Vegan Cookies

Cookies...COOKIES...COOKIES! We all love 'em (well, most of us do). But what happens if a cookie-loving person decides to go vegan? Have no fear. While cleaning out my email inbox, I happened to run across an old email from http://www.onegreenplanet.org/ with some of the best looking vegan cookies. These are holiday cookies, but there's no need to wait for a holiday to whip up a batch of them. And if you want to see all ten of the recipes on the email list, go to http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/our-top-10-holiday-vegan-cookie-recipes/. Even if you're not a vegan, I have a feeling that you'll find something on here to make your cookie-lover happy.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHERRY COOKIES

Recipe by Nikki Haney: Blogger, The Tolerant Vegan

(makes about 24 cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread

1 cup refined sugar

1/2 ripe banana, mashed

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

24 dark morello cherries in syrup

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup non-dairy vanilla milk

3 teaspoons morello cherry juice, from jar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Place the Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread and refined sugar in a large bowl. Mix on low-medium speed until fluffy. Add in the mashed banana and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on medium speed until fully combined. The cookie batter will be pretty thick.

Scoop the batter onto a baking pan and make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Scoop the cherries out of their jar and place one cherry in each thumbprint.

In a small pot over low heat, melt the chocolate chips and non-dairy milk, stirring constantly. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in the cherry juice. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the melted chocolate over top of each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven, spoon another teaspoon of chocolate over each cookie and allow them to cool to room temperature.

GLUTEN-FREE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup organic sugar

1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup vegan dark chocolate

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine almond flour, salt, sugar, Earth Balance, vanilla and peanut butter in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until thoroughly blended. Form into 1″ balls and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes until set and lightly browned. Cool.

Melt dark chocolate either in the microwave (for 45 seconds at a time, stirring in between until melted) or a double boiler, and drizzle on top of cookies.

SANDWICH COOKIES

Ingredients

Cookies1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup organic cane sugar

3/4 cup Earth Balance, room temperature

Ener-G Egg Replacer for one egg (1 1/2 teaspoons egg replacer mixed with 2 tablespoons water)

Filling

1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and Ener-G egg replacer. Mix until well blended dough.

For mini sandwiches, drop by teaspoons onto lined baking sheet. For bigger sandwiches, drop by tablespoons onto lined baking sheet. Use hand to flatten cookies. Bake cookies for 8-9 minutes. Cool on a rack.

While cookies are cooling, beat together softened Earth Balance and confectioner’s sugar at low speed. Add vanilla and mix at higher speed for about 2 minutes. Use a pastry bag and a small star or drop flower tip and pipe icing onto one cookie, and top with another cookie. Enjoy!