Vegan, gluten-free, with fruit? Yes, please. Except for how much sugar went into these bad boys, I could almost completely convince myself that they were healthy.
Which is probably why we ate them for breakfast. And why I finished off the batch, only two days after they were baked.
Based on a recipe from this book (affiliate link), I tweaked it a little to make the batter less dry (to compensate for the gluten-free flour), added a little extra of this and that, and still ended up with way too much. I suggest halving the recipe’s ingredients, and enjoying with sweet tea.
2 bananas, mashed
3/4 c. apple sauce
3/4 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose)
2 1/2 c. rolled oat flakes (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Rolled Oats)
1/4 t. xanthan gum
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 c. raisins
1/2 c. vegan chocolate chips (try finding fair-trade certified, for extra tasty karma)
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix together the bananas, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients except for the raisins and chocolate chips.
- Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture, mixing together well, then add in the raisins and chocolate chips and mix again until just blended well.
- After lining or lightly oiling it, drop spoon-fulls on a cookie sheet.
- Bake for 12-15.
Makes at least a dozen huge-ass cookies.
I have these cookbooks.
In actuality, I have a lot of books with recipes in them, and a lot of bookmarks saved on my computer. I rarely, if ever use them. And if I do, it’s never to the T – I always have to change something because I think I’m that awesome of a chef, apparently because of food allergies, and now, our new-found vegan practices.
The thing of it is: I’ve known a lot of people who didn’t consider themselves very good cooks, because they couldn’t follow a recipe and make it look like the photo in the book, or because they couldn’t say, “Self, let’s make a cake!” and just pull out ingredients, willy-nilly.
Did I just age myself, using the phrase ‘willy-nilly’?
I can’t do either of those very well, either. I can follow a recipe and it’ll probably look different than in the book, and I can throw together some ingredients to make a soup or sauce or dressing or dip, but nothing so chef-defining as a baked good.
I need guidelines for that shit.
I also need guidelines for the beginning of vegan cooking, because as much as I like to think that I know everything about nutrition, combining gluten-free, dairy-free, protein and calcium-rich food stuffs in my head is libel to cause something to blow.
Enter those cookbooks I have.
Tonight’s dinner had two functions: chase away the cold bug that Zoë and I seem to have picked up, and use up some of the veggies I’ve got in the crisper. Because I don’t wanna be sick, and I might have embraced one-too-many a produce sale in the past week.
Can you say home-made veggie stock and pasta sauce?
Based on the recipe from La Dolce Vegan! Vegan Livin’ Made Easy
*, here’s the recipe:
2 medium leeks, sliced (white and pale green parts only)
2 T. olive oil (I used extra virgin. Hah.)
2 medium potatoes, cubed (I used one white and one Yukon gold)
2 c. vegetable stock (I used Campbell’s, but I’ll try it again soon with home-made)
1/4 t. salt and ground black pepper, each (I used sea salt and fresh black peppercorns)
1/2 c. cold coconut milk
Dried dill weed, to garnish
- Sauté the leeks until they become transparent in half the oil over medium heat.
- Add the rest of the oil and the potatoes, continue sautéing for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.
- Add remaining ingredients, except the coconut milk, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until potatoes are done.
- Using a hand blender or food processor, blend the soup until smooth, adding 1/4 cup of coconut milk at a time.
- Garnish with a few sprinkles of dried dill weed.
Serves two, heartily.
* Affiliate link
