Showing posts with label Double Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Double Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies. Show all posts

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Sweet Eats, Recipe Post, & VegNews Awards!

Time to return to some sweets. As I say in ed&bv, "sugar 'n spice and all things nice, that's what vegan desserts are made of". Not regular desserts. Only vegan, since all things nice do not include dairy or eggs. Not nice for us, not nice for the animals. We've all got that now, right?!

Ok, so I start with a repeat. Last week my good friend's hubby had a birthday, and I decided to whip up a batch of Double Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies from Vive. He has always loved these cookies, and so I wanted to surprise him with these goodies. He was pretty excited and said "cool, my favorite cookies... I don't know if they'll last more than a day". I said "hey, it's your birthday!" No limits on birthdays!! And... in case you don't have Vive, I wanted to share this recipe with you, so here it is! Enjoy! :)

And now I have a new sweet. This is Carob Cashew Pudding. The pic is a bit bright, but hopefully you get the idea of how luscious, creamy, and rich this pudding is. I think I have this one just about finished, I plan to test it again with chocolate instead of carob, just to see if the substitution works out just as nicely... sometimes chocolate and carob aren't quite as interchangeable as one might like, but since I like to give options for folks, I want to offer a chocolate as well as a carob version.

And, back to an oldie. These are Energy Cookies from Vive. Any of you that own Vive will notice that these cookies are NOT in the desserts section. They are found in the muffins & on-the-go snacks section. Why? Well, because, while these are certainly cookies in the manner of preparation, they aren't the type of cookie I'd 'finish a meal' with. These energy cookies aren't as sweet as other cookies you'll find in my books, and because they are meant to be 'energizing' cookies to have mid-morning or afternoon, or during an outing or trip, they are made without sugar (only maple syrup), and with wholesome ingredients including whole-grain flours, sunflower/hemp/pumpkin seeds, and raisins to help give your energy a boost! So, enjoy these cookies at any time, but please don't expect them to be a sweet dessert.

Before I sign off, I have 'awards' news... I have been nominated for two VegNews Veggie Awards for 2008. I have been nominated in the categories of "Favorite Cookbook Author" and also "Favorite VegBlog"!

I know the odds are stacked against me in both categories, but hey, why not be an optimist, hey? So, if you enjoy my cookbooks and my blog, then please show the love and vote, vote, vote! And, since I probably need only about, oh, 15 or 20 thousand votes or so, you can recruit your friends, co-workers, neighbours, children, spouse and family to vote too! ;) Don't forget that there are prizes, including "a New York City Urban Getaway, a Glam Girl Goodie Bag, a Marshmallow Madness Gift Pack, and a Vegan Cookie Smorgasbord". Get voting, the polls close on August 31st!

Oh, and one final note. For those of you that missed my radio interview with Dr. Melissa West, you can listen at your convenience here. (and I've also provided a link on the sidebar).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend my lovelies!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Needin' a Cookie Fix

I know. Shame on me. It's been far too long since I've posted cookie love. Especially when some of you have called me the "Vegan Cookie Lady" or the "Vegan Cookie Queen" (I'm amused and flattered). With that, how dare I take such a cookie break?

Well, I got back to business last week baking cookies for a 'Beach Day' for my daughter's kindergarten class.

I made Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from E,D&BV (which I blogged about before), and a modification of my Double Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies from Vive. There is a no peanut/nut policy at our kindergarten, so I instead made a 'triple chocolate' version of these cookies. I omitted the almond slivers and almond extract, and replaced them with vegan white chocolate chips and vanilla extract.

Since there were a lot of little mouths to feed (and mouths that like to nibble), I made the cookies much smaller and baked for about 10 minutes instead of 11. They turned out beautifully. The chocolate ones disappeared in a flash. I thought the kids would go for the raisin ones first - I mean, these are some jumbo, plump raisins...


But no, I guess the kids have learned early in life the bliss that is chocolate. Who can blame them? One of the moms told me that she heard several of the kids ask "where are those vegan cookies, I want another vegan cookie". How funny! Not "Mommy, I want another chocolate cookie" or "one of those raisin cookies". But, just "the vegan cookie". Works for me.

If vegan = yummy in their eyes, it's all good. Smart cookies. The kids I mean. Yeah, cookies too.