S'mores Scones + 5 Year Veganniversary

Seriously delicious and fun, these s'mores scones are a wonderful treat for the youngins and those who are young at heart. Studded with chocolate chunks and bits of graham cracker, they are drizzled with chocolate as well as a marshmallow glaze then topped with crushed graham cracker. These are incredibly easy to make and done in a flash; so be the hit of the bonfire or party with my s’mores scones!

Oh yes my friends... two of the most perfect foods have been combined: s'mores and scones. I cannot think of anything more delicious. These were developed for the baby shower of a good friend last weekend and they were a hit!  I'm always trying to think of new scone flavors and when pondering the tasty flavor for the shower I was hit with a massive s'mores craving! I was dancing up and down when I told Todd my idea. My eagerness for bonfires, s'mores, and general Alaskan summer fun is really ramping up.

For my birthday last week I may have made funfetti scones... I think I have a problem... #sconelife

And guess what else!? Today is Todd's and my FIVE year veganniversary! Holy moly, you guys. If you want to learn more about why and how we went vegan (it happened overnight I might add!) head on over to the new About - Our Story page to find out all the deets. But first... scones.

S'mores Scones

Recipe by Kathleen Henry @ Produce On Parade

Seriously delicious and fun, these s'mores scones are a wonderful treat for the youngins and those who are young at heart. Studded with chocolate chunks and bits of graham cracker, they are drizzled with chocolate as well as a marshmallow glaze then topped with crushed graham cracker. These are incredibly easy to make and done in a flash; so be the hit of the bonfire or party with my s’mores scones!

Yield: 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup vegan granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 5 tbsp refined coconut oil, room-temperature
• ¾ cup vegan chocolate chunks or chocolate chips, divided
• 3 vegan graham cracker sheets, crushed, divided
• ¾ cup + 1 tbsp vegan creamer or full-fat coconut milk, divided
• ¼ cup vegan powdered sugar

Cooking Directions

1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour through the baking powder. Pulse in the oil, 1 tbsp at a time, until it resembles coarse cornmeal with some larger pieces.
2. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in ½ cup of the chocolate chunks. Stir in the graham crackers, reserving a couple tablespoons for later. Next, slowly stir in ¾ cup of the creamer until just combined. The dough should be slightly sticky; if it’s not stir in a little more creamer.
3. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place another baking sheet beneath the first one (this keeps the bottoms from browning).
4. Transfer the dough to a floured workspace and pat into an 8-inch round. Cut into 8 wedges and arrange on the baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through, until the tops are just golden brown. Allow to cool on a cooling rack until fully cooled.
5. Once the scones are completely cool, melt the remaining chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave on the defrost setting or half power until it just starts to melt. Stir with a spoon to melt completely. Drizzle over the scones.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and remaining creamer until smooth; add more creamer if necessary to reach the right viscosity for drizzling. Drizzle over the scones. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining crushed graham cracker crumbles. Serve with love.

Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chip & Cherry Cookies

Yesterday, after work, Todd spent a few hours visiting with his cousin that just came back into the big city. Todd also happens to have his lunch taken care of today. Do you know what this means? This means that I didn't have to make dinner yesterday! Which means, ultimately, that I was blessed with the freedom to make whateeeeeeever I wanted to stuff my face with for dinner. Oh yes.  Welcome to a glimpse of what my life would be like if I weren't married. It's cookies. Just cookies. Cookies. All. The. Time. Cookies for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner, obviously. At least I went quasi-healthy with these cookies and packed them full of oats, cherries, and nuts.

This recipe is based off a recipe my mom used to make. I don't know what recipe it is or where she got it from, but she used to make them all the time. Everyone loved these cookies and I haven't had them in many, many years. So, knowing that her's weren't remotely vegan, I thought I would try to recreate them for myself, and for you!

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, speckled with tart cherries and nuts. They're sprinkled with a little flake salt for good measure. Crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, these are delectable!

Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chip & Cherry Cookies 

Makes 20 cookies

Notes: I like unrefined coconut oil for that coconutty taste, but refined will work too. If you don't have dried cherries, cranberries will work as well. Feel free to use your favorite nuts or omit completely! The dough will be a bit crumbly, but if it seems too dry add milk or water 1 Tbsp. at a time. 

• Flax Egg:
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 3 Tbsp. water
• Wet:
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. unrefined coconut oil, solid
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Dry:
• 3/4 cup whole wheat white flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• Add-Ins:
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, dry
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried tart cherries, chopped
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• Topping:
• flake salt (or kosher salt)

In a small bowl, mix together the ground flax seed and the water. Place in the fridge to cool until ready to use. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the wet ingredients together until smooth and all the solid oil clumps are gone. Now, add the flax egg and beat again until combined.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients and beat until almost combined. 

Slowly incorporate the add-ins to the dough, until just combined. 

Cover the dough and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F and coat a baking sheet with a nonstick cooking spray. 

Form about 1 1/2 Tbsp. dough balls with your hands and flatten just a bit. The dough won't spread out much at all in the oven, so how they are shaped is pretty much how they'll look when they're done. Sprinkle with flake salt and continue with the remaining dough. 

(No, that baking sheet IS NOT a prop. I won't apologize for the shameful state of it. I know I'm a monster and I'm okay with it.)

Bake at 350 F for 13 minutes or until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes to firm up before transferring to a wire cooling rack. 

Once cool, store in an airtight container. 

Don't look ay my veiny hands or my chipping nail polish, 'k? I guess I'm a bit insecure today or something...Be sure no little doggy snouts get too close. "Please, Mom. I just want one!" Aw, look at that pleading face you guys!

PSA: You don't need eggs in cookies. Surprise! Stop using eggs in cookies. Use flax seed instead. That is all.  

Listening to: Big Fox – Shadows

"There’s a time for the shadows There’s a time for the fight But I’ve learned that truth’s gonna find you no matter how you hide Cause the words are there Yeah they fill the room long before you know Cause the words are there, just a silent tune but it’s gonna grow" 

German Word of The Day: Cookies --> Gebäck (pronounced: geh-beck). I also found Keks for cookie and Kekse for cookies. I think Gebäck might refer more towards pastries and Kekse more towards biscuity type of cookies. Can any German speakers shed light on Gebäck versus Kekse? I know I have a few German speaking readers! 

Good Deed of The Day: Feeling better about yourself today only takes 5 seconds. Help The Center for Biological Diversity by signing this petition to stop coyote-killing contests in Washington. Belch! This made me wrinkle my nose in disgust. A contest for killing? I know I shouldn't be surprised but somehow I am. Just disgraceful. 

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Salted Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Hello? Anyone there? I feel like it's been a little while. I guess I strayed from my usual peculiar ramblings in favor mostly of lounging about the house, reading. There was also some cooking, socializing and, wait for it...Tempur-Pedic mattress buying! Now wait just a minute! No, I do not by even the slightest definition engage in any sort of "Black Friday" monstrosities. I think it's absolutely horrendous. It is! Admit it. I'm just the messenger. We all know it. Is it really worth it all just to save 20% on a second microwave that you don't need anyway? No. Also, according to NPR you probably aren't even getting that much of a steal. So stay home and enjoy some good ol' fashioned family time. Oh no, I'm not done. I can't even imagine wanting to go shopping on Black Friday. I can't! But, I do hate shopping in general. Seriously, why would anybody even want to?! If you have to wait until one day of the year when there's a sale, chances are you don't really need what you're buying. Just a thought. People die and get injured! I won't even broach the subject of consumerism. Minimalism...it's going to happen. Whew, boy did that feel good. MOST AMERICANS HAVE SO MUCH MORE THAN THEY NEED! Okay, now I'm done.

Alright, with regards to the mattress...

Story Time

One day, as a poor Radiology student, I found myself in an effort to scrounge up food money, house-sitting for an Orthopedic (a.k.a. bone) surgeon. This surgeon had a Tempur-Pedic mattress in her guest room. I slept wonderfully. Todd didn't snore. He was also less sore in the morning (arthritis). Oh, and did I mention that he didn't snore!? We both vowed then and there that one day, one glorious day...the clouds of awful mattresses and sleepless nights would part and we would get a beautiful Tempur-Pedic mattress. Yesterday was that day. 

To think, it all happened because I bought some amazing sheets from Garnet Hill (Bailey put a hole in ours about seven months ago...I swear we are not hobos). These are adult sheets. Real nice sheets. Legit sheets. Anyways, our prior bed arrangement was two twin mattresses shoved together with a very sad, sunken memory foam mattress-topper from Costco thrown on top. No, I'm not making this up. Don't judge us. Anyways, I forbid these BAMF sheets to ever grace that...setup. I decided to stash them away for when had a "real bed".

That lasted about a week. Yea...we had to get a real mattress. Unfortunately, that also meant that we had to move our former bedroom from the loft to the living room and the living room up to the loft, because the new mattress most likely will not fit up the stairs. We also do not have a bed frame...or a couch, because the couch won't fit up the stairs into the "new" living room. It's all very confusing. We kept the two twin mattresses for an awful (awfully awesome?) excuse of a couch. Maybe I'll post some pictures on Facebook today or tomorrow so you can feel better about your couch situation or the fact that your abode isn't the size of the thimble. Or the fact that you have a bed frame. Any of those will probably work.

We are currently taking donations. Live a minimalist life! Who needs a real couch? Yes, we both make fairly good money...we just choose to live like hobos. OMG...I've turned into my grandpa. Just not rich...or as homeless looking. My grandpa is a very homeless looking, former physician. He's also a bajillionaire and he his extraordinarily frugal. Grandpa Doc, for a long time, was the only doctor here in the valley. He uses a bungee cord as a belt to hold up his pink holey sweatpants that he got from Costco and gripes about how diesel fuel de-geller costs $8 a bottle. He only needs a few drops, you guys! I love you Grandpa. 

Cookie Time

Whoa, I got way off track there. These cookies. Anyhow, basically, we really didn't have any desserts for Thanksgiving and so Friday night I was seriously craving some sweets! Cookies were in demand. It'd been way too long since I'd made them anyways and I really needed to satisfy a major sweet tooth. These were awesome. 

No butter in these! Well...peanut butter! Peanut butter oatmeal cookies speckled with dark chocolate chunks and the perfect sprinkling of flaked salt on top. Sophisticated enough for your adult side but nostalgic enough to bring out the kid in you. 

Salted Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Slightly adapted from Paint and Tofu

Makes about 20 cookies

• 1/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 cup of vegan sugar (I use Zulka)
• 1/3 cup cartoned coconut milk or other nondairy milk
• 1 tsp. Kahlua or vanilla extract (I still haven't bought vanilla extract...)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup vegan dark chocolate chunks
• sprinkling of finishing salt 

Preheat oven to 425 F.

In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, oil, sugar, milk, and Kahlua. Stir until well combined. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Make your Home Ec teacher proud and gently scoop the flour into the measuring cup. Don't you dare scoop out the flour with the measuring cup. Don't do it! I'll be watching.

Now, add the dry ingredients slowly into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. 

Add in the oatmeal and the chocolate chunks to the dough and stir until just combined. Be sure to not overmix it!

Coat a baking sheet with a nonstick cooking spray and drop cookies, so they are spaced about one inch apart. 

Bake at 425 F for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just barely golden brown. The top should not be brown and they will still be a bit pillowy. They might look like they need a few more minutes, but once removed they will set. 

Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with finishing salt. Allow them to rest a couple minutes on the baking sheet before placing on a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough. 

Serve warm with a tall, cold glass of your favorite vegan milk!

What? It's super catchy...Katy Perry – Hummingbird Heartbeat Also, I might be somewhat of a hobo...

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