Recipes

Almond Lemon Drops

/ pumpkinhoney / 2 Comments

So HELLO again world. Sorry I’ve been MIA. I’ve been applying to graduate school programs and enjoying the holidays. My new year’s resolution was also to eat a completely vegan diet & it’s been way easier than I thought. Okay, I lied… I have not and probably never will stop eating honey. But eggs, cheese, milk, butter… all gone. Wish me luck.

I actually wrote this post prior to Christmas and never posted it!

Lately, I’ve been searching for vegan cookie recipes for Christmas. Christmas cookies have to vary, you can’t just have peanut butter, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin. You have to have fudge, meringues, chocolate chip (okay, yes), black walnut cookies, chocolate/peanutbutter/butterscotch chex mix (KILLER), eggnog flavored hoopla & peppermint bark shenanigans. Basically 1/2 random shit that you don’t have all the time… and some traditional things too. So trying to make them all vegan and still delicious is a chore. I did find some amazing looking recipes where the recipes were relatively simple, not requiring “flax eggs” or “Ener-G” egg replacer (of which I’m about to buy my first batch). Just plain old vegetable shortening instead of butter. If I have to make substitutes I like to make few. I hate recipes that call for a zillion substitutes at once… fake butter, fake eggs, some seaweed powder, some protein powder. Like… what? I’m just being snotty, I bet those recipes are delicious, but frankly I don’t have all those ingredients so I’m trying to stick with simple.

ANYWHO. Say hello to Lemon Drop cookies. I found some recipes for lemon drop cookies. And I found some recipes for Mexican/Italian Wedding cookies (seriously, they’re really freaking similar – who knew Mexicans & Italians shared wedding cookie recipes). I wanted a hyprid cookie. I made a list this morning of all the dry goods I’ve purchased this year (mostly from Echo Hill). I have a TON of dry goods. I’m ready for the apocalypse. Amongst the 2 column, page long, collegiate ruled notebook paper list I made were raw blanched almonds, powdered sugar, various flours, vanilla, vanilla beans, blah, blah, blah, blah, +50things.

I was determined to put almonds in my cookies. So this is the recipe. And they are pretty damn good. Next time, I would use that extra lemon juice…

Almond Lemon Drops

  • 1/2 Cup Earth Balance (or margarine, or butter)
  • 1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
  • 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla
  • Juice of 1 Lemon
  • Zest of 2 Lemons (you gotta figure out what do with the 2nd lemon now 🙂 you can definitely use it in the cookies, in fact they could even use it, but I’d increase the flour by a couple of tbsps)
  • 1 Cup Almond Flour (a little more than a cup of raw almonds, food processor)
  • 2 Cups AP Flour (I actually used 1 cup Whole Wheat, 1 cup AP)
  • 1 Cup Powdered Sugar

Preheat Oven to 375 F degrees.

At room temperature, beat/whisk EB & shortening together until smooth and creaaaamy. Add sugar & beat some more. Add vanilla, lemon zest & lemon juice. Beat some more. Add almond flour and stir to combine. Add flour gradually until the batter is thick enough to shape into balls in your hand. Should not be very sticky.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Form dough into tablespoon/golf ball sized balls and place on parchment paper at least 1.5 inches apart.

Bake for about 12 minutes on a center rack. Keep an eye on them. They won’t really brown on the top, but they may be get dark on the bottom.

Let cool before coating in powdered sugar. SO yummy. SO easy.

Double Chocolate Cookies

/ pumpkinhoney / Leave a comment

I wrote this post about forever ago… okay the same time that I made the Lemon Drop cookies… when was that? Just before Christmas? I never posted it because I forgot to take pictures. Well I’m posting it without the pictures! The next time I make these I will be sure to take pictures & add them to the post!

December 14, 2011 (according to my handy wordpress editing log)

What could be more different from a Lemon Drop than a super rich & chocolatey cookie? I find opposites make great pairings. I think most people feel that way? Mom wanted me to make her some cookies to take to a work meeting and I wanted to take some to Kutztown. I had already made the Lemon Drops but that was a small batch and split in half, there weren’t nearly enough to take to mom’s function. So I decided to make a Double Chocolate Cookie which is actually a triple chocolate cookie but we won’t go there.

I made a douuuuble batch of these douuuuuble chocolate cookies (aka the recipe below is for a double batch) so there would be pleeeenty to take some to Kutztown and still leave plenty for the meeting.

I also decided to scrub the oven door today. I was tired of not being able to watch my cookies bake. So I took some white vinegar & some baking powder & an old rag & some elbow grease and things got really gross. But now I can see my goddamn cookies.

Double Chocolate Cookies

  • 1 1/3 Cups Vegetable/Canola Oil
  • 1 1/3 Cups Unsweetened Applesauce (which btw I don’t get, why would you need to sweeten applesauce… apples are already sweet)
  • 1 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 Cup Cocoa Powder (or 1/2 Cups each, dark & dutch)
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla
  • 2 Tsp Salt
  • 2 Cups AP Flour
  • 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 2 Tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
  • 1 Cup Ghirardelli Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (oh dear lord, ecstasy) (also, did anyone else realize there’s a second “r” in GhiraRdelli? The more I look at it, the weirder it becomes.)

These cookies are simple. Like most cookies. Except french macarons. Which really aren’t that bad either.

Preheat oven to 325 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine oil, applesauce, sugar & vanilla. Add the rest of your ingredients and stir until combined. VOILÀ! Now chill the batter until it’s workable. Create balls, whatever size you like 😉 The cookies will spread so obviously don’t put them too close together. I know you’ve made cookies before, you know the drill. I DO recommend using parchment paper.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Definitely let cool a bit. They’re pretty soft.

Stephen loved these cookies, which probably isn’t saying much, since he eats most anything. But the ktown boys ate them up when we went camping so I took that as a good sign.

Easy Breakfast Potatoes

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Stephen & I always make a breakfast potatoes in the morning. It’s easy and it tastes great by itself or with eggs (any style). Tons of flavor and an easy way to sneak in some veggies – you can add anything you want.

I’d say I make this at least a couple of times a week and it doesn’t have to be for breakfast, if you’re looking for something lighter. It’d be great for lunch or dinner too. Hell, it’s potatoes, you (at least I) could eat them anytime of the day.

Stephen’s dad always makes what they call “country eggs.” He sautes the potato/onion/pepper and whatever seasoning he wants to add, then adds scrambled eggs directly to the pan, and finally when the eggs are cooked he lays some slices of cheese over the top to melt. Then he dishes it out with a few bottles of hot sauce for everyone to use as desired (for us, that’s A LOT of hot sauce please).

Breakfast Potatoes

  • Olive Oil
  • 5 Small/Medium Red Skin Potatoes
  • 1/2 – 1 Orange Bell Pepper, large dice
  • 1 Medium Onion, large dice
  • 1 Jalapeño, finely diced
  • 1 Tbsp Chili Powder (or to taste)
  • Dashes Vinegar-based Hot Sauce (Crystal is my favorite)
  • Salt & Pepper

If you’re under time constraints, sprinkle a couple tablespoons of water on the potatoes and microwave them for about 5 minutes to cook them through. Heat the oil over medium high in a large skillet (I highly recommend using a nonstick pan for obvious reasons) and then add the potatoes. After a couple of minutes, add the bell pepper, onion & jalapeño. Add chili powder & hot sauce. If you don’t like spicy you can use a few dashes of vinegar instead… it just brings out the flavor. Saute for about 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked to the “brownness” you prefer (crispy potatoes, soft potatoes, browned onions, etc). If you’re making eggs too, you can add them scrambled directly into the skillet for a “country” breakfast style hash.