Chocolate Chip Scones

Yum! I do love a good scone now and again, and today seems like a nice day for baking. And scones are so easy to make! I like mine with chocolate chips, but they're just as good plain, with berries or with nuts, so you can throw in whatever suits your fancy (or whatever you happen to have on hand).

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup shortening/crisco
1/2 cup soy milk
1.5 teaspoons egg replacer + 2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

Stir together the dry ingredients. Cut the shortening in finely, then stir in the soy milk and egg replacer. When well mixed, add in the chocolate chips and mix. Roll dough out about 1/4" thick and cut into triangle shapes. Place them on a baking sheet, leaving some room between each scone, and brush the top of each with a little soy milk, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 450 degrees F for about 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. So delightful!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

My wonderful and accommodating mother whipped up some of these for me for my birthday a few years ago, and they were so amazing that I tucked the recipe away for a later date. I think I might make a few batches of these in a couple weeks to give out to my vegan pals for valentine's day. The chocolate and peanut butter combination is basically my favorite thing ever and I used to love reese's pb cups...plus the recipe is pretty easy.

Ingredients:
One package vegan chocolate chips -or- 12 oz. of a fancy vegan chocolate bar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
24 paper gem size candy liners -or- (for big pb cups) muffin/cupcake liners
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon vegan margarine, melted

Instructions:
Melt chocolate chips or candy bar and vegetable shortening over hot, though not boiling water (this is the double-boiler method, see here for more detailed instructions. You can also just melt the chocolate/shortening in the microwave, but you may need to microwave it a few times during the course of assembling the cups if you go this route). Stir until everything is melted, smooth, and well-combined.

Coat the inside of the candy or muffin liners with chocolate (for the candy liners use one teaspoon of chocolate mixture to do this, for the muffin liners, just be judicious--is should coat the bottom and edges but not just be glopped in there--leave room for the peanut butter). A rubber spatula will help you gently push the chocolate up the sides of the liners. Chill the filled liners in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until they're hardened. If you're using muffin liners, it might be a good idea to put them in a muffin tin so they don't lose their shape.

Combine the peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, and margarine in a bowl and stir well until blended. Using slightly rounded measured tablespoonfuls or a melon baller, shape the peanut butter filling into balls. Place one pb ball in each chocolate cup and press lightly with your fingers to flatten, then spoon the melted chocolate mixture on top (about one tablespoonful for the candy liners) and smooth over. Place these in the refrigerator again to harden (about 45 minutes).

It's best to keep these refrigerated until you're ready to eat or gift them. Hopefully I won't eat them all before I can package them up nicely for valentine's day.

Tiger Balls

One of the gals who I used to cook with for Food Not Bombs gave me this recipe. These are quite possibly the most decadent dessert I can imagine, and they're super easy. If I weren't trying to keep my figure, I'd eat the entire batch by myself.

Ingredients:

2 cups vegan cookie crumbs or crushed up graham crackers
3/4 cup peanut butter
3.5 cups confectioners sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) of vegan margarine
1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Instructions:

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. In a large mixing bowl, combine crumbs/graham crackers, peanut butter, sugar and margarine. Mix well. Roll the mixture into 1" balls, place on the cookie sheet, and chill in the fridge. Melt the chocolate chips in a plastic bag in the microwave; When the chocolates cools a little, cut a small slit in the edge of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the balls. Chill for another 30 minutes, then sit on your couch and glory in the surely sinful delight of Tiger Balls.

Classic Vegan Doughnuts

When I was a wee one, there was a great classic diner in my town that hadn't changed even a bit since the 1940s. They made the most amazing donuts ever...warm, with cinnamon and sugar or dipped in chocolate--the sort of donuts that you just can't find anymore. This is a recipe from that era, adapted for an ethical lifestyle.

Ingredients:
Egg replacer for 2 eggs (I use Ener-G egg replacer)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3/4 cup soy milk
1/2 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
3.5 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
OR 2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions:

Beat the egg replacer, sugar, and shortening.

Combine the 1/2 tablespoon of white wine vinegar or lemon juice with the 3/4 cup soy milk to approximate sour milk and stir this into the above mixture.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon, then add this to the mixture slowly. You can use vanilla in lieu of the nutmeg and cinnamon if you prefer.

Chill the dough for two hours (its worth the wait, seriously). After two hours, begin heating a deep sauce pot filled with several inches of canola or other vegetable oil (enough for a doughnut to drop to the bottom then rise to the top) or better yet, fire up your deep fryer if you're lucky enough to have one. While the oil is heating, roll out your doughnut dough and cut with a donut cutter (if you don't have one a biscuit cutter will do...just cut the middle hole out with a knife).

Once the oil has reached 370 to 380 degrees, drop a few donuts in at a time and fry until both sides are brown (you will have to flip them with a slotted spoon to get both sides). Monitor the oil temperature carefully--if it gets too hot the donuts will burn on the outside and be uncooked on the inside. no fun.

When the donuts are a nice golden brown, remove them from the oil and place on a brown paper bag to drain off any excess oil.

Extra credit:
The coat the donuts with cinnamon and sugar, mix a generous amount of sugar with cinnamon and dump into a smallish paper bag. place a donut into the bag and shake well to cover them all over with the mixture. This can also be done with powdered sugar.

To make chocolate covered donuts, melt some vegan chocolate chips or a vegan candy bar in your microwave and dip one side of each donut in the chocolate. allow to dry.

These donuts are naturally most exciting when served warm, but theyre delightful at any time.