Sweets to get me through the week

I have a pretty big sweet tooth and I love to bake. Since I'm not eating dairy now, I've been trying to find good things to bake without using eggs or milk and that actually tastes good. In a good way, I can't buy a lot of sweets from the grocery store either. One of my favorite things to make is from the book "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone. They are basically a different take on rice crispy treats, made with brown rice cereal, brown rice syrup, peanut butter and non-dairy chocolate chips. The first time I made them, I used almond butter with no added salt or sugar. They were so delicious, I would have to stop myself from eating three a day. The other great thing about these treats is that they aren't sweetened with sugar, so they're actually kind of healthy! Brown rice syrup is a great alternative to sugar because it doesn't spike your blood sugar.
Recently, I made "Mom's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" from the Vegan Planet cookbook by Robin Robertson. I was worried about how they would turn out using the Ener-G egg replacer I bought, but I was pleasantly surprised when they were soft. I prefer soft cookies to crisp ones, so that was great for me! I didn't have any non-dairy chocolate chips so I used carob chips instead. I wasn't too happy with the fact that they melted so fast and the chips that were touching the cookie sheet burned. I scraped the burned chips off and they were fine, but next time I'm using the non-dairy chocolate chips. Here are the recipes, try them out and see what you think.


Crispy Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips
1 box brown rice crisps cereal
1 3/4 cups brown rice syrup
Fine sea salt
3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 cup non-dairy chocolate chips


Pour the rice cereal into a large bowl. Heat the syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat. When the rice syrup liquefies, add the peanut butter and stir until well combined. Pour over the rice cereal. Mix well with a wooden spoon.


Once thoroughly mixed and cooled to room temperature, stir in the chocolate chips. Make sure the mixture is cool, so the chips don't melt.


Turn the mixture out into an 8"x8" or 9"x13" baking dish. Wet the wooden sppon lightly and press the mixture evenly into the pan. Let cool for about an hour, before cutting into squares or bars.


Mom's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies-Only Better
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar or natural sweetner
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup corn oil
Egg replacer for 2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet non-dairy chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional)


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil two baking sheets.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, maple syrup, corn oil, egg replacer and vanilla, mixing until blended. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts(if using). Drop the dough by the spoonful onto the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.