Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats (22 page)

4. For each cookie, scoop a generous tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Place balls of dough 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheet for 8 minutes. While the cookies are still warm move 2 to 3 cookies to the dish with the sifted powdered sugar. Carefully turn cookies several times to form a thick coating of powdered sugar. Very gently tap off excess sugar and place the cookies on wire racks to finish cooling. Repeat with the remaining warm cookies. Store in a tightly covered container. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked, preferably within a few hours. See note about refreshing the powdered sugar coating if serving cookies later or, if you must, the next day.

Morsels

 

✦ Coating the warm cookies in powdered sugar can sometimes leave an uneven surface, especially if the cookies sit for more than a day or have been transported. For a pretty and evenly coated top, sift a little extra powdered sugar on the cookies when they’re absolutely finished cooling, preferably just before serving them.

✦ Place a sheet of waxed paper underneath the wire cooling rack to catch excess powdered sugar and make clean-up all the easier.

1 cup soy milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
½ cup canola or safflower oil
1¼ cups sugar
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon lemon extract or ½
teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
¼ teaspoon orange extract or ½
teaspoon finely grated orange zest
2½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt

3½ to 4 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup boiling water (plus several
additional tablespoons of hot water)
1 to 2 drops vanilla or almond extract,
optional
⅔ cup semisweet chocolate chips

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

2. In a medium bowl, combine the soy milk and lemon juice; allow the mixture to sit 1 minute to curdle. Add the oil, sugar, vanilla, and lemon and orange extracts and whisk until well blended.

3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the soy milk mixture. Stir to combine, taking care to moisten the flour at the bottom of the bowl. Stir until almost all of the lumps have dissolved and a very thick batter forms.

4. With an ice-cream scoop or ¼ cup measuring cup (you can use a ⅓ cup measuring cup for big, bakery-size cookies), scoop the batter onto the baking sheets, leaving 3 inches of space between cookies. These cookies will spread so leave adequate room between them. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, till a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove the cookies from the oven, allow them to cool 2 minutes, then carefully remove them from the parchment paper. Flip the cookies upside down and place them on wire racks to complete cooling.

5. When all the cookies are done baking, prepare the white icing. Scoop the powdered sugar into a large metal bowl. Add ¼ cup boiling water and stir vigorously with a wire whisk. Add a drop of vanilla or almond extract if desired. If necessary, dribble in additional hot water by the tablespoon till a glossy, thin-but-spreadable icing forms. If it’s too runny whisk in a little bit of extra powdered sugar.

6. Dust any crumbs off the flat bottoms of cookies. With a frosting spatula, scoop some icing onto the flat side (the former bottom) of each cookie and spread an even, not-too-thick but opaque layer of frosting to the edges. Use the edge of the spatula to scrape away any extra icing dripping off the sides. Return cookies to cooling racks to allow the iced tops of the cookies to dry enough so surface feels set and not sticky. You will have some extra icing remaining (about ½ cup) that you’ll be using to make the chocolate icing.

7. While the white icing is drying, prepare the chocolate icing. In a double boiler or microwave, melt the chocolate chips (page 24) until smooth. Add the melted chocolate to the leftover white icing and use a wire whisk to blend it until thick, smooth, and glossy. It should be slightly thicker than the white icing. If the chocolate icing is too thick or grainy, stir in very hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. With the frosting spatula, ice one-half of each cookie over the vanilla icing. Feel free to layer it on thickly just because it’s chocolate icing. Return the cookies to the wire racks to set the frosted tops until they feel dry to the touch.

8. NYC Black and White Cookies are best eaten the day they’re made. If that’s not possible, store them in a tightly covered container in a cool place.

Morsels

 

This dough resembles a very
thick sticky cake batter, so no skipping
lining the baking sheets with parchment
paper. For best results, scoop batter with
an ice-cream scoop (the kind with a release
trigger); dip it occasionally in water to ensure
easier dough dropping. This recipe makes
over a dozen large, palm-size cookies, but
when shaping dough try a tablespoon
or mini ice cream scoop to make
lots of small ’n’ cute.

 

½ cup nonhydrogenated margarine,
softened
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
A generous pinch of salt
⅓ cup nondairy milk
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons black cocoa powder
1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sweetened soy creamer
or nondairy milk for brushing
2 to 3 tablespoons pearl sugar or large
crystal decorator sugar for sprinkling

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

2. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together the margarine, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently with a rubber spatula. Beat in the nondairy milk until smooth, then sift in the natural cocoa powder, black cocoa powder, and all-purpose flour. Mix to form a firm yet slightly moist dough.

3. Knead the dough a few times and divide into four equal balls. If the dough feels too sticky, very lightly dust a little flour onto your hands and the work surface, but try not to use too much flour. The dough should be moist enough to be easily pliable and not overly prone to cracking.

4. Divide a ball into six pieces. Gently roll each piece into a 6- to 8-inch rope, pinching in any cracks that may form. Bend each rope into a pretzel shape (consult an actual pretzel if you’re feeling flummoxed) and gently press down to secure the shape. Slide a thin metal spatula under each pretzel and move’em to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough.

5. Brush each pretzel with soy creamer and sprinkle with pearl or decorator sugar. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until cookies are firm.

6. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. Store in a tightly covered container.

Morsels

 

No
black cocoa powder?
Substitute more
cocoa powder.

 

1 cup nonhydrogenated margarine,
softened
⅔ cup sugar
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup nondairy milk