Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I couldn't resist and ordered another vegan cookbook, "Vegan With A Vengeance". Now please, don't be scared by the word "vegan". Vegan is not just about taking care of your body, the planet and making a statement to the bio industry. Cooking vegan is like having a culinary playground at your disposal! You are so much more likely to experiment with all sorts of grains, nuts, seeds and pulses. Here is a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that totally blew me away! They were SO darn good, I can't even tell ya! Actually, I've been asked for this recipe by people who are out to impress someone they have the hots for, so if that's not enough of an incentive for you to try them then I don't know what is!


The recipe is from one of my favorite vegan foodie sites, The Post Punk Kitchen.


Here's the recipe for these cookies. Now go and impress...even if it's just yourself!

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Isa
prep time: 15 minutes | cooking time: 10 minutes per batch | makes 3 dozen*
These are brownie-like and chewy. Be careful not to over bake them, they may seem like they aren't done after 10 minutes but they are!* See the variations for Chewy Chocolate Cherry Cookies and Chocolate Hazelnut (or almond or walnut or whatever) Cookies at the bottom of the directions.


Baking Sheet, Blender, 2 large bowls, mixing spatula, cookie sheets

Ingredients
3/4 cup canola oil
2 cups sugar (I only used 1!)
2 teaspoons vanilla (I used 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract)

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon whole flax seeds
1/2 cup soy milk

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grind the flax seeds on high in a blender until they become a powder. Add soy milk and blend for another 30 seconds or so. Set aside.

In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In a separate large bowl cream together oil and sugar. Add the flax seed/soy milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla. (I did this with the beater attachment on the KA)

Fold in the dry ingredients in batches. When it starts to get too stiff to mix with a spatula, use your hands until a nice stiff dough forms. Add the chocolate chips and mix with your hands again. (I did this first with a wooden spoon and then with the dough hook on the KA)

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and flatten into a disc that's about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, then set them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Variations:
For chocolate chocolate chip cherry cookies, replace 1 teaspoon of the vanilla with almond extract, and replace 1/2 the chocolate chips with dried cherries.

For chocolate nut cookies, replace 1 teaspoon of the vanilla with a nut extract (almond, walnut, what have you) and replace the chocolate chips with 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts all are good).


*I made them a little bigger so got about 24.
*I baked mine just a tad longer. About 12-15 minutes.

First Organic Salon in The Netherlands!

I am excited about this one. A salon that only works with pure, natural plant-based ingredients and NO chemicals! If you think about all the hairspray you inhale with one simple visit to the salon, you won't be happy. I always tell them not to use any in my hair, but meanwhile the person next to me is getting sprayed to death!

I decided a while ago not to color my hair anymore. Not only do I think one looks best with the color nature intended but all those chemicals scare me, especially when you consider the fact that you have to keep going back every six weeks or so for touch-ups. Not to mention that I refuse to dye my hair with something that's been tested on an animal! This salon works exclusively with earth-friendly products (everything from their hair products to the stuff they use to clean!) and they even serve organic coffees and teas! The magazines you find there are not your typical beauty/gossip mags either...just all-natural lifestyle magazines. And they play soft, mellow music as well.

Worth a visit sometime!


PS: and no, I won't be coloring my hair again, but I like the idea of an organic salon for my next haircut!

http://www.haarzuiver.nl/index.html

Vegan Cupcakes Rule!!!!

You've not lived till you've tried a vegan cupcake. I'm dead serious. When these ladies said you could really taste the ingredients much better in one of their cupcakes, they weren't joking. These are moist, super chocolatey and the frosting is rich, creamy and mmmmm....

I shall never make a normal cupcake again!

Here's the recipe:


1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt


1. Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin pan.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil and extracts to the soy milk mixture and beat till foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add in two batches to the wet ingredients. (I mixed the wet ingredients in my KA and added the dry directly there! Much easier!)Beat till no large lumps remain. Fill liners 3/4 full. Bake 18-20 minutes till toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan five minutes and transfer to rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1/4 cup margarine softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsweetned cocoa powder, sifted
2 1/2 powdered sugar, sifted
3 tbsps soy milk (or more, I think!)
1 1/2 tsps pure vanilla extract


1. Cream together the margarine and the shortening until well combined. Add the cocoa powder and incorporate well. (Again, I did this all in the KA. It looked rather dry at first, but came together beautifully.)Add the confectioners' sugar in about 1/2 cup batches and beat well adding a little splash of soy milk after each addition. When all ingredients have been well incorporated, add the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

MY OH MY! Au Suivant!

As some may know, I am the type that can easily be moved to tears when it comes to certain types of art. I cried the first time I was faced with a Rembrandt, not because of the beauty of the work, but because I could literally see the hand of the master and feel the power radiating off the painting. I could feel the aura, the brushstrokes. The same happened when I went to see the Rembrandt musical. It got me at my very core. I was transported to the Golden Age, I was seeing Rembrandt, I was getting sucked into his masterpieces.

I am a connoisseur of passion in the arts. Yesterday a fellow student and I were discussing a research project I am currently working on. I am investigating the standardization of Afrikaans and how the language relates to the culture. Very interesting, although at times quite challenging. My interest for this subject comes from the fact that Afrikaans developed from 17th century southern Dutch. Cape Town and Cape Colony were founded in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck, on behalf of the V.O.C., The Dutch East India Company, a major trading concern that made The Netherlands the center of the world in the 17th century. This colony was meant to be a place for supply ships to pause en route to India. The men on board were supplied with goods and could continue on the rest of their journey. Anyhow, I digress. When my classmate saw my books on Afrikaans, she asked about my project and mentioned a woman who could sing in this language. She wrote the name down for me and I looked her up as soon as I got home. I was blown away. I was on the verge of tears. Touched.

Wende Snijders was born in England but lived in Guinee-Bissau, Africa as a child, where she learned to sing in French. I did see her sing in Afrikaans and in Spanish, English and Dutch for that matter, but her forté is the French Chanson. Her voice is powerful as is her whole attitude on stage. I could not stop looking, listening, feeling. After seeing that she was giving a concert in Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw, I immediately ordered three tickets to an almost sold-out performance. I've also ordered one of her CDs and a DVD. I am looking forward to the concert in April, and guaranteed, I'll be moved to tears.

Here's a look at Wende doing what she does best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DezbQHMiJ-o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOYknAlikLc

Naughty

This weekend was awesome. Really. I met Heleen van Royen. Now for those of you who don’t know who she is, let me tell you a little about her. Heleen is what I would call a woman with balls. I’m not going to try to package this post up nicely and attempt to be too politically correct, because it’s about Heleen, and that’s definitely not what she’s about. Her novels appeal to the modern woman who is not afraid and who goes after what she wants. She writes openly, talks about sex in ways that make the average person blush…or gasp, and she tells it like it is. She is what some may call a “bitch” (especially after the notorious political scandal) and that’s why I love her. Still, I see a softness in her. I think she’s one of those few who has used her life experiences to her advantage. I admire that.

The first time I read one of her books, I kept thinking how this could never be as popular anywhere else as it was in The Netherlands. Freedom here takes on a whole new dimension. The country knows little censorship and I’m all for that. After all, people can choose what they want to read and what they don’t. Heleen writes about the fantasies and fears most women have but are afraid to admit. Now please, don’t go confusing her work with chick lit, because it’s far from that. This is modern Dutch literature at its best. Her work encourages women to think…and to laugh. They are like a kick in the behind and they scream, “LOOSEN UP!”. It’s not the stuff you get by the check-out aisle at the supermarket. These books will be exemplary for the spirit of the enlightened Dutch woman at the beginning of the 21st century, just like Vondel was exemplary for the spirit of the Dutch renaissance during the 17th century.

Yesterday we went to the city for a walk and dropped into our local bookstore and there she was. It came as a total surprise. I knew she was promoting her new book which she wrote in cooperation with lingerie designer, Marlies Dekkers, but I didn’t know she’d be there that day. I quickly bought a copy and got in line, a little nervous. I wanted to tell her that I admired her and her work and that as a matter of fact I had done a paper on her a few semesters back at university. Well, all I could muster was a few words and a “thank you”. She seemed so down-to-earth and so open. Just like I imagined her. I started leafing through her book immediately and I’ll be honest, I blushed. Normally speaking, I am not at all shy and demure when it comes to her work. I understand it and know it’s not just about sex. However, if you’d take one look at this book your eyebrows would go up, just like mine did. The title of the book is “Stout: Over flirten, success, macht, lingerie en erotiek”, or “Naughty: About flirting, success, power, lingerie and eroticism”. Aside from the pictures and the title, and let’s just say the pictures are art and leave it at that, the book is again, not just about sex. It is an invitation for women to push all boundaries in life and get what they want. It includes interviews with powerful Dutch women who have made of their life exactly what they wanted by knowing no inhibitions. It is about the real emancipation of women. I’ve read the first few chapters and I’m already captivated. It’s a deal, Heleen. I vow to be “naughty”.

Hello, I Love You

I often tell people I was born too late, at least thirty years too late. I'm definitely an old soul. Inside of me is this carefree girl with flowers in her hair who likes to spend her days lying in fields of daisies, looking up at the sky and dreaming. I'm not particular about all things modern, ok…maybe with the exception of computers, sort of. I sometimes let that inner girl peep out, but truth be told, it’s not as often as I’d like. I’m way to modern for my liking.

I feel in my element when I listen to vintage records on our turntable. We bought one a while ago and we love it. CD’s have been replaced by LP’s in our house. Every week or so we head to our local thrift shop and hope to find treasure. I remember collecting vintage records back home and believe me, it was not cheap! I’ve paid as much as 40 dollars for an original 1964 British copy of ‘Beatles For Sale’. That was over ten years ago, and that was a lot for a young girl back then. If only I’d have known of a shop like this at that time. We’ve found original LP’s in perfect condition for anywhere from 2 to 5 euros!

YesterdayI found a beautiful Doors albums: ‘The Soft Parade’, ‘Waiting For The Sun’ and ‘The Best of The Doors’. Aside from The Beatles, I’ve always been a huge Doors fan. Jim has a voice that certainly takes me away like a ‘Spanish Caravan’. The music is sometimes so mellow and peaceful. The song ‘Love Street’ is one of those songs I can just close my eyes and dream away to…like the girl in the field of daisies. It is beautiful in a sentimental way. The songs can also be rough and real like ‘People Are Strange’ and ‘The Unknown Soldier’ or somewhat humorous (at least I think so) like ‘Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)’.

I love this music, and I love the memories connected to it.

The quest for low- fat (animal friendly) baking continues....

After this week's easy-on-the-waist baking, I've been inspired to continue my quest for healthier baked goods. Surely a girl can have her cake and eat it too?! During my search, I came across an awesome book (soon to be ordered)called "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World". The cover alone was really funky, but the cupcakes were BEAUTIFUL!! The fact that the recipes avoid animal products really appealed to me, of course. You can check out the blog: http://vegancupcakes.wordpress.com/.

For anyone watching their weight or anyone who might be interested in cooking vegan recipes once in a while, I also found an awesome blog with over 1400 delicious, low-fat, vegan meals (baking recipes included). The pictures are gorgeous! http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

Too bad my menus are already sorted this week. I see some vegan dishes coming our way next week though!

Sensitive hearts can easily be broken....

...even if you've just turned seven.

Kirstie has fallen in love. Pretty much at the same age I fell in love with Michael, the boy with the blue eyes and the bowl-shaped, blond hair. And just like me, her heart was broken. She came back from his birthday party very upset yesterday. Out of the two little girls he invited, Shannon was chosen to be his girlfriend. "But mom, Geert is so nice", she tells me through tears. "Yes, baby it's ok, don't worry. I'm sure Geert will still be your friend." We sit at the dinner table and talk about the party and the whole episode is quickly forgotten.

Later that evening though, as I am giving her a shower, she mentions it again and I tell her about Michael. "You see, sweetie, when mommy was just about your age, I also was in love with a boy who didn't like me back, but I was OK in the end." I knew I shouldn't have mentioned the fact that he ripped up the letter with hearts that I had made for him when she broke down in tears again, hugged me and said, "OH NO, mom! Those poor hearts!" I smiled and held her little face in my hands. "It's ok sweetie. If Michael would've liked me back, maybe I would've married Michael instead of your dad and I wouldn't have had the most beautiful baby in the whole entire world." I explained to her that sometimes things happen for a reason and that we should just accept them and move on. Usually better things await. I've learned this lesson myself, many times.