Sunday, December 21, 2014

Pre-Christmas goodness and Gluten Free Choc-coffee cookies

Unlike many of my classmates, I am not heading home for Christmas right away, and again unlike many of  my classmates, my Christmas holidays started early because every single one of my assignments is already completed, and were completed by Monday the 8th.  So, this means I have an entire month (two weeks of which are left) to get started on my reading for next semester, bake Christmas cookies and make tofurkey/seitan, maybe do some housework, finish my Christmas shopping, and start working on my thesis (yeah right).

Also, I have been sleeping. Constantly.

And I should feel worse about it but honestly, I'm so exhausted I feel as though I am making up for three month's of lost sleep.

In spite of all this napping I have managed is to make cookies, have a Christmas party, finish my Christmas shopping and wrapping. This morning VOMD and I had our very own at home Christmas celebration. He has to work Monday and Tuesday and then we are headed to see family and friends from the 24th to the 4th, so we wanted to make sure we get our own Christmas morning experience, especially because it was our first one together!

He, the adorable silly pants, ordered stuff online that did not arrive yet, but still we exchanged awesome gifts (some super snazzy clothes,a couple books, and a Sega Genesis from me to him; and comfy pants, a beautiful scarf and a super amazingly awesome Japanese tea set from him to me; and of course lots of awesome stocking stuffers). We both bought each other a bunch of Lush stuff. If you don't know Lush, check them out. They are super vegan (only some of their products are not vegan, and its because of honey, which we both still eat and use...which is a story for another time), and now we both smell ridiculously delicious.

For Christmas I decided to try some gluten free  vegan baking because Eric has developed a bit of a wheat sensitivity. I came up with a gluten free vegan cookie recipe, the base for which I sort of borrowed from the Post Punk Kitchen blog, here.

Gluten Free Vegan Choc-Coffee Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sunflower oil (we only have it on hand for oil pulling and usually cook with coconut or olive oil...but you can use any other veg oil as well)
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar (use Redpath or another guaranteed vegan brand)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbsp flax seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other vegan milk)

1 cup gluten free flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
2/3 cup good quality cocoa powder
1/2 cup instant coffee (I used decaf hazelnut flavoured coffee, but you can use whatever you'd like)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup crushed unsalted walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper

Blend flax seeds until powdered. Add almond milk and blend some more (about 3 seconds). Set mixture aside while you do the next step. It will seem kind of gooey. This is your egg replacer and helps bind the cookies together.

In a medium sized bowl sift together all dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, coffee, baking soda, baking powder, salt).

In large bowl cream together sugar, vanilla, and oil. Because you are using brown sugar it will seem a bit thick  and not as creamy as it would be were you to use regular white sugar. Then add flax and almond milk mixture and mix thoroughly.

Start adding dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. You might have to use your hands. Its fun. Do it. It will be dense and not very sticky.

Then fold in walnuts and chocolate chips. It will seem pretty crumbly.

Using your hands form about one inch balls (you can make them as big or as small as you want, really, just be careful to slightly adjust your baking time) and then smoosh flat(ish).

Place on cookie sheets with a fair amount of space between them. I could fit about 10 on each sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. They will be puffy and very squishy when they are ready, so do NOT over cook.

Take out and let sit for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. No joke, I use a cheep dollar store cabinet storage rack as a cooling rack--simple, cheep, and multi-purposed. Once they are a bit cooled you will see that  they harden up a bit but are still chewy and delicious and full of coffee-chocolate goodness.

These, along with left over seitan, mashed potatoes and carrots from our dinner party last night, were our breakfast. Yum!

Overall, best day ever.

Happy Sunday!