Vegan Baking

These Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies are no nonsense soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies like your vegan grandma used to make. Over the years I've learned a lot about the art of cookie making and these are simple to make but still pack lots of flavor into a chewy, chocolatey chippity package. The secret to this cookie recipe is having just the right ratio of fat, water and golden flax meal. The molasses also adds chewiness and the cinnamon adds a touch of flavor complexity. Finally, the way the cookies are formed results in just the right shape. These cookies are also great for ice cream sandwiches.

This Chocolate Coconut Magic Bar recipe is quite possibly the only good thing I got from going to church as a youngster. Sundays were free-for-all sugar fests that kept the kids coming. This vegan dessert in particular often inspired me to secretly infiltrate the church kitchen with ninja-like abilities so I could get to it first while the church service was still in session.

Magic Bars are also known as Seven Layer Bars because they often involve seven alternating layers of things like walnuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips and shredded coconut that are bonded together with a liberal drizzling of condensed non-dairy milk. I opted to forego the peanut butter chips and butterscotch chips due to their near-impossible vegan availability and because they usually push the sweetness envelope a little too far. I then made up for their lack of flavors by opting for Golden Caramel Sauce or Easy Caramel Sauce instead of Condensed Non-Dairy Milk in the binding department. The result is a sticky gooey mess of a great thing.

Lemon and corn both work to bring out each other's best qualities in this Lemon Cornmeal Pancake recipe; corn highlights lemon's tanginess and lemon enhances corn's savory flavors. These bright, savory flavors packed into a vegan pancake is a great way to start the day. Try them topped with a touch of almond butter, fruit and/or real maple syrup.

I used to own a vegan baking company called Enchanted Oven Baking Co. This Maple Walnut Wonder Cookie was one of the cookies I sold, individually packaged, to health food stores around the San Francisco Bay Area around 2003-2005. Here it is in all it's glory. This recipe has been modified from a 200 cookie batch so please excuse the wonky measurements.

Maple syrup, rolled oats, cinnamon, vanilla and just the right amount of raisins and walnuts really bring out the best in these dense, chewy maple oatmeal cookies.

These vegan Sugar Cookies are perfect for the holidays or any time you feel like treating yourself. This recipe is on the shortbread side of things so they're nice and crispy. They can be rolled and cut with cookie cutters or pressed out of a cookie press. Dust them with coarse sugar, cinnamon, cardamom or all three if you're feeling frisky.

Ultimate is not something that I throw around lightly, especially for vegan brownies. I've had my share of vegan and regular brownies and been baffled by how lacking vegan versions are. Growning up on my Grandmother's brownies, I learned that a good brownie should be dense, fudgy and soft; not light, cakey and dry. Why is it so hard to emulate a traditional brownie recipe that simply consists of a few simple ingredients? Hint: it's due to the egg, which emulsifies, binds, slightly leavens then bakes up as part of the actual base of the brownie itself. To emulate this takes an expedition deep into the innards of brownie science.