Lemon Vanilla Cookies with Blueberries
1 1/2 cups + 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar or vanilla sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup liquid sweetener (agave or maple syrup is best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
3 tablespoons nondairy milk
1 medium lemon, zested
1/4 teaspoon turmeric, for color
1/4 to 1/3 cup blueberry preserves
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium to large bowl, combine all the flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk to get everything incorporated nicely.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil and sugar until thoroughly mixed. Stir in liquid sweetener, vanilla and lemon extracts, nondairy milk, lemon zest, and turmeric. Mix these ingredients together, then slowly shift/stir in the dry ingredients. Use your hands to get a dough to form. Avoid overworking the dough.
3. Next take small portions of the dough and roll into walnut sized balls. You can make them bigger, if you so choose, but this size usually yields about 20 cookies. Gently press cookie between your palms and fingers to form little disks.
4. Push a small dimple in the center and add 1/2 teaspoon or so of blueberry preserves. Place on prepared cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges turn a faint golden brown.
5. For a softer cookie with a chewy edge, bake for about 10 minutes. Allow a few minutes for cookies to cool before removing from sheet pan, then transfer to wire cooling rack and allow to completely cool.
Don't peek while the cookies are baking. You run the risk of letting the heat out the oven which makes for a sad cookie.
If possible, invest in a nice micro-plane grater. They are super awesome and can be used for all kinds of stuff. They zest lemons like nothing else and are usually under $18. If you can get a hold of real vanilla bean pods, try making your own vanilla sugar. Just split a vanilla bean down the middle and toss everything in a glass jar with some sugar. It will eventually infuse the amazing aroma of vanilla throughout the sugar. The vanilla pod can stay in the jar for a long time and be recycled to infuse a few batches.
Source of recipe: An experiment gone awesome! The idea came to me in a dream. Totally serious.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Looking forward to making these for a cookie swap this week.
Any tips on technique?
I'm thinking of using whole wheat pastry flour, anyone think this is a bad idea?
Made these today and everyone loved them. I didn't have lemon extract so I used fresh lemon juice. I also think I just pressed mine to thin and it caused my cookies to brown really fast and they got super crunchy. I would like to say that the pickiest eater I know, the 8 year old I take of, loved them and kept asking for more. He didn't believe me when I said they were vegan and asked me to make more! These will definitely get made again. BTW, the 8 year old ate 6 of these cookies and got mad when I took the 4 that were left home with me. I made a total of about 18 I think and everyone had at least 2, except for the above mentioned. Thank you for this great recipe. :)
Awesome! Next time try the walnut sized ball technique, gently press them into 2 1/2 inch disks. They will spread a little, but they won't be thin. Also, try throwing the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes right after you make it, then roll, smash and bake. This helps to keep them from spreading as well.
Vegan desserts rule. Soon all your friends will agree.
Made these today and everyone loved them. I didn't have lemon extract so I used fresh lemon juice. I also think I just pressed mine to thin and it caused my cookies to brown really fast and they got super crunchy. I would like to say that the pickiest eater I know, the 8 year old I take of, loved them and kept asking for more. He didn't believe me when I said they were vegan and asked me to make more! These will definitely get made again. BTW, the 8 year old ate 6 of these cookies and got mad when I took the 4 that were left home with me. I made a total of about 18 I think and everyone had at least 2, except for the above mentioned. Thank you for this great recipe. :)
I know it says to use a liquid sweetener but is there something else I can use instead? Would it work with brown sugar or not so much?
Brown sugar would definitely changed the flavor since it's adding a molasses flavor. I would stick to regular sugar. If you don't have any kind of liquid sweetener available, feel free to increase the regular sugar content, but add a little water to make up for the lack of liquid. Or you could always make a simple syrup if you're really nervous about the consequences of altering the recipe. The reason I use agave is to somewhat reduce the over all sugar content of the cookies, and agave imparts a delicate floral, buttery flavor that works well with lemon.
I know it says to use a liquid sweetener but is there something else I can use instead? Would it work with brown sugar or not so much?
;D oh sooo yummy!! this is definately my new favorite!!!
So delicious!! Used a homemade blueberry sauce that I usually use for pie on top. The dough spread out a bit too much on the first pan, but the problem was fixed with refrigerating the rest of the dough for awhile [: Thanks for posting this! It's my new favorite.
Glad you enjoyed them! Yeah, with any cookie dough, you want to work quickly so the dough doesn't become melty or hot, which can cause some weird separation or spreading issues. The dough freezes and thaws well too.
So delicious!! Used a homemade blueberry sauce that I usually use for pie on top. The dough spread out a bit too much on the first pan, but the problem was fixed with refrigerating the rest of the dough for awhile [: Thanks for posting this! It's my new favorite.
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