Author: In a Tizzy

  • 12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Days 4 + 5

    12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Days 4 + 5

    A short-term challenge for the month of December courtesy of Earth Balance! I am pretty excited to have some motivation to do some vegan baking this month. Some of the recipes are out of order from the website’s sequence, but I’ll make sure we cover everything.

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    Dark Chocolate “Walnut” Cookies

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    A few substitutions later, and here were the results.

    The recipe called for many oats, but I used flour, and it called for walnuts, but I used pecans. In the end, I believe I missed out on some fun texture but still had a delicious batch of cookies – simple and good.

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    Vegan Eggnog Cookies

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    I dropped the ball on what I hoped would be the best recipe of the whole bunch.

    This recipe was so exciting to me! I love vegan eggnog. The batter was tasting pretty good, but I could feel it turning to glue as I tried to mix in some liquid – I think the biggest problem was in neglecting to mix the leavening agent at the right time, so the dough remained doughy even after baking.

    I will try these again one day, though, because there is TOO MUCH potential to not give it another go!

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  • 12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Day 3

    12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Day 3

    A short-term challenge for the month of December courtesy of Earth Balance! I am pretty excited to have some motivation to do some vegan baking this month. Some of the recipes are out of order from the website’s sequence, but I’ll make sure we cover everything.

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    Chocolate PB Bark with…. “Pretzels”

    These are not so much cookies as chunks of sweet and salty goodness.

    I used my miniature CrockPot for the first time to melt some dark chocolate with cacao nibs in it, and melted some Earth Balance peanut butter, and made some swirls. They were meant to have pretzels on them, and I can see how how that would be good…. However, I did not have pretzels in my cupboards or in the most conveniently-located stores, so I was forced to choose the only other salty alternative nearby: Multigrain Tostitos. I have been told by all who have tried them that they are still winners!

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  • 12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Day 2

    12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Day 2

    A short-term challenge for the month of December courtesy of Earth Balance! I am pretty excited to have some motivation to do some vegan baking this month. Some of the recipes are out of order from the website’s sequence, but I’ll make sure we cover everything.

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    Gingerbread Cookies
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    These are so good.

    Very-close-to-right out of the oven, they were already tasting pretty delectable, but when I tried them the next day, they had the chewy and almost-but-not-quite sticky texture of the gingerbread cookies you might buy at a coffee shop. What was possibly missing was the coconut sugar coating, but I was missing this key ingredient and thus settled for a coat-less batch.

    I don’t often rave about my vegan recipe productions, but this one turned out about as well as I could have hoped! Highly recommended.

  • 12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Day 1

    12 Days of Plant-Based Cookies: Day 1

    A short-term challenge for the month of December courtesy of Earth Balance! I am pretty excited to have some motivation to do some vegan baking this month. Some of the recipes are out of order from the website’s sequence, but I’ll make sure we cover everything.

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    Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

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    These essentially entail baking one giant square cookie and then cutting it into whatever shapes you like after it has cooled. I opted for the website’s suggested triangle shapes, and really love how these turned out! They aren’t like my grandma’s sugar cookies, but they are chewy and delicious in their own way.

  • Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 26-31 and Farewell!

    Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 26-31 and Farewell!

    Since 2011, every October I embark on a month-long journey to consume something with pumpkin in it, in some form, every day.

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    Day 26: Veggie Protein Bar, POWERPLANT Whole Foods

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    On a day when there is much to do and little time to run away and acquire or to turn to the kitchen and bake pumpkin items, one must reach into their bag and retrieve their handy dandy pumpkin protein bar!

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  • Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 21-25

    Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 21-25

    Since 2011, every October I embark on a month-long journey to consume something with pumpkin in it, in some form, every day.

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    Day 21: Pumpkin Macaron, Thomas Haas

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    Out for a lovely, gray-day meeting with K.L., I found myself with an unexpected pumpkin item at Thomas Haas. Unexpected, because I had ordered an apple pie macaron, and was served pumpkin, instead!

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    It had what looked to be pumpkin purée on the inside of its creamy filling, and was accompanied by a soy chai latte and a raspberry macaron. A delicious meeting, indeed!

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  • Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 18-20

    Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 18-20

    Since 2011, every October I embark on a month-long journey to consume something with pumpkin in it, in some form, every day.

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    Day 18: Pumpkin Seeds en Salada, Dining Room

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    Today’s was a simple one – make a salad, throw some pumpkin seeds on it! I like to make sure that pumpkin seeds get a solo appearance at some point, because they are great.

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    Day 19: Pumpkin Spice Latte, Starbucks at home

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    As a part of a wonderful and much-needed pick-me-up pumpkin care package from out of province, I received some at-home pumpkin spice latte mix, and indulged in that a bit.

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    This pumpkin item was featured inside one of my favourite mugs and alongside a new piece of decor that I think will be making an appearance in most of my challenge photos from here on.

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    Day 20: Matcha Pumpkin Cookies, Food.com

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    These might look frightening, but they taste great.

    I found this vegan recipe online and was pleased to see how much pumpkin would be going into it! The recipe didn’t actually call for matcha, but I replaced some flour ingredients with it because it was my vision to have a pumpkin pie matcha powder from David’s Tea in some form of baked good this month!

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    The recipe was very liquids-based with 2 cups of pumpkin purée and apple sauce in place of sugar. The cookies are very ooey-gooey as a result, but I’ve had positive feedback so far – the matcha has a bit of bitterness that cuts the sweetness of the pumpkin and apple somewhat, and despite their spooky appearance they are full of chocolate-chippy goodness.

  • Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 15-17

    Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 15-17

    Since 2011, every October I embark on a month-long journey to consume something with pumpkin in it, in some form, every day.

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    Day 15: Pumpkin Cocoa w/ Vegan Pumpkin Marshmallows, Sillycow Farms + Dandies
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    I must say, this has been a highlight of my challenge so far (thanks, Mom!).

    On a late night that was full of wind and rain, my mom reminded me that I had pumpkin spice hot cocoa (dairy-free!) and vegan pumpkin spice marshmallows. So, while the lighting may appear a bit warm in nature, the odd colouring of these marshmallows comes from their natural pumpkin flavouring! This was a very delicious experience and vegan marshmallows are the exact same marshmallow experience as their non-vegan counterparts, I would encourage trying them out!

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  • Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 10-14

    Pumpkin Challenge 2016: Days 10-14

    Since 2011, every October I embark on a month-long journey to consume something with pumpkin in it, in some form, every day.

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    Day 10: Pumpkin Crisps, Lesley Stowe

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    It had been a few days of sweet pumpkin treats when I found myself Monday evening without a pumpkin item off of my to-eat list. However, after digging through my cupboard, I found one of my back-up pumpkin snacks: Raincoast Crisps!

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