Haiti Bake Sale Success! + Almond Apricot Cookies

 

The bake sale went far better than any of us could have hoped for. People were lined up waiting before we were even finished setting up! And we sold out early - every last thing! A nice reminder that there is a big vegan community here, it's just not very centralized (however this could change in the future).

The best part: we raised $3192.45, donated to the Humanitarian Coalition for their efforts in Haiti!

I didn't bring my camera, but here are some photos that other people took:

(that's me in the polka dot dress, probably feeling flustered because it was so busy!)

 

more people

  

  

  

Some of the stuff I baked :)

(baklava recipe coming soon!)

And a recipe to leave you with:

Apricot Almond Cookies

These are a cross between these vegan cookies that I get at the cafe I always go to for studying in, and the east coast oatcakes that seem to be available at every cafe in Nova Scotia but none here. The cookies themselves are big, thick, and chewy. Nom nom nom. And they don't skimp on the apricots, either.

1 cup quick oats
1 cup whole what flour
1/3 cup oat brain
1/3 cup flax meal
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I use earth balance)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease a cookie sheet and set aside. Mix together the dry ingredients (oats - baking soda). Then chop up the shortening and mix it in, smushing it with your fingers to blend as well as possible. Add the agave, milk and vanilla, mixing with a wooden spoon. Then fold in the almonds and apricots. Shape into small patties, place on cookie sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes. Makes ~12 cookies.

Vancouver Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti!

Busy busy times, but with good reason:

 

(like the poster? I designed it! :D)

(although I admit that it doesn't look so good with the blog background) 

The organization for this event has been amazing, everyone has been so helpful and trusting. It's one of those times when you start to feel like there still is a lot of goodness in the world. 

I'm baking my 'famous' avocado nanaimo bars, baklava, cinnamon buns, and more (haven't totally decided yet). It's going to be awesome!

Christmas Buns

I’ve been cooking and baking up a storm since the winter break started, but a bit lazy on the posting part. But there’s more to come, I assure you! I few days before Christmas, I woke up craving cinnamon buns for breakfast (hey, it’s the holidays!). Fortunately I found Mihl’s recipe featuring (as you must already know, my favourite spice) cardamom! They were quick (apart from the rising time) easy to make, and delicious. After eating and sharing that batch of the little goodies, I decided to play around with the recipe and make another batch for my friend whom I was to see on Christmas eve. Here’s my modified version, which is lovely (if I do say so myself) but be sure to try the original recipe too!

Christmas Buns

Dough:

1 ½ cups flour

¼ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup almond meal

1 teaspoon cardamom

1/3 cup margarine

½ cup almond milk

½ package active dry yeast

zest of 2 clementines or mandarins

Filling:

2 tablespoons margarine

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon cardamom

¼ cup dried cranberries

Melt the margarine in a small saucepan, add the almond milk, then remove from heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile, combine flours, almond meal and cardamom in a bowl. Add yeast to the still-slightly-warm saucepan mixture and let sit for 5 minutes. Then add the clementine zest and combine with the dry ingredients. Knead dough for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a bowl, cover and let rise for at least half an hour.

When dough is risen, mix all of the filling ingredients together, except the cranberries. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and oil a baking sheet. Roll the dough into a rectangle (the bigger the better, but this stuff isn’t easy to roll out). Spread filling on top, then sprinkle with cranberries. Now roll into a log and cut into 10 pieces. Place rolls on the baking sheet and let rise for another half hour. Pop it into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Olive Biscuits

I've been busy these past couple of weeks, finishing up my summer job, doing teaching assistant work, and getting ready to go back to school. I really really hope I can manage to keep up this blog during the school year!

I've also been experimenting with making savoury baked goods, inspired by recipes like these. I figure they're a good way to satisfy my baking monkey and make good and healthy snacks and additions to bagged lunches. So far all of my attempts at savoury muffins have failed miserably, but I'm still working on it. And then I decided to try savoury biscuits and came up with these, based on this recipe. They were a great success!

Olive Biscuits

2 - 2 ½ cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons flax meal mixed with 6 tablespoons water
1 ¼ cups soy yogurt + extra for brushing on the tops of the biscuits
¾ cup olive oil
1 cup kalamata olives, chopped
5 stalks green onion, thinly sliced
1 handful fresh mint, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray one large baking sheet or two smaller ones, and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together the flours (starting with 2 cups white) and baking powder. Make a well in the middle and add all remaining ingredients. Mix and then knead the dough until it is soft and workable, adding up to ½ cup flour to get the right consistency. Shape into small balls (about ¼ cup’s worth of dough), place on the baking sheet, brush with yogurt, and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden on top.

Banana-Blue-Bread

I had some bananas to use up, and I was inspired by this recipe to make some banana bread with cardamom in it (because cardamom is my favourite spice in the whole world!). I think blueberries go pretty well with cardamom so I added them in, and I made some modifications so I could use maple syrup instead of the sugar (I’m taking a break from any type of cane sugar for the time being). Oh and I used spelt flour too. Here is the adapted version:

Banana-Blue-Bread

¼ cup coconut milk
1/3 cup almond milk
½ cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or any kind of vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe bananas
2 heaping cups spelt flour
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil/spray a loaf pan. Blend together the coconut milk, almond milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and bananas. In a large bowl, combine the spelt flour, cardamom, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just mixed. Fold in the blueberries. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tip: If the top starts to brown up before it’s ready, put a piece of tinfoil over it so it doesn’t brown too much.