Procedure 1 Preheat oven at 350F for 15 minutes. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.

2 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Since the quantity of butter is very less, the creamed mixture was dry and resembled coarse crumbs.

3 In a blender/food processor blend together Ener-G, water, soy milk and vanilla extract until nice and foamy.

4 Add the Ener-G mixture to the creamed butter/sugar and beat everything together with the hand mixer until thoroughly combined. This mixture looks creamy like a white sauce.

5 In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg (if using). Add this to the wet ingredients. The batter will be thick.

6 Stir in apples and nuts. Mix it thoroughly.

7 Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with just a few crumbs. Mine was done around 38 minutes. You can also see that the cake starts pulling from the edges.

8 This cake can be sliced directly from the pan while its still warm, so no need to wait for the pan to cool to invert it and then slice it.

My Notes 1 The original recipe mentioned only 3 tablespoons butter. Since I had only 4 tablespoons (1/2 a stick) remaining from a stick, I used it entirely. Did not want to keep the balance 1 tablespoon in the fridge. I think that extra tablespoon of butter helped to get the amazing texture for the cake.

2 The apples were required to be diced, but I grated it because I was not sure if my son would eat the cake if it had chunks of apples in it. He usually eats all fruits and especially apples and pears are his favorite. But I can never guess him. The apples were really invisible, so if you have a picky eater sneak the apples by grating.

3 I was wondering what to do about the sweetness. If it’s not sweet enough you can always sprinkle some powdered sugar, have it with vanilla ice cream etc. But how to reduce the sweetness. Then I got this idea of coating the cake with unsweetened chocolate so that the bitterness would offset the sweetness. I wanted to try it immediately but did not have it at home. Sent my husband immediately to the grocery store and he got the Baker’s unsweetened baking chocolate. It’s a pack of 8 individually wrapped squares of plain chocolate. I wanted to test very little first. So melted 3 squares in the microwave oven. Cooled it a little bit. I decided to shaped the cake into small balls and dip it in the melted chocolate so that it would resemble truffles. Since the cake was slightly warm and moist I was able to proceed with the idea and shaped them into small balls. Dipped the cake quickly into the melted chocolate and placed it in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I had a perfect slice of cake as well. My husband dipped 3 sides of the cake in the chocolate. I placed the baking sheet in the fridge for the chocolate to set. I couldn’t contain my excitement to taste it. Managed to wait until the next day morning. The chocolate had set perfectly and I took a bite of the apple cake truffle and was literally doing the happy dance. It tasted so good! The bitterness of the unsweetened chocolate took care of the sweetness perfectly. The taste was phenomenal. I’m very glad that I tried this apple cake recipe.

Step-by-Step Procedure 1. Preheat oven at 350F/180C. Prepare 2 large baking sheets either greasing it or lining it with parchment paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. I used a hand mixer.

3. In a blender, add flax seed powder and water and blend it until it’s foamy.

4. Add the flax seed mixture and vanilla extract to the creamed butter. Stir it well using a wooden spoon/spatula.

5. In a medium size bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

6. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine it well using a spatula.

7. Now stir the oats and other optional ingredients you wish to include.

8. Drop the batter by tablespoonsfull 2 inches apart. I used an ice cream scoop.

9. Wet your hands and flatten the cookies so that they are about 1/2 an inch thick.

10. Bake it for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the centre is little wet.

11. Remove it from the oven and let it cool in the baking sheet itself for 5 minutes. Then transfer it to a wire rack to cool it completely.

My Notes 1. I baked the batch with aluminum baking sheet for 14 minutes and the one in dark color non stick baking sheet for 13 minutes. The cookies were chewy.

2. I wanted to try baking with vegan butter alternatives for long time now. So I bought Earth Balance Vegan Butter and tried this recipe with that, instead of regular dairy butter. I’m 100% sure that the cookies will come out good with regular butter also, because the original recipe uses the same.

3. I’m not a vegan, I just tried baking vegan cookies, so I have used dairy milk in the photo.

Step-by-Step Procedure 1. Stir together cereal, dried fruit, nuts and cinnamon (if using) in large bowl.

2. Put syrup, almond butter and soy margarine (whichever you are using) in large, microwave-safe measuring cup.

3. Microwave 1 and 1/2 minutes on high, or until hot and margarine has melted.

4. Stir well, then pour over cereal mixture.

5. Stir to coat.

6. Dampen hands with cold water.

7. Press cereal mixture firmly into 9×9 inch baking pan (I didn’t have this, so I used 13×9 inch nonstick baking pan), re-wetting hands if necessary to keep mixture from sticking.

8. Freeze 30 minutes. I covered the pan with plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer.

9. Cut into 15 bars, and store in refrigerator up to 5 days.

My Notes 1. For toasting almonds, heat a frying pan on the stove and add the sliced almonds, toss it for a couple of seconds. Be careful not to burn the almonds.

2. If you are not into organic stuff, you can find almond butter very cheap in Trader Joe’s. The organic brand is also cheaper there when compared to the price in the regular grocery store. The grocery store near my house carries only Nature’s Promise Organic Almond Butter which is $12, but the organic butter in Trader Joe’s is only $8 and if you choose to buy the inorganic it’s only $4.59. That’s a considerable amount of savings for me. You can also make your own almond butter.