Moving & Ode to Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar Testing

Behold, Irish Whiskey Cremes

I hope you can handle this oncoming sweet food porn extravaganza. I hope you like cookies.

It's time to collect the photos and memories of the past two years' worth of recipe testing for the latest Post Punk Kitchen authors classic: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

by Isa Chandra Moskowtiz and Terry Hope Romero.

Testing for this book happened along with testing for Vegan Brunch, and I'm currently testing for Isa's current project, a weight loss cookbook! Go figure, after cupcakes and cookies.

I adored recipe testing once again for these ladies, and bombarding everyone I know with cookies during the process. Check out the cute tester photos in the back! Not mine, I totally missed the thread on this possibility, or you would have seen one of my cats sniffing a cookie...

White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Biscotti

Once again, the Irish Whiskey Cremes

Linzertorte Thumbprints

These are near and dear to me and Evan.

Also, a catalyst in my-possibly-being-allergic-to-hazelnuts-worries...

Chocolate Chip Cookies (with vegan white chocolate chips)

And that's it!

Please head to my new domain GetSconedPDX.com for the rest of the testing photos!

I'll pop on here a couple more times to post its activity. I prefer the layout and usability wordpress offers, and never imagined I would be kicking myself so hard, for so many years, for picking this current address. But hey, people found it and hopefully you'll keep reading my posts at their new home!

Thank you!!!

Please bookmark my new site: GetSconedpdx.com

Recent Great Stuff.

Time to be straight forward. Here's some stuff, that happened recently, that I deem great:

Tomato Season. I ate a tricolor pint of cherry and grape tomatoes for lunch the other day.

The Wednesday downtown farmers market. Mere block from my office.

Hands down, my favorite farmar.

Crazy-gluing that hand down - the Cafe Velo cart.

It's a smaller set up (this one is a bike! Oh, Portland) than the Saturday markets', with 400 fewer people on line with cute crying babies in front of you. Individually dripped cups of Stumptown, you choose the roast! I went with an Indonesian roast this past week.

Soymilk on the counter!!!!

Holding on the farmers market theme for one more addition: Pimientos de Padron. I can't let these go this summer. These were sauteed classicly with olive oil, coarse sea salt and crushed red pepper.

I brought the above peppers to the Try Vegan Week Potluck & Trivia night, along with these cookies from the upcoming Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Citrus Glitters

Heading back to test kitchen land, I've started testing for Isa's upcoming 'healthy' book. I am so freaking busy lately, but if I'm making a point to cook at home, odds are it will be her recipes. It's just how life is.

Summer Lovin' Curried Corn Chowder

Moving on from corn, to corn - the down home, smoked corn on the cob from Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ. If you've read my Stumptown Vegans review, you know I'm quite fond of them. They've recently labeled quite a few main items gluten free, and I swear, their home cooking style food is better every single time I go.

From corn to......pizza! Because sometimes Hot Lips puts corn on their pizza..... At this week's Yelp Portland Ballroom Bash. Here's Maeve with the vegan foccacia pie Don personally delivered to the table of awesome Yelpy vegans.

The Yelp Elite Hour & Ballroom Bash was super fun! I'm not a huge Hot Lips fan, and I despise their cilantro pesto, but how cool! I was able to get a tomato base slice a bit earlier, fortunately for my tastebuds and sanity, had I been induling in more of the complimentary beverages.

Oh hey, walking across the Morrison Bridge safely for once, thanks to construction, is pretty great. And random.

And really, really great - a veganized Vermecilli Bowl from Huong's Vietnamese cart downtown. He has other vegetarian options that are alright, but I've been wanting to request a vegan version of the pork or chicken bowl for too long! So, I finally did. He even volunteered a summer roll for the eggroll before I could even think to ask. I'm on a rice noodle kick.

It was tasty, and HUGE! And $6! It had fried tofu strips and this strange white gluten, which was good stuff.

All in all, Really Great Stuff.

Dandies Marshmallows + Brownies + Butterscotch Chips =

a birthday greeting for my friend Joanna, the super fly author of Yellow Rose Recipes. It's also the first culmination of my WHAT TO DO WITH A BAG OF DANDIES? post from last week.

Joanna and I met with friends from the PPK at the Bye & Bye last night (omg! Celine, Joni, Kim and Alin are in town!) for cocktails, Floor Punches, grub and conversation - and as Maeve and I were leaving for a Yelp Elite event, in walks Julie Hasson and her husband Jay with two pies!

Julie pretended to force me to take a bite of the banana creme, I did, I could rave about that wonderful dessert for an hour and a half, and what was my original point?

Happy Birthday Joanna!!!!

Smorey Butterscotch Brownies

They are admittedly thin because I used a slightly larger sized pan than the recipe called for. The original recipe is for Espresso Brownies that will be in next year's Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowtiz and Terry Hope Romero.

I added vegan butterscotch chips (from Pandacookie!!), a few halved Dandies vegan marshmallows before baking, and a bunch on top during the last few minutes of oven time. It fluffed up! Then it fluffed down. And then they were nibbled. There was still some of the desired gooeyness on top - yeah, Dandies rule.

Here's the BBQ platter Maeve and I shared at the Bye & Bye, my favorite dish on the menu. It's $1 off during happy hour. FYI, they've gladly swapped the collards for brussels before, if you're into that sort of thing!

An examination of Portland Soy Lattes.

This Portland girl has been back to her missed city for a week now.  She wandered around sunny downtown Phoenix with her shades for a few days for work and wasn't feeling it.  Scoping out the immediate hotel-dominated area, she had a so so Vegetable Platter (minus the bread with butter) at 1130 Grill, crappy veganized pasta with crappier mixed vegetables that totally came from a freezer at a place that needs to go unnamed it's so unmentionable and a delicious meal of Coconut Curry Tofu with plantains and red beans & rice at Breadfruit, a cool Jamaican restaurant that will be featured as a travel review on Stumptown Vegans in the immediate future.

 

For now, an photo essay ala Urban Vegan of recent soy lattes in Portland, OR.

Is it starting out on the wrong foot if I admit I don't remember where the hell this was from? 

jd + COFFEE

I've always enjoyed the taste of coffee even if my stomach and head don't cherish the caffeine associated.  No matter.  In recent months, much thanks to the prompting of Evan of Bjorked Off!, this girl's come to welcome the treat of a well crafted soy latte back into her life.  

I've had a dramatic relationship with coffee culture over the past few years.  I do have respect for the barista profession, and dig that Portland is a town where people want to work with coffee and consider it a craft.  In high school, I made crappy cappuccinos with espresso from pods before the Starbucks invasion of the late 1990s on suburban Long Island.  I don't support corporate coffee chains - this is Portland, where I can drink locally roasted beans at independent shops in every part of of town.  

Check out this article on the New Portland Micro Roasters from last month's MIX magazine for a a read if this is striking your fancy. Onto the photos!

Latte from Barista Coffeeshop. 

Barista is a new coffeeshop in the Pearl District, opened by renowned Portland barista Billy Wilson, formerly of Albina Press.  The best I've ever had.  Swoon.  etc.

Stumptown, downtown

First the first time I can remember, I actually scored a table was able to sit down with my latte and the Portland Mercury.

Tiny's in SE

From Sweetpea Baking Co.  

Audra made this with coconut and I think, chocolate.  

It was lovely as heck.

The not-so-elusive Karla of Veganshizzle and a latte and bagel of her own.  

I just found this back in my Flickr stream and thought it appropriate.  Sweet Pea serves Stumptown and you have your choice of sugary goodies made with care to accompany your beverage.  

From Albina Press, SE

The latte that's still somewhat in front of me, from Coffee Plant, downtown.

Mocha + Black Sheep Bakery cobbler bar from Portland Coffee House, downtown.

I haven't been back in months.  That's all.

Evan at Tiny's with a soy latte.  I wouldn't want someone to be devastated if they weren't featured here...

What reasonable latte drinker doesn't appreciate hearts and swirls?

Hmmmmm

The barista at Opposable Thumb was trying something on this?  

It's a peppermint hot chocolate.

Woops, straight up cup of Stumptown and a Monkeywrench

Snickerdoodle.  I've got to give my devotion to Sweetpea's doodles...

From Cellar Door.  A favorite - they roast their own beans in small batches and they turn into Portobello Vegan Trattoria come evening~

This may not be pretty, but overlook the desire for latte art and trust me, it was actually wonderful.  From Spella Caffe coffee cart, downtown, also a local roaster.

The cart.

You don't like coffee?  Eat some cookies.  

Lazy Samoans (Toasted Coconut Chocolate Cookies)

From Terry & Isa's upcoming and officially named 

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

I'm oh, so, curious to try a hemp latte soon....

Sweet; Grilling

Sweet.  

Irish Whiskey Creme Kisses.  

Another Post Punk KitchenVegan Cookie Book tester.

The second Vegan Cookie book tester of the day - 

I made both of these to take to a fancy vegan dinner party last weekend.  

It was Indian themed and fabulous.

Espresso Fudge Brownies

Grilling.

I live in an apartment with no immediate place to grill outside, so I contently do all of my grilling in a  cast iron grill pan on the stove top.  I bought it almost 2 years ago for less than $15 at Ross and it's consistently fun to use.  I have a foreman grill stored somewhere but those lines and flavor do not compare. 

Sadly my handy and environmentally wise oil mister died so I've resorted to packaged olive oil spray again lately, but that's a poor excuse and I'm aiming to get a new one soon.  Briefly marinate some tofu or seitan, toss some veggies in oil/herbs/salt or dressing and bam, you have dinner to grill and eat alone, over pasta, grains or in a sandwich.  

On Sunday, I grilled the following for my lunch at work:

Grilled Golden Balsamic and Braggy Tofu, 

Asparagus with olive oil, coarse sea salt and pepper

Grilled Eggplant slices with olive oil and coarse sea salt.

Sandwiched withVegenaise, flavorless tomato that I picked out &  field greens on a french baguette.  Enough for two meals!

more...Sweet.

Nature's Path AgavePlus Granola.  

Their newest addition to the cereal game - with sunflower seeds and oats!  I received two boxes from the company and as Evan from Bjorked Off! knows, I rarely buy or eat cereal - but this stuff is great.  Not too sweet at all.  Personally I'll take agave over honey any day, ethics and flavor-wise.  I thought the sunflower seeds would annoy me, 

because they're just annoying, but they didn't~

Sick Days Sustenance

Watching it sorta snow and rain inside of Sweetpea Bakery...

I voluntarily fell victim to the cold bug my friends have been passing around and snotted my way through the past few days, mostly gloriously lying on my couch and watching DVDs.  I 

took off of work, drank tea and did a minimal amount of cooking.

I had my fix of tea and fresh vegetables and beans at Sweetpea yesterday afternoon, on a break with Evan from Bjorked Off! from my lazy, snotty homestay.  Sweetpea is now serving Porland-based looseleaf Townshend Tea, and I had the pleasant Strawberry Sencha.  

Happy Bowl

Foodwise,  after reading with my tea for a while I opted for one of their newish savoury offerings, the Happy Bowl.  You can't go wrong with a bowl of well cooked grains - in this case brown rice, wholesome beans, fresh kale and housemade sauce.  I went with the recommended half BBQ and half aioli.  I go for similar very vegan arrangements at the Whole Bowl, Chaos Cafe and Blossoming Lotus (Incan bowl with half of each sauce, plus tempeh) and the beans and sauce helpings in this bowl are commendable.  Next time I'll try just the tangy BBQ sauce.  There's nooch on the coffee fixings table and you can ask for your choice of hot sauce.

Dessert, which I honestly nibbled on with my tea before lunch.  

Sugar Cookie. Appropriately pink and sweet.  Photo by Evan, smudge likely by me.

Me and my sick germs even got together to make some cookies this weekend - 

Hazelnut Linzertort testers 

from Isa and Terry's upcoming Vegan Cookie Book.

Some are filled with my favorite, local black raspberry jam, and the rest are with Trader Joe's Reduced Sugar Strawbery Preserves. 

 I fed some to a non-sick friend and I hear she's still alive.....

More cooking testing.

Two more test recipes from Terry and Isa's Upcoming Vegan Cookie Book.

Roasted Almond Cookies with Fluer de Sel

Sweet Potato Blondies, squared

Sweet Potato Blondies, pre-sliced

Excellent, Excellent.

blah blah blah cookies

Recent cookie production from my kitchen....

Espresso Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.

Deluxe Cocoa Brownies - 

I swear that a friend of mine impulsively moaned while eating these.  

Isa's New Chocolate Chip Cookies and Mocha Mamas

Nutty Wedding Cookies and their powdered sugar sea.

The recipe for Isa's new Chocolate Chip cookies is available here while the PPK is fancied up. The other cookies are confidential test recipes for the upcoming Vegan Cookies book.  Roasted Almond Cookies with Fluer de Sel are next on my to-test list~