Monday, March 28, 2011

The (Not So) Skinny on Sweets

Last night, after a yummy vegan-friendly meal at a friend's house, I had to turn down dessert. And it's not because I'm counting calories. My friend Emma trotted out a strawberry shortcake she had baked for the occasion (I scooped up some strawberries to snack on), and my friend Vince produced a Hershey's "paradise pie," which I know to be insanely delicious. A week ago, I would have happily served myself a slice of each. But last night, as I watched everyone else indulging in the deliciousness of dessert, I thought to myself, "Aha! This is why vegans are so skinny."

Well, not me.

I have been sick for a couple of days, so I did not go to campus today. In addition to sleeping and getting work done, I decided to try my hand at baking. Since I never bake, I had to make a trip to the Isla Vista Coop for vegan ingredients (I seriously never bake, so I didn't even have any of the basics like flour or baking powder). I also picked up some powdered sugar to roll my strawberries around in for extra calories (if I'm going to avoid being a skinny vegan, I need to calorie-up my fruit, obviously).

After Googling around for vegan cookie recipes, I chose this one: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I chose it mainly because of the silly ladies in the video that plays automatically when you click the link. I imagine their names would be Pat (for the blond one) and Jill (for the frumpy brunette). Basically, the video is a big advertisement for the butter substitute Earth Balance. I am too poor to shop at Whole Foods, and I had just seen a pretty convincing commercial on Hulu starring Kim Cattrall for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, so I went with that. Pat and Jill say to use ENER-G Egg Replacer, but I used my roommate Emily's wholeground flaxseed meal. It says on the package that one teaspoon of flaxseed + three teaspoons of water = one egg. Emily was kind enough to point out to me that this substitution would only work in baking situations, not, for instance, for scrambled or sunny-side up eggs. Thanks, Emily.
I should have listened to what Pat and Jill were saying, though, because I forgot that when you're following a recipe, you need to look below the "Ingredients" list to the "Instructions." Whoops. I just dumped all the ingredients in a big bowl without thinking. I ended up with a depressingly powdery batter. It would have been impossible to scoop onto a cookie sheet, so I added a little bit of water at a time until it was manageable.

Then I followed Pat and Jill's directions to bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes (I went with 10 because my oven is ghetto and weak) and cooled them for a couple of minutes. And hooray! They are delicious-looking and kind of delicious-tasting, too. They are a bit more cake-textured than regular-people cookies. Now I have a lot of cookies, so if you live nearby and want to try one, come on over.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shout out :) I'll be over for a cookie when I finish my glass o wine. No, seriously. And I'm wearing PJs. You have been forewarned.

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  2. ooooooo delicious!! Another idea that might work (along the lines of yummy vegan dessert!!) is to take some phyllo dough (the kind made w/out eggs) and wrap it around some chopped up bananas w/ cinnamon or honey or peanut butter or chocolate chips or some combination of the above... bake and voila, deliciousness!

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  3. Are you going full-on crazy vegan and avoiding honey? I know one particular vegan who doesn't even eat oranges because the peels are apparently rubbed with beeswax to make them shiny.

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  4. Saloni: That sounds incredible! I couldn't find any eggless phyllo at Trader Joe's, but I'm going to look around other grocery stores. Thanks for the awesome idea(s).
    Kin: I haven't decided yet whether or not to cut out honey, but I think it's pretty common for vegans to avoid it (that orange peel hang-up, on the other hand, strikes me as bizarre). I bought some agave nectar, which is a honey substitute, and I'm going to see how I like it. I do like honey in tea to soothe my throat, so we'll see!

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  5. Gigi wanted to make coconut muffins today and while searching for a recipe, I found this website:
    http://www.eatmedelicious.com/2008/01/almond-coconut-muffins.html
    I think I remember you telling me that you don't like coconut, but it seems like it's a big thing for vegans and I love it!

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