Quinoa Tabouli

I love tabouli, but I can't usually afford the pre-made packaged stuff -- even more so because I could eat two of those things in one sitting. Since I've been taking lunches and snacks to work, I've been loving this recipe for quinoa tabouli. The protein-rich and nutrient-rich quinoa and green green parsley and mint make me feel brilliantly healthy as I guzzle tubs of this throughout my day. 

This recipe is adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health. It takes about half an hour to make (less, with a food processor or lots of practice). One batch of this usually only lasts me two, maybe three days, but if serving as a side salad, could probably serve 4. 

QUINOA TABOULI 

1 cup raw quinoa

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried mint or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

4 scallions

5 garlic cloves

2 or 3 bunches fresh parsley 

3 or 4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and ground black pepper

Rinse and drain the quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer to remove any residue of the grain’s bitter coating. In a covered saucepan on high heat, bring the quinoa, water, salt, and mint (if using dried) to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and place in a serving bowl.

While the quinoa cooks, mince the scallions and garlic, and finely chop the parsley and mint (if using fresh). Add them to the serving bowl with the cooked quinoa. Pour on the lemon juice and olive oil and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chilled or at room temperature. 

pasta, lentils, and artichoke hearts

I love making this pretty and simple pasta dish for dinner parties, or for just me and my roommate to have tons of leftovers. The recipe that follows makes 4 - 6 servings, and is adapted from Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites. I like to use French lentils, which hold their shape better than other varieties. Red lentils would also be pretty.

PASTA, LENTILS, AND ARTICHOKE HEARTS

1 cup dry red lentils (3 cups cooked)
3 cups water
1 tsp olive oil
2 onions, diced
5 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2 tsps grond cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 cups canned diced tomatoes (18oz can), liquid reserved
1 1/2 cups quartered artichokes (9oz package frozen or 15oz can)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb farfalle, rotini, or spirali
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional) 

Bring the lentils and water to a boil in a saucepan. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 mintues, until the lentils are tender.

While the lentils cook, heat the olive oil in a separate pan (a saucepan, not a frying pan). Add the onions and saute on medium heat until golden. Add the garlic, cumin, and coriander and cook for a couple minute mires, stirring frequently. Add the lemon juice, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and crushed pepper and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. By now, the lentils should be done cooking. Drain them and add them to the tomato and artichoke heart mixture. Simmer for 10 minutes or so more.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta and transfer it to a serving bowl. Top it with the lentil and artichoke heart sauce, add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve immediately.

Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Soup

I love this light, colorful roasted red pepper soup. This recipe is modified from a number of places on the web and a couple favorite recipe books. It makes a great starter or main dish for a light meal; I had plenty of leftovers that were a lovely addition or star of thrown-together meals for a couple days. 

It's harder than usual for me to estimate how many people this would feed, because it's so light and can be used so many different ways in a meal. But based on the amount of liquid, I'm going to say that, in a full-sized soup bowl (rather than a cup-sized one) it will feed between 4 and 6 people. Estimating the prep and cooking time is difficult too; I always plan a lot of extra time when making this so my soup can cool before I blend it (I have one of those blenders that hates blending boiling-hot liquids, and no immersion blender) and then reheat it. I'd say if you have an immersion blender, though, the whole process takes between 40 and 50 minutes. 

(above: a not-fully-roasted yet red pepper)

VEGAN ROASTED RED PEPPER SOUP

4 large red bell peppers

1 medium sweet onion, peeled and diced

1 large russet potato, peeled and diced 

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

3 - 5 cloves garlic 

4 cups vegetable stock (or water, if necessary, though the soup will be even lighter and slightly less flavorful) 

1/4 cup vegan white wine (optional) 

cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste

to garnish: vegan sour cream, soy creamer, etc. (optional) 

(above: roughly chopped peeled and roasted red peppers and peeled carrots) 

To roast the peppers: If you have a gas stove, you can use tongs to hold the peppers one at a time over the flame of your stove. Turn the peppers frequently. The skin will start to pop, blister, and turn black. Unlike my photos, the skins should be almost entirely black, and already beginning to peel from the pepper. (For more on roasting peppers and different methods of roasting peppers, check out this thorough eHow article on it.) 

A lot of recipes say to put your peppers in a sealed plastic bag after roasting them, but my peppers are always too big for even one to fit in a sandwich-sized bag, so I prefer to place them all in a large bowl and cover as tightly as possible with plastic wrap. Let the peppers steam in the bowl (or in the plastic bag) for 5 - 10 minutes, or until the skins slip off easily. Then, remove the skins, cut the peppers in half, core them, and remove the seeds. 

To prepare the soup: Heat 1 tsp or so of olive oil in a large heavy soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften. Add the potatoes and cook for another one or two minutes, then add the carrot, garlic, and roasted peppers. Stir well and cook for another two minutes. 

Add the stock (or water), stir well, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over medium heat until the potatoes are soft. 

If you have an immersion blender (which I don't!) puree the soup in the pot until it's smooth. Otherwise, transfer it to a standing blender and puree in batches, using another pot to keep the pureed soup separate from the un-blended soup, if necessary. As I mentioned above, my blender -- and pretty much every standing blender I've ever worked with -- will kind of explode if near-boiling liquid is blended in it, even if I use teensy-tiny batches. So I try to plan at least an hour or two for the soup to cool a bit before I puree it, and then some more time to re-heat it. As a bonus, letting it sit allows the flavors to blend together more. 

Season with the white wine (if using), cayenne, salt, and pepper. Ladle into bowls and swirl with vegan sour cream or soy creamer, if using. 

(above: an un-roasted red pepper, and another partially-roasted one) 

Sweet Potato and Zucchini Hash

I've been trying to eat more meals that are mostly vegetables, instead of a starch with veggies as an addition. Here's one I've enjoyed as a breakfast, lunch, or dinner side dish. It's great with ketchup (especially as a breakfast) or with salsa. 

This recipe is modified slightly from Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates, in which it's suggest for a New Year's Day brunch. (They also suggest serving a poached egg in the middle, which obviously I omitted!)

This takes about 40 minutes to make, and the full recipe serves approximately 4 people. I halved it, and it made a great side dish for 2. I love how colorful this dish is. It's a beautiful, rewarding, and simple way to eat more vegetable matter. 

SWEET POTATO AND ZUCCHINI HASH 

4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (2 sweet potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes will yield about 4 cups)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups cubed zucchini

Bring about 4 cups of water to a boil. Ease in the cubed sweet potatoes and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain and set aside.

Warm the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper flakes, black pepper, and thyme and sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the zucchini and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the drained sweet potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Add more salt to taste.

Serve immediately. It looks pretty brought straight to the table in a cast-iron skillet, if you have one. 

vegan "buttermilk" cornmeal pancakes

I'm picky about my pancakes (in fact, I'm picky about a lot of things – but that's a topic for another post!). I need them to be fluffy, but also be mostly whole wheat flour or cornmeal or another hardy, non-white flour. I prefer taste like they're made with buttermilk, or at least a dash of lemon juice to balance out the oodles of maple syrup I'll be piling on. Blueberries are pretty much the only fruit product I enjoy in my pancakes, though I could maybe accept bananas. (This recipe is wonderful with blueberries. There's a note about them in the ingredients list. I just didn't have any when I made these and photographed them.) And no nuts are allowed in my pancakes at all. 

Since I started working full-time, I've been preparing less elaborate breakfasts, but I love having my very particular pancake fix on the weekends. Especially since the stove in our apartment has an awesome griddle built-in. It's actually really exciting for a rental kitchen.

So here is my "buttermilk" cornmeal recipe, inspired by a buttermilk pancake recipe in The Joy of Cooking. Which obviously did not originally call for soy yogurt.

Makes about a dozen 5-6 inch pancakes, which will please even an arbitrarily picky person (or this arbitrarily picky person, anyway!).

VEGAN BUTTERMILK CORNMEAL PANCAKES

whisk together in a large bowl:

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

combine in another bowl:

1 cup soy milk

2/3 cup soy yogurt

1/2 cup vegan margarine, melted; alternatively, 1/2 cup safflower, canola, or other mild oil

1/2 cup maple syrup / agave / honey

2 cornstarch eggs (4 tablespoons cornstarch mixed separately with 4 tablespoons cold water) 

1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (optional)

vegan margarine for frying up the pancakes

Mix the liquid ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Don't over-mix, or the pancakes will be too tough. It's okay if they're a little lumpy and not completely mixed. Sometimes I get pockets of agave in my finished pancakes! It's a yummy surprise.

Get a large frying pan or griddle hot. Melt a little vegan margarine in the pan. Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop the batter out and pour into the pan. Cook the pancakes until they're brown on the bottom (you'll be able to see that the edges are brown) and bubbles are forming on top. Time will vary depending on what kind of pan you're using and how hot it's gotten for the first batch, but it should be 3 -5 minutes. Flip pancakes over with a thin spatula. The second side should go much faster; you'll be able to tell both sides are down when the bottoms are a similar golden brown and the whole pancake is somewhat firm to the touch. 

Transfer to plates (or into a slightly warmed oven to keep them hot while you make the rest or prepare any other breakfast foods). Repeat with remaining batter.

golden broth & golden noodle soup; a vegan maybe un-chicken noodle soup

This is a recipe I've been meaning to make all winter. Except that we don't have much of a winter here, and lately the sun's been shining all day long! It's still a bit chilly, though, and it gets dark early, so it's still heavy soup season as far as I'm concerned. 

I've adapted this recipe from The New Laurel's Kitchen. I haven't changed too much; it was vegan to begin with. I only had one carrot when I made this, though, so it went into the broth puree rather than the soup itself. Also, I think it needs more celery than Laurel did. In my experience, a lot of these measurements are approximate – and that is the fun of soup, after all. So if you have one potato that doesn't come to quite one cup, or you want to add extra celery, it's fine.

The following instructions will produce about 10 cups of soup. If you make the broth ahead of time, this is a really no-fuss meal. If you're short on time and don't have the broth already, though, you can make the broth while you cook the noodles and vegetables separately, and combine them after the broth is strained and pureed. Then the cooking time is just about half an hour.

One final note about the whole wheat noodles. Whole wheat pasta (much like brown rice) is something I wish I really enjoyed, but usually don't. However! It's perfect in this soup. I wouldn't like this recipe with another kind of noodle.

GOLDEN BROTH

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup yellow split peas

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

8 cups hot water

1 chopped, unpeeled potato (optional)

1 stalk celery, roughly chopped, with leaves (optional)

1 carrot, roughly chopped (optional)

Sauté onion, whole garlic clove, and split peas in oil until delicately brown. Stir in turmeric and add water and any of the optional vegetables. Simmer at least half an hour. Strain for a thin stock, puree for a thick one. I like pureeing, then if I run out of noodles I have a light vegetable soup!

If you can’t find yellow split peas, or just want to try something different, green broth is as good as golden broth! Just substitute green peas for yellow, add a bay leaf and omit the turmeric.

GOLDEN NOODLE SOUP

about 8 cups golden broth (1 recipe of the above)

big handful whole wheat ribbon noodles

1 cup or so peeled and chopped potato

1 cup or so each diced carrot and/or celery

1 teaspoon salt (or more – I find I usually need more)

½ cup parsley for garnish

Bring the broth to boil in a heavy pan. Add potatoes and salt. Reduce heat and simmer gently until the potatoes are starting to get tender, about twenty minutes. Then add the celery, carrots, and noodles, and cook until noodles are al dente and carrots and celery are cooked, but still crispy. (If you don’t like crispy veggies in your soup, you can add the carrots and celery with the potato – but I think 30 minutes total is a bit of a stretch for vegetables like celery and carrots, which have such a great crunch to them.) Stir in the parsley, adjust seasoning, and serve.

pie crust: flaky, vegan, & versatile

This is based on the Betty Crocker recipe, which is, of course, not vegan. I love the Tassajara Bread Book's pie crust, too (made from vegetable oil and whole wheat flour) and it can be great for savory pies. But it can also be very tough. Made with tons of vegan margarine, this simple, fatty pie crust recipe is just awesome, and is always delicate and flaky, even when it's made with whole wheat flour.

The other thing I have to say about this recipe is that I've doubled it. It's supposed to be the right amount for both a 9" pie and a topping. But I don't know, maybe I'm rolling-pin-deficient or something, but it's never enough. It's not like I'm one of those people who can sit around eating raw pie dough, or cooked pie dough by itself for that matter: I need the tasty filling to get the most out of pie dough. So I don't know. If this makes too much dough for you, you can always save the rest for later. (Or feed it to one of those people who does enjoy eating raw pie dough -- there's one in every household.)

YUMMY FLAKY VEGAN PIE CRUST

3 - 4 cups white flour (or for a savory pie, half white flour, half whole wheat) 
2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup - 2 cups vegan margarine, room temperature
6 - 8 tbsp ice water

Measure the flour into a mixing bowl and mix the salt through it. 

With a pasty blender, cut in half the margarine finely. The mixture should look like meal. 

Cut in the remaining margarine coarsely, until there are particles are the size of large peas.

Sprinkle with the water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a for until all the flour is moistened. You may need more or less water; be careful not to get the dough too wet. It should form easily into a ball, without sticking too much to the sides of the bowl. 

Gather the dough together with your fingers so it cleans the bowl. Press into a ball. 

Divide the dough about in half. Take the slightly larger part onto a lightly floured cloth-covered board. I've done this without the cloth, and it works, but it's a pain. 

Roughly flatten the dough with your hands, then take a flour-covered rolling pin and roll out the dough until it's about 1/8" - 1/4" thick. Work quickly and roll lightly, being careful not to add too much flour. Keep working the dough into a roughly circular shape. 

Lift the cloth with the circle of dough still in it, so you can slide / scoop it into the pie pan. Betty Crocker has you fold the dough in half, slide it into the pan, unfold it, and pat it into the pan. Mine always falls apart when I try to do this! And if I don't use the cloth, I have a lot of trouble getting the dough up in one piece to transfer it to the pan. If yours falls into pieces, it's okay. Sometimes I even end up rolling out my dough in the pie pan, and just scrunching it to size with my fingers (and maybe this is why I always need more dough than recipes call for!). 

Pat the dough into place. Try to keep the thickness of the crust consistent over the whole surface of the pan. Trim any overhanging edges with kitchen scissors. 

My mom's 1950's edition of Betty Crocker follows those instructions with this tidbit: 

Recent experiments prove it unnecessary to chill the pastry, so let it stand on the table. 

Next, take the other slightly-less-than-half of dough, and follow the same instructions as above, except roll it out a bit thinner, to have an extra 1" or so in diameter.  

If your filling has a very short baking time, you might want to pop the pie into the oven for 5 - 10 minutes to make sure it isn't too doughy and raw in the final product. Don't worry as much about the pie topping, which is thinner and will bake faster. If you're really worried about the top of your pie not getting baked enough, you can pop the whole thing in a broiler for a couple of minutes after baking the whole affair. 

Prepare any filling that will go in the pie, and arrange it in your dough-lined pan. Place the topping dough over it whichever way worked best for you getting the dough into the pan in the first place. Fold the extra edge of top dough under the edge of the lower dough. Seal thoroughly by pressing together on the edge of the pan. 

And now would be when you'd build up a fluted or crimped edge by pressing the dough with your fingers. It looks pretty, but for some reason I can't get it to work right! (Which is why, among other reasons, there is no picture of a beautifully fluted crust!) My pies are usually more rustic. But now would be the time! 

Amanda's illustrated sushi book

My roommate, Amanda, and I both made recipe books to give as gifts this winter. After I posted a photo of her homemade vegan sushi, I wanted to post recipes to go with it. But she doesn't follow a recipe, exactly, and I also didn't feel qualified to transcribe it, since I've never made sushi myself. So I'm posting her beautifully illustrated veggie sushi recipe book instead! Most of her favorite combinations of fruit and vegetables are pictured here. Then I guess she makes the rice and wraps it and all that normally? I like to leave the veggie sushi construction to her!

Above: celery and pomegranate seeds with scallions, and sauteed mushroom with scallions (pages 1 and 2). 

Above: the index page (page 0). 

Above: sauteed mushrooms with scallions, sweet potato with red cabbage slaw and red pepper (pages 3 and 4).

Above: kale, left, and carrot, sweet potato, and red onion, right (pages 5 and 6).

Above: an interesting arrangement of pickle, spinach, and onion (pages 7 and 8). 

vegan cream of mushroom soup

My roommate and I keep getting entranced by the mushrooms at Berkeley Bowl. Seriously, every week, we go there to get our produce, checking things off our list, and we pass these dozens of different types of beautiful fresh mushrooms. And we can't get them every week, and they're not on our list. But they're there, and they're so beautiful, and they're mushrooms. So finally, I gave in to their siren call, and got some chanterelles. Then I compromised and also picked out some regular, but adorable, brown mushrooms. And I made soup. It's inspired by a non-vegan cream of wild mushroom soup recipe in Barefoot Contessa at Home, which my roommate got for Christmas. Except with lots of adjustments for vegan-ness, what I had on hand (lots of celery, no carrots) and the fact that the 3 cups of pre-sliced, pre-packaged white mushrooms I'd bought to fill out the soup a bit had actually gone bad, even though they were all safe and sound in their vacuum-packed abode. Which was really sad. (And one of the sadder aspects of buying from the Bowl, I guess.) 

Also, I was really lucky when I made the broth for this soup, because my roommate had cooked with dried mushrooms the previous night. And there was a cup or two of the yummy mushroom water she'd hydrated the dried mushrooms in leftover. (As you can tell, we went a little mushroom-crazy in my apartment!) If you have this on hand, or mushroom stock, I recommend it, because I didn't have enough mushrooms stems to make this broth as mushroom-y as it would've been without my leftover mushroom water. Or just get extra mushrooms to use just for the broth. I probably wouldn't have had this problem if my pre-packaged mushrooms hadn't gone slimy before I could use them. 

VEGAN CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

10 or so ounces of fresh chanterelle mushrooms

10 or so ounces of fresh brown mushrooms

optional: extra mushrooms for the broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 - 6 tablespoons vegan margarine

1 chopped onion, white or yellow

1 celery stalk, chopped (and/or 1 carrot, chopped)

2 tsp dried thyme

2 cups chopped leeks

1/4 cup flour

1 cup white wine

1 cup soy creamer, other non-dairy creamer, or non-dairy milk

parsley to garnish

Separate the stems off the brown mushrooms and cut them off the chanterelles. Coarsely chop the stems. Slice the mushroom caps 1/4-inch thick and, for big pieces, cut them into bite-sized chunks. Set aside. 

Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the margarine in a large saucepan. Add the mushrooms stems, half of the thyme, the onion, carrot, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook for 10 or 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft. Add 6 cups water, vegetable stock, or mushroom stock, and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. When the broth is done, strain the veggies and mushroom stems out, reserving the liquid. You should have a little over 4 cups of liquid. 

Meanwhile, in another large saucepan, heat the remaining butter and add the leeks. Cook over low heat until the leeks soften and begin to get golden-brown, about 15 minutes or so. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for a minute or so. Add the white wine and stir for another minute, scraping the bottom of the pot. Add the mushroom broth, the remaining thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and a 1 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the non-dairy dairy product, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. 

They Draw and Cook favorite illustations

They Draw and Cook is a fun blog posting illustrated recipes by artists and illustrators from all over the world. I originally learned about it via notcot. My own recipe is up on their blog now, as well as on my art blog. These are some of my favorites. 

Above, Marmalade Flapjacks by Matt Dawson. (See the original post for a full-size, legible version!) I love how all the arms end up showing all of the steps at once. (Also, the helper bees!) 

Vegetable Stock by Nate Padavick. Beautiful colors and specimen-like arrangement. 

Meatballs by Kevin Valente. I had lots of favorites, and tried to pick only vegan or vegan-izable ones, but the combination of watercolor and graphite and the perspective of the road and the text and the speech bubbles were all just too wonderful for me to exclude this one. (Just pretend that there aren't 3 kinds of meat, including veal, in this recipe, and look at the pretty picture.) 

Fly off the Plate Pancakes by Erin Watson. Another fun and dynamic composition. This is one of the few pieces in this project that really challenges the space, by creating its own frame and then bursting out of it. (They're all the same size because those were the submission rules -- some of them will be part of a book.) 

A Well-Salted Salad with a Little Vinegar and Good Olive Oil by Bozena Wojtaszek. This one is all textile and thread! How awesome is that. I would love to have a whole soft book of lovely recipes (especially for salad!).

The Original Spaghetti, Garlic, Oil and Chili Pepper by Sara Lecca. A fun combination of textures and images. The illustration of the guy eating spaghetti is so animated, and so like eating spaghetti.

Spring Garden Soup by Meta Wraber. I just adore this expressive, evocative style of watercolor. And we all know I'm a sucker for interesting handwriting. The brushstrokes and lines and colors are all fantastic.

mud pies and other recipes

Mud Pies and Other Recipes, by Marjorie Winslow and illustrated by Erik Blegvad, is one of my favorite books from my childhood. It encapsulates so much of what I love! Children's books and charming illustrations and children's imaginations; it's a fictional, self-contained artifact, almost like the Voynich Manuscript; and it's in the format of a recipe book (and I mean, I love cooking, I love recipes, and I used a similar format for my book of spells project). 

Images via vintage books my kid loves, a delightful blog I've added to my blogroll after seeing the cover reblogged on myaloysius' tumblr. 

vegan thin mints!

Finally, here are the vegan thin mints I've been promising! In this recipe, I only put glaze on one side of the cookie. It's a yummy, thick, and very minty glaze. You can double it if you want to glaze both sides (though I recommend letting the first side firm up before glazing the second side), or you can just spread the glaze thinner to cover both sides.

VEGAN THIN MINTS

makes 50 - 70 cookies

Cookies:

1 cup margarine, softened

3/4 cup sugar

equivalent of 1 egg (I used 2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water) 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 - 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Glaze: 

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vegetable or coconut oil 

2-3 tsp peppermint extract

Beat margarine and sugar together until well-mixed and fluffy (above).

 Prepare egg equivalent (my cornstarch and water mixture is above).

Add egg equivalent and extracts to the margarine and sugar mixture and beat until smooth and consistent. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined (if you over-mix, you'll deactivate the baking powder). It's hard to mix at this point, but it will be a clearly consistent mix and stop sticking so much to the sides of the bowl, as in the picture above right.

Divide the dough into halves. Turn one half onto a piece of wax paper and roll into a log about 10-12 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter (or whatever diameter you think thin mints should be! though you'll end up with a different number of cookies than my estimate). The wax paper is just so the dough won't stick to your counter or cutting board; now that it's in log form, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or freeze for about 1 hour or more). Repeat with remaining down. A log just after being taken out of the freezer is pictured below left. (You can also keep the dough in the freezer for a moth, then follow the directions from there! Or finish making the cookies and keep in the freezer for a long time anyway.)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Remove the logs of dough from the fridge or freezer. Slice into 1/4- to 1/3-inch rounds. If the cookies are too thin, they'll burn in the oven, but if they're too thick, they won't bake all the way through. A good balance gets them nice and crispy. Place on a cookie sheet. They shouldn't touch, but can be pretty close together, since they shouldn't spread much (above right).

Bake until the cookies are firm around the edges but somewhat soft on top, about 13 to 15 minutes (may be more like 15 - 17 minutes if they are straight from the freezer).

When the cookies are done baking, let cool on a cooling rack or on plates. Then line baking sheets with wax paper.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips for the glaze. I find the best way for me to do this without burning the melted chocolate is to slowly melt them in a little pan while stirring constantly, but I usually end up using the microwave anyway! Anyway, melt as you like, until they're nice and liquid-y. Stir in the vegetable or coconut oil and peppermint extract.

Using a butter knife of a small rubber spatula, spread the glaze over the top of each cookie. Place the cookies in the fridge for 15 minutes, or until the chocolate is firm.

They won't go bad if stored in an airtight container at room temperature, but they may get melty! Margarine usually has a lower melting point than butter, so they get gooey fast. I try to keep them in the fridge, or even the freezer if I plan on having them on hand for a long time.

Enjoy your vegan thin mints!