Friday, December 21, 2012

Vegan Holiday Cookie Swap (yep; even MORE cookies)

This past weekend I attended a glorious event: a vegan, holiday cookie swap!  Generously hosted by the W family in their beautiful home, everyone brought a couple dozen of their own cookies to share, along with an empty container in which to accumulate what everyone else had created.  I made kitchen sink biscotti from VCIYCJ (p. 218) with chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts.


Of course I forgot to bring the ingredient list I'd carefully prepared the day before and had to just scrawl a new one on site.


It was the first time I'd ever made biscotti, and it didn't start out well: the plant suffered a cocoa powder mishap early on.


But then everything came together.


I doubled the recipe because that's what I do.


Cut and ready for the second baking.


Packed and ready to go:


Snazzified:


89 obliterating her Hanukkah toy of the day occupied while I baked and baked and baked.

(Her bed isn't normally in the kitchen; it was relocated for the evening.)

When I arrived at the swap, I'd come from a celebratory feast at Gobo (where the food was served and enjoyed in entirely too fast a manner for me to have even attempted documentation).  I was too full to partake in more than a couple of cookies at the scene so, as a result, I managed to return home with an impressive haul that I'm still making my way through.


Scene from a party dedicated almost entirely to cookies:

a blurry glimpse of the goodies
After a cookie-filled week, even I had to take a break.  This was my breakfast the following morning: broccoli sautéed with garlic and red pepper flakes in toasted sesame oil tossed with whole wheat pasta, raw carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, black pepper and chipotle olive oil.


This holiday has been a treat marathon; got to remember to get the veggies in.

6 comments:

  1. we now know the truth! You and your dog actually live in the kitchen!!!!

    haha! Happy Holidays! Hope you baked some goodies for that cute little pup too!

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  2. Biscotti are so classy! I love that recipe. Have you made them before?
    It looks like an awesome collection but I do have to say that the pasta salad also sounds fantastic. Glad you were able to fit some veggies in.

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  3. I made those NY State gingerbreads! I see you have one in your box. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm sorry we didn't get to meet. I left early to go to another party! I would have loved to have tried one of your biscotti! Oh well, next year!

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  4. The vegan treats may look more perfect, but I find the homemade cookies in your collection even more appealing. Enjoy!

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  5. BYOL- I haven't baked for her yet, but she does love her raw veggies- just like you!

    foodfued- I'd never made any biscotti before, but this recipe was so easy. Plus it was fun to have carte-blanche of mix-ins. Next time I'll try to dip them in chocolate.

    Molly G- I know! Ask Ariela ;-)

    Andrea- I might be Vegan Treats' biggest fan, but the home-baking celebration certainly was wonderful.

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  6. Abby,

    Although I didn't attend the cookie party, I did have a few of your kitchen sink biscotti's. If this was Yelp, I would give them a 5.

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