Chocolate Covered Olive Oil and Orange Shortbread Cookies

It is getting so close to Christmas (less them 2 weeks! AAHHH!!) which in my house means it is officially cookie time.

Starting my cookie baking binge on a quick and easy cookie. Shortbread. Made with few ingredients, one bowl, one sheet, in and out and done. To spice up the flavor a little I added orange and for ease of not having any non frozen vegan butter, I used olive oil instead which I think, judging by the reactions of the mr and sister, was a great idea. (I had to hide the cookies from mr.. he couldn't stop eating them)

ll sorts of flavorful and crispy, these are a good cookie to have and to share. Just the right amount of cookie to get into the cookie season.

And because I am nothing if not a stickler for aesthetically pleasing things, look at the shape. Most cookies are round. It’s nice to have a long and rectangular cookie around for a change, am I right? Am I weird? Yeah, a little.

To the cookies!

The stuff. Flour, salt, mild olive oil, brown sugar, an orange, and some chocolate chips.

Sugar and oil go into a bowl and mixed until completely combined. Add in a few tablespoons of juice from the orange, mix, then add in flour, salt, and zest from orange. Mix until it all comes together into a dough that is a little crumbly.

Gather dough and place on a cookie mat or parchment paper and gently roll out into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Place on a baking sheet and pop into fridge for about 1/2 hour. Preheat oven. Then once oven is preheated, pop the baking sheet into the oven.

In the meantime, rough chop up the chocolate into smaller pieces.

After about 18 minutes, the cookie should be a light golden brown. Pull it from the oven and working fast, take a sharp knife, pizza wheel, or bench scraper and cut the giant cookie into smaller cookies. Long strips look nice, but whatever shape you want, just do it fast and gently and don’t burn yourself.

Then pop the cookies back into oven again for another 5-6 minutes until a little darker brown.

Once cookie is a nice golden brown, pull it from oven and sprinkle the still hot cookie with the chocolate. Wait a minutes or two until it starts to melt, then with a knife, smear it around. Sprinkle with sprinkles or fancy gold dusting sugar if your feeling festive.

Now you should let them cool so gently slide them onto a wire rack. Just until the chocolate sets.

Then it is cookie time.

-C

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Chocolate covered Olive Oil and Orange shortbread cookies

make around 2 dozen

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1 tablespoon orange zest

• 1 tablespoon orange juice

• !/2 cup chocolate chips either smashed or cut into little pieces

• 2 tablespoons sprinkles (optional)

Garb a bowl and mix the oil and brown sugar together until completely incorporated and there are no chunks of sugar. Add in orange juice and mix. Then add in the salt, flour, and orange zest. Mix until a slightly crumbly dough forms. Gather dough into a ball (use your hands) and place on a large piece or parchment or a splat mat. Roll out into a rectangle-ish shape about 1/2 inch thick. Slide the whole thing still on parchment or mat right onto a baking sheet. Stick the baking sheet into the fridge to rest for about 20-30 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat oven to 350

One giant cookie has chilled a bit, place it it the oven and bake for for 18- 20 minutes or until a light golden brown. Remove from oven and right away, very carefully, cut the large cookies into whatever shape and however many pieces you want using a knife, pizza wheel or dough scraper. And don’t separate them yet. Once cut, pop back into oven for another 5-8ish minutes or until cookies are a nice golden brown.

Remove from oven and while still hot, sprinkle the chopped chocolate all over the top. Let it melt for a few minute then with a knife, carefully spread the melted chocolate all over and sprinkle with sprinkles of course. And now you can separate them.

Transfer cookie to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Now eat them.

These cookies will last a week, if not more on counter in a air tight container. They also ship well!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

Nothing validates a cookie more then a 13 year old girl (who knows her way around sweets) who eats a couple of the freshly baked cookies you made but doesn’t say much. Then asks to takes a couple home. Then texts you in the middle of the night to ask you to make more cookies because they are the best cookies that she has ever had. That is a true story and even though she woke me out of my well needed slumber, that girl is for sure going to get her own batch of these here, best cookies she has ever had. I guess I am a sucker for a baking complement.

These cookies, they are a chewy, cinnamon apple-y, oatmeal situation. Everything and more you could want out a cookie that just might taste a bit like apple pie. And who doesn’t want to eat apples right now? Especially if you are an apple picker (who isn’t?) Using fresh from the tree apples, they really are the perfect cookie for this time of year.

Ah, fall. It really is the best.

Now to the best cookies a 13 year old girl has ever had!

The stuff. White whole wheat flour, old fashion oats, brown sugar, baking soda and powder, salt, coconut oil, flax eggs, vanilla, a raw sugar and cinnamon mixture, and of course, apples.

Start by taking apples, cutting away seeds and core, and dicing into small little bits, like the size of a chocolate chip.

Now dough. Mix together the wet until combined then add in dry and mix until completely incorporated.

Fold in th apple chunks.

Scoop dough into balls and dip each ball into the raw sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place each cookie on baking sheet and smoosh down a little to help with the spreading. Once baking sheet is full with enough space for cookies to spread while they bake, place into oven.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until tops look baked and not gooey and bottoms are nice deep golden brown.

Lovey baked cookies.

Get them onto a wire rack to cool and to free up the baking sheet for the next batch.

And then cookies. To eat at your very leisure.

Enjoy your apples and Happy FALL!

-C

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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour

• 2 cups old fashion rolled oats

• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon each baking soda and baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

• 3/4 cups coconut oil melted but not hot

• 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flax seeds and 6 tablespoons warm water)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup turbano (raw) or white sugar mixed with 2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 large or 2 small Macintosh apples (about 1 1/2 cups small diced)

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, oil, flax eggs, and vanilla until completely incorporated and there are no big chunks of sugar. Dump in flour, oats, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon and fold into wet until completely combined. Fold in apple chunks until evenly distributed.

Scoop dough into a ball and dip the top into the raw sugar and cinnamon mixture then place on a cookie sheet. Gently smoosh each dough ball down a bit. Once baking sheet is full, with enough room for spreading, place in the oven and bake for 15-17 minutes or until cookies look cooked on top and are golden brown on the bottoms. Once baked, remove from baking sheet (gently) and place on a wire rack to cool.

Then eat. And store left over cookies in a air tight container at room temp for up to a week (if they last that long). Also can be frozen.

Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was having one of those weeks, a week when I just needed to make some cookies. You know those weeks right? And so cookies were made. White chocolate chip because thats all I had (Or thought I had. I forgot that I dumped all the regular chocolate chips into humongous jar in the pantry) and lemon because it just sounded right and also I had this giant lemon, which is the best part about these cookies. The giant lemon I used was the single lemon that I grew, in my own house, here in Vermont, on my little lemon tree. Crazy right? A $40 dollar lemon (because the plant cost that much), so these are some expansive ass cookies. HAHA.

So I know I make good cookies, but there was something about this flavor combination that had everyone drooling over them. A cookie that is chewy and crisp, but not hard and crunchy. They smell all sweet and citrusy and amazing. Probably the exact perfect cookie that anyone and everyone wants. The littles, they tried to eat them all. Barb, she ate one when she came over then texted me in the middle of the night to ask if I had anymore cookies left. Cameron, the boy (or gigantic man now) stopped over and raved about the cookies and that is saying a lot because that boy is picky. And the mr. of course, was skeptical of the flavor combination at first but that went out the window when he sat down and ate like 4 within minutes. So if you have any doubts, know that these are some good cookies. And also, you don’t need to grow your own lemon for these cookies. A regulate grocery store lemon will be just fine.

To the cookies!

The stuff. White and brown sugar, coconut oil, a flax egg, a lemon, vanilla extract, flour, salt, baking soda, and white chocolate chips.

Simple and straight forward. Grab a big bowl and add in the sugars, coconut oil, flax egg, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix until completely combined. Add in the baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix again until combined.

And don’t forget to to mix in the chocolate chips!

Up close for your pleasure.

Scoop dough onto baking sheets and give them a little tap to flatten the tops. Not too smooshed, just a bit, and toss that pan into the oven to bake.

And would you look at that, baked to perfection.

Place cookies on rack to cool.

And thats it.

Pile of cookies, cup of coffee… Do it. Do you.

-C

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Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 2 dozen

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup coconut oil, softened

• 3/4 cup white sugar

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoon warm water)

• 1 Large lemon ( or 1 hefty tablespoon zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice)

• 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (the vegan ones, if you care)

Preheat oven to 350

Place oil, sugars, vanilla, flax egg, the zest of the lemon, and a tablespoon of lemon juice into a big bowl, Mix together until completely incorporated. Add in a the flour, salt, and baking soda and mix until dough forms then add in the white chocolate chips and mix until combined.

Stoop out dough balls, about 2 tablespoons worth, onto a baking sheet. Make sure to give each ball a good amount of room because these cookies will spread a good bit. Give each dough ball a little press, not completely flat, just a little tap so the tops are not domed and then place cookies into oven to bake. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the cookies are turning slightly golden brown on top and golden brown on the bottom.

Once out of the oven, place cookies on a cooling rack to cool. Be careful because they are really fragile until they cool.

And then eat your cookies.

Store cookies at room tempature in airtight counter for up to a week. OR freeze them for a few months. But they will be gone in days so yeah.

Lemon Cardamom Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies

I love December, basically because it is a month long excuse to always be baking cookies. And listen to Christmas music. And have a lovely big ass tree in the house covered in lights and dried fruit. Plus snow if we are really lucky. December. It’s a good month.

And we are getting to that time when now most of us have serious cookie making on the brain. I bet if you ask 5 people what they are planning on doing in the next few days leading up to Christmas, at least 3 of them will tell you they are making cookies because really, that is what you should be doing. That is if you like to bake. If not, then by all means, skip cookie baking.

Now what cookies to bake? Well you got to have chocolate chip, and peanut butter. Plus some no bakes and sugar cookies, but also, I think, some type of gingerbread.

These cookies are the gingerbread something. I added cardamon because I think cardamom is delicious and think everyone will think so too, And lemon because lemon goes with cardamom and ginger and lemon cardamon ginger just has a nice ring to it. Then crinkle because I didn’t really want to roll out dough and cut out shapes (I was being lazy), but I wanted pretty and I am really Into the crinkle look.

These cookies were a huge hit. Not crispy like a snap, but not cakey or overly soft. A nice chew and deep in flavor. The mr was basically smuggling these cookies all day before I had a chance to really hide them and he is not a typical gingerbread lover but he told me that these cookies might just be the best cookies he has ever had. So yeah, I guess this is now my new winner gingerbread cookie recipe.

And no joke, these are probably the best smelling cookies I have ever made. I wanted to bottle up the smell and wear it on me like a teenage boy wears a new bottle of axe. Seriously, I kept sniffing my sweater all day long just to get a good hit of the smell. So good!

Now to the cookies!

The stuff. In one bowl there is flour, salt, and baking soda and powder. The other bowl is brown sugar and molasses. There there is a couple flax eggs, some oil, a lemon for it’s zest, and spices of ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, and black pepper. Also powdered sugar to roll and crinkle these cookies.

Wet stuff. Sugar, molasses, flax eggs, and oil. Mix until combined.

Dry stuff. Flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and the spices. Add in the lemon zest too and whisk to combine.

Wet into dry. Grab a wooden spoon and mix until a cohesive dough forms. And yes you can give up the spoon after a minute and use your hands to complete the mixing… I did.

After dough is mixed and uniform, pop the bowl into the fridge for a little while to give he dough some time to rest. Half an hour is good and you could even leave it for a day if you wanted to, just cover it if you do.

And when the dough has had it’s time, scoop, roll into balls, ans roll around and completely coat in powdered sugar.

Sugars balls of dough. Now pop them into the oven.

TA DA! Baked and all crinkly.

Let the cookies cool on a wire rack because that’s how all cookie cool. And smell that delicious oh so lovely smell. It really is amazing, no?

Then onto a serving plate and now you have cookies for your mouth face.

Happiest happys of all the days to come! Now go eat cookies!

-C

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Lemon Cardamom Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies

makes around 2 dozen cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• zest of a lemon (about 2 teaspoons)

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 2/3 cup neutral oil (I used canola)

• 2 flax eggs (6 tablespoon warm water mixed with 2 tablespoon ground flax seed)

• 1/2 -3/4 cup powdered sugar

To start, grab a bowl and mix together the brown sugar, molasses, oil, and flax seed eggs until completely combines. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, all the spices (ginger, cardamon, cinnamon,and pepper), the zest of the lemon, baking powder and soda, and salt. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry and mix together until a cohesive dough forms. Place dough in fridge for about a 1/2 hour to up to a day to let dough rest for a bit. If you are going to keep in the fridge for a while, just cover it up.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 and measure out powdered sugar into a bowl

Remove dough from fridge and using a scoop or just eyeballing it, scoop about 2 tablespoons worth of dough. With each scoop, roll the dough into a ball and place into the bowl of the powdered sugar and roll around unit completely coated. Place ball on a baking sheet, giving it a little pat down, NOT squishing it down, just a little indent. And don’t overcrowd balls, give them a little space.

When your baking sheet full, place Into hot oven and bake for 12-13 minutes or until the cookies have puffed and flattened out a bit, are golden brown on the bottoms, and the tops are all crinkly and lovely. Once cooked all the way, remove from oven and transfer cookies onto a wire rack to cool.

Then eat a warm one. Heck, eat 2 warm ones, then do what you will with the rest.

Store cooled cookies in an air tight container at room temp for 3-4 days. They can also be frozen for long term storage but why do you need to store your cookies? Jest eat them.

Chocolate filled Vanilla Sugar Sandwich Cookies

As of right now, these are by far the best cookies I have ever made. Look at them. They are SO CUTE!. Worth all the effort, seeing that I do not own a ghost cookie cutter (although I think my version of ghosts are pretty fantastic) and had to hand cut out each cookie with a knife and a ghost cutout I made a few weeks back. They make me happy just looking at them. That right there is saying something. And I don’t know about you and where you are, but it is getting pretty freaking cold out and I refuse to turn the heat on for a few more weeks so I do what I need to do to stay warm. If that means turning on the oven to bake cookies, then so be it. I have a feeling I am going to be making a few more batches of cookies before the months over. HA! (For reals though.)

These cookies are more or less a traditional sugar cookie with a chocolate ganache type filling, both with a hint of coconut flavor from the use of coconut oil. Something about the whole combination; the cookie, the coconutieness, and the chocolate that really had everyone (I gave them out a Barbs birthday party) praise my amazingness. I guess they are pretty freaking delicious.

Cute and delicious. Best kind of cookie!

And quick note. Yes these are ghosts but think of all the fun shaped sandwich cookies you could make. I am thinking moose shaped cookies next or maybe Christmas trees… Oh the possibilities!

Now, to the cookies!

The stuff. White sugar, coconut oil, flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla, almond milk, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. For cookies and filling.

To make cookie dough. Beat toghetet the coconut oil with sugar and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. Add in all the dry ingredients and the almond milk and mix until a dough forms.

Wrap dough in plastic and squish tight. Place in fridge for an hour or up to a day.

After dough has had time in the fridge, grab it and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out cookie shapes. If you want to cut out eyes or a few different shapes, remember each cookie needs a top and bottom so even numbers folks.

Place cut out cookies on a baking sheet then into the oven they go.

Bakes and ghostly! Place them on a wire rack to cool and keep baking the rest of the cookies.

While cookies are cooling, make chocolate filling. Super soft, almost melted coconut oil goes in a bowl with vanilla and gets beaten together. Add in the cocoa powder, powdered sugar and pinch of salt and kept beating slowly anding in a bit of milk until the whole shebang comes together into chocolate filling awesomeness.

Ghost filling!

Once the cookies are completely cooled, fill them. The filling might have tightened up a bit so if it is not spreadable, pop into microwave for like 8 seconds to get it to move. Scoop or smear equal amounts of filling onto the bottoms of the cookies and top them off with their tops.

Done, and ready to eat.

Ghosts cookies for all your ghost fueled festivities.

-C

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Chocolate filled Vanilla Sugar Sandwich Cookies

makes at least 16 sandwich cookies

For the cookies

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 cup white sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extact

• 2/3 cup soft coconut oil

• 5 tablespoons plant milk (I used almond)

For the filling

• 1 1/2- 2 cups powdered sugar

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

• 4 tablespoons melted coconut oil

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2-3 tablespoons plant milk

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350

In a bowl beat together the white sugar with the coconut oil and vanilla extract. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and start to mix with a spoon or fork, adding in the milk as you go. Keep mixing until completely incorporated and turns to a ball of dough. Gather together into a ball and wrap in plastic. Pat flat and place into fridge for an hour or up to a day.

To cut out cookies. Roll fridgerated dough out on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out shapes, making sure to have a top and bottom for each cookie. Gather left over dough into a ball and repeat until all the dough is used.

Place cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes or until they are just starting to lightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cook.

For chocolate filling. Beat together the melted coconut oil with vanilla. Add in the lesser amount of powdered sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. Beat on low, adding in 2 tablespoons plant milk. Beat until mixture comes together into a thick but spreadable consistency. If it seems too thick, add more milk, too thin, a little more powdered sugar.

Cookie assembly. 2 cookies at a time. A top and bottom. Spread about a tablespoon of chocolate filling to bottom cookies and pop the top on.

Eat cookies. Store what is not eaten in a airtight container for up to a week, but these ghosts will definitely not last that long.