Cookie Recipes - Pumpkin Chai, Spiced Sweet Potato, Sunflower Butter, & Salty Oatmeal Peanut Butter

• Salty Oatmeal Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Sunshine Butter Cookies
• Pumpkin Chai Cookies (Chumpkin Pai)
• Spiced Sweet Potato Chai Cookies

So. We've got four recipes mailed in to the VegNews Cookie Contest. I will try to be short and sweet. They all use the same creaming base for the dough, two use a Chai Spice mix, and they pair in structure. Depending on how you like them, you can have them come out nice and normal, extra thin and crispy (add more coconut oil, subtract butter at a 1:2 ratio), fluffier and dense like a biscuit, and super-formed (chill the dough over night). For more on this, ssee the note at the bottom; it is especially pertinent to the puree-added doughs.

Also, forgive my use of "butter" or "milk" and assume substitution per your favorite substitute nom.

To begin, something with a small but significant twist

Salty Oatmeal Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies - An obvious variation that you need in your repertoire. Tired of same-y but don't feel like trying any harder? This is the one.

• cream together 1/2 c butter (substitute) ; 2 tb coconut oil; 1/2 c [white] sugar, brown sugar
• gradually mix in 1 ts vanilla ; 2 flax eggs (1tb milled flax seed & 2 tb aq / egg, mixed until it turns to goo) ; 1/3 c peanut butter
• sift together 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 ts baking soda, salt ; sift into dough and mix until even
• mix in 2 c rolled oats, 1 c chocolate chips
• sprinkle with kosher salt and turbinado sugar
• bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper 12-15 minutes @ 350'f, remove to cooling rack

Sunshine Butter Cookies - These guys borrow all the wholesome taste from oatmeal peanut butter cookies, add on to it with sunflower and flax seeds, then brighten it all up with the shine of coconut and intensity of sunflower butter.

• cream together 1/2 c butter ; 2 tb coconut oil ; 1/2 c [white] sugar, brown sugar
• gradually mix in 1 ts vanilla ; 1/4 - 1/2 ts coconut extract; 2 flax eggs (1tb milled flax seed, 2 tb aq / egg, mixed until it turns to goo) ; 1/3 c sunflower seed butter ; 
• sift together 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 ts baking soda, salt ; sift into dough and mix until even
• mix in 1 1/2 c rolled oats; 3/4 c chocolate chips, 1/2 coconut shreds
• (optional: for more chocolatey kick, add 1 tb cocoa powder and do a light swirl to partially marble)
• sprinkle with sunflower seeds and flax seeds
• bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper 12-15 minutes @ 350'f, remove to cooling rack

Chai Spice Mix - For use in next two recipes.

Mix all of the below in a coffee grinder or other effective blender/mill, using fresh for grinding where possible (esp. allspice); grind until powdery.

1/2 tb orange rind

2 tb chai (vanilla rooibos)

1/4 ts ginger

1/8 ts clove

1/4 ts coriander

1/2 ts nutmeg

1/2 ts allspice

Pumpkin Chai Cookies - These cookies build on the sweetness of the pumpkin and the spice of the chai to create a smooth, tasty treat. Ground ginger and a dusting of powdered sugar does nicely.

• cream together 1/2 c butter ; 2 tb coconut oil ; 1/2 c [white] sugar, brown sugar
• gradually mix in 1 ts vanilla ; 2 flax eggs (1tb milled flax seed, 2 tb aq / egg, mixed until it turns to goo) ; 1/2 c pumpkin puree (the less moisture the better*)
• sift together 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 ts baking soda, baking powder, salt ; sift into dough and mix until even (if you find it too liquidy, add more flour at this ratio*)
• mix in 2-3 tb Chai Spices
• mix in 1/2 c white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts (choppped)
• cross-print with a fork
• bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper 12-15 minutes @ 350'f, remove to cooling rack

Spiced Sweet Potato Chai Cookies - Do you like the kick of spice cookies and snickerdoodles? But also like super smooth vanilla texture? These monsters take the pumpkin chai cookies to the next level. They go straight for the spicy side of the chai with some extra cracked pepper. A great finishing touch is to take some powdered sugar and make an icing using a strongly steeped soy chai latte and some of the chai spice mix.

• cream together 1/2 c butter ; 2 tb coconut oil ; 1/2 c [white] sugar, brown sugar
• gradually mix in 1 ts vanilla ; 1/2 ts lemon extract ; 2 flax eggs (1tb milled flax seed, 2 tb aq / egg, mixed until it turns to goo) ; 1/2 c pumpkin puree (the less moisture the better*)
• sift together 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 ts baking soda, baking powder, salt ; sift into dough and mix until even (if you find it too liquidy, add more flour at this ratio*)
• mix in 2-3 tb Chai Spices, a few grinds cracked black pepper, and red pepper if you so desire
• mix in 1/2 c white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts (choppped)
• cross-print with a fork
• bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper 12-15 minutes @ 350'f, remove to cooling rack

* As brands of puree can vary in moisture and density of flavor, you may need to cook down more than a half cup to achieve desired strength at an appropriate moisture. I have previously done this using home-roasted ingredients and found the results (a) varied wildly and (b) too time intensive. Use a puree you are familiar with, and start with more than you think you'll need. I took a cup of puree for the pumpkin and let it sit in a coffee filter and colander and squeezed every so often. I only needed about 3/4 cup for the sweet potato to get where it needed to be. When adding the flour mix to compensate for an over-moist dough, you can go one of two routes; keep scaling with the cookie mix, or veer toward a more biscuit-like mix. The biscuit approach is very nice for the sweet potato. Bear in mind, if the dough is not sticking to itself, but rather your hand, you may need to add another flax egg or incorporate tapioca flour into the flour mix.

For the Gallery of the Slideshow check out Vegan X-Butter Cookies Challenge

Update on 1:07PM by mfg

a reply to Cookie Recipe Contest on VegNews

Update on 9:37PM by mfg

boo-hoo. the ten finalists do not include me.

Cookie Recipe Contest on VegNews

As I mentioned before, I am hoping to hit up the VegNews Cookie Contest.

Arrrgh. I am trying to lay out my plans, but I'm drinking coffee from Starbucks and it tastes like cologne. I can't deal with it. It is driving me nuts. There is this perfumed flavor to their Pike Place; but it's not like a floral bouquet to the nose, it's like some guy wearing too much Axe or any other cheap burning, eye-watering stench.

Anyway. After knocking out sweet potato casseroles, green bean casserole, fake turkey, and Shepard's Pie, it is time to focus on dessert anyway so I can be sure about moving forward into Christmas. So, Cookies! I borrowed a KitchenAid Artisan to do the sugar/butter creaming and general mixing. I got a handful of supplies last night, and will probably need to get a few more tonight before I can get cooking. There is also a pot luck this weekend. So here goes my plan.

• Pumpkin Chai Cookie - the 'Chumpkin Pai": I made this over the last weekend for a party. The pumpkin flavor was a bit meek as was the chai (an Uber tasty Rooibos Vanilla chai). I basically took my peanut butter/oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie dough (APF) recipe, subbed in 1/2 c pumpkin puree for the peanut butter, added extra coconut oil, and needed to add an extra 1-1.5 c whole wheat flour. I'm going to use canned instead of fresh puree this time, and cook it down; I will also add some chai leaf (chopped) in with the dough, and steep a chai concentrate in water first, the make the frosting (steeped in milk originally). Added in chopped macademia nuts instead of chocolate chips; will do half macs and half white chocolate chips (got some from Amazon last night).
• Sweet Potato Chai Cookie: basically a sweet potato gets subbed in for the pumpkin (I got some Japanese sweet potatoes last night). The point of this one is to go crazy spicy. The pumpkin is smooth, potato to have some serious pepper-y kick. Probably white chocolate chips only, maybe do half as half and half.

• Sunshine Cookies: sub peanut butter for sunflower seed butter and include some coconut extract. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seed. (Some pics here)

• ...and Those Salty Peanut Butter / Chocolate / Oatmeal cookies need a write up. (Some pics here)

And that makes four cookie recipes, about 8 batches (12 - 15 cookies each).

Thanksgiving Pie in the Sky Odds and Ends

So I made a pumpkin pie (the Vegan Pie in the Sky adaptation of the Myra Kornfeld pie) with a single crust and a bunch of cookies. Had some leftover dough and made a pyrex-potpie of thanksgiving leftovers (stuffing+green-bean-casserole+gravy+tomato-paste=FTW).

This four-day holiday weekend was the bestest good times. Also, I'm hard at work pulling together an entry or three for the VegNews Holiday Cooking contest (mfg needs a KitchenAid!).

Okay, so actually, I'm hard at work at going to work. I might make some more refinements to the recipe I tried over the weekend; these include subbing one ingredient (fresh for canned), swapping one ingredient for another (root the squash), and doing both with some earthbalance alchemy. I also need to do a write-up on the other recipes from the vegan x-butter cookie-thon. Recipes to follow.

Update on 7:59AM by mfg

Here is the sequence of posts from Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terri Hope Romero:

• National Pie Day, and the next; Tongue Tied Triple Berry Pie
• Upside Down Banana Toffee Pudding (Banoffee) Pie
• Thanksgiving Pie in the Sky Odds and Ends
• Blueberry Lemon Corn Biscuit Cobbler

My Original Review: Vegan Pie in the Sky: We are Gods

Huffman's Chili and the Upper Arlington Fall Fest

First, I recommend anyone interested participate next year; the organizers were not only organized and well-seasoned, but they were incredibly personable and relaxed and eased even my nerves.

So I didn't walk away with either the basket for People's Choice or Judge's Choice, but I got to see a good number of spoons (dba. votes; the crowd gets a spoon, tries all the chilis, then drops their spoon in the box in front of their fave chili) drop in my chilis' boxes, and I got a good chance to talk to the respective purveyors a good deal. A nice amount of shock and delight came out of both crock pots, so my personal takeaway was pretty good. (The only problem I had was with my crock pot for the vegan chili; it didn't wholly heat up and served tepid samples the first quarter of the way through.)

Let's get straight to the bones. Actually, I'm going to drop the carnivore rundown at the end; I don't want to scare of my vegan friends.

This represents the third attempt at refining and improving the Vegan Curried Pumpkin Chili, aka el Chilitoaxilitlo. So for a final refinement;

• add refried beans with 45 minutes to go
• add pinto beans with 25 minutes to go

Actually... that's it.

I will just refer you to the original post for the full recipe. As with any chili recipe, it's all about the time you can set aside for the chili. The longer the better. Also, remember to toast your curry / chili powder and use fresh ground everything that you can get your mitts on. As for toasting, I did it halfsies because (a) I like the smokiness of just-toasted spices in chili, and (b) I like the piquant sharpness of not toasted spices. You may prefer one over the other, or detest one. Either way, it's up to you.

Also, I had added too much bragg's/tamari it seemed, but once I added the refried beans it happened to be about right. Since you don't need to keep either bragg's or tamari in the chili to marry their flavors, I would recommend waiting until after adding (esp. the refried) beans to figure out what your measured dose of savory will be.

On to the omnivore's event (a.k.a. "here contains the meat of this post"), what I am calling the Youngstown Brown Brisket, Bitches;

• take seven pounds briskett
• 2 cups stock, pan drippings (4 - 6 cups, should fix to be something akin to french onion soup) from brisket
• standard base for chili, skewed toward jalapeno and roasty-toasty
• simmer down

You may recall the post about the Youngstown Brown Chili. Suffice it to say I didn't feel like making stock, so I hacked a shank and made a kind of bastard brown sauce/stock. I'm sure I'm slaughtering the nomenclature, feel free to mock me in the comments. Basically, I picked up where that chili left off; instead of fried up pork chops and ham shank stock, I roasted a brisket and made stock with cow femur.

Per usual, I turned to my shelf reference, that fantastic Homesick Texan for how to do brisket right, but without needing to hassle with smoking it (c'mon, I was doing two chilis).

Before I get into the specific resources I drew from, I must point out that a blog saved my life. Yes. Homesick Texan's speaking directly to the 'what' and 'why' of Texas Red as a distinct style of chili has changed how I make chili. Apparently, due to the extent of reduction to the finished product, I had one person say that it scarcely qualified as chili (under his breath, to lady with him). I politely (actually I'm sure I seemed like a smug fuck, but whatever; I did not miss him spooning me) explained the distinction between Texas Red and the Midwestern Red he was used to, principally the reliance on beans and broth, and that this was of a different style.

Now according to her Chopped brisket sandwiches are in some sense a Texas thing; cool, I'm sure they do it different. But when I saw the pic of that biddie I knew it was time for me to knock brisket off of my omnivore's bucket list. My beginning point was HT's explanation of how to do an oven-baked brisket; I then spun off and increased the amount of liquid and used a significantly larger than necessary roasting pan (it was one of those massive catering pans, and took up my whole oven). I also added carrots and two packs of mushrooms (note: you are going to have mushrooms simmer in beef juices and soy and whatnot, they don't need to be expensive, but don't use canned, that's just gross).

The end result was a catering pan with 7 pounds of amazing meat, baked over the course of 13 hours to that smooth succulent moist bubble. So what did I do with that half day? Well, I had already made lunch for my friends visiting from Akron. And I was in cooking overdrive mode. So first off I made and then got the pumpkin chili under pot. While doing that, I roasted the cow femurs (sliced to around 1" height) until the were nice and crispy ooey-gooey. I then made a stock with them. The mistake I made was over-stirring and under-skimming; so basically I did everything wrong but keep the heat on. Still, i got a cloudy broth, and this was going in chili so it wasn't some big deal.

So standard chili build, cayenne/jalapeno/thai hot pepper base. Incorporated what was basically a jalapeno / french onion soup stock into the chili for body, a few diced tomatoes, a had a minimal simmer. Good stuff.

 (pictures to follow)

Quiche is easy

Not only that, but making good quiche isn't all that difficult either. Granted, I followed the formula, but still its like an hour in between five or ten minutes prep then fork to face. It's cold out so lets get one of these guys in your belly all quick like.

All you need is 4 eggs, 10 oz frozen spinach - thawed, 1 cup milk, 1 stick butter, 8 ounces cheese (more is better), fun spices, and a pie crust (I used a prepared frozen whole wheat one from the commie market). [Improvisational ingredients omitted]

here's the quick and dirty:

• preheat oven to 375'f
• melt a stick of butter with some minced garlic cloves, saute until fragrant
• add some chili paste and onion powder and stir until dissolved
• add ten ounce block of thawed, frozen spinach; saute some more making sure it gets all that spice soaked up, then add 4 ounces shredded cheese
• whisk up four eggs and one cup milk
• (if you're messy like me, you may want the crust to be on a cookie sheet to catch spills)
• sprinkle some cheese on bottom of whole wheat crust
• using a slotted spoon, add spinach to crust
• whisk egg mixture gradually onto spinach, waiting for it absorb
• sprinkle chopped cayenne, salt, and pepper on top, finish with a little more cheese
• bake fifteen minutes, dab off any excess grease on top
• bake another forty minutes
• pull, let rest ten minutes

Tonight I will be taking a stab at making some kind of vegan silken tofu-pudding chocolate-pumpkin pie in an oreo crust. Sounds rad, riiiiyyyeeeght? Here's the outline:

1. Crumble oreos and toss with earthbalance, coat bottom/sides of springform; chill 1 hour to set
2. Combine 1 cup pumpkin puree and 1/2 block silken and pour on crust
3. Combine 1 cup melted chocolate and 1/2 block silken and pour on top
4. Whip up some bitchin' vanilla silken tofu frosting, snowy peak it on top
5. It will look like this:

 my springform pan is not that thick, and the pie will likely much wider and not be that tall

Update on 11:37AM by mfg

Since I only have 7 or so Apr0n posts until 100 I may be doubling up, like with this one to maximize noise to signal. I think this is a win-win for everyone. If you're wondering, I am currently going crazy over silken tofu and am trying to find all of its lesser immediately documented culinary uses.

Recipe & pictures: Vegan Curried Pumpkin Chili, savory autumn delight

Last night we had quite the spread over at John & Miss Kristin's. I am sorry my taunts to the interwebs did not land. There was fantastic @Xandrews artisan bread, wee loaves and a focaccia. Miss Kristin made an apple crisp with four varieties of fresh picked Ohio. Now I have no idea how to make those tasty bits so I won't even pretend.

However, my primary contribution was a Curried Pumpkin Chili. And today is the first day where I wish I had worn a jacket, so there is a sense of urgency to this post; here's how you make this smooth body warmer.

First, procure two three ish pound pumpkins; "medium-sized" our baking is what they're typically called. Preheat oven to 350'f. Scrub any dirt off the outside then slice in half from base to stem. Scoop out guts (keep 'em though; we'll be making seeds eventually). Place face down in a cookie sheet or case dish in a quarter inch of water. Place in oven for about one hour, our until a form hours through skin easily.

Meanwhile, start preparing your curry. Mine happened to resemble the vindaloo variety from Penzeys; turmeric, ground mustard, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, sage, ginger, clove, cinnamon, cayenne, allspice, smoked chortle, sage black pepper, paprika (they also use a fancier cinnamon, they use cardamom, and use jalapenos, not smoked chipotle powder). About a teaspoon of each, more or less.

When the pumpkins are done, peel off the skin using a fork or knife and put pulp into food processor. Add curry powder and blend until smooth (you may need to add a few teaspoons of olive oil to get the right consistency).

Finely mince two medium onions, saute until mostly soft, add four-five cloves crushed/minced garlic and six minced fresh cayenne and three minced tabasco peppers. Spice the pot with the more savory spices. Cover with five-six ounces of a nice tasty lager and clean the sides of the pour while you bring it to a nice bubble.

Next, we add two large cans of whole tomatoes. To do this, drain first then, with your thumb, pierce the side of the tomato so the juices all go in the pot, then grind it up between your fingers. Rinse and repeat. Next, chop up the medium tomatoes and add to the pot. Let simmer for awhile to bubble of some of the water you incur from ask those tomatoes.

Now I let my pumpkin puree sit overnight so the flavors would be good and matured, and I had other stuff to do. Anyway, this is where we fold it in. First, reserve one cup if it for bread making, then use a river spatula to scrape all that goodness in the pot.

Turn right back around to the did processor and put one drained block of soft, silken tofu in there along with a cup of nutritional yeast, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, the juice from half a lemon, and one-two tablespoons of Braggs aminos. This will come out like a lightly-textured sour cream that you will blend into the pot, doubling down on creamy texture and upping the savory tartness.

Once we've got the pot to this point, now you just need to start tasting. Here are the key items to bear in mind, (1) you are competing with the natural sweetness of the pumpkin, keep it savory but just tap the gas as you can easily overwhelm the pumpkin, (2) the body of the soup should be nice and creamy (if it isn't you didn something drastically wrong), the nice part is eating the chunks of tomato and little soft-crisps of onion, (3) you want to keep it cheesy, so don't be afraid to add more nutritional yeast, or try some cashew cheese.

So at this point it's just a game of how much time do you want to put into this stuff; the more time the more love the more soul in the food.

You can keep tinkering while you make side courses. That is my recommendation. Now, if you've got a game on in the other room, or company to entertain, I understand. But if you're just cooking because maybe there's nothing better to do and you're looking forward to sharing, I say go for it. I made a loaf of savory curried pumpkin bread (that's what the 1 cup pumpkin puree, reserved was for) and two and a half dozen cookies before it was done. Next time I might do a cast-iron skillet jalapeno corn bread, subbing oils for pumpkin puree.

pumpkin bread with cracked pepper; vegan cookies in the pyrex, bad boy milk chocolate on the sheet chillin.

In the previous incarnation I added a can of corn and two cans of beans. I am not convinced that wouldn't have worked this time around, especially if you pan fry some black beans and corn in cumin and salt until they brown up a bit. I might even do a layered casserole when I get home; spread some refried pinto beans on the bottom, top with corn, dust with cumin, bake, then pour on the leftovers and top with black beans and dust with cumin and cayenne, bake until warmed through.

Now you may not think it resembles any chili you've ever had before; welcome to my world.

Update on 1:19PM by mfg

placeholder is down, real pic is up. no fancy plating or garnishes of any kind. just glad i got the pic; it was close, i was eating it for lunch was all like, nom nom nom.... 'oh noes, i better snap a shot of it!'