Cookie capers, biscuit bonanza, and decorative deliciousness (Part 3)

Umm... Hi...

Yes, I am well aware of quite how long it's been since my last post.

I did tell you that this was not going to be a regular thing, didn't I?

I know I did.

Anyways, in typical me fashion, I shall make it up to you by completing my next few blogs in rapid succession.

 Maybe. 

If I can be bothered.

To be perfectly honest, it's kinda cold here, there's every likelihood my fingers will freeze off.

I hope you appreciate what I go through for you.

I was going to type 'Anyways' as a segue into my next line of thought, but then I realised I'd already done that...

Anywho, this blog is going to be the final in my cookie capers series, and it's on...

VEGAN CHOCOLATE-COATED SUGAR COOKIES

(le gasp!)

Om nom nom shiny deliciousness

There are two reasons I got into vegan cooking:

1. Because I have quite a few vegan friends.

2. Because tacking 'vegan' onto the front of something instantly makes my family think it's going to be all vile and healthy, and thus they won't eat it.

No matter how cute and delicious they look

Selfish? Maybe. 

Effective? Very.

Now, my recipe for vegan sugar cookes is essentially the same as for normal sugar cookies, so I'm just going to copy and paste and make the changes I need to.

185g of Nuttelex™, or some other butter substitute

1 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon of Orgran® no-egg* + 1 tablespoon of water

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 1/2 cups plain flour

• Cream Nuttelex and sugar until light and fluffy
• Mix no-egg and water together until there are no lumps of no-egg left (I always seem to make a mess of this step, can't figure out why!)
• Add no-egg and vanilla essence to Nuttelex/sugar, mix until well combined
• Add flour, around half a cup at a time, switch to dough beaters or by hand when mixture becomes too thick for normal beaters
• Wrap dough in cling wrap and chill for about 2-3 hours (or stick it in the freezer for 20-30 mins, if you're impatient like me)
• Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes (This dough is very soft, but not overly sticky, so if you're going to roll it between two sheets of baking paper, be careful not to roll it too thin)
• Bake at 150 degrees for about 10-12 minutes, or until bottoms are just lightly brown (cooking time depends on the size of your cookies)
• Leave to cool completely

*No-egg can be found in most health food shops, and apparently is available in a huge array of countries. If you can't find it, any egg substitute would be fine.

This recipe makes quite a lot of dough, which is great, because you can eat more of it before anyone notices

 Also, I often split my dough into two lots to refrigerate. It means it firms quicker and you don't have to have it all thawing out while you work with it.

 Funnily enough, no-one really notices if you've over cooked your cookies once they're smothered in chocolate

 Also, for this variation, keep an eye on your cookies while they're in the oven, because these tend to brown very quickly.

As for the chocolate,  I used Green & Black's® Organic Dark 85% Cocoa Chocolate. It's very bitter, but I think that works well with the sweetness of the biscuits.

NOTE: The label says 'May contain traces of milk solids' so it's at risk of containing contaminants, but the vegans I talked to had no issues with this. If it bothers you, or you're unsure, seek out a totally vegan brand of dark chocolate, or ask your friendly neighbourhood vegans for advice.

Melt the chocolate using whatever method works for you, I used a rather non-conventional double-boiler system:

It worked for me, so shut your cake-hole

Once it's all nice and melted, grab a spoon and just paint/spread a little chocolate over the backs of the biscuits, then leave them to set.

I'd recommend sticking them in the fridge for a bit, because mine didn't set too well sitting out on my kitchen bench.

Because who said veganism had to be healthy?

Now the more observant among you may have noticed that some of my cookies were half-dipped in the chocolate rather than prettily painted, this is how I started out, before I decided that it was a little too messy and fiddly and switched to painting.

Best part about baking is you can eat your mistakes.

Seriously, no-one has to know they even occured.

Unless you take photos, of course

All in all, I'd say this was a pretty decent baking effort. They kinda ended up tasting like teddy-bear biscuits.

So go forth and unleash your culinary prowess upon the masses of vegans starved for baked goods!

Procrasti-baker out.