Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It's hard to make good vegan cookies. I almost never trust recipes and instead look up older, tried-and-true non-vegan recipes and substitute ingredients. I modified another recipe to make these, and they were fantastic. Seriously, just the right combination of sweet and chewy and oozy. Cherries are a bit more expensive than raisins, but I think they really made the cookie.

1 cup Earth Balance, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup organic white sugar

2 Ener-G egg replacer equivalents

2 t. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

3 cups oats

1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chunks (or just regular vegan chocolate chips)

1 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup dried cherries

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Start by sifting the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the Earth Balance and sugars together, then stir in the egg replacer and vanilla extract. Slowly stir in the flour mixture until a dough forms - be wary of overmixing! Stir in the oats then add the chocolate chunks, walnuts, cherries, and stir until well combined.

Drop tablespoon-sized balls (I like big cookies!) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes then allow to cool on a baking sheet. They'll harden significantly once they cool down, so don't be afraid of taking them out too early.

Enjoy!

Cupcakes

Cupcakes are the best. Right? Right.

http://www.theppk.com/books/vegan-cupcakes-take-over-the-world/

Truffles

I can't remember the last time I had a truffle, nevermind a vegan one. I used full-fat coconut milk in place of heavy cream and they turned out super well. Definitely eat them up quickly though, as if that would be a problem, because the texture is the best immediately.

4 oz. baking chocolate, chopped
4 oz. vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 Tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp. almond extract
1/2 Tsp. almond or hazelnut extract
Decorative items such as nuts, coconut, cocoa powder, powdered sugar

Bring your coconut milk and extracts to a near-boil, then pour into a bowl with the baking chocolate and chocolate chips. Stir until melted, and voila! Ganache.

Let cool then chill for two hours.

Once solid, roll the mixture out into teaspoon-sized balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet... quickly, because the chocolate will start to melt. Chill overnight.

Now for the fun part! Roll your truffles around in whatever suits your fancy... I did sifted cocoa, powdered sugar, coconut, and chopped walnuts. Serve immediately or continue chilling.