Fork and Beans

Making food fun for the family

Cookbooks and Cookies

by

I’m currently having a love affair with my cookbooks.

In fact, since Greg has been gone,

I have a pile cozily lying next to me on my bed.

I even just bought a professional pastry chef book this week.

No seriously. This book is no joke.

Like 4″ thick no joke.

It lies in Greg’s spot for the time being, along with THIS masterpiece

and THIS one,

keeping his space warm until March

(gives me enough time to master pastries while he is gone).

Until then, I still have my work cut out with “recreating all my

favorite childhood snackie-poos” series.

The list is {still} growing!

How is that possible?

Oh yeah, that’s right…

Eating was my favorite hobby as a kid.

smiley face.

Fudgy-Striped Cookies Recipe

Makes approx 48 cookies

Gluten, dairy, and egg free

(Inspired by the Baking Illustrated Icebox Cookie recipe).

INGREDIENTS:

  • 16 Tbs Earth Balance butter
  • 3/4 sugar
  • 1/2 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 Tb Ener-G egg replacer + 2 Tbs warm water, mixed until thickened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer. AVOID MIXING TOO MUCH–1 minute TOPS (if you beat for a longer amount of time, the cookies will flatten out because too much air has been added into the mix). Add Ener-G egg replacer and vanilla and mix until well combined (30 seconds).
  2. In a medium bowl, mix flours, starches, and salt completely.
  3. Add wet ingredients into dry mix bow and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Dough should not be sticky (if so, add 1 Tb of flour at a time until soft still, not sticky.
  4. Transfer 1/2 the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. With your hands, roll dough into a log that is 6″x2″. Smooth with hands. Wrap a piece of clear wrap around the dough and chill for 2+hours (i chilled my dough overnight and they were perfect. If you do not chill it long enough, the cookies will spread. You want them to stay in the same shape pre and post baking!) Do the same with the other 1/2 of the dough.
  5. Once dough is chilled long enough, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
  6. Unroll the dough out of the plastic wrap and slice cookies with a sharp knife at 1/4-1/2″ thick slices. Using a 1/2″ circle fondant cutter, cut out holes in the middle of each cookie.
  7. Place 1/2 of the cookies a Silpat-lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes (you might need to cook longer but at 15 minutes, keep your eye on the doneness of the cookies).
  8. Allow to cool fully on the baking sheet. The cookies with toughen up and become crunchier the longer they sit.

For the fudge stripes:

  1. Melt 1 c. Enjoy Life chocolate chips with 2 Tbs MimiCreme (or non-dairy milk, or simply omit–no big deal) in the microwave. No more than 1 minute, really.
  2. Dip the cookie bottoms into bowl of melted chocolate. You might need to use a spoon to thinly spread. Allow to cool on parchment paper, fudge side up.
  3. Pipe remainder chocolate into a pastry bag or plastic bag (poke tiny hole in corner) and frost with stripes. Allow 15 minutes to set or immediately eat if you cannot wait!

Anyone else having an affair with their cookbooks?

If so, which ones?

I’m a cookbook addict and believe that

one can never have too many…

Especially good vegan ones, anyone have suggestions?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. LOL. My cookbooks are gradually migrating of the shelf and finding a new home scattered all over our coffee table, much to my husband’s annoyance! I love cookies and these look great.

    • There is a common theme here with the men unpleased with such circumstances, yet I doubt any of them are complaining when that recipe is translated magnificently onto the dinner table and into theirs mouths. I say this mere fact gives us the automatic right to collect and then distribute our cookbooks anywhere we want in the house! Who’s with me??? haha.

  3. The Vegan Asian Kitchen …. Hema Parekh – awesome book covering all types of Asian food.. Indian, Japanese, Thai, Chines – everything.

    Anything by Sarah Kramer is usually fun, and she does some great baking which you would like 🙂

    • Oh, good pick with the asian cooking! All the types of foods that have the best flavor, in my opinion. And I have never heard of Sarah Kramer. Checking her out NOW! 🙂 Thanks Lou. xo

  4. In general, I am a “book whore”, as my husband calls me, but especially when it comes to cookbooks. I will take any cookbook you want to give me and lucky for him I no longer can go to Borders. These days I use Paperback Swap though…almost as dangerous.

    I just happened to have to go to Whole Foods this summer when Borders (next door) was closing and had a few minutes to spare, so I went in and low and behold, I walked out with $100 worth of new (deeply discounted) cookbooks. My husband about croaked when I came home.

    Some of my favorites these days:
    I second the vote for Lorna Sass’s Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. She makes PC cooking so easy and delicious. Every recipe I make of hers is well spiced and well-done.
    Indian Vegetarian Cooking in an American Kitchen by Vasantha Prasad. One of the first new cookbooks for my husband and I when we were determined to start exploring other veggie cuisines more than 10 years ago – so it is well-worn and well-splattered. And lots of vegan recipes.
    Also, 660 Curries and Vegetarian Planet.
    And I, too, want that Indian slow cooker cookbook someone mentioned above.
    Love all the cookbook suggestions!!!

    • Aaaaahhh Renee, you are a woman after my heart! I proudly support your cookbook addiction 🙂 And a well-splatter book is the best kind there is.
      I think I should be making a list over here and I am loving the fact that I am getting a lot of Indian cookbooks–the best food on the planet. I am so happy that Greg shares my love for that cuisine, in fact, he has been mastering the science of spices when I am not looking. Not sure how I feel about that… But 660 Curries?? I know I want THAT!!! 🙂

  5. THESE look like my kinda cookie! You should sell these in your bakery 🙂

    Oh, and I only own 3 vegan cookbooks, but I have a buttload of ordinary cooking/baking books that I love to flip through. I only like books with photos though.
    Martha Stewart books are my current favourite.

    • I cannot touch books without pictures either. Blech. That takes the whole fun out of it! I need to get some Martha Stewart cookbooks so I lure you over here with them and allow you read them in the bakery… And you know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I have a WAY better chance of getting a great recipe when I convert it, rather than it already being GF and/or Vegan. Do you even follow recipes or does your genius mind come up with yours? (I’m thinking the latter…)

      • Yeah, Martha Stewart cookbooks will lure me anywhere!

        haha, yeah I don’t follow recipes. Too restricting.
        BUT, I do follow recipes for things that I have a hard time making – like breads. I still haven’t learned about the flour ratios and yeast and all of the reactions and stuff. I made muffins a couple of weeks ago using lemon juice and baking soda, and the baking soda reacted with the lemon in the bowl before I baked them so they sunk down instead of rising.
        I just like to experiment 🙂 I see you’re the same way!

        And yeah, converting non vegan recipes is way easier. That’s what I do with the breads.

        • To me, it tastes better too 🙂
          Not quite as professional as you are when it comes to experimenting but I am learning. I think I have finally gotten used to how it works for the most part for me to be able to deviate.
          *leaving a trail of Martha Stewart pages from WA to CA…*

  6. Your cookies look so yummy!
    You ARE your mother’s daughter…the 1st book I ever bought was a cook book! I was about 10 years old. It was one of the little (about 5″ x 7″) with the wire binding. I actually bought 2. They have great pictures and one of them is a party planner! I still have them, along with a gazillion other cookbooks. Some things never change.
    And speaking of spices (did you fasten your seat belt?) I don’t know if you remember but I used to make a potato dish with turmeric. I’ll have to look that one up, can’t remember quite how it all worked together but everything always got stained yellow. Tasted great, though.
    XOXOXOX

    • Of COURSE it was a party planner cookbook! That is so YOU.
      Are you referring to a scalloped potato recipe? That is the only one I can locate in my current memory bank…

      • No, scalloped potatoes was one of the first “family” meal dishes my mom taught me how to make and still one of my favorite “go to” comfort foods. The one with tumeric was just potatoes quartered and boiled till soft, then the water drained and tumeric added I just can’t remember of cheese was added or anything else. It might in an old recipe box. I’ll have to do a little digging.

  7. I LOVE reading cookbooks!!!! If I’m gonna read, there’s a 99% chance it will be about food and recipes hehe! My mom bought me one from Blackbird bakery that might spark interest but it’s not vegan, just GF. Babycakes supposedly has a good one too 🙂
    Oh let’s not forget these cookies – yes ma’am I could go for several of them right now with almond milk!!! They look amazing!!

    • I love the Blackbird book (I always pick it up and browse through when I am at Anthropologie). Unfortunately, her recipes seems a bit difficult to veganize, at least for me. Such beautiful food though! And I gots both Babycakes books (bought at Anthro also) ha. They are great! You should check them out. xo

  8. Oh, yummy… I thought these were Samoas/Caramel De-Lites at first and got very exciting, but even without coconut and caramel, they’re still very exciting to me!

    When we moved last, I got rid of some cookbooks for the first time EVER. I’m a belongings minimalist and not at all a “stuff” person, and cookbooks are just about the only thing I collect, so sending any of them to Goodwill was a big feat for me. But, even after weeding out ones I’ve never used or ones I hadn’t used in half a decade, I still have four shelves left… so… I’m okay…

    I think Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian is one of the best cookbooks ever, and I spend a lot of time just paging through it getting ideas. It’s not all vegan, but much of it is and I have yet to have any trouble veganizing anything in it…

    Love Isa & Terry’s books of course. (But you knew that already.) If I could only have two (as if!), I would probably buy Viva Vegan (Terry’s Latin food book) and Appetite for Reduction (Isa’s healthy cooking book). But Veganomicon is a true treasure too, and I wouldn’t have gone vegan without the dessert books so…

    • FOUR SHELVES??? Oh goodness, I need to spend a few hours in your library! This is so helpful, Nikki–I am definitely going to take a look at all these that you listed, thanks!

  9. First of all, great looking cookies! There’s a lot of fudgey awesomeness going on there. I have been using parchment paper for my non-stick baking needs, but I’m getting convinced that it’s time to move to a Silpat. Unbleached parchment paper gets pricy, and so in the long run I bet the Silpat would be a better deal anyway.

    I know what you mean about having cookbook bed companions. My husband and our cats pretty much take up the bed, but along my bedside I always have at least four cookbooks next to me. I’ve been into raw food lately, and I checked a few books out from the library – Raw Food: The Complete Collection, Ani’s Raw Food Essentials, and Crazy, Sexy Diet. I’m not doing Kris Carr’s cleanse or anything, but I like her ideas for juices, smoothies, and raw entrees. Plus, I quit caffeine a couple of weeks ago, and she had some great ideas for getting over the caffeine hump. Too bad… Those cookies would be great with a cup of coffee!

    • It *does* get pricey, doesn’t it? What, 5 bucks that lasts a month, if that???
      Crazy, Sexy Diet–yes! I have that–loved her documentary.
      Mind me asking why you gave up caffeine?

      • I didn’t think of myself as a big caffeine user; I’d just have a cup in the morning and then a caffeinated tea in the afternoon sometimes. However, I gave up caffeine because I wasn’t sleeping that well. I’d fall asleep fine, but then I’d wake up around 4 am feeling really stressed out. I started reading up on caffeine and stress and figured it was worth giving up and seeing how I felt. I don’t really remember a life without caffeine. As a kid I always drank soda, and then in my twenties I stopped drinking soda and started drinking coffee. I weaned myself off of it over a period of a week – going from smaller cups of coffee and then to caffeinated tea and then to just water and freshly squeezed juices. I’ve been sleeping well and all through the night. However, I do miss that feeling of being catapulted into the day that coffee gives you. Once I feel solid about not using caffeine as a crutch I might have an occasional cappuccino or latte as a treat, but for right now it would be a slippery slope.

        About cookbooks – if you don’t have Viva Vegan, you need it. It’s fantastic.

        • Contemplating going off caffeine, check.
          Getting Viva Vegan, check.
          Thanks for filling me in, Cahdrique. I usually wake up to a cup of coffee and another one for “Coffee Time” with Greg in the afternoon (a much smaller cup) but I have a lot of stomach issues and I know I cannot consume large amounts of acidy foods/drinks. You got me thinking about it…

          • I loved coffee so much – the sound of the beans grinding, the smell of the roasting coffee, the warm feeling of holding the mug, and of course, the taste. But you know what? It was a lot easier to give it up than I thought it would be! The headaches sucked, but that only lasted a few days. I had always imagined giving it up would be a much bigger deal. And like you said, the acid didn’t do my stomach any favors. That’s another bonus of saying sayonara to coffee. If you ever decide to do it, you may be surprised by how easy it is to quit.

          • On my journey to health about 4 years ago, I began eating clean and I naturally gave it up without a second thought. In fact I usually go through phases where I don’t crave coffee anymore and then switch to green tea. However, I have yet to not want coffee in the past 2 years 🙂 Whoops. You are right, I’M JUST NOT READY. haha. <–someone has an addiction if she is being fussy about giving something up…ha!

          • It’s a wonderful addiction! 😉 I always said that if I had to give up red wine or coffee (and I love both of them), I would definitely give up red wine. Coffee added a spring to my step. But now that it’s gone, it’s surprisingly no big deal. If/when you’re ready, you’ll say goodbye to coffee again. Until then, have one for me! 🙂

          • Oooooohhhh, that is like asking which child you would sacrifice. I could never choose–I love them both so much!! ha. You are right though, once gone, it’s as if you never had it. But just the mere thought. So sad 🙂

  10. hmm i am such non cookbook person.. i like pretty pictured food magazines more… random collection of things with lots of contributors and different viewpoints. i get to a cookbook only when obsessed with something..
    love those fudgy striped chcolate bottoms!.
    i actually grew up eating a lot of fruits and savory snacks .. sun dried, or fried, but usually all made at home! and i need to get back to eating more fruit this year.. i am craving a ripe mango right now.

    • Once again, you are better than I. I wish I craved fruits and savory things but I find myself only wanting sugar. Damn that American influence!

  11. I just love your pictures and how you “tell a story” around the recipe! You have a knack for that. I don’t bake – except for Mike’s Persimmon Cookies *wink, wink* – but I love seeing what you come up with next. Plus it’s full of your personality.

    Did you send Greg overseas?

    • Awwww MJ, you always have THE nicest, most sincere things to say. Thank you! xo
      And no, I shipped Greg to Maine, where his factory is located. He is opening up shop SOON and so he needs to spend a lot of time over there in order to get production going. So sad 🙁 Yet so exciting!

  12. I just got those cookbooks toooooo 😉

    I recently told Jason that we need to move. we need to move to a large house with one of those “library” rooms, you know, the ones with floor to ceiling shelving, one of those awesome ladders on wheels, all that. preferably painted white.

    yeep, I’m getting off track. I need this library for all of my cookbooks. I have SO many, and I cannot stop. I love to just … read them. 😀

    I want one of these cookies!! I used to nibble along the lines too…

    • Okay, this is getting creepy now. Are you sure that we are not siamese twins? *building you a library in your guest room now*

      • MUAH aah aah, my guest room sounds almost complete! what color did you paint Basil’s dog house, he would like to know? He doesn’t care, but he wants to begin accessorizing.

        have a great weekend, Twin.

        • You can tell him “Benjamin Moore Basil Green” is his color. I thought that was rather fitting, wouldn’t you agree? 🙂 Accessorizing *chuckling* That’s funny…

  13. I remember looking forward to grocery shopping night with my mom as a kid…we would each get to pick out some cookies from the bulk bin and I’m sure these striped cookies were part of the selection!
    I shudder now to think of some of my other favourite childhood snacks…I can’t believe I used to like dunkaroos (only the kind with the white icing though). Although if you added a healthier dip to go with them, then I think your circus cookies would make a good replacement!
    And have you done pop tarts yet? That would be another good one to recreate…or toaster strudels (again, how did I ever eat that blue icing?)

    • It’s as if you were reading my mind from last night. I tried Pop Tarts way back when I first started this blog (yeah, like that was soooo long ago, try August). They tasted great but they are a work in progress. Last night after a Toaster Strudels commercial, I thought, I need to go back at the Pop Tarts. Thanks for the suggestion, Genevieve!

  14. Mwahahahaha! *shifty eyes* *rubbing hands* OK though. Brace yourself. It’s called The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes. My favorite part is that there is an illustrated glossary in the front that teaches the Indian words for things and explains a little about different ingredients. Like chapatti is basically whole wheat flour, but it uses a different kind of wheat from what we use in the states, so the texture is completely different. I even dared to purchase some asafoetida. It’s not nearly so horrible as the name implies, which I think it’s loosely translated as “devil’s dung.” So between finding this book and my closest (and awesome) Indian food store, I am happier than a pig in asafoetida.

    • that is hilarious.. coz i dont know all of the english names for the spices.. hehe asafoetida..i love the deep flavor it adds to the dishes.. but hey i am indian..i love super flavorful dishes! and i agree about the author being indian to keep things a bit more authentic.. i do like the new twists to usual recipes some authors make, which i would never think of..but at the end of the day i will always come back to the good old recipes passed on from generations.. those flavor and spice combinations are too perfect to change..
      i use a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and all purpose flour to make chapatis. the packaged chapati flour in indian stores mostly comes from canada and is still not the right type for me.
      ahh its time i did a roti/chapati post!
      btw cara, in some parts of india, the chapati is made with only sorghum flour.. hot water, sorghum, salt. knead, roll, cook, eat!

      • WHAT??? WHERE?? I must go know! I must learn this chapati stat! Teach me! Teach me! <–I'm getting desperate. I think once I really started to get into Indian food, I actually understood what spices and herbs could do to a meal. I been obsessed ever since. I cannot stand bland foods now, oh no! It must be sprinkled with cumin, turmeric, and cayenne (for starters!) Do you have any good books that deal with Indian spices, Richa, or does your mother need to come to Cali for a visit? 🙂

    • I thought of you today when I saw a card that said on the front: “Brown Chicken, Brown Cow” 🙂 Made me think of you comment from a couple days back. Buying this cookbook stat! Thanks for FINALLY giving me the name, you asafoetida hoarder.

  15. Man, I used to love these cookies when I was a kid. Back before there was more chocolate than wax in the stripes… Or maybe I’m deluding myself… 🙂 The cookbook I have fallen in love with is an Indian slow cooker recipe book I got for Christmas. It’s mostly vegan, and basically gluten free, too. Though occasionally she calls for ghee and there is a small section on meat. So far everything I’ve made has been top notch! I’m so excited to try everything! I have discovered the best way to get real authentic Indian cuisine at home is to use a book that was actually written by an Indian person instead of relying on Betty Crocker… Shocking, I know…

    • What?? NO! I thought Betty *was* Indian! And how dare you make me drool over the idea of an Indian slow cooker book and *not* tell me the name…

  16. Quick! Look at the purple elephant over there! ::grabs a couple cookies to stuff in mouth while you look::
    I can’t help but wonder how these would taste with a little mint thrown in, though I have fond memories of this cookie as is. Mmmmmm…

  17. I remember those cookies but I hadn’t thought of them in years and you made them sooo purty, too. Cookbooks are addicting. I just bought Julie Hasson’s pie book because I bought Isa and Terry’s pie book and it was lonely. I have ALL of their books except their solo projects, plus two of Eileen Patrick Goudreaus, plus books on classic pastry and Gluten Free, more vegan books and many, many more. There are literally PILES of cookbooks all over my bedroom plus stacks in my kitchen. Everytime I start to do something about that I get mesmerized. I just want to cook everything. I’m pretty sure it’s a girl thing though. My husband doesn’t get it either. He’ll eat half of whatever I bake at one sitting but he doesn’t get the cookbook thing. OK boys, here we go 1 (arrival of cookbook) plus 1 (reading of cookbook) equals 2 (delicious). Lesson over.

    • You should consider taking this message on the road and travel across the country. It could be like “Home Makeover” except without the makeover, or the homes either. Come to think about it, it’s nothing like “Home Makeover”… What I am saying???

  18. I’m just kicking off a series today (every Friday) of reviews of the vegan cookbooks I’ve picked up over the last few months. My favorite is still Peas & Thank You, good solid recipes that never fail and please all – which is what I’m reviewing today. I’ve been enjoying a few new raw cookbooks recently, trying to increase the raw food in my diet.

    The cookies look amazing though, I remember eating something similar as a kid!!

  19. Now these were a BIG part of Growing up – love this series Cara, it is so much fun to see what you come up with!

    I have a bit of a cookbook addiction as well – I love my Veganomicon, Heidi Swanson Everyday Whole Foods, Homemade & The Essential New York Times Cookbook..that is just to name a few, Justin pretty much cringes when he sees a new amazon box waiting for me- boys, they just don’t get it 🙂

    • Cringes? He should be delighted! Knowing especially that that knowledge is heading straight to the kitchen to make him an amazing meal 🙂 Boys, indeed! Veganomicon is one I hear a lot of about. I just need to buy it already…

  20. Don’t get me started talking about cookbooks! “Hi, I’m Dawn, and I’m an addict.” 🙂

    I JUST got Lorna Sass’s Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, and it’s perfect. Awesome recipes and she thinks like I do, and many of her tricks are the keystones in my kitchen. I am determined to use my pressure cooker for many more things than just beans (for which it is MAGIC, chickpeas in 9 minutes vs. two hours (or more??) who would have thought it possible???). And, there are desserts in there, WHA??? 🙂

    My other fave cookbooks are here, as there are too many to talk about: http://veganfazool.blogspot.com/2011/01/dawns-unsolicited-advice.html

    And I love this cookie post!

    XOXO

    • Welcome Dawn *applause*
      I need to use my pressure cooker more often myself. Pulling up Amazon currently checking out that book…Thanks for that Dawn. I think you just gave me another goal for the year: Make beans in pressure cooker. Now I am going to check out all your other cookbook obsessions on your site 🙂

      • You have a pressure cooker and have NOT yet made BEANS?? GIrl, it is MAGIC. You will never buy canned again (or you will buy many fewer cans of beans after this). And, my friend Taylor from the Mac&Cheese blog recommended *freezing* leftover freshly cooked beans, so I did! And I can’t wait to use them instead of canned.

        To pressure cook beans: Just soak your beans for 6-8 hours, as usual. Then put them in the cooker and cover with water (or broth, or wine or mead, haha) and bring to pressure for however long is recommended for that bean (chickpeas are about 9 minutes at pressure). Then you can turn it off and let it come back naturally (takes about 15 min. with my cooker). DONE. WHAT??? Yes, DONE! Oh, can you tell I’m obsessed??

        Lorna’s book has these awesome charts to cook every grain, veggie and bean in the cooker, and I’m getting to that RIGHT NOW.

        Mexican Red Kidney Bean chili, comin’ up! (Seriously, I’m going to make that right now! I ran out of black beans, so I’m making it with kidneys. Who the hell runs out of dried black beans? 😉

        XOXO

        • I think I have made beans 2x. In 1.5 years. I know, I know. Terrible, huh? That will be my homework assignment: conquer fear/ignorance of the pressure cooker 🙂 Lorna, here I come…

  22. i used to love these cookies when i was little, too! (but really, is that a surprise?) i love your stripes 😉

    ps- i can’t wait to open the bakery with you! 😉

    • I have BOTH Babycakes cookbooks 🙂 I really like them, they have yet to disappoint! And I just checked out Annie’s Eats–that is hilarious! Everyone must have cookies on the brain lately 🙂

  24. Those are beautiful! I used to use the lines as a guide to eat it slowly…nibble nibble nibble…
    I’m with you on the cook book thing. Recently especially, actually which is wild. I’ve been checking them out from the library and reading them at breakfast with my coffee… 🙂

    • I *love* that idea of using the lines to guide you!! That makes me wanna get a cookie out and slowly eat it–I used to just stuff my face. You are much more refined than I am, Reid! Which cookbook are you reading currently this week? Which gets me to thinking, we should have a cookbook club! You know how Oprah used to have her book club? Yeah, we should totally have one that is geared towards cooking/baking. I like this idea… <–sorry, talking to myself 🙂

      • A cook book club sounds awesome!!! I saw that on someones blog one time, but I was so new to the blog world that I didn’t join up then. I’ve actually been looking at a book called “Great Women Chefs” and then Emerils’ “Farm to Fork” and another one from ’96 called “Cooking Under Cover”.
        I love them all… and I think you really got a good idea going here!!

        • And to think, I was just spouted randoming ideas off of the top of my head. ha.
          P.S. That Great Women Chefs book sounds awesome–actually all 3 of them do. Checking out! Thanks, Reid.