One of the things I don't do very often in summer, due to lack of air conditioning in my home, is bake. I really like to bake. I wanted to make bread today, but didn't have quite enough time to do so, since I worked a few hours today. (It was kinda fun at work, we cleaned out the main toy closet and ORGANIZED everything. That makes me and my type A personality happy!) So, since I didn't have time for bread baking, I wanted to make something. Chocolate Chip cookies was the obvious substitution. Easy, relatively fast and oh, so yummy!
While I haven't been adhering to a strict Vegan diet lately (I really should get back to it), I still try to avoid using milk and eggs. So, I hit the cookbooks to find a recipe for Vegan Choc. Chip cookies. One recipe intrigued me, but I had to do a little 'adjusting.' The recipe below is my adaptation and I must say I LOVE THESE COOKIES! They are a little bit crispy, cake-like and full of goodies. Chocolate chips were just a starting point. What this evolved into was soooooooo good!
April's Chock Full (Vegan) Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup flour (preferably unbleached white flour)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce (I used chunky applesauce because that's what I like.)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup (or a tad more) dried cranberries
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, baking soda, and cinnamon until well blended in a small bowl. Set aside. Mix sugar, applesauce and vanilla until blended in a larger bowl. Add dry ingredients to the applesauce mixture. Mix until a soft, solid dough is formed. Add chocolate chips and cranberries.
Drop by rounded teaspoon onto an un-greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Remove from the cookie sheet and cool on a cooling rack. ENJOY!
(One of my favorite things about vegan baking is you don't have to worry about sampling the dough-NO EGG! I wouldn't encourage you to eat tons of it as it will probably lay heavy in your stomach, but a sample or two is not out of the question!)
Below you will find a few photos of my baking adventure. They're all the pictures I got today. Between work and the fact that my lips started to swell within five minutes of leaving the house, my hope for taking a walk/hike today was ruined. Maybe in another month I'll be able to enjoy being outdoors.
In other sad news, tomorrow is the day of the run I had planned to go to in Columbus. I had hoped that 7 weeks of training would have gotten me somewhat in shape to complete the 5k but, because of my knee and allergies, I had to put that hope away too. Now I am just fat and lazy and miserable. Ick! I need to start working out again. I only have another week and a half before I go see the orthopedist, so hopefully after that he'll release me to start up my workouts again, this time with some tips and a plan to prevent further damage to my bones!
Okay, sorry for my deluge of misery and whining. I'll try to be positive. Anyway, enjoy the photos below and have a happy Sunday!!!
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| The only type of applesauce I buy. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to applesauce. It is a major staple in my diet and currently I will only eat two kinds of applesauce, Musselman's and the stuff I make myself. I'll have more on my recipe for applesauce as we venture further into fall. It is really yummy and pretty simple to make. |
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| My preferred brand of chocolate chips. Vegan and mini, a wonderful combination. |
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| The dough. |
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| Large teaspoons full on the baking sheet, ready to be baked. |
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| Look at that golden brown color. Yum, yum! |
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| You can see how many chips get in each cookie as well as the cranberries. |
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| Lots of chocolatey goodness. |
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| The recipe made a dozen and a half good sized cookies. |
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