Chewy Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies

As the temperature in Arizona increases so do the requests for baked goods from my customers. It is this strange dynamic that baffles me every summer. I had an adventurous couple approach me with a request for homemade Cliff bars and trail mix cookies for their hike into the Grand Canyon. I made them delicious raw food bars with millet, sunflower butter, goji berries and almonds. I also baked some yummy oatmeal trail mix cookies with golden raisins, cranberries, agave and pecans. This got me craving yummy and healthy baked goods to get me through these hot summer bike rides.

Since I had a few ingredients left over from the trail mix cookies and bars, I tossed everything into my Kitchen Aid mixer and the result was these tasty, lightly sweetened, chewy cookies.



Ingredients:

2 Cups Whole Wheat flour
1/2 Cup Quick Cook Oats
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seed Butter
1/3 Cup Brown Rice Syrup
3 Medium sized bananas
2 T. Raw Sunflower Seeds

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and grease two cookie sheets

Mix flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and set aside. Mash bananas then mix with sunflower seed butter and brown rice syrup until fully mixed. Slowly add dry ingredients until fully incorporated, be careful not to over mix, you don't want the cookies too chewy.

Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon scoop dough and roll into 1 inch sized balls. Gently pat down and flatten dough on to cookie sheets and sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms of cookies are a golden brown. Let cool for five minutes before removing from cookie sheets. Makes 18-22 cookies.

I put my cookies in the refrigerator for a cool snack on a hot summer day. Since they are made with fresh bananas, keeping the cookies chilled in an air tight container will keep them fresher longer.


Enjoy!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Who doesn't love a good whoopie? I mean really even if you haven't ever enjoyed the indulgent-y goodness of a whoopie pie the word alone fills one with unencumbered joy. I think I may have mentioned in the last year of blogging my absolute idolatry of pumpkin anything. Pumpkin pancakes, smoothies, pies, cakes, pasta and even a pumpkin black bean enchilada have graced my taste buds and tummy since my transformation from vegetarian caterpillar to a beautiful vegan butterfly. Thus it seemed only reasonable that when the newest King Arthur Flour catalog arrived at my door with a recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies I needed to veganize it...and quick. Since that fate-filled day I have made these whoopie pies 6 or 7 times and each time I am discovering how to improve the recipe so they work with vegan ingredients. The first take was a mess, instead of whoopie pies I ended up with whoopie discs, quite crispy and thin. Yikes! A change here, a change there and finally I have something I can be proud of.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 T. molasses
1 tsp. baking powder
1 Tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. ground flax
2 T. water
1 can pumpkin
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a stand-up mixer cream Earth Balance, canola oil, and brown sugar until most of sugar is dissolved making a brown goo of sorts. Add molasses, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. In a small bowl whisk flax and water with a fork until a bit frothy, then add to batter. Mix for about 1 minute to get everything well combined the add pumpkin and mix for another 30 seconds. Finally add it flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix well until you get a light, fluffy whipped batter.

I discovered the best thing to use when baking these is a silpat or parchment paper, a greased pan will cause the whoopies to spread...eek!


Using a pastry bag and tip #5PT pipe small circles (for mini bite sized whoopies) or larger 2 inch diameter circles (for normal sized whoopies)

Pipe about two inches apart from one another. Place in oven and bake for 13 minutes (for minis) to 16 minutes (for regular). Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool pipe frosting on one whoopie and top with another creating a delicious pie!

Filling:
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1/2 cup vegan cream cheese or shortening (either make for a great flavor)
2-3 cups powdered sugar (I never measure this, you just want to make sure the end result isn't too soft or runny, so increase powdered sugar until a nice thick but soft frosting emerges)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. ground ginger

In stand up mixer cream together the Earth Balance and cream cheese. Add in powdered sugar until desired consistency then add vanilla extract and ground ginger. When frosting is complete put into a piping bag and using a star tip pipe into a circle on one whoopie and then top with another whoopie then shove into your face and great elation. Yep, it is that good!

The World is a Beautiful Place

I am so overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness from complete st angers who attended our Vegan Bake sale yesterday. We earned 976 dollars for the Raven House and my heart is filled with pride knowing how many gracious people live in Arizona. I made new friends, had great conversations and brought the smile to the face of a little girl with both celiacs and a soy allergy, she was able to enjoy a gluten free coconut brownie that I made and that just reaffirmed why I want to open a bakery. I want to provide cruelty free goodies to everyone, this includes people with allergies and issues with certain foods. Thank you to everyone who volunteered, made wonderful treat, purchased these wonderful treat and spread the word. There was a lot of networking going down for this bake sale and word of mouth made all of this possible. OK, enough of this, bring on the photos!




these are just a few items I made, to see more check out my flickr

the donated goodies from a few awesome others, this is not all of the photos, but I didn't want to inundate everyone with photos of yummy goodness

Chocolate Jalapeno Cookies

They sound strange, I know. When I started baking them Tim made the sound of a cat yacking up a hairball. But that is OK, "Whatevs," I said and dusted my apron off. I was curious about how these little guys would turn out and much to my surprise they are my new favorite cookie. I had them at the bake sale and they got many odd stares but those souls brave enough to bite into them smiled and licked their lips in approval. They are not spicy at all, but they do have a jalapeno taste, and if you are a fan of mole poblano sauce you will definitely enjoy these.




1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup Earth Balance (squishy, room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground flax
2 T. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 to 2 jalapenos, finely diced
powdered sugar, to sprinkle on tops



Mix flour and baking soda together in bowl. In mixer beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy like a bunny. Add flax, water and vanilla and beat for about a minute. Add flour mixture to buttery gooieness and beat until smooth. Split into two sections and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about a hour.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease up your cookie sheets, cause' it is time to party!

Remove 1/2 of dough from refrigerator and roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface. Cut into desired shape with cookie cutters (I chose stars)sprinkle on the powdered sugar and place on cookie sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then place on cookie rack to cool completely.

Then eat until the cows come home!

Coffee, Cookies and Crafts

On April 24th I will be giving out yummy samples of my cupcakes and other treats at the Coffee, Cookies and Crafts event in Phoenix at Bragg's Pie House. There will be an awesome set up of coffee and sugary goodness to fuel the fun to be had at the crafting sections. There will be a craft swap (so bring in materials you may not need, want or be using to trade with others) a kids section and the Lost Boys of Phoenix will be there selling their clay cows to benefit the Lost Boy Foundation. Also the Mutant Pinata show will still be on display and if you haven't seen it yet, you need to!





mutant pinata

ASU Art Museum Street Party

If anyone is interested in meeting me and trying my vegan goodies for sale I will be at the ASU Art Museum Street party this Saturday. I will have cupcakes, cookies, brownies and who knows what else for sale. So make your tummy happy and come on down!



Live bands, beer and amazing art.

White Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Nut Cookies

As promised I put my white chocolate chips to good use. Up next, maybe some white chocolate fudgey goodness?