vegan girl's night

On Saturday night, my friend Kristen's apartment was being invaded by a whole wack of Monopoly playing, beer drinking boys (Cornelius included), so she came by for a bit of a respite. Our plan: chill out with some relaxing girl movie dvds and partake in some serious vegan snacking. I had made some chocolate chip gingersnaps just before Kristen rang the bell, but wasn't sure how much I liked them at first. They weren't as gingery or molassey or as dark as I usually like my gingersnaps...plus, they were a lot softer than the traditional 'snap. After indulging in more than a few bites, both Kristen and I declared these vegan beauties a winner. And like all good things, they sure didn't last long.

vegan chocolate chip gingerbread softies
3/4 c vegan margarine, softened
1 c brown sugar
1/4 c molasses
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c cold coffee or water
1 1/2 t baking soda
2 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1/2 t nutmeg
1 T fresh ginger, finely chopped
1/4 t salt
1 c chocolate chips

1. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the molasses and combine. Add the water or coffee and the baking soda. It will start to look kind of funny at this point, but continue on!

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and spices. Gradually add into the wet mixture and gently combine. Add the chocolate chips and the fresh ginger and stir.

3. At this point, the dough will be very soft. You can either use it right away or put it in the fridge for half an hour. Drop by tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 - 12 minutes at 350°F.

gingerbread muffins

Cornelius is sick today, so I decided to surprise him with some freshly baked gingerbread muffins for breakfast. They turned out really well and would actually make great cupcakes if iced. I think a nice lemon buttercream frosting would be superb! Or topped with whipped cream.....mmmm!

gingerbread muffins

2 ¾ c all purpose flour
2 ½ t baking soda
1 T plus 1/2 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t ground cloves
½ salt
½ butter, room temperature
½ c brown sugar
2 T white sugar
2 large eggs
¾ molasses
1 1/3 c milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line or grease muffin tin. Whisk flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt in medium bowl to blend.

In a seperate bowl, beat butter and sugar to blend. Once blended, add in eggs and mix well. Beat in molasses. Add half of dry ingredients, beating until blended. Beat in remaining dry ingredients. Gradually add the milk and beat until incorporated. Divide batter into prepared muffin tin.

Bake gingerbread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool 10 minutes.

Makes approx. 20 gingerbread muffins.