Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been vegan, vegetarian and macrobiotic. I have also been someone who will eat meat, but not dairy; someone who will eat meat, but only in restaurants; and most recently, someone who eats everything. But sometimes I have animal product guilt and go through periods of cooking vegan/vegetarian.

We recently had some friends stay with us who are vegan. I wanted to have food that they would be comfortable eating, so I went out and bought a new vegan cookbook, How it All Vegan! by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. Vegan cookbooks sure have gotten better since I was cooking in the early nineties with The Cookbook for People Who Love Animals (blech). I made them some vegan cupcakes that were ok. The frosting was very good (recipe below), but the cupcakes tasted more like molasses muffins. In the end it turned out that my friends hadn't been vegan for years and they ended up eating the regular cupcakes I'd made instead.

Since then, I have made some good recipes from the book including "Tanya's Asian Creation" which I've included below and "Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies" which I made today for a friend's birthday, also below.

So, if you are a recovering vegan/vegetarian who suffers from animal product guilt once in a while, I recommend How it All Vegan! I'd say 80-85% of the recipes are good and can be fed to vegans and non-vegans.

Chocolate Icing
1 cup cold water
5 T flour
1 cup dry sweetener (I used organic sucanat)
1 t vanilla extract
6 T margarine
4 T cocoa powder

In a small saucepan, whisk together the water and the flour constantly over medium heat until thick (about the consistency of glue). Be careful not to burn it! Once thick, remove from heat and cool off completely by setting the pot in a slightly larger pan of cold water, or a sink with a bit of cold water. While it's cooling, in a medium bowl, mix together the sweetener, vanilla, margarine, and coca powder until well mixed. Add the cooled flour mixture to the bowl and stir together until there are no lumps. Let cool in the fridge for 30-60 minutes--before using.

Tanya's Asian Creation
buckwheat noodles (for 4 people)
2 cups cubed squash (e.g. kuri, kabocha, butternut or acorn; don't use spaghetti squash)
2 T olive oil
1 lb medium tofu cubed
1-3 t pepper (I used 2)
1 t salt
3 stalks green onions, chopped
4 T flax oil (I used toasted sesame oil)
Braggs Liquid Aminos as garnish (Vegans love this stuff. You can also use soy sauce).
Gomashio as garnish. (The book has a recipe of gomashio with kelp powder, but Eden has a very tasty pre-made gomashio that I used instead).

In a medium pot, boil the noodles in water on high heat. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, saute the squash in the oil on high heat for about 5 minutes, then add the tofu, pepper and salt. Continue cooking until the squash can be easily pierced with a fork. Add the onions, cover and set aside. When the noodles have finished cooking, rinse in hot water, then place back in pot and toss with flax oil to prevent the noodles from sticking. Place them in a bowl or on a plate and top with the squash mixture, then garnish with Braggs and gomashio. Makes 2-4 servings.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies (photo above)
3/4 cup dry sweetener (I used organic sucanat)
1/2 c margarine
1/2 c oil
3 T water
2 t vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used the whole 10 oz bag of Sunspire Grain Sweetened Chocolate Chips).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together the sweetener, margarine, oil, water and vanilla. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the margarine mixture and the chocolate chips and mix together well. Scoop spoon-sized portions onto an unoiled cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are browned. Let cool before removing from cookie sheet. Makes 6 large or 12 small cookies. (I found that it made 18 medium cookies).