bowl or cup, whisk together the butter, sugar, flour, and extracts. With your fingers, mix in the chocolate chips or chunks and nuts. Shape into a cookie about 1/2 inch thick in the center of a microwave-safe plate. Microwave for about 60 seconds. Check for doneness in center. If it needs a bit more, microwave for another 20 seconds. You can enjoy it warm and it will be somewhat soft, or you can let it cool a bit and it will be firm enough to lift.

Note: all microwaves are different, so you might want to start out with just 45 seconds and continue to cook in 10 second increments. Cook’s choice.

January 28, 2018 by betsy

Vegan Hazelnut-Orange Sandwich Cookies
with Chocolate Ganache Filling
a gorgeous gourmet gift from your kitchen

These stunning cookies are simple to make but will impress the most serious gourmand in both flavor and appearance.

I like to package them two to a cellophane bag, tied with raffia through a hole punched in my cute (if I do say so) business cards.

Vegan Hazelnut-Orange Sandwich Cookies

3/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts (I purchase them already chopped in a bag)

3/4 cup sugar (I use demerara)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Pinch of ground cloves

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons vegan butter, softened

3 tablespoons orange liqueur (like Triple Sec) or 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

6 ounces vegan semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 325°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Spread 1/4 cup hazelnuts in a skillet or pie plate and toast for about 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

In a food processor, pulse the remaining 1/2 cup hazelnuts with 2 tablespoons sugar intil finely ground. Add the flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt, and the remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and pulse to combine well. Add 1 cup butter, broken into hunks, and orange liqueur and pulse until the dough comes together.

On a lightly floured surface, working with half of dough at a time, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 1 1/2- to 2-inch cookie cutter, cut cookies out as closely together as possible. Place cookies on baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. Repeat with remaining half of dough, gently kneading in scraps from first half. Gather scraps from second half, gently knead, and reroll scraps from second half.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, until the bottoms are lightly colored but the tops are still fairky light, rotating pans after 10 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and allow to cool.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate with the remaining 6 tablespoons butter, whisking until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.

Turn half the cookies over and spoon a small dollop of the chocolate in the center of each of those. Dip the remaining cookies halfway into the chocolate and position over the filled bottoms, pressing gently to seal. Sprinkle the remaining chopped toasted hazelnuts onto the chocolate, pressing gently if necessary, and let the sandwich cookies stand for about 30 minutes until the chocolate is set. Chill if packaging or transporting.

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018 by betsy

Best and Easiest Vegan Roll-and-Cut Gingerbread Cookies

You will love this no-fail, no-egg recipe that I have had since I was an adolescent growing up in a small town in south-central Mississippi. There, Quinn’s, the local pharmacy, was virtually the only place to purchase cosmetics. Just beginning to experiment with make-up, one year, I was seduced around the holidays by “gingerbread” flavored lip gloss which was sold complete with a gingerbread cookie recipe printed on an accompanying card.

I first made them for one of the attorneys with whom my mother worked. He loved them and, thereafter they became known as “John’s Gingerbread Cookies.” I made them frequently but I haven’t made them for a long time. However, this holiday season I saw a mason jar filled with miniature gingerbread boy and girl cookies and tied with a bow. I was smitten, yet I never had an opportunity to make them during the winter holiday season. But, with my partner Bob struggling with several weeks of pain from bulging disks in his neck, I decided he needed a treat so I made a half batch shaped as hearts. He ate half of them in half a day.

The only ingredient that needed to be substituted to make the cookies vegan was butter. Thank goodness for Earth Balance. The rest is a piece of cake, er, bite of cookie. And your home will smell divine.

Best and Easiest Vegan Roll-and-Cut Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup softened vegan butter

1 cup sugar (I like to use demerara, available at Kroger)

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger or ground ginger (I like the pungency and brightness of the fresh, but I purchase it in a jar for ease and convenience)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (the original recipe called for 1 teaspoon, which I found too strong)

3 cups all-purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or, my favorite, Silpat (silicone baking mats). In large bowl of electric mixer, cream together vegan butter and sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy. Beat in maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until completely combined. Don’t worry if mixture looks slightly curdled. Then, with mixer on low, beat in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, just until incorporated and dough comes together. Add water, a teaspoon at a time, if dough seems too dry. Avoid over-mixing or cookies will be tough. Working with one-fourth of dough at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured board to a thickness somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4″. Cut into desired shapes, place close together on prepared baking sheet, and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool slightly and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

August 17, 2017August 17, 2017 by betsy

Vegan GLUTEN-FREE Chocolate Cookies
with White Chocolate Chips

Yield: 1 dozen cookies (recipe easily multiplies)

I am not sensitive to gluten–at least not in any noticeable way–so I created these cookies for two reasons: 1) for folks who are, and 2) because I have a summer crush that is quickly turning into a long-term affair with brown rice flour. It lends to these cookies and, presumably, other baked goods, an ever-so-slight “sandy” texture that reminds me of the commercial Pecan Sandy cookies of my childhood.

To create this recipe, I started with my late mother, Sallie Gough’s, recipe for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. I adored both my mother and her cookies. The recipe scribed in her distinctive hand-writing on a badly stained file card is a testament to the central role Chocolate Crinkles played in my young culinary life. When my cousin, Dan, would make his annual summer visit from Texas to our home in Mississippi, baking these cookies–dark, almost black, balls rolled in powdered sugar that baked up into flat-ish white cookies with dark rivulets through them–was always on the itinerary along with box sliding on Sewer Hill and epic neighborhood games of Kick the Can.

Note that, since I am not gluten-sensitive, the “trace” of gluten that “may” have been present in my vegan white chocolate chips did not pose a problem for me. If you are baking for gluten-free cookie lovers, make sure a possible trace is not an issue or look for a brand “without a trace.”

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup apple sauce (this flavor is not detectable)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (canola or sunflower is fine)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup vegan, gluten-free white chocolate chips (may subsitute vegan, gluten-free chocolate chips)

12 pecan halves.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients except white chocolate chips and pecan halves. Make a well in the center and pour in applesauce, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Whisk together wet and dry ingredients until completely combined and the consistency of any other cookie dough. Stir in chips. With a small scoop or tablespoon, scoop up rounded tablespoons of dough and place about 3 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Top each with a pecan half, pressing down gently to ever-so-slightly flatten the cookie. Bake 12 minutes or until completely set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on cookie sheet placed on wire rack. Store in airtight container.

June 20, 2017 by betsy

Vegan (Practically) Raw Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Gluten-Free)

Yield: 6 cookies

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup coconut flour
12 juicy dates
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup cacao nibs or chocolate chips (chips are not not raw)
1/4 cup broken pecans

In a food processor, process the cashews until a flour-like texture. Add remaining ingredients except cocoa nibs or chocolate chips and pecans. Process until the texture of a nice dough, but not a nut butter. Transfer the dough to a medium-size bowl and fold in the cocoa nibs or chocolate chips and pecans.

Shape the cookies by flattening six scoops of dough onto a foil-, wax paper-, or parchment paper- lined cookie sheet. Freeze for 20 minutes and keep refrigerated in an airtight container.

Note: though these cookies are packed with wholesome ingredients, they are also packed with about 330 calories each. Make them half this size for a dozen cookies with a calorie count that may be easier to swallow.

January 16, 2017January 16, 2017 by betsy

Vegan German Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Yield: 5 dozen cookies

I hope my sweet, stubborn, late paternal grandmother, Mam-ma, is not “rolling over” at what I’ve done to one of her four iconic Christmas cookie recipes, mailed to us wherever we might be if not with her and Pap-pa, packaged in waxed-paper lined tins with the faint aroma of mothballs.

It is hard to improve on perfection and her roll and slice cookies were indeed perfect. So, my version is not better, just different. If you want to make Mam-ma’s, simply dispense with the chocolate, topping, and garnish, and enjoy plain, buttery, almond-infused cookies, perfect with tea.

Cookies:

1 cup vegan butter, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups all purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)

Vegan Coconut, Pecan and Dried Cranberry Filling (recipe follows)

Pecan halves or large pieces

Cream together in an electric mixer butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. Turn off mixer and add extracts, and 1/2 cup flour, and incorporate into butter mixture on low speed. Gradually add remaining flour on low speed, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Divide dough into fourths, roll into logs about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, wrap in waxed paper, and chill for 20 minutes or until firm. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice each log into 1/4-inch diagonal slices and place slices 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet, preferably lined with Silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes (my family likes them a little more “done.”) Remove the cookie sheets to a wire rack and cool completely. Top each cookie with a teaspoon of filling and garnish with a pecan half.

Vegan Coconut, Pecan and Dried Cranberry Filling:

1 cup unsweetened soymilk (plain, vanilla or vanilla lite would also be good)
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (I use demerera)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons cognac or bourbon
Juice of one lemon
½-1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1/3 cup cornstarch
¼ cup water
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 ½ cups pecan pieces or chopped pecans
½ cup (generous) dried cranberries

In a medium saucepan, mix the soymilk, coconut milk, sugar, extracts, cognac or bourbon, and lemon juice and zest. Whisk the cornstarch together with the water and add to soy milk mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until mixture boils and thickens. Cook and stir for one minute after it boils. Remove from heat and stir in coconut, pecans and dried cranberries. Cool to almost room temperature before spreading on layers.