Lemon Bars

Prior to being vegan I had actually never had a lemon bar before. So, these aren't anything that I missed or could make a good comparison for. However, these little beauties from Vegan Cookies and Veganomicon are good! As soon as my boyfriend looked through VCIYCJ all he could think about and want were lemon bars; unbenownst to both of us this recipe was also in V'con (I've never made a dessert from that book actually, so I didn't notice these there until the other day). I finally remembered to get fresh lemons at the store--now he's happy.

Just a warning, these guys require about 4 hours to make and set, so if you want them for a special occasion, prepare ahead. First the crust is made, refrigerated, and baked.


The filling comes next. Other than zesting and squeezing the lemons, this part's pretty simple.



The filling gets poured over the crust and it goes into the fridge for the next three hours. Of course, my boyfriend couldn't wait that long and cut out a piece after about two. These really don't last that long, it's been two days and the crust is already starting to get a little soggy. Be sure to have plenty of friends around to help you eat these, or I'd suggest making only a half batch.

Citrus Glitters

These little sparkly beauties also come from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. They're a lovely citrus version of a sugar cookie.

I was not a fan of the preparation for these cookies. It required using a hand mixer; mine is crazy and always makes a mess (I place a towel over the mixing bowl and use that to keep most of the flyaway contained. The resulting batter then resembled wood shavings, it was very odd. I just had to take a handful of the crumbles/shavings and start pressing them together and they would stay, but I'd never seen anything like it before.


Sugar cookies aren't my favorite, but these were definitely an improvement on the traditional.

Orange Agave Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just a warning: we might be a little cookie crazy here for a while. I just got Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and the holidays are quickly approaching, I will probably be making food stuffs for most of my local friends and colleagues.

This was the first recipe I tried from VCIYCJ, honestly they're just alright. The flavor is great, with the orange and chocolate coming together (how can you argue with that?!), but they're quite dry. They don't seem like they would be because they don't crumble, but you'll definitely need to be drinking a thing (or two) while eating these.

One of my cats, Brody, enjoyed watching me make these. He lies around in such a silly position (on his back with all his paws up; he turned a little bit to look at me while I took this pic) that I had to include a picture of him.



Anyway, there are all sorts of amazing sounding cookies in this book, it was really fun to read through and imagine the combinations. I'll be trying a different one next time.