Whole Wheat Gingered Peanut Butter Cookies

September 3, 2012 5 Comments

Another recipe for ‘back to school baking’!

Well, that is if your school is cool with peanut butter. Ours is. Only in elementary school were there any restrictions – and that was for classroom treats. Ford likes PB cookies and will eat them happily (that and the family does!). These happen to “accidentally vegan”, bonus points in baking I’d say. They are moist, soft and pleasing sweet. As always, you can use sunflower butter or almond butter for different choices, and any milk you like.

Whole Wheat Gingered Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt
  • 2/3 cup smooth natural peanut butter
  • ¾ cup brown sugar (see below on making your own!)
  • ¼ cup unsweetened coconut milk
  • 2 tsp grated ginger, fresh or jarred
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°, line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl, set aside.

Beat the peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy with a hand mixer. Add in coconut milk, ginger and vanilla, beat till smooth.

With the mixer on low, add in flour. Beat until just mixed, finish by hand if needed.

Make 1 Tablespoon balls (a works well). Place the balls 12 to a tray, make hatch marks with the back of a fork, pressing down gently. If desired sprinkle a pinch of more brown sugar on top of each cookie.

Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, transfer to a baking rack..

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

PS: They also rock eating raw. Just saying!

Handmade Brown Sugar

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup organic granulated sugar
  • 2 Tbsp molasses, organic if you can find it

Directions:

Add together in a bowl, stir with a fork until mixed.

Store tightly sealed.

~Sarah

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Ginger Cookies and Berry Picking

July 20, 2012 2 Comments

Between the freaky thunderstorms the past week or so has put on, the blueberries are going ripe and Walker has been very happy – we pick every evening after dinner :-) I’d say the crop is on schedule, although we have lost a number of berries to rotting of sorts (they haven’t ripened, rather just got soft and shriveled) which appears to be because of the weather.The good news is it hasn’t affected that many of the berries. On the other hand, my heirloom Cherokee Purple tomato plant has grown tall and flowered but not put on ANY fruit. Too cool. Not enough sun. Lesson learned.

Walker will happily eat the entire picking and run away with the bucket if anyone wants any!

“Farmer” Walker checking out part of “his” bushes:

The older bushes are now over 5 feet tall – almost as tall as me! The newer bushes that are 3 years old, which are below in the back yard, have produced huge blueberries, nickel sized and sweet. The newest plants, that are 2 years old have put on a few berries. No rush, a plant can be 3 to 5 years old before producing a good crop!

We made a vegan friendly ginger cookie recipe from Vegan Holiday Kitchen: More than 200 Delicious, Festive Recipes for Special Occasions, after dinner. Walker thought they were pretty tasty (so did Dad too!)

Ginger Cookies (from page 71)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • ½ cup organic granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice blend
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil (used sunflower)
  • 2 Tbsp molasses
  • ½ cup organic raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients to a small bowl, whisk till smooth. Add to the dry and stir until mixed, add in the raisins.

Use a 1 Tablespoon Disher to make balls, flatten gently if desired. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. I pulled mine at 10, they were golden on the bottom but not over-baked on top. Be careful to not over-bake. Let cool for 5 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack.

Store tightly sealed.

Makes about 28 cookies.

~Sarah

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Chocolate Snickerdoodles

April 21, 2012 6 Comments

Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup neutral vegetable oil
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 3 Tbsp original almond milk
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 2/3 cups white whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt

Roll in -

  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°, line two baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the oil, sugar, maple syrup, milk and vanilla until smooth.

In a small mixing bowl whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients, stir until mixed.

Use a 1 Tablespoon Disher to make balls. Stir the remaining sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow bowl, roll the balls in it to coat. Place on the prepared baking sheets, 12 to a sheet, press with fork tine to make criss-cross on top. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until crackly on top.

Let cool for 5 minutes to set up, transfer to cooling racks.

The cookies freeze well.

Makes about 2½ dozen.

~Sarah

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Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

January 28, 2012 2 Comments

I adapted a recipe out of The Best Life Diet Revised and Updated, from page 300. The cookies are flour-less and vegan (the adaptation I did was to change the honey called for maple syrup/used almond milk instead of dairy milk). They are interesting tasting, not overly sweet. Walker enjoyed them and that they are a small batch of baked goods is even better!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup natural peanut butter (used chunky Adam’s)
  • ½ cup old-fashioned oats
  • 2 Tbsp milk (any type works)
  • 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup (or honey or agave nectar)
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  •  ¼ tsp baking powder

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add the ingredients to a food processor, process until it comes into a dough (you will need to scrape at least once on the bottom).
Using a 1 Tablespoon Disher make 8 balls and drop onto the pan. Lightly pat down with fingers.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden on top. Take out and transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes about 8 cookies

~Sarah

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Ginger Spice Cookies (Vegan)

June 25, 2011 2 Comments

Ginger Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 5 Tbsp Earth Balance buttery stick
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground allspice

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl beat the buttery stick, maple syrup. molasses and milk together, until full mixed. (A heavy-duty whisk or hand mixer works well)

Sift the dry ingredients into a small bowl, add to the wet and beat by hand until just mixed..

Cover and chill the dough for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a 1 Tbsp disher make 36 balls. Bake 12 at a time for 10-14 minutes, until the bottom of the cookies are golden and the tops look baked (they should appear a bit wet in the crevices on top).

Let cool on racks and store tightly sealed.

Makes about 3 dozen (36).

~Sarah

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Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

June 16, 2011 3 Comments

Ford needed treats for his art class so this is what I came up with!

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

Sugar Cookies -

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup canola oil
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup original almond milk
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a stand mixer bowl beat the oil, sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Add in the flour and baking powder, beat on low until the flour mixes in, turn up to high until smooth.

Lightly flour a work space and divide the dough into half. Knead in some dough (it will be sticky) and start rolling out. I rolled out thick cookies, cut with a favorite shape of cookie cutter. Gently roll back out as needed, until all have been cut.

Place on baking sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes. You want a pale white, barely any golden brown on the edges.

Gently lift to cooling racks.

“Buttercream” Frosting -

  • 1 stick Earth Balance buttery stick
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

In a stand mixer whip the Earth Balance until fluffy, add in the powder sugar one cup at a time, beating in each addition. Add the vanilla and beat on high for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.

Spread the frosting between the cookies and top together.

Makes about 23 sandwiches (46 cookies) but will vary depending size of cutter used.

~Sarah

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Wheat Free Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Version 2

April 4, 2011 1 Comment

After making version 1 and finding the correct recipe after, I set off today to make the proper version and was well rewarded. Unlike version 1 that was crispy these were soft and moist from the bananas and were like a traditional cookie.They would make a great breakfast item as well!

The recipe is adapted from Bethenny Frankel’s recipe.

Wheat Free Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Version 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups oat flour
  • ¾ cup old fashioned oats
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • ½ cup organic sugar
  • 1/3 cup organic raisins
  • 1 tsp canola oil
  • 1/3 cup almond/soy/rice milk (used vanilla Silk Almond)
  • 1/2 cup banana puree (most of a 6 ounce stage 3 baby food jar)
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk together. Combine all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, until well combined.

Use a 1 Tbsp size disher to divide the batter onto the cookie sheets.


Bake for 12 to 16 minutes bake, until the edges of the cookies are light brown. Let cool a bit and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes about 2 ½ dozen cookies.

~Sarah

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Wheat Free Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Version 1)

April 4, 2011 1 Comment

Perusing Food.com today (although to me it will always be RecipeZarr, name change and all) I came across a recipe for Oatmeal Cookies that contained no wheat flour and were vegan as well. I figured since I had shcelped home another massive box o’ oats from Costco I should try them out (cause when you are paying .04 cents an ounce talk about cheap!). After making the cookies I went searching for the original recipe it was based on and found it – only to realize that the recipe on Food was considerably different from the original. While I liked the results of Version 1 I have a feeling Version 2, based on the original recipe, will be better. We shall see! That is up next to try and blog about.

As for the oat flour, see my post on how to make it at home. I didn’t note this recipe as being gluten-free as apparently some oats have gluten contamination and that while I have no dietary restrictions with gluten I wouldn’t want to lead any one astray. So do your reading and make that decision yourself (you can find certified GF oats though). It was though fun to work with oat flour! I will have up Version 2 this week to do a compare of the recipes.

Wheat Free and Vegan Friendly Oatmeal Raisin Crispy Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup oat flour
  • ¾ cup old-fashioned oats
  • ½ baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup sugar of choice
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1/3 cup milk (almond/soy/coconut/etc, I used vanilla almond)
  • ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup organic raisins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the oat flour through sugar together. Whisk the oil through vanilla in a small mixing bowl.

Add the wet to the dry and beat together:

Stir in the raisins:

Use a 1 Tablespoon disher to divide portions, it will make 16 to 18 cookies – and the batter will spread as it settles.

Bake the 2 trays for 25 minutes, turning the baking sheets halfway (and if baking on 2 racks, flip the sheets as well). I took some of the cookies to 30 minutes as they didn’t appear fully baked at 25. At 25 they will be very soft but will harden up upon cooling. 30 minutes produces a fully baked cookie that will be very crispy. Very tasty though! Just eat over a plate or napkin though.

Let cool before moving.

~Sarah

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