Join Debbie as she raves about whole foods, rants about chemicals and generally celebrates cooking and eating with fresh, local, nutritious foods. And sometimes she might get a little feisty….
Let me just say it loud and clear: I’m in no way, shape or form a vegan. I don’t think it’s healthy or appetizing. But my cooking vegan friends around the interweb saved me a few years back, when we found out my son was allergic to eggs and dairy. He has since outgrown these allergies, but some of our favorite dessert treats are still egg and dairy free.
I can also attest to the fact that some vegan desserts simply suck. There’s about nothing less appetizing than wheat germ in a cookie, and some baked treats just need eggs. Then again, don’t make the mistake of thinking you can just add an egg to a vegan cookie recipe and make it come out better. I’ve tried, and I think I upset the balance of the earth on its axis or something, because it completely ruined a perfect cookie recipe.
A perfect vegan cookie recipe, you say? Yes, and I’ll share it with you.
This is them (which sounds really funny but I think is the proper grammar): the perfect chocolate chocolate chip cookies, loved by one and all, highly requested by some, and totally vegan. You’ll find recipe author Isa all over the internet, which is a very, very good thing, because her recipes are some of my favorites. I use rice bran oil instead of canola, sprouted spelt flour instead of all-purpose and unsweetened vanilla rice milk instead of soy milk. And never, never skip the flax seeds: it really isn’t optional as some would lead you to believe. They are what help make the chewy texture.
We adore these pumpkin oatmeal cookies for their chewy, soft and spicy nature (my friend Isa again). One thing we didn’t love is the raisins (I know, we’re deviant), so we replaced them with chocolate chips and the world began spinning once again. We always cut down the amount of sugar in a recipe and use Sucanat instead of refined sugar.
Can I just say that The Vegan Chef knows how to bake? Sure I can. Her Lemonilla Cake has been Owen’s birthday cake ever since his second birthday (because I was that mean mom who made unsweetened banana cupcakes for his first birthday … why introduce sugar at such a young age?). Yes, it sounds completely bizarre — vinegar in a cake recipe? — but follow the instructions and you’ll get a fluffy cake that tastes nothing like vinegar and is full of lemon-vanilla goodness.
I’d actually forgotten about The Vegan Chef’s sugar-free carrot cake, but this is a gem that you don’t want to pass by. It’s dense and moist, as most carrot cakes should be anyway, and with your own cream cheese frosting, it makes a perfect dessert.
What do you know? It’s my friend Isa again, from the Post-Punk Kitchen. These chocolate orange cupcakes got the green light from my siblings when I made them for my father’s birthday celebration one year, and you have no idea how hard it is to get that green light. One tough crowd. I prefer my own icing recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, but the Grand Marnier and bitter chocolate (only sweetened with maple syrup) is a divine combination.
These are our favorites, but please share yours in the comments.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jul 30, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
