Cookies and Cream Cookies

 

When I was little, I would love coming home from school to find my Mom had made us a special treat.  I am definitely a food lover and somehow I really felt loved when cookies, or brownies or some other goody was waiting for me.  Now that I am a mom, I love to make a special treat on Fridays for my girls to come home to.  Sure, it is usually something sugary, but it's a treat.  I usually make it on Fridays as a little celebration - "YEAH!! You survived school for the week"! -- Something to look forward too.  My husband has been on a cookie kick lately, so it has been a lot of cookies the last few weeks.  I was having trouble coming up with a cookie idea, so I asked my youngest daughter what she would like this time around.  One of her favorite candy bars is cookies and cream (she is a big white chocolate fan - not so much any other chocolate though).  She asked for a cookies and cream cookie.  So I decided to make cookies with cookies!  Why not!  So here goes...

 

 

Cookies and Cream Cookies

makes 4 dozen

Ingredients
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 Tbsp water
1 cup vegan butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups crushed Oreo cookies

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl whisk together the egg replacer and the water and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Beat in the egg replacer mixture and vanilla. 

Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a separate bowl.  Gradually add this mixture into the dough to make it nice and thick.  Add the crushed Oreo cookies and stir in well.  I used my hands to really incorporate the Oreos - so their weren't crumbs lying on the bottom of the bowl.

Roll dough into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and place on an ungreased, nonstick baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  You can use parchment paper for a quicker clean up if you'd like!  Bake for about 11-12 minutes, or until they start to turn a golden color around the edges.  Let cool on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

I haven't put a recipe on here for a while but I've been trying!!  I have been having the hardest time getting good pictures at night.  I can't seem to get very good lighting now that the sun goes down SO early!  I guess I need a better camera...a girl can wish! 

Anyway, my girls heard this morning the magical words they have been longing to hear for a while.  SNOW DAY!  NO SCHOOL!  My youngest daughter really wanted to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, I wanted to make peanut butter oatmeal cookies.  So we made the only logical decision...we made both!!  And we made them while the sun was out which equals decent pictures!  YAY!

These are vegan of course, which to some of you might sound a little iffy, but the cool thing is they taste just like any other cookie, possible better!  And if you ever want to make cookies and you have no eggs in the fridge (and you are snowed in like we are today), now you know how!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 4 dozen cookies

2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp water
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the flax seeds and water with a wire whisk in a small bowl and set aside.  (As is sits it will become thick like and egg.)

In a large bowl combine the shortening, butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar and mix well.  Whisk the flax and eggs again real quick to mix in any water that may be sitting on the top and pour into the peanut butter mixture.  Blend well.  

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir into the peanut butter mixture.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop dough in 1 1/2" balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then place them on a wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL COOKIES:

Use the same recipe but leave out the chocolate chips and only use 1 1/2 cups of flour and add 2 cups of oatmeal (I used quick oats).  Stir in the oatmeal last to keep it from breaking up too much.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

I love cranberry orange everything (especially cranberry orange oatmeal for breakfast, yum!).  So, today I had to try out cranberry orange cookies.  I was going to do something chocolaty for Valentine's Day, but thought having red cranberries in the cookies sort of counts as part of a Valentine's theme.  These cookies are so delicious!  My daughter, Kait, was eating them like the world was coming to an end.  Something about the orange sugar on these cookies makes them extra special.  They are a new favorite here - I highly recommend these every day - and especially for your sweethearts this Valentine's Day.

Cranberry Orange Cookies
Cookies:

1 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
3 Tbsp. water
1 cup sugar

3/4 cup vegan butter, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped

1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest

Orange Sugar:
1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

Heat oven to 350°F.

Combine flax with water and mix well.  Set aside and let it sit for at least a few minutes.

Combine all orange sugar ingredients in small bowl; stir until well mixed. Set aside.

Combine 1 cup sugar, butter and and the flax/water mixture in large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add slowly to the other ingredients and beat until well mixed. Add all remaining ingredients. Continue beating just until mixed.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in orange sugar. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with bottom of glass to 1 1/2-inch circles.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. (DO NOT OVER BAKE.) Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

While my girls and I were away visiting my parent's buffalo ranch in northern Idaho, my husband was very sweet and bought me a new cookbook I had been wanting - Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  I have been home for a week now and was very excited to try a recipe this morning.  I have tried various recipes out of the book already after checking the book out of the public library and the cookies have been delicious.  So far our family favorite is Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows which I will post in the near future.  Today I was on a peanut butter kick so I went for the classic peanut butter cookie.  These cookies are so delicate they almost just melt in your mouth.  If you like peanut butter cookies - here is an easy vegan one to try.
 

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

1/2 cup nonhyrdogenated vegetable shortening
1/2 cup natural smooth peanut butter (try to get the no-stir kind if you can find it.  If you can't then stir like crazy so that the PB isn't clumpy).
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons light molasses (not blackstrap)
1 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 tablespoons nondairy milk (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Lightly grease two cookies sheets.  We prefer dark cookie sheets to get the cookies browned and crispy.

In a  large mixing bowl, beat together the shortening, peanut butter, and sugar until light and fluffy.  This can take up to 2 minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed or 4 minutes just using a fork.  Mix in the vanilla and molasses.

Add half the flour along with the cornstarch, baking powder, and salt and mix well.  Add the remaining flour and mix.  Use your hands at this point to really work the ingredients together.  The dough should hold together when squeezed; if it does not, then add a tablespoon or two of nondairy milk until it does.

Roll the dough into walnut-size balls, flattening them a bit with the palms of your hand.  The dough may crack on the edges and that is fine.  Place the dough balls on the cookie sheets.  Flatten them further with the bottom of a coffee mug.  Use the underside of fork tines to press cross hatches into the cookies, one horizontal and one vertical. 

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are very lightly browned.  Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the sheets for 10 minutes - any less and they might crumble.  Use a thin, flexible spatula to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is a different take on chocolate chip cookies.  I found the recipe on http://www.madejustright.com/ .  It has a lot of fun recipes to try and helpful information on eating a more plant based diet.  My daughter doesn't like chocolate chip cookies, but she loves these.  They are very yummy!  I usually double the recipe.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe courtesy Vegan Baking (Made Just Right)

Makes:             22 to 24 cookies

Ingredients

¾ cups + 2 tbsp. Earth Balance® Vegan Buttery Sticks, room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

2 tsp. molasses

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. golden flax meal

3 tbsp. water

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 F (177 C). In a small bowl whisk together the flax meal and the water. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes so the mixture thickens. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until well incorporated. Set aside.

In another medium mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until well mixed. Beat in the flax meal mixture from step 1 followed by the molasses and vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture from Step 2 and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Form the dough into 1 ½ inch balls. Break them in half and rejoin them so the broken halves are the top of the cookie. This will allow your cookie to spread evenly as it bakes and form a chunky round shape. Place them on the cookie sheet so they're spaced about 2 to 3 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking duration. These cookies will not turn golden as they bake so it's important to pay attention to the baking time.

Cookies will store in an air tight container at room temperature for about 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.