Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies

I originally made these cookies around Christmas, and I made some tonight. I like that it makes a small batch of cookies. I love how soft they are, almost cake-like and how easy they are to make.Your whole kitchen will smell like chocolate-minty goodness. I didn't chill my dough either time I made these cookies, although I should have, the dough is very sticky and I bake mine at 350 degrees F.  I made mine with regular cocoa and they are still heavenly. And by the way, check out the rest of Isabelle's posts. Wonderful recipes, beautiful photographs.

Chocolate-Mint Crinkle Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, pref Dutch-process
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 cup icing sugar

In a large metal mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Using fingers, rub in the butter until evenly distributed throughout. Add eggs and peppermint extract, and stir until a thick dough comes together. Chill dough in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a spoon or a melon baller, scoop out teaspoon-sized balls of dough. Pour the icing sugar into a small mixing bowl and add the dough balls, 2-3 at a time, rolling around to coat evenly with sugar.
Arrange the icing-sugar coated balls 2" apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are just set and have evenly crackled tops.

Olivia's "To Die For" Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Olivia's "To Die For" Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup Smart Balance Light (or regular Earth Balance will work fine too)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 heaping Tbsp. flax meal
1 heaping Tbsp. Ener-G egg replacer powder
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups vegan chocolate chips (Guittard is my favorite)

1.) Preheat oven to 375 F.

2.) In a small bowl, mix soy milk VERY WELL (until creamy) with Ener-G egg replacer and flax meal using an electric mixer or hand (immersion) blender. Set aside.

3.) In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Set Aside.

4.) In a large bowl, cream together coconut oil, Smart Balance and sugars. Add soy/flax mixture and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.

5.) Gradually add flour mixture to liquids. Stir in chocolate chips.

6.) Drop by well rounded teaspoonfulls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 - 10 min. until lightly golden. (Can also be made into bar cookies in 9 X 12 pan)

I found this from an old post on www.veggieboards.com from Tofu and Sprouts, her daughter made these up for her with ingredients they had on hand! They are some of the best vegan cookies I have ever tasted, not oily at all and soft, they don't stick to the pan and the dough is the right consistency, they are perfect and I am thinking about trying these made into PB cookies also. I made mine with 1/2 tbsp. milled flax seed, I made mine with 1 cup chocolate chips and baked at 350 degrees F but those are the only things I did different. Olivia, you rock! The family all loved these, BTW.

Tofu Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan)

I used this recipe to make these wonderful cookies...chewy and soft, just like bakery cookies and vegan also :)I was trying to find a recipe that was like a local bakery's recipe (Ellwood Thompson's) and this comes very close. Now I will give the rest of the cookies a good home with my neighbors. It calls for silken tofu, or you could also use soft tofu.

Also I wanted to share with you my recipe for calzones, while not vegan, tastes just as good without the added feta or can of course be made with vegan mozzarella.

Dough

1 cup warm water
1 pkg instant yeast
1 tsp. sugar or 1 tbsp corn syrup, molasses, king syrup or honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour or AP flour

Place water, yeast and sweetener of choice in large mixing bowl, let sit for 5 minutes for yeast to bloom. Add 1 cup wheat flour, stir. Stir in one cup AP or bread flour, stir to combine, mixing with hands if necessary. Turn out onto floured board, kneading in additional flour as needed, until elastic about 5 minutes. Set aside and cover with bowl until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes-1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Filling

1 pkg. (14 oz.) soft tofu or 12 ounces silken tofu, mashed
12 ounces thawed and drained frozen chopped spinach
garlic and onion powder to taste
Italian Seasonings to taste
1/2 diced onion, cooked in a little olive oil until tender
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese or shredded mozzarella
Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl.


Divide dough into 4 equal portions, roll out into 1/4" thickness, divide filling into 4 equal portions, seal each calzone and bake 25-30 minutes, until browned.

sauce
1 8 ounce can Hunt's Basil and Garlic sauce, warmed
1-2 tsp. sugar to cut acidity


One final recipe to share to today is a Chai Latte Recipe from Chef Deborah Wolfe of Vegsource. Delicious!

Chai Latte
3-4 chai tea bags cooked over very low heat in 1 cup soy milk (or other "milk" of choice)for about 5 minutes
1/4 cup powdered soy milk beverage
1-3 ice cubes
1-3 tbsp. sugar or other sweetener

Top off milk to come back up to one cup. Cool in fridge overnight. Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. ENJOY!!!!

Nutella Rum-Rums

Yo, ho, ho a pirate's life for me. Why is the rum always gone? Oh that's why, they are in these cookies and I drank it LOL. Oh my gosh these are one of the best cookies ever. I based these cookies off of this recipe

1/3 cup Nutella
1/4 cup oil (mild olive oil or vegetable oil)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp. ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I actually forgot to put this in mine)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup nuts of choice, I used walnuts
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
3 tablespoons rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak the cranberries in the rum while you are making the rest of the recipe.Place Nutella, oil, milk, brown and white sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Mix well. In a small bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt and allspice. Add in small additions to the wet mixture. Add cranberries and rum, white chocolate chips and nuts of choice. You may need to add a bit more soy milk if mixture is crumbly. Spray your hands with cooking spray and form into balls. Leave plenty of room for these, they spread. Cook about 6-8 minutes or until set and crispy. Remove from pan and let cool.

Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies today, and if you haven't tried them yet you need to !!!! So rich and chocolately, and almost brownie like, I will make these cookies again and again! They are so easy to make too, so decadent. I halfed the recipe and it made 11 cookies for me and I used regular cocoa as I didn't have dutched cocoa on hand. Rock on Isa!!!

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies


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 purp flour
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips


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).

Pumpkin Bread and *VEGAN* Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh hells yes. Inspired by Celine at Have Cake, Will Travel, I made her wonderful Pumpkin Bread and having 1 cup of pumpkin left over, decided to make some cookies. I used this recipe and substituted the egg with 1/4 cup applesauce (BTW, I used pumpkin puree from a can and I did not add the extra 2 tbsp. water) oh my goodness, these are so damn good. Soft, cakey, slightly spicy and chocolatey, if I make them again I may use whole wheat flour instead of the all purpose. I made sandwiches out of some of the bread and WOW!!!!! I made a kicked up BLT, that is Fakin' Bacon cooked in some EVOO, mayo, fresh Hanover tomato slices, perfectly ripe avocado slices, romaine lettuce. Wow, this is one of the best sammiches I have ever had!!!! Thanks so much for posting this bread Celine, the bread went AWESOMELY PERFECT with the sammich. I also wanted to add that I made this in a convential oven, cooked at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes and I made it with 1 pkg. yeast as Celine said, kneaded it for about 5 minutes, then let it rise 1 hour, then punch dough down, knead and place in a greased bread pan, cover with a tea towel. Let rise for another hour and place in a pre-heated oven and cook until it sounds hollow when tapped and golden. Turn out onto cooling rack, let cool before cutting.

Here is a bonus photo of my kitty! I am glad I finally got a decent picture of him, it is hard to take a good photo of him. His name is Durn and he looks a little upset, laying in the clothes basket with his ears back.

Have a Guinness Day!!!!!

No, I am not an alcoholic and I don't even drink Guinness but when I found this cookie recipe on Have Cake, Will Travel called Double Chocolate Stout Cookies, it was all over. My mouth watered. Celine, these are so awesome! Mine aren't as pretty as yours but they were so delicious! I can't wait to share with the people at work tommorow!!!
Double Chocolate Stout Cookies

I told the people at work about these so doubled the recipe. I knew that I would have a considerable amount of beer left over so I am also making a Seitan and Guinness Stew Dark Beer Stew

Today was my day off so as per my custom, I stopped at SHEETZ for a diet soda to drink while I was at the park and I decided to pick up the Guinness for the cookies (and the Seitan Guinness Stew). As I approached the cash register I realized that I must look like an alcoholic as the cashier raised her eyebrow at me as she rang up my purchase. It was 9:30 in the morning :D Hehehe. But I digress, here are the photos...... BTW, I used the seitan recipe from Post Punk Kitchen,

Homemade Seitan

it is so good and so easy to make, I highly recommend it. The stew is very earthy, you can definately taste the Guinness in it, not sure if I would be making it again. But it was worth the $3.00 for the Guinness for these wonderful cookies!!!!!



No, I didn't let my cat have Guinness but this is a funny photo!!!!! He likes sleeping in this Airwalk box for some reason and I even have a bed for him. Go figure, LOL :P