I think I am ready

Honestly, I hadn't thought so much time had passed since I last posted. I haven't done a lot of baking. Really, the chocolate chip cookie incident scarred me. I shudder to think. Anywhoodles, I thought I would post the Christmas goodies that went forth to work this year.

Pretty cookies, all in a row. These are the sparkly ginger cookies from VWAV. I also made chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Vegan baking and made peanut butter cookies using a Martha Stewart recipe, I can't remember which though. I also made two kinds of fudge: fudge-fudge, from a recipe I forgot to write down where it was from, and Kittee's peanut butter fudge (which was AWESOME). It's not that I was slacking by not writing down my sources, it's just been a while since I made this stuff. Also, trauma tends to wipe out other memories. Don't make me mention the puking incident again.

I love how cookies on a cooling rack look. Yes, I am weird.

I do vaguely recall there being something like 5 dozen peanut butter cookies and 4 dozen ginger cookies. I believe there were only 2 dozen chocolate chip. Here is the majority of them wrapped up for delivery.

Individual buckets for friends.

Cute!

I didn't get any shots of the buckets and trays with fudge in them, or of the fudge period. Maybe I was slacking in that case.

Ooey, gooey chocolate cookie. They were sooooo good. I would overdose on them again. Totally.

My assistants. My very lazy assistants. Trust me, they won't move for anything, so I'm constantly stepping over them. There are two more, but I think they were napping in the other room.

I don't think I ever want to eat another cookie again.

Well, that's not true, I guess. I just need some time to recover. See, this past weekend I engaged in my yearly Christmas baking. It wasn't the large amount of cookies that I made that put me off, it was the subsequent sickness from a cookie overdose. Sunday afternoon, I spent five hours with my head in the toilet puking up something that tasted like recycled chocolate. Which is exactly what it was. I couldn't eat for a few days after that, and I certainly didn't want to look at anything resembling a cookie. I still kind of don't, so I am not going to post cookie pics yet. Instead, behold the pretty baby blanket I made for a friend's nephew:

Pretty, eh? It was originally supposed to be a full sized afghan for my boyfriend. Then we broke up. A friend asked if I would make it for her nephew's new baby, and I said sure. She even paid me. Of course, then my boyfriend and I got back together. Oh well.

Baking on a Tuesday...?

Yes, indeed. Tuesday night was full of baking. Three hours of baking, plus another hour and a half this morning. I was tired after all that, but it was for a good purpose - a party. We're always having some kind of party at work. ALWAYS. Today was a breakfast for all our different departments, and there's a lot of us, so we had to make sure there was enough food. I did my part. First, I made a double batch of cinnamon rolls. The same ones I made a couple of weeks ago, only double (duh). I did everything but bake them last night, and stuck them in the fridge to chill out until this morning so I could bake them fresh. They got huge in the fridge. Once again, I used flax as my egg replacer. Everything else was the same (x's two!).

Pretty in the pan.

Gooey

Up close and gooey

While the dough for those was rising so I could roll them out, I made Pumpkin Streusal Cake from Veganomicon. I made no changes to this one, it was awesome as is.

This cake was moist and perfect.

After the cake, I gave up for the night. I woke up bright and early (4 am) and made scones. Specifically, Chocolate Chip Scones from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I had a tiny problem with these. I kept adding flour and no matter how much I added, I couldn't get them not sticky so I could shape them. So I just scooped them up and dropped them on the cookie sheet. They came out fine. Fluffy and sweet and chocolatey.

Sprinkled with demerara.

There's the spread. Vegan sausage, pancakes with apples on top, pumpkin streusal cake, cinnamon roll and fruit. There was a scone, but I ate it before the photo. Like a true southern dweller, I washed it all down with a Diet Sundrop. Breakfast of Champions.

Well, now. I am just entirely too proud of myself.

Today, for the very first time, I baked with yeast. I know, the FIRST TIME, right? I was scared of yeast, this is true. But no more. I have conquered my fear! With cinnamon rolls! See, I have been wanting to make cinnamon rolls for a very long time now. I finally decided that I wanted to make some for a work party, in which we have a carry-in breakfast for the whole building. The party isn't until next week, so I decided to practice this morning. I found a great looking recipe on VegWeb and used it. I used flax eggs, and for the filling, I used half demerara and half sucanat. I had extra filling, but that might have just been me. It was a proud moment for me when my yeast got foamy. I killed the yeast on my first attempt, but nailed it on the second. I nearly cried when they came out of the oven.

Then, I put a simple glaze on them:

The only complaint I had was that there wasn't enough glaze. That is a problem easily solved. Otherwise, amazing.

Cake? How could I forget the cake?!

I appear to be a little behind, as I keep finding pictures of things I forgot I made. And I just made them last weekend, how terrible is my memory? Last Saturday, Oct. 25th, was my mom's birthday. She requested a lemon cake with lemon frosting. I told her I could do that. And I did.

There it is in all its heart-shaped glory. I used the Vegan with a Vengeance Lemon Gem Cupcake recipe, only baking it as a cake for around 30 minutes. It was perfect. I wanted the frosting a little more sturdy, so I used shortening instead of margarine.

Mmmm, frosting...

And, for Halloween, I made cookies for work. Bat-shaped cookies. Bat-shaped chocolate cookies. Bat-shaped chocolate cookies with icing. Bat-shaped chocolate cookies with icing and sprinkles. You get the point I'm trying to make, right?

Already packed up to go, because I forgot to take pictures (sigh, again).

I used Kittee's recipe for Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies. They were amazing, as always, and taste like brownies. Or Cocoa Puffs.

And, finally, to bring me up to date, I have actual brownies, not brownie-flavored cookies. Yesterday I was off work and decided to make brownies for a groovy guy who is sick and loves brownies. I used this recipe from Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk! I never have close access to soy yogurt and I was out of soy sour cream, so I blended half a block of extra firm silken tofu with the two tablespoons of soy milk and used that in place of soy yogurt. I also used a Green & Blacks dark chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips. They came out perfectly. I shoveled two in my mouth, hid two away for later and wrapped the other five up for my man-friend.

So shiny and crackly.

Pumpkin x 2

I love fall. I love the scent in the cool air. I love the falling leaves. I love the foods of fall. Specifically, pumpkin. Now, I have recently found that some people do not like pumpkin (sinners!), and I do not understand that concept. Does not compute. At this time of year, I live on pumpkin pie. I have an IV of pureed pumpkin hooked up to my arm as we speak (type, whatever). I kid, of course, but I do really, really love pumpkin. Last week we had our monthly office birthday party, and we decided to have a potluck and cake. I always bring a dessert, because if I don't, there won't be any celebrating for me, the lone vegan. I don't care if there is nothing else for me to eat, just so long as I have the sweets in my mouth. Incidentally, there was plenty of veggie-friendly food, as a good friend of mine made vegetarian chili and there were plenty of vegetables and fruits to eat as well. I ate like a king. And I had dessert too, because I made it. I bought a jumbo can of pumpkin and did not want any to go to waste. So I made a pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie brownies. Both were a hit.


Not the best photo. I experienced a wee bit of panic when I realized about 15 minutes before party time that I had not taken pictures of my food. So I hauled ass into the break room to conduct an impromptu photo shoot.

By golly, these are some of the bestest brownies ever. Very fudgy and pumpkiny. A pumpkin-hater deemed these brownies, "just okay." Everyone else was too busy chewing and moaning with pleasure to give their opinion. See our ugly-ass wallpaper in the background? The whole kitchen is like a fruit bowl exploded.

Oh, and I stayed perfectly faithful to both recipes. Why modify a good thing?

Bread & a Bike

Last Sunday night, I got a bug up my ass to make something. Anything. Earlier in the day, I had unsuccessfully made mini-blonde bites. I mean they exploded in the oven. Now, the bits that had overspilled onto the sheet actually didn't taste bad. They just weren't visually appealing and they were disgustingly greasy. I used a recipe I got off the interwebs, but I won't point any fingers. That's what lead to the brilliant idea I had to make bread at 8 o'clock at night. Which may not be late to some people, but I have to be up at 4 am for work. So it's a wee bit late for me. I pretty much had none of the ingredients for anything I wanted to make. I had very little margarine, so cookies were out of the question. I wanted to make pumpkin muffins, but had no pumpkin. I was going to make this Banana Coffee Cake, but I didn't have any agave nectar, or soy yogurt for that matter. What I did have was a ton of over ripe bananas, so I made bread. The Lower Fat Banana Bread from V-Con, because I loves it so much. I used an extra banana in place of the applesauce and a little of the oil, threw in walnuts, shredded coconut and carob chips. It was amazing.

Yesterday, I hit the (non-food) jackpot. I got a new bike! I sold my mountain bike a few weeks ago so I could get a cruiser. An old retro cruiser. I didn't really want to shell out a couple hundred bucks for one, though. I happened upon an ad in our local paper for one that was restored, and only $30. It's in great shape. It just needed air in the tires and oil on the chain. There's just a tiny bit of rust, but that doesn't bother me. It had been restored several years ago, and had been sitting in a storage shed for two years. I spent the afternoon shining the chrome.

Not the greatest lighting. The sun wouldn't cooperate with me.

You better believe I am putting a basket and a horn on it.