As I’ve said before, its challenging converting a tasty recipe to vegan as the flavours and textures can be very different from the standard ingredients that are usually used. I think vegan recipes also need to be more fun, so I am trying to come up with fun recipes on this blog that are not only vegan but look and taste as good if not better than the original with animal products in them. I’m trying these cookies out at a dinner party and will get back to you with their verdict.
Result! They wanted the recipe and they think they’re perfect for Christmas and as a homemade Christmas gifts!

Recipe

Makes around 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup of Naturli vegan block , warmed till melted or mild coconut oil (or melted butter if you prefer)
1/2 cup golden caster sugar
2 and a half cups of plain flour( I use white organic spelt flour)
zest of one orange
4 teaspoons of ground ginger
4 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of salt
200g of dark chocolate
candied orange peel very finely chopped into little pieces

How:
Firstly line a biggish baking tray with parchment paper or a silicon sheet. Set aside.
Mix the vegan spread and the sugar together in a mixing bowl or food processor. Add in the Flour, salt spices and orange zest. Mix together to form a dough, if it’s too dry add a little water. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for half an hour to an hour to firm the dough up. It might appear grainy but it’s fine once it’s baked.
Preheat the oven to 170c.
Roll the dough out to a thickness of roughly 1/2 cm. Choose your favourite cookie cutter, Iused a Christmas tree, and stamp out about 20 cookies, depending on the size of your cutter. Make a hole at the top of each cookie with a toothpick if you want to thread a piece of string or a ribbon through to hang them up. Place  them on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for about 12-14 minutes (they should be just turning golden and not going brown) and then leave them on the baking tray to cool. They are very soft when they come out of the oven.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and dip or drizzle over the biscuits and finish with a sprinkling of the candied orange peel or decorate any way you prefer.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl