Cookies are the perfect answer for oven-deprived vegans.

I decided to avoid the hard cover cook books today and went (sent K) instead to the grand vegan web. The likes of PPK turned up a chocolate cookie recipe that I tweaked a little bit. Searching for a macaroon recipe I had promised myself to make but, in classic VeganCowGirl way, forgot to bookmark, K found an interesting recipe for vegan macaroons that didn't call for any sugar in the white or brown form. I was game!

The truth: the macaroons taste NOTHING like macaroons, but they are a great substitute for baking a whole loaf of banana bread. The bite sizeness of them works with the (ironically) intense sweetness embedded by the dates, coconut and bananas. The initial recipe of: dates, coconut and 1 banana seemed to be seriously lacking something - so I went a little wild and added oats and vanilla. It really only seemed right - they had to be baked for 15 minutes, and it seemed insane to through them in their without a grain or two.

I ended up with two batches of goodies that will keep us sweet and full for the rest of the weekend and might even need to go into the freezer for desert next week.

They May Not be Macaroons, But They Taste Great, Macaroons

Ingredients:

-1 banana

-8 dates

-1 tsp of vanilla

-1/2 cup of oats

-1/2 cup of coconut

I put everything into my food processor, pulsed it for 30 seconds and then pulled the 'dough' out and added it to my cookie sheet in art deco looking shapes.

They sat in the oven (at 160) for about 15 minutes - they could use a turning half way through.

Belgian Style Vegan Chocolate Bits Cookies

Ingredients:

-1/2 bar of Belgian vegan chocolate: chopped (by one seriously cute geek)

-2 cups of whole wheat flour

-1/4 cup of sugar

-1/2 cup of apple sauce

-2 tablespoons of oil

-vanilla (as you like)

-1/4 cup of cocoa

-1 teaspoon of Cardamom

-2 tablespoons of maple syrup

-2 tablespoons of flax

-1/2 cup of soy milk (plus more if it gets a bit dry)

I blended the soy and flax and set aside. Upon insistence of a back-seat-cook I sifted the flour, cocoa and baking soda in my big bright blue bowl. I added the wet ingredients, the chocolate bits and the flax mix and mixed it all together. It was super mega sticky (wasn't really expecting that) and in the end it seemed a bit more on the cake/scone end of batters, but the cookies, after a 10 minute tan on 180 in the OVENNNNNN, turned out quite wonderfully.

Perhaps the best part of my day was how after buying the new Nick Cave and Vampire Weekend C.D.s a trip to the International Festival was in the cards. And guess what this vegan cowgirl found at the Canadian Booth? President's Choice Maple Syrup (so worth the 7 euro), AND they had a chef making Beaver Tails. Jesus, I could have been in Ottawa - but, alas, the butter and milk in the batter wasn't so vegan. I opted for a bite of a vegetarian spring roll from the Bangladesh booth. Yum.

I hate to share this with my Canadian readers who are still struggling with the cold and damp, but my terrace door is wide open and today officially began patio season. Whop. Whop.

I just wanted to say how great it was to read about Chocolate Covered Vegan's Friendship Day. What a great cause, and a wonderful account of what seemed to be a great day.