It’s been nearly four months since I posted my initial impressions of Daiya cheese, and in that time, Daiya has shown up in more restaurants, retailers as well as in packaged foods. It even won the VegNews Product of the Year Award. Add to that the recent arrival of cheddar style Daiya here in the bay area, I figured it was time to put Daiya to the test.

Before Daiya appeared, the only vegan cheese I found consistently satisfying was Cheezly. I’ve used Follow Your Heart, Teese, VeganRella, Dr Cow and some others that were so bad just the thought of them makes me cringe. (Actually, Teese is pretty cringe inducing, but for some reason, lots of people like the stuff.) I feel pretty comfortable saying that it’s either Cheezly or Daiya or no cheese, thank you.

So which cheese reigns supreme? I decided it was time to find out. By putting both Daiya and Cheezly cheddars through a couple of decidedly un-scientific and non-comprehensive tests I hoped I could find out which was truly the king of vegan cheeses.

The first test was a simple grilled cheese: Bread, cheese and a little oil spray for the pan. Yes, true grilled cheese connoisseurs would have my head for not using Earth Balance, but for this test I wanted something a little more flavor neutral. The bread of choice was Alvarado St Organic Sprouted Barley Bread disguised as Trader Joe’s Organic Sprouted Barley Bread. In order to make the test more even, I finely grated the Cheezly to a consistency close to the Daiya Shreds which are only available grated. (Hmmmm…maybe that’s why they call it Shreds.)

It didn’t take long to discover that making a grilled cheese with grated cheese is slightly more challenging than with sliced cheese. Flip the sandwich and the cheese falls out. Not an issue with slices.

First up was the Daiya grilled cheese. When I cut it in half, it was hard not to notice the wonderfully oozy melted consistency, and the first bite re-confirmed that Daiya has raised the bar when it comes to vegan cheese texture. The flavor was definitely on the mild side of cheddar. This is as close as I’ve come to a grilled cheese from my long gone dairy eating days.

In sharp contrast to the Daiya grilled cheese, there was no oozing of melted cheese when I cut the Cheezly sandwich. The best way to describe the texture of the Cheezly was somewhere between softened and melted. Although the Cheezly lacked the gooey melt of the Daiya, it was soft enough that it felt like I was eating melted cheese. What was immediately striking, was the sharp flavor. The flavor of Cheezly was much more pronounced and truly tasted like a sharp cheddar. I count this as a good thing, although others, especially those who grew up on Velveeta or Kraft Singles, may prefer the milder taste of Daiya.

If you’re hoping for a clear winner here, you’ll need to conduct your own test. Daiya clearly outshines Cheezly when it comes to texture, but 2 out of 2 judges preferred the flavor of Cheezly. It’s possible that lower heat and longer cooking time may have produced a better melt on the Cheezly, but that’s a test for another day. Either way, both Daiya and Cheezly will make a great sandwich.

Coming soon in round 2: Nachos! Pizza!

Discovering a tasty new vegan food is always fun, and for me, finding foods that are “accidentally” vegan is even better. Every issue of VegNews is packed with new products that proudly flaunt their vegan credentials, but there are even more foods that fly under the radar because despite being vegan, they’re not marketed as such. Hot sauce is one of those products that in most cases is vegan, but rarely gets a mention in vegan publications and blogs. Maybe it’s because it’s so often associated with barbeque (read meat), or perhaps it’s the whole macho thing where hot sauce makers continuously one up each other to see whose sauce can burn a hole in your intestines faster, hot sauce just doesn’t get it’s due in vegan circles. If I have my way, this will change.

I stumbled upon Boulder Hot Sauce while at a Mexican restaurant in a small town in Colorado. Along with the usual selection of Tabasco, Tapatio and Cholula, there was a small bottle of Boulder Hot Sauce Smokey Serrano. Never one to shy away from something new (well at least not in this case), I poured a little dash on my beans and I was hooked instantly. This wasn’t just heat, it was tasty, smokey heat. A standard side of beans was brought to a whole new level of deliciousness. I immediately wanted to add it to everything else, even dessert. OK, there was no dessert. This was a small town in Colorado, no vegan desserts here. But you get the idea.

Fortunately, I picked up some Boulder Hot Sauce at Whole Foods in Boulder (where else?) before heading back to San Francisco and have been looking for excuses to use it at any opportunity. Yesterday’s chili recipe which already packed a pretty good kick, benefited from a few shakes as did anything with Mexican, Southwestern or Latin flavors.

There are a lot of hot sauces that will enhance a dish with heat. Boulder Hot Sauce not only adds the kick, but also a depth of flavor that I haven’t found in other hot sauces. Granted, I’m no hot sauce expert and I’m sure there are others that are as tasty as they are hot. Hopefully, in time they will increase their distribution and we’ll be able to find some Smokey Serrano in stores outside of Colorado. Until then, it can be ordered on their website.

While other hot sauce makers continue their arms race of how many Scoville Units they can pack into a bottle with names like Assblaster, Rectal Rocket Fuel, Jersey Death and Magma, it’s comforting to know that companies like Boulder Hot Sauce continue to make a product that satisfies the taste buds while making you sweat.

Boulder hot Sauce Company
Boulderhotsauce.com

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One of the great things about vegetarian chili is that it can be adapted for many different types of ingredients. While beans are probably the most common base, recipes using tempeh and textured soy protein are quite common. (OK, both of those are made from beans, but they’re processed beans so cut me some slack here.)

I was recently searching for a chili recipe that goes a little lighter on the beans than my old pinto and kidney bean standby. My search came to an end courtesy of the Food Network. Yes, the meat-centric cable network that serves as ground zero for the world of celebrity chefs has a website that is a treasure trove of vegan and easily veganized recipes. And frankly, it brings a smile to my face to know that great vegan recipes can come from a chef whose motto is “Pork fat rules.”

What makes that smile even wider is that said chef, one Emeril Lagasse decided to use portobello mushrooms as his base. True, the portobello is frequently the old standby for conventional chefs when faced with the task of preparing a vegetarian meal, but I’ve never had a problem with this. Given their versatility and great taste, using portobellos as the center of a great variety of meals is a no-brainer. What Emeril has done with this chili is create a hearty and flavorful vegan dish that’s lighter than the usual bean only chili. Although the recipe doesn’t abandon beans entirely, the mushrooms along with zucchini, corn and peppers give the dish a great combination of flavors and textures.

You can find the recipe on the Food Network website. Serve it over brown rice or with my favorite accompaniment: Kaya’s Cosmic Cornbread from the Blossoming Lotus. There are a zillion ways to top it, and tomorrow I’ll share my favorite.

Complete the following analogy: United States is to burgers as Australia is to _______. If you said pies, advance to the next level. Just as you can be in any American city and be within five minutes walk from a burger joint, the same applies to pies in Australian cities. While Americans have managed to export the iconic burger to all corners of the earth and raised obesity rates wherever the golden arches appear, Australians have not had the same success with pies. Maybe a small vegan pie shop in Bondi Beach change that, minus the obesity.

Located just a few blocks from the beach, Funky Pies is a small, unassuming joint with a just a few tables and a simple menu. But don’t let that fool you. The savory delights that come out of the ovens at Funky Pies will have you coming back again and again for more. It’s probably only fair to admit that I’ve never had a traditional Australian meat pie, so there’s no basis for comparison. It’s also fair to say that none is needed. These pies stand on their own merit.

The Funky Chunky Pie, which according to chef Luke Giannotis is their best seller, is filled with minced shiitake mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Chef Giannotis has managed to cook and season the mushrooms in a way that has a substantial and dare I say “meaty” texture and flavor, without crossing the line of an over-processed meat substitute. What really elevates this, and all of the pies at Funky Pies is the crust: Crispy on top with a delightful flakiness that is too frequently missing in vegan Pies. Add to that a heaping side of creamy mashed potatoes with peas and gravy, and you’ve got one fantastic meal.

For those who prefer a lighter accompaniment to their pie, the side salad is a great alternative consisting of greens and potatoes with a tangy whole grain mustard dressing. What’s more, a pie with mash and gravy, or salad will only set you back $9.00, or $8.00 for takeaway. A single pie with no sides is a mere $6.00. As we soon found out, this qualifies as a bargain by Sydney standards. (Good luck finding lunch at any other vegetarian restaurant for under ten dollars.)

We were also impressed by the Spicy Thai Pie, a flavorful mix of veggie chicken chunks and vegetables, encased in that wonderfully flaky crust. The Rockin’ Roll was an equally impressive mix of veggies seasoned with rosemary rolled in that same crust, of course. All of this flavor does come with a price tag of another kind however, a look at the nutritional information on the Funky Pies website shows the fat and calorie count on these pies is astronomical. A crust like this is not achieved without large amounts of fat! (So much for fighting obesity.)

In the interest of providing a complete review, I forced myself to sample the desserts. OK, maybe there was no coercion and there were other motives besides this review, so I’ll get right to point. The brownie at Funky Pies is possibly the best brownie I’ve ever eaten. I have tried what seems like dozens of recipes in search of the perfect brownie; one that has the perfect balance between cakey and fudgey, and I’m still searching. (Millennium pastry chef Ann Baptiste has a recipe that comes really close and you can find it here.) The brownie at Funky Pies is that perfectly balanced brownie. Not overly dense, yet moist and fudgey with a rich chocolate flavor, this is the brownie I’ve been in search of for years. I’ll be working many hours in the kitchen to recreate this brownie.

The apple pie was bound to be something of a letdown after the brownie. As could be expected, the crust was flawless, but the filling was slightly mushy for my taste. The vanilla slice was also unexceptional. The custard lacked creaminess and the vanilla flavor was fairly weak. These minor shortcomings are easily overlooked based on the quality of the pies and brownies, as well as the reasonable prices. Add to this the fact that their takeaway packaging is bio-degradable, the drinks are organic and an overall philosophy of sustainability, Funky Pies is a winner.

Future plans include franchising, so all that’s needed now is some enterprising vegan entrepreneur to open a San Francisco Funky Pies franchise. I’ll be the first person in the line that’s sure to be out the door.

Funky Pies
funkypies.com.au

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Sometimes you want a simple chocolate chip cookie: No nuts, no raisins, no oatmeal. Just cookie dough and chocolate chips baked into a little disk of empty calories that do nothing good for your body nothing once they get past your tongue.

I’ve tried many recipes for such a cookie, some of them quite good, but none as good as Martha Stewart’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. If the name isn’t clear enough, this cookie is so soft, chewy and loaded with chocolate chips, that after eating one you’ll never want to buy a bag of Uncle Eddie’s Chocolate Chip Cookies again. (No slight intended towards Uncle Eddie. He makes a fine cookie, fictional character or not. In fact, Uncle Eddie’s makes some of the better commercial vegan cookies.)

As with the Martha Stewart cookies I wrote about last month, these are also easily veganized using Earth Balance Buttery Sticks instead of butter and Ener-G Egg Replacer as an egg substitute. The recipe can be found here on her website. I found that the cooking time was closer to 14-15 minutes than the 8-10 minutes in the original recipe. Remove the cookies from the oven before the bottoms start to brown, or your cookies will be crunchy instead of soft.

If you’re like me, you scrutinize the ingredients on every item you pick up in the grocery store before adding it to your cart. I often do this with items I regularly buy, just to make sure nothing has changed. You might be surprised how often manufacturers reformulate or change the information on the label and keep it under the radar.

Earlier this year, Dagoba unveiled a new wrapper design on their organic chocolate bars, several of which had been considered vegan. As with most vegan chocolate, the old wrapper had the allergen disclaimer stating that the chocolate was made on shared equipment with dairy, but the ingredients contained no dairy. I was shocked to discover the last ingredient listed on the new wrapper is “Milk (Less than 0.1%).” My first reaction upon seeing this was “how could they do this?” After giving it some rational thought, I wondered why they would reformulate the product just to put such a small amount of milk.

A visit to the Dagoba website didn’t turn up any information, so I sent them an email. They wasted no time in replying, and fortunately, the news was good! The customer service representative explained that they produce their dark bars on the same machinery as the milk bars and while they thoroughly clean between runs, there is the possibility that traces of milk protein may be present in the dark bars. She went on to state “We do not add milk to our dark bars. We are using the same recipes that we always have, however we changed the wording to protect anyone who may have severe milk allergies.”

To say I was thrilled was an understatement. Frankly, when I want quality unadulterated chocolate, Dagoba is one of the few bars that delivers. (And how can you not love a company that replies to customer inquiries in less than 30 minutes?) Green & Black’s dark chocolate is another chocolate bar that makes the cut. But this week I noticed some subtle changes to the front of the wrapper, and a not so subtle change to the back of the wrapper. Milk was now at the end of the ingredient list.

A quick visit to the Green & Black’s website turned up a wealth of information on their FAQ page. Like Dagoba, they have not changed the recipe, just the label. They even give a clue as to how much milk might be present in the dark chocolate: “…in some cases it may exceed the 5ppm that some scientist’s state can cause a reaction.” (The reaction they refer to is from those allergic to dairy, not necessarily vegans.)

Some people will say that if a product contains even a minuscule trace of dairy, then it’s not vegan. A valid point, however, from the information provided by Green & Black’s, only some bars will exceed 5ppm. That’s five parts out of a million. Yes, that’s five parts more than I want in my body, but according to an artisan vegan chocolate maker I spoke with, it’s nearly impossible to find quality chocolate that isn’t made on shared equipment. To put it in perspective, if you don’t eat in exclusively vegan restaurants, your food is made on “shared equipment” that probably gets a less thorough cleaning than the equipment used to make dark chocolate. If you can’t live with approximately 5ppm, then you might as well give up chocolate altogether.

Give up chocolate? Not a chance.

(Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen the film “Ratatouille” and don’t want to know how key plot elements turn out, skip to the next paragraph.) If you’ve seen the animated Disney film “Ratatouille,” you probably recall curmudgeonly restaurant critic Anton Ego’s reaction upon tasting the ratatouille. After the shock of being served “peasant food,” his first bite immediately takes him back to his childhood and the joy that was a distant memory from a time long gone. I was reminded of this scene during a visit to Sticky Fingers Bakery in the Columbia Heights area of Washington on a rainy afternoon.

While waiting in line to place my order, I noticed a sign above the display case announcing grilled cheese sandwiches made with Daiya cheese. (You can read about my first impressions of Daiya here.) I should preface this by stating the obvious: Making a good grilled cheese sandwich isn’t rocket science. But making a good vegan grilled cheese…well, that’s another story. Oh, the technique is pretty much the same, but finding a vegan cheese that tastes good and melts is a challenge. Or maybe I should re-phrase that: Finding a vegan cheese that tastes good and melts was a challenge.

Not long after placing my order, a plate holding what looked like any old grilled cheese was brought to my table. However, the first bite was nearly a revelation. This was the grilled cheese I remembered back in my dairy eating days long gone. The cheddar flavor and smooth, gooey consistency took me back to the lunches of my grade school years. Each subsequent bite confirmed what was immediately apparent in the first: Daiya has indeed ushered in a new era for vegan cheese and I have Sticky Fingers to thank for making it obvious in the most simple and fundamental way.

If I had only ordered the grilled cheese, I would have been satisfied in every way possible, but I came to to Sticky Fingers in search of baked goods. If I described a snack with rich, sweet, white cream filled chocolate cake in a chocolate shell, you might think Drake’s Ring Dings, Yodels, Devil Dogs or Hostess Ding Dongs and Ho Hos. That’s what Sticky Fingers conjures up with the Little Devil. That sweet cream sandwiched between two slices of chocolate cake with the chocolate icing on top was another trip down memory lane, minus the hydrogenated oils, mono and diglycerides, whey, eggs and other nastiness. Not that there isn’t enough sugar in one of these treats to send most kids into orbit, but what a delightful orbit.

But I didn’t land just yet. I raised my blood sugar even more with a Cowvin Oatmeal Sandwich Cookie; the same creamy filling found in the Little Devil, this time between two oat bars. I can’t imagine a sweet tooth that wouldn’t be satisfied with one of these.

The one letdown at Sticky Fingers was the Sticky Cinnamon Bun which was missing the moistness and cinnamon flavor of a great bun. To be fair, it was eaten the next day and therefore wasn’t as fresh as the other items (How much sugary junk food can a person eat in one day?), so I’d be willing to go back and see if a fresh one is better. The cupcakes in the display case looked divine, but those too will have to wait for another visit. Meanwhile, if you’ve been longing for the tastes that bring you back to childhood, or just have an insatiable sweet tooth, Sticky Fingers satisfies in a way that few others can.

Sticky Fingers Bakery
stickyfingersbakery.com

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Martha Stewart is considered by many to be one of the home baker’s best friends. Who am I to argue? Her recipes are usually pretty simple and the results are usually great and often exceptional. And even more important, many of her recipes are easily veganized. I’ve had great success converting many of Martha’s recipes by simply substituting Ener-G egg replacer for the eggs and Earth Balance Buttery Sticks for the butter.

One recent conversion was the Ne Plus Ultra Cookie recipe, which she describes as “Oversize and dense with chocolate chips, raisins, pecans, and more, these chunky cookies might just be the ultimate.” OK, I’m not sure about the ultimate (for that, see my recipe from last month), but it is a fine vegan chocolate chip cookie.

You can find the recipe at http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/ne-plus-ultra-cookies. I substituted the equivalent of two eggs worth of Ener-G egg replacer for the eggs and an equal amount of Earth Balance for the butter. I’m sure other substitutions would work just as well, and you may even want to experiment with different measurements.

Even better than the Ne Plus Ultra Cookies are the Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies. In fact, the Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies make a superior vegan cookie that in Martha’s words you can “find the flavors of two bakery classics: chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.” True enough. This is a cookie with a moist, cake-like texture that really is reminiscent of banana bread. The dough can also be spread into a parchment paper lined 9″x13″ pan and baked as bars with fantastic results by increasing the baking time to 15-20 minutes (your mileage may vary).

The Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe can be found at http://www.marthastewart.com/chocolatechunk. As with the Ne Plus Ultra Cookie, simply replace the butter with and equal amount of Earth Balance Buttery Sticks and replace the egg with 1 egg equivalent of Ener-G egg replacer.

In many ways, cheese is the final frontier in vegan foods. Is there a vegan alive who hasn’t heard the old “I’d love to go vegan but I could never give up cheese” line before? It seems like no other processed food has been so difficult to simulate without the animal products.

Meat substitutes moved out of their little niche at natural food stores and have been available in mainstream supermarkets for years. Maggie Mudd, Double Rainbow and several other companies broke the ice cream barrier with soy based ice creams that are easily as good as their dairy counterparts. We vegans have a variety of perfectly acceptable butter substitutes courtesy of Earth Balance. The one animal based product that has eluded the makers of vegan foods has been cheese.

Not that there aren’t plenty of vegan cheeses to choose from. Yes, VeganRella has been around for ages, and Galaxy Foods has been making vegan cheese slices that have a taste and texture reminiscent of chewable plastic for years as well. When Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet cheeses appeared several years ago, many vegans proclaimed a new era in vegan cheeses, but they were hardly an improvement over their predecessors. Similar claims were made when Chicago Soy Dairy introduced Teese last year. While Teese actually melted when heated, it had a strange texture and a funky aftertaste similar to so many other vegan cheeses. To make things worse, melted Teese congealed into an unappealing lump, also reminiscent of plastic, after a minute or two at room temperature. Sheese and Cheezly also entered the picture in recent years and fared a little better than the others. (More on Cheezely in a moment).

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock for the last six months, word on the streets is that the vegan cheese game has changed. Ever since the introduction of Daiya dairy free cheese this past March at the Natural Products Expo West, the surrounding buzz has been building to a deafening roar in vegan blogs and publications. For several months, Daiya has been shipping their cheese to restaurants, and now it is just beginning to appear in stores like Food Fight, Pangea, and Rainbow Grocery. So is it the game changer that so many are claiming it to be?

The vegan junk food answer is a tentative yes. We were able to get a sample of the Daiya Italian Blend into the VJF test kitchen and put it through a few of the paces. Of course, the first test was topping a pizza with Daiya. I’ve tried nearly every vegan cheese on pizza, and when not testing a new cheese, I still go cheeseless. I have yet to taste a vegan cheese that improves the pizza or comes close to the flavor and texture of a dairy mozzarella. Until now.

Without a doubt, Daiya melts more like dairy cheese than any of the other vegan cheeses I’ve tried. The texture when melted is pleasantly gooey (that’s the technical term in case you were wondering) and unlike many other vegan cheeses, Daiya doesn’t congeal into a hardened lump when it starts cooling down. In other good news, there’s no weird aftertaste with Daiya. That said, it’s not a dead ringer for dairy mozzarella. Yes, it’s a close approximation. Close enough that not all of the pizza I bake will be cheeseless in the future, however anyone used to eating dairy cheese will probably find something amiss.

I would venture to say that Cheezely mozzarella comes closer to the taste of dairy mozzarella than Daiya, although Cheezely doesn’t match Daiya’s meltiness (another technical term for those who are counting). Which one makes the better pizza? I can’t say yet, but in the near future I’ll be conducting a side by side test. What I can say is that the pizza made with Daiya is the closest I’ve come to the pizza I used to eat back in my dairy eating days.

So does Daiya live up to all of the hype? There’s no question that it’s a big step forward in the evolution of vegan cheese, but I don’t know that it will pass the ultimate test. The ultimate test of any vegan dairy or meat substitute is to serve it to meat and dairy eaters. If said meat and dairy eaters can’t tell it’s vegan, then the product is a winner. We’ll be putting Daiya through many tests in the near future, including the ultimate test, and will be posting the results.

I’ve been offline for the last month and to make up for it, I’m sharing the recipe for the best vegan cookie I’ve ever baked: Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies. If you’ve baked a better vegan cookie than this, please send me the recipe. I’ve made lots of vegan cookies, many of them delicious (and few less than delicious ones too), but none of them are as satisfying as this one. Seriously, this is one hell of a cookie.

Still need a reason to bake up a batch? How about the inaugural SF Vegan Bakesale? Bake a double batch and raise big bucks for Gimme Shelter Cat Rescue as these are guaranteed to sell better than any hotcakes have ever sold. Let’s see…bake cookies, help the cute kitties find a home. Sounds pretty good to me!

A few notes and bakers tips: There’s a reason these cookies are made with chocolate chunks. They bake better than chocolate chips in this cookie. Sure, you could use chocolate chips, but a chopped quality chocolate like Green & Blacks 70% bar will yield better results.

I generally bake these without any dried fruit, but for those who need fruit in their oatmeal cookie, go with dried cranberries or dried cherries. With all of the sugar and chocolate, raisins would make these cookies over the top sweet. The tang of cranberries adds a nice contrast to the sweetness that’s more pleasing.

I don’t recommend making these smaller. Using the ¼ cup measure to measure the dough produces the perfect size for a crunchy outside and a soft chewy inside. If you need more cookies, double the recipe instead of making them smaller.

These cookies keep for 4 to 5 days in an airtight container or zipper bag, but they will lose their crisp exterior and become uniformly chewy after a day or so (not necessarily a bad thing).

Vegan Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 1/4 cups rolled oats , old-fashioned,
1 cup dried cranberries or dried cherries, chopped coarse (optional)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped into chunks (approx. 3/4 cup)
12 tablespoons Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
Ener-G egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking pad.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, stir together oats, chocolate chunks and dried cranberries (if using).

In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until no sugar lumps remain, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg replacer and vanilla and beat on medium-low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down bowl; with mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture; mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running on low, gradually add oat/nut mixture; mix until just incorporated. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup scoop out ¼ cup of dough, then roll between palms into balls about 2 inches in diameter. Place balls on each baking sheet, spacing them about 2 1/2 inches apart. Using hands or underside of measuring cup, gently press each dough ball to 1 inch thickness.

Bake both baking sheets 12 minutes, rotate them front to back and top to bottom, then continue to bake until cookies are medium brown and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies may seem underdone and will appear raw, wet, and shiny in cracks), 8 to 10 minutes longer. Do not overbake.

Cool cookies on baking sheets on wire rack 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Pour a glass of rice milk and enjoy!