Vegan Cookies

I don’t do it every year, but something I love doing at Christmas is to make a whole bunch of different cookies to bring into work and to give out as gifts. It’s awesome to spread some vegan goodness to others!

Click on the picture and go to flicker to see all the cookies labeled! There’s Molasses, Macadamia Ginger Crunch, Pumpkin Spice, Fiesta Margarita, Eggnog, Pignoli Almond and Snickerdoodles pictured.

I used two cookbooks to help me with this 9-batch adventure.

From Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

• City Girl Snickerdoodles (p. 46)
• Macademia Ginger Crunch Drops (p. 57)
• Cherry Almond Cookies (p. 63)
• Pignoli Almond Cookies (p. 73)

And from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur (rent it free on Amazon if you have a Kindle and Prime)

• Eggnog Cookies
• Fiesta Margarita Cookies
• Chewy Pumpkin Spice Cookies
• Chewy Spiced Molasses Cookies

But wait! That’s only 8 types of cookies!

I also made Glazed Port Wine Biscuits, and I’ll be sharing my recipe for that tomorrow!

Featured: Wine Biscuits, Snickerdoodles

It looks like I didn’t get a picture of the Cherry Almond cookies, but there’s more pictures over at my Facebook Page.

So what should you know about vegan cookies?

• Start with a clean kitchen and plenty of counter space. Once you take out your basic ingredients, you’ll want to leave them out for the duration if you’re making several batches.
• This can be done in a small kitchen. My kitchen now is pretty small, but the one before was positively tiny! The key is to clean up all your dishes between each batch, even if you don’t need the same equipment.
• Before you start a project like this, pick out all of the cookies that you want to make- it will make your life easier than deciding on the fly!
• For this many, you’ll need more four and sugar than you think you will. I wanted to make two more batches, but ran out of flour. And that was with a whole 5-pound bag, and then some!
• Speaking of flour and sugar, even if the recipe doesn’t specify, mix your wet and dry ingredients separately. Sugar goes into the wet ingredients, so it has a chance to dissolve into the liquid. Do this unless the recipe specifies otherwise.
• If you mix your dry ingredients separately, you can avoid “sifting” the dry if you run a whisk through the dry ingredients. That will break up any clumps!
• You don’t need a fancy KitchenAid Stand Mixer to make cookies, though it’s helpful! There are some recipes that are easy to mix by hand. Ones that want you to cream together Earth balance and sugar are a little more difficult- a hand mixer may help.
• Parchment paper is your friend. Not only does it make clean-up easier, it makes it much easier to get the cookies off the sheet. If you do a lot of baking, you may want to consider investing in silpat mats instead of disposable parchment paper.
• Many vegan cookie recipes make a crumbly dough. That’s okay. Simply form the crumbs together into a ball, and flatten them out on the cookie sheet (they won’t spread if you don’t).
• Give yourself plenty of time when you’re making this many!

My co-workers assumed the cookies were vegan since I made them, but have said they wouldn’t have known otherwise. This is the perfect opportunity to not only spread a little holiday cheer, but to show the world that vegan cookies are awesome.

Happy Holidays!