Almost totally vegan chocolate chip!

This was interesting, for sure. I first attempted this recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance a week ago, but I used vegan margarine spread instead of the regular non dairy margarine. Everything was going fantabulous until I got to the part where you add the flour, making a nice soft dough. I ended up with basically a crumbly mound. I went over the recipe in my head several times, and concluded I must have messed up with the margarine. Tired, I made an easy chocolate cake instead. Sorry, we ate that so fast I didn't get a good pic to blog with. Anyway, so I tried again the other day with real margarine. Again everything was going swell-like, until the part where I added the flour. AGAIN, I ended up with a crumbly-crumb castle. There is nothing in the book that mentions, "oh yeah, and by the way the dough's consistency is in no way similar to that of regular eggy cookies." I was stumped. I followed the recipe perfectly!

I decided at that point, well, maybe this is just the way that these are supposed to be. So I experimented. The first round I just plopped on the baking sheet and kind of smooshed together to form a circular structure. It looked really messy. So with the second round I pressed the dough into a spoon to make little spoon shaped cookies. That looked better at least, but my spoons are a funny shape. So then I got out the big guns- a serving spoon with shell shape to it. That seemed to work well, and those are the ones you see on top there, in the picture.

After all that work, the good thing is that they taste pretty darn good. They are a bit crispy, so I am going to experiment with some recipes to see if I can find a way to make them chewier (I was always a fan of the gooey cookie). Oh, and the reason they are not completely vegan would be the Ghirardelli chocolate chips I threw in there. Yummers.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp molasses
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt *if you use salted margarine, don't add the salt!*
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

oven- 350 degrees

taste 7 (my non veggie friends "say" they really liked 'em
prep time 15 min
cook time 10-12 min per batch

Sweet Potato Fries

So, I purchased two new books- this recipe comes from Vegan with Vengeance and it truly kicks ass. I love fries. If you set a plate of fries in front of me, I will eat them all- ALL I SAY! I love salt, and I love the comfy taste of warm, squishy potatoes. But I never succeeded in making good homemade fries. So I decided I'd try these so I would have something to eat with my veggie burgers. Here's the recipe:

2 pounds sweet potato (I just used one honking one- it was HUGE!)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat to 475 degrees. Slice up the sweet potato into fry-like sticks, about 1/4 inch thick. In a bowl mix the oil, cumin, coriander and pepper. Toss the potato sticks in the bowl to coat with the mixture, then place in one layer in a baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes for each side.

I'm very excited that these came out perfect, the first time! They taste great, and are reminiscent of thanksgiving yams. They even taste good with ketchup, but you really don't need it.

Taste rating: 9
Prep time: 10 minutes (depending how sharp your knife is- those potatoes are hard suckers!)
Cook time: 20 mins
Dishes: one pan, one bowl. Woo!

PS- pay no attention to my lopsided bun!
PSS- my new favorite patties is the vegan patties from Boca.