Greetings Readers!

My complaint with most of the store-bought vegan cookies I’ve tried is that they are chewy and many have a weird aftertaste from unusual sweeteners being used. For me, maple sugar and maple syrup are the way to go with all sweet vegan baking. I like my cookies crisp, crumbly, rich and not too sweet. I like to use natural, whole foods ingredients that contribute to the subtle, good taste of my baked goods. This recipe bakes up a big batch of exquisitely flavored, lightly spiced cookies. You could make them spicier if you like your cookies fiery, and you can certainly try your own variations, but here is the basic recipe for these fabulous cookies.

Crumbly Vegan Spice Cookies

Ingredients:
1 C Organic Whole Almonds
2 C Organic Unbleached White Flour or Pastry Flour
1 Organic Orange (mandarins are ideal for this, but you can use another kind if necessary)
1/2 C Granulated Maple Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
2 Tbs. Organic Anise Seeds
1/2 tsp. Organic Powdered Ginger
1/4 tsp. Organic Ground Cloves
1/4 C Organic Olive Oil
1/8 C Organic Safflower or Sunflower Oil
1/8 C Rice or Soy Milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Grade rind from the orange and juice it, too.

Blend almonds in an electric blender to the consistency of a coarse flour-like powder. If you do not have a blender, use a mortar and pestle to accomplish this.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your almond flour with white flour, salt, maple sugar, spices. Wash your hands and use them to gently blend all the dry ingredients uniformly.

Add orange juice and grated rind, oils and milk.
Pull all ingredients together with a spoon, but don’t overmix. Use your hands to gather everything together into a big ball. If the ball is really sticky, sprinkle a little more flour over it and work it in with your hands. If the ball is too dry to gather up all the flour in the bowl, wet your hands with cool water under the faucet to help you stick everything together.

The dough will be slightly rough and just a little bit sticky. Put the bowl of dough in the freezer for 5 minutes and get out your baking sheets.

Form the dough into one inch balls. Set them on the baking sheet and smash flat with a fork, as you would peanut butter cookies. Put in the oven.

Every oven bakes at a different temperature. These cookies are baked when they have turned just a little brown around the edges and are golden in the middle. Remove and set to cool.

Special Notes on these Special Vegan Cookies

You will note that this recipe contains no baking powder or baking soda. I personally find these two leavening agents to be disruptive to the digestion, so I have invented vegan baking recipes that don’t require these products.

Something else to think about when making cookies is whether they have nutritional value. Both the almonds and olive oil in this recipe are very nutritious sources of protein and vitamins. These cookies are a better between meal snack for your family than the expensive and heavily processed energy bars that are everywhere on the market today. They are handmade, fresh and a simple, good snacking food.

As you will discover, the flavor of these cookies reaches its apex at about 2-3 days after baking. The different tastes have a chance to combine, mellow and ripen. Store them in a paper bag, a can or on a plate in the cupboard. They will stay good for at least a week

I truly advocate using mandarin oranges at the peak of winter ripeness for these cookies. The difference in the end result is huge. Combined with the anise seeds, the orange flavor is incredibly elegant, distinctive and memorable. This is not your average cookie!