Experimenting With Color (and cookies)

So, as promised in my post from yesterday, I am going to show you the "experiment" I have been working on involving Chlorophyll and pomagranates.



But first, the preface:
My students LOVE me to read them "The Gingerbread Man" it's been their favorite for months and I told them that we would make gingerbread man cookies for our Christmas party. So the night before, I made 18 little gingerbread man cookies, 18 star cookies and 18 circle cookies. The shape of the gingerbread man turned out a little strange because the gingerbread man cookie cutter that I bought from the US didn't come in yet, so I had to buy a "boy" cookie cutter from a random supermarket in Korea.
See pics down below and you'll see what I mean~

I wanted to have red, white, and green colored icing. But this is problematic. First, because you can't easily find food coloring in Korea. Second, because food coloring is creepily made with all these weird chemicals AND/OR beetles and other random things. So many children in the US have allergies to these artificial colorings. These scary colors have even been linked to behavioral disorders, allergies, asthma and even cancer. This isn't some conspiracy talk. Many parents are made aware of this fact from their regular allopathic doctors! This is mainstream knowledge. If yore interested, read more about this here, here, here or here. Or just Google about it yourself! It's serious stuff!

I couldn't give these things to my little angel babies, so right as I was falling asleep a few weeks ago I thought of a great idea!
CHLOROPHYLL! Yes- the "blood" of plants. I have a bottle of it that I occasionally put in smoothies. It is SO GREEN that is is black. A tiny drop and the whole icing would change green. PERFECT.




Next, RED. My first instinct was POMEGRANATES. Their juice stains the counter and the cutting board, and it is RED. So, I figured it would work. I smashed the seeds through a metal sieve with a cup underneath to catch the juice. I even boiled the juice to concentrate the color.




It didn't come out as bright or as "red" as I would have liked, but at least it was natural. I will keep trying on this. I didn't google how to do it because I just want to figure it out!! I'm going to try beets next time.

This is SO easy! There are so many other fruit or veg that are totally vibrant! I just know they would work! I can't wait to do more experimenting!

Here is my icing recipe:

EASYVEGANICINGRECIPE

2 Cups of Powdered Sugar
1 TBSP of Coconut Oil
2 1/2 TBSP of Soy Milk(OR almond or coconut)
1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract (alcohol-free, please)

Just mix everything together. Make sure your milk is at room temp, otherwise it will make the coconut oil hard and your icing will be lumpy. You can add more or less milk depending on how thick you want to make it OR you can make it with no milk at all. Water works fine.


Here is the cookie recipe:


Ingredients

1 1/4 Cup of Coconut Oil
1 Cup of Raw sugar or Xylitol
1 "flax egg" (1 TBSP of ground flaxseeds mixed with 3 TBSP of warm water)
2 tsp of vanilla extract (alcohol-free please)
3 1/2 Cups of flour (I didn't use whole wheat this time, but it works fine in this recipe)
1 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1.) In a small bowl, mix the ground flaxseeds with the warm water and let set at least 10 minutes. It will have the consistency of a raw egg when it's "ready".

2.) In a big bowl, mix the coconut oil and sugar really well. Then beat in the flax mixture and vanilla.

3.) Mix flour into the mixture from step 2 with a big wooden spoon. Do this gradually so it will mix well. If the mixture seems a little dry add a little water or soy milk.

4.) Cover the bowl and let the dough set in the refrigerator for 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 176ºC (350ºF).

5.) Roll out dough on a floured surface until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the Shapes you want.



6.) Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 9 or 10 minutes depending on how crunchy you like your cookies. Remember: if cookies "LOOK DONE", then they are burnt.


Here are my lovely students making and enjoying their creations at our Christmas party. How could I NOT love my job, right?!

Jayden, Olivia, Ellie and Iris making their vegan, all natural and organic cookies. We used raisins and coconut to decorate with!

I tried to tell the kids that these cookies are *better* for their body than regular ones.
No eggs, no butter, no white sugar, flaxseed added, pomegranate juice added, and chlorophyll added. They didn't care. They just LOVED them! That was all the encouragement I needed to know that this recipe is a winner!

I have been posting a lot about baked goods and sweets. Typically I don't eat these, but I have been very inspired lately over the need for people to know these things can be made "better" than the traditional ways. I want people to be encouraged that starting a more compassionate lifestyle can be delicious too. We vegans eat more than tofu, you know! I don't think these foods should be incorporated in the diet, but if you feel the need to partake of these things you don't have to TOTALLY fall off the wagon!


Hope you guys like this recipe, I had some stellar reviews of these cookies from my students, co-workers, and friends (vegan and non-veg alike). This will be a guaranteed winner at Christmas dinner.

This may be my last post for a couple weeks. We are actually on our way to the airport now. We are heading to Bali until after the New Year! See you guys in 2013... or sooner if I am inspired!! Have a wonderful New Year. Take some time to yourself to dream about the upcoming year and totally let go of 2012. It no longer serves you.

Love and Chorophyll,

Meg

Some of the cookies that I made for a recent veg*an function that a friend and I coordinated at a local bar (more info on that coming next month). If you tried one of these cookies on Thursday night, let us all know what you think!