July 9, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Plum Delicious Double Chocolate Walnut Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

A small number of almost over-ripe plums gave rise to this unusual and unusually good cookie. The plums provide mostly moisture in addition to subtle flavor and color, not to mention added nutrition–as do the walnuts– to an otherwise decadent treat.

To create this recipe, I started with my go-to brownie batter, omitting the water/coffee and adding plum puree plus a tiny bit of baking soda. The results are plum delicious! Note: I only had a few plums, so I made one-fourth of this recipe. It quarters or halves very nicely.

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or unbleached white flour)

2 cups natural sugar

1 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/4 cups canola oil (this sounds like a lot, but you’ll need it)

2 cups very ripe pitted plums, pureed in food processor until fairly smooth

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups vegan chocolate chips (I like Trader Joe’s–what a great value!)

2 cups chopped walnuts plus 36 extra halves or large pieces for garnish, one per cookie, if desired

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper and set aside. (Line two if you have them, or bake the cookies in two batches.) In a large mixing bowl, stir together all ingredients, except chocolate chips and nuts just until well combined. The dough should be just slightly stiffer than brownie batter. Stir in chips and nuts. Spoon tablespoon-size mounds of dough onto prepared sheet, about 2 inches apart. (I use a very traditionally-shaped shallow tablespoon measure, as I like the ration of height to width.) Bake 12 minutes. Check after 8 and after 10. They should be set, but shiny in some spots, as they will continue to cook after they are removed from the oven. Allow the cookies to cool slightly until they are easy to handle and then use a metal spatula to remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

July 3, 2011July 3, 2011 by betsy

Vegan TFLC Cookies (Tea-Infused Five-Spice Lime-Scented Chocolate Cookies)

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

This is the second iteration of what has become an incredibly adaptable “chewy chocolate cookie.” Actually, it’s the third version because the first was a “veganization” of a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

This one was inspired by a group I chaired during the 2010-2011 school year: The Teacher Forum Leadership Council (TFLC). I had wanted to create “TFLC Cookies” as favors for our end-of-year dinner, but simply didn’t have time. So this recipe is a posthumous tribute to a group of teachers–and even a few administrators–who selflessly volunteer their time to further the mission of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, especially through the presentation of a National Speakers Series and follow-up workshops. I was so impressed all year by how these men and women never expected someone else to do the work; they always stepped up to shoulder their share of the responsibility with good humor and good will.

It was a little tricky coming up with ingredients whose names began with each letter in the organization’s name and tasted good together. But my friend Sheila Giolitti, quite a foodie herself, tasted one recently and proclaimed that TFLC Cookies should definitely be in Volume II of The Blooming Platter Cookbook. I hope you agree.

2 limes, zested (set zest aside)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (warm limes for about 10 seconds in the microwave and then gently roll on the counter in order to extract the most juice)
4 tea bags (I like an Earl Gray or an English Breakfast, but experiment!)
1 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups natural sugar plus 1 cup for coating
1 cup pure cane syrup or, if you dare, dark corn syrup
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (or white whole wheat; my favorite white flour substitution)
1 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1-2 teaspoons Five Spice Powder (or more to taste; I like a pronounced flavor that still makes people wonder exactly what it is)
8-9 ounces vegan semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Line two cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl or cup, place the lime juice and tea bags. Heat them for about 1-2 minutes in the microwave and then set aside to steep for 2 minutes. Squeeze bags firmly without breaking them to extract all of the tea flavor.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, place butter, oil, and 1 1/3 cup sugar. Reserve remaining 1 cup sugar. At medium to medium-high speed, cream mixture until well-combined and fluffy. Add cane syrup, molasses and vanilla and beat just a few more seconds to combine, scraping bowl, as needed. Mixture may look slightly curdled, but don’t worry. Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips, but including lime zest, and beat on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, just until combined. Taste and mix in more five spice powder, if desired. Add chips and beat on low just a few seconds to distribute.

Cover dough well and chill for half an hour, but no longer. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a small scoop with a release lever, scoop out balls of dough about 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Roll in reserved 1 cup of sugar and place a generous 2” apart on baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 4 minutes, open oven door and, using a spatula, quickly flatten each cookie slightly to 1/2-inch thick. Close the oven door and continue baking for 6 more minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cookies should be ever-so-slightly cracked, look a little moist and soft in the center, and be more set around the edges. Leave cookies on baking sheet and set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Then, using a spatula, transfer cookies to the racks and cool to room temperature. Repeat with remaining baking sheet. Store in an airtight container.

May 30, 2011July 3, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Spiced Double Chocolate-Lime Cookies

“Boss’s Week” came and went last week, but other priorities prevented me from acknowledging it in any way, except to have one of my talented students create a “Happy Boss’s Week” poster, by special request, featuring caricatures of each one of our administrators. It was adorable and well-received, but I wanted to give our incredibly supportive principal and assistant principals something homemade.

I decided that a favorite chewy chocolate cookie would be perfect. But I had just come home from the Asian market, so I decided to spice them up with a little lime zest. (I remember, when I was a child, someone in our family was under the weather and a neighbor brought us a delectable chocolate-lime pie, a flavor combination I’ve rarely had since.) When I tasted the dough, though–one of the beauties of eggless cooking!–it cried out for cinnamon and, especially, ginger to complement the sweet-tart lime and the pleasantly, but strongly flavored molasses and cane syrup (I used a combination). Voila! Vegan Spiced Double Chocolate-Lime Cookies were born. Then, my husband suggested I attach the recipe plus three more, one for each season, from my brand new cookbook. What a bloomin’ inspired idea!

Enjoy at your Memorial Day BBQ or any time…perhaps with little lime sorbet?

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

1 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups natural sugar plus 1 cup for coating
1 cup light-flavored molasses, pure cane syrup or, if you dare, dark corn syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (or to taste)
Zest of 1 fresh lime
8-9 ounces vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line two cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, place butter, oil, and 1 1/3 cup natural sugar. Reserve remaining 1 cup sugar. At medium to medium-high speed, cream mixture until well-combined and fluffy. Add cane syrup and vanilla and beat just a few more seconds to combine, scraping bowl, as needed. Mixture may look slightly curdled, but don’t worry. Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips, and beat on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, just until combined. Taste and add more cinnamon and ginger, if desired. Add chips and beat on low just a few seconds to distribute.

May 18, 2011May 18, 2011 by betsy

Vegan Baking for All Seasons: Vegan Italian Chocolate-Nut Thumbprint Cookies

I am a seasonal cooking devotee as you can see from The Blooming Platter Cookbook. But I love perennial ingredients like chocolate year-round.

In this photo from the current issue of VEER Magazine, I’m holding one of my newest sweet treats: Vegan Italian Chocolate-Nut Thumbprint Cookies. We wanted to include a photo showing that vegans don’t only eat vegetables, so we shot some of me with this cookie.

The inspiration for the recipe is bittersweet, as it came from a tray of cookies that was delivered to my sister-in-law’s house on the occasion of my mother-in-law, Terry’s, passing. (People were so generous: you have never seen so much food in your life!) I had to sample this particular non-vegan cookie for research. It looked beautiful and I needed to know what it tasted like so that I could try to hit the mark….sorry!

The first batch went down the disposal, literally. I hated to be wasteful, but they were a disaster. My next riff wasa big hit at the Vegan Virginia Beach Bake Sale (as was everything that members brought, especially various cupcakes!). So I made them again recently for our wonderful administrative assistants at Princess Anne High School. I put 2 or 3 in tiny Chinese carry-out containers as gifts for all of them during “Administrative Assistants Week.”

One of the women, Susan Barnes, even asked for the recipe to share around. She likes the cookies crumbled up in her yogurt(!). But she made me promise that there was no tofu in them. We have a running joke about tofu; it’s not her favorite.

I plan to make a batch of these cookies for the “Incredible Edibles” book-signing and launch party on Saturday night. If you’re in the local area, come taste test! If not, whip up a batch for yourself and be prepared to have a new favorite!

Yield: 36 Cookies

Cookies:

1 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tablespoon natural sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Pinch sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon water

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line1 or 2 baking sheets with Silpat. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and both sugars. Beat in cocoa powder, salt, both extracts, and water. Beat in flour, one-half cup of flour at a time, beating only enough to incorporate. Avoid over- beating. With the mixer on low speed, blend in nuts. Scoop by 1 tablespoon of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten into a disk with the bottom of a glass. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie twice, side by side, slightly overlapping, to make a fairly large depression. Bake about 16 minutes. If using two baking sheets on two racks, switch after 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire racks as soon as they are firm enough to handle.

Frosting:

1/2 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup + 3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream all ingredients together until well-combined and fluffy. Using a small spoon, divide the frosting evenly among the cookies, filling the depression. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

March 23, 2011September 4, 2018 by betsy

Vegan Lemon Ginger Cookies

2.5 dozen regular-sized cookies or 1 dozen extra-large behemoths

Chewy, spicy, citrusy…I’m posting this recipe as back-to-school bliss, perfect for lunch boxes or after-school snacks…or even breakfast. I am bringing them to my first block Advanced Art and AP Studio students for a sweet treat.

The original recipe was given to me by my dear friend Allison Price in Nashville, with whom I shared many “study dinners” while we were in graduate school at Vanderbilt preparing for “comps.” Her contributions were always wholesome and satisfying; homey but with a twist.

I originally veganized this recipe by substituting vegan butter for the dairy butter and Ener-G egg replacer for the egg. But, I like to limit, whenever possible, my use of what my friend Jo Ann calls “ersatz” ingredients. So, yesterday, I decided to use 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder for the egg, since 1 egg is equivalent to 1/4 cup liquid and has a little leavening power. The results were virtually indistinguishable from the original, chock full of spicy, citrusy goodness.

3/4 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance), softened

1 cup natural sugar (I like demerera)

1/4 cup molasses

Zest and juice of 1 large lemon (approximately 1/4 cup juice; use just 2 tablespoons lemon juice + 2 tablespoons water if you want only a hint of lemon flavor)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1/4 cup natural sugar

Line 1 or 2 cookie sheets with silpat or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and 1 cup of sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. (The mixture will have a little bit of a granular texture because of the coarseness of the natural sugar.) Beat in molasses, lemon zest, and lemon juice until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in baking soda, powder, ginger and cinnamon, just until combined. Then, with the mixer on low or stirring by hand, incorporate flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until thoroughly combined. Avoid over-mixing.

Using a small scoop to make regular sized cookies, or an ice cream scoop to make extra-large ones, shape dough into balls, and then roll in remaining 1/4 cup of natural sugar. Place balls 2-inches apart on lined cookie sheets. No need to flatten.

Bake regular-sized cookies for 10 minutes or extra-large ones for 20. Cookies should be set, but slightly soft in the center. Remove the sheets from the oven to a wire rack. Now, if you prefer them flatter as I do, press each top gently with a spatula or, if cool enough, with you fingers. Store in airtight containers at room temperature.

Note: Lisa from Sweet as Sugar Cookies stopped by last week and invited me to her “Linky Party” to post a link to my Vegan Ginger-Spice Caramel Pecan Rolls. So I did, but I also linked to this recipe, another favorite ginger-scented treat. Though her website isn’t vegan, you will find loads of ideas for sweet things just waiting to be veganized. I have my eye on a beet mousse!

February 7, 2010July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies

Yield: approximately 3 dozen cookies

This is one of those recipes that was very easily veganized simply by substituting vegan butter and chocolate for their dairy equivalents. I thought they looked a little plain–though chocolate-on-chocolate is hard to beat–so I dressed them up a bit with pretty crushed peppermint.

Cookie Dough:
3/4 cup unsalted vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Peppermint Filling:
3/4 cup semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
3 tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Garnish:
Crushed peppermint candy (place the candy in a resealable plastic bag, place on a hard surface and crush with a mallet or hammer; you may also use a food processor, though even the so-called soft peppermint sticks sound like bee-bees and can scratch the plastic bowl of most food processors)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.Add the vanilla and salt and continue beating about 1 minute more. Add the flour and cocoa and mix on low speed until a soft dough forms, about another minute. Chill dough for 40-60 minutes. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Using a small scoop, scoop up balls of dough and arrange 2 inches apart in rows on baking sheets. Using hands, form each scoop into a smooth ball. With a lightly floured thumb, index finger, or the cylindrical end of a thick-handled spoon or scoop, press straight down in the middle of each ball almost to the cookie sheet to make a deep well. Bake one sheet at a time for approximately 8-9 minutes or until the tops of the cookies look dry. Gently redefine the indentations with the end of a wooden spoon if desired. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for approximately 5 minutes and then cool them completely on racks.

Make filling:
Place the vegan chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set in a wide skillet of almost simmering water. Stir with a heatproof spatula until almost melted, 2-4 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir until melted an smooth, about 30 seconds more. Stir in the mint extract. Let the filling cool, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and a bit warmer than room temperature. Using a tiny spoon, fill the well of each cookie with the filling. Garnish with crushed peppermint candy. Cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container at room temperature. These cookies freeze very nicely.

Source: Very slightly adapted from Fine Cooking magazine. My only adaptions were to use vegan ingredients and to garnish with the peppermint, which looks so pretty.

November 12, 2009July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Chocolate Mars Cookies

Yield: approximately 36 cookies

In undgraduate school at USM in Hattiesburg, MS, I worked for Lewis and Carolyn Hitt at The Frame Market on Hardy Street. With aspirations of becoming a chef at one time, I was enrolled for about a year in my university’s hotel and restaurant administration program. So, while the topics of conversation at work ran the gamut–the Hitts were so bright, funny, compassionate and informed–they often included food.

One day, Lewis and Carolyn came to work with the most astonishing chocolate cookies that a friend of theirs had made. The cookies were deep, dark, rich and, best of all, chewy. Lewis, especially, took great pleasure the rest of the day in teasing me by saying that they couldn’t give me the recipe as it was their friend, Theresa Ball’s, “secret family recipe.”

Ultimately they did share the recipe which didn’t include eggs–hence the chewiness over cakiness–so all I had to do was replace the butter with vegan butter and the condensed milk with the substitute that I devised not so very long ago: Cream of Coconut. (To date, it has worked brilliantly in any vegan recipe calling for condensed milk by not noticeably changing the texture or flavor of the end result.) I also like to make these cookies with white whole wheat flour for a tiny “+” in the health-conscious column.

The original recipe calls only for chopped nuts as the “mix-in.” But I’ve made them with combinations of additional vegan semi-sweet, dark or white chocolate chips; Oreo pieces; and dried cranberries. It seems practically not to matter what quantity you add as long as they are well distributed and there is more dough than mix-ins.

So, Theresa, I hope I’m not divulging any family secrets. But if I am, I trust you will forgive me, as these cookie are too special to keep to oneself.

1/2 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
12 ounces vegan chocolate chips
14 ounces Cream of Coconut (not coconut milk), or about 1 1/4 cups
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts
1-1 1/2 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour)
1 cup chopped nuts
Optional: 1/2 to 1 cup of additional mix-ins such as more vegan chocolate chips, vegan white chocolate chips, Oreo Cookie pieces (they are vegan!), dried cranberries, or some combination

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a baking sheet(s) or line with Silpat. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips together. Remove from heat and stir in Cream of Coconut until well combined. Cool mixture for a few minutes and then stir in remaining ingredients in the order listed, adding any optional mix-ins with, or in place of, the nuts. The dough should be somewhat stiff and usually requires the larger amount of flour. Using a small scoop, deposit equal-sized mounds of dough about two inches apart in offset rows. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until they have achieved the degree of “done-ness” you prefer. If using two baking sheets, rotate halfway through baking time. Cool for a few minutes on sheets and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

September 8, 2009July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Lemon-Blueberry-Pecan Cookies

Yield: 25 to 30 “normal” cookies or 9-10 “behemoths“

These cookies are a tribute to the first recipe/cooking competition I ever won. Years ago, when I was in graduate school at Vanderbilt University, I entered the local Italian Street Fair Bake-Off. (One can’t study all the time, right?) Not a vegan at that point, my winning entry was Lemon-Brandy and Blueberry Custard tarts: a luscious brandy-spiked lemon custard nestled inside individual pate sucre tart shells and topped with fresh blueberries.

I still remember running into the paper goods boutique in Hillsboro Village where I lived just before the delivery deadline to purchase a plastic plate to put them on. There, I bumped into Marilyn Murphy, a studio art professor (and wonderful artist) that I knew casually. I explained what I was doing, feeling a little silly for obsessing over the color of plate I put the tarts on–just the right shade of blue-violet–but, she assured me that color and presentation does matter.

I also vividly remember my dear friend Allison accompanying me to the announcement of awards that evening and squealing in delight as I won a trophy for Best Pie and Best Overall. Afterward, we whirled around on one carnival ride after another, the trophies squeezed tightly between our knees.

A riff on my favorite chocolate chip cookies, here I have replaced the chips with dried blueberries and brightened the dough with the addition of lemon zest. Because I was also thinking of blueberry pancakes, I opted for a little maple extract instead of brandy–though either would be good–and the addition of some pecan pieces.

No, I haven’t gone off my soft post oral-surgery diet (that you are, no doubt, tired of hearing about). Rather, I made these cookies to take to my periodontist along with a Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon poster as a thank you gift for taking such excellent care of me.

½ cup vegan butter, room temperature (I use Earth Balance)
½ cup vegetable shortening
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk, preferably at room temperature (plain or vanilla soy milk works too)
1 generous teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon maple extract
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
zest of 1-2 lemons (I used 1 1/2, as that’s what I had)
½ teaspoon salt (omit if butter is salted)
approximately 3/4-1 cup of dried blueberries
approximately 3/4-1 cup of pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, shortening, brown sugar, and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Slowly blend in the soy milk, vanilla and maple extract. Add the flour, baking soda and lemon zest, and mix on low speed until well combined. Then fold in the blueberries and nuts. Drop small spoonfuls onto Silpat covered, oiled or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Press tops of mounds down slightly and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Or use an ice cream scoop to make 9-10 extra large cookies, pressing the mounds down to about a 1/2″ tall disk, leaving 2″ between, and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Cool slightly on cookie sheets and then remove to racks to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

August 20, 2009July 21, 2010 by betsy

Vegan Oatmeal, Apple-Nut, Chocolate Chip Spice Cookies

Yield: 24 “normal” cookies or 12 “behemoths“

(If pressed for time, I make the big boys. But these are equally good large or small.)

Today, I had an appointment with a periodontist and scheduled gum-grafting surgery for September 3. It seems that for years I’ve done a little too good of a job of brushing my teeth and have some gum recession to tend to before getting the aforementioned Invisiline braces. I now know, first-hand, from whence the phrase “long in the tooth” comes.

What does that have to do with these cookies? It is the only reason I can think of for why I had an especially irrepressible craving for something sweet and tender, chock full of crunchy and chewy morsels like nuts and dried apples, foods I won’t be able to eat post surgery. I was told that I would need to eat a soft diet for two weeks. Hmm…that sounds like soy lattes, wine, soups and vegan ice cream to me. So, in the meantime, I think I should hoard the forbidden foods in my jaws like a squirrel.

Once again, my favorite dough (but with half whole wheat flour and a little oatmeal) plays a supporting role in these cookies that star dark chocolate chips, walnut pieces, dried apples and a warm and toasty blend of spices which is especially tasty. Be sure to use all four spices because they are more than the sum of their parts.

½ cup vegan butter, room temperature (I like Earth Balance)
½ cup vegetable shortening
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk, preferably at room temperature (plain or vanilla soy milk works too)
1 generous teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1 cup + 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
pinch nutmeg
scant 1/2 cup oatmeal
scant 1/2 cup vegan dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
scant 1/2 cup walnut pieces (or almonds, hazelnuts, pecans)
scant 1/2 cup diced dried apples (a 1/4-inch dice seems just right)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, shortening, brown sugar, and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Slowly blend in the soy milk, vanilla and maple extract. Add the flours, baking soda and spices, and mix on low speed until well combined. Then fold in the remaining ingredients. Drop 24 small scoops onto Silpat-covered, oiled or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Press tops of mounds down slightly and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Or make 12 extra large cookies using two scoops of dough, pressing the mounds down to about a 1/2″ tall disk, leaving 2″ between, and baking for approximately 12-15 minutes. Check after 12 . Cool slightly on cookie sheets and then remove to racks to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.