Lazy Chocolate-Chip Cookie-Maker Louise

The annoying thing about googling recipes is that Google never knows exactly what you want. If I want a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is super-easy, with limited ingredients, but not too few ingredients, with no nuts, that can easily be adapted as vegan, Google is clueless. I hate having to hunt through ten million recipes to make something so simple as a chocolate chip cookie.

After about 40 minutes' search, I finally found a recipe that fit all my criteria from  Paris Loves Pastry. I used the Sweet William chocolate chips for the first time, which are good, but a little milky for me. I would prefer the Tropical Source dark chips, but I haven't actually seen them for years (they used to sell them in a Jewish grocery in balaclava...so if anyone knows somewhere in Melbourne where I can find them, please let me know!)

This recipe does not produce the best cookie I've tasted - it's a bit heavy on the oil - but it did the trick and cured my mid-week choc-chip cookie craving.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup-ish- chocolate chips
2/3 cup canola oil (a bit less wouldn't hurt)
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla


Preheat the over to 170' C.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry, and mix until combined. Form into small balls and smush them onto a baking sheet about an inch and a half apart.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the accuracy of your oven. Remove from the oven, let rest about five minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack if you have one.

Best served with whole soy milk!

Raspberry Balsamic Sparkle Pie

One of the lovely presents my mum sent me for Christmas was a copy of the amazing Vegan Pie in the Sky. Luckily I had a dinner party to attend last weekend, and so had an excuse to make pie! Firstly, I will tell you how difficult it is to find pie-making supplies in Melbourne. I couldn't find a 9" pie tin to save my life, and everyone seemed to be out of or non-stocking of pastry cutters. So I had to settle for a small disposable pie tin from Coles and a knife to make my lattice. It turned out fine in the end, but I will be scouting out for proper supplies this week.

The pie I chose was the Pucker Up Raspberry Pie - it consisted mainly of a whole lot of frozen raspberries and some balsamic vinegar. The vinegar seemed to heighten the raspberry flavour, making the pie "very raspberry-y" (according to a friend). It was very simple to make, with only 10 ingredients in the whole thing. The filling was so sparkly and yummy-looking! It tasted great, too.

I have no hope of finding a crust protector in the shops, so I had to make my own from foil.

I'm looking forward to making lots more yummy pastry items in the future!