Taste These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies tasted very good, crispy on the edges and chewy in the middle. I guess the cookies would have been more crisp had I flattened the dough.

My Notes1 I think the next time when I make it I would reduce the quantity of chocolate chips to 1 cup and also substitute the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour.

2 The 2 and 1/2 cups of oats when powdered measured to 2 cups. So I think we could also use 2 cups of oat flour instead.

TasteTake my word on this and bake these cookies as soon as you can. You won’t believe that these are egg free and gluten free cookies also made with whole grain flours. It tasted just like the usual chocolate chip cookies, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Since I couldn’t find fine grind whole cornmeal, I had to powder and sieve the medium grind cornmeal a couple of times before using. Even then it was little gritty. Otherwise there were no issues at all with this recipe. I’m definitely making this again and again at least with the regular fine grind cornmeal available in the supermarket.

My Notes1 Be sure to check that all the ingredients you are using is gluten free if you are baking these for gluten allergic people.

2 The original recipe uses regular cornmeal and white rice flour. I have used whole cornmeal and brown rice flour to incorporate whole grains.

3 The ratio of EnerG and water given in the pack is 1 and 1/2 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons of water. The EnerG egg replacer powder I’m having is almost a year old. So I wasn’t sure if it was good enough, so I increased it to 2 teaspoons and 3 tablespoons of water and this did not affect the cookies. In fact the cookies came out very good, the shape, texture and taste was awesome.

Taste & My Notes The original recipe had used 2 cups of all purpose flour which I substituted with whole barley flour. So the cake was not spongy as the name implies. It was quite dense. Maybe I should I have added another teaspoon of baking powder. Vinegar would do the trick too but I’m not for it in this particular recipe. Since I needed a layer cake, for the second layer I tried another similar recipe but added 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and felt that the flavor of vinegar was over powering. You can see in the 2nd picture that the first layer is reddish in color than the bottom layer, it’s because of the apple cider vinegar. It was airy but I prefer the dense cake minus the vinegar smell/taste. Maybe just 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar should be fine or adding some almond extract might reduce the after taste. This is again a guess only.

The sweetness was right. If you are going to frost the cake, the quantity of sugar in the recipe is okay otherwise I think adding another 2-3 tablespoons of sugar should be fine for those with sweet tooth.

Do I recommend baking this cake? Well it depends on the individual taste. In our family we are trying to include more whole grains and in general to eat more healthy. So we don’t mind the denseness. Especially me baking quite often I cannot be using all purpose flour so frequently. I’m not lying when I tell that everybody in my family liked this cake. I think our taste buds have accustomed to the texture and flavor of whole grains.

It’s not all times that whole grain flours give perfect results while baking. So if you want to use whole barley flour and also want a cake to suit everyone’s taste buds I would suggest you to bake the vegan barley chocolate cake instead of this sponge cake.

If you are looking for a vegan sponge cake recipe to bake for some occasion like a birthday, anniversary etc I would suggest you to try the exact same recipe but with all purpose flour as mentioned in the original recipe. I too am going to try it and will post my findings here when I’m done.

Taste The barley flour brownies tasted awesome. It was mildly sour which I think is because of the applesauce. See My Notes section for more details. Like the oat flour brownies I felt a slight difference in the texture but it’s not a big deal. Once refrigerated you hardly realize any difference at all.

My Notes1 I wanted to use only pumpkin puree for these brownies but I had only 1/2 cup of homemade puree left. So I had to use unsweetened applesauce for the rest. I think the brownies were mildly sour (others did not feel this though) because of this. So you can either increase the quantity of sugar by 1/4 cup or use more of pumpkin puree/beet puree than applesauce. For the oat flour and beet brownies I had used 1 cup of beet puree and just 1/4 cup of applesauce and did not find it sour. You could follow the same measurement for these barley flour brownies too.

2 You can use all purpose flour too instead of barley flour.

3 You could use store bought canned pumpkin too. I think in that case you would have to add additional water because the canned puree is very stiff. I always cook the puree at home. Actually I prepare three vegetable purees at the same time and freeze it. It’s carrots, pumpkin and beets. I use a big pressure cooker for this. Clean, peel and chop the vegetables into bite size pieces. Take 3 utensils which will fit the cooker and add each vegetable to one utensil each and add enough water to cover them and leave the cooker for 1 whistle. Once it is cool enough drain the vegetables and use a blender to get a smooth puree or puree it while it’s still hot with an immersion blender. Save the vegetable cooked water and use it while preparing soups. Transfer the puree into 1/2 cup size containers and freeze it and use it whenever needed. Thaw it overnight in the fridge if you want to use it the next day.

4 Home made pumpkin puree is not as stiff as the canned one. After thawing I found that it had way
too much water. So I had to strain the puree in a fine meshed sieve to separate the water.

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1 Pulse the oats in a food processor until it resembles coarse flour. To this also add the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and process until combined. Transfer this mix to a large mixing bowl.

2 Put the drained and rinsed beans in the food processor and pulse until smoothly pureed. You may add 2-3 tablespoons of water to make it easier. Add the butter/margarine and process until well blended.

3 Now add the brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

4 Pour the bean mixture into the oat mixture and stir using a spatula. Add the peanut butter chips/chocolate chips, raisins/dried cranberries, nuts and flax seed meal and stir until blended.

5 Drop by large spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each one a little with your hand. Have a bowl of water nearby to dampen your palms, so that flattening the cookies will be easy.

6 Bake for 14-16 minutes, until pale around the edges but still soft in the middle. The cookies baked in a dark coated cookie sheet started browning after 14 minutes itself but the pale coated cookie sheet was done after 16 minutes.

7 Place the the cookie sheets on individual wire racks. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the cooling rack after that.

Taste These cookies tasted very much like the Fiber One Cereal breakfast cookies I have baked earlier. These are very soft cookies, more like a muffin. The presence of whole grain flours like whole wheat pastry flour and oat flour did not affect the taste at all. You cannot detect the navy beans too. It’s not very sweet also. If “healthy” tastes so good, I’m ready to eat healthy always. My son takes it to school as a treat after having his lunch and he likes it so much.

My Notes1 You can use all purpose flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, white beans instead of navy beans, butter or margarine, chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chips, raisins, pecans instead of walnuts.

2 For chocolate flavored cookies use 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the flour.

3 Updated: I stored these cookies in a cookie jar over the counter and it became very soft. This is okay if you are going to consume it within 2-3 days. The longer it stays on the counter the softer it gets. Recently I borrowed Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites from the library and found a tip for storing low-fat cookies. It says that the best way to store low-fat cookies is in layers separated by wax paper or plastic wrap in an airtight container in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving. But I think storing in the refrigerator should be fine because it gives instant gratification

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line the muffin tins with cupcake liners.

2 In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sugar.

3 Add all the remaining ingredients and beat until you have a smooth, liquid batter.

4 Using a ladle, pour the batter 3/4ths full. Approximately 3 tablespoons of batter for large cupcakes and 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of batter for the mini cupcakes.

5 Bake until risen and firm to touch. Approximately 12-13 minutes for the mini cupcakes and 15-16 minutes for the large.

6 Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Frosting

Frosting is optional. I did not frost the entire batch. Made a very small batch of chocolate ganache using 1/4 cup mini chocolate chip cookies and 2 tablespoons milk. Heat the milk, don’t let it boil. Add the warm milk little by little until the chocolate chips melt and is very smooth. The chocolate chips did not melt enough. So I heated some water in a saucepan and place the bowl of chips on the saucepan and kept stirring it with a whisk and it melted from the heat in no time. If you add excess milk, keep the frosting in the fridge until you get the correct consistency to frost the cupcakes.

Taste

I was pleasantly surprised with the good taste of these vegan cupcakes. Earlier I have baked something similar and it was literally awful and I had to throw the cake. The other recipe used more oil, soy milk instead of water and white vinegar. The soy milk gave a sticky texture, the use of vinegar was very obvious. So I was relieved to see a recipe with just 2 tablespoons of oil and water. That’s why I went with apple cider vinegar this time. I wouldn’t say that these cupcakes taste exactly like the regular vanilla cupcakes, but it’s definitely very good for a low-fat, egg free and dairy free vegan cupcake. The next time I will probably reduce the quantity of sugar by at least 2 tablespoons, especially if I decide to frost it.

As for the texture, it is not light. At the same time it’s not dense or moist either. It’s somewhere between light and dense. It’s solid and not crumbly, so I should probably try this in a round/square cake pan to make a good layered cake with icing and stuff.

My Notes1 The original recipe mentions that the measurement yields 12 mini cupcakes, but I don’t know how I got so many. Also the time mentioned to bake the mini cupcakes is about 20 minutes, but mine was done in 14 minutes. Actually had I taken it out a minute earlier the cupcake’s texture would have been even better/lighter.

2 It was a little sweet for me even without the frosting.

3 I forgot to refrigerate the cupcakes on the first day, so I felt it was sort of sticky on the top on the second day. I think the sugar released out moisture and made it sort of sticky. The inside was good though.

4 To make vegan ganache, use vegan chocolate chips and any other non dairy milk.

Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. If using a non stick pan greasing is not necessary, otherwise use parchment paper to line the cookie sheets.

2 In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.

3 In a food processor/blender whip together the egg replacer powder and water together, until it’s thick and creamy. Add this mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, combine thoroughly.

4 In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

5 Gradually beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture until it begins to form a dough.

6 When it is almost thoroughly combined stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using.

7 I greased a tablespoon to scoop the dough and drop it easily onto the baking sheet.

8 Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

9 Let stand for 2 minutes on the baking sheet itself. Then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool
completely before storing.

My Notes 1 My first batch of cookies did not turn golden brown even after 11 minutes. I removed it anyway and noticed that the bottom was very brown. So from the second batch onwards I removed it from the oven around 9 minutes itself. Even though the cookies had a pale yellow color, they were baked enough and tasted very good. I guess using dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar would give the golden brown color.

2 For vegan chocolate chip cookies use non-hydrogenated, non dairy butter and nondairy semisweet chocolate chips.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven to 360F/180c for 15 minutes.

2 Grease and flour a 9 inch spring-form pan. You can use cocoa instead of flour.

3 In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour,cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4 In a small blender/processor blend together the Ener-G and water until it’s nice and fluffy like beaten eggs. I used my Magic Bullet blender. I pulsed it a couple of times.

5 In a medium bowl add oil, applesauce, sugars, vanilla extract and coffee powder. Using a hand mixer beat the mixture in medium speed for 3-5 minutes.

6 Add the egg replacer liquid in 3 additions beating it after every addition. Now also add the milk and beat until well combined.

7 Reserving half a cup of the flour mixture, add slowly the remaining flour to the wet ingredients, while beating it in low speed. Combine well the grated zucchini, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of flour. Add this to the batter and mix it well. Note that the batter is thick at this stage. So don’t worry.

8 Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and smooth it out using a spatula. While using a spring-form pan it’s advisable to place the pan on a baking sheet, so that the batter or baked cake does not fall down if the pan is not locked properly.

9 Prepare the topping by mixing the brown sugar and pistachios. Sprinkle this mixture evenly on the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Mine was done in 45 minutes.

My Notes 1 The key in using Ener-G is processing it with the water in a blender until it’s nice and fluffy. Simply whisking it with a fork does not give desirable results. If you pour this immediately in a liquid measuring cup, you will see that it measures exactly 3/4 th of a cup, which is perfect because we usually replace every egg with 1/4 cup of any egg substitute. But by the time I was ready to add this mixture to the rest of the wet ingredients, I saw that it had reduced to 1/2 a cup. So to replace the 1/4 cup of liquid missing I used unsweetened soy milk. You could use any milk or even some fruit juice which you think would go with the flavors you are baking.

2 You can also use an 8 inch or 9 inch round cake pan instead of a spring form pan. But I think you cannot do the topping because, while inverting the pan to unmould the cake the toppings may fall down.

3 Zucchini can be grated without peeling. After grating I felt that the strands were very big, so I chopped them coarsely.

Procedure 1 Preheat the oven at 375F.

2 Grease and dust a 13×9 inch pan with little flour.

3 In a large bowl whisk together all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and light brown sugar.

4 Also add the chopped dried fruits and nuts of your choice. Make sure that the dried fruits are not lumped togther. Use your fingers mix it thoroughly.

5 In a liquid measuring mug, measure 3/4th cup of applesauce. Add the vanilla extract, 1/4 cup water and tea masala extract (if using). Whisk it nicely.

6 Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix it well. Since it’s a lot of dried fruits and nuts, chances are the flour mixture in the bottom may not be combined well.

7 Spread the batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to evenly press it.

8 Bake for the 30 minutes at 375F. When I inserted a toothpick in the center it was almost done and it had started to become golden brown. I wanted to bake it for another 5 minutes, but I worried if the cake would become very dark, so I reduced the temperature to 300F and baked it for 5 more minutes.

9 Once out of the oven, leave the pan on a wire rack and let it cool completely before cutting it. I inverted the fruitcake on a big cookie sheet and then cut them into pieces. This cake will store for months in the refrigerator.

My Notes 1 Any combination of nuts and dried fruits can be used in this fruitcake. The only thing to be followed is that it should be 3 cups of nuts and 3 cups of dried fruits. I used 1 cup each of walnuts, pecans and sliced almonds. For dried fruits, I used 1/2 cup each of raisins, dried cranberries, dates, apricots and 1 cup of dried and sliced figs.

2 Let the fruitcake cool completely in the pan before inverting it. I was not patient enough and turned it over and the cake broke into 2 pieces. Fortunately I was able to patch it up. So I would suggest cooling it overnight.

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.