My second this-can't-be-a-food-blog problem is that I don't think I can adequately describe the fun time we have every year with good friends we've been baking cookies with for the past decade.
So anyway, here are the cookies we made this year. They're all vegan because our friends are vegan. I increase the amount of vanilla extract from the original amount used in any recipe. I didn't feel like dealing with fancy salt this year so I skipped sprinkling fancy salt on top of any cookies. And I usually mix the dough one day a few weeks to a month out from cookie o'clock, and then freeze everything, and then on the day of cookie baking I thaw the dough for making cut-out sugar cookies in the fridge but cook the other cookies from frozen. I usually hover around the oven during the duration of cooking, so I don't have good times for how long the cookies should really stay in. For all the cookies, you probably need more than ten minutes, but less than twenty.
NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies but vegan and various shortcuts
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance this year)
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
6 Tbsp applesauce
1 Tbsp natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips (I usually just add chocolate chips until it seems an appropriate amount of chips are in the cookie dough, which I think is close to this amount recommended by the original recipe.)
- Whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream margarine and sugars together until everything turns a lighter color, about 5 minutes. Add applesauce. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add chocolate chips. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. (This is the point at which I usually freeze the cookies, but if you don't the refrigeration step is supposed to be important in how the cookies turn out.)
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
- These cookies spread out as they bake into regular flat cookie shapes (as in picture above), so they can really be placed on the cookie sheet in any lump and they'll cook pretty well. I usually use a large spoon to measure out a spoon-sized lump of cookie dough, which is smaller than the 3.5 oz mounds that are recommended by the original recipe. Some of my cookie sheets are smaller, and I tend to put even smaller cookies on these, to avoid losing cookie off the edge of the sheet during spreading. If the cookies spread out and run into each other though, they are still tasty. This recipe makes a lot of cookies--I usually get at least three or four dozen. I would check on them at ten minutes and then every 1-2 minutes after until they're just barely turning brown on the edges. The original instructions, for those who would like to follow them, are below:
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
Bon Appetite's Chocolate-Pistachio Sables but vegan
and extra salt makes these better
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) vegan margarine
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp applesauce
5 oz chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pistachios, usually originating from shelled salted and roasted pistachios meant for snacking, which are really annoying to de-shell and then chop, but this job is made better if you buy enough pistachios so you know you can eat a bunch during de-shelling and still have enough for cookies.
- Whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
- Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat margarine and brown sugar until everything turns a lighter color, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla. Add applesauce. Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients. Mix just to combine. Fold in chocolate and pistachios.
- Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a log, pushing dough together if it feels crumbly. Wrap in cling wrap and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. (This is where I usually freeze the dough.)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut logs into rounds and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1/2" apart. (These cookies do not do a lot of spreading, and look basically like they do when done as they do when you place them on the baking sheet. The original instructions recommend 1/4" thick rounds but mine are thicker. The original instructions also say to use a serrated knife to cut them--I used a dull table knife, which is probably why my rounds are a little flattened.)
- Bake cookies until set around edges and centers look dry, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool. (The pistachio chocolate cookies are the hardest because they are already dark, so I usually waited until they seemed to have *just* turned solid in the middle. If they're still jiggly in the middle, it's too early. If you can poke the middle of the cookie without worrying you're going to get hot dough stuck to your finger, then they're done. Sometimes I tried to put chocolate chip cookies and pistachio chocolate cookies in at the same time, so I could time the dark cookies by the ones that change color, but the cook times weren't exactly the same.)
The original recipe says this will make 8 dozen cookies, but I usually get closer to 4 dozen, probably because I cut them a little thicker than recommended.
Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies--my own recipe, although unknown better bakers than me invented cut out cookies in the first place
It's hard to find a good cut-out sugar cookie recipe, because the recipes that have cookies that hold their shape well usually don't taste very good, and the cookies that taste very good usually spread during baking and don't hold a shape very well. This recipe is based off a few recipes that I combined and then veganized. It makes a cookie dough that is easy to cut-out, holds its shape very well when baking, and also tastes good. I'm pretty proud of it. I wish I could link to the original recipes I borrowed from, but I wrote them down without labeling where they were from.
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) vegan margarine
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp applesauce
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl
- Using electric mixer, beat margarine and sugar until everything turns a lighter color, about 5 minutes. Add applesauce, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat in dry ingredients until just combined. Divide dough in half. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. (This is when I usually freeze the dough. In order to roll the dough out later, I put it in the refrigerator the night before using to thaw.)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle work surface and top of dough with a small amount of flour. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters. Transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps and roll out on floured surface, and cut out more cookies. Repeat until all dough is used.
- Bake cookies, about 10-12 minutes. I tried to catch them just before turning golden, when they seem pretty solid but are a nice even beige color even on the tips of stars, although they taste pretty good even when they turn a bit darker on the edges. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.
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