Vegan Viands #20: Vegan Brown Sugar Cookies

Yesterday was my mother's birthday; she would have turned 66. Growing up, my dad did 98% of the cooking at our house. He also made pies. But my mom, she was the baker. Cookies, cakes, sweet breads - those were her primary culinary home. I've shared some of the things she was noted for, such as Christmas wreath cookies, chocolate chip zucchini bread, and rhubarb bars.

One year, my mom got a giant recipe book filled with nothing but cookies. I remember her going through the book and exclaiming over the recipes. I think that most of the cookies in the book got made at least once, but one recipe kept returning: brown sugar cookies.

I think what made these cookies a hit was some combination of the crunchy/chewy cookie, the frosting that is reminiscent of the frosting we all put on our birthday cakes, and the group effort necessary to frost the cookies before the frosting set.

Since we were headed to a party last night, I wanted to bring a dish to share. I'm sure that the memories of my mother brought these cookies to mind. Making and sharing them with others was a wonderful way to honor her memory.

Vegan Viands #19: Maggie's Vegan Ranch Chex Mix

Every late fall/early winter growing up, my mom would make chex mix. It was a frequent snack and even more frequent gift - going to teachers, neighbors, and friends. The smell and taste of that chex mix is unmistakable. It is one of those recipes that is so easy and delicious, taking just a bit of patience for a long, slow bake and seemingly longer cool. Although her recipe wasn't vegan, it was easily veganizable, meaning that I make my own every year.

Because of the ubiquity of my mom's chex mix, I thought that was the only way to take the on-their-own unremarkable cereals and make them into something magical.

As it turns out, I thought wrong.

Growing up, Shana often had a ranch-flavored chex mix. While similar in idea, the chex mix in Shana's recollection involved a ranch seasoning packet and oil, no bake time, and thus, no cooling time. This fall, when I expressed an interest in making my version, Shana requested that I attempt to make hers. After some googling, including to assess the ingredients of a ranch packet (so not vegan), I made an attempt. It was...not right. Fine, but not right. After some discussion, I made another version and brought it with us on a trip to see all our best friends. That version was delicious - not to mention gone in no time once we arrived.

So, if you're a vegan adult with memories of a ranch-style chex mix, look no further. This takes less than 5 minutes to prepare and will last a bit longer than that if you make sure to hide some from the masses.

Vegan Viands #18: Christmas Spritz Cookies

"IIIIIIIT'S CHRISTMASTIME!"

Shana, my culturally Jewish wife, had no idea what Christmas was like the first year she joined my family at Christmas. The second year, the words above were her refrain; she had the excitement of a 6-year old. The third year, we had to set rules about what time she was allowed to wake everyone else.

If you've been an even somewhat-regular reader of this blog, you'll already know that I love traditions. Although sometimes traditions can stifle, when there's room to take them or leave them or change them to suit your needs/life, they can be wonderful, providing things to anticipate and/or structure in a chaotic world. No matter what (if any) religious faith you follow or grew up with, religious holidays are filled with tradition. One of the Christmas traditions at my house has been spritz cookies. Spritz Christmas cookies come from a long history in Germany or Sweden. Given that Germans and Swedes are two of the major immigrant groups who settled Minnesota, it's no surprise that these cookies make an appearance at Christmas time. They are a sweet, buttery cookie that is squeezed* out of a tube through a disk with a shape cut into it.

Therein lies the difficulty, you can't make these cookies without a spritz cookie machine. Machine isn't a really accurate word for the tool, as the machine is kind of a glorified plunger. But anyway, you need the tool! Although the one I use at my family's house is ancient, one of the more highly rated ones can be found here. After you have the spritz cookie tool, you're on your way to quick, easy, and tradition-filled cookies.

Vegan Viands #17: Caramel Puffcorn

This morning was the last day for my May Term; it's bittersweet for me. During class today, my students gave presentations about the memoirs they chose to read. In related news, I've got my summer reading all planned out! Anyway, since I wasn't preparing for class, I told them I would bring them snacks. I tried to make things that were good but not overly decadent (e.g., Ambrosia Grapes, Grape Nut Bars, and cut up pineapple), but I couldn't resist something a little decadent. This puffcorn is decadent. It's not even a little bit healthy and it's addictive like whoa. However, it's delicious and a fun, occasional treat.

Wait, you don't know what puffcorn is?! Remember back when you would eat those kind of crunchy cheeseballs as a kid? Or, maybe you didn't like cheetos, but you like cheese puffs? Essentially, puffcorn is like that stuff - fluffy corn something - but without the cheese. It's billed as popcorn without hulls, but it's not even close to that. Whatever it is, it's awesome.

The big problem with this recipe is that it can be hard to find puffcorn in a grocery store. When we were out eat (PA and NY), there was no puffcorn to be found. We would bring some back with us from the Midwest. For those of you in the Midwest, look for the following brands: Old Dutch (used when I'm in Minnesota) or Mike-Sell's (used when I'm in Indiana). In both cases, grab the "original" flavor. After you've secured the puffcorn, the rest of this recipe is super easy and uses easily found ingredients. Pretty soon, you won't be able to tear yourself away from the bowl of puffy, caramely, decadent goodness. Here's closeup.

Vegan Viands #16: Garlicky Garbanzo Gobblers

This week while meal planning, I decided that I was bored with everything we've been eating. Subsequently, 50% of the meals we're eating this week will be new. I also made a new dinner last night, though it's not quite blog-worthy. I'm hoping that at least one of the three new meals will show up here, as I've been a blogging slacker. (Seriously, this semester has been rough.)

Unfortunately, our first new meal isn't until Wednesday (then Thursday and Saturday, too), which didn't really help my food boredom. So, I went digging through the stacks of recipes I have sitting around just waiting to be tried and found a simple snack food that I could serve as an appetizer while a friend came over to watch some basketball with us.

These crispy chickpeas* are easy and delicious, and can be seasoned any way you'd like (a simple google search will lead you to a crazy number of flavoring ideas). Plus, using canned chickpeas makes the prep time practically non-existent.

Vegan Viands #15: Candy Cane Chocolate Chunk Cookies

My grades are in, which means the semester is officially over for me! While I still have work I need to do (such a preparing for next semester, committee work, and paper revisions), having this unstructured time is lovely. I will get to all of the things I need to do, but I'll also intersperse fun things, like cooking up a storm, reading for pleasure, and holiday gatherings. Just last night we went to a lovely dinner with friends where we ate and laughed and trimmed a tree.

My food task for last night's gathering was to bring dessert. One of the hosts specifically requested my cinnamon cake (and apparently giggled with glee when I agreed to make it). I also decided to remake these candy cane chocolate chunk cookies that I'd made a few nights ago, because I wanted to experiment with ratios in the recipe. This attempt led to cookies that were exactly what I wanted them to be. When making them a few nights ago, the cookies were amazingly soft and delicious, but weren't quite right. They were flat and there was an unbalanced ratio of cookie additions to cookie dough. Shana reminded me that this was exactly how the cookies turned out every year (and that I responded in the same partially dissatisfied manner every year), but this year I was determined to make them into the cookies I envisioned. Success!

These cookies are perfect for holiday gatherings and for using up all those candy canes! The subtle mintiness in the soft dough, the toffee-like texture of the cooked candy canes, and the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate chunks are such an amazing combination. This recipe is originally one I found while perusing the recipes of the Vegan Chef. Although this recipe isn't listed on her website any longer, here it is.

Vegan Viands #14: Bryanna's Brilliant Pumpkin Pie

We are in Minnesota with my family for this whole week - being teachers has its perks! Actually, the only reason Shana has the whole week off is because her school district is on a "balanced calendar," which leads to earlier starts and later ends, but a great schedule of breaks throughout the year. This trip to Minnesota has been great so far. We've not wandered too far from home, as my mother's health isn't all that hot, but it's been great to be low-key and have family time. With that said, we have done some fun things, such as seeing a show at Chanhassen Dinner Theater and cutting down a Christmas tree.

Yesterday (Thanksgiving) we spent a low-key morning and started cooking in the afternoon. My parents are omnivores (but my mom eats very little), but since Shana and my sister are vegetarians and I'm vegan, most of what we ate was a veganized version of traditional dinners. The dinner menu was marinated/broiled tofu for "the girls," turkey for my parents, stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted root vegetables, gravy, and pumpkin pie for dessert. Everything was going well until we realized the oven wasn't working. Seriously. The oven stopped working on Thanksgiving. After a couple of moments spent staring at each other, my dad and I realized the broiler still worked. We just moved the oven racks down low in the oven and stirred/rotated food more often. Since I'd planned on broiling the tofu anyway, that part was perfectly fine.

Luckily for all involved, I'd made the pumpkin pie a day in advance (required for this recipe). Although I knew that Shana and I loved this pie, I was worried about my dad liking it, as he's the main pumpkin pie cooker in our house. He said it smelled good while it was baking and said that it looked good when it was cooked, but the real test is in the taste. After a bite, the verdict was in - delicious! Whew. I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but this is a very subtle adaptation from Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe. If you've not heard of Bryanna Clark Grogan, she's an amazing vegan cook who really helped to usher in the current vegan food movement. She's got numerous cookbooks, too. Absolutely check her out! But, enough small talk; on to the pie!

Vegan Viands #13: Vegan Snickerdoodles

When I sat down to write this post, my first thought was about the origin of the name "snickerdoodles." I love words (even though my professional life has nothing to do with words), so any time I can learn about a new word, I get a little bit excited.* Although I do not allow my students to EVER cite from Wikipedia, I do admit that I go there from time to time to get a little bit of background on a topic. According to the Wiki article on snickerdoodles, the word is either a bastardization of the name of a German pastry or simply a New England "whimsical" name for a cookie. Either way, they are delicious.

Snickerdoodles are actually one of Shana's favorite types of cookies. I don't make them that often, so when I offer to do so, she jumps at the chance to eat them. I'm not sure why I got the bug to make snickerdoodles this time around. Maybe it's the cinnamon tickling my nose and eliciting a wonderful feeling of nostalgia that alternates between suffused elation and a feeling both tender and bittersweet. I always feel this way during autumn. Maybe it's that we just spent a wonderful weekend celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary and I wanted to maintain that feeling of connection a little bit into the week. Maybe I just felt I was rushing the season too much if I made my pumpkin cookies. Or maybe it's just that I haven't made snickerdoodles in a really long time. Regardless, they sure were delicious!

Vegan Viands #12: Vegan Whoopie Pies

This summer we did a ton of driving to see family and friends (mapping our whole route shows 54 hours in the car, which doesn't count the construction-related traffic or the inland monsoon we drove through that wiped out power to over half a million people). The drive time is totally worth it for the people we get to see, the hugs we get to give, and the fun we get to have. It's also fun for me because I get different audiences for whom to cook and can make some things that Shana just doesn't enjoy, like whoopie pies.

Although Shana might be broken (who doesn't like whoopie pies?!), my parents and sister were totally on board to help me devour a batch of vegan whoopie pies. I hadn't made them in years, so I was really excited, too! It also helped to have 4 of us eating them, because these are not - I repeat, NOT - good for you. They are basically fat and sugar mixed with a small amount of flour. Thus, they are incredibly decadent and delicious. In fact, they are so delicious, here's what I found when I went to take pictures.

I ran with it, as it made perfect sense.

Vegan Viands #11: Sugar Cookies

Tonight I dug two recipes out of my cookbook (speaking of which, my cookbook is an amazing present that Shana gave me a number of Christmases ago and it's where the title of this blog comes from). The first one was this sugar cookie recipe.

A number of years ago, while I was still in grad school, my advisor and I planned a party. I have zero recollection of why we planned a party, or who came to the party, or really any details about it at all, aside from the fact that we were going to frost sugar cookies. My advisor's plan was to buy some sugar cookies from the store (I seem to recall that was because there were a ton of people coming, so to bake them would have taken ages), but we both knew that those cookies wouldn't be vegan. At that point, I decided I'd find a recipe for vegan sugar cookies so that I could frost cookies, too. I made the cookies a day before the party and they were awful. No joke. Since I still wanted cookies to frost, my next plan was to find a basic recipe that looked easy to veganize. I found one, veganized it, and they were perfect for frosting! I got to play at the party like everyone else (whatever party it was!).

I left this one sans frosting so you can envision what you'd like!

Vegan Viands #10: Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

We're in Philly this week for an unplanned visit. When we come, we stay with my in-laws (Shana's brother and his family). In addition, we've got Shana's older sister in from California and tonight also had her mom and step-dad over for dinner. Given that we've had a lot going on, we needed to plan a simple dinner that would feed a crowd, taste good to omnivores and veg*ans and kids, and come together quickly. We decided that such a meal was my vegan spaghettios and grilled foil packets full of broccoli. I think dinner was a hit because my osum* niece made me a card about how much she loved it.

More importantly, nearly everyone in attendance has a sweet tooth, so we also needed a quick and easy dessert. Since it's getting to be close to summer berry season, the best, easiest, and tastiest dessert would be strawberry shortcake. The recipe below fit the bill and is super delicious, too!

With sweetened Mimiccreme - my favorite!

With a whipped topping

Vegan Viands #9: Raspberry Cheesecake Bites

Tonight was spring semester's minion dinner. Like last semester's dinner (and every one before that), we had a ton of fun. It rained a bit early on, so we didn't get to play as many outdoor games as I would have liked, but we got in some game playing and some laughing and, of course, some eating. I find warm-weather meals more difficult to make for a crowd, but we decided to do grilled foil packets, a great rice blend, and a three-bean salad. The packets are customizable and most people seem to enjoy choosing their own veggies to put in; everyone is amazed at how the veggies turn out.

However, tonight's dessert was really the big deal for most of them. I actually made two desserts: cake cookies and these delicious and easy raspberry cheesecake bites. These little bite-size desserts were gone in next to no time. Perfect for a dessert, shower, or brunch, the only thing you need to worry about is making sure you get at least one before they are gone!

Vegan Viands #8: Cinnamon Cake

My mom is visiting!! She came in this weekend for a concert that I was in last night (we performed Tippett's A Child of Our Time, which is an amazing work that you should see if you ever have the opportunity). Because this weekend was also Easter weekend, we decided to have a very small Easter dinner. Had Shana been in town, maybe we'd have had an Easter/Seder mash-up, but I digress. At our dinner was just me and mom and two good friends. Since one of these good friends went to culinary school, when he offers to make something, I jump on it (he even makes amazing salads). He made our main course (pork for the omnivores and delicious marinated tempeh for me) and salad, so I made vegan au gratin potatoes, asparagus, and dessert. Delicious, delicious dessert that I knew everyone loved.

This recipe is actually one I would never have looked at had I not been hunting for a dessert with a lot of cinnamon in it for a friend a few summers ago. The reason I'd never have looked at it is because it is originally a Paula Deen recipe. I don't think anything she makes is vegan. Before Ellen DeGeneres went veg*n, Paula Deen was on her show and made something like dark chocolate fudge dipped in cheese wrapped in bacon fried in butter and dusted with powdered sugar. Oh dear. Regardless, in my search for a cinnamon-heavy dessert, I saw this recipe and decided I had to try to make it vegan. It turned out so well that I made it again and again and again. The lightly crunchy topping, dense and moist cake, and gooey layer in the middle combine to something decadent. Make it, you won't be disappointed.

Vegan Viands #7: Rhubarb Bars

Because it's not quite officially spring and because my weather for the next week looks more like early February than mid-March, I got really excited to see a sure sign of spring at the grocery store this afternoon: RHUBARB! 

Rhubarb is one of the first plants to emerge from gardens (although given the time of year, my rhubarb was likely grown in a green house) so it's a harbinger of more growing goodness to come. Bitter on its own, with poisonous leaves, rhubarb is delicious when cooked up with sugar in something sweet. Although many people use it for pies, I'm a good Minnesotan, which means I eat bars. These bars were something that appeared at many a spring/summer party (and sometimes "just because") while I was growing up. Thus, when my mom gave me this recipe, the fact that I only had to sub in vegan butter to make the recipe wholly vegan was awesome. 

Since I'm on spring break this week, making a whole batch of these means most of them will be heading to school with Shana tomorrow. I'm sure her teacher friends won't mind.

Vegan Viands #6: Cake Cookies

Our best friends came to visit us this weekend. Aside from an absurd amount of laughter, we've done so many fun things! For example, we went to Jungle Jim's (an amazing grocery store), watched a documentary called Miss Representation on campus, and played with mBerry tablets (which we also did when my parents were in town last month).

When the four of us get together, I do the cooking for our major meals, which I absolutely love. As should be obvious by now, cooking makes me happy and cooking for others makes me extra happy! This weekend our food has consisted of garbanzo pasta (which The Bests hadn't had and very much enjoyed), Thai Food in Dayton, and penne vodka is coming tonight. One of The Bests likes penne vodka so much that she calls it "love sauce." The other normative food-related activity when we're together is to have some kind of treat. We started throwing around ideas, but then when I learned that The Bests hadn't had cake cookies, the conversation was over. These are SO good and they are the easiest cookies to make (so easy that I feel badly about calling a recipe... maybe if it was "recipe" I'd feel better). We made two flavors today: classic yellow and red velvet.

Vegan Viands #5: Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Glaze

Today is Superbowl Sunday. We're not doing anything major (as we both have to work tomorrow), but we do have a friend over to watch the game with us. Although we've been to many really awesome Superbowl parties, this quiet night is a great way to end a relaxing weekend. Plus, a quiet Superbowl means that I don't have to plan all sorts of snacky party foods. However, even though I didn't make a ton of snacky party foods, no Superbowl would be complete without at least one fun food.

Here's why this fun food emerged today, even though the flavor profile is completely "fall." We've been trying to use foods that we have in our cupboards/pantry. Thus, last night I made a soup called Autumn Harvest Pumpkin Lentil Soup, a pre-made mix that we got at our favorite apple picking spot, Way Fruit Farm. The soup calls for 1 cup of pumpkin puree, but that left almost half of a can of pumpkin puree remaining after dinner. I couldn't let it go to waste, but since we didn't have any more soup, the next most obvious application was cookies! Plus, these cookies are freaking ah.may.zing. I saw them somewhere more than a year ago, but I can't for the life of me remember where. There are many similar recipes on the internet, but most of them call for eggs.

Vegan Viands #4: Maggie's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Maybe you've made a New Year's resolution to eat fewer sweets. If you have, feel free to ignore this recipe. As for me, I generally don't make resolutions. In fact, I find it kind of odd that people use an arbitrary time marker (I mean, why didn't we match the calendar to end on the winter solstice or something?) to attempt to change themselves. Psychological research indicates that those sorts of change attempts do not often work. They can, but only when the new behavior patterns are consistent enough to create a new habit.

Anyway, since I don't make resolutions and because I have a killer sweet tooth, it should come as no surprise that I've got at least one go-to recipe for easy sweets. In fact, the chocolate chip cookie recipe below is one I've got memorized. It's based on the chocolate chip cookie that is on the back of a bag of Wegmans' chocolate chips, but that cookie was too crisp for me. I like my chocolate chip cookies to be soft and puffy. This recipe is pretty standard, but it makes cookies that everyone seems to love and that get all soft and chewy and gooey after a few seconds in the microwave.

Vegan Viands #3: Apple Crisp

I have an apple problem. Well, it's not a problem in the "uh oh how do we fix this?" sense of the word, it's more like how we use the word to euphemistically explain someone else's addiction. I'm not really even addicted to apples, but I am a bit of an apple snob. I even have a 100% accurate way of picking the most crisp apples in the grocery store.

Honestly, apples are amazing! They are good for you (high in fiber and Vitamin C), delicious, and can be eaten in a variety of ways (from sweet to savory or on their own). Did you know there are over 2000 varieties of apple?! If you want an amazing website about apples, check out OrangePippin, which is named for one of the favorite varieties of apples in the UK, even though the site is world wide. Almost every year we go apple picking at Way Fruit Farm in PA. (They make the most amazing apple cider, too.) If you'd like to go apple picking, here's a good website to check: http://www.pickyourown.org/.

Although most of them are a bit out of season, you can still find some great apples. For example, check out this chart of apples available at a farm about 30 minutes from me. Because I love apples, I decided to make an apple crisp for my minions when they came over earlier this week. Apple crisp is such an easy dessert to make and it's practically vegan from the get-go! Add in some vegan ice cream and you're all set.

Vegan Viands #2: Wacky Cake

I should be grading. Instead, I've done a small bit of grading, some bill-paying (it's the beginning of the month), helped a panicked student with a grant proposal, and am now writing a blog post. However, this post will be short and I promised myself I would go back to grading when I'm done.

Tomorrow night Shana and I are going over to the house of some friends for dinner. We have so much fun with them! We'll play games and laugh and talk (about work, as they both work at my school, Shana's kids/job, and life). We're also making pizza with them, so there will be eating. But what's more fun is that one of them has a birthday on Sunday! However, apparently she doesn't like a big deal made of her birthday, but her husband told me that it would be fun to celebrate with just the four of us, but it's a mini-surprise for her. There won't be presents, but there will be cake! I offered to make one to bring over, and since she's lactose intolerant, a vegan cake fit the bill.

I was told that she liked chocolate cake and since one of my psych colleagues reminded me about the deliciousness of wacky cakes, that's the direction I went. Wacky cakes are rumored to have started either during WWII rationing or during the depression (as they are egg, milk, and butter free, which were rationed and/or expensive). I thought sugar was rationed during WWII as well, but I wasn't alive, so I don't know and I didn't take the time to look it up on teh interwebs. Regardless of where it came from, it's a delicious, moist, and easy cake, made with ingredients you likely already have in your pantry.

This is the cake before frosting. 

With a delicious (and easy!) peanut butter frosting. 

Vegan Viands #1: Grape Nut Bars & Chex Mix

It's starting to be "that time of the year." You know the time, when the days are getting noticeably shorter, you start to think earnestly about holiday parties and schedules, and you start to crave baked goods and rich foods as if you were going in to hibernation (okay, maybe that last part is just me). Invariably, as soon as mid-October rolls around, I start to think about all the ridiculous holiday cookies I plan to make (I have some October favorites, so stay tuned!).

With that said, it's a little early for holiday cookies, but it's never too early for vegan treats!! Thus, I've decided to roll out a new and regular feature to my blog, which I'm going to call Vegan Viands. The Vegan Viands posts will all be about fun vegan treats or snacks, things we don't eat regularly but are still important components of vegan cooking. I mean, after a delicious vegan meal, a luscious vegan dessert is in order. Or, let's say you've been invited to a football party and want to make sure you have something vegan to eat, you need a go to vegan snack that's easy to transport, share-able, and delicious.

But why Vegan Viands? Well, hmm. First, I am my father's daughter and alliteration is awesome. Second, I vetoed other words for various reasons: "sweets" - not everything I want to put in this feature is sweet; "treats" - there's already an AWESOME vegan bakery with that name; "vittles" - based on victuals and just didn't have the right connotation (has a boring/last resort implication to me); etc. Third, I love words! Why not use this as a way to use an uncommon word! The word viand has just the right connotation to me. So, without further ado, here are TWO (yes, two!) recipes for the first Vegan Viands feature, both of which are coming to a football watching party tonight.