I keep thinking about how I would like to try Vegan Cookies. So I searched and found a video that told me exactly what I want to try.
-edit- Just got back from the store. All the stuff that I need to buy for these cookies cost me $31.58. Vegans are so expensive.
Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies
Any vegans missing that classic homemade chocolate chip cookie indulgence? Well, now you can indulge without need for the dairy, eggs, white sugar, or even refined flour if you choose. These cookies can even be made wheat-free substituting spelt flour for wheat flour. One other bonus: these are super-easy to make!
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (see note) 1 teaspoon baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda 1⁄4 cup unrefined sugar 1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt 1⁄3 cup pure maple syrup 1⁄4 teaspoon blackstrap molasses 1 – 1 1⁄2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1⁄4 cup canola oil (a little generous) 1⁄3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). In a bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined (do not over-mix). Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten a little. Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out). Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack.
Note: Unbleached all-purpose flour or spelt flour produces a more classic cookie taste and texture, but you can use whole-wheat pastry flour and still get a delicious cookie. For a wheat-free version, use spelt flour, but add an extra 2-4 tablespoons of the spelt flour to the dry mix (the amount needed varies with brand of spelt flour and whether you are using a refined spelt flour versus a less processed spelt flour).
Note: If, as you are mixing together your batter it appears quite floury and thick, simply mix together a couple of teaspoons more canola and maple syrup and incorporate it into the batter. Sometimes humidity, type of flour used, and other factors can affect the density of the batter and so a touch more liquid may be needed.
I think the best way to help this world and others is with knowledge. We can do stuff not to only help others, but help ourselves. I'm not going to start listing them out to you, but I will list things that I want to do personally to start helping out.
-Ride a bike, skateboard, or walk more -Help my friends and family out with the little things (because the little things can add up) -Keep track of what I need and cut out the extras -Volunteer more -Be more Green
There is a lot more that I can do to make a difference. Maybe next time. Here is a cool video that I thought fit with what we were trying to get from this.
My theme that I have been thinking about a lot of lately is Rotoscoping.
I really enjoy seeing live video look like animation. Like in the movie, "A Scanner Darkly". Along with, "A Scanner Darkly", a movie came out that was made by the same people called, "Waking Life". Both of these movies use rotoscoping to outline areas to put their own art style in.
This is a project that will take me a while. I plan on finishing it by the end of the summer. However, I would like to share with you what I want to do with Rotoscoping.
What I want to do is make a 2 - 3 min rotoscoped animation that has a beginning, middle, and end. I have come up with my story and I'm working with a friend who is creating a song for it.
How I'm going to do it is by taking live video and editing it to the way I want to see it flow in the animation. I will then export the video out as pictures and take them into photoshop or flash. At this point I will put the pictures through a process to create a style just like they did in these examples.
While in my Seeing Sideways class we were given a piece of paper to do something with it. I make cranes, so I made a crane and showed you how to do it.
Me Folding the Crane
Final Crane Shot
It’s an old Japanese legend that if you fold a thousand cranes you will be granted a wish by a crane. I’ve done it before. I will fold thousand cranes and give it to someone, so they can have the wish I have made for them. Even if you don’t believe in it or not it’s just a lot of fun to do for someone you care about.
My buddy Jay has made a cool video with a group at Boston University called "The Cranemaker".
