Shortbread drop cookies

Shortbread drop cookies

1 cup shortening softened 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup icing sugar 

Vanilla to taste, start with 1 teaspoon

Jam, chocolate chips, raisins, whatever you choose for the middle. 

Whip shortening until fluffy

Add other ingredients

Whip at least 5 minutes until really fluffy.

Roll into tiny 1.5 inch balls, squish slightly leaving a thumb print

Press jam or other fillings in middle

Bake @350F for 12-14 minutes until the texture changes and they look done. 

Cool before indulging.  

Puffed Brown Rice chocolate squares

When Orion was really little we used to give him  organic puffed brown rice to snack on, or to let him feel like he was included in the meal. I still have multiple bags in my pantry, I was struggling to find something to do with them and thought of how much I used to love puffed wheat squares. Now the original version would not work with our allergies and the fact that I have an aversion to corn syrup. I had to laugh at all the versions I found that labeled them as healthy when they contain cups upon cups of sugar. My recipe is by no means healthy but it isn't made with refined sugars so I consider it ok in moderation. This would be really tasty with coconut stirred in but my husband hates coconut and would be very disappointed if he couldn't eat these.

1/2 cup palm shortening (You could sub coconut oil here if you would like)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Palm sugar
1/3 plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

8 cups organic puffed brown rice
1/4 cup chia seeds

Line a 9x 13 pan with wax paper
In a medium sauce pan, on medium heat melt shortening and honey together, mix in palm sugar and cocoa powder until a smooth consistency is reached.
In a extra large greased bowl mix brown rice puffs and chia seeds, Pour chocolate sauce over it all and mix until it is all evenly coated.
Firmly press mixture into your pan refrigerate for 30 minutes. Pop out of pan and cut into desired pieces

Vegan fudgey brownies

This is the first baking recipe I have ever created from scratch. I originally wasn't going to make up my own recipe for brownies but I couldn't find a recipe that had all the elements I wanted in it, so I made up my own. It isn't a huge sugar overload but still will satisfy your cravings for fudgey brownies. This recipe makes 20 brownies.

2 cups Whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup Sugar (I used white sugar for this one)
1 cup Cocoa

1 small mashed over ripe banana (I always keep some in my freezer)
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup soy milk (Or any other dairy free milk)

1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips + 1 tsp coconut oil
1/4 cup Hemp hearts


 Preheat oven to 350F
In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together making sure to break up any clumps
In a smaller bowl blend the dry ingredients until a uniform texture in reached.
Make a small well in your dry ingredients and stir in your wet, mix until there are no large clumps and batter is smooth, it will be really thick. Spread in a greased 8x8 pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave (Don't burn it like I did the first time)

Spread over baked brownies and sprinkle hemp hearts,
Cool cut and serve

Vegan chocolate shortbread bars

I was reading the Presidents choice insiders report today, it always makes me crave all sorts of things. Since I already had supper in the crockpot, I decided to indulge my sweet tooth and bake. I have a sink load of dishes waiting to go in the dishwasher so I didn't really want to make a huge mess. I settled for something simple, quick and chocolately. This is in no way shape or form anything that resembles healthy. It is full of white flour, refined sugar and chocolate. Sometimes you have to live a little though, ;) Everything in moderation right?. I couldn't find any recipes that were vegan, so I just winged it and substituted it a bit.

Here is the original recipe "non vegan recipe" from About.com

Here is my version:

Vegan Chocolate chip shortbread bars

2-1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup white sugar,
1 cup Earth Balance shortening, cold and cut into cubes
1 cup Dairy free chocolate chips,  (I used 1/2 cup Enjoy life chocolate chips, 1/2 chopped Lindt Dark chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Place flour and sugar in large bowl. Mix with wire whisk. 

Add cut shortening. toss lightly with your hands or a fork to coat the cubes.

 Use a pastry cutter, to blend shortening into flour/sugar mixture until crumbly. 

Hand stir in the mini chocolate chips. 

Dump mixed ingredients into 9x13 pan. Press firmly with fingers and level-out.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

 Remove from oven.  Cool for 5 minutes then cut shortbread into squares, DO NOT REMOVE FROM PAN

Cool completely before serving.

Hot out of the oven!

Mini Pumpkin bread with chocolate chips

Like I said last week I love pumpkin bread. Actually I love almost every baked good there is. I've been thinking about making some pumpkin bread since last week. Time just hadn't allowed me to do so, finally I got a chance today and seized it! I'm fairly confident when it comes to making cooking recipes up from scratch, baking is another story. I usually will alter a recipe but I have had my fair share of hockey puck blobs so I don't venture off to creating my own baking recipes. I googled for a vegan pumpkin bread recipe and found one that looked great at the "Happy Herbivore."  I have a thing about chocolate chips and baking, I like to add them to just about everything I make (Enjoy life makes awesome dairy free chocolate chips and chunks)  Since I was adding chocolate chips I needed to adjust the sugar down. I also like have extra of baking to freeze. I recently bought some mini loaf pans from Epicure and love them! 4 of them equal one large loaf, they  make loaves  the perfect size to freeze and look so cute! When using them I have to adjust the baking time since they are smaller.
What is your favourite baked good?

So without further ado here is the altered recipe:




 Mini Pumpkin bread with chocolate chips (Original unaltered recipe here)

• ¼ cup plant-based milk (I used coconut)
• ¼ tsp lemon juice
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp Epicure Pumpkin pie spice
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup dairy free chocolate chips
• 
  

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Grease or spray a standard bread pan. 

Whisk non-dairy milk and lemon juice together until bubbly and set aside. 

In a medium mixing bowl, cream pumpkin, sugar, syrup and extract together.

In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin pie spice, flour, baking soda, chocolate chips and baking powder together. 

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. 

Pour into bread pans (I used silicone mini loaf pans), using a spatula to evenly distribute and smooth out the top. Grab a large piece of aluminum foil and make a tent over the pan. 

Bake for 1 hour for one large loaf or 30 minutes for 4 mini loaves, To test doneness insert a toothpick in the center, when the it comes out clean it is done. 

Once the bread has cooled but is still slightly warm, gently remove it from the pan and on to a serving plate.

Four mini loaves cooling

Crock pot pumpkin pie oat pudding

Yesterday was Samhain. We celebrate it together as a family with a special meal and family time, I had all sorts of plans to make pumpkin tarts with the pumpkin puree from the other day. I ran out of time so I thought for a minute and came up with this recipe, it is like a rice pudding but made with steel cut oats. It isn't very sweet, so if you like your desserts really sweet add some more maple syrup :) I didn't take any pictures of the steps this time as I was all about spending as much time with our family as possible.

Enjoy!

What is your favourite special dessert?

Crock pot pumpkin pie oat pudding


1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup cut steel cut oats
1 apple diced
1/4 cup organic unsweetened raisins
4 cups non dairy milk  (I used half Quiona and half coconut)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (Epicure makes a really great one)
2 tbsp maple syrup

Whisk pumpkin, spice and maple syrup into milk,
Put milk mixture into Crockpot
Place in Crockpot, Heat on high for 2 hours (If on high make sure you stir often) or low for 4-6

Alternate: For gluten free just make sure your oats and spice is gluten free :)