Kona Coffee Macadamia Chunk Cookies

Kona Coffee Macadamia Chunk Cookies

Makes: 1 dozen cookies

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon ground chia seeds (ground flax seeds should work too)

1/3 cup nondairy milk

1 3/4 cup oat flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 teaspoon instant espresso granules 

1/3 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup coconut flakes

Method

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine the chia seeds and nondairy milk in a medium bowl, set aside.

Combine the oat flour, baking powder, salt and both sugars in a large bowl. 

Add the coconut oil, coconut extract, and espresso granules to the nondairy milk and chia seed mixture, and stir to combine. If the coconut oil hardens up at all, pop in the microwave for a few seconds to make sure it is melted. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and beat until combined. Stir in the coconut flakes, macadamia nuts, and chocolate chips. 

Drop by generous tablespoons onto the lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes until cookies are lightly browned.

Cheers!

Lavender Hearts for Your Valentine

When I was fifteen years old, I made these cookies for my high school sweetheart. They weren't vegan then, and neither was I, but clearly I was willing to experiment a lot with my food. I mean, how many fifteen year-olds are willing to try making a cookie with dried lavender in it? 

Lavender just seems like such a bizarre ingredient, don't you think? Well, these are some very unique cookies, to be sure. But they are so sweet and flaky and are perfect for February, because the smell and taste of the flowers really touches that little part of your soul that is retaining hope that spring is just around the corner. I would say these cookies begin the transition from the heavy and dark baked goods of winter, you know, pumpkin bread and ginger cookies, the type of foods that remind you of golden leaves and heaps of snow on the ground and that make you feel warm inside. These cookies make me think of little green buds on the tips of tree branches and daffodils and tulips peeking up through cracks in the concrete. Just like a big orange slab of spiced pumpkin bread can send you into hibernation under a mountain of blankets next to a big fireplace, these cookies wake you up out of your hibernation so that you can sit in that warm pocket of air just behind every sunny window and watch the water drip off of the icicles on the other side of the pane.

Ok. Enough imagery. I made these cookies for my sweetheart, every year, until we graduated highschool, and I remember making them several years in college too. I don't remember where I found the original recipe, but I used to keep a little notebook where I wrote down all of my favorite recipes. These cookies are in that notebook next to my other old favorites, such as the Guadalajara Burger, Beef Bulgogi (Korean BBQ), Om Rice with pork, my veggie chile recipe, too many recipes with shrimp, and one loner recipe for marinated tofu with bok choy. I clearly was willing to try anything at that time in my life- not only things with the name Bulgogi, but anything vegan or vegetarian (despite the fact that at this point in my life I scorned vegetarians and especially vegans). So, yes, I was eating tofu long before becoming a vegetarian, albeit alone, because my sweetheart used to have a soy allergy. Its actually really good stuff if you are just willing to have an open mind about it! But anyways...

I was looking through this notebook a few weeks ago, and came across this recipe again. Now that I've married my high school sweetheart, I figure, what better time to bring back these sentimental cookies than our tenth Valentine's Day together? There was only one thing standing in my way. This recipe isn't vegan. Luckily though, since it's a shortbread cookie with no egg, veganizing these cookies was a piece of cake! They came out exactly the way I remember them. All I had to do was sub in some Earth Balance Vegan Buttery sticks, which by the way, taste more like butter than butter itself. 

As far as the lavender goes, you need to try and find culinary lavender. I'm not positive, but if it doesn't say culinary on it, it might have things added to it that are not really intended for humans to eat. It can be difficult to find. After thoroughly searching the herbs and spices at Whole Foods, I couldn't find it. I asked someone for help and after he was gone for about 10 minutes, returned with a bottle of culinary lavender, but I have no idea where in the store it came from! If you can't find it right away just ask for help. 

Lavender Hearts

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery sticks

1/4 cup sugar + extra for dusting

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dried lavender

1/4 cup water

Cream the margarine and sugar together until fluffy (this is what will make the finished cookies have lots of flaky layers so don't skip!).

Stir in flour, salt, and lavender and mix until thoroughly combined. If you cannot form a coherent ball of dough, add water one tablespoon at a time, and combine (I only needed 2 tablespoons of water before mine formed a dough ball). 

Form dough into a disc and refrigerate for 15 minutes

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Roll dough until about 3/8 inch thick and use a little heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many hearts as you can.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with extra sugar, pressing the sugar gently into each cookie. 

Bake for 8 minutes, or until the edges turn a golden brown. 

Cheers!!

Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King with Vegan Cookies

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?'
Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?'
Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?'
But Conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?'
And there comes a point when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right."


Today we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. An inspirational speaker, philosopher, and foremost a beacon of compassion and reason, his life of nonviolent action and pursuit to end discrimination has become a road map for those who concern themselves with issues of social justice. His life was one of service to others, and if there is something that we should be reminded of today, it is that we should take it upon ourselves to always be moving towards a more just society. We cannot simply wait for change to happen, we must, in the words of Gandhi, one of King's inspirations, "Be the change we want to see in the world."


Live it out. Though the path may not always be clear, and there will be forks and switchbacks and steep hills, there is, without question, a cause that needs you and your willingness to exercise your passion and compassion. So, what is it that you are passionate about? Is it finding a way to provide a safety net for inner city youths? Is it volunteering at a soup kitchen? Is it adopting an abandoned pet? Is it pursuing a career working with victims of domestic abuse? What are your skills? How can you use your skills to improve the world?


Perhaps the answer is obvious, or perhaps it needs a bit of thought. For me it has taken years of thought. And, as things pan out, I have found that the humble impact I hope to have on the world, is to alleviate the suffering caused to animals throughout the world, and especially in the food industry.


It is only by assessing the world with a truly open mind and questioning all the things we do, the things we take as a given, that we can spot the injustices in the world. We should remind ourselves that there were times throughout history where it was accepted that women could not vote and that certain people could be kept as slaves. Truly, it is the people who fought for the perpetuation of such iniquities that have been wiped from the annals of history. It is the people who fought for justice and compassion who we remember as heroes. There is no glory in defending the status quo simply because it is comfortable and familiar.


So ask yourself: is your stance safe, politic, and popular? Or is it your stance because your conscience tells you it is right?


Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King, for your passion and love that shed so much light into the world.


And finally, may I just make a quick plug for veganism and vegetarianism as a part of the social justice movement rather than a fanatical and extreme group fighting for some esoteric and isolated cause?  Just for the record, Dr. King's late wife Coretta Scott King and his son Dexter Scott King both adopted veganism. Dexter has said that he considers veganism to be the "logical extension" of his father's philosophy. 


So, what better way to celebrate today than with some vegan cookies? I've decided that to document the variety and versatility evident in the exciting array of vegan cookies, I should try a different cookie recipe every week. I'm going to work my way through Isa Chandra Moscowitz's and Terry Hope Romero's book "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar." I'm starting from the beginning and working my way right to the end. Unfortunately, the first recipe was chocolate chip cookies, and they disappeared before I had a chance to photograph them. It was shocking. They looked like chocolate chip cookies though, so you don't have to stretch your imagination too much! The other unfortunate thing about this is that I'm not going to be posting the recipes. Clearly, posting every recipe from this book may entail negative circumstances if ever the right person found out about it. So, you may have to buy the book.... But, the upside is its not a big investment, just $11.70 on Amazon.


Anyways, recipe numero dos was Carrot Cake Cookies with Lemon Glaze or something to that effect. They're just a tad more original and unique than "Chocolate Chip Cookies" and are made with a host of spices, as well as carrots, walnuts, shredded coconut, and craisins (the recipe called for raisins but I just don't like them). They were really good, but I wouldn't say that they are as satisfying as a chocolate chip cookie. They're just not as indulgent, I suppose you could say. But they are quite good and are disappearing quickly. They go nicely with a cup of rooibos tea and a cold, dark New England day. The carrot cake and coconut confer the slim glimmer of hope that Spring is just around the corner.

Ready to enjoy!!

And... Why are these cookies good for you?

Well in the general "amount of fat and sugar" category? They are not better than any other cookie. 

BUT 

They don't have any butter so they have a reduced amount of saturated fat compared to cookies made with butter.

They don't have the cholesterol associated with eggs.

Carrots have vitamin A.

Walnuts have vitamin B6, vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids.