Vegan with a Vengeance

as an egg replacer in baking, which is the reason many banana bread recipes don’t require eggs. They hold the air bubbles well, make things nice and moist, and impart a nice flavor. However, you don’t want everything tasting like banana, so use in things where the taste won’t be intrusive. I’ve also noticed that baked goods using banana brown very nicely, but sometimes you don’t want your recipe to come out that brown.
    When it works best:
    Quick breads, muffins, cakes, pancakes
    Tip:
    Make sure bananas are nice and ripe and have started to brown.
    Where to get it:
    Just kidding, I think you can figure this one out.
    SOY YOGURT
    How to use it:
    Â¼ cup soy yogurt = 1 egg.
    Soy yogurt works a lot like whizzed tofu as an egg replacer. It makes things moist and yummy.
    When it works best:
    Quick breads, muffins, cakes
    Where to get it:
    Health food stores, yuppyish supermarkets
    Lose the Milk
    This is a no-brainer. Use soy, rice, or almond milk. Buttermilk? Add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to your milk substitute and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
    It’s Like Buttah ...
    MARGARINE
    Instead of butter try unsalted dairy-free margarine or go ahead and use salted but reduce the amount of salt in the recipe. Lose ¼ teaspoon of salt per ½ stick of margarine. But try to use the nonhydrogenated kind, I dunno, for your health?
    OIL
    My favorite thing to use instead of butter is canola oil, but you can use any vegetable oil; just reduce the amount. If a recipe calls for one stick of butter, which is ½ cup, I use ⅓ cup of oil.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
    MAKES 4 DOZEN COOKIES
    Â 
    These are soft out of the oven, but as they cool they are nice and chewy. I use ground flaxseeds to make them a little chewier but it is an optional ingredient.
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    1⅓ cups rolled oats
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    Â¾ teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon cinnamon
    Â½ teaspoon nutmeg
    1⅔ cups sugar
    â…” cup canola oil
    2 tablespoons molasses
    1 cup canned pumpkin, or cooked pureed pumpkin (do not use pumpkin pie mix)
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds (optional)
    1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
    Â½ cup raisins
    Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.
    Mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and spices.
    In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin, and vanilla (and flaxseeds if using) until very well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three batches, folding to combine. Fold in the walnuts and raisins.
    Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets. They don’t spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with a fork or with your fingers, to press into a cookie shape. Bake for 16 minutes at 350°F. If you are using two sheets of cookies on two levels of your oven, rotate the sheets halfway through for even baking. You’ll have enough batter for four sheets.
    Remove from oven, cool on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. These taste best when they’ve had some time to cool and set. They taste even better the next day!

Big Gigantoid Crunchy Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies
    MAKES ABOUT 12 HUGE-ASS COOKIES
    Â 
    Terry baked these for a Post Punk Kitchen bake sale, and they went flying off the table, luckily no one was hurt. They’re really peanut buttery and satisfying.
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    2 cups rolled oats
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon salt
    Â¾ cup canola oil
    Â¾ cup chunky all-natural peanut butter (salted is okay if you like a salty peanut butter flavor)
    1 cup granulated sugar
    1 cup brown sugar
    Â½ cup vanilla soy milk
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.
    Toss together the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the oil, peanut butter, sugars, soy milk, and vanilla.
    Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix. The dough will be very firm and moist. For perfectly round, large cookies: pack a ⅓-cup measuring cup with dough, pop out and roll the dough into a firm ball and flatten just barely on a prepared cookie sheet, spacing the dough balls well apart. Lightly grease the bottom of a glass or heavy ceramic pie plate; press the top of the cookies with the bottom of the pie plate to flatten to a ½-inch thickness. Leave about an inch between the