Sweet Potato Snap Cookies (Gluten Free & Vegan)

Well Hello Fall!

Being from San Diego fall hits for a brief moment reaching a low of 48 (at night) and then dissipates without so much of a kiss on the cheek. But here, oddly enough, in the desert the cold is visceral, to the bone, and lasting. And I am soaking it all up.

I love feeling chapped & losing feeling in my toes as I walk around the house in the morning. I take pleasure in the steam rolling off my coffee in the morning. I mysteriously tap my fingers together with joy as I pick out appropriate scarf & boots for the days adventures.

I Love Cold Weather! Because with the cold comes the fall and winter. And with that cold, freeze you deep down to your bones cold, comes pumpkin, cranberries, squash of all sizes and colors, turkey, ham, apples, pears, and sweet potatoes! This is the best time of year for food, family, and warm clothing. As a really pale white girl, I finally can fit in and cook a whole lot of yummy stuff white doing it!

So…Sweet Potato Snap Cookies with a Delicious Brown Sugar Glaze! They are crunchy & sweetly coated in the richest brown sugar glaze this side of the Madison Dickson line. They also happen to be Gluten Free & Vegan. Not to shabby.

Sweet Potato Snap Cookies (Gluten Free & Vegan)

Ingredients 

2 1/2 cups GF all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon 

1 cup vegan butter, softened

1 cup vegan light brown sugar

1 flax egg (1TBS flax meal + 3 warm TBS water)

1/2 cup cooked and mashed sweet potato

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and pepper in a medium bowl; set aside.

Cream the vegan butter and vegan brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the flax egg and sweet potato and beat well.

Add the flour mixture and blend well.  Form the dough into a flat disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Roll the dough out on a floured work surface to 1/4 inch thick.  Cut with whatever shape you'd like.  

Place the shapes on the cookie sheets 2 inches apart.

Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, until lightly browned.  Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then dip them in the glaze that follows. Once glazed allow to cool. 

Glaze:

1/2 cup vegan brown sugar

1/4 cup almond milk

1 cup powdered sugar

Place he brown sugar and the almond milk in a heat resistant bowl and heat in your microwave on high fro 15-30 seconds. I took mine out at 15 seconds and stirred the mixture up to cool it down a bit. The most important thing here is to try to get the sugar to dissolve without burning. Next stir in the powdered sugar to the consistency of your choice. 

Enjoy! These are da Boom!

Gluten Free & Vegan Italian Sprinkle Cookies

I have to say, I have made my fair share of cookies but this sh*t…this sh*t is good. And I don't mean, "Well they're good for being gluten free and vegan"Good. I mean, "Slap your mama and call me Cookie Monster cause I just ate 7 freaking cookies in 10 minutes" Good. 

The recipe comes from Saveur Magazine and all I did was a simple switch of some homemade gluten free flour, Vegan Butter, and a flax egg! And that was it! Follow the link above and get it for yourself. Come on don't be lazy, you've got to work off the 7 freaking cookies you just ate some how….

The sprinkles shipwreck, sadly cookies did perish

Gingerbread Men (gluten free & vegan)

These gluten free and vegan gingerbread men are a lovely addition to your holiday table or a perfect hostess gift that anyone can enjoy!

They are slightly spicy with the addition of extra ginger and have the subtle sweet tang from the lemon frosting.

Gingerbread Men (gluten free & vegan)

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup vegan butter

2 1/2 cup homemade gluten free flour

1/2 cup vegan sugar

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons molasses 

1 flaxseed meal egg (1 Tb flaxseed meal + 2 Tbs warm water, allow to sit for 5 minutes to thicken)

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

In a large bowl, beat vegan butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or till softened. Add sugar, molasses, flax-egg, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix well.

Add your GF flour

Divide dough in half.  Cover and chill about 2 hours or till easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough in to 1/4 inch thickness.
Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut dough into shapes.

Place on cookie sheet that has been covered in parchment paper.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or till edges are firm.  Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack.

Don't feel like making them yourself?

Order them from my ETSY shop: Naughty 'n Nice Cookies

Spice Cake with Lemon Frosting

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Birthdays are magical. And when they are you mothers birthday they should be even more so. Especially my mother.

Most people that grew up in a single family home can give you a long-winded and deeply felt story about why their single family parent is the most amazing person in the whole freaking world. Here is mine.

My mother raised four of us kids with barely any help from the men who partially created us. My mother took 8 years to get her Masters degree because she was raising two teens and two toddlers and working full time while taking night classes. She forced us to travel around the world, eating new foods, talk to different types of people, and encouraged us to travel as we grew up. She broke the cycle of abuse that trickled through our family like a leaky faucet for generations. She reads near to 10 books a month. She writes plays, poetry, and novels. She runs marathons. She makes the most amazing turkey meatloaf EVER! Emily Dickinson, Albert Einstein, & Pope John XXIII would be at the dinner party of her fantasies. She is weird... forgives us kids when we mock her weirdness.. and still encourages our own quarks to squeak to the surface of our personalities. She is the single most amazing person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I love her dearly. And it was her birthday thus a cake.

When your mother requests a very specific cake for her 66th birthday you respond in kind.

In her mild tone, "A spice cake with lemon frosting. But no apple. I'm sick of apple. Banana and spice and lemon."... Okay, I can do that.

For my dear sweet mother. Happy Birthday and I love you more than cake! And that is pretty intense.

Spice Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat 325

Spice Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

For Cake

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

3 cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 bananas peeled & mashed up good

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup shortening

1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

5 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

¾  cup buttermilk

For cake:
 Preheat to 325F. Spray two 8-inch pans with nonstick spray. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, mace, and cloves into medium bowl. 

Using electric mixer, beat butter & shortening, both sugars until light and fluffy, this will take around 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Next mix in the lemon peel in vanilla and lemon juice. Alternate the flour mixture with the buttermilk. Finally add your mushed bananas. Transfer batter to prepared pans. Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 55-65 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes.

For Frosting

2 (16 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup butter

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 teaspoons lemon zest

2 teaspoon lemon extract

4-5 cups confectioners' sugar

For Frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, salt, and extract together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar in 2 additions. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading. Makes about 6 cups.

Poor Abby.