Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

So along the lines of eating healthy and I decided to find some vegan cookies. Chocolate chip is a good one to start out with! Mainly because I don't know anyone who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies! I found this recipe in one of my cookbooks. Its called Chloe's Vegan Desserts by Chloe Coscarelli. I've also made a Vegan Milk shake from this cookbook and it was awesome! Anyway, During my vegetarian month I decided to buy a couple cookbooks that were different than the ones I have so this happened to be one.


Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 TBS arrow root or corn starch (I used arrowroot. I found it in the organic section in my grocery store)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup vegan butter or margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 TBS pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line some cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, arrowroot, baking soda, and salt.
3. With a stand or hand mixer, mix together brown sugar, butter, sugar, water and vanilla extract and beat until fluffy. Slowly mix in the flour mixture.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Make sure the cookies are about 1 .
Tablespoons. Bake for 10- 12 minutes.
6. Let cookies cool and enjoy!


So the first time I made this recipe it was a flop. I couldn't figure out what we did wrong... Well until today when I decided to make it again. The first time I didn't use my mixer and I tried to mix it by hand. That doesn't work. Actually is makes your cookies look like pancakes. Next I melted my butter in the microwave but when we mixed everything together it got all soupy. So the next time I tried making them I left the butter out until it was at room temperature. It looked a lot better and actually got fluffy! I was really excited at this point that I couldn't wait to finish this! Sadly I think I ate more cookie dough than cookies.

I was so excited when these cookies turned out that I almost forgot to try it! What I found out was even thought the first batch of cookies I made didn't turned out they still tasted good! My roommates didn't like them as much as I did but maybe its because it doesn't have any eggs or animal products. Or maybe it was because I told them they were vegan before they tried them. I still think they ended up awesomely! I hope you guys try this recipe and enjoy it as much as I did!

Ta Ta for now,
Lil' Char

Vegan/ Gluten Free Banana Blue Berry Bread

So my friend just got back from studying abroad in Chile. the reason I'm bringing this up is that she has a gluten allergy and because of that, I've decided to try more gluten free recipes.Also with it being a new year and a lot of people's new years resolutions being eating healthy, I'm one of them, I'm trying more healthy recipes and also more vegan/ vegetarian recipes. So that is why this recipe is perfect! It has the option of being gluten free. I chose to use make it gluten free so that my friend could have breakfast!

I found this recipe on the best website ever! haha! Pinterest! The person who posted it on pinterest was from the blog TreeHugger. I haven't had a chance to look at this blog too much but if all of her recipes are like this one then I think I should!

Ingredients:
3 large over-ripe bananas
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup of your choice of soymilk, almond milk, or apple sauce (I used almond milk)
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 cups whole wheat flour or gluten free flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries (frozen works fine too)


1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9x5 inch loaf pan with a light layer of cooking oil.
2. If using soy or almond milk, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to it and let it stand until it curdles. About 1 minute. Skip this step if using apple sauce.
 3. In a large bowl, mash up the bananas until smooth (but don't be afraid to leave some chunks -- these make a sweet surprise in a slice of bread). Add lemon juice, the curdled milk substitute or apple sauce, and agave nectar. Stir to combine.
4. In another bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and stir to combine.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir until combined and everything is moistened.
6. Toss in your blueberries and gently stir until evenly mixed.

7. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan before transferring to a plate.
8. Enjoy!

Note: Whenever I bake I usually skip the whole dry and wet ingredients thing. When I learned how to bake it was always slowly add everything in and not to separate.

Sorry I only took one picture. It still looks pretty though! Anyway, My roommate and I couldn't wait for this to get out of the oven! Our apartment smelt to amazing and our mouths were hard-core watering. I ended up doubling the recipe. I had a few bananas that I managed to not eat fast enough. I thought the first bite tasted weird but as i continued to eat I realized that it was just because I haven't really eaten anything gluten free before and I ended up really enjoying it! My boyfriend and his roommates were the same way but ended up eating a whole loaf in one sitting so I was happy about them liking it!

Ta Ta for now,
Lil' Char

Sorry Guys

Sorry guys,
Between the holidays and being sick I haven't been able to do much cooking. I promise to have a few posts up soon. Please stay tuned and again im sorry for missing some posts! The next few I posts are exciting for me and I hope you enjoy them! I don't have pictures for one of them but I'm going to try and make it again so I can have pictures in the post, so stay tuned for a few new recipes!

sorry again and Ta ta for now,
lil' Char