Healthy Organic Vegan Italian Soft Cookies

Healthy Organic Vegan Italian Soft Cookies

This year I decided to give myself a culinary challenge! Converting all of my favorite holiday cookie recipes into healthy, vegan, organic versions, while keeping them delicious!! The first one I converted, Italian Soft Cookies, is a favorite family recipe. Everyone LOVED them!! AND they loved the fact they are healthy, organic and vegan. Even though they are a holiday cookie, they can be made ANY TIME of the year!! Enjoy!!

(I am including both versions of the recipes.)

Healthy Organic Vegan Italian Soft Cookies

1 cup vegan butter, softened, room temperature

1 cup organic sugar

4 flax “eggs”*

1 cup organic coconut milk, unsweetened

1 tsp. organic vanilla extract

1 tsp. organic almond extract or organic lemon extract or orange extract

6 heaping tsp. organic baking powder

4-5 cups flour - A mixture of organic brown rice flour, organic quinoa flour and organic unbleached white flour. (You can experiment with different rations and flours.)

Flax “egg” = 1 tbsp. organic ground flax meal + 3 tbsp. water, mix until well blended.

Cream together sugar, eggs, butter in a large mixing bowl. Add milk and extracts. Mix until blended. Add the baking powder. The mixture will rise and bubble creating a foam on the top of the mixture. Then add the flour until a moist cookie dough consistency is created. Refrigerate dough over night.

To Bake: Preheat oven to 350°. Using a melon ball scoop, scoop the dough and roll into a ball. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the rolled dough pieces approximately 2 inches apart. Bake until glossy on top and slightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

Frosting: Combine 1/2 cup softened vegan butter, 2 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar, 1 tsp. organic vanilla extract, 2 - 3 tbsp coconut milk to create a frosting consistency. Frost completely cooled cookies and store in a single layer in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Unfrosted cookies can be stored up to 3 months in the freezer.

Original Italian Soft Cookie Recipe

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. lemon or almond extract

6 heaping tsp. baking powder

4-5 cups flour

Cream together sugar, eggs, butter in a large mixing bowl. Add milk and extracts. Mix until blended. Add the baking powder. The mixture will rise and bubble, creating a foam on the top of the mixture. Then add the flour until a moist cookie dough consistency is created. Refrigerate dough over night.

To Bake: Preheat oven to 350°. Using a melon ball scoop, scoop the dough and roll into a ball. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the rolled dough pieces approximately 2 inches apart. Bake until glossy on top and slightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

Frosting: Combine 1/2 cup softened vegan butter, 2 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar, 1 tsp. organic vanilla extract, 2 - 3 tbsp coconut milk to create a frosting consistency. Frost completely cooled cookies. Allow frosting to dry before storing. Store in a single layer in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Unfrosted cookies can be stored up to 3 months in the freezer.