And On the Third Day, God said, " Let there be vegan cookies!"

Always a good way to start off the holidays is by getting out the cookbooks and marking which pictures look like you could just eat them right off of the page. Ok, so maybe this is something that I just do all the time, but still I love any excuse to bake up something new...even if they do turn into melty globs of burnt sugary goodness:: cough :::maple pecan drops :: cough.

Thanks to Colleen and her wonderful cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking, (you can not go wrong with any recipe in this book) Anna and I were able to create a little mini mecca in Anna's kitchen the other night. Since she is the new Susie Homemaker in training, she jumped at the idea of whipping out batches of tasty treats to send to her co-workers, along with her fiances co-workers and family. Super sweet right?? I know, she's awesome. So what was going to fill those nicely stacked metal tins laddened with Christmas cheer? Well after a little bit of debate we decided on Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies, Organic Peanut Butter Cookies, and Strawberry Oat Bars. They were originally raspberry, but hey when you have a jar of organic strawberry preserves just sittin' there, one's not going to pass it up.

So for the gift that keeps on giving and giving:

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies
(recipe borrowed from "The Joy of Vegan Baking")

1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer

2 Tbsp. warm water

3/4 cup non-dairy butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.) In a small bowl, use a fork to whip the egg replacer powder & water together until it's thick & creamy. Set aside.

3.) Cream the butter & sugars together by hand or with an electric hand mixer at high speed. Beat in the egg replacer mixture & the vanilla & peppermint extracts.

4.) In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, & salt. Add this to the butter mixture along with the chocolate chips. Stir until combined, but do not over-stir.

5.) Drop the cookie batter by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

6.) Bake the cookies for 10 -12 mins., or until the edges begin to harden. Although they might not appear completely done, the cookies will continue to cook after they're removed from the oven.

7.) After removing them from the oven, immediately take the cookies off of the cooking sheet & place them on a wire rack to cool.

8.) Repeat steps 5 - 7 for the remaining cookies.

As for the Peanut Butter ones, well I found this recipe from Recipezaar and it sounded wonderful with the almond butter added to the peanut, next time it is a must try with various nut butters !

Chewy, Buttery Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies  

1/3 cup peanut butter

 1/3 cup almond butter 

1/3 cup margarine (I know Susan, I know..)

2/3 cup brown sugar 

1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Substitute 

2 tablespoons water 

2 tablespoons soymilk 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

3/4 cup all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Mix water and egg replacer together in a small bowl, set aside.
2. In big mixing bowl cream together peanut butter, almond butter, sugar and margarine.
3. Mix in soy milk, egg replacer and vanilla.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder into mixture. Add in salt.
5. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto lightly greased cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 8 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned, but center is still a bit soft, as it will harden as cookies cool.

Okay so now while you are running out to the store to get the supplies, unless you are super cool and have all the ingredients at home already, I will post pictures up laters. So enjoy!and good night! oh yeah, and have a "Kickass Cupcakes" New Years!!!