My favorite cookies growing up were “Peanut Butter Blossoms”. My Mom found the recipe in a magazine, co-sponsored by two major brands. These cookies, sparkling a little with sugar and melty chocolate perched atop crackled peanut butter cookie, were my absolute favorite. My Mom would only make these for Christmas, during which I’d be repeatedly admonished to stop eating them all. After the holiday season was over I’d spend the rest of the year pining for them.

The nice thing about being a grown up is that I can make these cookies whenever I like. When we do manage to send out Christmas cookies to loved ones, I always try to include some of these.

The use of flax meal as a binder compliments the peanut flavor perfectly. The nice thing about making a vegan recipe for this old stand-by is that all the animal products are removed. I believe food, cookies especially, always taste better when made compassionately, hence my name for these yummy cookies, “Peanut Butter Beauties“. I’m happy to share my childhood favorite, now made vegan, as part of the So Delicious Spring Fling Dairy-Free Recipe Contest.

The Stuff

• 1 3/4 cups flour*
• 1/2 sugar (evaporated cane juice)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 cup shortening**
• 2 T So Delicious Unsweetened Almond Plus 5X almond milk
• 1/2 cup peanut butter***
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 T golden flaxseed meal whisked with 3 T water
• Extra sugar to roll cookies in
• Dark chocolate for topping cookies (see note)

  * Using whole wheat pastry flour is fine and just adds to the overall nuttiness of the cookie.
  **I like either Spectrum Naturals or Earth Balance.
  ***Crunchy or Creamy is fine. For extra special ones, get freshly ground peanut butter.

The Making

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Set out your shortening to warm up just a little.

Blend the 2 tablespoons of flax meal with the 3 tablespoons of water and set aside. As this mixture sits it will get thick and have a gel-like consistency.

In a large bowl, or the bowl for a stand mixer, add the shortening and peanut butter. Blend together on a low speed until they are will mixed. Add sugar and continue blending until sugar, peanut butter, and shortening are light and creamy. Add in remaining ingredients, aside from flour and blend, scaping down sides if needed.

Add flour in slowly, in 3 to 4 batches, and blend slowly to incorporate it. You will have a nice, firm dough, not too sticky when done.

Shape dough into 1″ balls and roll each ball in sugar. Place balls 2″ apart on an un-greased cookie sheet; the cookies will spread out so don’t skimp on the spacing.

Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown and starting to crack. Remove from oven.

While cookies are still on the cookie sheet, immediately top each cookie with a piece of chocolate. Press chocolate into the center cracks of the hot cookie carefully so they don’t fall apart, but the chocolate is wedged in. Carefully remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely. The chocolate will melt further into the cookie as it cools.

Makes 3 dozen+.

A Note About Chocolate:

These cookies are traditionally made with chocolate that isn’t vegan and isn’t really that tasty anyway. I have used good bars, Theo Jane Goodall bars to be exact, and broken into rough squares or rectangles to top with. Now I’m using E. Guittard 72% Bittersweet Chocolate Couverture Wafers and they are far easier to use than breaking up the bars. I just use one wafer per cookie and they are perfect.

I already am a fan of products from So Delicious and that was before they gave me a great t-shirt at Vida Vegan Con last year. We buy two brands of vegan creamers because our opinions are pretty distinct and I prefer the plain variety from So Delicious. So you when someone from the company asked if I wanted to test some of their new products made with almond milk I was pretty excited.

Special arrangements were made so I’d be home the day the shipment, on dry ice, would be delivered. Two boxes, one containing new almond milk products, and the other filled with 5 pints of new almond milk ice cream and two boxes of dark chocolate covered almond milk ice cream bars.

First, let me say that we ate the bars pretty much immediately. The Mocha Almond Fudge, dipped in dark chocolate and covered with almonds, was a real fave. That said, the vanilla almond milk bars, also dipped in dark chocolate, were also delicious.

Honestly, they arrived while Christie was in Mountain View and it was a real challenge to not eat them all by myself. Christie, upon finishing the last one off, asked me, “When can I get this at the store.”

The five pints I saved to share with the current planning team for Open Source Bridge 2012. I figured we could end a meeting with a little ice cream party.

All Meetings are Better with Ice Cream!

The team dug into the pints:

Gimmie the Ice Cream!

We all went back and did our best to “test” the ice cream thoroughly.

Woohoo Ice Cream!

In the end, we were unable to finish all five pints off. We left them in the freezer for other folks at Collective Agency to enjoy.

We Couldn't Finish!

You can see that the Butter Pecan, Mocha Almond Fudge, and Cherry Amaretto were the big favorites. That isn’t to say that the chocolate and vanilla aren’t great, but we were just so full from all the other ice cream we couldn’t eat anymore!

So Delicious, thank you so much! You made our planning meeting awesome with ice cream. We can’t wait to our local store starts to stock this fantastic choice for dessert!

**Update: April 28, 2012*

This past weekend we spotted both pints and bars of the new Almond Milk ice cream at a couple New Seasons markets (Arbor Lodge and Mountain Park specifically). We’ve already consumed a box of the Mocha Almond Fudge bars!

Mocha Almond Joy!

I love green tea sweets and these shortbread are a perfect mix of the green, sharp taste of the matcha with the buttery shortbread. During the holidays I chill the dough overnight and roll out to cut into tree shapes.

The Stuff

• 2 Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (this is 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1-3 Tablespoons *Matcha (see note)

The Making

Heat oven to 325 degrees (F).

Sift the flour, salt and matcha together into a bowl.

In a mixing bowl beat together the Earth Balance and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add in sifted mixture and mix slowly until the dough just comes together.

If you are planning to roll out dough for cutting ships, put dough in bowl, cover and refrigerate until chilled and firm to touch, at least 30 minutes. Overnight is even better.

If you’re planning to slice rounds, roll the dough into a log, wrap in plastic, waxed paper or parchment paper. Refrigerate until chilled and firm to the touch. Again, at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds or roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with your preferred cookie shape. Place cookies on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, approximately 1 inch apart.

Bake cookies for 16-18 minutes until they are just beginning to brown around the edges. Turn your pan around halfway through the  cooking time.

Remove baked cookies from cookie sheet immediately and cool on wire rack

Makes 3-4 dozen, depending upon if you make cut cookies or sliced

*A comment about your matcha – don’t skimp on your tea. Use quality matcha, not any kind of drink mix. Green tea cannot be substituted for matcha. We use a matcha called Liquid Jade from Tao of Tea and it provides a marvelous flavor.

I’ve seen these cookies called “Mexican Wedding Cookies”, but my Mom called them “Russian Tea Cakes” and they were part of her Christmas cookie recipe arsenal. We’ve changed the base recipe to make it vegan and use whole wheat pastry flour. We’ve found the change in flour makes for a lovely nutty note that compliments the walnuts perfectly.

little ball of yumminess

The Stuff

• 2 Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (this is 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (Bob’s Red Mill)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• Additional powdered sugar for rolling baked cookies in

The Making

Heat oven to 400 degrees (F).

Mix Earth Balance, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in a large bowl on a low speed until well incorporated. Add in flour, nuts and salt and mix at a low speed until the dough holds together.

You might need to knead the dough a little in the bowl to get any loose nuts back into the dough.

Roll dough into 1″ balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, an inch apart.

Bake 10-12 minutes, until just set. Cookies should not brown.

Remove cookies from sheet pan and cool on wire rack until just warm.

Roll slightly warmed cookies in powdered sugar and return to rack to finish cooling. Roll a second time in powdered sugar.*

Makes 4 dozen, if you keep the balls to 1 inch.

*I’ve actually skipped the double-roll in sugar and just rolled them in while cool. Yes, they aren’t as coated in sugar, but they still look lovely. If you’re making multiple batches in a day I’ve sometimes just packed up the cooled cookies and rolled in sugar before putting them into tins, gift bags, etc.

I suck – again, no pictures! I will just have to make some of these again and photograph.

Two of my co-workers are here from India and they came up with the idea of having a big lunch to celebrate Diwali. This is a huge, multi-day festival celebrated across India; a time for big gatherings and lots of food. My co-workers missed this celebration working in Portland, Oregon, so decided to bring it to their American teammates.

When I started looking at recipes for desserts I noted that they all contained dairy products. This is pretty standard for Indian sweets, so I never have any now (oh, how I miss gulab jamun). The only way to ensure a sweet at a potluck, should I desire one, is to make them myself. Not being really familiar with any of the sweets in the recipes for Diwali I thought I’d try out the recipe for cashew cardamom cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I hadn’t yet and have always thought it sounded tasty.

A couple of days before the potluck I stopped into my favorite Desi market, India-4-U, to pick up fresh kari leaves for making sambar. While purchasing these I was chatting with one of the owners, Alka, about my plans to make the cupcakes although I know they’re not traditional.

She looked at me and said, “Oh, you should make besan ladoo!”

I know what besan is, but a ladoo?? Alka assured me it was easy, if time consuming, to cook the besan. She knows I’m vegan and that I have something I use where ghee is called for (hoaray, Earth Balance). She said that ghee was the only non-vegan thing in besan ladoo, so I should have an easy time of it. Besan ladoo, she insisted, we the best thing to make as a sweet for a Diwali party.

Right. Once home I stashed the kari leaves in the fridge for sambar making later and did a little research. After a few Google searches I found a recipe that sounded like the rough ingredient list Alka gave me: besan, ghee, sugar, cardamom, cashews and raisens. The only problem — no pictures and the recipe directions ended with the notation to, “shape into ladoos”.

Uhh… Google image search to the rescue! Moments later I discovered that “ladoo” meant “little ball”.

As Alka had said, it was pretty easy if a little time consuming. I followed the recipe and directions exactly, substituting the amount of Earth Balance for the ghee, and after many minutes the kitchen was scented with the nutty aroma of the toasted flour. I added the sugar & cardamom and immediately found a problem.

I had a pan of toasted, cooled besan, a bunch of sugar, a fair bit of cardamom, some chopped raises & toasted cashews. It smelled wonderful, however, there was no way that it would be pressed into any kind of firm shape!

Since ghee is clarified and Earth Balance is a vegetable fat, something was lost in trying to do a direct substitution. What I’ve learned is that when substituting Earth Balance for ghee the amount should be doubled! This worked fine and the results delighted Indian co-workers who said I got them just right. They were thrilled to get a handmade sweet they associate with home.

The Recipe

Besan Ladoo — Vegan Style!

1 cup Earth Balance (**use soy-free)
2 cups gram flour
1 cup evaporated cane sugar
1 teaspoon powdered cardamom
1/2 cup of chopped raisins and cashews

I toasted the raw cashews and set them aside. Once they were cool I chopped up these and some raisins for the 1/2 cup.

In a large frying pan melt 1/2 the Earth Balance over medium-low heat and add in the 2 cups gram flour. Keep stirring with a spoon, making sure there are no lumps, until flour has turned a rich, dark tan and smells very aromatic — at least 10-15 minutes. Take off heat and let cool.

Once the besan has cooled add in the sugar, cardamom, cashews and raisins. Mix together so that all ingredients are well incorporated. Melt the other 1/2 of Earth Balance. Drizzle Earth Balance into other ingredients, keep mixing and adding Earth Balance until the dough can be pressed together in a small ball and retain shape when set down.

Form dough into small balls, ladoos, and plate. Should be kept refrigerated if not being served right away. Makes approximately 24 ladoos.

**Note: I am not sure at this time if I could have just toasted the gram in the full amount of Earth Balance. Since I discovered after all the other steps were done that I needed more Earth Balance, this is how the steps went. I will amend this if I discover I do not need to do the Earth Balance in two parts.

Have you ever purchased a recipe shortcut and then realized that you might as well have thrown a few bucks into the food processor? No? Damn. Well, just pretend you did, because I really did and I don’t want to feel like the only schmuck on this blog.

I actually purchased a tofu pudding mix that promised to make a brick of extra-firm tofu into a bowl of creamy, delicious pudding. And it kind of worked. I had to add some sweetener and cocoa to pep up the flavor, but the end product was surprisingly puddingish.

Then I looked at the ingredients:

dehydrated raw cane juice, Dutch cocoa powder, potato starch, guar gum, non-hydrogenated coconut oil, soy lecithin, vanilla

Hmm… sweetener, cocoa, thickeners, oils, and vanilla. Not exactly rocket science.

So I zipped over to VegWeb.com to see if anybody had a reasonably easy recipe for pudding, and found this five-star recipe. The ingredient deck here is even simpler:

1 block extra firm tofu
3 tablespoons high quality cocoa powder
3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup soy milk
3 tablespoons liquid sweetener. (flavored syrup, or maple syrup works really well)

And the method is exactly like the mix: throw everything into a bowl or blender and blend until smooth; chill while licking the mixing equipment.

I made it tonight, using agave for the sweetener, and I’m never buying pre-made pudding or a pudding mix ever again. My Pizzakrap blender even managed to puree the tofu into a darned interesting approximation of pudding. Or, really, more like mousse.

Future pudding explorations:

• a teaspoon or so of mint extract for chocolate mint numminess
• one of the commenters on VegWeb — commenting on a similar recipe — says this makes a tasty frozen treat
• I’m thinking of trying a vanilla or almond version and layering it with the chocolate for a party parfait

*** Next day update ***

I was dreaming of parfait, I think, or maybe just Shrek. Anyway, I decided to make the parfait.

I made a vanilla-almond pudding this morning:

• 1 block extra firm tofu
• 4 T maple syrup, or to taste (I thought 3 T was a little light on the sweetness, but I’m aiming for decadence)
• 1.5 t pure vanilla
• 1 t almond extract
• 3 T almond milk

Method: Blend until smooth.

The chocolate I made last night set up firm and silky, so I spooned some into a large, glass bowl and poured the vanilla over it. Chilled that for a couple hours, then spooned the rest of the chocolate over it. Topped with Soy Whip and sprinkles.

I can’t wait to see my little creation demolished at a potluck this afternoon. Ev’body love parfait!

*** Two days later update ***

The parfait went like a Sweet Pea turtle cheesecake, which is to say, WHOOSH! I set it on the table at the potluck, went away to swim, and came back in maybe half an hour to see an empty bowl. It was a huge hit. While the different flavors were nice fresh out of the blender, they turned into a delightfully creamy moose mousse when properly chilled.

The frozen version, however, is a disappointment. I put it directly from the blender into the freezer (using a container — this time), and it froze into a snirt-like mass of ice crystals. Perhaps I’ll try letting it set up in the fridge before freezing, or adding a little oil to see if that keeps the mess from solidifying too much. Ideas welcome.

Also, chocolate mint works very well. I’d start with 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract added to the chocolate recipe above. 1 teaspoon is a little too Altoid-y (or a comparable, vegan mint-y).