Raid The Cupboard Vegan Christmas Cookies

Mom baked all year long, but only
at Christmas did she turn out an array
of cookies that made we three
sisters drool.

It seems that every family has it's favorite cookie. My sister-in-law adores Snickerdoodles and two of my seven grandkids think they are the only cookie worth making. My husband loved all cookies and it mattered not what they were made of. Somehow, he managed to get his large hand in and out of our cookie jar with great dexterity. My daughter-in-law makes the best oatmeal cookies in the world. I kid you not. She has won several Blue Ribbons with that cookie and lucky me, she shared the recipe so I could make them too. But that's another post.

Church suppers were the norm in the
tiny town of my youth. I think we went
to every one of them, no matter what the
denomination.

Growing up in Minnesota, our family ate a vast array of Norwegian and Swedish cookies that appeared only during the Christmas season. Since my dad was a business owner, we got invited to any and every church Christmas supper for miles around our little rural town. My mom got some of those recipes and they became our favorites too, even though we had to wait a whole year for them to show up once more on our table. But that's another post too.

Shortly after I was married, I went to
mom's and copied all her recipes I'd
grown to love. The cards were stained
and the print had grown dim. Now my
cards look just like hers.

With the holidays upon us, it seemed like the right time for me to share tried and true cookie recipes that I grew up with and love to this day. During the coming month, I'll share the best of the best recipes that I've veganized successfully and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I also hope you print out or write down the ingredients and stash that piece of paper wherever you keep your treasured recipes. I also hope that over the next many years, your recipe cards become as stained and wrinkled as mine are.

RAID THE CUPBOARD COOKIES

These are NOT the most beautiful cookies you'll
ever make. Nor do they travel well. But they do
stay fresh a long time and chances are,
they won't last long enough to get stale anyway.

1 stick of vegan margarine, room temperature

3/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. of unsweetened applesauce

2 Tbs. non dairy milk

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup diced nuts, your choice

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup raisins

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup dried mixed fruit

This is my personal favorite brand
of mixed dried fruit

You can change the ingredients to whatever you wish. Just make sure that if you eliminate 1 cup of one thing, you make up for it by using 2 cups of another ingredient. Since I'm not a big fan of chocolate chips, I change the mixed fruit and chocolate chips around. Sometimes I exchange the raisins for chopped dates. The recipe is quite versatile. Just keep the quantities as given.

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium sized bowl, beat the margarine and sugar until it is light and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes. Add the applesauce, vanilla, and non-dairy milk. Mix to blend.

Use any uncooked
oatmeal you have on
hand.

Now add the flour and oatmeal along with the baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix till just blended. Do not overbeat or you'll have a tough cookie.

Stir the remaining ingredients into the dough by hand and then drop the dough by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes or until the edges are nicely brown. Allow the cookies to cool a bit on the sheet before moving them to a rack to finish cooling. Small pieces will fall off each cookie. Don't be alarmed. I've made this recipe at least a hundred times and that is the norm. Once cool, the cookie hardens a little so they can be transferred to your cookie jar. They can also be frozen for up to a month with no noticeable difference in taste.

I love this cookie. Not only because it is easy to make but because I don't feel guilty giving them to my grandkids. All told, they are a healthy alternative to most cookies out there.

Whoever thought of drying cranberries
to they could be used in assorted
treats goes down in my book as
a genius. 

Beef Stew You Won't Believe Is Vegan

When my daughter was in the 10th grade, she tried out to be a cheerleader and made the team. You'd think there would be no parent involvement in having a cheerleader in the family, but guess again. The first call I got was from the cheer coach, informing me that the cheerleaders always gave a special dinner for parents and faculty and the cheer mothers were to do all the cooking. I was assigned a stew recipe and told in no uncertain terms that I was not to change a single ingredient as this particular recipe had been tried and improved over the years and was now at perfection. I was to double the recipe and show up with it in hand--along with my cheer daughter--at the school cafeteria at 4:30 on a particular afternoon. That would allow us time to prepare for the onslaught that was to descend within the hour.

I did as instructed, never even tasting the stew to be delivered. In fact, I was so busy with the serving, that by the time I got to eat, there was no stew left anywhere. I heard people talking about how wonderful the dinner had been so you'd better believe that by the next night I'd made what came to be called in our house "the recipe" for my own family. Over the years, I've passed this recipe on to untold people because once tasted, they always ask how to make it. I always tell them the same thing I was told: "It's perfect; don't change anything."

Once I became vegan, I wondered if I could replicate "the recipe" using my home made seitan. I experimented over time and finally came up with a stew so similar it's difficult to know it isn't the real thing. Since I promised you last week that I'd pass this treasure onto you, here it is. I made two tiny tweaks to give this stew the mouth feel of a meat dish. Other than that, I reiterate what I was told: Don't change a thing. It's perfect.

VEGAN BEEF STEW

1 lb. seitan, cut into bite sized chunks (home made seitan is much more economical)

2 Tbs. olive oil

3/4 cup flour

Put the flour into a bag, dump in the seitan chunks and give it all a good shake.

In a deep pot, bring the olive oil to frying temperature

Brown the seitan until it resembles beef that's been lightly fried

Turn off the heat and add to the pot:

4 large carrots, cut into 3/4" pieces

4 large potatoes, cut into 3/4" pieces

1 large onion, sliced thin so it will nearly disintegrate into the gravy this recipe automatically produces

2 small bay leaves or 1 large one

1 garlic clove, minced

In a large measuring cup place:

1 1/2 cups of hot broth, vegetable or no-beef broth

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbs. Kitchen Bouquet (in the spice aisle and vegan; it adds a great beefy taste)

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. sugar

Big pinch of cloves (don't leave this out; it's what gives this stew it's extraordinary taste)

1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup of hearty red wine (I use Burgundy)

Stir the liquid to distribute everything evenly, then pour it over the seitan and vegetables. Cover the pot and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the vegetables are fork tender.

The seitan will puff up as the dish cooks. That is normal. It shrinks back quickly and gives the mouth-feel of eating read meat.

I serve only a side salad as the dish is a full protein/vegetable meal in itself. My hubby always liked bread so he could sop up the gravy.

Serves 4 and can easily be doubled.

Vegans are always messing with favorite recipes, trying to
change them into vegan deliciousness.

Poppy Seed Muffins

Usually we tend to pair poppy seed with lemon when talking about muffins, but what happens when you're all out of lemons? Well, we could have just dropped the idea altogether, but where is the adventure in that? And if there's anything I'm a fan of, it's adventure to the nth degree! So we did what we do best, and improvised.

Truth be told, my little sister is the baker of the family. My mom's got pies down like it's nobody's business, but when it comes to cake we turn to the one and only Meemster. I'm not at all certain as to how we got on the subject, but I was talking with her last night about muffins. We dug around in the kitchen for her lemon poppy seed muffin recipe.

Because I am dairy-free, my heart fell a little bit when I read that it called for sour cream or yogurt. I'm still figuring out where to get dairy free alternatives around here since the big move. We found Tofutti brand vegan sour cream at the local Super 1 and my spirits instantly lifted! Neither of us had ever used it before, but hey! If this is an adventure, we better make it a grand one.

And honestly, guys, these muffins! They are wonderful!

Here is what you'll need: (makes 12 muffins)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 (8 ounce) carton Tofutti vegan sour cream
1 egg (we used the egg, so it isn't a totally vegan muffin, but you can sub in 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce as a binder instead)

Here is how you do it:

Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. When baking I have forgotten this step multiple times and I always end up kicking myself waiting for the oven to get hot.

Then, in a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking soda and powder, and salt. In a separate bowl combine the oil, lime juice, sour cream and egg (or applesauce). Once the wet ingredients are all mixed up and have lost their identities amongst each other, pour them over the dry ingredients.

We were about a tablespoon short on the lime juice, and our mixture was looking a bit on the dry side. To overcome this minor setback we added the missing amount in rice milk. Once that came together, the batter was sticky and moist. Just the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it!

We scooped the batter into our lined muffin tin and popped those suckers in the oven 14 minutes. They came out a little sticky on the inside, so they went back in for an extra couple of minutes. Just make sure you don't burn the tops and your toothpick comes out clean when you're checking to see if they're done.

Once the muffins are up to par with your high standards, let them cool and serve with a nice glass of rice milk. Or perhaps maybe just whatever beverage choice you see fit. Eat, enjoy, repeat.

LAVENDER TEA COOKIES

I don't know about you, but I love the scent of lavender. I spray my home with it, burn candles scented with it, and set bowls of it around my house as a fresh potpourri. But I've NEVER put it in cookies. That is until I saw a food channel chef use it as the main flavor in a butter cookie. Now that intrigued me.

Of course you know I just had to try this recipe. The only changes I made were to use Earth Balance vegan margarine in place of the butter and dried lavender in place of the fresh. This cookie turned out to be a delicate, crunchy, buttery, shatter on the tongue bit of heaven. In fact I suggest that anyone not familiar with the flavor of lavender would be hard pressed to say what was in these cookies that made them so addictive. What they will say is that they want another one. And another one. And yet another one.

Since I had a difficult time finding cooking or culinary grade dried lavender, I ordered mine from www.myspicesage.com.  It's one of my favorite places to buy those spices I can't find anywhere else. I also like them because their spices are inexpensive, they always send a freebie sample, and the company ships so quickly.

To put the cookies together with little effort, I made the dough in my food processor and had them in the oven in less than ten minutes. I think it's the fastest cookie I've ever made. They went perfect with the pot of tea and the vegan Turtle Bay brand ice cream I served them with. One of my guests said the cookies tasted like perfume. I was waiting for her to say she didn't care for them when she smiled, rubbed her tummy and said, "They are delicious."

LAVENDER TEA COOKIES

1 stick of unsalted Earth Balance margarine, cold and cut into pieces

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. of sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 cup corn starch

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. dried lavender, food grade

Heat the oven to 350 degrees

Put all the ingredients (minus the 2 extra Tbs. of sugar) into a food processor bowl and pulse to break the margarine into small pieces. When the dough starts to come together, remove it from the bowl and press it together on a floured surface. Smooth the dough and roll into small balls. Place the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet and press the balls into disks. Sprinkle the cookies with the remaining 2 Tbs. of sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet. Removing them while they are still warm causes them to break apart.

These cookies will last about a week in an air tight container, though I doubt you'll have them around that long.

We wish to remind you that Once A Week Vegan does NOT allow advertising on our blog. Any products or sites we recommend are mentioned because we have found them to be both helpful and of good quality. By not accepting advertising, we fell we can be unbiased in evaluating the vegan products you'll find on your own grocery shelves.

Beer Bread Worth Baking

I've used beer to boil my brats, to create a deep fry batter and to make quick bread. The beer brats and onion boil always turned out well and even now, as a vegan, I sometimes still use that mixture to pre-boil my faux meat sausages before finishing them off on the grill.  As for deep frying, that has gone by the way since veganism took over my life. I discovered I'd rather eat the veggies fresh or roasted other than deep fried.

Now to get to the beer bread: over the years I've tried recipe after recipe and been disappointed in every single one. The bread didn't rise; it was tough and dense; it lacked moisture and tasted like it was already a week old just out of the oven.

Then one day while I was perusing food blogs, I came upon a recipe labeled "the best beer bread you'll ever eat." Who could resist?  I made the necessary changes to convert the bread to vegan and stirred it up. It took all of five minutes. Then I popped it in the oven, hoping for the best.

Wonderful aroma. Great crunchy crust. Soft, mellow, almost fluffy interior. Immensely satisfying mouth feel and great taste. But be warned: this isn't the prettiest loaf of bread you've ever seen. The top bakes up full of crooks and bumps and crevices. But it is, irrefutably, the best beer bread I've ever eaten. Give this recipe a try and tell me what you think.

Now for some basics:

Use a regular metal bread pan that's been sprayed with a non-stick spray. Use any brand of beer you wish. I used the least expensive one I could find and the bread still turned out great. If you have any leftovers (the loaf isn't especially huge), toast it up for breakfast and top it with your favorite jam or jelly. I used strawberry because that's what I had on hand.

BEST BEER BREAD EVER

3 cups white flour

1 Tbs. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. baking powder

2 Tbs. caraway seeds or any other type of seeds you like

12 oz. beer

Put the dry ingredients into a large bowl and give everything a good stir to evenly distribute the flour, etc.

Add the beer and stir. The dough will be wet. That is how it should be. Don't overstir or the bread will be tough.

Spread the batter in the loaf pan, leveling it off  the best you can. It will be uneven. That is how it's supposed to be.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. The bread should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Turn the bread onto a wire rack to cool. If left in the hot pan, the bread will sweat and you won't be happy with it.

Check the expiration date on your baking powder. That particular ingredient can last for years and years and years. If your can has expired, throw it away and buy a new one. The bread won't raise with old baking powder and neither will anything else you use it in.

Banana Muffins Too Good To Be Vegan

I've long had a banana muffin recipe baked up by Giada on one of her television cooking shows and it is the best banana muffin recipe in the world. Don't just take my word for it. The many people I served it to agree and nearly all have either gone off with the recipe or written me to ask for it.

My two cats love
watching Giada.

What makes this muffin recipe so different is that it is all about the banana--at least that was Giada's claim when she created the formula. I have to admit that she made a good point. While there are a few spices in the batter, the main ingredient is bananas so ripe they are black and ugly and look like they should be tossed in the garbage.

The blacker, the
better.

Well, I had some bananas that looked just like that sitting on my table so I wondered, could I veganize the recipe and still have the great banana taste of the original product. I figured it was worth a try. If the end result was horrid, I'd just toss it all out--which in any other scenario I'd have done with those nasty-looking bananas anyway.

Bananas should be so ripe
they mash up into a slurry.

The muffins smelled great baking. They looked high and light in the muffin cups. The taste? Amazing. I think they are every bit as good as the real thing and maybe even a little  better. I fed them to some friends who stopped by who just happened to be fans of the original recipe. "Are they as good?" I questioned. They didn't answer right away but rolled their eyes and kept eating. They did manage to shake their heads, "yes" so I knew the veganized version was a winner.

Since the oven had warmed up the house, I opened the front door, never realizing I'd let that warm, banana bready smell escape into the outdoors. While my friends and I were scarfing down most of the warm banana muffins and tea, I just happened to look out the screen door and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but half the neighborhood standing in line for a sample. "Sorry, gang, the recipe only makes a dozen and we've already gobbled them up."

Whip these up yourselves and tell me what you think. If you make them, I suggest you leave your front door closed.

BANANA MUFFINS

Into a quart bowl put:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup sugar

Stir to mix the ingredients together.

In another bowl put:

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tsp. vanilla
2 bananas, very ripe and thoroughly mashed

Mix these ingredients and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix everything together by hand. Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough and not light and airy. Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups and bake on the middle rack until the tops are golden, about 25 minutes at 325 degrees F.

Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack as soon as you can handle them or the bottoms will sweat and ruin your perfect muffin.

Makes 12

Vegans love sweet things as much as non-vegans do