Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats (13 page)

½ cup nondairy milk
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
½ cup canola oil
1¼ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose
flour
½ cup Dutch cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chocolate chips or chunks
½ cup vegan white chocolate chips
½ cup roasted almonds, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine nondairy milk, flax seeds, oil, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix until well blended and smooth. Sift in all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir to form a thick, wet dough but do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and almonds. If the dough seems too sticky, chill for 30 minutes to firm up, but this step is not essential.

3. For each cookie, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet 2 inches apart, as cookies will spread. Spray the spoon or dough scoop with nonstick spray if the dough is sticking.

4. Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until spread and cracked on top. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. Store in a loosely covered container.

½ cup nonhydrogenated vegetable
shortening
½ cup natural smooth peanut butter
(try to get the no-stir kind if you can
find it. If you can’t, then stir like
crazy so that the PB isn’t clumpy).
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons light molasses (not
blackstrap)
1¼ cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 to 2 tablespoons nondairy milk
(optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets. We prefer dark cookie sheets here to get the cookies browned and crispy (see “Tools for Success,” page 21).

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the shortening, peanut butter, and sugar until light and fluffy. This can take up to 2 minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed or 4 minutes just using a fork. Mix in the vanilla and molasses.

3. Add half the flour along with the cornstarch, baking powder, and salt and mix well. Add the remaining flour and mix. Use your hands at this point to really work the ingredients together. The dough should hold together when squeezed; if it does not, then add a tablespoon or two of nondairy milk until it does.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

4. Roll the dough into walnut-size balls, flattening them a bit with the palms of your hand. The dough may crack on the edges and that is fine. Place the dough balls on the cookie sheets. Flatten them further with the bottom of a coffee mug. Use the underside of fork tines to press cross hatches into the cookies, one horizontal and one vertical.

5. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are very lightly browned. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the sheets for 10 minutes—any less and they might crumble. Use a thin, flexible spatula to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

½ cup sweet port wine
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
⅔ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup white sesame seeds, for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two medium-size baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together port wine, oil, sugar, and lemon zest until thick. Sift in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until the dry ingredients are completely moistened and a thick dough forms. The dough will be very sticky, so cover it with plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

3. When ready to bake the cookies, pour the sesame seeds into a shallow bowl. Scoop chilled dough into generous teaspoons, roll it into balls with lightly moistened hands, drop the balls into the sesame seeds, and roll to coat. Place the dough balls on the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges are browned. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Store in a tightly covered container.

Sweet Wine Biscuits with Sesame

Morsels

 

Many port wines are annoyingly
not vegan, so if in doubt, check with
a trusted wine expert who can steer you
towards a vegan port wine. Online vendors
are particularly useful in this case.
As a general guide, look for crusted port
wines, as they are least likely to have
gone though a filtering process
that uses animal
products.

 

½ cup oil
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup almond milk
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2½ teaspoons coffee extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons almond milk
½ teaspoon coffee extract
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a medium-size mixing bowl, vigorously stir together oil, sugar, almond milk, flax seeds, and cornstarch until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the extracts.

3. Sift in the remaining cookie ingredients, stirring as you add them. Once all the ingredients are added, mix until you’ve got a pliable dough.

4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into walnut-size balls and pat them down just a bit onto the baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes; they should be nice and puffy. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

5. In the meantime make the drizzle. Sift the powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl. Add the almond milk and extracts and mix vigorously with a strong fork for about 2 minutes. The drizzle should be nice and smooth and fall from the fork in ribbons. You can test to see if the consistency is right by drizzling a bit onto parchment paper. If it doesn’t spread too much, you are good to go. If it seems clumpy, add a little extra almond milk by the half teaspoon. If it spreads too much, add sifted powdered sugar by the tablespoon. Transfer the drizzle into a pastry bag fit with a small round tip or into a plastic bag with a tiny hole cut out of the corner.

Mocha Mamas