Vegan, Gluten Free Oat-less Raisin Cookies

Cookies can be a hard thing to master when you're allergic to cane sugar. Substituting with agave, maple syrup or honey often lends to overly moist, gooey cookies that just don't hold up. I've tried using date sugar, which is granular, but I am not a huge fan of it's intensely sweet flavor. My next try was beet sugar. It is another granular sugar and I was able to find a bag of it in Whole Foods. It turns out that beet sugar was just the magical ingredient I needed!

So the other night I whipped up a batch of these oat-less raisin cookies. Andrew and I loved them so much, we considered not taking them to a get-together with friends. But as a budding blogger, I wanted the feedback. And good feedback it was!

PS - You can simply replace the raisins with chocolate chips, if you fancy.

Oat-less Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Canola Oil
3 tbs Unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbs Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Beet Sugar
1 cup Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour
2 tbs Flax Meal
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 cup Raisins

Makes 1 Dozen Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce and salt.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, flax meal, baking soda and xanthan gum.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the the dry ingredients and mix until dough is formed.
6. Fold the raisins into the dough.
7. Scoop spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet.
8. Bake on the center rack for 15-20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through.
9. Remove from the oven when the cookies are soft in the middle and crisp on the edges. Let stand for 5 or 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Tis' the Season for Tea!

I love tea. I drink it every day and I admit, I can be kind of a snob about it, but that's because tea is my coffee and I was once a barista (yes, a barista who does not drink coffee!).

Anyway, so of course I jumped at the chance to bake a delicious Earl Grey "Tea"cake! I have been trying out recipes from Jennifer Katzinger's cookbook (The Flying Apron) and had to give this one a try. I cut this recipe in half because it called for an incredible amount of batter.... and half the recipe makes a full amount. I also like to cut back on the amount of maple syrup she uses. I love maple syrup, but I think it over powers this cake. I might have to play around with this recipe to really let the earl grey tea really shine through.

I definitely recommend her cookbook if you are vegan and gluten free and want to some more recipes to try.

While we are on the subject of tea... I want to highlight some of my favorites! You can click on the names to find out more about them!

Meghan's Top 10 Teas:

1. TeaVana: Mate Vana - My all-time, hands-down, favorite tea in the world. I drink this stuff like it's going out of style. I even brew it twice as long as it recommends (which says a lot since I am very picky about brewing). It's smooth and rich and contains caffeine.

2. Celestial Seasonings: Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride - Oh. My. Goodness. This tea is the most amazing thing to ever happen to tea. It is a holiday tea and it literally tastes like sugar cookies. Let just say that the first Christmas we had this, my mom and I bought every box on the shelf. We knew we couldn't wait until the next Christmas to drink it again! Another really amazing thing about this tea is that everyone loves it! I know a lot of people who don't like tea or don't care for it, but once they try this - they are hooked! *Contains barley.

3. TeaVana: Strawberry Slender Pu-Erh: This tea is really quite amazing. Now, pu-erh is not for everyone as it has a very earthy flavor, but I happen to like this one because it tastes so sweet! It is fruity and and also a "diet" tea, but it tastes like dessert - so it's a win-win choice.

4. TeaVana: Azteca Fire Herbal Tea: An herbal tea that tastes like chocolate covered strawberries. Need I say more?

5. Stash Tea: Pumpkin Spice Decaf Black Tea: Perfect for this time of the year! This tea is so yummy and I love adding some non-dairy milk to sweeten it up and add to its a pumpkin pie flavor even more.

6. Celestial Seasonings: Candy Cane Lane - Ooooh Christmas time. It's ridiciously good, especially with a splash of vanilla flavored soy milk. Trader Joe's also offers this under their namesake.

7. Stash: Vanilla Nut Creme Decaf Black Tea: I think my favorite thing about this smooth and nutty-sweet tea is the smell. It smells so divine! Yum....

8. Stash Tea: Morrocan Mint Green Tea - My preferred mint tea, also good with a splash of milk. It reminds me of one of my dearest friends, Sarah, and the year we spent saving money in our apartment by leaving the heat off in the winter and drinking lots of this stuff to stay warm.

9. Celestial Seasonings: Sleepytime Herbal Tea: I don't know if it's the picture on the box or the tranquil aroma, but this tea really does put me to sleep. It's the perfect thing to sip before bed with a book or on a cold and rainy day. It's also very soothing and light.

10. Tazo Tea: Earl Grey or Stash Tea: Double Bergamot Earl Grey Black Tea: The bergamot in these teas is what gets them on this list! Love it. I used Stash for the tea-cake recipe.

Gluten Free and Vegan Carob Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ooooh baby! Life can’t get any better when I have warm gluten free, dairy free, egg free and cane sugar free cookies cooling on a wire rack in the kitchen. I have been making variations of these for over a year now and I have always just made them by randomly throwing some things into a bowl and somehow it has always worked, but now I have formulated an actual recipe to share! It’s still a little rough around the edges, but I really love it! If you aren't a fan of carob and can do sugar and dairy, you can always replace with chocolate chips. This recipe makes a dozen cookies, so it's not a huge batch (you can always double it!) but just enough if you aren't making them with the intention of sharing...

Carob Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients:

½ cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour
¼ cup Sorghum Flour
½ tsp Xanthan Gum
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg
¼ tsp Salt

½ tbs Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed in a separate bowl with
1 ½ tbs warm water. The mixture will become frothy and then add the other wet ingredients:

½ cup Agave Nectar
3 tbs Olive Oil
½ tbs Vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine until smooth. Then add:

1 ½ cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Rolled Oats
½ cup Dairy and Sugar Free Carob Chips (available at Market of Choice)

Spoon the dough onto a cookie mat that is lined with a baking mat or parchment paper. Bake on the center rack for 12-15 minutes until they are the texture you desire and then cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

The Ribbon-Cutting: Gluten Free, Vegan Strawberry Muffins

First blog post… and away we go! I am so excited to share a recipe I crafted for my debut post!

Recently at a family dinner my aunt-in-law had made strawberry cupcakes. They were slightly pink and had little bits of strawberry in them and looked so yummy! However, they contained some of my allergens so I could only gaze at them admiringly. So I am thrilled that I have created my own version that is completely "Meghan-friendly"!

These babies are vegan and free of gluten, wheat, refined sugar, nuts, corn and soy (just beggin’ allergy prone girls and guys to give them a try!). These fruity treats are not too sweet, yet light and dainty and are a perfect companion to your morning tea. I prefer to eat them fresh out of the oven while they're still warm!

Strawberry Muffins

1 ¾ Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Xantham Gum
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1/3 cup Agave Nectar
1 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 ½ tsp Ener-G Egg Substitute
2 tbs Warm water
15 Whole Strawberries

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Combine flour, baking soda and xantham gum in a mixing bowl.
2. Combine oil, agave nectar, vinegar and vanilla in a separate bowl.
3. Mix the egg substitute with the warm water and add to wet ingredients.
4. Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor and add to wet ingredients.
5. Add all the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine or use a mixer on medium speed.
6. Fill a standard 12 cup muffin tin with batter.
7. Bake on center rack for 15 minutes, rotating 180 degrees halfway through.
8. Muffins will be slightly golden and a cake tester will come out clean when they are done.

Enjoy!!