Chocolate Cutout Cookies With Orange Glaze

Currently it is like 50 degrees outside and raining buckets of cats and frogs and what not. I live in Vt for a few reasons, and one of them is winter, so the warm rain is just not nice. Apparently these cookies are the closest thing to snowflakes I will be seeing for a little while…(sad face inserted here) But I am hoping that juuuust maybe it will turn, and all of a sudden it will be snow coming down and not rain. And that it snows and snows and snows, like a foot or 2 of it. I want so much snow that I am stuck in my house for a least a solid 24 hours (of course with the power still on and all the necessities I would need) and the only way out being by foot or sled. And you know what I would do if I was snowed in? Lounge around in my pj’s all day (or at least until like 10 am), have a never emptying cup of hot coffee in hand, play around outside and make a snow fort, and definitely make cookies. Doesn't that just sound so nice?

But I am not snowed in, and wasn’t snowed in and probably will not be snowed in for the foreseeable future. But I can still, and did make cookies so there is that. Chocolate cut out snowflakes with orange glaze to be exact. A good all around chocolate cookie jazzed up with a citrus kick. Simple, elegant and perfect for all of your holiday cookie needs. Plus it is just a really pretty cookie. I just might make a few more batches and liter the front yard with them. I’ll make my own freaking snow, even if it is out of cookies. Then I really wouldn’t be able to leave my house due to the crazy fat squirrels attacking the lawn. That would be something. HA.

To the snowflake cookies! (They can be any shape really, but snowflakes are so nice)

The stuff. Sugar, vegan butter, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, canola oil, brewed coffee, grind chia seeds, vanilla extract, an orange, and some powdered sugar.

First, mix the ground chia seeds with the coffee for caffeinated chia eggs.

Beat the butter with the sugar to give it a good fluff, then add in the oil, vanilla, and chia eggs to the mix.

Beat until combined.

Place all the dry into a bowl and whisk together until fully incorporated.

Dump the mixed dry into the were and grab a wooden spoon. Start mixing.

Cookie dough is a-formin.

Collect the dough in some plastic and smash into a disk. Place in fridge to rest for at least a few hours, but a day is good too.

Chilled dough, flour, a cookie cutter, and a rolling pin. I think you know what to do. Just really make sure to keep the counter and rolling pin floured or else the dough will stick and that is just so annoying.

Yes this dough is a little delicate, but not in a bad way. It might tear or slightly crumble but you just smoosh it back in there and you are all set. Anyway, after rolling dough out to about 1/2 inch thick, cut cookies out with a well floured cutter.

Cookies on the baking sheet ready for the oven.

Cookies on a baking sheet right out of the oven.

Now those cookies got to cool so get them on a rack.

While cookies are cooling, fix yourself some glaze. The powdered sugar, zest of orange and juice of orange will do the trick.

A good looking glaze. Thick put drizzable consistency.

And to finish. Drizzle the cookies with glaze, dunk the tops in the glaze, or do a little of both (I say both). The glaze does harden after a few minutes so these are very much stackable cookies.

And then what you do with the finished cookies is up to you. I let the mr eat a good few, saved a few for Christmas and dropped some off to some peps. They were well received for sure.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend and are able to get in on some cookie making.

-C

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Chocolate Cutout Cookies With Orange Glaze

makes about 3 dozen cookies

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cup vegan butter

• 1/2 cup oil

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 tablespoons ground chia seeds

• 6 tablespoon coffee or water (coffee brings out the chocolate flavor more)

• 1 orange

• 1 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl, cream together the white sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add in the oil, vanilla, and coffee chia eggs. Mix until incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa. salt. and baking powder. Dump dry into wet and mix until a dough forms. Gather dough into a ball and place in plastic and flatten into a disk. Place in fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350

Take dough from fridge and unwrap. Place on a well floured surface and roll until it is about 1/4 inch thick. The dough is delicate and a little crumbly, but don’t worry to much, just squish it back together and keep rolling it out. With a floured cookie cutter, cut your shapes and gently place them on a cookie sheet. Gather remnants of dough back into a ball and re-roll out and cut more cookies until you have used up all the dough. Place cookies into oven and bake for 11-12 minutes or until the cookies have puffed up a bit and the bottoms are slightly browned. Once cookies are cooked, let cool on a wire rack.

While cookies are cooling make the glaze. Mix about a tablespoon of the zest of the orange with the powdered sugar and add in a few tablespoons of the juice of the orange until the glaze is slightly runny. Once cookies are cooled either dip the tops in the glaze or drizzle the glaze on top of cookies (or do some of both). Then eat. If you wait a little while, the glaze will harden and then you can stack them and then if you want, maybe wrap on a few in little packages to give to someone you like. Either way, place uneaten cookies in a airtight container. Should last about a week, but can you not eat them for that long?

Jalapeño Lime Corn Milk Biscuits

I really am just trying to find new ways to use up as much corn as I can. The mr won't really eat it (he says he hates it, but doesn't really, but is now really not eating it) and the littles can only eat so much. I have some in the fridge pickled, some in the freezer, and yet every time I come home from farm share I end up brining like 15 more pieces home with me. So I had to get a little crafty with this last batch. I milked it and made biscuits. And it was exactly the right thing to do. Making corn milk was genius (which makes me a genius?) and I am now going to be baking everything with it until I use up all the corn. 

These biscuits are very versatile, like all good biscuits should be. I served them to Barb and the mr with chili and of course they loved them but also I smothered raspberry jam all over a few and the mr was into that. Butter or almond butter too, or just plain. They can be eaten in all sorts of yummy ways.  And if you really are into the corn milk part but not the jalapeño or lime-ness of the biscuit, just don't add that stuff in. A simple corn milk biscuit would be just fine too.  Aaannd if you have a corn hater in the house, they still will probably like theses, or so this goes my experience, although I still don't think he hate corn. But what do I know? 

To the biscuits.

The stuff. Corn, soy milk, a lime, a few jalapeños, and earth balance. In the bowl we have some  flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Cook tha corn. A quick few minutes in boil water will do the trick. 

Get all that corn off those cobs. Sure you can nibble, it's hard not to. 

Fresh corn and soy milk go into the blender and blended until all smooth and creamy. Taste it.. it is pretty creamy dreamy.  

That is the corn milk. You could drink it just like this and it would not be weird. It is delicious. 

Get you jalapeños, remove seeds, and give them a good small dice and toss them into the bowl with the flours and stuff. Also zest the lime into the bowl with the flour.

Cold plant butter goes in first and cut in (I used fork, but you could use a pastry blender) until the dough looks crumbly. Add in the corn milk and the juice from the lime  and gently stir to just combined.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface and gather it all together then lightly press it down until  it's about an inch thick. 

This is the best part, ( Because I love the look of the cut out dough.. It apeals to me in some great way that I don't yet understand) cut the biscuits. I went and grabbed a biscuit cutter which I barely ever use, so that was a win.

Once you cut out the first biscuits, you can gather the dough and gently press it back together and cut out  more until you use all the dough.

Place the cut out biscuits on a baking sheet and brush the tops brushed with a little corn milk then into the hot oven they go.

Out they come looking all biscuity and such.. And don't mind the red reflection. That be my shirt. Note to self and to all. Don't wear red while taking pictures with reflective materials. 

Letting the biscuits be cool, just for a few minutes.

Still slightly warm all cozied together. 

Nothing like a basket of biscuits to make people happy.

-C

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Jalapeño Lime Corn Milk Biscuits 

makes about 15 smaller biscuits 

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 ears of corn
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon baking podwer
• 1/2 teaspoon basking soda 
• 1/4 cup  cold vegan butter
• 2 jalapeños 
• I lime 

Cook corn by removing husks and  dropping into a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes. When corn is cooked, remove from water and allow to cool.  Once cooled enough to handle, cut all the corn off the cob and place into the blender with the soy milk. Blend until smooth. It should measure out to be a little more then 2 cups. If you have less, add in more soy milk until is measures 2 cups.  Place corn milk in fridge for at least 1/2 hour to cool. 

Preheat oven to 450.

Place flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Zest the lime in as well and mix it all together. Grab jalapeños, cut in half, remove seeds, then dice into very small pieces. Mix those into mixture.  Now cut in the butter with either a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Add in juice of the lime and 2 cups of  the cooled corn milk and mix until just barley incorporated.

Dump the mixture onto a flour surface. Gather it al together and then press it flat until its about an inch thick. With a biscuit cutter, or a knife if you want square biscuits, cut out biscuits. If you use a cutter, place cut biscuits onto a baking sheet then gather the remaining dough and gently press back together and cut out more biscuits until dough is used up.  Once all the biscuits are on the baking sheet, brush the tops with corn milk  if you have a little left over or just plain soy milk then place them into the hot oven.

Bake for 17-22 minutes or until the biscuits are a nice golden brown. Once baked, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool, or toss into basket with a tea towel and serve warm.

Then eat them.

Fresh Cranberry Chocolate Chip Scones

I am on full fledged baking mode. I bought the Costco sized bag of flour, stocked up on spices and chocolate chips, and am counting down the days to when all the littles come over for the cookie decorating party. But I am also trying to pace myself because I don't need to have cookies, cake, and candies all over the house quite yet. The season is young and the time for stuffing your face with all the candies and cookies awaits. Until then, (next week sounds about right) sensible baking like bread and scones (yes, scones are sensible)

The other morning I woke up and was very determined that I must make scones. I don't really know why scones, maybe it was the news of Prince Harrys engagement  (the dream of being princess is now dead)  but it was a fierce determination..  And they had to be cranberry because well, I have a tone of cranberries in the fridge. And I know I could have made them just cranberriy, but why not add a little chocolate. Still sensible in my book.  So scones I did make. And after he shared one with Barb, the mr has been eating them for breakfast which is just another reason why they are sensible...they are breakfast food. 

The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (all in the bowl). Sugar, coconut oil, cinnamon, soy milk and vinegar. And of course fresh cranberries and chocolate chips.

The sugar and cinnamon go into the bowl with the rest of the dry...whisk it all together. Oh, and preheat the oven.

Mix a tablespoon of vinegar into the milk so it starts to sour.

Coconut oil gets cut in to the mixture.. You want a course crumb, kind of like pea sized chunks of oil mix around in there.

And now rough chop the cranberries which is a little difficutl because they all want to roll away, but you can do it. 

I rough chopped the chocolate chips as well because why not.

Mix the cranberries and chocolate into the mixture until evenly incorporated.

Then dump the milk in.

Gently mix until the dough just comes together. Dump our onto a well floured surface. 

Pat the dough into a circle and flatten out until it's about an inch and a half thick. Cut the circle into 8-10 equal pieces. 

Place the scones on a baking sheet and brush with a little milk. Pop them into the preheated oven 

Pop them out when they are all nice and golden brown. 

Place them on a cooling rack.

And watch them disappear or like a sensible person, eat one everyday for breakfast. 

Have a great weekend.

-C

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Fresh Cranberry Chocolate Chip Scones 

makes 8-10 scones

• 2  1/4 cups flour 
• 1/3 cup  sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1  teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 hefty cup fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup plant milk plus about a tablespoon more for brushing on top
• 1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the vinegar to the milk and set aside. With a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut the coconut oil into the dry mixture until it becomes a course crumb. 

Rough chop the cranberries and the chocolate chips (optional on the chocolate chips) and toss both into the bowl. Give it a quick mix to coat it all then dump in the milk. Mix until the dough comes together (DON"T OVER MIX) then dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten out into a disk that is about and inch and a half thick. Cut into 8-10 equal sized wedged and place not a baking sheet. Brush the tops with a little milk and pop into the preheated oven.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are all nice and golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Then eat them .

Cinnamon Star Bread

I have been so excited all week to make this star bread. About a week ago, while perusing  King Arthur Flour recipes, I saw this  amazing star shaped cinnamon bun situation and just knew that I had to make it. I checked the recipe, made a a bunch of tweaks (made it vegan and a little simpler) and set a date with the oven. I figured that Friday was the day because well, this bread is basically a really pretty cinnamon bun and cinnamon buns are great for the weekend and plus the temperature in the world dropped to like super freaking freazing cold and what better way to stay warm then to crank the oven. 

And make it I did. And honestly. this was one of the most satisfying bread bakes that I have had in a while. It is just so dang pretty and smells so good and was honestly way easier to make then it looks (seriously, really simple). I don't know if I am ever going to be ale to make cinnamon buns the regular way again. I mean look at this.  And best to let you know that it feeds a crowd, which is fantastic if you are going to be having any big family/friend gatherings in the next month or two. (or if you are just awesome and want to eat the whole thing to your face). Think about it, if you make this for the people (or yourself)  how cool and awesome and fancy you are going to seem. It's really a win win win all around here so I don't see a reason to not make it. Trust me, and thank me later. 

The stuff of stars. Flour. salt. yeast and soy milk. A little oil, sugar, mashed sweet potato, earth balance  and cinnamon. 

To start, a  couple of tablespoons sugar and the yeast go into the warm soy milk to kick start that yeast and get mixed together.

Salt, oil, and mashed sweet potato go into the big bowl with the flour.

Then the yeast mixture gets pouted in too. Get ready to mix. And mix.

And after mixing, some kneading.  A well floured surface with a extra flour on the side is needed here. You are going to want to knead the dough for about 5 minutes, adding a little flour whenever the dough gets to sticky. 

Once the dough is nice and smooth looking, cover it in oil and stick it into a bowl and cover it  and let  rise for about an hour. 

Make your cinnamon sugar mixture while waiting . 

Dough doubled in size and dumped onto the well flour counter. 

Take a dough cutter or knife and divided the dough  into four equal pieces and roll each piece into ball.

While keeping your surface well floured, roll a dough ball into circle (or as close to a circle as you can get it) about 12 inched wide 

Place rolled dough onto parchment paper and cover the surface with  earth balance. Then sprinkle a third of the cinnamon sugar mixture all over that.

Grab another ball of dough and roll it out the same size as the first and place on top the first dough. Repeat the earth balance and sugar mixture and then cover that with another rolled out dough. Earth balance and sugar mixture one more time, then the last dough.

All stacked up.Take the rolling pin and give the whole stacked thing a gentle little roll, just to make sure all layers are stuck together.

The fun part. Grab a small circle cutter or lid (I used small jar lid) and place directly in the middle. Take your dough cutter and score your cuts. Score into quarters then each corner into six pieces. You end up with twenty-four pieces. There needs to be a even amount of pieces in order for the design to work so you could do  22-16 pieces. I wouldn't  go less.

To get the twist, grab a piece in each hand, give a little tug and twist the pieces towards each other 3 times. Take the ends and kind of tuck and pinch them together.  Repeat until all the pieces care twisted. 

 This is probably the most pretty cinnamon thing I have ever seen. 

Slide the star on the parchment onto a baking sheet and cover to rise and rest for about half hour or so and get the oven preheated.

After the second rise and right before you stick it into he oven, brush the top with a little plant milk.

And into the hot oven it goes. 

Aaaaa. So freaking pretty! 

After a few minutes, if you decided you want a little glaze action, go for it. I made up a super simple one, just a splash of vanilla in powder sugar with a splash of milk. 

Drizzled and ready for action. 

Now let the people eat. 

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Cinnamon Star Bread

makes 12-13 servings 

For the dough 

• 2 3/4 -3 cups all purpose flour plus more for kneading.

• 1/4 cup mashed sweet potato *

• 1 1/4 cup warm soy (or any plant) milk plus 1 tablespoon to brush on pre bake

• 1/4 cup neutral oil plus 1 tablespoon to coat dough

• 1 packet or 2 teaspoon yeast

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

for filling

• 7 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoon cinnamon

• 3 tablespoons room temperature earth balance

For icing (optional)

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 2-3 teaspoons plant milk

*I just mashed up a 1/4 cup of a roated sweet potato that I had in the fridge. If you don't have a roasted potato laying around, you can steam of roast a sweet potato and mash it up for this. 

Measure milk into a large jar or bowl. Mix in 2 tablespoons sugar and the yeast. Set aside to activate. In a large bowl mix together the lesser amount of flour and salt. Add in the sweet potato, oil, and the soy yeast mixture. Mix together with a wooden spoon or dough spoon until you can't. If the dough seems really wet, add in another 1/4 cup of flour.  Once mixed as well was you can get it, dump the dough onto well floured surface. Start kneading the dough, adding a little flour as you go if needed. Knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough is a nice soft but not to sticky uniform ball. Cover dough with a little oil and place into large clean bowl. Cover with a towel and let dough rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Mix the cinnamon and sugar together while waiting.

Once dough has risen, dump it onto a well floured surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball then grab the first ball and roll out into a large circle about 12 inches wide. Don't worry hear if the circle is not perfect, its going to be fine. Place first circle onto piece of parchment paper and cover the surface with 1 tablespoon of earth balance. Sprinkle with a third of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Grab another dough ball and roll out to the same size as the first and place onto of the cinnamon sugared dough. Repeat the earth balance cinnamon sugar and top with another rolled out dough. Once more with the remaining earth balance and cinnamon sugar and top with the last rolled out dough. Take rolling pin and give the whole stacked thing a little roll to make sure it's all stuck together well.

For the design part. Grab a small circle shaped thing about 2 inches wide (I used a jar lid) and place directly in the center of the dough. Take a dough cutter or sharpe knife and lightly score into quarters then each quarter into 6 pieces You could also cut less pieces, but the main thing you need is to have an even number of pieces for the design to work. Once your lines are good, cut the lines by pushing down into the dough and not slicing back and forth.  Grab a piece in each hand and gently  twist the pieces towards each other 3 times then pinch the ends together. Repeat until all the pieces are twisted together. Slide the star onto a large baking sheet, cover, and let rest and rise for another 1/2 hour. 

Preheat oven to 400

When the star is risen again and right before it's going into the oven, brush the top with a little plant milk. Pop it into the oven and bake for about 20- 25 minutes, or until the top is a nice deep gold brown.

Remove from oven and let cool a little bit. If you want a little icing, mix together the vanilla, powdered sugar, and plant milk. Wait until the star is less the hot and drizzle all over.

And now it's time to get at it. Eat what you want and store the rest in an air tight container.