Okay, yeah. That was lame. I’ll be the first person to admit that. If you come up with a better play on words for “vegan” you get a cookie. What kind of cookie, you ask? A vegan one. Duh.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ve noticed that I already dive a bit into gluten-free baking. What’s spectacular is that even those of us without a known gluten intolerance can benefit from minimizing our intake of gluten. Yes, it’s what makes your dough doughy and holds things together (the word gluten is literally latin for “glue”) but with a little creativity and patience, you can make foods just as good, if not better, by using substitutions for products that contain gluten, as well as a lot of other things. 

Which is why I decided to try some vegan recipes. It’s interesting to cook without using animal products, but it’s oddly liberating. I’ve never been a huge meat eater, but I’ve just recently started taking strides toward living a completely meat-free lifestyle. I’ve always had some issues digesting red meat, but after finding out that I have high cholesterol, on top of learning way too much about animal cruelty in my Ethics class, well, let’s just say I can’t look beef the same way I used to. And just because your chicken says “free-range,” that doesn’t mean they’re happily clucking their way around a sunshiny farm, if you know what I mean.

Going completely vegan is a big pool I don’t particularly feel compelled to dive into, but I definitely appreciate the challenges it presents in the baking world. So without further ado, I present:

Vegan (and gluten free!) Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies!
(Thank you to Lisa Wolterman for introducing me to the original recipe!)

To make the chocolate dough:
-1/2 cup coconut oil
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-3 tablespoons almond milk (or other non-dairy milk substitute.)
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 cup pure maple sugar
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour
-2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For peanut butter filling:
-3/4 cup natural salted peanut butter (doesn’t matter if it’s crunchy or smooth.)
-2/3 cup powdered sugar (if you’re gluten-free, read the label. Some brands of powdered sugar use wheat starch.)
-2 1/2 tablespoons almond milk (or other non-dairy milk substitute.)
-1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/3 cup mini-chocolate chips
-1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions for chocolaty success! 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. For chocolate dough: In a mixing bowl, combine coconut oil, white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, almond milk, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth.
3. Add in flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Beat together. The dough should be firm, but moist. 
4. For peanut butter filling: In a mixing bowl, beat together peanut butter, powdered sugar, almond milk, vanilla extract, chocolate chips, and ground cinnamon. (If too dry, add a bit more almond milk. If too wet, add more powdered sugar.)

5. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and set aside.
6. To form cookies, take a generous ball of chocolate dough and roll it into a ball in the palm of your hand. Smash it until it’s relatively flat. Take a small ball of peanut butter filling (should be firm enough to just pull off with your hands) and place it in the middle of the flattened dough. Like this:

7. Curl up edges of dough so that they completely cover peanut butter. Roll into a ball, then place on your wax paper.
8. Repeat until cookie sheet is full, making sure that the dough is spaced about two inches apart.
9. Place into oven and bake for 10 minutes.
10. Immediately remove from baking sheet and place on a plate to cool. For some added flair, sprinkle a little bit of powdered sugar over the top.
11. Repeat steps 6-10 until all cookies are prepared.
 

12. Enjoy! (these taste super duper tasty dipped into a glass of that tasty almond milk!) 

Some people may think that baking your own birthday cake is sad. I think it’s awesome. Mostly because then I know it’s going to be amazing. Not to toot my own horn or anything…

But cake aside a second, I decided to bake some Snickerdoodles to share with the awesome people in my Ethics class tonight. Today is our instructors birthday, tomorrow is mine, and I figure that anyone who has to sit in a class and listen to me fight with you for 3 hours deserves to have something given back to them. 

They were a hit! I love Snickerdoodles, so I don’t think you can really go wrong, but I had several people ask me for my recipe, especially after hearing that they were gluten free. So, I led them here to my humble blog. Enjoy girls! Let me know if you have questions!

Super Soft and Yummy Snickerdoodle Cookies!

What You’ll Need:

• 1 cup softened coconut oil (but you can use butter if you have too…) :)
• 1 1/2 cups of white sugar
• 1/2 cup Egg Beaters (or 2 large eggs, beaten.)
• 3 cups of gluten-free pancake mix (or flour)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup applesauce* (if you don’t have applesauce, just skip it.)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon Sprite, Sierra Mist, or 7up* (if you don’t have any, skip it.)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions for SUCCESS!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F)
2. Mix your softened butter (or coconut oil), sugar, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla extract together in a bowl.
3. Mix pancake mix or flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.
4. Combine all mixed ingredients into one bowl and stir in sprite.
5. Place dough and an UNGREASED cookie sheet into the fridge to cool.
6. While you’re waiting on your dough, mix 3 tablespoons of sugar and 3 teaspoons of cinnamon together in a shallow bowl. 
7. Remove your dough and cookie sheet from the refrigerator.
8. Roll about 1” globs of dough into a ball and roll gently into your cinnamon sugar mixture. 
9. Place onto your UNGREASED cookie sheet, and place into your pre-heated stove to bake.
10. Set your timer for ten minutes. Remove the cookies from the sheet immediately.
11. Repeat steps 8-10 until all dough is gone! 

*If you don’t have these two items, don’t fret. The applesauce helps keeps the cookies moist longer, but isn’t necessary for the recipe. The Sprite will make the cookies a little “fluffier,” but again, are not necessary for good cookies :)

There’s a lot of amazing things about the fall. The weather allows us to bust our adorable boots out of the back of our closet, rock sweatshirts without looking like you just rolled out of bed, all the amazing colors that break up the monotony of dreary, overcast days, (my birthday!), and, oh, yeah, amazing freaking food. 

Today being one of those perfectly chilly days, I decided to make something I’ve never made before, but sounded absolutely wonderful: APPLE CRISP!

What You’ll Need:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of oatmeal (I got apple cinnamon flavored to add a little something extra!)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 softened, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup melted butter 
• 4-5 large apples (depending on size of your pan)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Equipment:

• 8x8 inch or 9x13 inch glass baking pan
• Apple wedge slicer
• Veggie peeler
• 1 large bowl for apples
• 1 small bowl for crumble mix

Steps for apple-y success!!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Peel all apples, slice into wedges, then slice the wedges into thin halves. (You will end up with 16 wedges per apple.)
    
3. Place all wedges into a large bowl. 
    
4. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and pour over apple wedges. Set bowl aside.
5. Mix flour, white sugar, and brown sugar into a small bowl. 
6. Add SOFTENED butter to your dry mix and smash until a crumbly consistency and there are no large clumps of butter.
    
7. Butter your glass pan and layer the apples along the bottom of the pan.
    
8. Gently, without disrupting the apples, smooth your crumble mix over top until apples are fully covered.
    
9. Once covered, drizzle melted butter over top.
    
10. Place finished product into the oven and allow to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until apples are soft.
11. Remove and cool for a few minutes, then enjoy! 
    
    For added yum factor, put apple crisp over vanilla ice cream! 
    
     

I had a rough day yesterday, so when I woke up this morning I decided something. 

I needed chocolate.

Lots, and lots of chocolate.

I’m not typically one of those people who relies on food to make them feel better, but today I just wanted something comforting to gnaw on. I promised several people that I’d post my recipe for chocolate chip banana bread today, so I’m going to. However, I did some tweaking and created something that, I’m not gunna lie, I’m pretty damn proud of. So without further ado, let me introduce you to…

SUPER chocolaty chocolate chip banana bread!!!

What you’ll need:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp (margarine will NOT work. You can, however, use my favorite trick substitute and use 1 1/2 cups coconut oil!)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tablespoon Sprite (can use water if you don’t have Sprite/7 up/etc.)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• OPTIONAL: If you like banana nut bread, feel free to add some chopped walnuts for that extra nutty yummy flavor! :)

Instructions for chocolaty success!!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease your bread pan and set aside.
3. Mash your bananas with a fork in a small mixing bowl (if your bananas are not as ripe as they need to be, put them on a cookie sheet and place them into your preheating oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until peel is brown.)
4. Cream your butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Once smooth, set aside.
5. Add egg, sour cream, applesauce, and vanilla to the bowl with your mashed bananas and mix thoroughly.
6. Place both mixtures into one bowl. Add baking soda and mix.
7. Now add your cocoa powder, flour, and Sprite or water and mix thoroughly (done best with an electric mixer!)
8. Finally, add your desired amount of chocolate chips and give it another good mix.
9. Pour mixture into your prepared bread pan and smooth out. Sprinkle a few loose chocolate chips on the top before placing it in the oven.
10. Allow to bake for 45 to an hour (depending on your stove) or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool, and enjoy!

For some added flair, sprinkle a little bit of powdered sugar over the top before serving!

I know I said I was only going to post on Sundays and Wednesdays, but I had “one of those days,” and needed a little baking therapy. So far this week I’ve made brownies, chocolate chip banana bread, and pumpkin muffins, so I decided to make it simple and comforting and just make your plain ol’ chocolate chip cookies. Mostly because I had leftover chocolate chips laying around. 

Normally when we make cookies we just follow the Nestle Tollhouse recipe that comes printed on the bag when you buy the chocolate chips. However, that recipe has recently kinda sucked a big one for us and I decided to do some research on the subject. Apparently recipes for chocolate chip cookies are pretty uniform across the board, so I did some tweaking and refining and, not to toot my own horn, think I came up with a pretty good end product. 

Heart Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies!

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup coconut oil or butter (melted)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon Sprite or Sierra Mist (if you don’t have either, you can use water… will explain more thoroughly below.)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Egg Beaters
• Chocolate chips

Directions for SUCCESS!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt your coconut oil (or butter) in a medium sized microwaveable container. 
3. Measure out flour and salt into a separate bowl and set aside.
4. Once coconut oil is melted, pour in white sugar, then add the brown sugar and mix until smooth.
5. Add Egg Beaters slowly, distributing evenly and mixing until smooth, then add vanilla extract and continue to stir.
6. At this point, add your Sprite to your sugar mixture, and your baking soda to the flour/salt mixture you set aside. If you don’t have Sprite, mix baking soda and 1 tablespoon of water together until it’s mostly dissolved, then add it to your sugar mixture. The carbonation in the Sprite helps make the cookies a little more “airy” on the inside.
7. Pour your mixture into the bowl with the flour, salt, and baking soda. 
8. Add your desired amount of chocolate chip cookies and mix. I’m not going to tell you how many to use, because it will always be up for debate. I would eat the whole bag before I start baking if I didn’t need them.
9. Place spoonfuls of dough onto a LIGHTLY greased baking pan and place in your preheated oven.
10. Allow to bake for 10-12 minutes or until a soft brown.

Allow to cool, then ENJOY! 

*This recipe is NOT gluten free. However, if you would like to make it gluten free, the all-purpose flour can easily be replaced with rice or coconut flour!

Demeter was most commonly known as the Goddess of the harvest, but in her down time she also protected the fertility of the earth, presided over the sanctity of marriage, and watched over the cycle of life and death. She seems like a pretty beautiful representation of what this blog is about… cooking, my family, and how those things affect our lives.

To fill you in on some of the gory details, my husband has Crohn’s disease, I had a major surgery to cure a digestive disorder of my own, and the more I learn about food the more shocked I am to find out how detrimental some things are to our bodies. 

I’m currently taking a Physiology class that is required for entrance into my local community college’s nursing program, but my original intention for taking this class is backfiring and making me want to pursue something entirely different. So while I promise to post some amazing and easy recipes, tips, tricks, and other fun little nuggets I learn, I’m also hoping I’ll be able to work out all the tumultuous thoughts running through my head that make me want to open a bakery.

So, on to what you really care about!
The first recipe is…..
Gluten Free/Heart Healthy chocolate chip brownies!
(The original inspiration is from the Gluten Free Goddess, but refined for my own personal tastes.)

What you’ll need:

• 4 to 5 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate (Ghirardelli is my personal favorite!)
• 3/4 cup coconut oil* (found in the organic section of your grocery store.)
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 light brown sugar
• 1 cup Egg Beaters* (will need to be distributed 1/4 cup at a time.)
• 1 cup gluten-free pancake mix (found in the gluten-free section of your local grocery store.)
• Chocolate chips (I like the mini ones.)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions for SUCCESS!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly oil baking pan. Glass works best, but work with what you have. The coconut oil works great to grease the pan with, as well!
3. Melt baking chocolate and coconut oil together in a microwaveable bowl. Should take about 1 minute. Stir together until well mixed.
4. Mix Gluten free pancake mix, baking soda, and sea salt together in a separate bowl. 
5. Remove coconut oil/chocolate mixture from microwave. Slowly add brown sugar and mix. Once mixed, slowly add white sugar and mix. 
6. Place mixture back in microwave for 1 minute increments or until a thick, grainy, but still liquid consistency.
7. Pour mixture into bowl with dry ingredients, and beat slowly. Add 1/4 cup of egg beaters one at a time while blending.
8. Lastly, add vanilla extract and beat until all ingredients are fully blended and batter in smooth.
9. Pour batter into pan and smooth out. Once even, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and press in slightly. 
10. Place in center of oven. Allow to bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean!
11. Once removed from oven, allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. For an extra bit of flair, sprinkle the top with powdered sugar.

ALL DONE! Enjoy!!!

I hope you like it. If you try it let me know what you thought or any variations you thought worked well so I can test them out for future improvements!

Also, if there’s anything you’d like me to attempt, I’m more then open for suggestions and opinions!

Love,
Jana

*Egg beaters are a fantastic alternative to using normal eggs in cooking. They can actually help lower your cholesterol! And coconut oil is my new favorite trick. Substituted for butter, it’s the only substitute that keeps it’s original chemical make-up when heated, unlike margarine, which pretty much just breaks down into unidentifiable goo.