*~*~*Christmas Cookies*~*~*

Christmas Cookie Palooza

My sister and I made Christmas cookies over the weekend, listening to Christmas music and had a wonderful time making some sweet holiday treats we could actually eat (having to pass up all those amazing dessert tables at the work parties I've been going to had me feeling a bit Bah! Humbug and this definitely helped me feel happy and Christmas-y again!)  I was especially delighted to find this blog explaining how to "veganize" traditional Christmas cookie recipes.  It's fairly easy, such as substituting Earth Balance for butter or soy milk for cow's milk.  One suggestion for egg substitution was to use 1/4 cup of soy yogurt for one egg. I had never tried this but it worked well in our recipe.  I am not sure how to veganize certain recipes that require the eggs to be whipped, but perhaps I could find out...

Anyway, the cookie dough was surprisingly disgusting (Earth Balance doesn't taste nearly as good as butter in cookie dough!) but the finished products exceeded our expectations and truly tasted like Christmas cookies!  Woo hoo! :-D

Mexican Wedding Cakes (I have also heard these referred to as Russian Tea Cakes)

Here is a traditional recipe from Joy of Baking.  This was an easy sub. of Earth Balance for the regular butter and we used walnuts for the nuts.  These were sooo delicious.  They practically poof! apart and melt in your mouth.

Raspberry Oatmeal Squares (these were my husband's favorite!)

This is another recipe we "veganized" from the Joy of Baking.  In this case, I subbed the 1/4 cup soy yogurt for the one egg and used Earth Balance instead of the butter.  They turned out really yummy and weren't overly sweet (I cut the sugar a bit) with a gorgeous raspberry flavor.


Pecan Bars

Yummy!!!!  I've always had a fondness for pecan pie, but hadn't had it in ages.  This recipe brings back all those fond memories.  And, best of all, this recipe is already vegan!  It's from a blog I would like to follow, Megatarian.  The only thing I changed from the recipe is that I added an extra 1/4 cup flour to the base because it seemed way too gooey.  Also, I used brown rice syrup instead of corn syrup since I have kind of a "thing" against corn syrup.  They turned out sooo delicious!  The crust was a bit flaky, but they tasted great.

Annie and I hope to make more Christmas Cookies and/or other holiday desserts in the days leading up to Christmas and I'll be sure to post the results.


Happy Holidays! :->