Hazelnut Espresso Thumbprint Cookies

Well, these are another winning recipe from the latest Canadian Living Holiday Baking Magazine! A coffee flavoured hazelnut cookie filled with hazelnut spread. Absolutely delicious and quite possibly a new favourite cookie for me, yes, they are that good! If you are like me and absolutely LOVE anything coffee and hazelnut flavoured, you will love these. 

The great thing about the recipe is it never called for eggs so besides the obvious use of vegan replacements these didn't need veganizing. As such I didn't change the recipe at all so won't be reprinting it here, just click on the link for the recipe. (I only reprint recipes if I've made substantial changes.)

(Amusing side note - blogger just asked if by "veganizing" I meant "navel-gazing" - that would have been an embarrassing auto-correct!).

The taste and texture of these cookies are just perfect. When I first tried one on it's own I thought it was good but possibly not sweet enough. Then I remembered that the cookie was made to house a little nutella in them so tried it again with some vegan nutella in and Oh.My.Word. Incredible. So yes, they need the nutella ;-) An altogether beautiful cookie.

Hazelnut Espresso Thumbprint Cookies - click for recipe.

Recipe notes:
♥ I swapped the butter with vegan butter, I used Vitalite.
♥ I used blanched hazelnuts and processed them in my food processor until as fine as they would get. They weren't like flour, just really finely chopped. I think this gave the best texture. I was also really lazy and didn't bother roasting them first. I'm sure that would have added even more flavour but just to let you know that if you are feeling lazy too there's no need to roast first ;-)
♥ I used store bought vegan nutella. Here in Ireland Spar's own label Hazelnut spread is "accidentally" vegan. There are other brands out there that do specifically vegan hazelnut spread OR you can make your own, although I haven't tried this you can always trust the recipes at Seitan is my Motor.
♥ Recipe said to use a teaspoon measure for the cookies. I thought these would be too small so used a measured tablespoon instead. Once they baked I thought, oh dear, these really are too big. Then I ate one and changed my mind ;-)
♥ I piped the hazelnut spread in with a star tip and love the way that looks.
♥ If you thinking of giving these as gifts, just keep in mind that the hazelnut spread in there makes these unable to stack or pack really well.

Roll the dough into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. I then used the round end of a knitting needle I have to make the indentation.

Once baked the hole does puff up a bit so make sure you make that indentation quite deep and large.

Wait until they are fully cool before filling with the hazelnut spread.

♥

Pan-Fried Vegan Cheeseburger Wrap

I made this up shortly after making my second batch of my vegan unprocessed cheese slices. It's amazing. Tasted just like I remember cheeseburgers tasting like but in a crispy fried wrap which just makes it even better. Damn. Vegan junk food at it's finest :-P

Obviously, you can put whatever you would normally like in a burger in this wrap. My favourite fast food burger "back in the day" was A&W's "teen burger" as it had, in my opinion, the holy trinity of burger ingredients in it: pickle, onion and mustard. Hence why I've gone for that here, and a few slices of vegan bacon wouldn't have gone amiss either ;-)

Pan-Fried Vegan Cheeseburger Wrap

Makes 1.

• 50g frozen soy mince (I use Tesco own label)

• 1 shallot, or a couple tablespoons finely chopped onion.

• 1 small clove garlic, finely chopped

• pinch of smoked sea salt

• 5 grinds of black pepper

• 1 tsp vegetable oil

♥

• 1 large white wrap

• 1 slice Vegan Unprocessed Cheese.

• lettuce, preferably iceberg.

• dill pickle slices

• yellow mustard (French's)

• a little extra oil to fry, no more than a teaspoon.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the soy mince, shallot or onion and garlic. Fry over low heat until it starts to get dry then add about 50ml water. Cook until the water is fried off, soy mince is cooked and onions are soft.

Warm the wrap up briefly in a dry frying pan so it's pliable. In the centre add some lettuce leaves and the mince mixture. Top with a cheese slice cut in half diagonally then the pickles and some yellow mustard. 

Fold both ends over then roll up burrito style. Heat another bit of oil in a pan, I used the same pan I fried the mince in then add the wrap, pressing down to flatten slightly. Keep the heat high, you just want to crisp up the outside and melt the cheese, not wilt the lettuce. Flip over when golden and repeat, again pressing down with a spatula. Transfer to a chopping board and slice in half diagonally. Done.

♥

Nutritional Information: 

Calories: 409

Fat: 16.6g

Sat Fat: 2.9g

Carbs: 42.9g

Sugar: 4.2g

Fibre: 5.9g

Protein: 17.6g

Sodium: 828mg

Vegan Cheese Dog

...And in continuing in my quest to make more vegan junk food, the vegan cheese dog! I've taken this photo from the daily blog where I was thoroughly enjoying these daily until I ran out of cheese slices :-) 

Simply melt one unprocessed cheese slice onto a hot dog bun (I used the grill) and fill with your favourite vegan hot dog (I use Fry's) then top with a relish made with tangy dill pickles finely chopped with onion and lots of French's mustard. Delicious!

♥

Vegan Unprocessed Cheese Slices

So, I have Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory to blame for my latest addiction here. It was that episode where he goes back to his mom's house annoyed at a prank his friends played on him. While there she makes him a grilled cheese sandwich and I instantly wanted it. Not a fancy grilled cheese but the old school style with white bread and processed cheese. They were easily my favourite growing up, sure, later on I loved a grilled cheese with some fancy artisan cheese as much as the next person but I would still come back to this style.

I know there are vegan "processed cheese" style slices out there but lets face it. They're gross. I've used them when I'm desperate but it's never satisfying. Then I remembered that The Un-Cheese Cookbook had a recipe for a grilled cheese where you basically made a thick nutritional yeast based cheese sauce and spread that onto toasted bread. I've always loved the way Chef Chloe's Macaroni and Cheese sauce recipe reminded me of a processed Velveeta style sauce so I adapted hers but made it thicker. I was really happy with the result but found making a sauce for a sandwich a little awkward, for example you have to toast the bread first and for me the golden rule of a grilled cheese is buttering both top sides of bread and frying it. It's essential.

So, I experimented with making slices using a gelling agent. First I tried agar as I figured more people can buy that but it didn't work. I only have flakes and they never dissolved properly. Next up was using Vege-Gel, a veggie gelling agent which is a fine powder and, success! Well, after several attempts with lots of rather expensive nutritional yeast, agar and vege-gel being dumped in the bin that is. But, it was worth it. These taste so much like my old grilled cheeses of my youth I couldn't get over it. They hold together as slices but be warned, are a little delicate, just not delicate enough to justify 2 sachets of vege-gel. They melt fantastic too, I even tried one grilled and they melted just like I remember processed cheese slices melting, by getting a little brown and puffing up in spots so these should be great topped onto a vegan soy burger and melted. Still, it's these grilled cheeses I'll be making often - so happy to have them back in my life!!!

Vegan Unprocessed Cheese Slices

Yields 6 large slices.

• 30g vegan butter (2 Tbsp) I used Vitalite.

• 30g plain flour (3 Tbsp)

• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk (240ml)

• ¼ cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tsp tomato paste (puree).

• ¾ tsp salt

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• 1 sachet vege-gel *

* I have only used the Dr. Oetker brand vege-gel here. Each sachet is about 6 grams each. Other brands may need some adapting to work. As I mentioned I tried agar flakes but it didn't work. Agar powder I feel will work but I can't buy that here. So I'm afraid if you can't buy this brand you'll need to do some experimenting of your own :-)  EDIT - A HUGE thank you to Laina who mentioned in the comments below that she had success using 2 teaspoons of agar powder. I've said it before I'll say it again, the vegan community...is awesome :-)

Line a 7.5" x 11" jelly roll pan with cling film so that it overhangs enough that you can cover the top.

Place the nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder in a mortar and pestle and grind until the yeast is a fine powder. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the flour and vege-gel.

In another bowl whisk together the soy milk and tomato paste until the paste dissolves. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk really well until no lumps appear.

In a small saucepan add the vegan butter then pour over the mixture. Turn the heat to medium-high (I used my smallest element on high heat) and whisk all the while until the butter melts and incorporates into the mixture. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens and changes from a somewhat nothing colour to a vibrant orange. You can now change to a wooden spoon and keep stirring until nice and thick. It took 3 minutes for mine to get the the wooden spoon stage and another 3 minutes of simmering once thick. I kept the heat on high but again, I used my smallest element here.

With a rubber spatula scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and spread out with a knife until it fills the pan and is nice and even. Take the overhanging cling film and cover the top, pressing down slightly just to get it all nice and even. 

Chill until set, it'll take a couple of hours. Peel back the cling film then lift out of the pan and place on a chopping board. Slice into 6 large slices then they are ready to use. 

Keep leftover slices on individual pieces of baking paper and covered with cling film in the fridge. 

I found it easiest to get them onto bread by picking up the paper and placing them down onto the sandwich then removing the paper.

♥

The Ultimate Vegan Grilled Cheese

Essential rules: use good quality white bakery bread and butter both sides that are getting fried. Don't be skimpy with the butter either. A good grilled cheese should be golden, crispy and buttery on the outside. And, if you old school like me, served with a dill pickle on the side :-)

♥

These slices work great in a sandwich maker too! Look how melty that is!! This is a recreation of an old favourite sandwich of mine filled with 1 unprocessed cheese slice, 5 slices of Redwood Foods Beef Style slices and lots of French's mustard. Photo taken from my daily blog.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 cheese slice (not the sandwich).

Calories: 68
Protein: 3.1g
Fat: 3.7g
Sat Fat: 0.7g
Carbs: 5.9g
Sugar: 0.3g
Fibre: 0.7g
Sodium: 327mg
Calcium: 50.9mg

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♥

Roasted Sweet Potato & Pecan Salad with Mixed Leaf & Beetroot and a Maple-Balsamic Dressing

This is actually a revamped version of the Warm Butternut Squash and Pecan Salad that is already on the blog. After the Thanksgiving Weekend we just had I had quite a bit of both butternut squash and sweet potato leftover that needed using up. I first made it as is with the butternut squash and omitting the cumin seed and it was as good as it always was. Then I made it with sweet potato and decided to use a maple-balsamic dressing as opposed to roasting it with maple syrup and Oh.My.Word. This was delicious! I was just going to update that post but decided that this salad deserved it's own post, front and centre on the blog ;-) 

I'm usually not keen on beetroot but it went really well with this salad. I'm thinking that earthiness beetroot has was countered nicely by the sweet potato and maple dressing. Now, I cheated here and used a bagged mixed leaf that had shredded beetroot already added. You can easily add your own here and I do recommend it, however I'm afraid I'll have to direct you to searching on how to cook and add the beetroot elsewhere though as it's a vegetable I never work with! (Sorry - bad blogger!!) 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had a great meal and an altogether great weekend, you can read all about it on the daily blog. Also, do you like my little homemade pumpkin candles there? I found these mini pumpkins in the English Market here in Cork and just carved them out to house a little tea light. They were scattered on the table for Thanksgiving dinner, looked really good all lit up!

Roasted Sweet Potato and Pecan Salad with Mixed Leaf and Beetroot with a Maple-Balsamic Dressing

Serves 2 as a main dish salad

• about 270g peeled weight sweet potato, diced

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 50g whole pecans

• 180g mixed leaf, I bought one with shredded beetroot in it, or you can easily add your own. 

• 2 shallots, sliced

♥

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

• ½ Tbsp maple syrup

• ¼ tsp Dijon mustard

•¹/_{8 tsp salt}

_{• 3 grinds of black pepper}

_{Preheat the oven to 200C. Toss the sweet potato in the 2 teaspoons of olive oil and spread out in a roasting tin. Roast for 25 minutes or until tender and slightly charred at the edges. Add the whole pecans when there is 5 minutes left.}

_{Whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the oil. Slowly add the oil whisking all the while until incorporated. Toss most of the dressing with the leaf and shallots then divide amongst two plates.}

_{Top with the warm roasted sweet potato and pecans and a drizzle of more dressing then serve immediately.} 

♥

Source: Dressing based on this recipe.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving.

Calories: 475

Fat: 36.8g

Sat Fat: 4.2g

Protein: 5.5g

Carbs: 36.7g

Sugar: 9.6g

Fibre: 6.4g

Sodium: 243mg

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♥

Sweet Potato Fortune Rolls

A delicious and fun idea for Thanksgiving!

First, an apology to my fellow Canadians that I missed posting this before our Thanksgiving. I only just made them and realized that they are perfect for Thanksgiving, so, it's one for all my American friends for the upcoming holiday :-) I actually didn't get around to making Thanksgiving dinner back in October and am doing ours this weekend which will most definitely feature these rolls.

I saw this idea of putting a little message in a bread roll on Pinterest. It came from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog as "Thankful Rolls" and I immediately pinned it. You were to write a little message on a small piece of paper, fold it up, wrap it in foil then place inside a bread roll and bake. I absolutely loved this idea. 

Then I was flipping through an old Canadian Living magazine and saw these Sweet Potato Rolls which were made by folding them over and thought, gosh, those are just made to house a little fortune inside! So, the two ideas were forged together and here you go: Sweet Potato Fortune Rolls, absolutely perfect for Thanksgiving dinner :-)

The original idea was to put a little message of thanks in each roll but to be honest, we're not all that sentimental (ha!) so I pretty much knew mine were going to house comedy fortunes, or in the case of the first test batch I did here, Dr. Who quotes for my son ;-) In any case you can write whatever you like inside, have fun with it!

My son really enjoyed the Doctor Who Fortune :-D

As for the buns themselves - Oh. My. Word. They are absolutely delicious!! I pretty much exclaimed after my first bite that they were the best bread roll I've ever eaten in my life and I stick by that. The sweet potato and hint of brown sugar does not make these sweet but just gives them great flavour, and do not omit the spring onion here, they really make these rolls. Believe me when I say I'll be making these with or without the fortunes many times!

Sweet Potato Fortune Rolls

Yields: 8 large or 16 small rolls.

• 125g (1 cup) sweet potato (peeled weight) cut into 1" dice.

• 125ml (½ cup) reserved potato water

• ½ Tbsp packed brown sugar

• 80ml (1/3 cup) dairy free milk

• 1 tsp quick rise yeast *see original recipe for using active dry if you prefer, keep in mind I've halved the recipe here.

• ¼ cup finely chopped spring onion

• 1 Tbsp vegan butter

• 350g (2½ cups) strong white bread flour, plus extra.

• 1 tsp salt

Boil the sweet potato in unsalted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking water. 

Add the measured cooking water to a saucepan with the dairy free milk and heat to 130F / 54C or until hand hot. You should be able to leave your finger in there tolerably.  

Mash the sweet potato with the brown sugar and vegan butter until smooth.

Mix together the flour, salt and yeast. Add the liquid, potato and spring onion to the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until it comes together.

Transfer to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed, until smooth and elastic and shape into a ball. Transfer to a large greased bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Once risen, you should be able to poke the dough and leave an indentation, it should also have risen very well. Now roll out the dough and cut out circles, any size you like really, I used a large (3") circle cutter but found these much too big for a dinner roll so would make them smaller next time. The size is ultimately up to you but you should get 8 large or 16 small rolls out of this. If you are not making fortune rolls, simply cut into 8 or 16 pieces and shape into balls for plain rolls.

Take the circle and roll it out a little to make a slight oval shape. Place the fortune or message of thanks that has been wrapped tightly in foil in one end, wet the end with a bit of water and fold over the dough, sealing the message. Press down slightly to ensure the two ends stick together.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, cover loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place while you preheat the oven to 200C / 400F. When the oven is at temperature, remove the cling film and bake the rolls for about 18 minutes, rotating the pan with 10 minutes left to ensure even baking. The rolls should have risen again, be golden brown and sound hollow underneath when tapped.

I now like to brush the rolls with vegan butter, it gives them a lovely gloss and adds nice flavour. Serve immediately as these are best fresh from the oven. Just split them open at the crease to reveal the fortune, slather them with vegan butter then mop up all that vegan gravy with them. Sigh, these might just be my most favourite part of Thanksgiving dinner now!

 ♥

Sources: Fortune idea from "The Girl Who Ate Everything" blog; recipe based on Canadian Living's Sweet Potato Rolls.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 large roll out of 8.

Calories: 213
Protein: 7.5g
Carbs: 40g
Sugar: 2.4g
Fibre: 3.2g
Fat: 2.7g
Sat Fat: 0.5g
Sodium: 345mg

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Thanksgiving Dinner
2008

Monkey Squares

Chocolate cookie base topped with peanut butter frosting, crunchy salted peanuts and chewy banana chips then drizzled with chocolate :-) No bake too!

These were inspired by another recipe in the latest Canadian Living Holiday Baking Magazine - told you I would be making a lot out of it!! Unlike the cinnamon roll cookies, these ones needed more veganizing so I've really just used their idea for the squares and made them my own.  

Ever since I made that Grasshopper Pie I've been wanting to use that amazing base for a bar or square and since the original recipe called for Oreo crumbs (which I can't buy here and they probably aren't vegan anyway) I knew it would be the perfect replacement.

The recipe then called for sweetened condensed milk to be poured over the base and peanuts and banana chips. Heck, I wasn't even going to attempt to veganize that! I love peanut butter frosting and thought a layer of that on top of the base would be delicious. Then I chopped up some roasted salted peanuts and banana chips and sprinkled them generously over top and a drizzle of chocolate. 

Oh my word....these are amazing!! Oddly enough though, I had trouble finding banana chips! I ended up with chewy banana chips from Tesco which I wasn't sure would work as I was expecting the crisp dried banana chips but you know what? I think it works better. You already have a crunchy factor going on with the salted peanuts so the chewy banana chips adds yet another texture. Lovely.

Monkey Squares

• 150g digestive biscuits or vegan graham crackers (1¼ cup crumbs)

• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2 Tbsp caster sugar (or granulated)

• 50g vegan butter ( 1/4 cup + 2 tsp)

• 100g chopped plain or semi-sweet chocolate (or chips)

♥

• 70g vegan butter (¼ cup)

• 100g smooth peanut butter (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 180g icing sugar (1½ cups)

♥

• roughly chopped roasted salted peanuts

• roughly chopped banana chips
(apologies, I didn't measure how much I used here, just enough of both to cover the surface.)

♥

• about 50g plain or semi-sweet chocolate to drizzle.

Either line an 8" square baking tin with several sheets of overhanging cling film or lightly grease an 8" square silicone baking mould. I used a silicone mould and it worked great.

Process the biscuits until they are fine crumbs either in a food processor or place in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. You don't want any chunks left. Tip this into a large bowl and add the cocoa powder and sugar.

In a smaller bowl add the vegan butter and chopped chocolate. Place this over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until both are melted.

Pour this over the crumb mixture and stir well until it all comes together. Tip it all into the prepared pan and with greased hands press it all down until even and into all the corners. Pop into the fridge to set - it should be ready in a couple of hours.

To make the frosting simply beat the vegan butter and peanut butter together until well mixed. Add the icing sugar a little at a time beating well after each addition. When it starts to get a little dry add the vanilla extract and beat well. Once all the icing sugar is added you should have a frosting that is slightly thicker than if you were icing cupcakes.

Remove the base from the fridge and spread with the frosting. Generously sprinkle over both the chopped peanuts and banana chips then slightly press them down into the frosting a bit so they don't fall off while eating. Pop this back into the fridge for the frosting to firm up a bit, a couple hours should do it.

Remove the whole thing from the pan, either by just popping it out of the silicone mould or by lifting it out via the cling film. Melt the chocolate, I just used the microwave and drizzle back and forth all over the top. Place back in the fridge for the chocolate to set, about an hour.

Slice into a minimum of 16 squares (they are RICH) get some coffee on and enjoy! Note - you might find it easier to slice if it is out of the fridge for about half an hour first. Once sliced you can keep them at room temperature.

♥

Source: Inspired by Canadian Living's Monkey Squares.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 square out of 16.

Calories: 260

Protein: 3.6g

Fat: 15.3g

Sat Fat: 5.7g

Fibre: 2.6g

Carbs: 27.5g

Sugar: 20.2g

Sodium: 20.2mg

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♥

Vegan Turkey Style Deli Slices

Now, I don't work with vital wheat gluten much. Anyone who lives in the UK or Ireland will know why - it's almost impossible to buy the stuff! Online only as far as I can see and I like to keep my foodstuffs ordered online to a minimum  That being said I do order vital wheat gluten mostly so I can make my Vegan Rullepølse, which is an absolute Christmas essential for me :-) 

Since I had some about I thought I would have a go at some turkey style deli slices. This was inspired from 2 sources, first - the turkey style broth for seitan in La Dolce Vegan and Vegan Dad's Corned Beef.

I once tried the broth in La Dolce Vegan when I got brave one night and attempted to make my own wheat gluten (nightmare, I don't recommend it!) but I loved that broth, the sage and onion flavouring really was reminiscent of Christmas turkey and I actually continue to use a variation of it as a gravy. Then I made Vegan Dad's corned beef which is steamed rather than boiled and I was so impressed with the texture: tender, not too chewy and when it's cold can be sliced really thin.

So I thought I would combine the two, adding the flavourings from the broth in La Dolce Vegan with the steam and bake method Vegan Dad uses. I am so happy with the end result, well, for someone who rarely uses vital wheat gluten I am! If you know those sage and onion slices by Redwood foods this is very close, and I love those. (Just a note, I noticed that Vegan Dad also has turkey style slices but he uses flavourings I can't buy here so figured I would stick with La Dolce Vegan's flavourings).

In the same way any meat style dish features in my life it's for one reason only - memories. Good food memories. For me, leftover Christmas turkey was only consumed one way: thinly sliced in buttered white bread with lots of mayo and a bit of salt and pepper. Yes. Sliced white bread - gasp! So, that's exactly how I had this (with vegan butter and mayo, of course) and it reminded me so much of my old favourite. That being said I can also see this working as a roast, thickly sliced while warm and served with the usual trimmings.

Vegan Turkey Style Deli Slices:

• 100g (1/2 cup) canned white canellini beans, drained and rinsed.
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp vegan worcester sauce
• 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp smoked sea salt
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

I prefer to do all of this in a mortar and pestle but you could use a food processor if you prefer or even by hand.

In a mortar and pestle add the nutritional yeast flakes, onion powder, salt, sage and thyme and grind until the yeast flakes are like a powder and the herbs get crushed. Remove and set aside.

Add the beans to the mortar and pestle and mash until really creamy. Transfer to a large bowl.

Mix together the water, olive oil, soy and worcester sauce in a pyrex measuring jug then whisk in the yeast and seasonings. Pour a little over the beans and whisk to incorporate, slowly add the rest of the liquid whisking all the while until mixed. 

Add the wheat gluten and mix well until it comes together. Sprinkle some more wheat gluten onto a surface and knead a few times until you have a large, wide oval loaf. I probably kneaded in a couple tablespoons more gluten here but the loaf will be on the wet side. That's good as you won't end up with dry deli slices, although it is probably the reason for the holes in the end product there. Still, I wouldn't change a thing here as the taste and texture was lovely!

Wrap the loaf up in foil, sealing the edges well and steam for 1 hour. Do check the water levels now and again as it can easily boil dry!

Preheat the oven to 180C when there is about 15 minutes left of steaming. Place the foil wrapped loaf directly in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove and let cool then it's ready to be sliced thin for sandwiches.

Furthermore, I used the slices to make another variation on my Vegan Butter Grilled Bagel Toasties. This one had the turkey slices, vegan mayo, black pepper and Dijon mustard and was amazing! Possibly a new favourite here :-) Just toast using the same method as the other bagel toasties in the post there.

♥

Nutritional Information: per 100g

Calories: 196
Fat: 2.8g
Sat Fat: 0.3g
Fibre: 1.8g
Protein: 23.9g
Carbs: 16.8g
Sugar: 0.4g
Sodium: 422mg

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Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Well, it's that time of year again when my mom sends me the latest Canadian Living Holiday Baking magazine special! I love these, as I'm sure you'll know by now if you've read this blog for any length of time as they always have great ideas. I immediately started jotting down recipes I wanted to veganize and these Cinnamon Roll Cookies were first on my list. I've simply replaced the egg with a little plain soy yogurt and of course the butter with vegan butter but mostly made some changes in the method. Namely I've found that giving the dough a little knead after the first chill helps develop the gluten a bit which in turn helps the dough bind together better without the egg.

In the end these cookies are delicious and as you can see, beyond cute! They are small, which may not come across in the pictures here, only about an inch and a half wide, taste almost just like cinnamon rolls and would make great gifts this holiday season as they hold together and pack really well. The texture is lovely, slightly crisp on the outside but soft inside and you can eat these just like a cinnamon roll - by peeling off the layers until you get to the solid middle full of buttery, cinnamony loveliness!

As for the glaze, the recipe called for a cream cheese glaze, which of course would go perfectly with a cinnamon roll cookie. I didn't have any cream cheese when I first made these so just made a basic vanilla glaze, as you see in these pictures, which was perfect. 

The next time I made these I did make up a cream cheese glaze which was delicious BUT it wouldn't really drizzle easily like the first glaze, the cream cheese made it rather gloopy so it was easier to just spread all over the top. Tasted good but then you lose the look of the cinnamon roll, it just looked like a glazed round cookie. 

You could pipe it on but furthermore, the cream cheese glaze never set, and that set, slightly crisp drizzle glaze is essential (I think). So, in the end the cream cheese glaze was a fail so I'm sticking with the regular vanilla glaze for these.

 Cinnamon Roll Cookies

• 80g vegan butter (1/3 cup + 2 tsp)

• 100g brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)

• 1 Tbsp plain soy yogurt

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 175g plain flour (1 1/4 cup)

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp salt

♥

• 1 Tbsp packed brown sugar

• 1 Tbsp vegan butter

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

♥

• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp icing sugar

• 3 tsp soy cream (or any dairy free milk)

• 1/8 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl add the vegan butter, brown sugar, soy yogurt and vanilla and beat well until lighter in colour and somewhat fluffy. In a seperate bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Add half of this to the butter mixture and beat well until all incorporated then add the rest of the flour to the mixture and beat well. You should have a dough that is slightly crumbly but will squish together.

Pull it all together with your hands and shape into a ball and wrap in cling film. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

After chilling, if you try and roll the dough out now it will crack and split and you'll be cursing my name to high heaven! Flour your work surface and knead it. You must knead it here, not hard like you are making bread, just a gentle knead for about 2 - 3 minutes. You will notice the dough change from rather firm and crackly to a smooth ball. Add more flour as need be to stop it from sticking but don't go overboard, I probably added no more than 1 tablespoon here. 

Keep the surface dusted with flour and roll the dough out to a 30 x 25 cm rectangle. Approximate, you don't have to be overly exact here!

Mix together the brown sugar, vegan butter and cinnamon until you have a paste and spread this over top:

Note: the spread will be thin!

From the long side, carefully roll it up, pinching the long end to seal, roll it a little bit to keep it round and you'll find it has stretched out a bit at this point. I slightly push the ends in to get it back to around 30cm long. It will be VERY soft at this stage, and yes, now you may be cursing my name to high heaven, lol! Carefully transfer it to a sheet of cling film, wrap it up, place it on a long plate or baking sheet and freeze it for 30 minutes to firm up.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Remove the dough from the freezer, unwrap the cling film and slice it in about 1/4" slices. I ended up with 20 cookies from the log. After you slice them, reshape them into circles with your hands as they will squish a little during cutting:

Now bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, rotating the pan once halfway through. They will be lightly golden around the edges and feel fairly firm. 

Leave to cool on the sheet for a minute or so then transfer to a wire rack to fully cool. I just transfer the whole sheet to the wire rack so they don't get rack marks on them.

Once they are fully cool make the glaze by mixing the icing sugar, soy cream or milk and vanilla together until you have a thick yet runny glaze. When you spoon it up it should fall like ribbons back into the bowl. You don't want it too thin or the lines will just run into each other and you'll end up with thinly glazed cookies instead of drizzled. Add more icing sugar and or 'milk' until the consistency is right. Then simply drizzle over the cookies, whilst on the sheet to catch the drips, back and forth until done. You will probably have glaze leftover but it's better to have more than not enough. Leave the glaze to set then enjoy!

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Source: Canadian Living Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Nutritional Information: based on 1 cookie out of 20

Calories: 86

Fat: 2.8g

Sat Fat: 0.6g

Carbs: 14.3g

Sugar: 7.5g

Fibre: 0.3g

Sodium: 50mg

Protein: 0.9g

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