Post by emilykate on Dec 21, 2010 22:51:06 GMT -5
Okay, perhaps posting a recipe may seem controversial? But, fact is, I love food and love cooking and hey, you don't have to be any particular gender to feel the same way. And everyone's allowed to wear afrilly apron - bu only if they want to.
A warning, since this recipe uses coconut oil, it will be affected by the weather (temperature) and how warm your hands are!
Without further ado...
Soft but Spicy Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Makes about 25
Ingredients
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Liquify and heat coconut oil. If it is solid, no more than 45 seconds in the microwave should do. If it is already in liquid state, give it 10 or 15 seconds, just to help the suger melt in. Cream the warmed oil with the sugar (I use and electric whisk).
3. Add the vanilla essence, and liquor, if using. Work in with a handwhisk. If the oil threatens to solidify, pop your mixing bowl into the warming oven for a couple of seconds!
4. Shift in flour, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and carob powder. Mix in with wooden spoon. The mixture will appear to be very crumby and feel crumbly. Use hands or spoon to knead the mixture, adding very tiny dashes of boiling water - used very sparingly! - and work into mixture until it forms a crumbly dough that comes clean away from the sides of the mixing bowl.
5. Line 2 trays with baking paper. Roll tablespoon-like amounts into rounds, place on the tray evenly spaced. Make a fair cradle-like indentation in each biscuit using a tumb, teaspoon or back of a wooden spoon. Spoon jam to fill each dint.
6. Into the oven for about 20 minutes. You may wish to increase the heat to 200 for the last 2 minutes, to ensure that the jam reduces to a soft and sticky toffee. Do not be alarmed if they seem uncooked; the suger will harden them to a cake-like consitency as they cool.
7. Remove from oven. Be very careful as the jam will be dangerously hot - if you burn a finger, plunge it straight into ice water! Using a cake server or palette knife, tranfer to a wire rack to cool. Whilst cooling, add a glace cherry, pressing it firmly into the cooling jam, if desired. Do not eat until the jam is definately fully cooled!
A warning, since this recipe uses coconut oil, it will be affected by the weather (temperature) and how warm your hands are!
Without further ado...
Soft but Spicy Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
Makes about 25
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar (moscavado, brown, raw, castor - whatever takes your fancy. Browd works quite nicely)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 50 mL vanilla essence (this recipe is a little bit about excess!)
- Tablespoon almond liquor, Becherovka or Frangelico (optional)
- 2 cup plain flour
- 1/4 cup of cinnamon (you can use less, if you prefer)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 a teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 a teaspoon dried chilli powder
- 2 teaspoons dried ginger powder
- 2 teaspoons carob powder
- good quality raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam (how do you know if it's good quality? Jam should be 50% fruit, 50% sugar and nothing else!)
- glace cherries (optional)
- drop or so of boiling water
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Liquify and heat coconut oil. If it is solid, no more than 45 seconds in the microwave should do. If it is already in liquid state, give it 10 or 15 seconds, just to help the suger melt in. Cream the warmed oil with the sugar (I use and electric whisk).
3. Add the vanilla essence, and liquor, if using. Work in with a handwhisk. If the oil threatens to solidify, pop your mixing bowl into the warming oven for a couple of seconds!
4. Shift in flour, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and carob powder. Mix in with wooden spoon. The mixture will appear to be very crumby and feel crumbly. Use hands or spoon to knead the mixture, adding very tiny dashes of boiling water - used very sparingly! - and work into mixture until it forms a crumbly dough that comes clean away from the sides of the mixing bowl.
5. Line 2 trays with baking paper. Roll tablespoon-like amounts into rounds, place on the tray evenly spaced. Make a fair cradle-like indentation in each biscuit using a tumb, teaspoon or back of a wooden spoon. Spoon jam to fill each dint.
6. Into the oven for about 20 minutes. You may wish to increase the heat to 200 for the last 2 minutes, to ensure that the jam reduces to a soft and sticky toffee. Do not be alarmed if they seem uncooked; the suger will harden them to a cake-like consitency as they cool.
7. Remove from oven. Be very careful as the jam will be dangerously hot - if you burn a finger, plunge it straight into ice water! Using a cake server or palette knife, tranfer to a wire rack to cool. Whilst cooling, add a glace cherry, pressing it firmly into the cooling jam, if desired. Do not eat until the jam is definately fully cooled!