I was surfing the net a couple days ago, and came upon the "cookie of the day" courtesy of Bon Appetit. Looks like a small whoopee pie, with crushed candy canes all around the edges. As I read the recipe, I thought "Mmm, tasty," and then "this looks so easy to veganize!" Minty magic. Pair chocolate with almost anything (especially peppermint) and you had me at hello.
These cookies are simple. Most bakers will have the ingredients on hand anyway. I swear these cookies are smiling at me... very happy cookies. I'm offering you the recipe as it was written, with my vegan exchanges as the only thing I've changed as far as the published recipe. However, I did make some changes when I made them myself because of local conditions (salt in the air, ocean lapping at my doorstep, and rainy today). I added some organic chocolate extract because in my opinion nothing can ever be too chocolatey, I added baking powder because I need more leavening living where I do and, also virtually everything I used was organic, including the candy canes. My chocolate & sugar are also fairly traded, remember to support fair trade whenever you can. If you cannot find natural food coloring, beet juice or beet powder, leave the coloring out. When I made these cookies today, I didn't have any coloring, so I left it out.
Some may want to "health up" this cookie with maybe whole wheat flour, less sugar, or whatever. In my world a cookie is a treat. I do not usually attempt to work with whole wheat flour anymore, its too dense for my style of baking. I'm tired of tossing organic whole wheat flour in my compost, those little wormies out there don't need anymore of my epic failures.
You can make your own powdered sugar by grinding 1 tablespoon organic arrowroot powder per cup of sugar (Florida Crystals, Equal Exchange, Sugar in the Raw, etc). If you have something like a Vitamix (use your dry container), you'll be ok. If you don't have a good blender, be careful, you can burn out your blender doing this. I actually have taken my Vitamix with me when traveling; I rely on it that much!
My cookies came out slightly cakey. The filling was very fluffy. They sure look happy to me. The weather conditions here today were very unfavorable for baking. Over 70 degrees, with very high humidity and occasional downpours. The air conditioning is not on, our doors and windows are all wide open. Despite this, the cookie part of the recipe came out ok (I'm sure it would've been less dense baked in a different climate). The hardest part of this recipe today was getting the candies on the cookie before the humidity made them a big clump on the plate. I repeatedly had to crush candy. Next time, I'm going to use India Tree's version of peppermint candy decors, all ready to go in a little tube. Not an organic product, but all natural. They use beets for red coloring.
There's supposed to be a picture with this post (Mr. Happy Vegan even took a pic of Mark's wreathes for me too), but as he went to download, the entire memory card fritzed. All the photos are gone. That's the only thing that really went wrong with the entire cookie process today.
Go vegan! For you, the animals & the planet! Happy (vegan) baking, now & always!
VEGAN CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE COOKIES
COOKIES:
1 3/4 cup (organic) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (organic, fairly traded) unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process preferred)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (organic, fairly traded) sugar
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) (organic) soy margarine, room temp
1 tablespoon (organic) ground golden flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons filtered water
FILLING:
1 cup plus tablespoons (organic, fairly traded) powdered sugar
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) (organic) soy margarine, room temp
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops natural red food coloring (PLEASE DO NOT USE CONVENTIONAL, IT MAY BE MADE WITH BEETLES, REMEMBER MY OTHER POST) or beet powder as needed
1/2 cup crushed crushed red & white striped candy canes (use organic to insure red food coloring is not from an insect source) or hard peppermint candies
For cookies:
Place margarine & sugar in stand mixer, beat til combined. Add flax "egg" and mix til combined. Sift in dry ingredients, mix til just combined. Chill dough 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets w/parchment paper. Scoop 1 tablespoon per cookie, roll into a ball, place on sheet, and flatten w/hand. Edges will crack. Bake about 11 minutes (til small indentation appears when tops of cookies are touched lightly w/fingers. Do not over bake, you want them cakey, not crispy.
For filling:
In stand mixer, beat powdered sugar & margarine until well blended. Add peppermint & coloring. Beat until well blended, adding more coloring if desired. Spread approx. 2 teaspoons filling evenly over 1 cookie to edges, top with another cookie, press down til filling oozes out the sides a little. Repeat til all cookies filled.
Place crushed candy canes on plate, roll edges of cookie sandwiches in crushed candies. Candy will stick to filling. Store in a single layer in an airtight container 3 days, or freeze up to 2 weeks. Yum!
These cookies are simple. Most bakers will have the ingredients on hand anyway. I swear these cookies are smiling at me... very happy cookies. I'm offering you the recipe as it was written, with my vegan exchanges as the only thing I've changed as far as the published recipe. However, I did make some changes when I made them myself because of local conditions (salt in the air, ocean lapping at my doorstep, and rainy today). I added some organic chocolate extract because in my opinion nothing can ever be too chocolatey, I added baking powder because I need more leavening living where I do and, also virtually everything I used was organic, including the candy canes. My chocolate & sugar are also fairly traded, remember to support fair trade whenever you can. If you cannot find natural food coloring, beet juice or beet powder, leave the coloring out. When I made these cookies today, I didn't have any coloring, so I left it out.
Some may want to "health up" this cookie with maybe whole wheat flour, less sugar, or whatever. In my world a cookie is a treat. I do not usually attempt to work with whole wheat flour anymore, its too dense for my style of baking. I'm tired of tossing organic whole wheat flour in my compost, those little wormies out there don't need anymore of my epic failures.
You can make your own powdered sugar by grinding 1 tablespoon organic arrowroot powder per cup of sugar (Florida Crystals, Equal Exchange, Sugar in the Raw, etc). If you have something like a Vitamix (use your dry container), you'll be ok. If you don't have a good blender, be careful, you can burn out your blender doing this. I actually have taken my Vitamix with me when traveling; I rely on it that much!
My cookies came out slightly cakey. The filling was very fluffy. They sure look happy to me. The weather conditions here today were very unfavorable for baking. Over 70 degrees, with very high humidity and occasional downpours. The air conditioning is not on, our doors and windows are all wide open. Despite this, the cookie part of the recipe came out ok (I'm sure it would've been less dense baked in a different climate). The hardest part of this recipe today was getting the candies on the cookie before the humidity made them a big clump on the plate. I repeatedly had to crush candy. Next time, I'm going to use India Tree's version of peppermint candy decors, all ready to go in a little tube. Not an organic product, but all natural. They use beets for red coloring.
There's supposed to be a picture with this post (Mr. Happy Vegan even took a pic of Mark's wreathes for me too), but as he went to download, the entire memory card fritzed. All the photos are gone. That's the only thing that really went wrong with the entire cookie process today.
Go vegan! For you, the animals & the planet! Happy (vegan) baking, now & always!
VEGAN CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE COOKIES
COOKIES:
1 3/4 cup (organic) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (organic, fairly traded) unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process preferred)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (organic, fairly traded) sugar
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) (organic) soy margarine, room temp
1 tablespoon (organic) ground golden flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons filtered water
FILLING:
1 cup plus tablespoons (organic, fairly traded) powdered sugar
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) (organic) soy margarine, room temp
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops natural red food coloring (PLEASE DO NOT USE CONVENTIONAL, IT MAY BE MADE WITH BEETLES, REMEMBER MY OTHER POST) or beet powder as needed
1/2 cup crushed crushed red & white striped candy canes (use organic to insure red food coloring is not from an insect source) or hard peppermint candies
For cookies:
Place margarine & sugar in stand mixer, beat til combined. Add flax "egg" and mix til combined. Sift in dry ingredients, mix til just combined. Chill dough 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets w/parchment paper. Scoop 1 tablespoon per cookie, roll into a ball, place on sheet, and flatten w/hand. Edges will crack. Bake about 11 minutes (til small indentation appears when tops of cookies are touched lightly w/fingers. Do not over bake, you want them cakey, not crispy.
For filling:
In stand mixer, beat powdered sugar & margarine until well blended. Add peppermint & coloring. Beat until well blended, adding more coloring if desired. Spread approx. 2 teaspoons filling evenly over 1 cookie to edges, top with another cookie, press down til filling oozes out the sides a little. Repeat til all cookies filled.
Place crushed candy canes on plate, roll edges of cookie sandwiches in crushed candies. Candy will stick to filling. Store in a single layer in an airtight container 3 days, or freeze up to 2 weeks. Yum!
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