Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup natural crunchy peanut butter [I used smooth peanut butter because I just can't stand the chunky kind!)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk (Or vanilla almond milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Oven at 350°F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.

Toss together the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oil, peanut butter, sugars, soy milk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. The dough should be very difficult and moist. Using about a 2 tablespoon cookie dough/ice cream scoop, scoop dough onto sheet, flatten some with your hand. You should have about 9 cookies to a sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until cookies have puffed a bit and are lightly browned. Allow to cool for ten minutes (Or until firm enough to transfer) before moving off the cookie sheet.
This recipe make about 2 dozen huge cookies!

**Note-Although this is a vegan recipe, these cookies are amazing! They are very tasty and stayed chewy for the week it took our little family to eat them all. I even felt good giving them to my kids as a snack since they had natural peanut butter and oats in them!

Now or Later Ginger Molassas Cookies

1 ½ c butter (3 sticks)
1 ½ c packed brown sugar
½ c molasses
2 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger
2 eggs
4 c flour
1 T baking soda

If making now, Oven at 350
Cream butter, sugar, molasses, ginger and eggs in a large bowl. Add flour and baking soda. Mix well. Refrigerate dough 1 hour until firm enough to handle. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. If freezing, place on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze 30 minutes. Transfer to freezer bag. If making now, follow directions below for thawed cookie dough.

To make one dozen cookies

1. Thaw in the fridge or bake from frozen.
2. Oven at 350.
3. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes if frozen, 12-14 minutes if thawed.
Cool in baking sheet 2 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

**Note-I made these for Christmas cookies and the ability to freeze them was so nice. I made up the batch a few days before I wanted to bake them, froze them and the day I needed them just popped 'em on the sheet and baked. No work involved. Very handy to have on hand in the freezer!

White Chip Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon maple flavoring (If you have it, otherwise use 2 teaspoons vanilla)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) package white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine flour and baking soda in a medium bowl. Beat brown sugar, vegetable shortening, butter, eggs, maple flavoring and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and chopped pecans. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake in preheated 350°F (175°C) oven for 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes 60 cookies.

**Note-these are probably not much different than traditional chocolate chip cookies, but with white chips and pecans which makes for a pleasant surprise.
**Note-these have tons of chips in every bite, so if you wanted, you could easily halve the amount of chips.

Easy Banana Cream Pie

1 medium ripe bananas, sliced
1 ready-to-use graham cracker crumb crust (Or make your own! It's easy!)
1 3/4 cups cold fat-free milk
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Vanilla Instant Pudding
1 cups thawed whipped topping, divided

Place half of the banana slices on bottom of crust. Set remaining banana slices aside. Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in 1/2 cup of the whipped topping. Spoon the pudding mixture into crust. Top with remaining banana slices; cover with remaining whipped topping.

Refrigerate 3 hours or until set. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.

Butterscotch Blondies

¾ c butter, softened
¾ c brown sugar
½ c sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
1 2/3 c (10 oz package) butterscotch chips
1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Oven at 350. Grease a 13/9 inch pan. Beat butter and sugars in a bowl until creamy. Add eggs, beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, blending well. Stir in butterscotch chips and nuts. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Makes 36 bars.

**Note-Very, very yummy blondies! The butterscotch chips really add something delicious and unusual to this dessert!

"Sneaky Dad's Pudding"

Taken directly from the book "Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davis, R.D. and Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D.

1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1 banana, cut into 4 pieces
1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons flaxseed oil (or fish oil)
3-5 tablespoons nut butter (almond, cashew, peanut, etc.)
2-3 tablespoons orange juice (or other juice like apple or carrot)
2 tablespoons soymilk, almond milk, rice milk or regular milk
1/8-1/4 avocado

Puree everything in a food processor until a pudding like consistency. Makes 2 very large servings.

**Note-this "pudding" provides a great source of protein, fiber, calories and healthy fat. So sneaky!

Low-Fat Double Chocolate Brownies

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
Butter-flavored cooking spray

Oven at 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 inch non-stick cake pan with spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, using a sturdy whisk or spatula, mix the applesauce, vanilla, egg whites and sugar until they are well combined.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir the mixture until it is just combined and no lumps remain. Pour it into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chips evenly over the top. Bake the brownies for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry (a few crumbs are okay).

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and allow them to cool 5 minutes. Cut into 12 equal brownies.

**Note-Each brownie has 88 calories, and 1 g fat. Traditional Double Chocolate Brownies have 260 calories, and 12 g fat.

**Note-These brownies are really really moist-so moist you might have a hard time cutting them and getting them to stay together in traditional brownie squares. However you wind up serving them, they're worth it since they are so tasty and so low fat and calorie!