The Pleasures of Eating... and a vegan cookie recipe too!

I have been on a baking rampage lately!  I don't remember the last day that I didn't bake some sort of treat... and that's exactly how life should be.  Some highlights from the past few days:

Whole wheat peach muffins adapted from this recipe.  We substituted approximately 2 cups of chopped canned peaches for the apples that the recipe calls for.  Made with peaches that I canned this summer!

Peach muffins.  Ugly, but yummy!

Flourless chocolate chip cookies from this recipe, made for my friend who recently had to start following the FODMAPS diet to deal with health issues.  Next time, to keep her stomach happier, I might try substituting white sugar or maple syrup for the brown sugar.  We used these cookies to scoop up banana soft serve ice cream!  It's the easiest thing in the world to make: just freeze a banana, put it in a food processor with a little splash of milk and maple syrup, and process until it turns into the consistency of soft serve ice cream!  You can put the concoction back in the freezer to harden up a bit, or just dig in right away.  You can make all sorts of flavor variations on banana soft serve, by adding delicious things like coconut, peanut butter, chocolate chips... the possibilities are endless.

Espresso brownies.  Some girls that I work with came over to bake last night and, being baristas, we had to make something coffee-flavored!  Seriously, next time you make a batch of brownies, try adding a tablespoon or two of ground espresso to the batter.  We topped the brownies with a homemade coffee-buttercream frosting (again, just ground espresso stirred into a typical chocolate buttercream frosting recipe) and they were unrreealll.

One reason that I've been baking so much food lately is to spend time with my friends at school before I leave in five days to spend the semester in Costa Rica!  I find that preparing and eating food is one of my favorite ways to catch up with old friends and connect with new friends.  The sense of pride and accomplishment that comes from preparing a delicious meal or treat and the pleasure from slowly savoring your creation over a conversation foster such a sense of community.  This, for me at least, strengthens my relationships with others in a way few other activities can.

Putting effort into preparing our own food from scratch, instead of buying only processed and packaged meals with ingredients that are unrecognizable from (and hundreds of miles away from) their original, natural forms, also builds important connections between food and farming.  When I buy a can of soup from the grocery store, I consider only my hunger and my wallet.  When I buy fresh vegetables from the farmer's market with dirt still on them, and turn them into homemade soup, I can appreciate the immense effort that it takes to feed a human being.  I can picture the farmer who grew those vegetables, and can relish in my food knowing that he/she and I both invested time and care into the final product.  Of course, we can't all eat this way all the time, but I feel so fortunate that I have the time and the means to put effort into making delicious food.  Homemade food truly does taste better - and Wendell Berry, in his essay "the Pleasures of Eating," offers an explanation for why: 

"The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of the mere gourmet. People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown and know that the garden is healthy and remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food and is one of the pleasures of eating"

(If you have a few minutes, check out the essay.  It's really interesting)

Ok, enough words.  Here's a yummy cookie recipe!

 

Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are chewy, banana-y, and so so so yummy.  Makes about 2 dozen small cookies.  But the dough doesn't have any eggs in it, so feel free to eat some (a lot).  In which case it won't make that many cookies ;)

adapted from this recipe

 1-2 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup canola oil (or coconut oil, which adds a delicious flavor and makes the cookies more crispy)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup chocolate chips (which aren't always vegan, so check the label if you care about that)

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  
• Combine mashed banana, sugar, and oil in a large bowl until well combined, then add vanilla and salt. 
• In a smaller bowl, stir together the flours, baking soda, and ground cinnamon, then add to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
• Fold in the oats and chocolate chips until just combined.
• Wet your hands, and roll dough into balls approximately an inch in diameter.  Transfer to the baking sheet and flatten slightly with your hand.  You can place the cookies quite close together, because they don't spread out much at all while cooking
• Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.  Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

-Emma