Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. Or Pie. Or Pah.

(The title comes from a discussion with my sister.  I frequently converse with her about what I’m baking via MSN Messenger and I was telling her about this Cookie Pie which I suppose is really more of a cake but whatever and she said that she can’t say pie without a Southern accent ever since we watched Waitress a few weeks ago.)

 I have had a cookie cake once before in my life.  It was years ago, I was probably six.  But I still remember how awesome it was and have always meant to try another one.  So I finally baked one this evening.  I used Kittee’s Blondie Recipe using a container of soy yogurt for the egg replacer and leaving out the nuts (not that I have anything against them, I live with people who do).  I threw the dough into a greased 9 inch round cake pan and baked it for 40 minutes (next time I’d bake it for a bit longer, it was a tad underbaked not that it was a bad thing though.  I like gooey).  It was fantastic!  This is a most wonderful cookie recipe (I also ate more than a fair share of the dough) and the Cookie Cake was the delightful, chewy wonder that has been stuck to my memory for all these years.

Christmas Eatin’

Hope everyone had a great and relaxing (ha ha right?) holiday!   Mine was spent with my family and consisted of many memorable-in a good way!-moments.  It was also filled with delectable food…particularly of the sugar variety.

I made these Peanut Butter Balls on Christmas Eve and I found that they were quite addictive.  For the cookie crumbs I called for, I just processed rice crispies-type cereal and used them.  Instead of swirling the chocolate on the balls, I dipped them in to the chocolate for an even more decadent touch (hey, it’s the holidays, we’re supposed to splurge).

I also made Softly Spiced Nuts  and Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Hummus from Eat, Drink and be Vegan.  They were both perfect appetizers. I think next time I’ll add some cumin to the nuts to increase the heat factor though the flavouring was lovely anyway.  The hummus was also tasty (although I seem to have a vinegar sensitivity, when I can detect it I find it’s taste overpowering so I’ll decrease it next time), I have been enjoying it very much on toast.

 

And finally, the grand finale, I served Gingerbread Apple Pie from Vegan with a Vengeance for dessert on Christmas Day dessert.  It was a huge hit, it’s spiced perfectly and is so simple to make (I despise rolling out pie crust).  The photo shown is it prior to baking as out of the oven the edges were a tad burnt.  Next time (and they’ll definitely be a next time), I’ll add foil to the edges to combat that (although I always say this when I bake a pie yet I never seem to remember).

So the big day’s finally over, hope Santa was good to you (he was extremely generous at my house)!

 PS-Despite the fact I work retail and therefore heard it constantly, I will miss the Christmas music.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yup, up here in Canada, we celebrate our Thanksgiving early.  Although this past sunday, I wasn’t quite able to cook everything I wished to as I worked that day.  I was able to cook a few things.

So, on the menu was an assortment of my mom’s vegetables that are traditional to any important meal in my family-mashed potatoes, mashed turnip (although on Martha the other day I discovered that what my family calls turnip is actually rutabaga), carrots and my mom’s awesome preserved beets.  While the rest of my family dined on turkey :-(, my sister and I enjoyed the vegetables, especially the mashed potatoes with Dreena’s Think ‘n’ Rich Gravy drizzled over them.  The gravy is in her latest book, Eat, Drink & be Vegan and it was delicious!  Best gravy I’ve ever had.  My sister is all set to make a vegetarian Poutine with it and I must say, I’m interested in attempting a vegan version.  I made this gravy in a rush as soon as I got home from work and managed to get gravy all over my book.  My book does smell rather good now, though.

I’m always (if anyone else tried to take this role from me, I’d probably get very upset) in charge of dessert and this year I made pumpkin pie (my mom’s favourite ever) and my first attempt at an apple pie.  I used Bryanna’s Pumpkin Pie which I always use because it’s like the most perfect pumpkin pie ever. As I said, it has my mom’s approval. I used this pie crust recipe, it’s so easy and turns out wonderfully flaky.

Ok, speaking of pie crusts…I have the worst luck when it comes to pie crusts, particullary the rolling out of the dough.  So, for the apple pie, I decided to try, once again, a new recipe that hopefully would not fail me.  I veganized a Martha Stewart recipe using EB shortening and well…it failed.  It was the most finicky crust ever!  I was so frustrated and my mom eventually had to help me and between the two of us we managed to get into the freaking pie plate.  It seemed to be baking beautifully in the oven, but after I took it out of the oven, it just collapsed!  What the hell?!  Pies can collapse??  Anyway, it ended up tasting delicious but I’m not going through that again.  I need your help!  Recommend me a never fail roll-out pie crust!  I will conquer pies by Christmas.

So that was my Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians!  (And, Americans, I look foward to seeing what you’ll be cooking up this November!)