Friday, February 22, 2008

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies


If you are like me, you always have staple foods on hand (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate chips). Yep, cookie ingredients are staples in my house apparently. This recipe is not very complicated. The hardest part might be the flax egg. Maybe. I mean, all you do is throw the flax seeds in a blender.

Whatever you do, DO NOT add more than a cup of chips. I got a bit overzealous tonight with that and it was really hard to form the cookies. The ratio of chips to dough was way off, making it hard to keep it all together. I took as many out as I could and that seemed to help a bit. Also, these are REALLY sweet. I do not add the whole two cups of sugar. That's insane to me. I add 1.5 cups or less.



Originally posted by Isa at http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=111

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

prep time: 15 minutes | cooking time: 10 minutes per batch | makes 3 dozen
These are brownie-like and chewy. Be careful not to overbake them, they may seem like they aren't done after 10 minutes but they are! See the variations for Chewy Chocolate Cherry Cookies and Chocolate Hazelnut (or almond or walnut or whatever) Cookies at the bottom of the directions.


Equipment:
Baking Sheet, Blender, 2 large bowls, mixing spatula, cookie sheets

Ingredients
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon whole flax seeds
1/2 cup soymilk

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (I used regular chocolate chips and white chocolate chips, the latter found at a kosher deli)


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grind the flax seeds on high in a blender until they become a powder. Add soymilk and blend for another 30 seconds or so. Set aside.

In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In a seperate large bowl cream together oil and sugar. Add the flax seed/soy milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla.

Fold in the dry ingredients in batches. When it starts to get too stiff to mix with a spatula, use your hands until a nice stiff dough forms. Add the chocolate chips and mix with your hands again.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and flatten into a disc that's about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, then set them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Variations:
For chocolate chocolate chip cherry cookies, replace 1 teaspoon of the vanilla with almond extract, and replace 1/2 the chocolate chips with dried cherries.

For chocolate nut cookies, replace 1 teaspoon of the vanilla with a nut extract (almond, walnut, what have you) and replace the chocolate chips with 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts all are good).

Vegan Ribz


While the name of this food sounds absolutely ridiculous, it is totally delicious! I loved ribs when I ate meat, but now the thought of the real thing grosses me out completely. I think the thing I liked most about ribs was the barbecue sauce. I don't think I even really like food, just the condiments I put on them. There is a reason why my father used to call me Condiment Girl.

But I digress.

This is a really cheap recipe, and I tend to always have the ingredients on hand. I also can get a huge bag of potatoes for 2 or 3 bucks, so I'll make mashed potatoes to go with them.



Originally found at www.vegfamily.com

Vegan Barbecue Ribz

Ingredients:
  • 2/3 cup of water
  • 2 Tbl spoons soy margarine
  • 3 Tbl spoons peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup wheat gluten
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup BBQ sauce (more or less)
  • spices to taste (onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, etc)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat soy margarine and add the peanut butter, mixing it so that it's consistent throughout.

Mix the wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, wheat flower and spices in a dry bowl. Add the water and knead until almost all of the dry powder is absorbed. Do not over-knead. This dough is really sticky.

Form the dough into a flat shape about one-half inch thick. Add one-half of the peanut butter mixture to the top of the flattened dough. Use your fingers to poke the peanut butter mixture deeply into the dough. Do this for about 30 seconds. Turn the dough over and pour the remaining half of the peanut butter mixture onto the dough, again using your fingers to poke into the dough.

Use kitchen scissors to cut strips of dough. Make them as long or as short as you like them. Lay out on a lightly oiled baking pan. Bake for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, use a spatula to turn the "ribs" over. Spoon or brush on BBQ sauce and return to the oven.

Bake for another 5 minutes. Remove and turn the ribs over again. Spoon or brush on some more BBQ sauce.

Bake for another 5 minutes. Remove and enjoy your hot, sweet and sticky "ribz!"

Makes enough for four.