Quick and Tasty Chocolate Chip Bars

The main reason why I love baking is not necessarily because of the end result. It is the process that I revel in. There are so many aspects in life that can be unpredictable and stressful. Lately I have found that the task of following steps is calming. Baking provides a departure from making decisions, an often difficult feat that all humans must make, and simply tells us what to do. When a recipe says "1 cup flour sifted with 1 teaspoon baking soda", it means just that.

While I love being creative with desserts, sometimes you just want to make something straightforward and fast, with no added tricks or potentially stress-inducing fancy techniques.

These Chocolate Chip Bars from the cookbook How It All Vegan, are simple as can be. They are easy to make and quite speedy as well. But in a crazy way, they are extremely delicious and worthy of satisfying any baking urge.

Life can wait. There are Chocolate Chip Bars to be made.

Chocolate Chip Bars
From How It All Vegan

3 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup soy milk or water

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, including the sugar. Add oil, vanilla, milk and chocolate chips. Stir until just mixed. Pour batter into a 9X13 pan. Sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Let cool 10 minutes until you cut them into bars.

Chocolate Orange Scone Cookies

In an effort to prepare for the upcoming Easter weekend, I wanted to get a head start on my sweet tooth mania. After acquiring a delicious bag of Dove dark chocolate nuggets and a big bag of quick cooking oats,  I decided to do a little improvisation on a recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance. 

The result was a hybrid between a cookie and a scone, hence, the creation of the scone-cookie. The baked good is not as dense as the traditional scone, but definitely as flat as a cookie. I do enjoy the hard, crunchy coating because it easily allows the eater to pull off the top, much like a muffin cap, (which everyone knows is the best part). 

Though these are peculiar goodies, I think they are an eclectic addition to any brunch get together, and will have guests pondering with amazement how such a texture could have been achieved. 

Chocolate Orange Scone Cookies

makes around 15 

 2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cups almond milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/3 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup quick oats

1/4 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons grated orange

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 cup chopped dark chocolate

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet. 

Add the almond milk and the lemon juice together. Let sit for 5 minutes. 

In large mixing bowl sift flour, sugar, baking powder, oats and salt. Add the milk-lemon mixture to the dry ingredients. Add orange zest, vanilla extract, oil and applesauce. Stir in dark chocolate. 

Place tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the tops with sugar. 

Bake around 20 minutes, until golden brown. Keep an eye on them so the bottoms do not burn!

Bake for around 20 minutes.