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Yield:

24 to 30 crackers

Prep time:

30 to 40 minutes

Bake time:

13 to 15 minutes

Serving size:

1 graham cracker

¼ cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ cup plus 2 TB. soy milk

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup graham flour

Pinch salt

¾ tsp. aluminum-free baking

powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ cup light brown sugar, firmly

packed

½ cup cubed nonhydrogenated

vegan margarine, cold

3 TB. unbleached cane sugar

1. Into a small bowl, whisk together maple syrup, vanilla extract, and ½ cup soy milk.

2. In a food processor fitted with a cutting blade, combine whole-wheat pastry flour, unbleached all-purpose flour, graham flour, salt, aluminum-free baking powder, baking soda, and light brown sugar. Pulse on and off 5 or 6 times until well blended.

3. Turn food processor to low, and add vegan margarine 2 tablespoons at a time until mixture resembles cornmeal. With food processor still running, add maple syrup mixture in a steady stream until dough comes together. Turn off food processor, and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pulse a few more times until dough forms a ball. Remove dough from the bowl, wrap in plastic, and chill for 4 hours or overnight.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or spray with vegetable shortening spray.

5. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a rectangle ⅛ inch thick. Cut dough into 3×3-inch squares, and place on the prepared baking sheet.

6. Lightly brush crackers with remaining 2 tablespoons soy milk, sprinkle evenly with unbleached cane sugar, and prick a few times with the tines of a fork.

7. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until fragrant and golden brown. Cool completely on wire racks before storing in an airtight container.

Variations: For Cinnamon Graham Crackers, add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients. Before baking, mix 3 tablespoons unbleached cane sugar with ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and sprinkle on top of crackers. For Chocolate Graham Crackers, decrease the graham flour to ¾ cup and add ¼ cup natural cocoa powder to the dry ingredients. Before baking, sprinkle crackers with 3 tablespoons unbleached cane sugar.

VEGAN VOCAB

Graham flour is a type of wheat flour used in—you guessed it!—graham crackers. It’s available in health food stores and most large supermarkets. If you can’t find it, substitute all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour in equal parts.

Part 4

Cookies, Brownies, and Bars

Have a sweet tooth that’s waiting to be satisfied, but you just can’t find anything at your local bakery that doesn’t contain animal products? There’s no need to do without when vegan bake-shop sweets are so quick and easy to make at home—and using ingredients readily available from your local supermarket or natural food store.

The tasty cookie, brownie, and other sweet treat recipes in Part 4 will make a vegan dessert lover out of you in no time! The vegan cookies range from the easy scoop-and-bake variety, to festive formed cookies. Then there are the rich, chocolaty brownies we all love. Fruit bars and lemon bars are all dairy and egg free and good for a sweet pick-me-up.

In Part 4, you’ll also find a few recipes you can make without ever turning on the oven!

Chapter 10

Cookie Jar Classics

In This Chapter

• Cookies to please every sweet tooth

• Drop and bake cookies

• Chocolate cookies, spicy cookies, and everything in between

Cookies are comfort food, plain and simple. Vegans love cookies, too, but most associate dairy-free, egg-free cookies with dry, tasteless globs of baked dough. That couldn’t be further from the truth! This chapter shows you just how good a vegan cookie can be.

What’s your favorite cookie? Is it a chocolate-chip cookie with a rich, “buttery” flavor with just the right amount of chocolate chips in every bite?