Oreo Stuffed Cookies

One of the happiest days of being vegan was the day that I learned Oreo's contained no dairy. What does that say about them? Well for one, there is not much natural to them... definitely would not consider these a health food! It also says to me, that once in a while it's a perfect treat for me. I have no control when it comes to Oreo's, and really most cookies. I generally keep them out of my house because if they are here, I eat them until they are gone and never feel good after.

Not long ago, my boyfriend, Tony, sent me a picture... See below. I took it as a challenge and I am pretty sure it was meant to be interpreted that way. Really, how could I not try to make these knowing that they were vegan and knowing that I am a self-proclaimed cookie master! Tony did a little research for me by tasting different cookies with Oreo's and we determined that, yes, chocolate chip is the way to go. Lucky for me, I make a mean chocolate chip cookie... so why not put them on cookie steroids by stuffing another yummy cookie inside!

These cookies are monsters. Basically, consider one cookie, three cookies. Yummy chocolate chip cookie on the outside and warm Oreo in the middle. I can't think of something better to have after a long day...

How did I make these? It's actually pretty easy. You can take any chocolate cookie recipe you have on hand.. just remember that it will really only make half the number of cookies, so double if you want lots, but these cookies are pretty filling. I don't think I would recommend eating more than one in a sitting.

I used my chocolate cookie recipe found here

Now, when you have your dough ready, make each cookie dough into a ball. Press down with your hand or a spoon and then place an Oreo on top. Now take a second cookie and place on top. Make sure the cookies are large enough that they wider than the Oreo. Next, grab the dough and press the edges together to they are sealed.

Make your cookie dough, place an Oreo on the dough..

Place the second cookie dough on top and seal.

Pre-heat your oven to 375 F (Or if using a different recipe, just follow their cooking instructions). Bake the cookies to the recipe, mine took about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them for when the edges go golden brown... That means they're ready. Also, space the cookies out well, they can spread a bit.

Let them cook on a rack for about 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a plate.

there is an Oreo hiding in that cookie!!

Let me just say, oh man are these amazing. I wasn't too sure about the combo at first, but who ever came up with this Picture Tony send, they are genius. I am so glad Tony sent these to me now. He is finally coming up to brave Canadian winter and see me on my birthday... maybe he'll luck out and I'll make these for him so he has a snack for when he gets off the plane. He is the best for coming all this way just to celebrate my big 3-0, I should return the favour. What better way than a double threat cookie!

This recipe got me thinking... what else could you stuff inside a cookie? Fruit, obviously. I did that once with a sugar cookie and strawberries... they were good. What about peanut butter? Jam? Icing? Pumpkin? My brain is going a mile a minute.. mostly because I just test tasted these cookies and I am on an obvious sugar high... I think this will not be the last of stuffing food into cookies.... But what to try next?

Popcorn Challenge - Vegan Style

I successfully have gone to two swim practices in a row now. Even though I am really slow and completely out of shape, I am liking being back in the pool. Most nights I come home from work and I either cook, go out to eat or laze around the house watching TV. The only thing I get close to accomplishing is food related and I figure it is time to change it. One of my favourite things to do after swimming when I was a kid was to go for doughnuts. Kind of like the reward for doing something healthy. Balance it with a little unhealthy. Now that I am vegan, I can't just whip through the Timmy's drive through on my way home. The only place in this city that has doughnuts sometimes that are vegan aren't open that late. So, I saw two options... Either make doughnuts or find another after swimming treat. I am not quite ready to try my own doughnut recipe (Maybe soon though?) I decided, it would be much smarter to find another snack.

Enter popcorn.

I think one of the best snacks in the world is popcorn. The smell is addictive and it is practically impossibly to mess up. You can air pop, oil pop or get the microwave bags and have a filling snack in minutes. I remember when I went vegan, I realized that almost all microwave popcorn is not vegan. This was a very sad day. I think the worst is when I smell it. That chemical butter smell is highly addictive. I couldn't just give up popcorn and most certainly was not going to just eat it plain.. so I learned how to make popcorn without a bag and a micro wave. Two ways that I use:

1. Air pop - You can buy an air popper for less than $20. I find they last me about a year or so and tend to start clunking out on me after that. The nice thing about these things is that there is no added fat to making the popcorn and you can make as much as you want. I find about 1/4 cup is more than enough. Major drawback is that the machine is not well made and doesn't last that long and there are always kernels that don't pop.

2. Oil popping - All you need is popcorn, a tablespoon of oil and a big pot and just like the air popper, you can have popcorn in a couple minutes. The trick to oil popping is first warm the pan, then add the oil (I find the best are peanut or coconut. You want any oil that can heat to a high temperature; olive oil will burn) Once the oil is hot, add 4-5 kernels of popcorn and put the lid on it. When those kernels pop, you know the oil is ready. Add the remaining popcorn and cover the pot. take it of the heat for 20-30 sec. this allows the kernels to all get to the same temperature. Next put it back on the heat and move it around on the element so it doesn't burn. Every kernel will pop this way.

Very important - put a couple kernels in the pop and wait for them to pop

Then add the rest of the kernels and take it off the heat
for 20 seconds. Now everything is the same temp.

2 minutes later - Voila! 

In order to make popcorn a worthy blog post, I thought I would write about different ways I make popcorn that are vegan. You can just buy some vegan butter or margarine and add it like you would normally, but like most vegan people I have to make it more interesting. Tonight I tested four different flavours, two sweet and two savory.


The Sweet

Popcorn and brown rice syrup
This of this as a slightly more healthy version of caramel popcorn. The nice thing about it is that you just need to add a couple spoonfuls of brown rice syrup and you're ready to eat. No cooking caramel or worrying about burning the sugar. Another good thing about this is that you don't get the blood sugar spike as bad with brown rice syrup.. that's why I get to call it a slightly healthier version. In the end, it's still a sugar, but it is also a great treat. You could also do this with maple syrup or agave.

Brown sugar and cinnamon
I made this with cinnamon toast in mind. I personally just like brown sugar more than white, so you could use whatever sugar you want. Add about 1 Tbsp of sugar for every 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. taste and adjust if you want. I also add a small bit of canola oil to this to help the sugar stick to the popcorn. Sweet and spicy, this is a flavour combo that cannot be beat. You could also dice up some apple to go in here or melt down some peanut butter. Actually, adding both of those together would be amazing. I think I'll try that next time!

The savory

Chili powder, salt, cayenne and paprika with olive oil
This is probably the one that I do the most. It is salty, smokey, and a little spicy. Totally delicious. I don't really measure when I make this, but I would say about Tbsp olive oil and tsp of paprika and chili powder and maybe 1/8 tsp of cayenne.

Garlic powder, salt and nutritional yeast
This is a nice way to have a salty snack and get some B12 in your diet. Nutritional yeast is not for everyone, but it is a nice combo with garlic. Sometimes I add Italian seasoning to this as well. Depends on the mood. I add about 1-2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp Italian season, 1 tsp nutritional yeast and some olive oil to bind it. Toss and you're ready.

I think my favourite thing about popcorn is that I have total control over it. I can make it salty or sweet or both. Completely up to me. that and it only takes minutes to fulfill the craving. I hate to wait when I want something.

Green Onion Cakes

One night back in the summer, I got into a conversation about favourite festival food. My favourites all changed after going vegan. No more pizza, mini doughnuts and corn dogs. None of that for me anymore. Now I tend to gravitate towards cotton candy, snow cones and green onion cakes. When I mentioned green onion cakes the response back was, "What is a green onion cake". I think my mouth dropped. Here in Edmonton, these tasty little snacks show up at every festival and are on almost all menu of any restaurant serving up anything Asian. My first thought was that he had to have another name for them... There is no way these are not served in the US. I described them as best I could and it quickly became apparent that I was going to have to let him see them and try them. I'm really hopeful that these have made it into the US, maybe just not where he lives... I did a little googling to see if these were on some list of random awesome food that isn't popular there. Luckily it seems to be just him and I will be putting an end to this one soon.

Key Ingredient

Green Onion Cakes (Cong you bing or scallion pancake) are a Chinese street food. Very similar recipes are found in Korea, Vietnam, Japan and India. Sadly here in Edmonton, this type of street food only seems to show up in the summer time, but much better than not at all. They are also in lots of restaurants, so even though they leave the food carts, we can get them all year. They are generally served on their own, or with a dip (soy sauce, chili sauce, plum sauce, sweet chili sauce etc) Every place is a little different. When I make these at home, I tend to just put a little soy sauce on them. Mostly because I am lazy and have a slight salt obsession. I personally think it's the bast way to serve them.

I never bothered making these before because I assumed they were deep fried and I am a little scared of deep frying. My sister tipped me off to the fact that not only are these insanely easy and cheap to make, but they are pretty handy to have around for an easy way to kill a salt craving.

All of the recipes I found were fairly similar. This is the one my sister gave me:

Green Onion Cakes
*Makes 14-16, takes about 90 minutes, most of it inactive

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 bunch of scallions (green onions), chopped thinly
• salt and pepper (about 2 tbsp of each handy)
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• Peanut Oil for frying

Put the flour into a large bowl. Now boil the water. I tend to use a little more than 1/4 cup because some of the water boils away on me. As soon as the water is boiling, pour it into the bowl of flour. Stir it well with a fork until it is crumbly. Now use your hands and kneed the dough until it comes together into a ball (If you are like me, this will hurt. the dough will be hot and could burn your hands a little bit. Don't say I didn't warn you. I know this from experience!)

This is what the dough looks like before kneading 

And.. after needing. At this point you let it rest in the fridge

While you wait, set up your assembly. Chop the green onions,
and get the oil, brush and salt and pepper ready

Cover the dough in the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for an hour. When the dough is ready, set up a station to get the pancakes ready. Chop the green onion and have it available in a small bowl, have the salt and pepper hand and another bowl with the veg oil in it. I use a brush to get the oil even on the pancakes.

Separate the dough into 14-16 pieces. Take the first on and roll the dough into a ball. Now roll it out as thin as possible (about 1/4 inch thick). I bought my first rolling pin for this. In the past I have always used cans because I am kind of cheap, limited on space and really cans do a decent job. My $2 wooden rolling pin did not do a great job on this. The dough was sticking like glue. I ended up wrapping my rolling pin with plastic wrap and it helped a lot. Hopefully this doesn't happen to you!

Roll the dough out, brush with oil and sprinkle the green onion,
 salt and pepper.

Roll it up like a cigar and bring the two ends together.
Kind of looks like a doughnut

OK, back to recipe. Once you have it rolled out, brush the dough with a bit of oil, sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and add about 1-2 tsp of green onions. Next, take the edge of the dough and roll it up so it looks like a cigar. Take the two ends and press them together, so it forms a circle again. Lastly flatten out the dough again to make the pancake. Should be about 1" thick.

Repeat these steps for the remaining batter. If you are not making all of them at once, wrap the pre-made pancakes in foil and you can freeze them for up to a couple months.

To cook:

Heat peanut oil on high heat in a frying pan. You want enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, but not deep fry. Add the green onion cakes and cook about 2-3 minutes. Watch them closely because they go from perfect to burnt fast. Once they are golden brown, flip them and cook the other side 1-2 minutes. Get them out of the pan and transfer to a plate lined with paper towel. Put a second paper towel on top and press lightly to get the excess oil off.

That's it - Serve with any of your favourite dipping sauce.

Finished product. Yumm..

It does take a while start to finish, but really only about 15-20 min of work. It is so great being able to keep these on hand in the freezer. They make an excellent salty snack and once you have them assembled, you can have them ready to eat in just a few minutes. So nice I can have these at home anytime I want now. The only tricky part for me is only eating one or two. Something about these makes me want to binge.. they're like potato chips that way.