Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones

These tasty tidbits were made for a friends birthday and they were much enjoyed!  The original recipe came from "The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.  Which is a must have for any vegan baker!  I have modified the recipe for a little bit of a different taste then straight out of the book, my modifications are a darker chocolate chip and some cinnamon in the dough along with a bit less sugar and vegan butter. 

the dough ready to be rolled and cut!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer

• 2 tbsp water

dissolve the replacer in the water and set aside 

• 2 3/4 cups unbleached flour

• 4 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (the darker the better!)

• 1/2 cup soy milk

• 1 tsp vanilla 

• extra cinnamon and sugar and soy milk to brush the tops

almost ready for the oven

Directions:

Take the dry ingredients (flower, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt) and mix well.  Add butter a little bit at a time, keep mixing until no butter pieces are larger than peas. Add the milk and the egg replacer mixture, until it resembles a bread dough.  Don't over mix the scones will get tough!  Then add the chocolate chips.  Gather dough into a ball and place on a flowered surface, roll dough to about 1/2' thick. Then cut into desired shape, I usually do triangles.  Place on baking sheet and brush the tops with the soy milk, sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes!

cooling after out of the oven!

All Olive Tapenade

All olive tapenade is a great condiment for sandwiches good on pasta or even with crackers.  Most olive tapenade is made from Kalamata olives, but I enjoy a mix of olives.  For this particular patch I am using spanish also known as manzanilla with pimientos, picholine, kalamata, and ponentine olives.  The long part of this process is pitting the olives.  Having a food processor or an immersion blender helps a lot too!

Ingredients:

• 20 to 25 olives depending of size

• 2 tsp capers

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Pit all olives and toss in the food processor chop until they are small pieces.  Then put the rest of the ingredients into the food processor and chop again until fine.  Place in an air proof container, it will keep for up to a week!  Super easy and tastes great!

just olives everything (after the olives are chopped)

Vegan Apple Brown Betty

This is a vegan variation on the Apple Brown Betty I enjoyed as a kid.  It is probably a bit less sweet then what my Mom makes.  It's a super easy and tasty dessert, served straight out of the oven or cooled!  The trick here is get a firm apple, I enjoy using macintosh for this recipe, but have thought about doing a granny smith and maybe putting a touch of maple syrup in the mix.  But that is for another post this is just straight up Vegan Apple Brown Betty!

apples prepared

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup quick oats

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

• 1/2 cup unbleached flour

• 1 tbsp cinnamon

• 1/3 cup vegan butter (I enjoy "Earth Balance Original Whipped")

• dash of salt

• about 6 to 7 cups of firm apples, pealed, cored and sliced (I cut into quarters and then cut each quarter in a half vertically and horizontally)

topping mixed

Directions:

Combine oatmeal, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt, mix lightly. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly, I use my hands to mix this up well, you want it to be crumbly but yet still flaky. After its mixed set it aside. Place apples in a square baking dish (8 by 8 or 9 by 9), and sprinkle the mixture over the top. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until the apples are soft. 

ready for the oven!

Finished and ready to eat!

Egyptian Chickpea Soup

The time for soup is almost over soon I will be favoring lighter foods, but I had to put this recipe up before soup season is done.  It is more of a hardy stew full of great veggies and plenty of protein from the Chickpeas, and there are a lot of them!

chopped veggies and garlic

Ingredients:

• 2 T oil

• 1 T butter

• 1 T cumin

• 1/4 C flour

• half a head of garlic (more to taste)

• 1 small onion (I enjoy a bunch of scallions)

• 1/2 of a bunch of celery

• 1/2 of a bunch of carrots

• 8 cups vegetable broth (you might need more if the soup is to dense)

• 28 oz. diced tomatoes (can be canned, I use the tomatoes I canned from the previous season)

• 56 oz. of chickpeas (this is four cans or if you are using dried that you will rehydrate its about four cups dried)

salt and pepper for taste

• 1/2 C raw rice

lemon wedges

grated parmesan (optional)

ingredients in large pot

Directions:

Fine chop of garlic, onion, celery and carrot. Saute in oil and butter until onions are wilted. Sprinkle with cumin and flour, coating evenly. Add broth, stirring with a whisk. Then add chickpeas and tomatoes. Stir until liquid comes to a boil then cover and simmer two hours.

At two hour mark add rice and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is cooked. Use an immersion blender to puree part of the soup making sure to leave some big chunks and whole chickpeas (do as much as you like!). Serve with chopped parsley, cheese and lemon wedges as garnishes.

Yum time!