YOU CAN TAKE YOUR HOLIDAY TREATS AND…

YOU CAN TAKE YOUR HOLIDAY TREATS AND…

The worst part of the holiday season is the treats. I say this not because I’m watching calories or really concerned about putting on a few—that’s half of the fun of the holiday season, right? I say it because, thanks to my food allergies, I can’t enjoy them.

They are a constant tease, especially around the office. Over the past week or so, every time I walk into the kitchen at Running Press my senses are overwhelmed by caramel popcorn, chocolates, nuts, and cookies of every size, shape, and flavor. This morning there was even a cheesecake sent to the office from one of our vendors. They all make my mouth water and I contemplate, well, what if I eat just a little bit? Bad idea. Consequences are much worse than a couple minutes of pure bliss while indulging on some sugary, gooey, wonderfulness.

So what’s a girl with a sweet tooth to do? Vegan gluten-free baking attempt, round number two.

This time I picked a much easier recipe from Terry Walter’s cookbook, Clean Food. And I’m so glad I tried baking from her cookbook again after my Brownie Baking Fiasco. These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies turned out perfect, and only took 30 minutes to make. I might just be able to get the knack of this vegan baking thing after all.

Oh, and guess what? I fully intend to be selfish and eat these cookies all by myself. Bah humbug.

- Caroline

Here’s the recipe, should you wish to make your own:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip (or Raisin) Cookies

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup unbleached white flour or brown rice flour (I used teff flour)

¾ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (I couldn’t find this and used sweetened instead)

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¾ cup maple syrup

½ cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (skipped these, not really a walnut fan)

½ cup semisweet dark chocolate chips (or raisins)

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, coconut, cinnamon, and salt. In separate bowl, whisk together syrup, oil, and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until evenly combined. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips or raisins. Press dough into equal-size balls, place onto parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven—and do your best not to eat them all in one sitting!

Makes 2 dozen.

Recipe courtesy of Clean Food © 2009 by Terry Walters, Sterling Epicure.

A VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE BROWNIE BAKING FIASCO

A VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE BROWNIE BAKING FIASCO

For my first vegan-gluten-free baking adventure, I decided to take on brownies. And not just any brownies, but brownies that claimed to not only be gooey and delicious but also packed with nutrients. This proved to be a big mistake.

I regret this first attempt for a couple reasons. Most notably, because the recipe I chose was one for a more advanced baker, and I was in over my head. But also because these were the most expensive gosh-darn brownies I’ve ever made—the obscure flour I had to used cost me $15 alone. I also had to visit three different grocery stores to find everything I needed, the last being Wegmans about a 30-minute drive from my home (and actually where I should have just bought everything to begin with to save the hassle).

I also altered the recipe, because I realized that I didn’t have the right size baking pan (said to use 8 x 8 inch pan; I only had an 8 x 13), so I might have screwed everything up right then and there. I also don’t own a full-sized food processor, which the recipe said to use to combine all of the moist ingredients (dates, banana, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and applesauce), so I just used my mini food processor to do the dates and banana then mixed everything else together by hand, before adding the dry ingredients (teff flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).

So anyhow, the brownies ended up tasting like chocolaty-banana-ish mush. Not satisfying whatsoever. I had originally intended to bring them into the office and have my colleagues give feedback, but was too embarrassed. They are sitting in my kitchen feeling neglected, destined to go out with the trash tonight.

To be fair, I must stress that I can’t really blame the recipe I used for my disappointing brownies. I even hesitate from telling you what cookbook I used because I’ve eaten many things from it and can attest that when made by someone who actually knows what they are doing, the food is quite good.

But I also believe in transparency and don’t want to keep secrets from my dear readers, so apologies Terry Walters, I promise to make something really good from one of your gorgeous and well-done cookbooks, Clean Start or Clean Food, in the future.

(Pssst, Mom…Some good Christmas gift ideas for me would include some baking pans and a food processor. Just sayin’…)

Best,

Caroline

@carolinebrown