January 31, 2012

Attention vegan peanut butter cookie monsters!

OMG I made some really good vegan--yes, vegan--peanut butter cookies. I've actually had pretty good luck with vegan cookies as of late. The Internet is a magical thing; when I was a vegan in the 90s, I had to rely on so-so recipes from dubious cookbooks. Most cookie recipes that I would encounter were pretty bad--too much oil, fell apart, too much baking soda, and tasted (in the words of an old friend) "vegan wrong!"

*But* I did a brief google search before baking...and it paid off! This recipe totally rules.

Preheat the oven to 350. I added a 1/2 cup of flour the second time I made these (which I've incorporated in the recipe, below) to prevent them from getting too sticky at the dough stage.

2.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, or unbleached all-purpose flour (I recommend using half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup natural peanut butter (either smooth or chunky)
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons agave syrup
1/3 cup oil (I used canola)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients separately. Once thoroughly mixed, add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until the flour disappears. I use my electric stand mixer but you could do this by hand.

Using a tablespoon, drop these onto parchment-paper lined baking sheets. Press a fork into the tops of the rounded cookies to give them the criss-cross design, and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, checking on them at 10 or 12 minutes to see whether they are done.

OK--now onto other matters: I have now experienced what I am going to call "retail amnesia." Apparently I purchased something at Sephora last week but had no memory of it. At all. However, it was a pleasant surprise to get it in the mail when I got home...does this mean that I Internet shop too much?

January 19, 2012

Six degrees?

OK, so it is supposed to get down to six degrees tonight...today it was a whopping 13 and I got home wanting to get into a vat of soup (basically). So that means...tonight Lev and I are making everything-but-the-kitchen-sink soup! Pearl barley? Why yes. Mushrooms? What would we do without them? Leeks! Carrots! Parsley! And, of course, our friends onion and garlic. 

Behold!
Last night Lev and I had our first group fitness class. I am so sore I can't even tell you...and Lev just asked me how many pushups I thought he could do, right now. I can tell you this much, 24 hours ago at this time I was SUFFERING. But that's the only way to do it, right?

January 14, 2012

Today, the living room.

It's a beautiful morning. We had a snowstorm and now the sun is streaming in the window, the tree branches are fluffy with snow, and the squirrels are sleeping (at least I think that's what they do this time of year).

I found this bird at the thrift store. Ceramic and feels good in my hand. "A bird in hand..."

January 12, 2012

Snow!

It's finally snowing! We were let out early this afternoon.

 My street, this afternoon, while walking home.