Appeale

Lately I’ve been thinking about how to bake wonderous, thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies. For example, a chocolate chip cookie that magically held its shape in the oven and came out as thick as a slab of brownie. After a quick internet search I was lucky to find it exists! The trick, I foolishly overlooked, is skipping the concept of cookies all together and going straight for the brownie form. The result? Thick, chewy, delicious. Highly recommended to be eaten late at night (in bed), warmed up a bit, and with some milk.

Things I’ll try next time…

1. I used basic semi-sweet Safeway brand chocolate chips because that’s what I had on hand – Next time I’ll try something a bit richer. Maybe a combination of 40% -60% cocoa.
2. I think this would be good with an addition of some kind of nut – probably pecans or walnuts.
3. You could easily substitute baking m&ms or butterscotch chips for something more festive.

Chocolate chip cookies – Brownie style.

Makes a 9×13 pan

Ingredients
2 1/8 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 (3 1/2 ounces) cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, and adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position. Line a 9X13-inch baking pan with foil, letting the excess hang over the edges of the pan by about 1 inch (so you can grab the edges and pull the brownies from the pan after they have baked.) Spray the foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside. Whisk the melted butter and sugars in a large bowl until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well.
Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula.

Bake until the top of the bars is light golden brown, slightly firm to the touch, and edges start pulling away from sides of pan, 24-28 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature.

Last October my friend Jennie and I stayed up entirely too late watching Anchorman and decorating, what felt like, hundreds of vegan Halloween sugar cookies. Not wanting to overdo a secondary holiday such as Halloween we planned to bake again for Christmas, only this time splitting up the dough making and baking/decorating between two nights. Schedules got in the way, but we managed to get the dough prepared. The baking/decorating was another story.

I’m happy to say that we finally got together to finish them off last week – this time while watching another classic: Wayne’s World. This post is evidence that you can in fact freeze vegan sugar cookie dough for months. With no looming holidays in the future we focused on making the cookies an expression of our yearning for spring: bright colors, warm tones, and pretty sparkles. The results were beautiful and I can truthfully say delicious. For the dough/icing recipe visit my old post here.

Last night I had my most exciting Canvas Underground experience yet – A dinner party held in an empty house in West Oakland. The house, an 1865 Victorian beauty, sits on a street lined with similar facades just begging to be fixed up. I was at the event to pitch in wherever and snap photos. I couldn’t help but get caught up in the scenery, which greatly reminded me of an Anthropologie catalogue. Or in other words completely adorable.

The amazing Vera Devera was responsible for the decor; be sure to check out her blog for great DIY ideas. The dinner featured seasonal produce from local organic farms, and the proceeds went to Agrariana, an organization founded on the idea…“To Rescue for Human Society the Native Values of Rural Life.” Some of their past programming has included working tours of local farms, a Food and Farming Film Series, Women in Sustainable Agriculture panels, and skills workshops for making sauerkraut, mead, and leather.  In addition to amazing food, there was an incredible duo, Vagabondage, who featured accordian and guitar music.

I took tons of photos, all of which can be seen here.  If you have the chance make sure to check out a Canvas event in the future!