Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

Who doesn't love french fries? But you can't have them everyday....

These are a great alternative and super yummy! They take minutes to prepare and about an hour in the oven (Don't forget to turn them over while they cook - off and on so all sides turn golden brown). These potatoes are great heated up the next day or in a Tortilla Espanola (The Spanish Version of an Omelette)...


Emma and Alexa
The Dairy Free Girls
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The ingredients could not be simpler. Potatoes, Olive Oil, Salt (We like Med Sea Salt), and Rosemary.

We use this olive oil from Chile - it's delicious and 100% organic!

Cut the potatoes into bite size pieces.

Mix in olive oil to the cut potatoes.

Add some salt.

Mix the potatoes so the oil and salt mix in well (it feels gooey!)...

Put the potatoes on a baking sheet (We love the Reynold's Wrap Release Foil)....

Use up all the oil and drizzle over the potatoes

The fun part! Add in whole rosemary stems. Don't break them off, leave the stems whole to remove later so only the flavor remains...

It's fun to make it look festive - the rosemary looks like garland here!

Alexa is taking the rosemary placement very serious!

Look how pretty!

Place in the oven for about one hour. Remember to keep a close eye and move the potatoes around so all sides become golden brown.... our Mom came home and she said she could smell the rosemary all the way down the hall from the apartment elevator.

Here they are - Golden brown and Yummy!

Bakery Style Vegan Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (with A Hint of Maple)

Who doesn't love Chocolate Chip Cookies! 


Once again we looked for a dairy free recipe so Alexa can enjoy Chocolate Chip Cookies even with her dairy allergies.... The recipe we found has no dairy and no eggs - it's a real Vegan recipe. We love maple syrup on waffles and pancakes, but in our cookies? We thought it was an interesting ingredient....

Emma and Alexa
The Dairy Free Girls
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The Ingredients, all very simple items. We used dairy free chocolate chips from our local health food store. Notice the applesauce and maple syrup...

The pouring of the ingredients...

We shared the workload!

One of the two secret ingredients..... Maple Syrup!

Vanilla... Just a bit.

Alexa was excited to mix all the ingredients. The mix now smells like vanilla...

Everything is carefully measured! Even the applesauce - secret ingredient 2!

Mixing it all together.

A few final dry ingredients and Emma finishes mixing everything with a whisk.

Almost ready! We did this in less than 20 minutes.

The final dough....

Blog break: We both love dough - so we had to taste this right away. We loved it!

Why cant I eat more dough? 

We begin seeing the cookies take form. We use the Reynold's wrap non stick foil. It's really easy!

We had so much dough - so we kept on making piles! 

They look so yummy!

Emma is very focused here. 

So is Alexa!

30 cookie piles!

Blog break! The dough is delicious!

We can't stop eating the dough...

2 hands. 2 spoons. A whole lot of dough! 

I have a great idea! We can eat dough for dinner! (no....)

30 Cookies in minutes!

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. 10 Minutes! Fast and Easy...

The finished cookies are chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside!

Beautiful Chocolate Chip Cookies

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The Dairy Free Girls Review:

Is it possible to like the dough better than the cookies? We think so! 


We loved the cookies, however we couldn't stop eating the dough!




I was worried I wouldn't like the cookies since I don't like applesauce, but you cant taste it in the finished cookie. They were good and we made 30 large cookies in less than half an hour - I would make them again!
 - Emma


Can I eat the dough for dinner? These cookies are yummy and they are made from "homemade".  I had 2 cookies for dessert last night - I dipped them in soymilk! 
 - Alexa


Our mom felt we didn't put enough chocolate chips in the recipe.. so if you make these, you may want to add more!


The recipe:

Bakery Style Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (with A Hint of Maple)

Makes about 12 large or 25 normal-sized cookies

Make these cookies BIG like those giant chocolate chip cookies you can find at bakeries. As their name suggests, these cookies have a chewy center contained within perfectly crispy edges. The maple syrup adds a little something to these, but the maple flavor is very subtle, if noticeable at all. The key to getting the chips evenly distributed and stuck in the dough is to use your hands! It makes all the difference. All in all, these cookies are ridiculously easy to make.

2/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Stir together the oil, sugar, syrup, applesauce and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl.

Add in flour, baking soda, and salt (no need to sift!). Stir in chocolate chips. If the chips don’t want to stick to the batter, use your hands! If the dough is a little dry, gradually add a small amount of soy milk, maybe a couple teaspoons, until it holds together.

Drop by large spoonfuls, 3-4 tablespoons each, onto a cookie sheet and slightly flatten. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Recipe Source:   http://vegancookies.wordpress.com/

Dairy Free, Egg Free Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing

Who doesn't love Chocolate Cake!


For our first recipe, we had to pick Chocolate Cake! We both love chocolate and we both love cake! The trick was not only to find a recipe that was dairy free so Alexa can eat it, but also a recipe that was delicious!
We found a recipe we liked online... and we added some personal touches to it. Check out the full recipes and our review at the bottom of this post! 
We hope you like this cake too! Let us know if you enjoyed it like we did!


Emma and Alexa
The Dairy Free Girls
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Emma and Alexa

The ingredients for the cake

Division of work load

Alexa preps and mixes in the dry ingredients

Emma preps and mixes in the wet ingredients

The most important ingredient for chocolate cake  - the chocolate!

The dry and wet ingredients get mixed together

4 hands mix faster than 2!

Taste test......Yummy!

Taste test.....Delicious!

Pouring the batter into the cake pan

Ready for the oven

The ingredients for our icing

Melted chocolate!

Adding in the sugar - yum!

Whisking!

Cake's done!

Quick break...Can you guess who put icing on Emma's nose.... (Her Mom!)

The turning of the cake. Thanks Mom!

Focused. We can't miss a spot.

Quick break....Taste testing the icing!

Oh no. Tastes a bit bitter. Mom to the rescue. Adding a bit of soy cream cheese results in the perfect chocolate icing!

Back to icing the cake! Still very focused

Applying stencils and covering with powdered sugar for decorating

Falling powdered sugar - it looks like snow falling!

These stencil designs are so pretty!

We found some soft Italian chewy fruit candies in our pantry - perfect for decorating our cake! 

Our grandmother brought them back from her trip to Italy -  Grazie Nonna!

The finished cake!

Thumbs up from Emma!

Double thumbs up from Alexa!

Slices of cake for everyone!

This cake really is as moist as it looks!

The Dairy Free Girls Review:

We think the cake tastes good. We would eat it again!

I think this is a good dessert cake. It tastes better than store-bought cake, it's chocolaty, yummy and moist. The frosting isn't hard which is good. But it may harden later on in the fridge. So we'll see. I think we should have put more vanilla. This cake would be great with vanilla frosting and it would be better as a two layer cake with frosting in between and on top. - Emma

I think this cake would be good for special occasions or birthdays. The chocolate frosting and the cake mixed together is very yummy. Next time we should try this with less sugar so it would be a little healthier. - Alexa

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Recipes:

Dairy Free, Egg Free Chocolate Cake
Submitted by madison5822, epicurious.com

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation
1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt with fork in an ungreased square pan.
3. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake 20-25 minutes
4. Either top with powdered sugar for a snacking cake or melt bittersweet chocolate with a bit of honey to make a fancy glaze.


Easy Vegan Chocolate Frosting Recipe

By Jolinda Hackett, About.com

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 2 tsp vegan margarine 
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation: Over very low heat, or in a microwave on low power, melt the chocolate and vegan margarine together. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the hot water. Slowly stir in the sugar until the frosting is creamy. You may not need the entire 2 cups of sugar. Add the vanilla and stir. Allow the frosting to cool.