Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!

My mom told me a story, which she may have regretted later, about a pie party where friends were invited to eat pie. Lots and lots of pie. I was inspired, not to make pies, but rather cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. (Mom always said I was a cookie monster!)

I wanted to have a cookie party. Not a cookie baking party; not a cookie exchange party; but a cookie eating party. So my mom and I set to work. In two-and-a-half days we baked 12 different types of cookies totalling around 60 dozen cookies! (I can't count the number of times Mom said, "Are we done yet?")

By the end of the second day of baking, my boyfriend starting calling it a cookie eating competition.

Finally we spent a wintry, December afternoon with friends and family, enjoying cookies, milk (almond and regular), and hot apple cider (spiked or not). It was perfect!

What I've learned is that you can make just about any cookie recipe dairy-free by using a non-dairy butter substitute. For example:
- There are many vegan, non-hydrogenated buttery spreads, however I recommend reading the label to see if it is recommended for baking. Some hold up to high temperatures better than others.
- Whole Foods makes a 360 brand vegetable shortening that is good for baking.
- Coconut oil, despite the name, is solid at room temperature and works quite well.
- If you miss the butter flavor, Crisco makes a butter-flavored vegetable shortening. I called the 800-number to ask if the product contained dairy, and the recording about food allergies promised that they list all ingredients on the package, including specifically dairy, tree nuts, etc. Since there is no mention of dairy on the packaging, one assumes that it would be dairy-free. I didn't have a reaction to this product, but my "allergy" may not be as sensitive as others.

Below are a few of the recipes we baked. (I'm not going to re-post the recipes for ginger cookies or macaroons. See April 2009 and June 2009, respectively.) Basically the recipe instructions are the same for all: cream butter, sugar, eggs and flavoring; then add dry ingredients. Once mixed, spoon teaspoon-size cookies onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake. For prettier cookies, take a teaspoon of dough and roll it in your hands to make balls and then bake.

Peanut Butter Cookies
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter
1 egg
1 ¼ cups flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder

Optional: chocolate chips (my dad wouldn't have it any other way!)

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Makes approx. 3 dozen.


Lavender Cookies
½ cup shortening
½ cup butter (the recipe calls for both, but you can just use 1 cup of shortening)
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond extract
2 ¼ cups flour
4 tsp lavender flowers
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Sprinkle with colored sugar when they come out of the oven. Makes at least 3 dozen, but I forgot to count.


Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
3 cups uncooked oats

Optional: 1 cup raisins, or 1 cup chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes approx. 6 dozen.


Pfeffernusse
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
¼ cup dark molasses or Sorghum syrup
1 egg
3 ½ cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp black pepper

Roll the dough balls in powdered sugar before and after baking. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. These cookies will NOT expand. Makes approx. 6 dozen.


White Chocolate Chip (white chocolate is not really chocolate, but I digress...)
1 cup butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour
white chocolate chips- add to taste, but I err on the side of too many – is there such a thing as too many chips?

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes approx. 3 dozen.


Everything Cookie
1 cup butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
“everything but the kitchen sink” - for example: chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, oatmeal, shredded coconut, toffee bits, raisins, dried cranberries, caramel pieces, chopped almonds, pecans, walnuts, macadamia nuts, candied ginger, etc.

I used all of the ingredients that were left over from the other cookies. Seriously, I threw in everything listed above, excluding the raisins, nuts and candied ginger. Then I added green sprinkles when they came out of the oven. At least two people said that this was their favorite cookie!

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I made this chocolate cake for Christmas dinner and it was delicious! I found this recipe on Epicurious and adapted it to be dairy-free, as well as gluten-free. It turns out super moist and rich, so a small piece goes a long way.

Cake
10 ounces of dark (dairy-free) chocolate
1 1/4 cups dairy-free margarine or coconut oil
10 egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 6 Tbs granulated sugar
2 tsp Mexican vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
10 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. The recipe recommends using a 10-inch springform pan, but I don't have one. Instead I used a deep baking dish that was well oiled and lined the bottom with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate and the margarine in a double boiler until melted smooth. Then set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Beat the egg yolks and the 1/2 cup sugar until thick and pale yellow. (About 5 minutes.) Then beat in vanilla and salt. Gently fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Note: if the chocolate is too warm, you will cook the eggs and end up with a chocolate omelette. Set aside.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites and remaining 6 Tbs of sugar, adding the sugar 1 Tbs at a time. Beat until soft peaks form.

Then gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until well mixed, but still light and fluffy. Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 45 minutes and then begin checking with a cake tester. Cake will rise significantly like a souffle. Cake is done when tester comes out with moist crumbs attached. It took about an hour and ten minutes to bake tonight.

Let cake cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen and then invert cake onto a plate or serving dish. The cake WILL FALL to less than half it's original height. Don't worry, this is what makes it so moist and rich!

The recipe says to let the cake cool completely and top with a chocolate ganache, but we weren't crazy about the ganache the first time. Also, the recipe calls for brandied cherries to serve on the side, but we had fresh raspberries the first time, and fresh pomegranates this time. Here is my quick recipe for the sauce.

Sauce
1 cup of fresh berries or fruit - we used raspberries or pomegranates (I like a tart fruit sauce with the sweet chocolate cake)
1 cup dark rum
1/2 cup brown sugar

Heat rum and sugar in a pan until boiling. Let boil down for a few minutes, then add fruit. Boil for just a couple minutes until fruit is soft, but not soggy. Drizzle sauce on top of a piece of cake and enjoy!

Chocolate-Drizzled Coconut Macaroons

I was surprised to learn that the basic macaroon recipe (off of the shredded coconut bag) doesn't contain any dairy. Then I thought about adding chocolate... given the option between chocolate and no chocolate, is there really any question?

4 egg whites
1 tsp almond extract
1 (14 oz) bag of shredded coconut (sweetened)
2/3 cup sugar
6 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
12 oz semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In small bowl combine egg whites and almond extract.

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients until well blended.

Stir the egg mixture into the coconut mixture until it become thick and sticky.

Using a tablespoon, scoop cookie dough into balls and place on greased/lined baking sheets. If you want prettier cookies, you can roll the dough into balls using your hands (coated in cooking spray).

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a rack to cool.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler over medium low heat. Place the melted chocolate in a plastic sandwich bag and cut the tip off of one corner. Drizzle the chocolate over the cookies and refrigerate until chocolate is no longer soft. Store in a cool place.

Easy Chocolate Fondue

I picked up this recipe at Central Market one day and just HAD to try it. It's a great, simple dairy-free chocolate fondue recipe. Yum!

8 oz bittersweet chocolate
10 Tbsp+ coconut milk (not sweetened)
fresh fruit cut into slices

Melt the chocolate with the coconut milk in a double boiler over medium low heat. Stir often. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat and pour into a fondue pot.

You may need to add more coconut milk to the chocolate, because it will thicken as it sits over the heat in the fondue pot.

Dive in!

Pavlova

I first encountered this dessert in Australia. There is some debate whether it was created in New Zealand or Australia, but rivalries aside, there is no question it was named after Anna Pavlova the Russian ballerina.

It's basically an egg white/meringue cake, which is light and crunchy, that you top with whipped cream and fresh fruit. It' s lovely for a hot summer day.

Here is the basic recipe, but you can easily double it.

4 egg whites
pinch of salt (optional)
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar - you can use regular sugar, but it turns out slightly gritty
4 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp white wine vinegar
flavoring of your choice - for example, one teaspoon of vanilla, coconut, or almond extract; 3 tablespoons cocoa powder; or 2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

Line baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Using a small baking dish (8 or 9 inches) draw a circle on the parchment paper.

Using beaters, whisk the egg whites and the salt until peaks form. Then beat in the sugar one tablespoon at a time, until meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cornstarch, vinegar, and flavoring.

Mound on the baking sheet inside the circle, then flatten the top and smooth the sides. Place in the oven and IMMEDIATELY reduce the heat to 300 degrees F.

Cook for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours. It will have risen and cracked on the top and the sides. If it's not dry and crispy on the outside, bake a bit longer.

Once done, turn off the oven, open the door and leave it to cool. (Often I will bake this just before bed, and then leave the oven door open all night. This allows the meringue to cool, but not too quickly.)

The meringue WILL fall and not just a little, but a lot. Don't feel bad; it just adds character to this yummy dessert.

Slice the fresh fruit and sprinkle with sugar so a natural syrup forms.

Before serving, top the meringue with non-dairy whipped cream or non-dairy Swedish cream (see recipe below), and top with fresh fruit. Voila, Pavlova!

I made a double recipe for a friend's birthday and it served more than 30 people. I made a chocolate Pavlova, coffee flavored non-dairy Swedish cream, and topped with fresh strawberries and black berries. Everyone raved about it! (And no one knew it was dairy-free!)

Gingerbread Cookies

These cookies are delicious and perfect for dunking in a hot cup of tea, coffee or hot coco!

A good friend spent a lot of time modifying her original recipe so I could enjoy these cookies too. Let me give a shout out and big thank you to June!

Ingredients
1 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (for example, Whole Foods' 360 Brand vegetable shortening)
1-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Sorghum syrup
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2-1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
turbinado sugar

Optional Ingredients: 1/2 cup crystallized ginger, or 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl mix shortening, sugar, Sorghum syrup and eggs. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

Add half of the flour mixture to egg mixture and mix.

If desired, add crystallized ginger and/or pecans.

Add remaining flour mixture to the batter and stir. The batter should be very thick and may need to be mixed by hand.

Form dough into small balls, roll in turbinado sugar, and place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 9-11 minutes. Makes approximately 6 dozen.

Popcorn Balls

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this blog. I've been hard at work doing research, trying new recipes and taste testing. It's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it!

I was looking for a yummy recipe for popcorn balls to give as small gifts to everyone who came to our holiday party. My mom and I made more than 40 softball-size popcorn balls and wrapped them in colored plastic wrap. They were a big hit!

I really like the versatility of this recipe (see Optional Ingredients), but it definitely helps to have at least two people in the kitchen when making them.

Ingredients
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated vegan margarine
2 teaspoons cold water
2 5/8 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup marshmallows
5 quarts plain popped popcorn
salt (to taste)

Optional Ingredients: 1 tsp of Mexican vanilla or other flavoring, non-dairy chocolate chips (for example, Baker's semi-sweet chocolate chunks), chopped nuts, non-dairy candy, crushed peppermint candies, and/or food coloring - the sky is the limit!

Directions
Pop the popcorn in a little oil in a large pan on the stove. Once popped, spread it out on a cookie sheet and pick out any unpopped kernels. Keep the popcorn warn in the oven.

In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together corn syrup, margarine, cold water, confectioners' sugar, and marshmallows. Heat and stir until boiling. Then turn down the heat, but keep syrup mixture warm. (Some recipes recommend using a crockpot to keep it warm, but we just left the stove on the lowest setting and stirred often so it didn't burn.) This is when you can add the teaspoon of Mexican vanilla or food coloring, if you want.

Coat a large mixing bowl and scraping spoon with cooking spray.

This is where it's handy to have an extra set of hands. Have one person spray the other's hands with cooking spray - front and back. The person with greased hands gets to play with the popcorn balls, while the person with clean hands gets to stir the syrup on the stove, pull the popcorn out of the oven, add the optional ingredients, and tear off the pieces of plastic wrap.

In the large, greased bowl, add the popcorn and generously coat with the syrup mixing with your hands and the scraping spoon. We didn't have bowl big enough to hold all of the popcorn, so we split it in half, which worked well. We also added a bit of salt to achieve the irresistible sweet and salty combination. You can add the optional ingredients at this time; we used non-dairy chocolate chips and chopped pecans.

Then form the popcorn into balls, like packing a snowball. It's up to you how big you want to make the balls, but we made softball-size balls. I tend to have big eyes, especially when there is chocolate involved! We found it worked well to immediately wrap the balls in plastic wrap, and later we tied ribbon around the top.

We made two batches, the first was just the plain recipe. The second batch we added the vanilla, chocolate, and pecans. With the second batch, the first bowl of popcorn and syrup must have been a bit cool, because when we added the chocolate chips they did not melt. The popcorn remained snowy white, dotted with clusters of chocolate chips and nuts. The chips that sat in the syrup at the bottom of the bowl for the second half of the popcorn melted a bit, so the popcorn turned a delicious chocolaty color.

The reviews from our guests were positive: some preferred the melted chocolate, some preferred biting into a chunk of chocolate, and all but one thought that the sweet and salty combination was great. For those people who don't like chocolate (a serious condition that I hope they find cure for one day) we had the plain popcorn balls. Only one person thought that they were too sweet. It might be worth trying next time to use less confectioners' sugar and see how they turn out.

If you're feeling really creative, one recipe described making snowmen out of popcorn balls and decorating with candy.