Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Valentine's Treats!

So for Valentine's this year, I decided to skip the gift-giving of sugary, non-vegan, and expensive artificially flavored candy hearts and junk, and give useful and interesting if not pretty, gifts instead. So with my Sprouts' help and advice (!) we assembled some pretty cool-looking "Cookie-Mix-In-A-Jar" and "Soup-in-a-Jar" mixes. They looked so pretty I had to share a picture.

The soup mix (on the left) is one I found online and sadly, I don't remember where, but it's got layers of barley, red lentils, split peas, tiny star pastas, vegetarian 'chicken' bullion powder, herbs, a bay leaf, dehydrated onion and oatmeal! We did a test batch and the soup turns out really yummy! Hopefully even though the jars look pretty, people will use them!

The cookie recipe on the right is one we've had in our family forever (I think my Grandma copied it from an oatmeal carton years ago...) but I now use vegan ingredients. I simply layered the ingredients and included instructions on a cutesy card, for adding the liquid ingredients and making cookies...

Chocolate-Chip, Oatmeal, Dried Cranberry Cookie Mix-In-A-Jar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (some Guittard and Ghirardelli, Safeway brand and even Wal-Mart semi-sweet chips are vegan)
1 1/2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans or hazelnuts
1/2 cup raisins or (my choice) dried cranberries

A large canning funnel helps here, as well as something to firmly tamp down the ingredients.
Put white sugar in 1 quart wide-mouth jar. Press brown sugar down firmly in a layer over white sugar.
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Place flour mixture on top of brown sugar.
Layer remaining ingredients in order listed above, pressing firmly after each layer. Seal with lid and decorate with fabric and ribbon.
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RECIPE TO ATTACH (I used vegan instructions for my vegan friends of course):
Beat 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened margarine (I prefer Earth Balance) 1 large egg (or vegan option: 4 Tbsp. silken tofu blended until liquidy or equiv. Egg Replacer), and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until blended. Add cookie mix; mix well, breaking up any clumps. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated 375° F. oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
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HAPPY VALENTINE'S Everyone!

9 comments:

aTxVegn said...

Those jars are beautiful and what a great idea! The soup sounds great and so do the cookies. My favorite ingredient instead of raisins is dried sour cherries!

Tofu Mom (AKA Tofu-n-Sprouts) said...

Oh yeah! I love dried sour cherries... sometimes I'll use them along with some chopped dried apricot - SO yummy!

I was mainly lazy (and cheap) this time...I already had the cranberries and figured most people would probably like them just as well.

Harmonia said...

Yummers! Beautiful too!

Twisted Cinderella said...

I love this idea! I am bookmarking this post as an idea for Christmas!

scottishvegan said...

That's a great idea! They look really pretty and it's always nice to get a pressie that someone has put a bit of thought in to :)

bazu said...

That is a vastly superior Valentine's gift than all the other mass-market stuff out there! I'd love it if someone gave me something like that! Happy v-day.

Candi said...

I love those gifts!! They are so personalized and beautiful too! Very thoughtful! Thank you for sharing the recipe with us!!

Mary French said...

Thank you for the chocolate cookie mix recipe. I love to make mixes to have on hand and to give as gifts. Your children are beautiful. thanks for your comment on my blog.

Anonymous said...

yum thanks for share the recipe!