Day 20: Vegan Chocolate Macaroons

Ok so these little sweets showed up last year, only under a different name. But this year we found out that a little girl in our family cannot eat wheat or milk, so I decided to find out if I could make these without any dairy content, and I was quite happy with the result! I tweaked the recipe a little bit, but it is practically the same :)

2 cups  sugar

½ cup   cocoa powder

½ cup   vegan-butter, or margarine

½ cup   almond milk

3 cups  quick cooking oats

1 cup    unsweetened coconut
1 tsp     vanilla

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat combine sugar, cocoa powder, milk and butter. Bring to a rolling boil, and maintain boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add oats and coconut and mix until combined.

Spoon on to parchment lined cookie sheet, and transfer to fridge to cool until firm.

And there you have it. Another delicious Christmas treat! And this one is Wheat and Dairy free! If you would like to also make them gluten free, instead of regular oats you can use gluten free oats, brown rice flakes, quinoa flakes, buckwheat flakes or any other gluten free grain as long as it is in it's flake form. If you want to try the gluten free version I would recommend letting the chocolate mixture cool a little before adding the flakes.

Are you done your shopping and wrapping yet? (Also, sorry I didn't actually get this posted on time).

Happy Baking!
xox

Vegan Apple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Day 5 is here already! This countdown is just flying by... today's cookie is a great alternative for anyone with a dairy, egg, or nut sensitivity - because there isn't any of the aforementioned!

⅔ cup    packed brown sugar

½ cup    margarine

1            apple, peeled, cored and chopped

1 tsp      vanilla

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp     baking soda

¼ tsp     salt

1            bar dark chocolate, or 1 cup carob chips*

If you are unsure about the milk content in the chocolate then stick with carob, which is a chocolate alternative. It is however much sweeter than chocolate so I only used ¾ cup.

I recipe calls for a food processor, but I used a hand blender. In a bowl blend brown sugar, margarine, apple and vanilla until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt; stir in chocolate.

Drop 1 tbsp 1 inch apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350˚F for 14-16 minutes, until edges are golden and tops firm. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Enjoy with a warm cup of tea!

Another delicious treat! This one comes to us from Canadian Living Magazine, December 2009, pg. 174. To go back and see the other recipes click on the Countdown button to the right, and to learn about some of the other contributors please visit the Bio Page.

xox