Vegan Goodies at Smorgasburg, Brooklyn (Dumbo)by Randi / September 30, 2013
COOOOOKIES!
Oh, I KNOW you know this one! It’s “The One With Phoebe’s Cookies”!! We’ve got everyone exactly in their element: Phoebe being silly and a bit ignorant, Monica absolutely obsessing over getting something perfect, Ross making everything about him (remember “IT’S BATCH 16! BATCH 16 PEOPLE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!”). This episode also has a fantastic Joey & Rachel storyline on Joey’s new boat*, and one of my favorite cold opens EVER. But back to the most important issue – cookies! So, Phoebe’s grandmother had the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, and Monica wants it as her engagement present, so she can one day be the mother who makes the best chocolate chip cookies:
Monica: Hey, I know I what I want!
Chandler: What we want honey.
Monica: No, you don’t want this. I want to have your grandmother’s cookie recipe.
Phoebe: You mean the chocolate chip cookie recipe?
Monica: Uh-huh, yeah.
Phoebe: You mean the one that my grandmother made me swear on her deathbed that I would never let out of our family?
Chandler: Dying people say the craziest things.
Monica: I wanted it for years! I was gonna make cookies for my children.
Phoebe: Break my heart—Oh, all right.
BUT SACRE BLEU!!! Phoebe lost the recipe in the fire*!! She does, however, have a few cookies frozen that were made from that recipe. Monica, the amazing chef she is, is determined to reverse-engineer the recipe from the few finished cookies. She spends dayyyys working and reworking various methods of CCC construction, with dozens of batches both good and, like Batch 16, terrible! And then…and then…and gentlemen, and then…this happens:
All this time, this miraculous recipe was the one ON THE BACK OF THE BAG OF NESTLE TOLL HOUSE CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!! (It warrants all caps.) My anger on Monica’s behalf is only lessened by the subtitles in the above video. (I love subtitles; I don’t know why.) To honor our dear Friends, we’re going to make the famous Nestle Toll House chocolate chip recipe found on the back of the chips! And we’re going to veganize it! Since I don’t buy NTH chips (do they even make any that are vegan?) I found the recipe online here. It’s pretty easy to veganize – vegan butter for the butter, and egg subs (I chose flax eggs) for the eggs! Let’s see if they are really the best. Do you think they could actually be better than Dreena’s Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookie? Or Isa’s, or Kelly Peloza’s? SUSPENSE.
|
VEGANIZED NESTLE TOLL HOUSE COOKIE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
Finished ball
|
Making the flax egg
Man alive that’s a lot of butter!
Creaming the butter and sugars
|
So wow, these puffed up like whoa! I think from the egg! Can you believe, the vegan version of the Nestle Toll House cookies are TOO EGGY! They were of course really good, and I particularly enjoyed how slightly salty they were. If you like your cookies puffy and almost cakey, you will love these!! I prefer mine a bit crunchier, so if I made them again, I would cut the egg in half at least. Also, wow they use a lot of butter for my tastes. Wow! So, they are really good, but I don’t think they are better than the above-mentioned 3 stars of vegan chocolate chip cookies. It’s too bad these other recipes didn’t exist 10 or so years ago, because Monica would have flipped out over them and avoided all of these dramazz. Oh well! If cakey and buttery is your thing, go make these yummy cookies!
Editor’s edit: These may be the only cookies that are 100x better hours after baking than they are straight out of the oven! So good, actually! Go make them!
Congratulations on reaching the end of VeganMoFo, for all of my fellow participants! Don’t worry, I will still be Veganizing “Friends” recipes – just not everyday! And if you have any requests, please let me know in the comments.
Giveaway Trivia: Last Chance!!!
Giveaway Trivia: Last Chance!!!
- What was the name of Joey’s boat?
- When out on the water, who does Joey yell at and call a jackass?
- What caused the fire in Phoebe’s apartment?
- In Chandler’s hilarious side-plot, what happens when he plays racquetball with Monica & Ross’s dad?
Related Posts
Happy News Alert: 2nd Annual Vegan Family Reunion (San Antonio, TX)
I think we all need something wonderful to look forward to! With impeccable timing comes the 2nd Annual Vegan Family Reunion, the brainchild of host Rooted Vegan Cuisine of San Antonio, Texas. This special occasion is THIS WEEKEND, Sunday March 6, and promises to be an epic day of food, fun, festivities, and community building. Featuring more than 30 Black-Owned small businesses and artists, the event will benefit local nonprofits and support local charities, including the Black Birth Fund.
San Antonio’s Rooted Vegan Cuisine, once a pop-up vegan restaurant and now a maker of incredible frozen vegan foods, hosts the Vegan Family Reunion for the second year. From 12-5pm on Sunday, the pop-up market and party at the San Antonio Food Bank will convene more than 30 Black-owned and vegan small businesses, artists, entertainers, and more to celebrate “food, fun, and Black excellence!”
The event celebrates the intersection of Black equality and veganism, raising funds that will pour back into the local Black community through small businesses, artists, and charities. It will do all this while highlighting the importance and benefits of veganism and its direct impact on the Black community.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND
- VEGAN FOOD
- PRO CHEF DEMOS
- MUSIC
- LIVE DJ
- VEGAN RAPPER GREY
- DANCING
- PONIESSSSS (from Ponycycle)
- HAYRIDES
- LIVE ART PRESENTATIONS
- PET ADOPTIONS!!!
- BOUNCY HOUSES (YESSSS)
- NUTRITION SEMINAR
- VEGAN BEAUTY & HAIR DEMOS
- MINI SKATEBOARD PARK
Did I mention it’s free to attend? It’s free to attend! But please RSVP in advance so they can anticipate the crowd size. Book your space here and register either for your free space, or with a donation (omg you’re so awesome!), or as a VIC (Very Important Charity). More ways to contribute – including from afar! – are listed further down.
I must take this time, before I forget, to tell you that there will be two bounce houses – one for kids and one just for adults. LITERALLY THE DREAM.
The strength of a local community is so important, and that’s clearer now more than ever. So many different businesses, organizations, and various community members are coming together to make this happen. Host Naomi of Rooted Vegan Cuisine said the list of participants and supporters is “incredible and humbling”.
She also said she’s bringing to-go containers to make sure she doesn’t miss any of the amazing food…so…follow her lead!
Some of the food vendors expected to blow your minds on Sunday include: Wheatsville (I know, one of our faves!), Vegan Sushi Spot, Alamo City Cakes, The Vegancy, Chef Cidney, and Bake Love. Non-food amazingness includes Art by Sheri, Gardopia Gardens, Tracy J Jewelry, and Ionic Soul Spa. I MEAN. COME ON!
There’s a whole packed schedule for the day too, with kitchen demos, nutrition and fertility seminars, and musical entertainment. It promises to be an incredible day!
We’re all aware of how exponentially veganism has increased in recent years, and a large part of that is due to Black activists, who have been promoting veganism even back to the Civil Rights Movement of the ’60s. And African-Americans compose the fastest-growing vegan demographic. This event aims to respect and acknowledge these facts while cementing the connection between veganism and Black activism, especially on the community level.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Black Birth Fund, created by the San Antonio Nurse Midwife Birth & Wellness center. The team said they learned of this organization through one of the Vegan Family Reunion committee members, who was herself a recipient of assistance from the Fund when she gave birth. This chance to give back to the fund that helped their teammate so greatly makes this event all the more special, they said.
Vegan Family Reunion has also teamed up with Black Restaurant Week San Antonio to raise money for the San Antonio Food Bank via donations and other funds raised. Attending the event is free, but guests are encouraged to buy t-shirts, buy raffle tickets (see below), and donate whatever they want to raise funds for these worthy organizations.
They are going even further this year in making the space accessible and inviting for so many types of attendees: There will be maternity lounges with doulas for expecting and new parents. There will will a special needs sensory retreat, with trained assistants, for people who need a break from the hubbub. There will be a sign language interpreter, and a toddler soft play area. The level of care is off the charts here. And there will also be a Zero Waste initiative, with the team measuring how much waste is saved from going into landfills.
HOW TO SUPPORT THE EVENT IF YOU AREN’T IN TEXAS
I’m sure many of you are, like me, watching and wishing from afar that we could attend. While we cannot eat its amazing food (or jump in the bouncy house) remotely, we can support it by doing the following:
- Spreading the word – on social media, use the hashtag #veganfamilyreunion and tag @veganfamilyreunion
- Buy raffle tickets – even if we cannot collect or use certain prizes, think of it as a donation, with the money going to truly worthwhile beneficiaries
- Or, Buy tickets to the event as a donation
- Buy the official tee shirt HERE
- Support Rooted Vegan Cuisine – their frozen vegan goodies are available to ship in the USA nationwide (someone please work on getting this to the UK!)
Whatever you can do to support this wonderful event is great, and let’s hope that we can be in San Antonio in person next year!
That Time I Finally Went to Vegan Treats (Mecca)
After a very busy weekend as a bridesmaid in my best friend’s insanely fun wedding, and after being awake and hyperactive for most of the past three days, I wrapped up my bridal party duties and hopped in a car to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In that little town of Bethlehem, we raise our glass – you bet your ass – toooooo VEEEEEGAAAAAN TREEEEEAAAATS! La Vegan Treats!
Ok, anyway, I’ve been wanting to go to this very best, most famous vegan bakery for years. However, I could buy a lot of VT’s products at restaurants and cafes in Philly and NYC, so I just didn’t deem the trip urgent. I should have. Going to Vegan Treats in person is of course much more exciting, but also you get fresher baked goods, a wider selection, and, most importantly, soft-serve! Special thanks to my friend Elli for finally taking me!
Ok, anyway, I’ve been wanting to go to this very best, most famous vegan bakery for years. However, I could buy a lot of VT’s products at restaurants and cafes in Philly and NYC, so I just didn’t deem the trip urgent. I should have. Going to Vegan Treats in person is of course much more exciting, but also you get fresher baked goods, a wider selection, and, most importantly, soft-serve! Special thanks to my friend Elli for finally taking me!
Pumpkin & vanilla soft-serve
Those of you who know me know that soft-serve is one of my top five foods. It goes kale, chickpeas, quinoa, peanut butter, soft-serve. It’s the best thing ever, and I will go anywhere for it. House-made soft-serve at Vegan Treats is just another reason why making the trip to the storefront is so worth it. Today’s flavors were pumpkin and vanilla custard. Of course, I got the two flavors swirled, and it was insane. The pumpkin was very subtle, thankfully not overspiced or overcinnamoned as so many pumpkin goods often are. Somehow, the ice cream did not melt as fast as other ice creams would have on this warm sunny day, and the texture remained incredibly thick. I don’t know how they do it, but they concocted a crazy amazing texture. So delicious!
|
Elli and I also pretty much bought out the bakery case. How beautiful is this! That whole third row is filled with gluten-free goodies, which is cool, but they cost more, which kind of sucks. We spent obscene amounts of money, but everything freezes well, so it’s like an investment!
The best Vegan Treats creation is the famous chocolate peanut butter bomb, which you can see in mini form on the top far right. I think mini form might actually be preferable to the full size, because the ratio of peanut butter cream to cake is much higher (i.e., there’s more cream). I don’t know how they make that, but it’s mind-blowingly perfect, light and the right amounts of salty and sweet. At right, you can see the daily specials, which of course we bought and of course were delicious beyond belief. On the left are donut sandwiches filled with Bavarian cream. Man alive these were good. Somehow, the cream was light and thick and left absolutely no aftertaste, as so many vegan creams do. The donut a little sturdier than their other ones, in order to hold all of that cream. So good. On the right are cinnamony-sugary-appley? donut pretzels. Of course these were great, come on. I love soft pretzels so much, and I could get used to one in donut form.  Donut pretzel with crackly sugar coating |
 The most beautiful thing! Except for the car reflection  Wow  You can see where all the magic happens in the back  |
There’s also a selection of cookies, candies, cupcakes, whoopie pies, and more. It’s overwhelming but amazing. I really bought way too much. Let’s check out my haul!
Clockwise from top left: S’more cheesecake, donut sandwich with Bavarian cream, peanut butter bomb, Boston cream pie donut
Clockwise from top left: carrot cake, another peanut butter bomb, vanilla cake with peanut butter, vanilla, and chocolate parts, and a brownie with chocolate peanut butter icing. I love peanut butter. You can see where my mom already dug in the second she saw this box, before I could take a picture! Most of this is now frozen. Make sure I don’t forget about it, please!
The cannolis are also splendid
Do you believe how much I got! And I was trying to limit myself. Everything is too delicious for words. Most of this haul is safely frozen now, as everything freezes and thaws very well. Of course, I did eat a lot of it, and of course after days without rest I feel prettayyy prettayyy horrible right now. But it’s worth it! I can’t wait to go back when they have the rumored salted caramel soft-serve. If you are ever in eastern PA with a car and time on your hands, definitely make the pilgrimage to the wondrous Vegan Treats!
