Vegan Peanut Butter Wheatgerm Cookies

ByElizabeth

These cookies are loosely inspired by the peanut butter cookies from the Joy of Cooking because those were my first peanut butter cookies.

1.  Soften a half cup of vegetable shortening (preferably organic), then cream with 1/4-1/2 cup of sucanat (sweeten to taste).  Beat in 1/2 cup agave nectar or maple syrup.  Add in equivalent of one egg of either “egg replacer” or flax seed emulsified with water.  Cream in peanut butter (make sure the peanut butter is organic; creamy works best in this recipe as they are crumbly cookies), a dash of salt, and a 1/2 tsp of baking soda.

2. Mix together 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour.  Then mix the combined flours into the wet ingredients until well combined.

3.  Blend in 1/2 cup of toasted wheat germ (flax seed meal or a combination also would work).

4. Chill the dough for at least 1/2 hour for best results.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet while the dough is chilling.  Shape the dough into walnut sized balls (or make them smaller, but shorten the cooking time).  Make an indentation with your thumb to flatten slightly.  The dough will rise and the thumbprint will disappear during the baking process, leaving a smooth, round pillow of a cookie.

5.  Depending on your cookware and whether you have convection (needs lower temperature) or conventional oven, bake at 335F-375F.  Starting from a cool oven (many baked goods are fine without the oven preheating; to save energy, try to start baking with something that doesn’t mind starting in a cool oven and then baking several items at the same time to take advantage of the already heated oven), bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on whether the oven was hot already, until golden.

6.  THIS IS IMPORTANT:  these cookies crumble very easily when first taken out of the oven.  Leave them to cool for at least 15 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring directly to a plate.

Variations:  any nut or seed butter.  Hemp would be particularly good, as would almond.

Similar Posts

  • | | |

    A Graywater Inspiration from Friends (and opening to grace/muscular energy)

    ByElizabeth

    When we are on our mats, being open to grace — the first Anusara alignment principle — includes being open to the teachings so that we can receive and act on them in a healing and loving way.  Adding to that muscular energy by lovingly embracing skin to muscle to bone in a conscious embrace, drawing into our center to recognize our inner spirit, and drawing from periphery to the focal point brings us into optimal balance.  This pulsation serves as a way off the mat to open, inspire, and engage us in progressively more intentional and uplifting ways of living.

    Being open to inspiration from friends and about town, open to learning new ways to be kind to the earth and to ourselves, is a way of bring the principle of “opening to grace” off the mat.  Actually keeping the intention and acting on it has the attentive embrace of muscular energy, which draws us onto our inner light in a loving embrace so that we can better serve.

    I was thinking about Anusara principles off the mat, yesterday when I went visit a friend in NW one of whose roommates fosters cats.  There is a community garden in the back and the house is warm and friendly.  In the bathtub were two buckets filled with water leftover from showers.  Instead of using fresh, potable water to flush the toilet, when it is time to flush (honoring the drought axiom about yellow mellowing, etc), the house residents fill the tank with the gray water from the shower.

    Find it too complicated an idea to shower with a bucket in the bathtub with you?  You can still save water by filling your watering can or bucket when you run the water to warm up enough to get into the shower.  That will save a few gallons.  Not up to using the water to flush the toilet?  Use it to water houseplants or for cleaning floors, etc.  Or take it outside to water potted plants.

    First step is opening and witnessing the possibilities and understanding where you are ready to expand.  The second step is to try to more consistently live your inspiration.  I know when I see people living with such intention I take better care to move in that direction, even if I am not ready to go as far.

  • | |

    State of the Garden

    ByElizabeth

    There was one week with highs below freezing and nights in the teens fahrenheit, but other than that this winter in my garden has been perfect weather for greens and root vegetables.

    Tyrone came for a quarterly check for various vermin (yes, I know that rats and termites are no less divine than anything else, but it’s much easier to think that of them when they are not in your dwelling place). I followed him out into the garden. He said that last time I gave him some carrots that he ate in the truck.

    I found a couple of good carrots and enough turnips and kale for both of us. It is time to eat up the vegetables that wintered over to make way for new planting.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.