Bake sale this weekend

I'm still not "back" to normal so this post will be short. Even though my back is still hurting, I was able to bake all afternoon for a bake sale, test recipes for Celine and Joni's new cookbook, and bake tomorrow night's dessert. Here's some of the results.



I tested Oreo Cookie Cookies (top photo) for the cookbook, and just like the title implies, they have actual pieces of Oreos (well, Newman O's). Some of these will go to the bake sale because they're much too dangerous to have around the house!

I also made Cinn-ful Sweet Potato Cookies from Go Dairy Free. I made them with pumpkin purée, and they're great. I added raisins and dried cranberries. (Thanks, Alicia, for making the recipe available.)

And even though I recently said I would try other recipes from Sweet Freedom, I compulsively made butterscotch blondies, yet again. Sheesh.

If you're in the Seattle area this weekend, stop by Sidecar For Pig's Peace and buy some vegan baked goods. You'll be helping to support the Pigs Peace Animal Sanctuary.

Cookies and stew

I've been collecting recipes like crazy — actually printing them out instead of just bookmarking them — but have been cooking very little. We've been eating out much more than usual, and that always seems to dampen my cooking urges. Unfortunately, we haven't been very happy with the restaurant food we've been sampling except for one place. We really enjoyed our brunch at Wayward Café, and tried to go there two other times without checking their hours, only to find it closed. You'd think all these unpleasant restaurant experiences would inspire me to cook more, but it's not happening. Maybe I'm saving my food-cooking energy for Thanksgiving, or maybe I'm just in a rut.

Last night there was nothing planned for dinner when our son and daughter-in-law extended a last minute invitation to come to their house.



Our d-i-l was making Buckwheat Stew With Tofu and Kale from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," which they had just borrowed from the library along with "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar," by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romaro. She didn't have the right kind of buckwheat so she made the stew with farrow, instead, and it was absolutely delicious — rich and satisfying. The white things that look like potato pieces are actually whole cloves of stewed garlic — soft, fragrant, and tasting like it was roasted in the oven. Kale is one of my favorite vegetables, and this recipe really showcased its winning qualities. I wish I had some right now.

For dessert we had Peanut butter oatmeal cookies from the above mentioned cookie-invasion cookbook. These were some of the best peanut butter cookies I've tasted, with excellent texture and crunch. I think I ate four. Tsk.

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Animal, Vegetable, Miserable by Gary Steiner

Have you seen this Op-Ed piece in the Sunday NY Times? It's pretty unusual to see such a blatantly unapologetic essay on the moral wrongness of killing animals for human needs, in the mainstream press. Take a look.

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Have a HAPPY and HEALTHY THANKSGIVING!

4 Funny Posts and 4 Yummy Recipes

Cartoon by Todd Zapoli

Dennys Funny Quotes: 42 Monday Morning Funny Coffee Quotes, Coffee Cartoon

The Social Poets: Roundup of Sunday Funnies: Hillary's Stressed, Obama Dances

Romancing The Chocolate: Funny Chocolate Quote 17 Oct 2009

Recipe: Fun Halloween Oreo Spider Cookies

Todays Funny Chocolate Quote 15 Oct 2009

Recipe: Velvet Chocolate Cheesecake

Comfort Food From Louisiana: 3 Recipes: 3-Step Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs, Sweet Tangy Slaw, Sweet Potato Roasted Garlic Turnovers

Easy Key West Ribs From the Slow Cooker

*** Apologies to anyone who read this post earlier, now corrected.

Macaroons and movies

I usually prepare recipes and posts on the weekend, but we didn't do much cooking around here this past weekend because we were attending movies at the Wisconsin Film Festival, and anything beyond utilitarian cooking just didn't fit into the schedule. The festival lasted from last Thursday through Sunday, and this year I got tickets for 6 films, which is about as many as I can stand to see in 4 days, considering that two of the days include a full day of work. My goal this year was to try to pick films that didn't leave me feeling depressed and hopeless, in other words, uplifting films. This can be hard with independent films, but not impossible. The first night we saw "Anvil: The Story of Anvil," which was about a Canadian heavy-metal band that has been trying to find mainstream success for 30 years. The band members are now in their 50s and still hoping to make it big. I loved this film — it was funny and touching, and left me hoping the band really does find stardom with their new album. And I didn't fall asleep even though it started at 9 p.m.

The next night we saw 2 films. The first at 5 and the second at 9:30. The first one was "In a Dream" which was about an outsider artist in South Philly who creates amazing mosaic walls. Actually, he covers entire buildings, inside and out, including the floors, with gorgeous mosaics. One of his sons, a film writer, made the documentary, and there's quite a bit of mental anguish, but the film ends on a positive note. I grew up in Philadelphia and was amazed that I didn't know about this artist. Next time I visit, I'm making a beeline for South St. The second film on Friday night was "A Wink and a Smile" about the burlesque scene in Seattle. It profiled the progress of a diverse group of women learning to perform burlesque for reasons of personal growth. I didn't come away with new insights or fondness for the genre, but at least the film met my goal of not being depressing. Sorry to say I dozed off briefly and missed what my husband claims was the best part.



On Saturday we saw two films and they were both fascinating, but my run of "not depressing" took a high speed nose dive. We saw "Silent Light" and "Treeless Mountain." Both films were photographically beautiful and mesmerizing, and both were so slow if they were any slower they would have stopped. This is more of a warning to those who prefer lots of action, than a criticism. For my husband and me, both films were riveting. (But make no mistake, they were slow.) The first had an astonishing ending that I'm still trying to understand, and the second ended with a glimmer (a small glimmer) of happiness, (maybe) but was pretty heartbreaking for most of the film.

On Sunday we saw "Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight." The documentary showcases Milton Glaser's rich life as an iconic graphic designer, illustrator and humanitarian. He's elegant and eloquent.

In spite of the busy schedule, I did have time to make a little something for those celebrating Passover - vegan macaroons. They are made mostly from carrots and coconut (seems to be a theme lately) and are made acceptable for Passover by subbing matzoh meal and coconut flour for the regular flours. The recipe is an adaption of "golden macaroons" from the "Country Life Cookbook." These are fairly delicate but become sturdier as they cool. You have to really like coconut to like these chewy cookies. (non-Passover and gluten-free versions below)



Vegan Passover macaroons (3 dozen small macaroons)

• 1 packed cup finely grated carrots (2 medium to large carrots)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup agave syrup or maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon almond (or vanilla) extract
• 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup matzoh meal (not whole wheat)
  
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a bowl, mix together well, the carrots, water, agave, oil, extract and salt.
2. Add the coconut, matzoh meal, coconut flour. Mix well and let sit at least 10 minutes. After sitting, if the mixture seems too wet, add another tablespoon of coconut flour or matzoh meal.
3. Form the mixture into walnut sized balls and shape with your fingers. (The original recipe says to drop from a spoon but I always find it easier to make the balls.)
   
4. Bake at 325˚F on a lightly oiled baking sheet for about 30 minutes, or until nicely browned.

I usually grind the carrots in the food processor so they will be finely grated because my hand grater is too coarse.

By the way, these age really well. The coconut texture is very pronounced at first but as they age, the coconut softens and the cookies get very chewy. I left them out in the open (in the kitchen, of course) on the cooling rack, and they tasted even better and chewier 2 days later. So make a lot!

To make the non-Passover version use 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour for the matzoh meal, 1/4 cup garbanzo flour for the coconut flour and only 1/4 cup water.

To make gluten-free, use 1/4 cup rice flour for the wheat and 1/4 cup coconut flour. Use 1/2 cup water. Let sit at least 30 minutes before forming cookies.

Molasses krinkles

Back in a past life when I was a grad student at Syracuse University, I had an assistantship that required me to work at the University child care center, providing care for children and mentoring student teachers. The daycare cook was a health-minded individual with whom I felt a great affinity. I was a vegetarian (not a vegan) at the time, and she cooked wonderful, mostly vegetarian food. She had a recipe for a gingersnap type cookie that she made only rarely, because it stretched the outer limits of what could be considered healthy. Those cookies had way too much fat and sugar, but I acquired the recipe anyway, because the cookies were so darn good. The recipe came from a woman (Lillian Radway of Pompey, NY) the cook knew who lived in a small town near Syracuse. I got this recipe more than 30 years ago but, when I googled it today, I found similar ones that seemed to trace back to Betty Crocker. Who knew.

Anyway, back in those days I was much more strict about what I would eat, and I had to make an exception for sugar when I ate these cookies. As delicious as they were, I never could quite bring myself to bake them because I was afraid that changing the recipe would ruin them, and I just couldn't bake them the way they were. But I've carried the recipe with me all these years, just in case. I finally decided to revise the recipe a bit and give them a try. I reduced the fat but not the sugar. Maybe next time I'll work on that! And they weren't ruined at all. They are just as chewy/crunchy/gingery and delicious as I remember.



Molasses Krinkles (about 4 dozen 2" cookies)

• 1/3 cup canola oil + enough vanilla soy yogurt to equal 3/4 cup
• 1 cup evaporated cane juice (like Sucanot)
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2-1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
• scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

1. Cream together the oil, yogurt and sugar. I used a wooden spoon to beat the mixture until it appeared to glisten and lighten. Because oil doesn't form tiny air bubbles like shortening does, creaming isn't going to have the same effect on the finished product. So don't knock yourself out trying to "cream" the fat and sugar.
   
2. Add the flax and molasses and beat thoroughly.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. I think the easiest way is to just put the dry ingredients through a sifter.
4. Add the dry to the liquid and mix. The dough will be somewhat soft and sticky.
5. Chill for one hour. (The dough comes out of the refrigerator transformed and perfect for the next step.)
6. With your hands, roll into walnut sized balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in cold water. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. (About 1/2 teaspoon or less per dozen.) (You don't have to flatten them if you don't want to. They will flatten a little as they bake, but the final result will be smaller and thicker than the flattened version. Just as good—but different shape.)
7. Bake at 375˚F for 10-12 minutes until lightly cracked. I baked mine for 10. They come out of the oven very soft so leave them on the cookie sheet for several minutes to firm up before removing to a wire rack to cool.

If you leave the cookies sitting out, they get nice and hard just like traditional ginger snaps. These cookies are much too good to have around so I froze half, and I'm sure it won't be long before I find out if they freeze well.

note: Yes they do freeze well. And they are just as dangerous sitting in the freezer.

White whole wheat flour

I use white whole wheat flour in so many recipes I thought it might be time for a mini-post devoted to this excellent grain. I first heard the term at work when one of my co-workers was trying to add more whole grains to her diet. She asked me about the bag of white whole wheat flour she had just purchased and I assured her that whole wheat flour doesn't have the word "white" in it. Ahem. Then I went home and did a little research to find out that yes, white whole wheat is the real deal.

White whole wheat is a hard winter wheat with nutritional value equivalent to hard red wheat, but with baking and taste qualities more akin to unbleached white. It's a naturally occurring variety that lacks the genes for red bran color. It also lacks certain phenolic compounds that contribute to the stronger taste of red wheat. The taste of white whole wheat is milder and sweeter. It also seems to produce lighter and softer baked goods.

Ar first I was using it only in bread and pizza dough in the same proportions that I had used red whole wheat. I usually added up to half unbleached white to lighten the bread. Then I started using higher and higher percentages of white whole wheat until I was making the bread entirely with this product, with great results. I usually used organic 100% whole wheat pastry flour for cakes and cookies. I started experimenting with white whole wheat and was surprised to find that the white whole wheat worked great in those things, too. It's become an all-purpose flour for me, though I still often use whole wheat pastry flour (from soft white wheat) out of habit.

I've been purchasing Bob's Red Mill organic white whole wheat flour which I find at Whole Foods and at our local food co-op. Other companies offer it but not as an organic product. (Grains are subject to so much pesticide use that I prefer to buy organic products.)

You can read more about white whole wheat here.

nutty linzer cookies

Yesterday, a co-worker brought cookies to work but I couldn't have one because she had added butterscotch chips to the recipe and it wsn't vegan. Ironically, she had started with a vegan recipe and made it not vegan. This was perfectly fine - I'm not much of a sweet-eater or a snacker, and if I do snack, it's usually on something like nuts or pretzels. I especially don't find sweets appealing in the morning. (Currently, I'm most likely to snack on pistachios.) However, the cookies were very interesting looking in a healthy kind of way, and in spite of their healthy appearance, they were receiving very positive feedback from everyone who was sampling them. Healthy cookies that people like? This was a recipe worth tracking down. I got the recipe from Jen, and traced the original to this Web site where they're called, "energizing linzer cookies." My version (based on ingredients on hand and personal preference) is below. I made 21 cookies, some with raspberry jam and some with chocolate chips. The chocolate chips didn't melt as I expected them to, but they tasted good. The raspberry filled cookies were much prettier and I preferred them. The cookies are sweet, but the jam I used, organic sugar-free raspberry jam from Trader Joes, was actually a bit tart, providing an unexpected but pleasant contrast. Unfortunately, I ate too many.

Nutty linzer cookies
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted, unsalted almonds
1/2 unsalted walnuts
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup agave syrup (or maple syrup)
2 teaspoons vanilla
raspberry jam
chocolate chips

Place oats, almonds and walnuts in a food processor and process until crumbly. Add flour and flax and pulse until mixed. Add oil, syrup and vanilla and pulse until mixed and dough forms.
Form into balls (wet hands help) and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
Press a depression into each cookie with your finger.
Place some jam or chocolate chips into each depression.
Bake at 350˚ for 14 minutes.

P.S. I was much too stingy with the jam and chocolate chips because I was afraid they would bubble up and ooze over the sides. Next time I make these - and there will definitly be a next time - I'm going to load up that jam and stuff in those chips. Jen says I should fill up the jam and put chocolate chips around the edge. Maybe I will.

Gingery bars

The house smells so good. And in spite of the endless snow, the kitchen is warm and spicy. I decided it was time to make something to distract me, however briefly, from the wreckage outside. This is a variation on an old recipe passed on to me by a co-worker.
Gingery bars
-3/4 cup organic sugar (evaporated cane juice)
-1/3 cup canola oil
-2-1/2 cups sifted (or well-stirred) whole wheat pastry flour
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/2 teaspoon salt (scant)
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 cup soymilk
-1/2 cup molasses ( blackstrap, sorghum and Barbados will all give slightly different results. The ones pictured were made with sorghum)
-1/2 cup raisins (optional)
two bowls and a glass measuring cup
9 x 13-inch greased and floured baking pan (don't forget the sides)

1. Mix oil and sugar in larger bowl
2. Sift dry ingredients together
3. Combine soymilk and molasses in measuring cup
4. Add dry ingredients alternating with wet ingredients to sugar/oil mix
5. Add raisins
6. Spead as evenly as you can in the pan. Batter is thick.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes in preheated 350˚ oven (will still be soft-don't overbake!)
8. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then cut into bars. Makes 16 large bars or 32 smaller ones.

The bars are at their best when completely cool. They are addictively chewy and cakey at the same time. I froze my leftovers so I wouldn't eat them all at once. These are good! (And they taste good frozen, too.)

Here are two pictures of the street where we live—just in case you think I'm making up the stuff I write about the snow. They were taken right outside our house.



Update: Here it is March 16 and I'm in Seattle meeting my brand new, very beautiful granddaughter. Yesterday, everyone was craving a treat, so I made these bars. I made them with blackstrap molasses because that's what we had, and I over- baked them because the baby started crying and what with the diaper changing and comforting, we forgot about the bars. Babies will cause that to happen. The bars still tasted great! So, I removed the note about not using blackstrap, but I still recommend not over-baking.

update2: I got this recipe from a co-worker who got it from her grandmother. She even has a scan of a very old letter written to or by her grandmother that contained this recipe. My co-worker was stunned when I told her I had found the recipe on several places on the Web and that it wasn't original. Obviously it must have come from an old cookbook and no one remembers which one, or has chosen not to mention it. Even when I've changed a recipe, I like to credit the source, so if you ever come across this recipe in a book, let me know. I think the original bars were called "hermits."

Valentine dessert

When the kids were growing up, I always made a Valentine dessert. It was literally a valentine from me to them and it was a family tradition. Every year I tried to come up with a new version to bake in my heart-shaped pan. It usually involved some sort of cake, cookie, or pastry base with non-dairy ice cream and/or frosting and/or a red fruit filling or topping. It was usually pretty good and visually impressive. One year it was so good that I wrote down the recipe. (I must have it somewhere.)

This year I made a dessert for the blog. Maybe my heart wasn't totally in it like when I made it for the kids, but it doesn't look quite as spectacular as I remember. Maybe my little camera isn't up to rendering valentines or maybe I rushed. The yummy taste is there, but I'm sure you can be more artistic than I if you try!

This year I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe posted 1/15/08 for the base. I used 1/2 recipe and pressed it into an 8 x 8 heart-shaped pan. (I just went ahead and made the whole recipe, used half for the heart and made cookies with the rest. The cookies freeze well so I froze them.) I used a non-dairy vanilla ice cream for the center and a bittersweet chocolate frosting for the top. The icing is BITTERSWEET in a big way and will appeal to people who like bittersweet chocolate. If you like your chocolate sweeter, leave out the coffee and add a little maple syrup. I used frozen raspberries to decorate the edge because I had some in the freezer, but use your favorite fruit. I think cherries would be good. You could use fresh fruit if you add it just before serving. Just a thought - if all this seems like a lot of work, you could just serve the cookie with ice cream on the side! One thing I noticed, and should mention, is while this combination tastes great, the cookies are very crisp and a bit hard to cut, especially when frozen. You might want to assemble this dessert closer to when you plan to serve it so it doesn't stay in the freezer too long, or plan to let it sit out for five minutes or so before attempting to cut it. And use a sharp knife! Maybe slightly underbaking the cookie would also help. Mine will be in the freezer for five days before I serve it. It's in a freezer bag inside a plastic container. I'm hoping for the best!


Valentine dessert
Chocolate chip oatmeal cookie base (this is 1/2 of the normal recipe)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (stir it up before measuring)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/4 cup Sucanot (evaporated cane juice)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 or more tablespoons water

-Combine flour, oatmeal, Sucanot, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in chips.
-Mix oil, vanilla and 1 tablespoons water in glass measuring cup.
-Stir the wet into the dry until flour is absorbed. Batter will be thick but if it's too stiff to work with, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
-Press into a lightly oiled 8 x 8 heart-shaped pan.
-Bake on center shelf of preheated 375˚ oven until lightly browned on the bottom, about 20 minutes (or until edges start to brown).
-Cool in pan 10 minutes, loosen edges with a knife and then invert over a wire rack. Tap the pan bottom gently to release the cookie. Carefully turn right side up.
The filling
Rinse out the pan and maybe oil it for the next step. I never do but maybe the ice cream would come out more easily. Anyway, this part can be interesting. I've noticed that some non-dairy ice creams (especially my favorites) seem to go from rock hard to liquid without passing through a soft stage. I used a rice-based product this time and was a little nervous about it liquefying so I cut hard chunks out of the carton with a butter knife and pressed it quickly into the heart pan with the back of a wooden spoon. It actually wasn't too bad. I used about 3/4 of a pint (got tired of pressing) but you can use it all if you want. When I had the surface all smooth and even I put the pan back in the freezer. Leave it there for an hour or two to firm up. While it's firming, make the frosting.

The frosting
My mother didn't make a lot of desserts but when one of us kids had a birthday, she was there for us with cake made from scratch and bittersweet chocolate fudge frosting. I never had much of a sweet tooth but I loved that frosting. Once in elementary school, when we had to memorize a story or poem to present to the class, I memorized the frosting recipe. I wish I could still recite it, but all I can remember is 11 tablespoons of cocoa and 11 tablespoons of sugar. Sound familiar?

Lately I've been using a frosting based on a recipe from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. Her recipe uses sour cream and I have substituted soy yoghurt. I've also made it slightly softer so it would spread easily over the ice cream. It's amazingly fast and easy and meets my need for chocolate to be as bittersweet as possible! With this dessert, even spreading on as much as my conscience allowed, I still had leftovers. (To spread on the leftover cookies from the other half of the recipe!)

Bittersweet frosting
6 ounces semisweet vegan chocolate chips.
one 6-ounce carton of vanilla soy yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon decaffeinated coffee crystals dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water
-Put the chocolate in the top half of a double boiler and melt over hot water. Stir often. I just put a stainless bowl over a pot of boiling water and it works fine.
-Remove from heat and stir in yogurt, vanilla and coffee. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and glossy. Place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to cool it down but not so long as to make it hard to spread.

Assembly
cookie-heart base
ice cream heart
bittersweet frosting
frozen or fresh fruit
unsweetened shredded coconut or other decoration of your choice

Place the cookie on a nice plate where it can lie flat. Get the ice cream heart from the freezer and run hot water over the bottom of the pan for about 10 seconds to loosen it. Run a knife around the edge of the ice cream. Dry the pan and invert the pan over the cookie. It should fit perfectly since it's the same exact size. Thump gently on the pan bottom, and with a little luck, the ice cream should fall right into place on top of the cookie. Good luck. When the ice cream is successfully in place, put the dessert in the freezer for about 1/2 hour or so, to firm up the ice cream.

Spread the cooled frosting on the frozen ice cream. Work quickly so the ice cream doesn't melt. You can frost the top and sides or just the top. I did just the top and left a little white showing. Put the plate back in the freezer and get the fruit for the edge ready. Put it in a bowl so you can get to it quickly. Get the dessert from the freezer and arrange fruit around the edge or however you see fit. Sprinkle with shredded coconut or decoration of your choice. You're done.

chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

My husband was getting jealous of this blog. If you've been reading, you know that for the past six or seven years he's been doing most of the cooking and now that I'm getting interested in cooking again, he's feeling left out. All the recipes and photos so far have been for my stuff. I mean, it is my blog. So, last night he said he was making cookies and wanted me to photograph them and post them. Uh ... that depends, I said. I'm not photographing lumpy, bumpy all-different-sized cookies. There are rules here. They have to be easy to make, delicious and THEY HAVE TO LOOK GOOD. With a huff, he went into the kitchen. I was called in a short while later with a frenzied, "We don't have any maple syrup!" He was in the middle of putting ingredients into a large bowl. "Use Sucanot, I said."

The next time I was called into the kitchen, he was arranging a batch of beautiful cookies on a plate, and I went to get the camera. They were delicious, too!
The original recipe for these cookies can be found in "Complete Vegetarian Kitchen" by Lorna Sass. We've altered the recipe a little to suit our personal tastes.

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (about two dozen)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (stir it up before measuring)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup Sucanot (evaporated cane juice)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 or more tablespoons water

-Combine flour, oatmeal, Sucanot, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in chips.
-Mix oil, vanilla and 2 tablespoons water in glass measuring cup.
-Stir the wet into the dry until flour is absorbed. Batter will be thick but if it's too stiff to work with, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
-Drop by heaping teaspoons about one inch apart onto two oiled cookie sheets. Flatten and shape with your fingers to about 1/4 inch thick.
-Bake on center shelf of preheated 375˚ oven until lightly browned on the bottom, about 17 minutes.
-Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.
-These cookies freeze very well. They even taste good frozen!

note: I know these delicious cookies are fast and easy to make because my husband made them. I know they're probably foolproof for the same reason. Here's an example of what I mean. A couple of months ago he made me a frosted birthday cake. It looked amazing but there were problems. For one thing, he made two layers but didn't put frosting between them so when the cake was cut into pieces, (sawed into pieces would probably be more accurate) the two layers popped apart like a weird hinged thing held together by an outer edge of rubberized frosting. The cake was basically inedible. Although I ate my piece, my husband and son refused to eat theirs. The cake came to a good end, however. My husband added it to the compost to enrich the soil for next year's garden!

Chocolate crispy bars: almost instant dessert

We had last minute company coming and I wanted to make something really easy for dessert. (The last time these out-of-town guests came I made polenta with roasted veggies and red pepper purée, which I didn't write about because I forgot to photograph it. For dessert we had baked apples. The whole dinner was so easy to do that it felt like I hadn't done anything and it was pretty impressive both in taste and appearance.) For this dinner Ken was making pasta with tomato sauce and a salad and I was going to stir fry some green beans and make dessert.

There was a recipe in Oct. 2007 Vegetarian Times for a version of crispy rice treats with chocolate that I wanted to try and they were so fast and easy to make that I'll share my slightly revised recipe. I served them on an attractive platter with orange wedges. It looked great but - no photo. I set up a little plate with a leftover piece and a couple of orange slices but the photo doesn't do them justice at all. They were quite appealing -and very sweet.

Crispy bars
1/2 cup almond butter
3/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vanilla
5-6 cups crispy brown rice cereal (like Erewhon or Barbara's)

Oil a 9x9 baking dish. Place almond butter, syrups, and chips in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly until melted and beginning to bubble. (about 5 minutes) Remove from heat, stir in vanilla then stir in as much as the cereal as the syrup will absorb without becoming too dry. Press into the dish. Cool 15 minutes and slice into pieces with a knife dipped in cold water. Refrigerate to harden.

I have a recipe that I created years ago for a puffed rice, no chocolate, version of this dessert that I want to find and test. I remember really liking it and taking it to a zillion potlucks. It was based on a Japanese street sweet, and made with barley malt, and I think I called it Andrea's Crispy Treats.