Outrageously Awesome Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The title says it all! These are "the" perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and of course the recipe can be adapted to really contain any kind of goodies.  Substitute or add raisins, walnuts, dried apricot, you name it.  If adding to the choco chips, you'll have to reduce their amount a bit.

Yields: about 2 dozen

ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats; quick or whole
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup light oil (I use sunflower)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup of something else; raisins, chopped walnuts, dried apricots, etc.

method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Prepare several cookie sheets, I like to cover them with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk together to mix.

In a small bowl combine the water, oil and vanilla extract, stir well to combine.

Pour liquid ingredients over dry, mix well to form a stiff dough.  Add in chocolate chips and other goodies.

Drop tablespoon sized balls of the dough onto your prepared cookie sheet, about 2" apart.  Bake 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.  

Remove from oven, but let cookies cool on pan for at least 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Watch them magically disappear!

Daiya Cheese Breadsticks

I've been meaning to make these for at least a year and finally got around to it.  I've never made bread sticks before, but am an old hand at the bread machine thing, so thought I'd give it a whirl.  We used to love the cheese sticks that the Queensdale Market on Lonsdale sells, but these are easily just as tasty.

So, you do need a bread machine for this recipe, unless you're savvy at adapting these for the traditional method.

ingredients:

In a breadmachine, add the following ingredients in the order as they appear:

• 1 1/3 cups tepid water
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread
• 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp bread machne yeast

You will also need about 4 - 5 cups Daiya vegan cheese (2 packages should cover you)

method:

Fit pan into bread machine and select "Dough Cycle"

Once done, remove dough onto a lightly floured surface, cover with a large bowl and let rise for 10 - 15 minutes.

Divide dough into sections (however many you want, size is up to you), and roll into long stick-like shapes, like in the photo below.

Pop your pan, or pans, into an oven preheated to 375 degrees, and bake for 10 - 15 minutes, depending on size of bread sticks.

Remove from oven, brush dough with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with Daiya, patting it onto the dough to "stick" and letting it crumble around the edges too.  The more the better!

Bake another 5 - 7 minutes, or until edges of the Daiya cheese are just slightly crispy.  Remove from oven and try not to eat them all within 24 hrs!