Creamsicle Biscotti

These Creamsicle Biscotti are vegan and get a wonderful vanilla flavour from non-dairy vanilla yogurt. A sprinkle of raw sugar on top adds a delicate texture as well, and a cookie or two is delicious dunked in hot cocoa.

There are few things my mom loves more than orange flavoured desserts. In particular, she has a soft spot for Creamsicles - something I could never quite wrap my head around being a die-hard chocoholic! That said, I do like to cater to her tastes when I cook for her, and the holidays is no exception. I had a good deal of vegan vanilla bean yogurt left over from previous biscotti making and the dregs of a bottle of orange extract as well, so everything fell into place almost automatically. I also opted not to drizzle these crunchy, fruity cookies with chocolate since I knew she would be cracking into her hot cocoa gift box soon and would get the Terry's Chocolate Orange experience she loves this time of year! As I've mentioned before, biscotti of any kind are drop-dead easy to make, and this goes double with a vegan recipe like this - no whipping eggs or getting your hands all oily, the yogurt does all the work for you and makes the house smell like a sunny day in Florida, despite what the thermometer and snow outside declare!

Gingerbread Biscotti

These vegan Gingerbread Biscotti are crunchy, spicy and 100% whole grain. A sprinkling of crystallized ginger on top adds texture and extra spice!

One of my favourite smells during the holidays is gingerbread baking. I have a lot of ginger lovers to bake for these days, and aside from the perennial Chestnut Gingerbread Cookies I try to add a few more variations to the list to keep people on their toes! Keeping in theme with the biscotti groove I was on this season, I whisked up a spicy, ginger-laden dough and got baking.

Now, when I say these make your house smell good, I mean really good. Stage your house and ask for $1 million good. We had company for dinner the night I baked them and the guests kept asking if we were making mulled cider due to the sweet and spicy scent wafting around the house. To be honest, I would not recommend these for coffee though - Mom dunked hers in black tea which flavoured both cookie and beverage like chai, but I heard it's also fantastic in white hot chocolate! However you choose to eat these, you will not be disappointed - and your guests will never guess they are vegan either!

Maple Almond Biscotti

These Maple Almond Biscotti are vegan and whole grain with a subtle yet unmistakeable maple nuance from maple sugar and extract. A handful of ground almonds and ground flax up the nutty flavours as well, making these a unique, delicious and healthy treat any time!

Given the large influx of Italian culture in our household (including the Feast of the 7 Fishes on Christmas Eve), biscotti making has become more or less a mainstay of our holiday baking. I love making these crunchy cookie sticks for gift giving - for one, they're super easy to make, two, they're infinitely variable, and three they last forever! Well, not forever, but a very long time. This year I managed to concoct a decent assortment of them, including these Maple Almond Biscotti. I liked the inclusion of ground almonds as opposed to chopped or slivered ones because I feel the integrate their flavour more completely which plays off the maple and vanilla flavours more completely.

I also decided to make these biscotti vegan-friendly and a little healthier by relying on a non-dairy yogurt to replace the eggs and oil. The slight tang helped keep the cookies from being too sweet and added to a well rounded richness. I left my biscotti unadorned but bet a drizzle of dark chocolate or a sprinkle of copped almonds on top before baking would make these even more gorgeous!

Ginger Candied Spoon Fruit

Ginger Candied Spoon Fruit is a spicy and sweet combination of Asian pears and apples macerated in sugar and two forms of ginger. A spoonful on waffles or stirred into oatmeal is a delicious way to start the day, or top ice cream for a zingy dessert!

I love ginger, and I'm not alone. In fact, a good 2/3 of my holiday baking this year features the spice, and when I go out for sushi with my mom we fight over the slices of pickled gari that come on the plate. I'm also a huge sucker for Asian pears, and in the winter when they are in their prime I hit up the Asian grocery by my work and stock up - sometimes too much! This recipe proved to be the answer to that problem and my lust for ginger everything - especially with the digestive issues that also seem to pop up in this time of excess and sedentary living!

These macerated apples and pears get cooked in a super gingery syrup that infuses every bit of the fruit, making them almost bits of candy in the jar. While making it is a process, it is 3/4 hands-off and the reward is so worth it! I'm telling you, I made 2 jars to "test it out" on Saturday and one is already gone, lost to ice cream desserts and oatmeal breakfasts. I don't know how true it is about ginger keeping colds at bay, but I can tell you it's tasty medicine if that's the case!

Tomato Chickpea Soup (Pressure Canned)

Tomato Chickpea Soup is flavoured with cumin, ginger, garlic, garam masala, basil and curry powder for a spicy - but not hot - dinner ready in the pantry! Jars of this will be welcome in the cold months to come!

After waking up to an ice storm and frigid temperatures, it's official - we are into soup season. Since I acquired a pressure canner a few years ago, I spent pieces of my summers making jars of homemade soup for when the school year started again and cooking more or less transitioned to "quick and easy". The other great thing about canning soup and stews is that they make awesome holiday gifts - my Habitant Pea Soup is a regular feature in my gift baskets because it seems to be everyone's favourite (plus it's gluten free and vegan) but I also like to add a hearty and spicy soup to the lineup - both for others and for me!

When I was in university, the days the cafeteria had Chana Masala on the menu were some of the best. Ottawa, in case you've never been, gets insanely cold and snowy come wintertime, and the spiced, tomatoey chickpeas never got the "weird" texture of some of the other steam table items. This soup carries many of the same flavours as my favourite Indian entree, but with extra broth perfect for soaking up rice or slurping with a spoon. I actually prefer to partially cook some brown rice and add it to the soup as it heats on the stove to cook it through and thicken the soup, and mom added chopped sweet potatoes to hers for a similar effect and a sweeter taste.

By the way, if you don't have a pressure canner, no worries! Use 4 cups fully cooked chickpeas (not just soaked and flash-cooked) and simmer the soup for 45 minutes, adding the chickpeas for the last 15. For a creamy soup, puree everything - beans and all. Hearty, healthy and delicious when it's too cold for words outside!