Homemade Citrus Bitters

 

Last year, my friends and I had the brilliant idea to have a vodka infusion party. We all bought the same brand of vodka and chose to infuse it with different foods. My friend and I made lemon-thyme, Ben chose coffee and cinnamon, one friend infused roasted beets (it was so good!), and another friend went all out and made a mole vodka (it was weird but pretty good). This year (last week, in fact), the mole-vodka friend got married and I decided that I was going to make a special infusion for them. But what? I wanted it to be something unusual since my friend obviously liked unusual, him having made the mole vodka infusion. I happened to be reading a food magazine while doing laundry one day and came across a recipe to make your own orange bitters. Perfect! I gathered the ingredients I needed and set to work. I didn’t end up having everything I needed, so I improvised and change the recipe to utilize what I did have. The result is a nicely spiced, sweet liquor to add to bourbon, gin, vodka, or other alcohols. You can experiment with different spices, but this is my recipe and I really like how it turned out.

Citrus Bitters

Ingredients: 

1 orange

1 Meyer lemon

1-750mL bottle of Everclear

1 tablespoon whole allspice

2 whole star anise

3 cinnamon sticks

1 teaspoon whole cloves

1 vanilla bean pod

1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger root

1 cup sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the orange and lemon. Place the zest on a baking sheet or pie pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until zest curls and begins to brown. Cool.

Add all the ingredients, except sugar, in a 1-quart glass jar and seal tightly. Allow to infuse for two weeks. 

Strain using a cheesecloth into a 2-quart glass jar, reserving the flavorings. Place the flavorings in a small saucepan with two cups of water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes. Set aside.

Cook sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Lift and shake the pan occasionally until the sugar caramelizes and turns deep amber (8 to 10 minutes). 

Pour the caramel into the pan with the flavorings and liquid. This mixture will bubble a LOT. If needed, set the pan over medium heat to melt the caramel again.

 

Set the pan over a bowl of ice water for ten minutes, or until the liquid is cold. Pour into the 2-quart jar with the Everclear infusion. Seal and set aside for five days.

Strain the final mixture through a cheesecloth into a large glass container with a spout. Pour into small glass containers. You can even pour some back into the Everclear bottle after you have cleaned the bottle. Seal and give as gifts/use in your own cocktails. Enjoy!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

Hey folks…So, I haven’t been posting for a while, but that’s because life has gotten CRAZY. Crazy as in I have a full-time teaching/coordinating job and I decided it would be a good idea to start my own business anyway. Yup, I started a Cottage Food Operation. A CFO is a homemade food business, which just became a legal enterprise in California. My home kitchen is certified by the Alameda County Health Department and I have an Oakland business license. Sweet! However, this means I have next to zero free time to do things like blog (except for the company). It does mean I get to sell my goods, though, so I don’t have to become poor just because I love baking all the time.

If you’d like to know more about the Mollie Rose Baking Company (my CFO!) you should check out the Mollie Rose Baking Company blog and Mollie Rose Baking Company Facebook page. We’re also on Twitter @MollieRoseBakin

I have a special recipe for you in the future! It is delicious, though not kid-friendly (it’s boozy). Stay tuned!

Shortbread for the Gluten and Dairy Intolerant

Wedges of “buttery,” crisp, and slightly sweet shortbread alongside some afternoon tea or black coffee: how could an afternoon get any better? These cookie wedges make an excellent companion to a hot beverage (tea, coffee, chocolate drink, apple cider), but are also fantastic on their own. And, happily, they are free of gluten and all vegan! They’re not hard to make, either, if you have a springform cake pan or pie plate. I made this batch for my dessert party, and I wish I had cut them smaller because people felt obliged to eat a whole triangle themselves (these are quite rich, too). The coconut oil gives the shortbread a slightly coconutty taste, but it’s not too over-powering. If you really do not like coconut, you can use palm oil instead. These cookies have a touch of saffron in them, giving the cookies a golden glow and warm flavor.

Saffron Shortbread 

1 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup raw agave nectar

Pinch of saffron

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups brown rice flour

1/2 cup almond meal

Directions

In a small saucepan, add about two cups of water. Place the jar of coconut oil in the pan. Leave the lid of the jar screwed on. Heat up the water so it melts the coconut oil in the jar. Remove the jar from the hot water and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, agave nectar, saffron, salt, and vanilla.

With a wooden spoon, add the brown rice flour and mix until smooth. Stir in the almond meal.

Press the dough (which will be quite sticky) into a 10-inch springform pan or 10-inch pie plate. Using a fork, prick the dough in several places.

Bake shortbread for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden and firm to the touch. 

While the shortbread is still hot, use a sharp knife to score it into wedges (I did 12). After the shortbread is completely cool, slice all the way through.

These should be stored at room temperature in air-tight containers.

Cross-Country Road Trip!

It’s been too long since my last post, but I promise I have good reason to be tardy! We just returned home from a ten-day road trip from California to Georgia (coast to coast) late last night, so I haven’t really had the opportunity to bake or cook anything. We did, however, enjoy much delicious food, especially in the state of Tennessee. Memphis is a hot-bed of delicious food, but very lacking in decent coffee.

 

When we first arrived, we had been driving for four hours from the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. We were STARVING, so we decided to check out some Memphis BBQ. Rendezvous (the famous place) was closed, so we went down to Central BBQ Memphis. Oh my goodness, it was so good! I’m sorry to all the vegans and vegetarians who follow this blog; we got turkey and chicken BBQ. Not that they had tofu or veggie BBQ to choose from anyway, but still sorry for the pictures of meat. Perfect sauce, I gotta say. They sell bottles of it at the restaurant, but we were flying home and couldn’t think of what we would do with the bottle if we bought one.

We walked around in a park we found nearby, working off the tasty food, and then headed to our hotel. In the morning, we woke up bright and early to head to Graceland for a tour of Elvis Presley’s abode (he was a strange man…) Of course, you can’t tour attractions on an empty stomach, so we got some biscuits and gravy at the famed Blue Plate Cafe in East Memphis. It was downright scrumptious! I then had eggs, pancakes, and fruit, but the star was definitely biscuits. They were just how I I like my biscuits: crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. And hot, of course.

For our lunch that day, we went to LUNCHBOXeats (check out their Menu) and ordered some fantastic sandwiches. The restaurant has amazing decor, and the whole thing is school-themed (they even print their menus on Five Star lined paper). I have to say, this was the best food on our trip. Amazing sandwiches, wonderful homemade pickles, creative and tasty sides (toasted and seasoned chickpeas, anyone?), and they have an awesomely friendly staff who was more than happy to answer my questions about their food and their business. We liked it so much, we ordered a sandwich and salad to go for dinner that night (which were both extremely tasty, even if they were room temperature and a couple hours old). Go here if you ever visit Memphis. You’ll be super happy you did.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a successful trip to Atlanta without visiting The Atlanta Cupcake Factory. We didn’t buy nearly as many as last time, but we were only in Atlanta for two nights, so we wouldn’t have been able to eat 29 cupcakes. We ordered strawberry, key lime, rootbeer, butterfinger, almond-coconut, and chocolate salted caramel. All were fantastic. My favorite was the key lime, with strawberry a close second. They weren’t making the rosemary cupcakes that week, so my dad was pretty sad, but we consoled ourselves by devouring the others.

Soon there will be another recipe, but it’s Memphis in the meantime.

The Liebster Award

 

I was nominated for an award! Yay! But now I have to do stuff for it. D’oh! Anyway, I’m pretty excited that I was nominated by Cupcakes & Cheese. So, here it goes!

There are some rules that come along with this honor:

1. Post eleven facts about yourself.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create eleven questions for people you’ve nominated.
3. Choose eleven people (with fewer than 200 followers) to give this award to and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. Remember, no tag backs.

Questions from my awarder:

1. How often do you bake something? (per week, per month) I bake something two times a week on average (sometimes more).
2. What is your favorite kitchen appliance? My blender. There are so many things I need it for.
3. Are you a ‘red wine and cheese’ or a ‘coffee and cupcake’? I would say coffee and cupcake.
4. Your favorite season? I love Fall. It’s so beautiful and the smells are lovely.
5. Home cooked meal or dining out? Usually home cooked, but lately I’ve been very busy and it’s nice to have someone else do the cooking.
6. What is your morning ritual that you can’t do without? Drinking lots of water as soon as I wake up.
7. Favorite song? This is a difficult question. There is so much amazing music out there. I would say “I Can’t Stand the Rain” by Ann Peebles because it is a new discovery for me and I’ve been really enjoying it recently.
8. Favorite movie of your childhood? The Princess Bride, hands down.
9. Why did you decide to blog? I like to share the food I create in many ways.
10. How much butter is in your refrigerator right now? None. I can’t digest dairy very well, so I have loads of Earth Balance margarine.
11. If you could do anything today, what would it be? Make kumquat marmalade.

Eleven Facts About Me:

1. I’ve been baking since I was eight years old.
2. My first car was a 1967 Chevy Malibu.
3. Both of my brothers have Asperger’s.
4. I recently started a small Cottage Food Operation.
5. I am not a fan of donuts.
6. There are at least five different kinds of flour in my kitchen right now.
7. I like to plan and prep and organize…most of the time.
8. There are three artichoke plants growing in my garden.
9. I love hiking because I love being surrounded by trees and other plants.
10. One day, I will raise goats and quail.
11. I can’t eat tomato sauce.

My nominees for the Liebster Award:

Diadasia

tjrbare

laceymccutchen

VeeDine Intervention

doing sessions

somethingaboutn

Birdsong Bread

hey, beth baker!

Major Shenanniegans

The Getting of Wisdom

Smartchefblog

My Eleven Questions for the Nominees:

1. What would be your last meal?
2. Favorite flavor combination?
3. Favorite childhood place to visit?
4. Do you prefer sweet or savory foods?
5. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
6. Do you prefer a large house and small yard, or a small house and large yard?
7. Rainy days or bright and sunny days?
8. What is your happy music?
9. Which band or musician would you most want to see live (dead or living)?
10. What is your creative outlet?
11. Sparkling water or still?

Now it’s your turn!

Baking Oatmeal

Again, I have left you alone in the world wide web, searching for new treats to try and coming up with nothing. I mean, I must be the only food blog you follow…right?

Don’t worry; I don’t really believe you’re waiting on the edge of your seat for the next recipe I throw your way, but it is nice to be missed so I imagine that you are sitting there thinking, “Finally! She has returned to me!” Anyway, shortly after my last post I came down with the ever-so-awesome flu, and then spent much time catching up with the horrendous amount of work I had. My afternoon class was canceled today, so I have a little extra time to work on my extra curricular activities.

This recipe is a vegan adaptation from my baking buddy, former roommate, and dear friend. When I made it, I cut the recipe in half, but the ingredients list I’m posting here is for a full-batch, 9-by-13 inch pan. Glass is my fave, but I’m sure metal works too. You can use any chopped nut you like and any dried fruit that catches your fancy. Below, I’m including the recipe I made with fresh grated and chopped apple, so even fresh fruit can be used! This is one of those recipes you can easily adapt to fit your taste buds, so enjoy it to the fullest. Maple sugar is the best, by the by.

Baked Apple Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups almond milk 

2 cups rolled oats 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

1 cup steel cut oats

2/3 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar, if you like)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla 

1/2 cup sunflower oil

2 peeled apples, one grated and one chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (I used Gala)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a liquid measuring cup, measure out the almond milk. Whisk the ground flaxseed and let sit for at least 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, maple sugar, spices, baking powder, and salt.

Mix in the milk mixture, vanilla, and sunflower oil. Stir in the fruit and nuts.

Spread evenly into a 9-by-13-inch pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes and cut and serve.

A bit of advice: if you have left over oatmeal, store in an air-tight container in your fridge. The next day, put some of it in a saucepan with the desired amount of almond milk and heat together until quite warm, stirring occasionally. Serve!

Flatbread: Naan

While I was in Georgia, I ate a lot. Though usually pretty conscious about what goes into my body, I spent most of my calories eating cupcakes. As a sort of repentance, I went on a ten day sugar fast. I did eat fruits, but no sweets or desserts or sugary drinks. It was supposed to be two weeks, but I was surprised I made it 10 days so I’m not being too hard on myself. Anyway, during that time, I focused on cooking more than baking. I fermented kimchi, made my own BBQ seitan bao from scratch, cooked up some madras dahl curry soup, and made my own garlic naan. It was quite an adventure! I even attempted sticky rice and mango (twice), but that wasn’t very successful (soon…)

I was really surprised by the garlic naan. It was easy to make, and it turned out really well! It was a little on the sweet side, but I think that’s because I used the wrong kind of dairy-free yogurt. I couldn’t find any plain at the grocery store (seriously! so lame), so I ended up getting vanilla coconut milk yogurt. It had the lowest sugar content of all the ones I looked at, but it was still too sweet. However, the naan was still really tasty. The texture was perfect! Next time, I think I might toast the garlic in the skillet for a minute before folding it into the dough, but it was still garlicky. I also halved the recipe because it was only me and Ben enjoying the flatbread. The full recipe makes 8 flatbreads, which is enough for 8 people or more (if there is rice, too). Anyway, it is very easy to make naan, so don’t feel intimidated!

Garlic Naan

3/4 cup warm water (95-105 degrees F)

1 tablespoon sugar (I used evaporated cane juice)

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3/4 cup (6oz) plain coconut milk yogurt

3 tablespoons sunflower oil, plus extra for brushing over naan

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour

3 garlic cloves, minced (and toasted for one minute, if desired)

Directions

Pour the water into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar to dissolve, then sprinkle in the yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes to proof the yeast (it’ll start to look frothy).

Use a wooden spoon the stir in the yogurt, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and the salt. Stir in half a cup of the flour at a time until a soft dough forms and it is no longer sticky.

Lightly flour a large work surface and knead the dough for about 3 minutes, or until smooth. Pour the remaining oil in a clean large mixing bowl and add the dough, rolling it so that it is coated in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel (to prevent drafts), and put the bowl in a warm place to rise for one hour.

When the dough has about doubled in size, punch it down and lightly flour the work surface again. Stretch out the dough to about an inch thick and sprinkle on the minced garlic. Fold the dough several times and knead for a minute. 

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 20 or 30 minutes.

When ready to cook the naan, preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Flour the work surface again and lightly flour a rolling pin or dowel. Roll each naan into the thinnest circle (or oval) possible.

Lower the naan onto the griddle and brush with oil. Sprinkle on dried herbs or spices, if you like. Cook for about 3 minutes; the naan will bubble and puff up. When the underside is golden, flip over and cook for another 2 minutes.

Ethiopian Cuisine: Cafe Romanat

I am a huge fan of Ethiopian food. Oh my goodness, there is so much goodness. I love that you eat with your hands, and the food comes “family style” so you all eat off of one big plate (you don’t have to, but it’s the best). And on that big ol’ plate of food is a huge injera (Ethiopian teff bread) that soaks up all the juices and flavors. A friend from Ethiopia told me that this is her favorite part: eating up all the drenched bread at the end of the meal. Of course, you have to fight your dinner companions for it, but it really is amazing and deeeeelicious!

Anyway, I’ve spent my time trying to convince people who say they don’t like Ethiopian food to try it again at a different, better restaurant. The Bay Area is filled with Ethiopian restaurants, from decent to crappy to downright fan-frickin-tastic. In 2012, Cafe Colucci (www.cafecolucci.com/) was named Best African Restaurant in the East Bay by the East Bay Express. That place is tasty, but it can also get a little expensive, and some times you want to go somewhere closer to home. Well, Ben discovered a new favorite of ours: Cafe Romanat. On Yelp, it has 4.5 stars! And it isn’t crowded! It is hard to find because it’s on an almost non-existent street, but when you find it, you’ll be happy you did. They serve the spiced Ethiopian tea (black tea bag, served with a glass of hot water and spice blend) and freshly made Ethiopian coffee (you know, the homeland of coffee). A perfect beginning to our meal since it was freezing outside.

We were the only people in the entire restaurant that Friday night at 5:30pm (we were going to catch a showing of the Hobbit after dinner), which was just fine. It can be awkward if you’re the only table in a whole restaurant, but we were sat in a place that didn’t have the staff peering at us the whole time. By the way, the people here are lovely! Friendly, but not overly so, and they weren’t hovering at all, which is nice.

They have plenty of vegetarian choices, of which we selected a few. However, I decided that I wanted some lamb, gosh darn it, and we ordered some lamb. I could only eat a couple of  bites, but it was yum yummy! We ordered the veggie combo and the yebeg wot (lamb) family style. They served the food with LOTS of injera and kindly refilled our water often (it’s a little spicy). They were thoughtful enough to put a salad between the meat and veggies, in case one of us were a vegetarian.

We devoured our meal. There was nothing left but some rolls of injera (don’t worry; we ate the injera that lined our big metal plate). By the end of the meal, the only thing left on our dish were napkins. Everything was hot, well-spiced, and fun to eat! I mean, who doesn’t love to eat with their hands? As long as your hands are clean, that is.

Last bit: they weren’t serving alcohol, but there was an empty bar near our table. Perhaps they will be serving alcohol soon? I don’t know. I came for the food, more than anything.

Next post will be a recipe! I’ve been working on a few things, so stay tuned for at-home goodness!

Cupcake Holiday in Atlanta

Yesterday, I returned home to California after spending twelve days with my family in Georgia. They moved out there eight years ago for a multitude of reasons, but they often miss the special things that make the Bay Area such an amazing place. Whenever I visit, I sleep in as much as I can, I cook, I bake, and I eat. Boy, do I eat. So, when I read the Top 50 Cupcakes in America Slideshow article from the Daily Meal, I had to eat some cupcakes. Wouldn’t you know that the #1 cupcake in America is made right in Atlanta, Georgia? Well, I just had to try it. Yeah, it’s not dairy-free, but sometimes you have to sacrifice some things in order to get others.

The Atlanta Cupcake Factory is a tiny shop on NE Highland in Atlanta proper. On the same block happens to be a vegan soul food restaurant where my dad, step-mom, and I ate lunch the day we picked up our cupcakes. That place was tasty too, but in a different way (obviously). My dad and I had tried to visit the shop the day before, but they had sold out of cupcakes by 3:30pm (and they only opened at 11am!) so we decided to order our cupcakes over the phone and have them held for us so we could try them the next day.

The Factory has an ever-changing menu of delicious cupcakes they make. Every day, they whip up twelve to fourteen varieties, but, if you place your special order 48 hours in advance, you can order any of their flavors for special occasions. I was placed in charge of the ordering, so I asked everyone what they wanted. My younger brother wanted chocolate. My step-mom wanted sweet potato. My dad wanted EVERYTHING. He told me to order two of every kind of available cupcake, plus an extra sugar cookie/brown butter rosemary (The Daily Meal’s winning cupcake). That week, they had fourteen flavors of cupcake, which means we ordered a grand total of 29 cupcakes. The lovely baker told us that the cupcakes (minus the decorations) freeze well, so we didn’t have to scarf them down in two days (not that we wouldn’t if presented with no other alternative). We drove our hoard of cupcakes home and froze most of the cupcakes with the intention of each person eating one to two every day.

Yeah, right. One night, my dad managed to eat five whole cupcakes. They are on the smaller side, definitely smaller than muffins, but still: five cupcakes! I was impressed. My family decided that these were, in fact, the best cupcakes they had ever had (besides mine, of course). It was also decided that perhaps they should only be purchased on special occasions and not become an everyday thing. My step-mom is usually really good at avoiding sugar, but these were too hard to resist. The adults (me, my step-mom, and my dad) agreed that the sugar cookie/brown butter rosemary cupcakes were the best. My brother really enjoyed the chocolate/white chocolate peppermint cupcakes. I also found the sweet potato/bourbon cupcakes to be fantastic! All of them were delicious, but those three really stuck out to us.

The other flavors we tried were: chocolate/chocolate, gingerbread/pear, red velvet, sugar cookie/salted caramel, chocolate/chocolate salted caramel, orange cranberry, sugar cookie/vanilla, lemon/lemon, lemon/blueberry, eggnog bourbon, and sweet potato/brown sugar. The eggnog bourbon was pretty awesome, too, though the guy in the shop told us that the most popular cupcake they sell is the red velvet. I’m not surprised, but that one really didn’t stick out to me, or any one else. It was good, but not the best. 

If you find yourself in Atlanta, Georgia, try to pick up some cupcakes at the Atlanta Cupcake Factory. If you want to be sure you’ll have some cupcakes to take home, call ahead and have them reserve a couple for you. According to the baker, they have many out-of-town customers who make large orders and take them home to freeze and slowly enjoy over a few weeks. If you can make them last that long, good for you! We could barely make them last four days.

Chocolate Cappuccino Ice Cream Sandwiches

 

Not for the faint of heart, but luckily for the vegan/dairy-free! My brilliant idea came to me this rainy afternoon when I was thinking fondly of chocolate and coffee and how the two are such perfect lovers. I mean, peanut butter and chocolate, as well as mint and chocolate, are beautiful together, but coffee and chocolate where made for each other. They’re both beans, both contain caffeine, and they bring out the best in each other. Plus, I’ve really been into ice cream sandwiches lately (wrong time of the year, I know), and I’m trying out different combinations. This is my second foray into ice cream sandwich making, and I believe I am getting better! The tomato-basil ice cream with lemon-cornmeal cookies was delicious, but I want to try some classic combos as well. For the ice cream, I traveled back in time to my Cappuccino Chip Ice Cream recipe. I omitted the chocolate chips; those went into the cookie part. Everything else stayed the same, though you should probably make the cookies before the ice cream because you want to spread the ice cream while it’s still soft. If you make the ice cream and then the cookies, the ice cream will be less spreadable and you’ll have to soften it before spreading onto completely cooled cookies.

Chocolate Cappuccino Ice Cream Sandwiches

Double Chocolate Cookies:

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2/3 cup unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sunflower oil

1-1/14 cups sugar

1/2 plain almond milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

 In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. If you have clumpy cocoa powder, you may want to sift.

In another large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar, getting it all nice and emulsified. Make sure you whisk it well for a couple of minutes, then whisk in the almond milk and extracts. 

Slowly, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, folding the mixture with a wooden spoon. If the dough gets too stiff to stir, use your hands.

Gently fold in the chocolate chips. Your mixture should look like this:

Now you’re ready to bake.  I used my handy 1/8 cup measuring cup to scoop out the perfect amount of dough. This is equal to 2 tablespoons, for those of you who do not own a 1/8 cup measuring cup (don’t worry; most people don’t). Roll the measured out dough in your hands and gently flatten into a disk about 3/8-inch thick. Place on the prepared sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. 

Place cookie sheets in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove and switch racks. Bake for 5 more minutes. This gives the cookies a more even cooking. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the pans for 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.

Meanwhile…

Cappuccino Ice Cream:

Follow the directions for Cappuccino Chip Ice Cream, but omit the chocolate chips.

Sandwiches, Assemble!

Using a short, flat knife or frosting spreader, spread a generous amount of softened ice cream onto the flat back of a cookie. When the ice cream is about 1 inch high, place another cookie on top with the flat back on the ice cream and the domed front facing up. Use the knife to smooth the ice cream between the cookies so it looks all neat and tidy. This is hard to do and takes practice; mine still look pretty messy, but they are delicious! Wrap in wax paper and freeze for 2 hours, or until ready to eat. Remove from the freezer and let soften for 10 minutes before enjoying your tasty, vegan, and cold dessert!

Note: These are best eaten with a cup of black tea. Yes, I know that’s mixing coffee and tea, but it was soooooooo good!