27 November 2007

Two Cookies Fit for Gifts (or Cookie Jars)



The cookie on the left was a remake of a lovely Coconut Biscotti recipe from the Baking and Books blog. Except that I didn't make them into biscotti, I scooped out teaspoon-sized scoops and baked them once. They were fluffy and rich, not to mention light and tasty! However, I will bake them as biscotti soon because I just bought more coconut on sale. Yay!

The changes I made to that recipe were very small -- just agave for sugar, the baking time and style, the addition of 1/2 cup of very finely chopped dried apricots for a nice twang. Next time, I'd add even more apricots or even some great chopped dried pears.

The cookie on the right was a bit of an alteration of Veganomicon's Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies.

Here are my alterations to those delicious and very well-spiced cookies:

1. Agave nectar for the brown rice syrup and brown sugar.
2. Almond milk for the soy milk.
3. Added 1 cup of chopped pecans (so good!).
4. Added 1 cup of unsweetened carob chips.

I underbaked them a bit and would definitely do that again because it gave the cookies almost a chocolate chip cookie chewiness. My step-Dad raved, "It's one of your better efforts." Believe me, that's a rave.

Overall, I prefer the vegan cookies in this pairing, purely for the spiciness (the recipe calls for cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice) and the wonderful oaty-ness. Relatively speaking, it's not a very unhealthy recipe due to the oats, whole-wheat pastry flour and low fat content. Yet another great reason to buy Terry and Isa's book!

6 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

mmm, I LOVE your rendition of the Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies from Veganomicon (especially the carob part, haha). Have you ever tried oatmilk? it's my "nondairy-milk-of-choice" for cooking & baking, since it has a smooth, rich consistency (similar to soymilk) and has a mellow flavor (so it's not too overpowering - especially in savory recipes. works quite well!) I love almond-milk, but it's too thin for baking, in my opinion.

Glad your step-dad raved about the cookies!! Veganomicon recipes are definitely crowd-pleasers :0)

Deb Schiff said...

Thanks a bunch, VG! Between the carob chips and the pecans, these were definitely some of my favorite new cookies.

Sadly, no, I have not yet tried oatmilk. When I finish off the gallons of almond milk I bought on sale recently (!), I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation.

I'm really looking forward to continuing to try different Veganomicon recipes (like I did with their other books).

Do you have a favorite recipe from Isa and Terry?

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

my favorite recipe from them is definitely the chocolate bundt cake from Veganomicon (but made with carob, of course). I blogged about it a few days ago :0)

Deb Schiff said...

Carob it is! I just made some intense carob brownies -- not vegan, but you could probably easily veganize them. Will post the little movie about them soon. Thanks, as always, for your comments and visits. :)

Anonymous said...

I will definitely try V-Con's cookies your way! and underbake them a bit too. woohoo for you, Deb!

Deb Schiff said...

Thanks, Celine! I've got to make those again soon. :D