vegans love cookies, too!

Christmas is almost here and if you're like me, you wait until the very last minute to bake. That means no fancy, time-consuming stuff. Here are two of my favorite recipes.

SUGAR COOKIES (Adapted from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook - corrected from original post)

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 TBSP warm water

1/2 cup (1 stick) Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks
3/4 c. sugar ( I use "Sugar in the Raw")
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP soy milk or rice milk

1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

red and green decorating sugar

Start by whisking together the Ener-G egg replacer and water until fluffy - it will look like a beaten egg white. Let this sit for about 5 minutes before using it in the recipe.

Cream the Buttery Stick until smooth. Add sugar and beat again until smooth.
Add the prepared egg replacer and vanilla. Mix well.
Add milk and mix again.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder. Add to liquid mixture and mix well.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass. Sprinkle with red or green sugar.
Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes, or until golden.

Makes about 4 dozen.


TOFFEE BARS (adapted from joyofbaking.com - corrected from original post)

These are as close as you'll get to real toffee without using the "candy thermometer" method. Quick, easy and absolutely delicious.

1 cup (2 sticks)) Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli. Even better, if you can find them, are dark chocolate chips, or a chopped-up vegan dark chocolate candy bar)
3/4 cup chopped, toasted almonds*

Line the bottom and sides of a 15x10 cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
Melt the buttery sticks over low heat in a heavy saucepan. Remove from heat.
Add sugar and vanilla and mix well.
Put the flour into a separate bowl. Add salt and stir together to mix completely.
Add flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir together until evenly blended.

Spread the dough evenly in the prepared pan and bake about 25 minutes or until golden. The edges should be browned.

Remove from the oven and scatter the chocolate chips evenly over the cookie. Return to the oven for 1 minute, then remove and spread the chips evenly to cover the surface. Sprinkle with chopped toasted almonds.

Let cool on a wire rack. Let the chocolate set - you should be able to touch it without getting chocolate on your fingers. This takes several hours.

When you're ready to cut the cookies, lift the whole thing out from the cookie sheet using the edges of the aluminum foil. Set on a cutting board and carefully peel away the foil. You can cut the toffee bars into squares if you have a long bread knife, or you can break it into pieces. Some of the pieces you try to cut will break anyway. No matter.

* To toast almonds, place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

late for Thanksgiving, but early for Christmas

I really missed the boat about Thanksgiving! I was so busy writing an article about it, based on this blog, for our local newspaper that I forgot to post it here.
I'd love to hear from readers about your Thanksgiving experiences. Any new recipes that worked well? Here's one that was included in my article. It's one of my favorites.

Mushroom Gravy

(Adapted from Vegetarian Times, November-December 2009)

2 TBSP olive oil

¼ lb. white button mushrooms

¼ lb. baby bella mushrooms

2 TBSP flour

2 cups mushroom stock, heated (recipe below)

4 pinches sea salt

4 pinches black pepper

Heat 1 TBPS of the olive oil, then sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until they give up their juices, about 5 minutes. Add another TBSP of olive oil and, when heated, whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking constantly, over low heat, until the mixture browns, about 10 minutes. Add hot stock, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until thickened, whisking often, about 15 minutes.

Makes about 2 cups

Mushroom Stock

2 tsp. olive oil

½ lb. button mushrooms, sliced

½ lb. portabella or baby bella mushrooms, sliced

2 stalks celery – set leaves aside

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, chopped

1 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms

¼ tsp. sea salt

4 ½ cups water

Saute vegetables (except dried shiitake mushrooms) in olive oil about 5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add dried mushrooms, water, celery leaves and salt. Simmer one hour. Strain vegetables and discard.

Note: Makes about 3 cups. Prepared low-sodium mushroom broth can be used but it’s worth taking the time to make this.

yummy autumn recipes

Our family's Thanksgiving menu is pretty much set in stone - even my vegan doesn't want to change it (except for the turkey, of course). But this is not the only meal that we eat this month! I'm always on the lookout for new recipes that make good use of seasonal foods and that everyone in the family can enjoy. Check out the New York Times for a great series on vegan options not only for Thanksgiving but for any autumn meal.

Going mainstream?

Wow - This is encouraging! Even the New York Times has a whole article devoted to a vegan meal, and not a soy product in sight. You can dine on Farro and Fresh Tomato Soup, Harvest Tart with Pumpkin, Roasted Red Peppers and Olives, and Roasted Pears with Coconut Butterscotch Sauce and Toasted Coconut.
Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/dining/a-vegan-dinner-party-for-autumn-a-good-appetite.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22warm,welcoming,meatless%22&st=cse
(If clicking on the link doesn't work, you may need to copy & paste the url.)
Dinner, anyone?

the manners police

"Ewww... How can you eat that? Don't you care how that animal suffered?"
"Humans are supposed to eat meat. We're carnivores." (Actually we're omnivores, but let's not get picky.)
"Would you eat your cat or your dog? After all, they're animals, too."
"Don't be disgusting."
"All that animal fat isn't healthy."
"What's healthy about all that weird stuff you eat? Seaweed? Tofu? Yuck."

"OK - everyone leave the table until you can be civil."

Sounds like a recipe for indigestion, doesn't it? If your vegan was formerly "just" vegetarian, you've probably already been through this, but expect it to escalate now. You must be the manners police or your dinner is going to turn ugly. Be prepared to referee. Better yet, have a friendly chat with family members ahead of time and insist that everyone (including vegans) keep their opinions to themselves at the table. There's plenty of time after dinner for philosophical discussions (otherwise known as arguments). Step in quickly if anyone "forgets". Results may vary. Fortunately, my family is past this now......at least at the dinner table.

No matter how you manage everyday mealtimes, things can heat up a bit at large family gatherings where relatives of all ages eagerly weigh in with their opinions. It's not easy to tell a relative, especially an older one, to back off. I'll revisit this topic later.

to soy or not to soy

Ahh...the food fight continues. Thank goodness that my previously bean-and-lentil-hating daughter now enjoys them (I think) and prepares them for her family. She's a great cook! But, her position on soy is pretty clear. Family dinners now have to take that into account, since I can't prepare a soy-cream-cheese-based peanut butter pie and explain to my grandchildren why Auntie can have it but they can't. It's already hard to answer their questions about why she doesn't eat meat - except to say that she just doesn't. I wonder how long that will fly.
However, it is true that you don't need soy to have delicious, nutritious vegan food.

READING FOOD LABELS

One important thing you have to learn as a vegan's parent is how to read food labels. We're used to doing this for calories, saturated fat, and sodium, but now you're in new territory. Who knew so many ingredients come from animals?

Some things are obvious and can be quickly spotted - look at the allergy warning at the end of the ingredients list and if it contains eggs or milk, put it back. Butter, whey, gelatin and lard are also no-nos. Look for honey, too, since many vegans avoid it. There are lots of other ingredients to avoid, though, that most of us are not familiar with. Casein, for example, is derived from milk. And what the heck is sodium stearoyl lactylate?

Don't worry - You don't have to buy "weird" or unfamiliar products to make goodies for your vegan and the rest of the family. I like to make blueberry muffins using a package mix and fresh blueberries (lots of them!). I have discovered that some mainstream brands are vegan friendly and some are not. You guessed it - read the label! When preparing the package mix, or even when using your own recipe, substitute soy milk, almond milk, or orange juice for the milk, and replace the eggs with Ener-G Egg Replacer. It's a powder (made from potato starch, tapioca starch and other stuff) that you mix with water. Whip with a whisk until it looks foamy like a beaten egg white, then let it sit for a few minutes to thicken. Otherwise, the muffins will be gummy.