Post from 2007 on making cookies.

Monday, November 12, 2007
It is cookie time :)

I was not going to talk about sugar so soon in the blog but being that the cookie season is approaching I thought it would be a good idea. Recently I learned that sugar is not vegan. I did research and here is a website I found about this topic. It also lists brands of sugar that are non-vegan and vegan. I thought the information may be of interest especially around the holidays when sugar cookies are popular. And do not worry about finding the sugar because it is out there. I found it at an organic /whole food store and the local supermarket.
http://www.vegfamily.com/articles/sugar.htm
When I looked into colored vegan sugar I did not find that. But I did find vegan sprinkles that one uses on ice cream on one of the web sites I listed in my previous blog for vegan groceries. I thought to myself you could probably make your own colored sugar with vegan sugar and food coloring. Well I researched it and others had the same idea. This website has a recipe for making your own colored sugar. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Colored-Sugar/Detail.aspx


I also noticed that some other recipes use cinnamon plus sugar for coating. Here are some web sites I found with sugar cookie recipes that seem worth trying.


http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/desserts/holiday-sugar-cookies.htm
http://www.vegout.info/recipe_show.php?title=Vegan%20Sugar%20Cookie&ID=43
http://www.johnandkristie.com/archives/2005/10/perfect_sugar_c.html
http://www.recipezaar.com/202592 ( this person uses applesauce instead of margarine. I saw someone mention that on a website. Thought I would plug it in here for more options)


If you have your own sugar cookie recipe you use either from a book or your family recipe, read through the ingredients and see what really needs to be substituted. I compared a recipe I use from a cook book to the ones in the web sites I mentioned above and it was very similar. I would only need to replace sugar with vegan sugar, the egg with an egg replacer ( see note following this paragraph), and the sour cream with tofutti’s sour supreme. I have not tried the latter product yet so I can not comment. ( 12/08- addendum- I used the tofutti sour cream last year for cookies and they tasted good) In one of the above recipes someone uses tofutti cream cheese. And if you are not really comfortable changing things around yet then try one of the above recipes. I suggest doing a trial run before the holiday. Cut the recipe in half and then in half again if you want (depending on the yield of the original recipe) and give it a test try. You do not even have to decorate if you do not want for the trial run, just make the cookie and see if you like the dough. And then you will be on your way to a vegan holiday.
Note: I bought the Ener- G egg replacer in an organic food store. It is in a box and I think it was in the baking section. You can not make scrambled eggs with it because it is for baking purposes. It is a powder that is mixed with water. I have used it in some recipes which called for egg and it worked fine. I have also seen the other products I have in bold in the organic food store/ whole food store.
A note on margarine: Butter is dairy so it is not vegan. (12/08- addendum- I use the brand earth balance which I found in my local organic store. They have a few variations from margarine spread to buttery spread. I find it works well with cookie recipes and every day purposes.

Last year I made quite a bit of cookies and they were enjoyed by even the non-vegans. I did what I stated above using vegan substitutes and the finished product worked out well. I made my own sugar sprinkles. One recipe I had called for jello so I used vegan jello. The brand is by "natural desserts" and it is called jel dessert. Orginally I found it online (I have the sites listed on my very first post) and then I found it in my local organic store. I hope this information helps and that you enjoy your cookie time. :)

Happy Holidays

Gnewvegan