Dream Cookies and Snackable Gifts

We've talked more than once about homemade gifts being the best kind. I haven't stopped believing that for a second -- especially when it was my best friend's milestone birthday. But not just any ol' batch of cookies would do for this birthday -- it had to be special.

And these cookies definitely were! After some fruitless internet searches and a quick and painless phone call to one of our favourite coffee adventure shops, I was able to make a re-creation of this moist, rich, vegan, gluten free cashew cookie that we couldn't stop talking about since the summer. Sweets from the Earth -- you rock! A cookie recipe with on 5 ingredients that's vegan and gluten free?! Awesome. I even found a website useful measurements. Score! They were delicious and fleeting!

Cashew Dream Cookies
inspired by Sweets from the Earth; recipe via Madcap Cupcake makes about 20 cookies

1 cup of smooth cashew butter
1/4 cup of silken tofu (about a third of a package of mori-nu)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
pinch of salt

1. In blender, mini-chopper or food processor, blend the tofu until very smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. The mixture will be really thick and a bit hard to mix at first, but will eventually become smooth and cookie-dough-like.

3. Drop spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

4. Cool completely on the cookie sheet before removing -- this is important or the cookies will fall apart!

Oh yeah! I also included as part of the birthday package, some maple rosemary glazed nuts. There are tons of recipes out there, but I didn't really follow any specific one. These are totally addictive and beautiful when packed in a jam or mason jar. Edible gifts are the best!



Maple Rosemary Glazed Nuts

2 cups of mixed nuts of your choice (I used cashews and almonds)
1 teaspoon of crushed, dried rosemary
1 big pinch of salt
a few good grinds of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
1 tablespoon of canola oil
3 tablespoons of maple syrup

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the rosemary, salt, pepper, chili powder, canola oil and maple syrup until well-combined.

2. Add in your nuts and mix until everything is coated.

3. Pour the nuts out onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350, turning frequently, for about 20-30 minutes, or until the nuts are deep brown.

4. Cool completely before packaging.

Baking Frenzy

Another crazy week. I guess it's that time of the year when the weather gets little warmer and suddenly, my winter-worm apathetic adolescent minds start blooming. It's great; I'm not complaining, but it sure makes for a long work week. Don't get me wrong; I wouldn't trade my job for any other. It's much too satisfying to give up, but I will say that the last 2 months of the school year is definitely more hectic than the first two. Who would have thought? You'd think they'd be winding down by now, but not my students. They're full of ideas, inspiration and needing every ounce of teacher support they can get. And I'm happy to give it to them, especially when it involves baking.

You see, our graduating class is trying to raise funds for their final graduation party, and what better way then through a bake sale? Yup, earlier this week I had two little darlings knocking on my door asking me to bake something for the sale that would happen after the spring concert. Oh, and would I mind supervising as well? Of course not. Two batches of baked goods later (a version of this fruity muffin, and this delicious crumb cake courtesy of Everybody Likes Sandwiches) and I was standing outside the school gymnasium at 8:00pm trying to keep the crowd from overwhelming my students. That was Thursday night. Was Friday any less hectic?


Let me explain. A group of artistically inclined students had the idea of sell origami rose bouquets for Mother's Day. Enter: hectic Friday afternoon poking skewer sticks through intricately folded rose flowers, sorting through last-minute orders (oh yeah, these girls meant business!) and running around the school delivering them. Couple that with senior dance supervision (Hands to yourself! Stop running! No, you CAN'T go to the bathroom AGAIN!), a meeting at the bank, and it's a wonder I even remembered Mother's Day. Mother's Day for us has been different these past few years. You see, as mentioned before, my parents are off gallivanting in Asia on their annual trip, and my Mom will probably be tucking into a steaming bowl of phở and sipping Vietnamese coffee in Hanoi on Mother's Day. And my Grandma? She'll be coming over tomorrow to see our new place for the first time and enjoying a little lunch with my sister and I. So Mother's Day is no sweat, right? Almost. There is one mother that I was thinking of -- a mother that I've never actually meant, but hope to in the near future. My partner's mom. Like any mother-son relationship, theirs has had their share of ups and downs. To add to the "ups," I that I'd help put together a little package to send to her. I bought a little bouquet of those beautiful origami roses, plus a tiny pocket to lucky stars (also painstakingly handmade by my students) to send in the mail along with some cookies.


Oh how I love giving the gift of cookies. I first started, I think, by baking cookies as a family gift to my best friend's family at Christmas. One year, to re-connect with a former music teacher whom I write to, I baked peanut butter cookies and left them in her mailbox as a surprise. Now a-days, baking a batch of cookies as a gift is not uncommon for me. But making cookies to send in the mail is a different story. Although I'm a huge fan of those delicate, rich cookies that crumble sometimes on their way from your hand to your mouth, I needed a sturdy cookie that wouldn't get damaged during shipping, and would be just as tasty a couple days after baking. For this, I turned to oatmeal. There's something about it when you add it to a cookie batter that not only gives it extra nutrition and texture, but makes it nice and hardy: the kind of cookie that you could serve to guests straight from your cookie jar a week after you've baked them. I thought about it for awhile and came up with a recipe that's a cross between this one from Everybody Likes Sandwiches, and one from my favourite cookie cook book. It's got chocolate chips, walnuts, a good dose of maple syrup and of course, the saving grace, oatmeal. The texture is a cross between crumbly and chewy -- perfect with a tall glass of milk, a cup of tea or a (third) cup of coffee (yes, I had three coffees on Friday .. ). I'm about to send off the package, so I hope when they get there (better late than never!) they're well received. Happy Mother's Day!

Travelling Oatmeal Chocolate Maple Walnut Cookies (yeah .. I'm working on the names..)
(inspired by Everybody Likes Sandwiches, and "Cookies" (p. 241) by Catherine Atkinson, Joanna Farrow and Valerie Barrett.)

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of pure maple syrup
a splash of almond extract
1 egg
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup of oats
1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter and sugar until evenly mixed. Beat in the maple syrup, egg and almond extract.

2. Stir in the baking soda, oats and flour. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts and give it one final stir.

3. Drop teaspoon fulls of the dough onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until golden brown on top (about 15 minutes).

Memories of March Break + Really Special Bird Food

It's only Wednesday and I'm already aching for the weekend (ok yeah, so now it's Thursday but it was Wednesday when I started this post and it's not my fault that I was nodding off in front of the computer and was sent to bed before finishing). So much has happened this week that I feel like it's already Friday. Boo. I hate these weeks, but the truth of the matter is, there's nothing I can do but go with the flow and wait for the 3:34 bell on Friday afternoon.

To make my go by quicker, I've taken to consuming my free-time thoughts (which aren't too numerous during the school day!) with pleasant memories. Today as I was walking to work, I passed by a small park and noticed an elderly man scattering bread crumbs on the ground. He was literally surrounded by pigeons, starlings and little sparrows. As I watched the birds having breakfast with a kind and gentle friend of theirs, I remembered my recent close encounter with birds during the rainy first weekend of March break.

We were in Kingston, and had just hiked from the city limit bus stop, (crossing a private farm..yeah .. don't ask) to a conservation area. Although it was a little drizzly and grey, the experience was wonderful. We followed a trail to a maple sugar shack (which was closed .. but we managed to sneak in and get a private and up-close introduction to the boiling sap.. the smell was incredible..) and along the way, took a detour along a trail called "Chickadee Lane." Turns out, that during the busy season, you can take hikes along this path and your tour guides hand you nuts that you can feed the chickadees with. Well, we didn't need tour guides or nuts for that matter, to have a wonderful experience feeding chickadees (which landed right on our hands!). What did we feed them with? What attracted those normally shy little creatures to land right on our hands and have a nibble?


Granola. But not just any granola. It was granola that was actually supposed to be granola bars, but ended up being crumbled up into chunks because I didn't want to add as much sweeteners as the original recipe called for. I noticed the original recipe at Seven Spoons, and thought it would be a nice snack to fuel us during our adventures in Kingston. I cut back on the sugar, as I usually do, but this time, got drastic results. They smelled wonderful, looked beautiful in the pan, but because there was only half the brown sugar and honey in it, the mixture crumbled when I tried to cut it into bars. I was disappointed until I tasted it. Crunchy, wholesome, tangy from the dried cranberries and apples, and just the perfect sweetness level. I guess I'm not cut out to make granola bars, but this little "mistake" worked out quite well for us, as well as our chickadee friends. They ate up our granola bits and came up close for a taste. It was a snack that we shared with the birds, so it couldn't be a mistake, right?

As I'm writing this post, I'm longing to be on a bus back to Kingston and the conservation area with those adorable chickadees. But alas, responsibilities always overrule desires, so I think I'll just go make another batch of granola.. and you should too! It'll definitely make your long week go by quicker!


** On a really random note, here's a picture of the maple syrup I used for the granola. It had to be about 20 years old from the first time my family travelled to Quebec. And check out the top of the can! It's got a recipe for biscuits simmered in maple syrup! So neat! Brings back so many
memories!


Apple Cranberry Granola Chunks
(adapted from Seven Spoons)

2 cups of oats
1 tablespoon of ground flax
1/4 cup of raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup of slivered almonds
1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut

3 tablespoons of honey (I used wildflower honey)
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of canola oil
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/4 cup of dried apples, diced up
1/3 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup of chopped walnuts

1. Toss the oats, flax, pumpkin seeds, almonds and coconut together and spread out over a sheet pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven, tossing occasionally until golden brown and fragrant (about 15 minutes)

2. Meanwhile, gently heat up the sugar, honey, maple syrup, oil, salt and vanilla extract.

3. When the oat mixture is nice and toasty brown, pour it out into a large bowl and add the dried apples, cranberries and walnuts. Add in the warm sugar mixture and give it a good stir so that everything is incorporated. Oh! And lower your oven to 300.

4. Spread the mixture out on a baking sheet and bake in a 300 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until things start to smell yummy and toasty and maple-y.

5. Eat straight up as an energy booster, or on top of yogurt for a morning treat.