Lots of Cookies!

Before I start blabbing about baked goods again, here’s two more of my regular meals.

First off, Celine’s Cumin Carrot Soup that she posted here. I made it earlier this week to have for lunch, and my parents had the leftovers as part of their dinner that evening. They both really liked it! And so did I. It’s very easy and fun to make, too.
(Also, notice the thick slices of homemade bread on the side. My parents finally got a bread machine!)

I know the picture kind of sucks, but this was too good not to be photographed. My mother was looking for a way to prepare brussel sprouts for dinner, so I suggested the Cornmeal-Masala Roasted Brussels Sprouts recipe from Veganomicon, and she decided to make it! She made the yogurt sauce with it, too. It rocked. I never thought I would love brussels sprouts so much. If you haven’t tried this recipe yet, go do it!

And now, on to the cookies.

For some reason, I’ve been a little obsessed with cookies this past week. It started with the chocolate chip cookies last week and after that I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I didn’t only bake them, but spent a lot of time looking for recipes online and in my cookbooks, too. In the end, I baked four batches of cookies. Here they come!

Behold, the Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies from Veganomicon, only with apricot preserves instead of raspberry. I love the combination of chocolate and fruit in these and definitely want to try them with raspberry too!

These are based on the Carob-Coconut-Pecan Cookies from Vive le Vegan, with some slight alterations because I didn’t have all the ingredients. I substituted wheat flour for spelt, carob chips for chopped up chocolate and hazelnuts for pecans. I also left out the coconut extract, because I still haven’t gotten around to buying that. Still, these cookies were delicious. They remind me of coconut macaroons – only these have chocolate and hazelnuts, which makes them all the better!

Today, I decided to make graham crackers using Celine’s recipe for Chicky Grahams. I like using cookie cutters, but a lot of recipes I use don’t require them, so I was happy to look up my pig-shaped cookie cutter for these! This was also my first time eating (and making) graham crackers. I like them!

Lastly, the Big Crunchy Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance. I was in a hurry while making these, but managed to get them all into the oven in time. This recipe makes a LOT of very big cookies. I liked the taste, but think that they’re really too sweet. Maybe I added too much sugar? Anyway, I’ve only had positive reactions about these from other people so far, so it’s probably just me. I had expected them to be more salty instead of sugary. Apart from the sweetness I do really like them, though, so I would still make them again. Just with a little less sugar!

I think I’ve had enough cookies for now, but I have a feeling I will move on to baking muffins very soon. I’m glad to say that my spring break started yesterday, so I have no school for a week… perfect.