Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats (24 page)

½ cup nonhydrogenated margarine
½ cup nonhydrogenated vegetable
shortening
¾ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons hazelnut liqueur (see tip)
1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely ground toasted hazelnuts
(about 1¼ cups whole nuts;
measure, toast, then pulse with a
food processor until finely ground)

⅓ cup nondairy milk
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon nonhydrogenated
margarine
1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon hazelnut liqueur

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

2. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the margarine, shortening, powdered sugar, and salt until fluffy and creamy, about 2 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the dough from the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and hazelnut liqueur, then sift in the flour and add the hazelnuts. Combine to form a soft, thick dough. If the dough seems a little sticky, chill it for 10 to 15 minutes to firm, but this step is not necessary to proceed with baking.

3. For each cookie, scoop 1 rounded teaspoon of dough, form it into a ball, and place the balls 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, until the cookies are puffed and have slightly spread. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

4. While the cookies are cooling, make the chocolate ganache filling. In a small saucepan, bring the nondairy milk to a boil. Remove from heat, whisk in the espresso powder to dissolve, then immediately add the margarine and chocolate chips. Stir the mixture with a rubber spatula to melt the chips and margarine; continue to stir until chocolate has completely melted and is smooth and glossy. Stir in the hazelnut liqueur and set the mixture aside to cool for 10 minutes, then place it in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm up. The mixture should be firm enough to spread but not completely hardened. Stir with a rubber spatula to make a spreadable consistency.

5. Spread the chocolate mixture generously on the underside of a cookie and sandwich with a second cookie. Both flat undersides should be facing the filling. Place sandwiched cookies on a platter, then move the platter to the refrigerator to firm the filling completely. Store in a tightly covered container in a cool place.

Morsels

 

✦ Leftover filling? Make real truffles! Roll chilled filling into bite-size balls and then roll in a little cocoa powder. Chill until firm and serve.

✦ Hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico, makes these special. If you want to use hazelnut extract instead, use 1½ teaspoons in the cookie dough plus 3 tablespoons nondairy milk. Use 1 teaspoon in the chocolate ganache filling.

½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
½ cup nonhydrogenated vegetable
shortening
½ cup sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup nondairy milk
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup quick-cooking oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
¼ cup nonhydrogenated margarine,
softened
2 teaspoons molasses (regular, not
blackstrap)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
4 to 6 teaspoons nondairy creamer or
nondairy milk
A few teaspoons of sugar for sprinkling

1. In a large bowl, cream the peanut butter, shortening, sugar, and dark brown sugar with electric beaters until light and fluffy, about 4 to 6 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently. Beat in the nondairy milk and vanilla.

2. In a food processor, pulse the quick-cooking oats several times to form a coarse flour. Sift the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt into the peanut butter mixture, add the oat flour, and use a rubber spatula to fold the flour mixture into the moist ingredients a few times. Finish the mixing with a hand mixer, beating until a soft dough forms. If the dough appears a little dry or crumbly, beat in a little nondairy milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is soft and nonsticky. Press the dough into a ball, flatten it to about 1½ inches thick, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for 30 minutes while preparing the filling and preheating the oven.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Have ready a rolling pin; a little all-purpose flour for dusting; cookie cutters; a clean fork; a clean, wide surface for rolling dough; and a thin metal spatula for lifting the unbaked cookies onto the cookie sheet. Have ready those few teaspoons of sugar for sprinkling, too.

2. Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour. Slice the chilled dough in half, place one half back in the refrigerator, and form the other half into an oblong shape on the work surface, dusting it with flour as needed. Roll the dough to approximately ⅜-inch thick and sprinkle it lightly with sugar. Cut it into shapes and use the metal spatula to carefully lift the cookies onto the baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. If you are cutting the dough into rectangles, use a ruler to guide you and aim to cut the cookies 1 inch wide by 2½ to 2¾ inches long. Use a fork to gently poke holes halfway through the dough at random intervals to create a peanut shell-like texture. Be sure to cut an even number of cookies to have matching pairs for sandwiches. Repeat the rolling and cutting of cookies with the remaining dough.

3. Bake the cookies 10 to 12 minutes, until they are firm and the edges are just starting to turn golden. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving them to wire racks to complete cooling.

4. Assemble the sandwiches only after the cookies have completely cooled. Spread 1 to 1½ teaspoons of filling on a cookie, top with another cookie, and gently press down, taking care to have the top side of the top cookie facing upwards. These cookies look best with a generous amount of filling, so don’t skimp. A useful filling technique is to mound the filling toward the center of the cookie while scraping the sides, so when the top cookie is pressed down the filling will bulge a little. Store in a tightly covered container in a cool place.

3 ounces extra firm silken tofu, like
Mori-Nu (¼ of the package)
⅓ cup canola oil
2 tablespoons nondairy milk
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups unsweetened shredded
coconut
½ cup chocolate chips, melted (page
24)

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

2. Puree the tofu, oil, and nondairy milk in a blender or food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula to make sure you get everything. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar and extracts. Mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt until well incorporated. Add the coconut and mix until a stiff dough forms.

3. Drop the cookies by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheets 2 inches apart from each other; they don’t spread much at all. Don’t smooth the tops out; it’s cool if they have some pieces of coconut sticking out to get a little browned. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. When ready, the bottoms should be lightly browned and the tops just barely flecked with color in a few spots.

4. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2 minutes or so, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. In the meantime, melt the chocolate. Line a cutting board with parchment paper (it’s fine to reuse the stuff you lined the sheets with). When cookies have cooled completely, dip the bottoms in chocolate and set them, chocolate side down, on the parchment paper. Place the cookies in the fridge to set for at least 15 minutes. Store in a tightly sealed container at room temperature. If it’s hot out, keep them in the fridge so the chocolate doesn’t melt.