These are the Valentine's Day treats my daughter has chosen for us to make...so I think, "why not?!". Depending on what we have on hand at baking time, I may experiment with a blend of whole wheat flours, or I might use coconut sugar. Let's see!
VEGAN HEART SUGAR COOKIES
from happyhealthylife.com
Makes 12 2-3"cookies
1 1/2 cups white flour, organic
1 cup raw turbinado sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1/3 - 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
3 Tbsp freshly squeezed citrus juice (I used tangerine)
1/4 cup warm water
+ you will need additional flour for rolling out cookie dough and handling
Coconut Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar, organic
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
pinch of salt
Optional: vegan sprinkles on top, pink or red! (No sprinkles? Try thinly sliced strawberries for color.)
Tool: heart-shaped cookie cutter
Notes from recipe creator:
* Yes, you can substitute another variety of sugar, but the raw turbinado sugar has a very caramel-y flavor.
* The almond extract is optional, but advised. If you need to, you can substitute with vanilla extract. Or a lemon or orange extract could be nice too.
Directions:
1. Combine the warm water with the coconut oil so that the oil melts into a very liquid state, a few soft clumps are okay.
2. Add in the salt, extracts, citrus juice and sugar.
3. Start folding in the flour. Make sure your wet mixture is not hot when you do this. The warm water should be just warm enough to soften the coconut oil. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens to a very soft dough.
4. Transfer this soft dough to a small bowl and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour. This will firm up the dough to a rollable state.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and pull dough from the fridge. Heavily flour your rolling surface and press out the dough with your fingers or a rolling pin. Slice out hearts and place on a greased baking sheet. Add sprinkles over top cookies.
6. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, you want the edges to start to puff up and crisp out to look toasted and not doughy anymore. Slightly browned edges will give you a crisper cookie.
7. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool. This will firm up the cookies quite a bit since the coconut oil makes them very delicate upon removing from the oven.
8. While cookies are cooling, whisk together your glaze. Place in the freezer about five minutes to firm up a bit.
9. Drizzle the glaze over the cookies when they are still slightly warm; the glaze may melt a bit, which works to attach the sprinkles. Store in a covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Longer, store in the freezer.