VCIYCJ: I Made Cookies!

Like practically every other vegan out there, I love Isa Chandra Moscowitz and Terry Hope Romero's cookbooks. I own "Vegan with a Vengenance" and I've currently been scoping another one I'd like to lay down some cash for (I'll give you a hint... it's Latin and delicious and cruelty-free all over it). We recently had a Border's go out of business (the only bookstore in the entire city), and Mom surprised me with a cookbook:

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar!

I was shocked! I had just been in there the day before and had somehow missed this baby on sale for $5. Luckily, I have a Mom who supports my cookbook habit, so she picked it up for me. Since I've been on a ridiculous ginger kick lately (seriously... ginger green tea, ginger kombucha, ginger chews, ginger beer, ginger stir-fry...) I immediately turned to the Macadamia Ginger Crunch Drops. These cookies are just full of macadamia nuts and crystallized ginger with just a hint of nutmeg (that's what really brought them together). They were glorious!! Isa and Terry have yet to fail me! I won't post the recipe here, because it doesn't belong to me, but I will tell you how my cookie making went down.

There were two things I did different. First thing I did was use a chia seed "egg" instead of a flax seed "egg". I love these because they are just like an egg! They also don't have a taste so you can put them in just about anything. Also, when you use chia seed powder, you don't really get any whole seeds or specks in the cookies (meaning, that even though the seeds are black, you can really see them in the baked cookies).

Chia Seed "Egg":
1 1/2 tsp. chia seeds
about 3-4 Tb. warm water

1. Place the chia seeds in a coffee grinder and grind for a couple of seconds, until powdered.
2. Add the warm water, mix with a fork, and allow to sit until nice and thick (about 10 minutes). Whisk with a fork again before using.

If it doesn't thicken up enough, you can add more chia powder. This will make ONE "egg". You can also grind up chia seeds ahead of time so that you have the powder on hand. They're not like flax seeds, they won't go rancid. However, after my baking fiasco a couple days ago, I wouldn't recommend using more than one chia egg at a time. The gelatinous moisture they contain causes your batter to go all wonky (it can displace any fats or oils your have put in your batter!).

The second thing I did differently was use a split mix of half coconut oil and half vegetable oil. The recipe called for 2/3 cup oil (I almost died!), but I went ahead and used the full amount anyway. HOWEVER, I will definitely reduce the oil next time because they left little grease spots wherever they sat. I'm thinking like, a 1/2-ish cup would be good time. I honestly don't think it will compromise the recipe that much. But seriously, these cookies were awesome. I'll definitely make them again!

I also made the Cherry Almond Cookies:

I kept this recipe the exact same as in the book, except I used 1/2 c. chopped almonds instead of 3/4 c. slivers. I just didn't have those. But man, these cookies were pretty much awesome. I LOVED these! So did my mom. She was like, "these are good.... very good.... very, very good... I think they're better than chocolate chip... and that's saying something!".

I left the majority of the batch at my boyfriends house for two hours, and I when I came back, they were all gone! Success! Everybody that ate them liked them better than the Macadamia-Ginger Crunch Drops, but I think that's just because you have to really like crystallized ginger to enjoy that cookie. Which is a given. It's pretty distinct. Lol.

The third cookie I tried was the Chocolate Agave Trailmixers:

Instead of 2/3 c. oil I used 1/2 cup. This made the cookie a little drier, but it stayed together without many crumbs). I also used only whole wheat pastry flour because I was out of all-purpose. Then, for the nut/fruit/chocolate combo I used chopped, dried cherries with chopped walnuts, and 65% cacao dark chocolate chips. I did reduce the amount of dark chocolate chips, but only because some of the people I bake for don't appreciate it as much as I do... These were awesome as well. I've never made cookies with agave and they really do create a cake-like texture, just like Isa said. These remind me of those cake-mix cookies from days past... only 1000x better!

So anyway, I highly recommend this cookbook! I love, love, love it! Not only that, these cookies are seriously liked by everyone, vegans and non-vegans alike! I'm pretty sure that I'm going to make every single cookie recipe in there by year's end. And I'll let you all know how each one turns out. Have a great day!