Yield: 3 dozen small or 1.5 dozen large cookies

For some reason, probably all Pinterest’s fault, I was craving M&Ms cookies and bars. Pinterest can ignite an obsession like nothing else.

But I learned the hard way not to order Unreal brand chocolate-covered peanuts, basically a vegan M&M, from Amazon in July and Southeastern Virginia. They arrived like this.

Out of three 5-oz bags, only about 50 of the candies were usable–the rest were a melted, cracked, and clumped mess. The upside is that the candies are a beautiful color and taste delicious, so I would buy them again, just in the fall or perhaps directly from the company.

With enough candies to make a half batch of cookies, that is what I did and it was worth it. Besides, I don’t need a lot of cookies around tempting me, but if you are unable to purchase these candies or the equivalent in the grocery store, you might want to wait until a cooler month unless it happens to be cool where you live. And if the latter, lucky you!

My recipe includes simple directions I learned recently for creating a perfect bakery style shaped cookie every time, provided you make the large variety because it takes two scoops.

However you scoop them, you will love them, if you can prevent yourself from eating all of the dough first!

M&M Cookies (vegan & plant-based)

1/2 cup vegan butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup brown sugar (I like dark brown)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 to 4 tablespoons non-dairy milk

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup vegan M&M style candy

1/2 cup broken pecans or peanuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper. In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter, shortening, both sugars, vanilla extract, and baking soda. With mixer on medium to low speed, beat in flour in three portions, with 1 or 2 tablespoons milk in between each, scraping down bowl as necessary. Avoid over beating. With mixer on lowest speed or by hand, mix in chocolate chips, candies, and nuts. Using a one tablespoon scoop, make small cookies by placing one scoop about two inches apart in rows. To make bakery style large cookies, after placing one scoop onto baking sheet, put a second scoop in the center and press down very firmly. Big small cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes and large ones for about 12 to 15, or until golden brown.

#vegan #veganrecipes #veganfoodshare #veganfoodporn #plantbased #plantbasedrecipes #plantbasedfoodshare #plantbasedfoodporn #veganMandMcookies #plantbasedMandMcookies #vegancookies #plantbasedcookies

Yield: 1.5 dozen

I think of these cookies as deeply southern and deeply satisfying with their bourbon and pecans. And anyone who has had a chocolate bourbon pecan pie knows that those three flavors are a trifecta. The molasses and maple syrup are not enough to make the cookies taste like molasses or maple cookies, only enough to give them rich deep caramel notes. And the macadamia nuts strike another buttery note. My super simple method for shaping the cookies will yield that sought-after bakery look.

1/2 cup softened vegan butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup pecan butter (you may substitute almond butter, but nothing replicates the flavor of pecan butter)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup natural sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 teadpoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour or white whole wheat

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup broken pecans

1/2 cup halved macadamia nuts

18 pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350° and line 2 baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper. In large bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter, pecan butter, vegetable shortening, both sugars, molasses, maple syrup, bourbon, and vanilla extract. With mixer on low, beat in baking soda and flour, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.

Using a small scoop (2 tablespoon), make nine mounds of dough on each cookie sheet, using half of dough. To get that bakery look, place another scoop of dough right on top of first scoop pressing down slightly. Repeat for all 18. You will have a scoop or mound nestled inside another. Press a pecan half firmly into the center of each double mound, pressing down slightly. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet on wire rack and then store in an airtight container.

#vegan #veganrecipes #veganfoodshare #veganfoodporn #plantbased #plantbasedrecipes #plantbasedfoodshare #plantbasedfoodporn

Single Vegan Microwave Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookie!

It is ready in under 5 minutes, including 1 and 1/2 minutes of microwave cooking time.

It took three attempts over three days, but I finally got it right. Recently I posted my recipe for a single vegan microwave chocolate chip cookie, but wanting something with some more healthful ingredients in it, I decided to try an oatmeal version.

Bob, my fiercest critic and greatest supporter, said the first one tasted good – a far cry from his “not bad” –  but crumbled into a heap. So I tried it again and created an oatmeal-chocolate chip pancake.

Today’s version, however, was perfect: delicious, cookie-like in texture, and sugar-free because I made it with stevia, though you could use Demerara sugar if you prefer.

Recipe:

2 tablespoons flour (I use white whole wheat)
2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons Stevia or Demerara sugar
1 tablespoon vegan butter
1 teaspoon Chia or flax seed meal
1 teaspoon non-dairy milk (I use soymilk)
2 drops vanilla extract
1 drop almond extract
1 tablespoon vegan dark chocolate chips or small chunks
1 tablespoon broken walnuts

Sea salt

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients with your fingers. Pat into a cookie shape about 1/2 inch thick on a microwave-safe plate. Cook at full power for one and a half minutes. Depending on your microwave’s power, you might have to adjust cooking time. Sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt and let cool slightly before devouring.

#vegan #veganrecipes #veganfood #veganfoodshare #veganfoodporn #plantbased #plantbasedrecipes #plantbasedfood #plantbasedfoodshare #plantbasedfoodporn

Yield: 1 dozen cookies (recipe easily multiplies)

I am not sensitive to gluten–at least not in any noticeable way–so I created these cookies for two reasons: 1) for folks who are, and 2) because I have a summer crush that is quickly turning into a long-term affair with brown rice flour.  It lends to these cookies and, presumably, other baked goods, an ever-so-slight “sandy” texture that reminds me of the commercial Pecan Sandy cookies of my childhood.

To create this recipe, I started with my late mother, Sallie Gough’s, recipe for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.  I adored both my mother and her cookies.  The recipe scribed in her distinctive hand-writing on a badly stained file card is a testament to the central role Chocolate Crinkles played in my young culinary life.  When my cousin, Dan, would make his annual summer visit from Texas to our home in Mississippi, baking these cookies–dark, almost black, balls rolled in powdered sugar that baked up into flat-ish white cookies with dark rivulets through them–was always on the itinerary along with box sliding on Sewer Hill and epic neighborhood games of Kick the Can.

Note that, since I am not gluten-sensitive, the “trace” of gluten that “may” have been present in my vegan white chocolate chips did not pose a problem for me.  If you are baking for gluten-free cookie lovers, make sure a possible trace is not an issue or look for a brand “without a trace.”

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup apple sauce (this flavor is not detectable)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (canola or sunflower is fine)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup vegan, gluten-free white chocolate chips (may subsitute vegan, gluten-free chocolate chips)

12 pecan halves.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.  In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients except white chocolate chips and pecan halves.  Make a well in the center and pour in applesauce, vegetable oil, and vanilla.  Whisk together wet and dry ingredients until completely combined and the consistency of any other cookie dough.  Stir in chips.  With a small scoop or tablespoon, scoop up rounded tablespoons of dough and place about 3 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.  Top each with a pecan half, pressing down gently to ever-so-slightly flatten the cookie.  Bake 12 minutes or until completely set.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on cookie sheet placed on wire rack. Store in airtight container.

Yield: 6 cookies

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup coconut flour
12 juicy dates
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup cacao nibs or chocolate chips (chips are not not raw)
1/4 cup broken pecans

In a food processor, process the cashews until a flour-like texture.  Add remaining ingredients except cocoa nibs or chocolate chips and pecans. Process until the texture of a nice dough, but not a nut butter.   Transfer the dough to a medium-size bowl and fold in the cocoa nibs or chocolate chips and pecans.

Shape the cookies by flattening six scoops of dough onto a foil-, wax paper-, or parchment paper- lined cookie sheet.  Freeze for 20 minutes and keep refrigerated in an airtight container.

Note: though these cookies are packed with wholesome ingredients, they are also packed with about 330 calories each. Make them half this size for a dozen cookies with a calorie count that may be easier to swallow.