and it begins again

Last year began, what I'm thinking will become a long-standing December tradition, of holiday baking. This is what I made last year (clearly I forgot my resolution to bake and freeze the cookies ahead of time), and this year I wanted to do some of the same cookies and bring in some new ones too. Actually, I wasn't even sure if I was going to do all this baking, what with all the craft fair prep and my attempt at a more laid back present thing (yeah, remember all that jam I made back in the summer?). But then last week, my coworker told me that his wife asked if I was going to make them cookies again. And then, well, then I knew I had to. Also, I'm a little burned out on sewing, so I needed something to keep me busy while Jared's away (man does that make me sound like a 50s housewife!).

I made up a list of six types of cookies to make and I'll be sharing those recipes with you here this week (well, a couple have already been shared here, so I won't repeat myself!). Sadly, I already ruined one--mexican chocolate cookies. The recipe was from Cooking Light (I think, I have a recollection of tearing it out of a magazine in the Sprint store in Orlando as we waited for Jared to get a new phone) and I adapted it to be vegan. The only change I made from the original recipe was substituting margarine for butter, and apparently the dough didn't like that. The cookies melted in the oven and came out a super weird and kind of gross consistency. The flavor was good, though, so I'll have to work on that recipe some more later.

The first recipe that I made was vegan snickerdoodles, from the September 2007 Vegetarian Times. I had never made snickerdoodles before, and apparently I didn't even really know what they were. I had always thought they had more stuff in them- like nuts and coconut and other stuff like that. But apparently, they're quite plain, but perfect. They're delicious but don't have too much going on. They'd be good with ice cream, or just a cup of tea, or for a quick bite. Anyways, they're easy, and tasty and I'm all about that. So here's the recipe...I made just a couple of modifications: I used arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch, because that's just what I had in the cupboard (recipe calls for 1/4 cup cornstarch). Also, the amounts for the cinnamon sugar in the recipe are WAY too much, so this is probably all you need (and now I have a ton of cinnamon sugar on hand...). And also, the recipe calls for vanilla soymilk, but we use oatmilk, so I used that and just added an extra splash of vanilla.

Vegan Snickerdoodles (adapted from Vegetarian Times)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
8 tsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick (4 oz) vegan margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oatmilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

for the cinnamon sugar:
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbs. cinnamon
1/2 tbs. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, arrowroot powder and baking powder in a medium bowl. In a separate, large bowl, beat margarine until soft. Add sugar and beat until fluffy (if you have an electric mixer, you can use it here. I don't so I beat by hand, it's good for the arm muscles!). Beat in oatmilk and vanilla just until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat until combined well. Combine ingredients for cinnamon sugar on a large plate. Shape dough into 1" balls and roll each one in the cinnamon sugar. Place each cookie about 1 1/2" apart on a greased or silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake about 10-12 minutes until cookies look dry on the top and are slightly browned on the bottoms. Cool and enjoy!

ps: it is freezing here and I find that baking (i.e. keeping the oven on for hours) is an excellent antidote to below zero temperatures. I hope you're all staying warm wherever you are! Also, here's what I was up to this morning before work...