Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup coconut oil 

6 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract 

1 ¼ cups rice syrup 

2 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour 

1¼ cups + 1/2 teaspoon cup flax meal 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 cup vegan chocolate chips (TJ's dark chocolate bark bar cut up has no milk, but does have sugar)

Preparation

Preheat the oven the 325°F. Spray pans with oil or use parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix together wet ingredients and dry in separate bowls. Gently mix everything together until dry ingredients are wet. Fold chocolate chips in.
Scoop about 1 1/2 tsp size cookies to baking sheets space every 1 inch. If necessary, push down on top of cookie to help flatten a bit. Bake, on center rack, 15 minutes, rotate 180 degrees half way through. The finished cookies will be crisp on the edges and soft in the center.
Let cool on sheet for 10 minutes, then on wire rack. Cool completely before covering. Store in airtight container at room temp. for 3 days.

Adapted From Babycakes by Erin McKenna, (C) 2009 Clarkson Potter

Graham Cracker Recipe from Heavenly Homemaker (adapted)

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour (I use spelt flour)
1/3 c. cocoa (optional)
1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ t. cinnamon
8 T. honey
¼ c. water
1 t. vanilla
1 stick butter, melted
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt stick of butter in a pan on the stove.  Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
4. Add the liquids: honey, water, vanilla and melted butter.
5. Stir well until a nice ball of dough is formed. (If using spelt flour don't over mix, just enough until everything is mixed together.)
6. Cut two pieces of Parchment paper the size of the cookie sheet.
7. Lay one piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet.
8. Place the ball of dough on the parchment paper.
9. Lay the other piece of parchment paper on top of the ball of dough.  Squish dough down a little with your fist.
10. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough between the pieces of parchment paper.  Roll until the dough covers the whole cookie sheet.
11. Remove the top piece of parchment paper.  Cut rolled dough into 2 inch squares, or cut shapes with cookie cutters, being sure to separate the shapes from the surrounding dough a little.
12. Bake in oven for 18 minutes.
13. Turn oven off, but leave crackers in the oven to get crisp.
14. Remove from oven after 30 minutes to one hour.  Break graham crackers apart.
15. Store in a air tight container.

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

1 ¼ cups spelt flour

1 cup ground oats

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tbs ground flaxseed

¼ cup canola oil

½ cup agave nectar

½ cup cauliflower puree

Zest of 1 lemon

Low-sugar jam

Mix together the spelt, oats, baking powder, salt, and flaxseed.  Set aside. For the cauliflower puree, put 3/4 – 1 cup fresh or frozen cauliflower with 1 tbs of water into a microwave safe bowl.  Cover and microwave 3-5 minutes til soft.  Puree with an additional tablespoon of water.  It's ok if it doesn't get perfectly smooth. Stir together the cauliflower, canola oil, agave nectar, and lemon zest. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Shape the dough into half dollar-sized balls, then press onto greased pan with deep thumbprint.  Fill the thumbprints with jam. Bake 16-18 minutes, checking to make sure bottoms are brown but not overdone.  Makes about 30 cookies.

source: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegan-thumbprint-cookies/

Spelt and Oat Cookies

These popped up on Taste Spotting a few days ago just when I happened to be in a baking mood. This recipe was perfect because I had recently purchased some spelt flour and I have a surplus of organic chocolate chips in my freezer. This recipe also gave me a chance to try out the coconut oil I just purchased. I'm constantly working to make my recipes more nutritionally complete and avoid ingredients that are not pure. This recipe hit the mark allowing me to meet that requirement. Spelt flour is an ancient grain with a lower gluten content than regular flour. Spelt has high water solubility, so nutrients are easily absorbed by the body making it easy to digest. It is high in protein (significantly higher than wheat), higher in B complex vitamins, and spelt is high in both simple and complex carbohydrates. These complex carbohydrates are an important factor in blood clotting and stimulating the body's immune system. These are definitely a healthy cookie, in addition to the spelt flour, these cookies have no butter or eggs in them. Despite, the missing fat, these cookies definitely did not taste like healthy cookies. They had ever bit of flavor that a regular chocolate chip cookie would have. I think Rikki from Diet Desserts and Dogs perfectly described these cookies as ". . . crisp on the edges, chewy in the middle, with lots of texture from the chips, raisins, and nuts." I can definitely say this is one of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes I have made in awhile.

Cow Girl Cookies with Spelt Flour and Oats

2 cups (280 g) light spelt flour

2 cups (200 g) old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant) (I used Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Oats)

1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) baking powder

1 tsp (5 ml) baking soda

1/2 tsp (1 ml) sea salt

1-1/4 cups (225 g) non-dairy chocolate chips (I used organic)

1/2 cup (70 g) organic raisins

1/2 cup (55 g) coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans (I omitted)

1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) cinnamon

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp (210 ml) softened organic coconut oil or sunflower oil, preferably organic (I used coconut oil)

1 cup (180 g) Sucanat ( I substituted brown sugar)

1/3 cup (80 ml) room-temperature applesauce

1 tsp (5 ml) pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, soda and salt in a large bowl. Add the chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the oil and Sucanat until well combined. Add the applesauce and vanilla and mix again.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix just until all the flour is absorbed. Use a small ice cream scoop or heaping tablespoon (20 ml) to place mounds of dough on the cookie sheets about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Flatten slightly.

Bake for 13 minutes, or until golden. Makes about 3 dozen.

source: http://reservationsnotrequired.blogspot.com/2009/04/cow-girl-cookies-with-spelt-flour-and.html

Nikki's Healthy Cookie Recipe - from 101 Cookbook

You can use unsweetened carob, or grain sweetened chocolate chips, or do what I did and chop up 2/3 of a bar of Scharffen berger 70%. I sort-of shaved half the bar with a knife and then cut the rest into bigger chip-sized chunks. You can make your own almond meal by pulsing almonds in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don't go too far or you'll end up with almond butter. And lastly, the coconut oil works beautifully here, just be sure to warm it a bit - enough that it is no longer solid, which makes it easier to incorporate into the bananas. If you have gluten allergies, seek out GF oats.

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don't worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect - just shy of 15 minutes seems to be about right in my oven.

Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
yield 2 dozen cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  

1. Cream the butter, sugar, and pumpkin puree
2. Add the egg to the creamed mixture and beat it all together
3. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl
4. Dump half of the sifted ingredients into the egg mixture. Stir with a mixing spoon. Then add the rest of the sifted ingredients and stir some more
5. Cover the mixing bowl and put it in the refrigerator for one hour
6. preheat oven to 400*
7. mix one tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of cinnamon on a small plate
8. Break off a bit of cold dough, about the size of a walnut, and roll it into a ball
9. Roll the ball around in the dish of cinnamon-sugar.
10. Put it in the cookie sheet and make more balls the same way.
11. Leave a lot of room around each one on the cookie sheet.
12. bake for 10 minutes. These cookies are really soft when you take them off the cookie sheet. lift them up carefully with a spatula and set them on a wire rack to cool.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 325° F (165° C).
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in egg then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes then remove sheets from oven and cool cookies on sheets for 5 minutes then remove to rack and cool completely.

Pepparkakor Cookies