One Long Cookie Night! Part one: The not so healthy

It seems like it has been forever since I made a recipe for the angry-vegan. I have been craving cookies for a while. I have also been promising an awesome post on cookies for a while... So... Here it is! Welcome to what was once cookie day, but now it is cookie night! I dedicate this to all the night owls out there... looking for something to do while the rest of the world sleeps.

One of my favourite things to do at night is cook. Weird? Maybe, but I find that as soon as I start something that requires me to stay awake, I start to want to sleep. It is a weird little mind-game that I play.

Tonight is no different. I planned to take this day for myself. Stay home and get a few things done while baking a few dozen cookies. Somehow day turned to night and here I am, nowhere near ready to sleep and needing something to do.

Part of my cookie challenge was to find a different egg replacer for each recipe. Egg replacers are very new to me. I have been avoiding them because I don't understand them. After a bit of research I learned not only do I use egg replacers all the time, but they are insanely easy to work with. Here are some egg replacers I have discovered:

• Apple sauce
• Banana
• Flax egg
• Chia egg
• potato water
• mashed potato
• commercial egg replacer
• soy milk and vinegar
• Silken tofu

With all these choices out there, why even bother buying eggs?? If you know anyone trying to cut down on cholesterol, then urge them to try one of these. An easy way to cut back. Lucky for me, vegan diets are essentially cholesterol free. I used to think eggs were a magic food. You can do so much with them and nothing can replace them. I will admit for the first time... I was so wrong!

OK. Let's get down to business here... the cookies.

Cookie # 1: Rum-Nog Cookies *Cornstarch egg substitute
Recipe from Vegonomicon
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup soy or rice milk
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 2 Tbsp dark rum**
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 corn starch
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 chopped pecan

Frosting:
- 2 Tbsp vegan margarine, soften
- 2 Tbsp soy milk
- 2 dark rum
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease two cookie sheets

In a big bowl, combine the oil, soy milk, sugar, molasses,rum, and vanilla. Beat until slightly foamy. Mix the dry ingredients together then put dry into the wet and mix until a dough forms.

Roll the dough into balls (about a Tbsp of dough), then roll the balls in the chopped pecans and place on the baking sheets. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cook on the sheet for 5 min then place on a rack.


Frosting: Use electric mixer and cream the margarine. Add the confectioners sugar and stir with a fork until it is crumbly. Beat in the milk, rum** and vanilla. It should look like a butter cream frosting.

**Note: I made these in two styles. One alcoholic and one non. For the the non-alcoholic version, in the cookies I substituted apple juice for the rum and in the frosting, I just took it out.

If you like rum, you will like these cookies. If you don't substitute because they are still seriously good.

Old School Chocolate Chip Cookies * Flax Egg Substitute
Adapted from Crisco's recipe
- 3/4 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 flax egg (1 tsp ground flax and 2 Tbsp water)
- 2 tbsp soy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup of chocolate chips
- 1/2 pecans

Easy recipe. Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a small bowl, whisk the flax and water together and let sit for 2 minutes. whisk again until it has an eggy texture.

Mix together the shortening and brown sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the milk, flax egg, and vanilla and mix again for 1-2 minutes.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Pour the dry into the wet (I do this in three batches) and mix until absorbed. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped pecans (optional).

Spoon Tbsp size dough balls on to the cookies sheets and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Let cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to plate.

If you want to make these a bit more adult, add in 1-2 tsp of instant espresso. Adds a lovely addictive quality. =)

Alright I think this is enough for one post. Coming next will be more cookies, but a little more healthy. Oatmeal raisin and Lemon sugar.