15. Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

I forgave my best buddy for eating my cookies, of course. I explained to him how it made me feel to come home and find my cookies gone, especially since I had not yet photographed them. I cleaned up the Tupperware and sat on the stairs so he could come over and be petted. Once we made up, I knew the only sensible thing to do was to make more cookies.


However, since I was low on brown sugar, more chocolate chip was not in the cards - or so I thought ...

But I decided to try something I've been meaning to for a very long time, Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles from Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. I'm way behind on the wave of love these cookies got back in 2009. The recipe has long been posted on the PPK blog. So if you don't have the book, you can still make them.

And trust me, you should make them. But follow the directions ... I did not and my cookies all smashed together while baking, creating some pretty ugly shapes. (Trust me, the other cookie sheet had the really ugly ones, but I was too ashamed to document that).


Lucky for me, the odd shape did not effect the taste! These cookies have the potential to be gorgeous, but the taste is really what's worth showing off. They're sweet in a sophisticated way and at the end of each bite, there's a kick from the cayenne. They're the kind of cookies you might serve to your book club and give a smug little half-smile when they exclaim about how cosmopolitan you are, with your spicy-hot cookies and your espresso machine. Undoubtedly, someone would be reminded of studying in Mexico and observing el Día de los Muertos (spoken in accent) with the local people in their humble village.

I'm not really that kind of a jerk - I just fantasize about being one - not the study abroad one, but the book group-hosting one.



No matter what kind of jerk you are, I urge you to make these cookies. And I apologize for the somewhat retina-searing quality of that last picture. The sugar on top reflects sunlight like you wouldn't believe.

And check out this how-to video if reading the recipe represents more work than you're willing to do.



I didn't forget about the chocolate chip cookies; I made those too. I was just a little bit short on the brown sugar, so they didn't have the rich, caramel-y, vanilla-y goodness like the ones Mr. D ate did, but that's not enough to stop me from eating them.


I wouldn't feed these to my book group (those snobs!), but I would happily curl up on the couch with a book and cup of coffee and enjoy them by myself.

11. No Cookies, and Two Viva Vegan Beauties

I had every intention of coming home and photographing the beautiful chocolate chip cookies I made and posting about them. But this is what I found:


a guilty-looking dog, and an empty tin.







I was not happy to say the least, but my back-up supply of Mint Oreos cut my tantrum short.



Besides, cookies are not the only delicious foods in my house. After reading the PPK thread on favorite Viva Vegan picks, I was excited to try, among many others, Quick Red Posole and Gallo Pinto.

The Quick Red Posole with Beans lives up to its name. It is in fact quick, red, and contains beans. But it's also a flavorful, red stew that was the perfect remedy when I came home from work with the beginnings of a cold. I slept for three hours, drank 40 oz. of water, had some posole, and returned to bed. The cold is gone, and I declare posole to be the medical breakthrough of our times ... or of pre-Columbian times.

And this is the first time I've used or even had hominy. So as you can imagine, it was a pretty exciting experience.

I took author Terry Hope Romero's suggestion and topped this lovely dish with cool, salad-like ingredients - lettuce, sour cream, and avocado - and blue tortilla chips.



"Gallo Pinto" means "painted rooster," but this refried beans and rice dish is 100% vegan friendly. The flavor is incredible, and the dish is immensely satisfying. It tastes like something you'd eat at a restaurant and try to pretend that you don't even know what MSG is, since something this good must be triple marinated in it.

The majority of the time spent on this dish was waiting for the beans and rice to cook, and then for the rice to cool in the refrigerator - that's what "cold cooked" means. I had no idea before this. This is an excellent quick dinner if you've already soaked your beans.

The dish comes together very quickly, and is best served in fine crockery, such as the Blues Clues bowl pictured here.



If you don't own Viva Vegan, I can't urge you to get it enough. Every single dish I've made so far has been a fantastic, make again and again, pleasure. This is a desert island cookbook for sure.