Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Look at the BABIES!!!

I'm such a proud mommy - and I've got lots of babies on their way! ...though of course, by babies I mean wee ones from the garden, not me! Take a gander at the 10 or so tiny fuzzballs (AKA peaches) on our backyard tree, and the itty bitty cherries too! Unfortunately, the cherries must have been amazing, since about a day after I took this shot (last week) they were gone, downed by our resident flock of sparrows. I guess there will be no sweet gems of cherry goodness this year. But LOOK at the peaches! I couldn't be happer, I swear! Hey, some people have real babies, some have furbabies, I have fuzzbabies. What can I say? With luck I'll be able to get my hands on some of the ripe peaches when they mature in August (or so), I'd LOVE to make and show off a peach tart to you all!

For now, I'm still in chocolatey, rich sweet mode. In preparation for making Andrew's birthday cake tomorrow afternoon (I can't wait!!) I got my chocolate gear on by making a recipe I'd had in my Favourites folder for a while: Brownie Roll-Out Cookies from Smitten Kitchen. They looked so good - dark, rich and soft, begging for an ice cream middle (sorry, Deb! I know you couldn't bring yourself to reccomend it ;-) so I did it for you!). The idea behind these cookies is simple: unadulterated chocolate goodness. No bits or bobs, spices or extracts (other than vanilla, of course), nibs or chips. Cocoa powder, flour, butter, eggs, period.

Umm, yeah. This leads me to where I got a bit, er, creative if you will. I don't use eggs in my baking, I can't stand the thought of only white-flour baking anymore (tomorrow's cake is going to smart!) and we had no butter ($5 a pound? Sheesh!) so unfortunately in terms of ingredients, they aren't true to Deb's mom's original. I did resist the urge to add anything else besides the necessary substitutes though... nothing fancy, just pure vegan substitutions (margarine for butter, silken tofu for eggs) and a touch of barley flour for a hint of "je ne sais quois" without a "hello, I am Mr. Whole Grain" message coming through. I call these a success, because if nothing else, my sister ate one and liked it! Try that on for size, cause it's not easy to do!

Thank you Deb, for the great recipe. And thank you, Ruth, for giving me an event to show off my wares! Check out her roundup of Bookmarked Recipes every week for more inspiration!

Vegan Brownie Roll - Out Cookies
Makes 48 small cookies
5 oz silken, low-fat tofu
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 cup barley flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup margarine, softened
1 cup sugar

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment.
  2. Puree tofu and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Set aside.
  3. Whisk flours, cocoa, salt, and baking powder in bowl.
  4. Cream margarine and sugar until fluffy.
  5. Beat in tofu mixture until smooth.
  6. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill one hour.
  7. Roll out on a floured counter about 1/4" thick, and cut into shapes.
  8. Bake 10-11 minutes, or until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed.
  9. Cool 3 minutes on sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 81.8
Total Fat: 4.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 48.0 mg
Total Carbs: 10.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.0 g
Protein: 1.3 g
WW Points: 1.5

As well, a huge thanks out to Sophie from the blog Flour Arrangements! She has given my Healthy Baker blog the Arte y Pico award! I'm very honoured to recieve it, and since that blog is only a reference piece for my seminars now and I no longer update it, I'll pass it on to 5 of my favourite bloggers from here.

So for this award, I'd like to nominate:

Carrots and Cake - Aside from being a wonderful blogger, Tina's getting married in 10 days! Congrats!
The Food Allergy Queen - Though different from mine, her allergies are just as varied and difficult to deal with. Her blog is an inspiration!
Superspark - I'm still drooling over these.
Shortcut to Mushrooms: A Vegetarian Foodblog - Great photos, and equally delicious meals!
Veggie Delight - Only 16 and well on her way to becoming the next foodie star!

Congrats to all of you!

7 comments :

  1. Thank you so much for passing on this award to me!

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  2. Thanks for the award- how exciting! Definitely give the cranberry-lemon squares a try when you have time!

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  3. Thanks so much for the award! So cool! :)

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  4. I love the fuzzballs...smitten by them! & love the brownie roll-out cookies too! Am sure the kitchen must have smelt divine! Got here from Ruth's...& am glad I did!!!

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  5. Hi Sarah, thanks for the shoutout! Glad we can all share what we've learned in our travels in the food jungle.

    Kishari
    The Food Allergy Queen

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  6. What great brownies! Love the way they've been made, and I'm sure everyone who had one loved eating them too!

    Thanks for sending this into bookmarked recipes!

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  7. looks delicious,..when is atrt bakin i sure will try it out

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Thanks for the feedback!