Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles (Vegan)

I was searching for a birthday treat recipe when I stumbled on this gem.  I've made them twice in the last couple of weeks.  It is normally really hard to find a crowd pleasing, chewy, easy-to-make cookie, especially a vegan recipe, but this is definitely one!
Be careful if you don't like spicy foods.  These cookies are great and kid-friendly if you leave the cayenne out.  However, I suggest taking the risk and leaving it in, just don't feed them to kids!  You won't even taste the spice right away.  It is just a wave of warmth on the finish- perfect for warming you up on a cold day!

 

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles (Vegan)

By: IsaChandra from the Post Punk Kitchen

Yield: 24 cookies

Ingredients: 

For the topping:

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cookies:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons almond milk (Or your preferred non-dairy milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon chocolate extract (or more vanilla extract if you have no chocolate)

1 2/3 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

 1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix the topping ingredients together on a flat plate. Set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix together oil,  sugar, syrup, and milk. Mix in extracts.
4. Sift in remaining ingredients, stirring as you add them. Once all ingredients are added mix until you’ve got a pliable dough.
5. Roll dough into walnut sized balls. Pat into the sugar topping to flatten into roughly 2 inch discs. Transfer to baking sheet, sugar side up, at least 2 inches apart (they do spread). This should be easy as the the bottom of the cookies should just stick to your fingers so you can just flip them over onto the baking sheet. 
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, they should be a bit spread and crackly on top. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Flatten the dough into the sugar mixture.

Perfect and beautiful chewy cookies!

Heavenly Orange Macaroons (Vegan)

Here is a new take on a good recipe from the past.  You can see the original here.  I love pairing dark chocolate with orange.  Don't get me wrong, if I had to choose between the original coconut-y goodness and the orange version, I'd go with the former.  But, if I can have them both....  I just love coconut so much!  Sea salt adds a tingle to your tasting!

Heavenly Orange Macaroons
Source: Adapted from The Willy St Co-op Reader

Ingredients:
2 1⁄2 cup shredded coconut
1⁄2 cup pastry flour (whole wheat, spelt or alternative) - I used stone ground whole wheat
1⁄4 tsp sea salt
1⁄2 cup brown rice syrup
1⁄4 cup maple syrup ( or honey)
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4-1/3 cup water
1/2 cup chocolate chips for melting

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and grease lightly.
3. Mix flour, sea salt, and coconut in a bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together.
5. Combine the dry and wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Add extra water if the batter seems dry.
6.  With wet hands, form batter into 3/4 inch balls.  You may have to squeeze some liquid out as you roll the batter in your hand.  Keep wetting hands to keep batter from sticking.  Place balls on prepared sheet.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden on top.  Remove from oven and cool completely.
8. Melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips in a double boiler or very carefully in a saucepan.  When melted, remove from heat and add other 1/4 cup.  Stir until melted.
9. Dip cooled macaroons into the chocolate as desired.  (I just coated the bottoms.) Place on wax paper to cool.  If desired, sprinkle wax paper with sea salt prior to placing macaroons down.

Brown Sugar Cookies (Vegan)

Recently, I finally purchased a brown sugar bear because I had stupidly put my brown sugar into one of my dry ingredient jars and it hardened into one solid rock.  A brown sugar bear is a piece of pottery that you soak in water and then place with your sugar to keep it moist for months at a time.  Our bear came with a recipe for brown sugar cookies that I veganized and made for my coworkers and friends last week.  I used vegan butter and flax seed as a replacement for egg.  For each egg called for in a recipe, mix 1 tablespoon ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons of hot water, whisk, and let sit for about 10 minutes or until it takes on an egg-like consistency.
I love these cookies because the taste of the brown sugar really shines through.  I remember eating brown sugar right out of the bag baking with my mom and grandma as a child.

 

Vegan Brown Sugar Cookies
Yield: about 4 dozen
Adapted from The Original Brown Sugar Bear packaging

Ingredients:
1 cup vegan butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg replacement (1 tbsp flax + 3 tbsp hot water)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Blend butter and sugar together.
2. Beat in flax mixture and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients and combine.
4. Form teaspoon sized balls of dough and roll in brown sugar to coat.  Bake for 6-8 minutes or until edges are set and cookies look done.

Apple Oatmeal Cookies (Take Two)

This is the second time I've made these cookies, but the first time I made them correctly.  They were much better the 2nd time around!

Oatmeal Apple Cookies -Vegan Version
Source: Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
 Yield: About 3 dozen small cookies (I'd recommend making fewer but larger cookies)

Ingredients:
8 tbsp vegan butter, softened OR 1/2 cup neutral cooking oil (I used vegan Earth Balance butter)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 1/2 cups (about 5 ounces) chopped dried apples*
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup nondairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together (or use a pastry blender and work by hand); add the applesauce and beat/mix until well blended.
2.  Combine the flour, oats, apples, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.  Alternating with the nondairy milk, add the dry ingredients to the batter by hand, a little at a time, stirring to blend.  Stir in the vanilla.
3. Put tablespoon-size mounds of dough about 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.  bake until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes.  Cool for about 2 minutes on the sheets before using a spatula to transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling.  Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature for no more than a day or two.

*Notes:
- Dried apples are easy to find in ring form. I recommend chopping them with a very sharp knife.  I cut some up with scissors too, but neither way is very easy.
- I made cookies bigger, 2-3 tbsp size after some trial and error.  I would also flatten them into the shape you want them to be before they go in the oven, as mine did not spread at all.  This may be because of the butter I used vs. oil.  The ones that went in as balls came out as balls etc.
-I baked my cookies closer to 10-11 minutes or the apple pieces will begin to burn.  
-These cookies held up for several days and are delicious and unique.

 I put some of the prettiest cookies into a tin for our neighbor as a thank-you for watering our plants.

Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies

It's a heart!

My sweetie loves mint and chocolate together, so I made him these cookies for Valentine's Day.  I should say he LET me make them as I had already made 2 other sweets this weekend.  Regardless, he's happy to eat them!  The cookie recipe is from WithSprinklesonTop.net- one of my favorite sites that my friend Crystal at work turned me on to.  Her pictures are something to strive for, that's for sure.
Thanks to Karen for the Andes Mint Pieces.


Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from:
Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies (Source: Two Peas & Their Pod)
Found on Withsprinklesontop.net

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp chocolate extract (I have this on hand so I threw it in...yum!  Find it at the Willy St. Co-op)
1/3 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 bag of Andes Mint Pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa, and set aside.
3. Beat the butter on medium-high until light and add sugars, creaming well.
4. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth.
5. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternately with the milk in one batch, mixing well.
6. Stir in the Andes pieces.
7. Chill dough for at least 15 minutes. (You can make the dough a few hours or 2 days before baking and it will be fine. Just wrap it up and keep in the fridge.)
8. Scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet, press down on them slightly, and bake for 14-15 minutes.
9. Let the cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet, they will set as they cool.  Cookies will stay fresh for two days in an air-tight container.

Notes:
- I used a teaspoon measuring spoon to scoop dough, then rolled into balls and flattened slightly in my palm before placing on cookie sheet.
- Cookies were very gooey when they came out of the oven, so let them cool completely on the sheet.  They set up nicely.

Valentines Day! Part Deux (Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies)

Happy Valentine's Day!


A couple of weeks ago, Val passed on to me a vintage Mirro Cookie Press.  Even though press cookies are traditionally made for the holidays, I didn't want to wait another 10 months.  Plus, I could use some practice before next Christmas!

Vintage cookie press- still in (what's left of) the original box!

Speaking of Christmas, Karen sent us some delicious spritz cookies this year and I decided to use her recipe.

Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies from Fine Cooking Holiday Baking Winter 2004

See Karen's post here.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened at room temperature

3 oz cream cheese softened at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 lg egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

11.25 oz (2 1/2 cups) flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
3. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat again until blended. Add flour and mix on low until well blended.
4. Follow directions of cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
5. Bake until just golden around the edges...10 - 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring.
Store at room temperature or freeze in an airtight container, separating the cookie layers with wax paper.

Notes:
- Since my mixer died (twice) a couple of weeks ago, I have been making everything without it.  Hopefully this will result in some nice arm muscles AND it is definitely doable.  A pastry blender/ cutter works wonders when a whisk won't do the trick.  I have wanted a Kitchen Aid stand mixer forever, but since I'm getting by without one I'll probably keep putting it off.
- If you are a new cookie press user like me, I suggest starting with a few test batches to get the hang of things.  Press a couple of cookies onto the sheet and bake them off just to see how they turn out... make sure to eat your mistakes so nobody knows.  At least that is my rule.  Hehe.
-I recommend a light colored and/or insulated cookie sheet.

The plate above actually results in heart shaped cookies with lovely scalloped edges.  The booklet that came with the press is full of little ditties like "Party time is Pastry time."

Vegan Jam Thumbprint Cookies!

Here is another recipe I made since today was a snow day!


Vegan Jam Thumbprint Cookies from Vegetarian Times.
Jam courtesy of Karen, a friend of the family who gifted us many jars of the jewel-toned goodness for Christmas.

Peach and Blueberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Recipe Tips: I used stone ground whole wheat flour because I like the nutty flavor and texture it adds.  I used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 all purpose white flour.
I would also recommend blind baking the cookies for 5 minutes before adding the jam to prevent it from staining the rim of the cookie.
Yum!
Now off to dig out our cars since the plow FINALLY came!