Recipes, Uncategorized

Auntie’s Apple Casserole

I have had this recipe for a while and make it every week. I have had a hard time choosing a name, which delayed my post.

I originally made it as a dessert, but it’s so healthy that I started having it for breakfast too. The first time I made this for a family gathering – Christmas 2017. My Auntie Diane kept raving how delicious it was and got several helpings! I love when my family enjoys what I bake, and her praises mean so much to me. Every week since then, when I make the casserole, I think of her. Cancer took Auntie Diane from us a few months ago, but I continue to think of her whenever I bake it. It’s for this reason, I decided to title this dish “Auntie’s Apple Casserole.”

Auntie's Apple Casserole | Vegan Living by Danielle

Ingredients:

  • 3 large apples; peeled, cored & sliced (best apples for baking: Cortland, Empire, Gala, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith…I used Crispin and I loved it)
  • 8 oz of fresh cranberries (alternatively, you can use 1 cup of craisins and/or raisins, or any combo of the 3! Be creative! Fresh cranberries are tart, raisins and craisins will be sweet)
  • 1 cup Old Fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 cup syrup

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 300F.
  2. Prep the apples.
  3. In a large bowl, mix the apple slices with cranberries, craisins, and/or raisins.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
  5. Pour the mixed dry ingredients into the bowl of fruit and lightly toss to coat the fruit evenly. If this is difficult, put all the fruit and dry ingredients in a container with a lid, seal the lid, and shake it!
  6. Dump the fruit mixture into a casserole dish.
  7. Drizzle the syrup evenly over the top.
  8. Place the lid on the casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.
  9. Before serving, allow to cool for about 5 – 10 minutes with the lid on.
  10. Serve warm alone, with non-dairy ice cream or non-dairy whipped cream, or allow to completely cool and serve it cooled.

Enjoy!

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Recipes, Uncategorized

The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies | Vegan Living by Danielle

CAUTION: These cookies are highly addictive!! Even my dad, who refuses to eat anything vegan and identifies highly with Ron Swanson [see Parks and Rec], cannot get enough of them even though he knows they are vegan! My omnivore family and coworkers always request that I bring these cookies too.

After baking these cookies year-after-year for Christmas presents and parties, I have a few tips to add!

  • Using metal sheets helps make the cookies more cake-like which seems to be the most popular. Bake time will vary depending on sheet type
  • One 15 oz can of pumpkin puree makes about 5-6 dozen cookies. Using a full can requires the recipe to be quadrupled.
  • I use mini chips so there are more chocolate chips per cookie
  • Substitute King Arthur’s Gluten Free measure for measure flour for a gluten free version!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 Tbsp applesauce
  • 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice, or 1/8 tsp each of ginger, cloves, all-spice
  • 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips (Enjoy Life chips are allergen friendly. Also Stop and Shop’s organic semi-sweet chocolate chips are “accidentally” vegan)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Stir thoroughly pumpkin, sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla.
  3. In a separate bowl, stir thoroughly flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and other spices.
  4. Slowly pour flour mixture into pumpkin mixture and blend well.
  5. Once all the flour mixture is blended, stir in the chocolate chips.
  6. Scoop dough in 1-inch balls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet spaced 1 inch apart, they don’t expand too much.
  7. Bake for about 12 minutes. I recommend testing a few cookies before to make sure you’ve got the right time for your oven. They should come out a bit cake-like.

Makes approximately one dozen cookies.

Enjoy!!