because everyone else is cupcaking it up

seeing as everyone else in the blogging world of food is posting about cupcakes and valentines-sappy foods, i thought i'd post a cupcake photo to fit in. one of my delightful friends had a birthday, and let me bake vegan cupcakes for her party. i had fun with it and now understand cupcake-obsessed women. or men (i've never come across one, please let me know if you have).

yummy wheat-free vegan choc chip walnut cookies

as of the beginning of this week i have gone wheat-free for a while, for various health & personal reasons. i've experimented quite a bit over the last year with wheat-free baking, since my sister doesn't eat it, so at least i'm not starting off completely new to it. but now i have to plan my meals better, make or buy wheat-free bread, and stare at delicious baked wheat products all day in longing.

i'm not a huge cookie person, but i like to eat them once in a while, and it struck me that if i ever have a chocolate chip cookie craving, i can't just buy one at a cafe when the craving hits. so i decided to bake some yesterday. and they are delicious. it was a pretty small batch, so i will have to bake some more soon. that way i can freeze a whole bunch to satisfy my 'occasional' chocolate chip cookie craving.

i found this fantastic recipe and pretty much followed it somewhat closely, until i realised the next day that i accidentally ommited the sugar, and just put in the brown sugar. they tasted perfectly sweet to me, so i will leave the sugar part optional.

note: found out that you can make your own 'oat flour' by grinding oats in a blender or food processor.


ingredients:

• 1 & 3/4 cups flour (i used 1 cup oat flour, 3/4 cup brown rice flour. if you want it completely gluten-free, try substituting all rice flour or quinoa flour)
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar (optional!)
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (not optional)
  
• 1/3 cup oil (olive or canola)
• 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseeds
  
• 1/4 cup soy milk (or rice milk or regular milk)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or other nuts)
  
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Add the vinegar to the soymilk, and set aside. (I think the vinegar is supposed to help the cookies puff up a bit)

If you haven't yet, grind the flax seeds and chop the walnuts ahead of time.

Sift/whisk the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, salt)

In a separate bowl, whisk the ground flax with the soymilk. Then, add the oil, sugar, vanilla, and mix well.

Add the wet stuff to the dry stuff and stir until combined. Add the chocolate and walnuts last.

Drop onto cookie sheet by the teaspoon or tablespoon, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

This recipe makes about 18-20 small cookies. They don't last long, so it might be good to double the recipe.

chewy wheat-free vegan chocolate chip cookies

i had a desire to make chocolate chip cookies yesterday. but if i made them just for me, they would end up sitting on the counter for days & i'd eventually throw them out. i seem to have a weird thing about not liking too much of the same thing. or leftovers. so i made my cookies 'andrea friendly,' which is wheat free, dairy free, egg free, yeast free... basically they are vegan. but they are yummy!

i used the base recipe of Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies from RecipeZaar, but i didn't use wheat & i cut the amount of sugar in half.




my recipe:

ingredients

• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (or honey or molasses)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flax seed
• 1/2 cup rice milk (or soy milk)
  
• 2 cups flour (chickpea flour, rice flour, 1/2 teaspoon guar gum)
  
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet non-dairy chocolate chips/chunks

directions

• preheat oven: 350 F
• grind flax seeds in a blender until powdered; add the milk and blend for about 30 seconds more and set aside.
• in a large bowl, sift together dry stuff: cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt.
• cream the sugar and oil in a separate large bowl.
• add the flax/milk mixture to wet stuff and mix well.
• stir in the vanilla to wet mixture.
  
• slowly mix in the dry ingredients.
• mix in the chocolate chips.
• roll or spoon out dough into 1" balls and flatten
  
• place on a cookie sheet about 1" apart and bake for 10 minutes. (original recipe said ungreased sheet, but i think i would grease my cookie sheet next time)