Cinnamon Sugar Pillow Cookies (Vegan)

And another unexpected surprise!  These cookies were delicious! Even the "cream cheese" made of soy tasted pretty good.  Back in my teen years I did make a lot of vegan recipes but mostly things like eggless "depression" chocolate cake and many desserts with black beans or chocolate cream pie using silken tofu and such but never quite made a vegan cookie like this.

The dough is a little difficult to work with so I simply pressed it between my palms to make a disk and set aside.

Once they were baked they were soooooo good, like a sugar cookie with the cream cheese filling that has a slight hint of saltiness.  I'm very impressed.
Now I might not be making this again for myself but if someone requests a vegan cookie or I have vegan guests this recipe will come out again.  I'm thinking about doing a regular version inspired by this cookie and posting it soon (not too soon, I've got a whole lot of cookies on hand right now!)


Cinnamon Sugar Pillow Cookies

(makes 7-11 stuffed cookies)

3/4 cup (not packed) all purpose flour or  spelt flour (120g)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar (55g)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2-4 tsp almond milk or soy milk (8-16g)
3 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil (35g)

A bowl of equal parts cinnamon and sugar for rolling (Omit if desired.)
Filling ingredients listed below:

For the filling combine 2 tsp powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons cream cheese-style spread (I used YoSo Spreadables "Cream Cheese" - you can use Tofutti non-hydrogenated, but I’m sure other full-fat brands such as Follow Your Heart or Trader Joes would be fine.) Beat well, then set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine first five ingredients and stir very well. In a separate bowl, combine all liquid ingredients and stir. Pour wet into dry and stir to form a cookie dough. Smush into a giant ball with your hands (or, as an easier trick: transfer dough to a plastic bag and smush into a ball once the dough is inside the bag). Now roll into 22-26 mini cookie dough balls, then flatten each and divide the filling among only half of the flat discs. Place the other discs on top, cinch the sides, then roll into balls. Roll the balls in the bowl of cinnamon-sugar, place on a baking tray, and chill for at least 30 minutes. (If you desire crispy cookies, you can skip this chilling step.)

 Preheat oven to 325, and cook 11 minutes- they’ll still look a little underdone, but that’s okay. Important: allow cookies to cool at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from tray.

Recipe courtesy of Chocolate Covered Katie 

Finnish Meringue Swirl cookies

Before baking set your eggs and butter out on the counter. 

Ingredients for Finnish Cookie Dough: 

14 tbsp (1 and 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temp

2 tbsp white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bleached Gold Medal)

1 tsp baking soda

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp sour cream

Add all to a mixing bowl and blend, it will yield a nice soft dough.    Optional ingredient that I added was almond extract, about 1 tbsp for a nice strong flavour. 

Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. 

Ingredients for Finnish Cookie Meringues:

2 egg whites  (at room temp) 

3/4 cup white sugar

When just about ready prepare a clean bowl with clean beaters and begin to whisk/whip the egg whites and sugar together, it should take about 7 minutes. 

If your eggs are colder it may take longer, closer to 11 minutes. 

You will also need:

Powdered Sugar to dust the finished product, optional

Parchment paper for rolling, wrapping and baking (use 1 sheet for the whole process!)

Preheat the oven and have it ready to go at 350. 

To assemble roll out a large sheet of parchment and roll the dough out 6" X  12" or half the parchement from the top as you see in the picture. 

Work fast so the dough does not get warm, now spread the meringue over the dough and begin rolling (from the bottom upwards away from you) 

Use a sharp knife and with small sawing motions you can cut a nice 1/2 " slice and lay it on a tray.  I actually find it's easier to slice if it's cold so I set it back in the fridge for about 10 minutes and in between batches while I bake off a sheet.  

Bake them for 12-15 minutes (mine were done around the 12 minute mark) then cool on the parchment (you can slide the parchment off the pan if it's too hot when it comes out of the oven and you're worried about scorching the bottoms. 

When fully cooled a few hours later or the next day dust with powder sugar and remove from the parchment. 

Serve and Enjoy! 

Recipe courtesy of Natasha's Kitchen 

Also here is an alternate recipe

For the complete cookie list this year check out the list for 2012 here

Holiday Cookies 2012

Linzer Cookie

Checkerboard Cookies (This is last year's cookie batch, the recipe for checkerboard or "swirl" as it was last year is there)

Pistachio Apricot Nests (thumb print cookies)

Nusstaler (Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut cookies) 



Gingerbread with Lemon Icing 

Ultimate Ginger Cookie 

Healthy Chewy Gingerbread cookies (Spelt flour - agave - coconut oil.  No white flour or butter)

Finnish Meringue Cookie



Elfin Shortbread Bites

Greek Clove Melt in your mouth Shortbread



Candycane Meringue 

Chocolate Dipped Chewy Coconut Macaroon 



Chocolate Crackle Cookie

Sparkle Espresso Crackle Cookie

Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Cookie



Pistachio Honey Cookie (Gluten Free) 

Cinnamon Sugar Pillows (Vegan)


My tips:

Baking is serious business, and in order to pull off a large amount/variety of cookies it requires organization.  Things you will need:

- Butter, lots and lots of butter! I'm sure that's a given with cookies, I just couldn't help saying it :D
If you're working on a large number of cookies in one day then try to estimate from your recipes how much butter you're going to use and then place it all on the counter to soften (if that's what the recipe requires)
Keep your eggs on the counter too to come to room temperature.

I used over 8 pounds of butter to make all the cookies!

- A stand mixer! I borrowed my mothers pink Kitchen Aid since mine is still broken for over a year and I haven't replaced it yet :(

- A clean/organized kitchen makes all the baking a lot easier so organize before hand and keep the dry ingredients away from the sink/moisture (which brings me to my next tip)
I will also add fridge space because you will be chilling doughs and removing them from the fridge, shaping and chilling..etc.

- Have a gentle hand soap on hand, you will be washing your hands a lot between batches and after 3 days of baking my hands are in a lot of pain (they dry out from washing!)  Moisturize hands well before bed to prepare for the next day of baking.


- Keep basic ingredients like flour/sugar/brown sugar accessible (I put them in large bins) the flour needs to be scooped in measuring cups and leveled so you need the space to do this. Keep a knife and measuring cup as well as a small scooper in the bag/bin of flour for easy measuring.

- I tend to think I'm pretty environmentally friendly and I don't waste money on plasticy things but at this time of year my biggest tip is to get some ziplock bags, the large ones (.. and Cling wrap)  I can't emphasize this enough because it will save your life!! After mixing up a batch of dough just throw the ball it a ziplock and if it needs flattening out you can just use a rolling pin right over the bag after sealing and removing the air.  It's my best trick.
For checkerboard cookies I even flatten it out evenly in the bag and then chill, then I simply tear the bag and slice the large flat square disk of dough into strips, same goes for both the chocolate and white and this makes it easy to assemble/stack and create a checkerboard in minutes. So simple!

Same for crumbly shortbread doughs, just toss in the bag and press down to bring it together.  Chill, tear the bag and slice into squares then bake.  You might want to leave some doughs on the counter to warm up a tad bit, it all depends on the dough. Shortbread could "crack" if it's too cold so let it warm up a bit before slicing with a big sharp knife for clean neat slicing.

You can also use ziplock bags as piping bags!

- Tons of parchment (it is your best friend!!!) and a good amount of baking sheets !

And finally keep hydrated!!!!! I get so distracted working that I tend to forget to drink (or eat.. or even sleep!!)  so next year I will whip up a big jug of something (ice tea?) or a thermos and just keep it on hand for drinking.

Thanks to Redpath for sending me their Agave Nectar, I put it to use in my healthy gingerbread cookies!

Meringue

Ingredients
Adapted from Martha Stewart 

3 large egg whites, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

Large pinch of salt

Large pinch of cream of tartar

Vanilla

Flavouring drops (peppermint - cinnamon - whatever you like) 

Red Gel-paste food coloring

1 kebob skewer

1 zip lock bag or piping bag with piping tip (depends on the look you would like to achieve)  

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Combine egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl.  Set bowl over a pot of simmering water, and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm, about 3 minutes. Add salt and cream of tartar.

Beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue is mostly cooled, about 7 minutes. Add desired flavourings or vanilla extract. 

Using a small paintbrush, paint 2 vertical stripes of food coloring inside a pastry bag on opposite sides - remember to fit the piping tip first and prep the bag by placing in a cup for easy handling. 

Fill bag with meringue, and pipe 1 3/4-inch circular shapes (they don't need to be perfect rounds) 2 inches apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. As you finish piping each shape, apply less pressure to pastry bag, and swirl the tip off in a circular motion.

Bake meringues until crisp on the outside but still soft inside, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Do not remove from the oven and let them sit overnight with the oven off. 

Enjoy! 

For the complete cookie list this year check out the list for 2012 here