Vegan Peanut Butter Sandies

This cookie isn't your typical peanut butter cookie--no fork tine and crosshatched business required. Which is good, because having to maneuver a fork over balls of dough poses challenges for me right now. Simple baking only. One handed baking and cooking only. It's okay. These peanut butter cookies surprised me. They have a light, crumbly texture--even with the addition of my natural chunky style peanut butter. By my own insistence that I get back to baking, I stumbled upon this recipe in the New York Times for cookie inspiration. Julia Moskin was on a mission to recreate this cookie from City Bakery in New York. There are seventy-five comments regarding the cookie making attempts. I read them all (because why not). To make vegan, I simply used flax egg--with so few ingredients, it's really a very easy cookie to make/adapt. (I will admit that though I love a peanut butter cookie, just the thought of the measuring cup after sort of makes me not pursue it as regularly as I'd like.) What an insane concern. As a fan of peanut butter of all stripes, these have been worth the effort. I made them using my small cookie baking scoop. You will thank yourself later when you can't resist having another one.  

Took a little tumble a few weeks ago, and like THAT, I was in a cast. Broke my wrist, needed surgery, blah, blah, blah. The whole thing has been an awakening for me. My fifties so far have proven to be, well. . . I'm ready to skip into my sixties and forget this decade is all I'm saying. I'm not sugar-coating here nor do I need be reminded of how much worse it could have been. Were it not for my sister, my dear friends and my oh-so-patient husband, this ordeal may have been my undoing. We were on a hike, on a beautiful fall afternoon--the crispest, coolest Saturday we've had all year, then. . . DH saw me go down. Wrist was in a bit of a twisted and unnatural state at the end of my arm as I struggled to stand up, then came OMG! I broke my wrist! (and other choice words). Luckily I: 1) did not break my dominant hand 2) have an amazing orthopedic surgeon who saw to it that I was tended to per his direction in the ER and then subsequently operated on said fracture, and 3) had both a wonderful urgent care and hospital staff who utterly and completely took excellent care of me despite my cries, screams and moments of near passing out--and then made sure I was passed out to properly tend to the break: thank you!    

Other knitters/crocheters and bakers and people in general have had similar wrist break experiences. I know because I have read about them ALL. My first thought was: WHAT ABOUT KNITTING AND CROCHET: OMG! By my second week, there were fewer tears and woe is me-ing, and I finally picked up my needles and held them in my hand for the first time. 

Knitting Shoulder Cozy by Churchmouse Yarns.

Using Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball.

The Puppy. . .The Runt--a fitting term of endearment as we have realized: we definitely have a runt. She weighs in at under forty pounds and. . .we are past our six month mark. Her sister weighed almost sixty by this point. She is just adorable and smart and loves, loves, loves her very big sissy. Though I think there are times when she wonders: when will I get that big? Actually, she's perfect just the way she is.

Vegan Peanut Butter Sandies

*adapted from NYT / Julia Moskin

makes appx. 24 cookies with small 1" cookie scoop

1/2 cup vegan butter

1/4 cup plus 2 T. brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 T. granulated sugar

1/2 t. fine sea salt

1 cup chunky natural peanut butter (I used Smuckers)

2 T. ground flaxseed + 4 T. water + 1 T. olive oil whisked (to replace egg)

1 cup all purpose flour

*extra sugar and salt for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Get your cookie sheet ready with parchment paper. In medium bowl, cream together the sugar and vegan butter--then add peanut butter and flax egg--mix well. Then add salt and flour and mix until just combined--don't over mix. Scoop out in small 1' cookie mounds. They won't spread so no worries on crowding. Then sift together 2 T. sugar and 1 t. sea salt or flake salt in a small bowl and lightly sprinkle over each cookie before baking. Bake for 15 minutes--you want them to brown a bit around edges.   

Vegan Chocolate Dipped Eclipse Shortbread Cookies

We're in the 'path of totality' so I thought I'd bake some cookies. Who needs an eclipse to be inspired to bake? Not me, but the idea of something coated in chocolate to munch on while the sun disappears tomorrow is where I was going. (Apparently this is kinda a big deal and maybe the first and last one I'll witness in my fifty-some years of living on this planet! So we'll call it a BIG DEAL!)

The dough will come together in under fifteen minutes or so. It requires about two hours of chilling (and I will tell you the dough is quite solid after this chill)--you'll need a sharp knife to cut into the quarter-inch thick sliced miracles. There's a bit of cinnamon in the mix to add a little zing to the flavor with all the chocolate happening. Also, there's coffee for good measure and then, THEN, the chocolate dipping thing happens. These are so crunchy and melt-in-your-mouth, you'll love 'em. (We had to taste-test before the eclipse!)  

See you after the eclipse St. Louis!

Vegan Chocolate Dipped Eclipse Shortbread Cookies

(makes about 20 cookies--double recipe if you'd like more)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/4 cup vegan butter, room temperature

1/4 cup vegan shortening

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 t. coffee granules

2 t. warm water (to mix in with the coffee)

1/2 t. vanilla extract

2 t. ground flaxseed plus 2 T. water AND 1 t. light flavored olive oil (egg replacement)

1/8 cup chocolate chips melted

For dipping sauce:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 1/2 T. shortening

In a medium bowl, sift dry ingredients together. In another bowl, mix together the butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the flax egg, melted chocolate chips, vanilla extract and coffee mix, blend until well mixed. Then add the dry ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms. (Your dough will be a little sticky, but just flour the counter before you roll it into a log--about six inches long.) Wrap in plastic and place in fridge for about 2 hours until firm. 

Preheat oven to 350. Remove the dough and slice into 1/4" slices and place about an inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes--until the cookies are just getting a little color around the edges. 

Allow to cool completely. While cookies cool, prepare the dipping sauce. (I used the "20 seconds at a time in microwave" to melt the chocolate/shortening for dipping.)

Dip cookies and place on parchment. Enjoy! Store in the fridge for best results once the dipping edge has solidified. 

Oh My Vegan Blueberry Pie with Perfect Double Crust Dough (and eight paws!)

In baking, like everything else in life, weather, moods and trips to the store dictate whether pie is in order. I'm that person who sees pies in grocery store cases and thinks: what a shame, why don't people bake their own pies anymore? Then crave pie all the way home. It's been humid and unbearable one day, dry and breezy the next so far this summer with very little rain. 

Hot days of summer or not--I was baking a pie this week. 

I don't know why I've always felt baking a pie is an all day affair. It never is. Pie memories I have are of a pastry cutter and my mother with a large bowl of flour and clumps of butter rolling about in pieces, seeping through the thin wires of the cutter, and of me asking for raw bits of dough to nibble on while she continues to roll through the process of butter, dough, shortening. Then her with a large wooden rolling pin (the same one I still use today), shaping a circle out onto the kitchen counter with a few flings of flour tossed over and under the dough before being carefully flattened into the vintage Corning Ware blue cornflower pie plate (the exact same pie plate I use to today). Then she'd take gobs of whatever fresh fruit was available at the store for filling and copious amounts of sugar. Peach pies more often than not, but for me--berries always in summer. It never seemed to be a big deal for her to just magically throw together a pie. 

The pies were always scrumptious. 

There are a few schools of thought out there as to whether pie crust is a butter only affair or a shortening AND butter affair. I am of the latter in terms of preference.

Nothing fancy. Use whatever design you'd like to vent the pie during baking.

Giving into my craving for pie the entire pie process comes together and bakes in about an hour and a half. The "half hour" set aside for mandatory cooling period for the dough. Eating of said pie commences after a good hour or two of cooling with a dallop of vegan vanilla ice cream: a la mode. Or saved for the next morning. . . for breakfast. (The best way to eat pie if you ask me.)  

This is actually my second berry pie I've baked in two days. 

And aside from pies: here's the newest member of the family. 

This is our last addition to the family what with all the aging we have left in front of us . . we are now two dogs, two humans and four hearts. She is a little under weight and has much growing to go. She is super smart. Her sister loves her, but is a bit too big to have "full access" for play time (because her paw literally covers the little one's head entirely). Supervised play only for the time being. 

She fell asleep on the exam table at her first vet appointment while getting her booster shots. 

Awww. 

The first day we ALL met her! Smallest. Sweetest. Big Sissy loves her, too. 

Now.

Yup. It's a whole new world around here.

Vegan Blueberry Pie

Perfect Double Crust Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (10 1/2 ounces by weight)

7 T. cold vegan butter 

1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

8 T. ice cold water

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Then cube the ice cold butter and shortening and using a pastry blender, work the dough until the butter and shortening are in small pieces--some larger pieces are okay--actually are fine! Then begin adding the water one tablespoon at a time, tossing the dough around with a spoon to incorporate the water. Begin to work the dough into a ball carefully with your hand--but don't "over handle" the dough--you want to be able to form a ball. Then divide the ball in half. Flatten each half into a disc, then wrap in plastic and place in fridge for 30-45 minutes. 

Meanwhile, make the filling:

6-7 cups frozen blueberries (*I only had four cups of blueberries on hand, so added frozen black and red raspberries to offset the amount--it works out fine--but I did buy more blueberries for next time)

1/4 t. ground cinnamon

2 T. corn starch

2 T. all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

juice of whole lemon

Preheat oven to 425. Prepare a 9" pie plate for baking. Toss all filling ingredients together in a bowl. Roll out pie dough on well-floured surface to a 10" in diameter circle--or wide enough to cover the base of the pie plate with a bit of overhang. Place dough in pie plate, pressing it in to fit bottom and come up the sides. *You don't want the crust too thin--about a 1/4" works well. Add the filling. Repeat with other half of dough and then place on top of filling. Fold the dough around the edges under and using your finger and thumb, pinch the crust closed. For the top of the pie, use whatever "venting" system you'd like. I just used a knife and cut out my own decorations, well. . . triangles. 

Bake for 20 minutes at 425. Then turn oven down to 350 and bake for an additional 40 minutes or until crust begins to brown. 

Allow to pie to cool for at least an hour before slicing. Store in fridge. 

Vegan Curry with Sweet Potatoes, Chickpeas and Eggplant

I steered toward cozy, comfort food last night. My kitchen provides a respite for the chaotic world outside the door, and in our own personal lives. With my Spice Tiffin and my mother's vintage copper bottom pot at hand, I was able to whip up a wonderful, aromatic, flavorful, smooth not too-spicy-but-just-right curry. I added a touch of coconut milk to the dish just before serving. There's something magical about the addition of coconut milk to curries. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's a fine balance of how the flavors meld together before and after--the after being much, much better. This dish took me about 30 minutes give or take. I used my new favorite cookbook for inspiration: America's Test Kitchen Vegan for Everybody. 

The first step in any cooking direction I take when it comes to making curry is to add spices to warm oil. I always include brown mustard seeds. They impart a tart component that, once cooked down, evolve into a creaminess. Well, to my mind they do. Then you add a bit of this and that from the spices you see here. My general ratio is more of the Sweet Curry spice to the rest (I get mine at Penzey's)--and I add based upon my preferred tastes for the evening. I wanted a garam masala boost to this dish: warm cinnamon and cloves permeate this on the front end, but once I added in my second favorite curry seasoning: The Now Curry (again, from Penzeys), it came together very nicely. My motto in curry is: More is Better. I keep tasting until I find the right heat, flavor combo. Taste. Taste. Taste.

I only needed half an eggplant for this. I find I dislike the taste of eggplant heavy flavor. I bet that's why I love the addition of coconut milk to this curry.

The flavor boosters go in next: minced fresh ginger, garlic and onion (diced, not minced). Then the other veggies I have on hand: eggplant, sweet potato, some green pepper, a handful of green beans. It then is up to you as to whether or not you want to add a can of diced tomatoes. I usually do. I had a splash of veggie broth left over from the other night, and about a half cup of it was added, plus a little water. Then I added about a third of a cup of coconut milk and that's when the flavors really did their thing. 

We are experiencing our second flood in our community in fifteen months. I look at the map of the rest of the country and it's as if there is the vortex here in the middle that keeps circling around our state just daring us to keep dry. The photos above were taken on our single sunny day we had on Tuesday as the waters on the Meramec River began rising. 

She hates this weather. 

Meantime, I baked more vegan chocolate chip cookies. My End of World plan for survival. 

Vegan Curry with Sweet Potatoes, Chickpeas and Eggplant

3 T. olive oil

1 T. vegan butter

1" minced fresh ginger

3 garlic cloves minced

1 onion diced

1 t. brown mustard seeds

2-3 t. curry powder

1/2 t. tumuric powder

2 t. garam masala

salt and pepper to taste

1 medium sweet potato cut into half moons

1 green pepper chopped

1/2 medium eggplant chopped into 1/2" pieces

1 can chickpeas

1/2 cup green beans

1/2 cup or more veggie broth

1 can diced tomatoes

1/3 cup lite coconut milk

Over medium heat, add oil and spices. When mustard seeds begin to pop, add the rest of the veggies. Simmer for about five minutes. Add remaining ingredients and allow to simmer together about 20 minutes. Taste as you develop the flavor. If mixture becomes too thick, add more broth or coconut milk. Serve over rice.