Nuts!

A month ago, I wrote 'pistachios' on my grocery list, which hangs on my fridge. I had a specific recipe that I wanted to try, and I needed pistachios for it. Now, weeks went by, and I finally bought a bag Thursday night (on sale - $2 bucks!). For the life of me I couldn't remember why I wanted them, but I knew I needed them. I thought, thought and over-thought some more about what I was going to use the pistachios for (by the way, pistachios is a super fun word). It's still nagging at me, but in the meantime I decided on another recipe: Nutcase Cookies from My Sweet Vegan. Have I mentioned how much I love this book? I cut the recipe in half and followed as is, only subbing pecans for cashews. I got 18 cookies. They were definitely the most colorful dough I have played with in a while:

Here they are on the sheet waiting.

These cookies are strictly 'party on the outside, business on the inside,' as they aren't overly sweet, but will definitely satisfy a nutty craving. By the way, mine look nothing like the picture in the book. You can see the speckles from the Sucanat. Good crunchy cookie.

Pistachios...

I think my peanut butter addiction has become fairly obvious. If it hasn't, then I'm not trying hard enough. Observe:

This is only a small sample. I really wanted to showcase my love for Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butters. LOVE! (Holy cow! I just noticed they have maple flavored peanut butter. Yowza!) I bought a load of it in these small jars on sale a couple of months ago. I zeroed in on the spicy flavor, The Heat is On. Yes, it's also a song by Glenn Frey, and I have had it stuck in my head all morning. You know, the song from Beverly Hills Cop? Yeah...

I've been wanting to do something special with it, as I can't see myself eating it as I would other peanut butters. I tend to use them in sweets, rather than savories. Inspired by mexican chocolate cookies, I made Spicy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe is based on the Peanut Butter Cookie recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I tweaked it by using The Heat is On, instead of smooth or crunchy PB, and adding about 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and the absolutely essential chocolate chips. This was for a half batch. I also nixed the egg replacer since I would have only been dealing with enough for half an egg, and used soy creamer instead of s'milk. I was skeptical of the dough because it was wetter than I was used to peanut butter cookie dough being, but it was fine. The cookies spread nicely. I got 15 large cookies. They are actually good! The heat doesn't really kick in until they start to melt in your mouth, then they hit you like they are pushing you out of bed in the middle of the night; you hit the floor, wake up and wonder what the hell happened. And no harm is done. Or something like that.

Very deceiving cookies. They look like average, ordinary chocolate chip cookies. I forgot to criss-cross the tops. Oh, well. My coworkers are in for a surprise tomorrow. Mwhahahahahahahaha!

Kittens, kittens everywhere

After being a (highly estimated) week overdue, my stray Voodoo had her kittens. I guess she's not really a stray anymore, since she lives indoors with us now. After two hours, we had six kittens: four gray, two black and one set of twins. I didn't get into bed until after midnight, so I ran on nothing but caffeine today. It was worth it though.

I'm not sure who's more proud, Voodoo or me. Sorry about the bad lighting and lousy flash.

Winter: Give it up, already.

A combination of weather and lack of sleep is bringing me down today. It's a summery 48 degrees outside (huh?). Friday, it was nearly 80 degrees. DOES.NOT.COMPUTE. My mind is having a hard time wrapping itself around this weather concept. It's spring. In the south. This should not even be an issue. The lack of sleep comes from a very pregnant kitty cat, with the belief that if she can't sleep, no one can. Observe:

Check out that stomach. She's a tiny cat, so it is really prominent on her.

I only had enough energy to make one very small batch of cookies this morning. I had plans for two, plus some muffins, but it was becoming obvious that if I continued in the kitchen I was bound to burn myself or cut an appendage off. A tackled a cookie that I had read rave reviews on, and have been meaning to try for a while now - but kept putting off: Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies from Veganomicon. The only change I made was to add raspberry oil instead of almond extract, for a little extra sweet kick. The dough was crumbly, as expected, but mine wouldn't hold up when I tried to roll it into balls, so I added the tiniest amount of soymilk. That did the trick. I did a half batch (as I mentioned), and got about 14. Two were tiny. I baked the first sheet for 10 minutes, but they were a little too brown on the botton, so I took the last one out a minute or two early, and they were perfect. They were chewy, and they had a good raspberry flavor, but, alas, not my favorite cookie. I bet they would make a kick-ass sandwich cookie. I am predicting a future endeavor...

Crackly...mmmm...

I am off to take a nap.

Chocolate, Chocolate Everywhere

Last week, the local fruits and veggies stand opened for the season on the town square. It's a small, family-operated stand very conveniently located a short walking distance from my office. A co-worker and I walk down there a few times a week, and last week was the first this year. I was eagerly anticipating their juicy apples and big green zucchini. I got some of their juicy Granny Smith's, but their zucchini were far from big. I guess they jumped the gun when it came to picking them, because they were very...miniature. The price was right, though, and they gave me a lot for it, so all was well. I toyed with different zucchini bread recipes, and even some zucchini cookies. I wanted something different. I wanted...brownies. Zucchini brownies. I found a recipe here that was very highly rated. I only made a half recipe, baked at about 30 minutes. They are very chocolate-y, and very moist. They are a more cake-like brownie, but I won't hold that against them. I didn't frost them either, they were rich enough without it.

Undercover lovers, Zucchini and I. He's nowhere to be seen (or tasted). You only feel his very moist presence. Dirty.

Sticking with a chocolate-y theme, I made chocolate ice cream. I prepped it all last night, blending everything and sticking it in the fridge to chill. I used the recipe from Veganomicon, as it has never let me down. After chilling overnight, it was a perfect pudding. I was tempted to stop right there and have fudgey pudding for breakfast, but I stayed focused, and continued on with the ice cream makin'. I cranked it for about 20 minutes in my machine, then put it in the freezer to firm up further. That's where it currently waits.

Smooth.

My last endeavor for the morning was to fulfill a request: to make more Oatmeal Raisin (Chocolate Chip) Cookies like last week.

Once again, pure perfection. Officially "The Best Damn Oatmeal Raisin Cookies EVER."