Monday: Recipe Day with AMAZING Chocolate Chip Cookies

Delicious Vegan Dish of the Day:

Update: Up until today I have posted a report of almost everything we ate the day of the post. When I first thought about doing that my goal was to show all the things that vegans do eat. After nine months of these posts I hope that I have made my point: there is quite of bit of abundance in a vegan diet. However, this posting has also made it clear that reading about what a family eats can get a bit tedious. I mean, how many smoothies do you have to read about! So, starting today, I’m going to just post one thing we ate today that was especially delicious and/or exciting. I hope this will continue to inspire readers to enjoy vegan food – or, as I like to call it, food

We had a special treat today – we went out to our local vegan diner for breakfast. I had my usual: a tofu omelet with soyrizo, vegan cheese, arugula, pickled jalapenos and caramelized onion. I got delicious sourdough toast with it, but I only got one bite – IP got the rest. Oh well. I kept the jalapenos all to myself!

Money Matters:

Today we spent the following:

$6.00 for our tip at breakfast (the rest was paid for on a gift card)
$24.95 for a teacher book: ROLE Reversal (Mark Barnes)

Monday Munchies: Recipe of the Week

I stumbled upon this cookie recipe via one of my favorite blogs “Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures.” It promised to produce stellar cookies, so I veaganized and adapted it with stuff I had on hand. The cookies turned out to be amazingly delicious! The ingredients aren’t revolutionary, but the techniques seemed to make a difference, especially the creaming of the butter and sugar at low mixer speed. So, here is my vegan version of these ultimate chocolate chip cookies:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 TB flax seed meal5 TB water, divided1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Earth Balance coconut spread
1/2 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet (vegan) chocolate chips

Directions:

Blend 3 TB water and 1 TB flax seed meal in a small bowl. Set aside
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
Using a hand mixer, cream the coconut spread and sugars on low speed until it is smooth and lump free, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the vanilla and flaxseed meal mixture and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, or until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.
On low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in the other 2 TB of water, then stir in the chocolate chunks and mix until they are just incorporated (using a wooden spoon). Refrigerate dough in the bowl for at least an hour, and preferably 24-36 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Adjust racks to lower and upper thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Spoon the dough, using a large cookie scooper or a tablespoon, 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown around the edges but still soft, almost underdone-looking, in the center. To ensure even baking, turn the sheets front to back and switch racks halfway through.
Remove the sheets from the oven and carefully slide the parchment or silicone mats directly onto a work surface. When cookies are set, remove them to a cooling rack. Wait at least 5 minutes before serving or 20 minutes before storing in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.