Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats (25 page)

½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
3 tablespoons canola oil
¼ cup pure maple syrup or agave nectar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cornstarch
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ cup roasted, unsalted macadamias,
pulsed into coarse crumbs in a food
processor (a few larger pieces are
okay)

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

2. Combine sugar, oil, syrup, and water in a mixing bowl. Mix vigorously. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, cornstarch, and salt and mix until well combined; the dough should be soft but thick, like a thick caramel. Fold in the macadamias.

3. It’s best to bake these one batch of six at a time because they are a bit precious. They bake quickly, though, so don’t worry about it taking too long. Drop 6 tablespoons of batter onto the parchment paper about 3 inches apart; the cookies will spread. Err on the side of caution with tablespoon size; try not to go too big. Let batter sit for about a minute so that it spreads and settles just a bit before baking.

Macadamia Lace Cookies

4. Bake for 6 minutes, keeping a close eye so the cookies do not burn. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the sheets for 5 minutes. They will be very soft when you take them out of the oven, but don’t worry, they will firm up. You should be able to just slide the whole shebang, parchment paper and all, onto a wire rack to cool the rest of the way. Don’t try to lift them from the parchment paper until they are 100 percent fully cooled, unless you want a deformed cookie. Continue with the remainder of the batter. Store in a tightly sealed container.

Morsels

 

If you can only find
salted macadamias that is fine,
just leave the salt out
of the recipe.

 

¾ cup nonhydrogenated vegetable
shortening, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup nondairy milk
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup Dutch cocoa powder
¼ cup black cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup nonhydrogenated margarine,
softened
¼ cup nonhydrogenated vegetable
shortening, at room temperature
2½ to 3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed. When light and fluffy (about a minute) add the vanilla and nondairy milk and mix. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until the dough holds together.

2. If it’s fairly cold in your kitchen, there is no need to chill the dough. If it’s a particularly hot day or your kitchen is very warm, chill the dough for 10 minutes or so.

3. Preheat oven to 325°F. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll each into a ball. Place a piece of parchment paper on a flat surface. Flatten a ball of dough onto the parchment, and place another piece of parchment over it to keep the dough from sticking. Roll the dough out into a circle that is roughly 10 inches in circumference. It should be about ⅛ inch thick. Now use a 1½-inch cookie cutter to make circles in the dough. Leave about ¾-inch of space between each circle. Now lift the remaining dough away from the circles. If the dough isn’t lifting easily, transfer to the fridge for 5 minutes or so.

oh La Las

4. Now transfer the entire piece of parchment onto the cookie sheet. No need to move the dough with a spatula, lest it get crushed. Just move the whole shebang. If your cookie sheets are big enough, you should be able to fit two rounds of dough on one sheet, although you may have to trim the parchment paper.

5. Bake for 12 minutes, then let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat the process with the remaining dough, and roll the scraps together, flatten and cut out more cookies until all the dough is used up.

⅓ cup canola oil
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup hazelnut butter
⅓ cup nondairy milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup hazelnuts, finely chopped
About ⅓ cup raspberry jam

1. In a large mixing bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix the oil, sugar, and hazelnut butter. Mix in the nondairy milk and vanilla. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder and mix well until a stiff dough forms.

2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Have a small bowl of water handy. Spread the chopped nuts onto a dinner plate.

3. Roll the dough into a walnut-size ball. Dip very briefly in water and firmly roll in the hazelnuts until coated. Place on a baking sheet and use either the non-spoon side of a wooden spoon or your thumb to make a deep indent in the cookie. Use your free hand to hold the cookie in place and make sure it keeps its shape. You should be able to fit all twenty cookies onto one baking sheet; they don’t spread.

Linzertorte Thumbprint Cookies

4. Spoon about a teaspoon of raspberry jam into each cookie. A baby spoon works great for this! Bake for about 18 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a tightly sealed container.

Morsels

 

The easiest way to chop the
hazelnuts is in a food processor fit
with a metal blade. The texture will range
from mealy to gravel size, and that’s fine!
Just make sure that nothing is bigger
than a pea or you’ll run into trouble
when you’re rolling the dough
in the nuts.