Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I think it's well established that I adore the chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Since tomorrow is Mason's birthday, I wanted to make some to send to work with him today. Though they are amazing, I thought it would be a little boring to send plain chocolate chips cookies yet again. So, what kind of cookies do you make for a barista to take to work? Espresso Chocolate Chunk!

Mas and I made the chunks for the cookies by melting a bag of chocolate chips with two tablespoons of Earth Balance, a teaspoon of agave and a tablespoon of Nescafe. {By the way, my resident coffee expert informs me that espresso powder is a total rip off. Just use double the amount of Nescafe for equally tasty, yet much more affordable results.} We spread the melted chocolate in a thin layer on an oiled sheet of parchment and stuck it in the freezer for about an hour. When it was frozen solid, I cut it into thin strips lengthwise, then cut the strips into chunks.

The chunks had a really nice coffee flavor, but it wasn't quite enough. I wanted the cookies to really tasty like coffee, so I added another tablespoon of Nescafe to the water when I whipped the Ener-G eggs in the Vita-Mix (another tip from TJOVB, which makes the Ener-G much frothier and more eggy). It worked really well and gave the dough a subtle coffee flavor that was pretty great in combination with the chunks.

More Gift Food

I've been too busy watching the Olympics to care about food this week, but I did manage to bake a dozen of these chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking yesterday. I haven't made them in a while, and I was hoping that they would be as good as I remembered. They were. These are, hands down, the best chocolate chip cookies that I've ever had. I hardly ever make them because they are so, so horrible for you, but these were for a gift. They make great gift cookies because they are huge and not terribly fragile. I did keep two for us, of course, but they were long gone by the time this photo was taken.

Vegan Mexican Wedding Cookies

Mason has always loved Mexican Wedding cookies, but I have actually never had one until today. I've hated all nuts for as long as I can possibly remember until I began forcing myself to eat almonds a year or so ago. The Mexican Wedding Cookies (aka Russian Tea Cakes, aka Snowdrops, aka Snowballs, aka Italian Butter Nuts, aka Southern Pecan Butterballs, aka Viennese Sugar Balls) that I've come across are generally made with pecans or walnuts---which tie each other for my most loathed nut. I do have a great love for things dipped in powdered sugar, though, so I've always wanted to try a nut free version. Knowing that Mas would find that unacceptable and not knowing whether it would even work, I decided to compromise and make these cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking with almonds. I only used half the amount and ground them pretty fine, but it worked! Mas loved them, I liked them. Soft, chewy cookies will always be more my thing, but it's nice to have an alternative.

If you don't have the book, you should definitely think about getting it. It's one of my absolute favorites. Until you find a copy, this is the exact same recipe--with the almonds already subbed in.

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday marked one year of my blogging about worms, plants, Dallas, estate sales, bikes, and most recently, tons of vegan food. I thought that I should make something nice and terrible for us to celebrate, so I picked up my copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking. Every baked good that I've tried from this book has been excellent. These cookies were so delicious that I sent the majority of them to work with Mason this morning so that we wouldn't eat the entire batch.

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

I officially love The Joy of Vegan Baking. First, it was huge, tasty chocolate chip cookies. Then, it was the most amazing cobbler ever. And now, raspberry oatmeal bars! Pre-veganism, I used to love the (loaded with butter) oatmeal bars at Whole Foods. These are better. I've read a few less than positive things about this book, but I honestly can't figure out why. Yes, I've only tried three of the recipes, but they've all been delicious and no problem to make at all. I think I'm going to try a few of the savory recipes next to see how they go. The Mediterranean Olive Bread looks incredible.

Cobbler Dishonors Pie

I made the apple cobbler from The Joy of Vegan Baking tonight. It is insanely delicious! I didn't make any changes other than patting my dough into shape and placing it on top instead of blobbing it on and trying to spread it around that way. Oh, and it was golden and perfect after about 25-30 minutes (not the 35-40 called for in the recipe). We served it up warm with some vanilla soy ice cream. Honestly, it is the best cobbler that I've ever had. It was so good that I don't really have much to say about it. Cobbler always beats pie in my book, but this one totally murdered the entire pie family. I can't wait to try the blueberry.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

While choosing my favorites (and least favorites) on the first episode of Project Runway, I poured through my new cookbook trying to decide which recipe to try. The Cinnamon Coffee Cake sounded great, the German Apple Cake looked incredible, Mas voted for the Mexican Wedding Cookies...but, in the end, I decided that the best way to judge any baking book is to make the Chocolate Chip Cookies. I was a little skeptical that this one batch of a dozen cookies would be worth the fat in the entire cup of Earth Balance that the recipe called for, but they were really very delicious. I certainly won't be making them every day (or every week), but I they would be great for potlucks or family gatherings. Really, I think that they would go over well with even the most butter-loving vegan cookie skeptics. I'm sending half of them to work with Mason tomorrow, so I guess we'll find out.

It's A Good Mail Day

My copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking just came in the mail (along with another awesome package that I'll post about later). I haven't even had time to open it, but I'd say that there's a 99% chance that I'll be baking tonight. I'm so excited!

Now I Need A Bigger Kitchen

Mas checking out Veganomicon at Borders

I had a great birthday! Mason planned two full days of activities for us and it was awesome. We also went shopping (with my birthday money!) for some new kitchen supplies. Mason has been telling me for months that my bakeware is "sad", so I bought all new Wilton pans. I try to only buy things used, but I have had no luck finding cookware at the thrift store lately. I got two new baking sheets, two round 9" pans, a 9"x13" pan, a set of 3 cooling racks, a bundt pan and 3 sizes of muffin tins. I also got a Pyrex pie plate, a lemon squeezer, a big glass measuring cup and a chef's knife--all from Target. That night, we went to Borders to check out Veganomicon. Mason agreed that it looked great, so I used an old gift card to order it and The Joy of Vegan Baking from Amazon as soon as we got home. As if that wasn't enough kitchen supply madness, we dropped by Ace Mart the next day and picked up several things that we'd been holding off on--a new zester, an apple corer, a donut cutter, a cloth pastry bag, some sundae cups, a pie server, a huge ladle, a tiny spatula and a big bag of these for cupcakes. Oh, and did I mention that I ordered the new issue of Don't Eat Off The Sidewalk? Yeah, it was a kitchen-centric birthday.