Saturday, December 20, 2008

I Did It.


in the absence of a picture of pumpkin pie, i will post a picture of the family horse, who is pumpkin pie coloured. 

After years of irrational fear and avoidance I finally made pumpkin pie puree out of a pumpkin I have had hanging around since Hallowe'en. I had been keeping it in Kai's wagon on the patio, so it was frozen solid when I tried to cut it, and I had to strain the hell out of it because freezing it had resulted in a lot of extra water, but pumpkin pie puree it now is. T'wasn't so hard. 

UPDATE: and the pie, she was good.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

How German Vegans...


get Giggy-Wid-It.

I am making the cinnamon star cookies, myself. 
xo.h

pictured above: after a hard hour of piling snow, he will be expecting cookies.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Cookie-Tracker 2008


This is more for me to keep track of my nerdy baking life than anything else, but if you are into vegan baking/the PPK/extreme list-oriented nerdiness you may find it interesting to read this growing list of what I have baked for this holiday season. I'll keep updating as I bake, then post a picture of the assorted vegan cookie plate I am going to bring to my parents' place for Christmas Eve. The plan is that I save one batch of everything I make to make an office-party-esque cookie tray. So far the saving part is not going so well, but I can always make more. :) Keep checking back to this post, I won't be making new ones as I add, just adding on to this one...

So, the (to be added-to) list...

1. Sparkled Ginger Cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance *with baking powder instead of baking soda mishap that actually worked out great! they were just puffier and chewier rather than flat and crispy. yum! i used 3/4 cup of sugar rather than the 1 cup. 

2. Buttery Lemon Cutout Cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance *I had problems rolling these out, so I turned them into little rustic circular shortbread looking cookies instead. they are deeee-licious.

3. Gingerbread Cutout Cookies from La Dolce Vegan *i am determined to use the cute mitten cookie cutter that my mom just gave me! i wanted to use them for the lemon cookies above, but no go, so gingerbread mittens it is.  (i hope -- the dough is chilling now.) update: dough was still a bit breaky, so i went with the smaller gingerbread reindeer, which was actually cuter as the dough was a perfect Rudolph Brown colour. I will be using an Isa Moskowitz recipe for the bigger men and mittens which I've used before with success. The reindeer are so good btw -- they use shortening (organic earth balance) so they have an oreo crispy melty thing going on that is rare in the gingerbread galaxy.

4. Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies - from Vegan With a Vengeance. I made them with apricot jam, and am going to make raspberry, too. I used only 1/2 a cup of sugar instead of 2/3 of a cup, but in this case I think the greater amount of sugar would have worked better. I'll be putting in the full amount for the raspberry ones.

xo.h




Friday, December 12, 2008

Handmade Christmas


This Christmas I am determined to stick to my goal of having a totally handmade Christmas. I haven't signed this nifty pledge yet, but I plan to (update: I just did!) This means that I will be buying my presents from Etsy, from craft shows, making them myself or getting into the kitchen and baking them up. 

I am pretty much out of Christmas shopping money already, and I REFUSE to use credit cards for anything anymore, so it looks like I'll be spending some serious time peering through my oven window this holiday season. 

Sometime I worry that people won't want to receive baked goods as gifts, or that they won't be memorable, but then I think back to a birthday I had where I got all kinds of cool presents, I'm sure, but the one present I remember was a huge jar of homemade hummus with a beautiful bow around it! I think, too, that in this day of e-cards and facebook virtual presents, that giving a gift of nourishing or just plain fun food is more meaningful than ever.

I like to include the recipe when I give a gift of food, as well, so the recipient can make the cupcakes, cookies, bread, whathaveyou, again and again and hopefully think of me when they do! 

Consider including some baking gifts on your holiday gift-giving list this year! They're eco-friendly, to boot, as they leave behind very little waste and are as locally made as it gets!

xo.h