Is it Christmas yet , is it, IS IT?!!! Up until now it really hasn’t felt it in this house for some reason, despite the tree being up , playing Christmas music, going to the local Steiner school Advent Fair where Coppertop played with the walnut boat candles and entered an enchanted crystal forest ( I was SO impressed ). It just felt really flat and I couldn’t muster up the proper Christmas spirit at all. Until now!! All thanks to cookies. Of course. They fix everything, didn’t you know?!! Delicious cranberry and orange morsels with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla. Seriously. YUUUMMMM! I’m going to have to make another few (twenty) batches of these in the next fortnight , to give to every single person I know!! I’m aware I’m using a lot of exclamation marks but I now feel very ‘Buddy The Elf’ instead of the Grinch. I won’t blather on anymore as I want you to quickly read the recipe then go make these and revel in Christmas cheer!
Few notes : make sure your coconut oil is almost fully melted before creaming together with the butter and sugar. The first time I ever made cookies with coconut oil I ended up getting attacked by wayward chunks of sugar coated oil in the eye. Lesson. Learned.
Also, make sure you don’t add the cranberries until all the other ingredients are combined. Again, I learnt the hard way that cutting corners by throwing them in with the dry ingredients results in flour coated cranberries that stay white even after baking. Oops.
You will need to flatten these cookies slightly after rolling into balls as they tend to ‘puff up’ rather than go puddle shaped but I love them like this ๐
If you haven’t heard of aquafaba before, it’s the miraculous liquid that is in tins of chickpeas/beans etc that acts just like egg as a binder! This substance that I was pouring down the sink for years makes amazing meringues, cakes, cookies and mousse such as this Lavender Lemon mousse I shared previously.
I’d also like to take a minute to appreciate the amazing aroma of freshly zested citrus, I can’t get enough of the stuff! Always cheers me up , another reason I tend to use orange essential oil in my diffuser.
Now. The most important piece of advice I can give you. After mixing all the ingredients , roll into balls and do NOT be tempted to lick the spoon/ your fingers or chances are half the batch won’t make it into the oven. Not that I’m speaking from experience of course ( wipes cookie dough from mouth).
Other than that, let’s get baking!!
CRANBERRY & ORANGE COOKIES (vegan)
Ingredients
Dry:
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- a pinch of salt
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- zest of 1 large orange
Wet:
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (almost fully melted)
- 1/4 vegan butter
- 3 tbsp aquafaba ( I used haricot bean brine this time)
- 1/4 cup coconut milk (carton not tinned)
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
- plus 1 cup of dried cranberries
Method
Preheat oven to 160 Celsius (fan). Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl ,cream together the melted coconut oil, butter and coconut sugar until paler and fluffy. Add the aquafaba, coconut milk and vanilla.
Next, stir through the dry ingredients until well combined, Add in the cranberries and mix evenly. Roll the mixture into balls, place on the baking tray then flatten slightly. Bake for around 8 minutes ( mine was more like 6-7 as my ridiculous oven is hotter than *insert your own image here* ) Leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes then move to a cooling rack. Don’t worry if they seem ‘squidgy’ when you take them out, they’ll firm as they cool. Then , time to stuff them in your face while trying to sing Christmas Carols…….. I’m off to cut out snowflakes and drink peppermint hot chocolate………..
As always, I’d love to hear your feedback! Feel free to drop me a comment, subscribe via email and check out my Instagram where I share more snippets of our life ๐
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