peppermint candy cane sugar cookies

When is the last time you have eaten a candy cane? I feel like I never see people actually eating them, that they use them more as decorations on the tree. And as I say that I realize I am thinking of adults. I never see adults eating candy canes. The littles, well they have stripped my tree bare of the candy many of times. They will, and enjoy eating anything and everything that contains sugar. Especially if you can suck it into a sharp object and I guess that probably makes candy canes are the perfect candy. Ha!

Anyway I forgot to buy candy canes this year and I was planning on adding one to each of my Christmas cards (cause I am an adult!). Sure I could and can still go to the store and get them but I decided cookies are better so I just made candy cane cookies instead band which I think are way better.

These cookies are essentially just sugar cookies with peppermint extract, dyed a little, and twisted into canes. They are fun to make, smell really good, and eaten by littles and adults alike. I would know. Out of 24 candy cane cookies I had made to give out with my cards, I think I ended up with a handful left. The littles came over and ate them all. And the mr too. Oh well, whatcha gonna do?

Now to the candy cane cookies!

The stuff. Sugar, plant butter, oil, peppermint and vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, salt, a flax egg, and some red food coloring.

Make cookie dough. Creamy together the sugar, butter, oil, and extracts until light and fluffy. Then add I the lax egg and mix until combined. The dry then goes into bowl and gets mixed with a spoon until it is just easier to use your hands and knead the mixture until a dough forms. Once a dough, let it sit for a few minutes.

After resting, take dough and on a lightly floured surface, cut in half. Take half and set aside and the other knead red dye into it. How red you make it is up to you.

Now take a chunk or red and white and roll each piece out into 1/2 inch thick ropes that are the same length. Place ropes next to each other and kind of squish them together.

Cut a section of the rope (about 4-5 inches long) and then twist the dough until it resembles the twist of a candy cane. Then shape it into a cane.

Also, if you doughs start o get a little misxd up, well that is quite all right. They will still look like candy canes and people will still eat them.

Place canes onto a baking sheet and pop into a hot oven.

Out of the oven, smelling all like a candy cane cookie should.

Move them to a wire rack to cool and if you just so happen to have a handful of white chocolate chips on hand that you want to melt down and drizzle on top, well then you should do that too.

Make some cookies!

-C

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peppermint candy cane sugar cookies

makes about 2 dozen

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 cups white graduated sugar

• 1/2 cup (one stick) vegan butter

• 2 tablespoon neutral oil

• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seed plus 4 tablespoons plant milk or water)

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

• red food coloring

• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips (and teaspoon coconut oil optional)

In a large bowl mix together the sugar, butter, oil, vanilla, and peppermint oil until light and fluffy. Add in flax eg and mix until combined then add in the flour, baking powder ask salt ans mix with wooden spoon until it is easier to just knead it together with you hands until a firm dough forms. Let dough rest for 5-10 minutes

Preheat oven 350

Take dough and divide in half. One half dye red, as red as you like, and leave the other half white. Now take a chunk of each color and roll into a rope about 1/2 inch thick and the same length. Place the ropes next to each other and kind of squish together to form one rope then gently start to twist the dough until it resembles a candy can twist. Cut a section any length you want ( I recommend about 4-5 inches) and place on a baking sheet, curling the top to look like a candy cane. Once you have assembled a baking sheets worth, place in oven and bake for 122-13 minutes or until the cookies are barely golden brown on bottom.

Once baked remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool. If you want, melt white choclate and coconut oil in microwave for 20-30 seconds or until almost melted. Stir together until completely melted and drizzle onto cookies.

Now eat some cookies. Or give them to you people. Or some of both.

Cookies are best for about a week at room temperature in airtight container.

Maple glazed sweet potato cookies

If you are not making cookies right now then what are you even doing?

But seriously, I think that December is basically a month long cookie baking marathon and we all should be participating by baking up a least one batch of cookies. If not for yourself (although you really should be doing it for yourself) then for others. What better way to say something nice without saying anything at all then with homemade cookies? Cookie sharing is a language all on it’s own.

These here cookies are of the sweet potato kind, almost like pumpkin cookie, just a little less cakey and a little more sweet potatoy and are drizzled all over with a nice thick maple glaze that really just ties the hole cookie experience together. They are pretty simple to make, no extra steps or difficult anything. Just a spoon a scoop and the want and or need for a delicious cookie situation.

This cookie is going back into my baking marathon rotation next week when I go all out and bake like 6 batches of cookies .They were a hit and even requested so, you know, got to make the people happy. More like I have a couple extra sweet potatoes. HA!

Now to the cookies!

The stuff. Mashed sweet potato, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar, coconut oil, vanilla, plant milk, powdered sugar, and last but not least, maple syrup.

Start by mixing the dry ingredients together into a big bowl, Then mix the sweet potato, oil, sugar, vanilla, and oh the milk in a separate bowl. Once mixed and completely combined, dump the wet into the dry and gently mix until a combined and dough has formed.

Now scoop equal sizes amounts of dough onto a cookie sheet the pop them into a preheated oven.

Some minutes later they are done. Nic ans golden brown and slightly domed. A little trick I do is once they come out of the oven I right away take two fingers and just slightly push he dome down a bit. It makes the cookies a little less pillowy and more chewy.

And then place them on a wire rack to cool.

In the meantime make the maple glaze. Mix maple and powdered sugar together until completely combined and is thick put still pourable.

Once cookies have cooled, drizzle on the maple glaze. And if you are feeling like it, add a little sprinkle situation. I added gold sparkly granulated sugar. It was a good idea.

As for the rest, you know what to do. Eat. share, eat some more. Do you.

-C

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Maple glazed sweet potato cookies

maskes about 20

• 2 cup all purpose flour

• 1/2 reason baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup sweet potato mash

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/3 cup melted but cooled coconut oil

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (real shit please )

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

• 1-2 teaspoons plant milk

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix together the sweet potato mash, brown sugar, and coconut oil. Once completely combined add in the vanilla and milk and mix.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix until combined and a dough forms. Scoop equal sized ball of dough and place on a baking sheet. The cookies will expand but not a lot. When the sheet is full, place into preheated oven and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or unit they have puffed and turned a nice golden brown. Remove cookies from oven and very gently give each cookie a little smoosh, just to get rid of the dome. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

While cookies are cooling make glaze. Mix powdered sugar maple, and 1 teaspoon milk together until completely combined and glaze forms into a thick yet pourable consistency. If it is too thick add in a splash more of milk.

Once cookies are cooled, drizzle on maple glaze. And if you want, add a sprinkle situation before the glaze sets and hardens .

Eat.

Cookies will be good for about a week in an airtight container at room temperature. They also freeze amazingly.

Coconut Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bars

I have been trying to find ways to use up some of my surplus of raisins. (I have like 5 lbs…don’t ask.) That is basically the reason why I made these cookie bars which I think is a good enough reason. Well that plus it never hurst to have cookies on hand, right?

Oatmeal raisin is a classic and in my mind, pretty damn classy, cookie combo. Only smart sophisticated people like oatmeal raisin cookies. Haha! But really, oatmeal and raisins are delicious and adding coconut and a little chocolate (if you want), you get a stellar flavor combination. But also smart and sophisticated.

Oh and I made these cookie bars as bars because I didn't want to deal with scooping and watching batches of cookies. And I think they are better for it.

So if you have raisins, you are pretty much all the way there to these cookie bars. If you don’t have raisins, well you can hit me up. I have a shit ton!

Now to the cookie bars!

The stuff. Flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, coconut oil, shredded coconut, raisins, a flax egg, vanilla, brown sugar, and some chocolate chips.

To start just dump the soft coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and flax egg into a big bowl. Mix until completely incorporated.

Next add all the dry in and stir until evenly mixed.

Lastly, add in the fixings! Coconut, raisins, and chocolate chips. Stir until combined.

Dump the dough into a parchment lined baking pan. Pat dough down evenly (It helps to wet your fingers so the dough doesn’t stick) then pop the pan into the preheated oven to bake.

Pull from the oven when it’s all golden brown and cookie looking like. About 30 minutes. And when you pull it out, just let it sit in pan on a cooling rack for15ish or so minutes to cool and then you lift it out.

Now you cut them up and eat them up!

Smart and sophisticated. 😉

-C

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Coconut Oatmeal Raisin Bars

makes 16 squares

• 1 1/4 cup flour

• 2 cup old fashion oats

• 2/3 cup warm coconut oil

• 3/4 cups packed brown sugar

• 1 Flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seed plus 4 tablespoon warm water)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 cup rasinsin

• 1/2 cup coconut flakes

• 1/4 cip mimi chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

Place the warm coconut oil into a big bowl along with the brown sugar, flax egg, and vanilla. Mix until completely combined. Add in the flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder and mix until completely incorporated. Add in the raisins (make sure they are not all sticking together), coconut, and chocolate chips if using and mix until incorporated.

Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment. Cut it so the ends stuck out a bit so you can grab them after. Dump the cookie dough into pan then evenly spread and press it down. Pop pan Ito oven and bake for 28-30 minutes or until golden brown, slightly darker around edges, and a tester poked into middle comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool, still in pan, for 15ish minutes. Once the cookies have firmed up a bit, grab ends or parchment and remove fro pan. Cut into 16 squares. Eat.

Store cookies in a airtight container for about a week at room temperature. If you haven’t eaten them all, freeze them.

Weekend Baking

What do you usually do the week before New Years? It’s a strange feeling week for sure, with the highs of the holidays over, feeling all the feelings, looking forward while also looking back. Hopefully though, you are getting some time to take some time and do you. And what better way to spend some time then in the kitchen!

Think about it, you can throw on your new footed pjs (I don’t have footed pj’s but I would wear them if I didi!), turn on some tunes, and dance around while making cookies. Or maybe you fancy up your hair, get dressed all nice, throw on an apron, and bake up some scones? (Again, I don’t fancy anything up, but you do you) Do whatever the heck you want. We have had a year and this weekend, just do what makes you happy. Just don’t get hair in the food!

Here’s a handful of some of the favorites from the site. Make it nice!

-A cake for breakfast is always gonna win. Cranberry Coffee Cake

-Apple Spice Donuts are baked so no crazy fryer needed!

-Pomegranate Orange Poppyseed Muffins Make them little and snack on them throughout the day!

-Sones are a favorite around here. These are prefect for the holiday season. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Gingerbread Scones

- Heart Shaped Soft Pretzels Or any shaped pretzels. Fun to make.

-The citrus is in full swing and it is good. Clementine Cake

-Cinnamon Star Bread Another favorite and is so so pretty!

-Bread. Never can go wrong with bread. Cinnamon Cardamom Swirl- Orange And Sweet Potato Bread

-Crushed Oreo Peanut Butter Cookies And these cookies are one of the most popular recipes from the blog. Cookie cookies. You people know what you like.

Have a great, happy, restful, and safe holiday!

-C

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!