Fireworks Cookies

Ever since Martha Stewart featured Fireworks Cookies on the cover of her magazine a few years ago, these beauties have expoded over the internet every July. My vegan version is food allergy friendly and very forgiving to those of us who are not up to the Martha standard of cookie decorating. You can use any flavor you prefer for the jam and citrus zest, but for this batch I used my favorite combination, raspberry and lemon.

Butterfly Cookies and Silver Linings

My son's trifecta of food allergies, environmental allergies and asthma really puts a crimp in his childhood.  Forget the dangers of birthday parties and peanut butter in the school cafeteria, to my poor kid the real kicker is that he can't even have a puppy.  Not only are real pets, the furry, snuggly kind every child should have, out of the question, but even a fish tank is too dangerous because the food is made out of brine shrimp.

So in an effort to compensate, we innocently bought a few milkweed plants and started bringing home monarch caterpillars to raise and eventually release.  It seemed like a good idea, though it has since gotten somewhat out of control.  (At this time we have a screened in enclosure that my husband built with about a hundred caterpillars in it along with over twenty milkweed plants on our patio.  We've successfully raised and released several dozen butterflies already.)

Two of our first caterpillars we raised "free range" on a potted milkweed plant sitting on newspapers that covered about half of our dining room table.  As a result, the caterpillars were probably a little too comfortable with constant human observation and we were fairly attached to them, too.  After successfully making the transition from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly, we took them outside to release.  That's when we discovered our huge, gorgeous male monarch couldn't fly.

Not only were his fore and hind wings separated on one side, he couldn't close his wings completely.  To top it off, he had a gimpy leg and listed to one side when he was at rest.  We started him on a diet of melon Gatorade, and suddenly my son had a pet, which he promptly named Darth Butterfly.

Darth spent the nine weeks of his butterfly existence rotating between the patio and our living room.  He was extraordinarily tame and would crawl onto my hand when I would bend over to pick him up after he accidentally fluttered to the floor.  Darth sat calmly on our hands and perched happily on our shoulders.  We were able to observe him close up extending his proboscis like a straw to drink his meals, then wash his polka dotted face like a cat with his two front legs.

Eventually the inevitable happened, but before it did, my son asked if we could make butterfly cookies.  I decided to go ahead and attempt a complicated design on my usual egg, dairy and nut free roll out cookies.  I was very happy with the result, except that the icing wasn't as smooth as I would have liked.  (I'm not sure if it was because I made a vegan royal icing, didn't thin it enough, or if it was simply due to my amateur technique.)  To match the colors, I changed the flavors to anise and orange, which was a surprisingly addictive combination.

Monarch Butterfly Cookies

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 C nondairy margarine, softened
1 C granulated sugar
2 Tbs orange marmalade or orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 tsp anise extract
zest of one orange (optional)

Additional:
Vegan Royal Icing (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Cut parchment paper to size of cookie sheets.  Measure dry ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together, then set aside.

Cream margarine with sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in marmalade or orange juice concentrate, anise extract and orange zest (if desired).  Slow mixer and gradually add dry ingredients until completely combined.

Spread out one of the pieces of parchment paper on a flat surface.  Place about a quarter to a third of the dough on it.  Cover remaining dough with plastic wrap or place in plastic bag to keep from drying out.  Flatten the dough on the parchment paper into a thick disc by hand, then cover it with a piece of wax (not parchment) paper.  While keeping the wax paper in place on the dough, use a rolling pin to roll it out to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in thickness.  (If planning to make cookie pops, make sure the dough is at least 3/8 inch thick.)  Peel off the wax paper and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes with space between them, but leave them in place on the parchment paper.  Use an offset spatula (preferred) or butter knife to remove the dough from between the cookies.  Gently slide the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet.  The leftover dough may be recycled as many times as needed to use all the dough, since additional flour is not added to roll it out.

Optional step for Cookie Pops:
Use offset spatula to arrange cookies on parchment paper so that lollipop sticks will not overlap.  Gently insert large lollipop sticks into sides of cookies until at least halfway across width of cookie.

Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes and the edges just begin to lightly brown.  Remove from oven and allow cookies to remain on sheet for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up before removing to rack to complete cooling.

Once cookies are completely cool, decorate with royal icing.

Vegan Royal Icing

(Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking.)

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 Tbs water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 C powdered (confectioners') sugar
food coloring as desired

Combine Egg Replacer, water and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously until frothy.  Add powdered sugar and continue stirring until smooth.  Mix in food coloring.  (The thickness of the icing can be adjusted by gradually adding very small amounts of either water or powdered sugar.)

To prepare to make monarchs, trace the cookie cutter on a piece of paper and draw the design you will be using.  It helps to practice a few times on wax paper.  Begin by outlining design in black icing using a very, very small icing tip.  Allow to dry overnight, then flood inner areas with black or orange icing.  Allow to dry overnight again, then decorate with white polka dots.

Very late update:  This post from Brown Eyed Baker is an excellent tutorial on decorating cookies with royal icing.

The cookies were quite a bit of work, but I think I'll make them again at the end of the school year as thank yous for The Kid's teachers and other school staff, including the school nurse.  They truly are a sweet way to remember our pet monarch.

I'm sharing my winged cookies with:

• Allergy Friendly Friday hosted by Cybele Pascal,
• Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love at Allergy-Free Vintage Cookery and
• Allergy Free Wednesday at Real Food Allergy Free.

Lemony Cookie Baskets with Surf Sweets Jelly Beans

I've been away from the blog for over a month due to a crashed hard drive and long delays in repairs and, oh, I'm so glad to be back!  I have quite a backlog of recipes and reviews to share, but I'll try to space them out.  To start I have these adorable little jelly bean basket cookies that came about because of a request from Surf Sweets Jelly Beans for a baked goody for their recent blogger recipe contest.

I'll confess I was almost as curious to find out who the other 15 bloggers were as I was to find out who won.  Huge congrats to Charmaine of Yummy Allergen Free for her grand prize winning scones!  She was one of the very few who didn't reach for a muffin tin or make a nest, and her creativity paid off.  I was happy to see that some of my favorite food allergy bloggers were indeed among the other entrants, such as Sarah of No Whey, Mama, Lindsey of Frugal Food Allergies and Katrina, the Gluten Free Gidget.  The entire list of bloggers and recipes is kind of awesome (if I may say so myself!), so just go ahead and scroll through this great list of recipes.  All of them are allergy friendly and/or gluten free, so there's something here for everyone.  (I discovered in the process of writing this blog post that there was an error in the recipe that I submitted, so if you decide to make these, please use the recipe below, rather than the one on the Surf Sweets site.)

For these dense, chewy little cookies, I decided on a tart lemon flavor to contrast with the sweetness of the jelly beans.  I also tried a version using coconut oil instead of margarine, which The Kid actually preferred.  Feel free to substitute it, but you may need an additional tablespoon to reach the perfect Playdoh texture for shaping the dough.

The recipe is very kid friendly if you have short people who would like to help make the dough, but I strongly recommend having an adult press the jelly beans and pipe cleaners into the cookies, because the muffin tin will be far too hot to allow little fingers near it!

Lemony Jelly Bean Baskets

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
1 C all-purpose flour
2 Tbs corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
3 Tbs non-dairy margarine, melted (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
1/2 granulated sugar
2 Tbs lemon juice

Additional:
36 allergy friendly jelly beans (Surf Sweets Spring Mix, of course!)
pipe cleaners for basket handles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a mini muffin tin with 12 liners.  Measure dry ingredients into a medium bowl, then whisk together.  Melt margarine and combine with sugar in a separate bowl.  Once sugar is completely dissolved, stir lemon juice into wet mixture.

Pour wet ingredients into dry, then stir together until a dough forms.  Roll dough onto a flat surface, such as a cutting board, and mold dough into a flat disk or "snake".  (This is where the Playdoh skills come in handy!)  Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.  Roll pieces of dough between  palms until a ball is formed, then gently drop each ball into a muffin liner.

Bake cookies for 18 to 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately press 3 jelly beans into the top of each cookie.  Insert pipe cleaner handles, if desired.  Makes one dozen cookie baskets.

I'm sharing my darling little baskets with:

• Allergy Friendly Friday hosted by Cybele Pascal,
• Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love at Allergy-Free Vintage Cookery,
• Allergy Free Wednesday at Real Food Allergy Free and
• Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

I love how there are so many food allergy and gluten free round ups now.  I keep thinking I need to start one of my own, but can't quite decide on a theme.  Maybe one that is specifically kid and allergy friendly?  I'd really like to hear your suggestions!

Finally, I'm going to be at Techmunch in Tampa on April 21st.  (I wish I could also go to Nourished, but, alas, it is not to be.)  Hopefully I'll see some of my local Florida food bloggers in real life soon!

Valentine's Day Recipes

Here's a few recipes from the archives for a deliciously sweet Valentine's Day!

These Creamsicle Cut Out Cookies make fantastic heart shaped treats, on or off a stick.  They lend themselves to easy flavor variation, too.  My personal favorite is raspberry lemon.  Just substitute raspberry preserves for the orange marmalade and zest a lemon instead of an orange.

I originally made these Be My Valentine Cakes as a Little Debbie substitute, but they are a decadent treat that hardly compares.

They are still the closest I've come to making an allergy friendly brownie that I'm happy with.

As a final option, here is my old, reliable Red Velvet Cake recipe.  They are wonderful as a layer cake or as a cupcake of any shape or color!

Here's wishing you a safe and loving Valentine's Day!

Vegan Blondies and a Review of Enjoy Life Mega Chunks

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Enjoy Life Foods, so when they gave me the opportunity to review two of their new products, I leaped at the chance.  The Double Chocolate Crunch Granola will have to wait for another day, though, because I couldn't resist starting with the new semi-sweet chocolate Mega Chunks.

The chunks are a high quality chocolate made from only three ingredients, evaporated cane juice, natural chocolate liquor (non-alcoholic) and non-dairy cocoa butter, and are manufactured in a dedicated nut and gluten-free facility.  Although they are free of all of the "Big 8" allergens, the facility does also process soy and dairy.  The equipment, however, is dedicated allergen free, and Enjoy Life routinely tests ingredients for contamination.  The Kid absolutely loved the chunks, and our only complaint was that we only had one bag!

When I first saw the bag of chunks with the picture of a chocolate chip cookie bar on the front, I'll confess that my first thought was "I want a blondie."  Conveniently, there was even a recipe for gluten free "Decadent Blondies" on the back of the bag.  Although I will occasionally indulge in some wheatless baking for my local gluten free guinea pigs, I decided to be contrary and immediately moved vegan, nut-free bars to the top of my recipe to-do list.  After a few tries, the result was dense, chewy and delicious, satisfying all of my chocolate chip cookie cravings, and creating one of my family's new favorite cookies.

Chocolate Chunk Blondies

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 C plain or vanilla soy milk
2/3 C brown sugar
1/3 C granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbs (1/2 stick) melted dairy free margarine

Additional:
1 C chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Line an 8" by 8" pan with aluminum foil.  Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl, whisk together and set aside.  Mix soy milk, sugars and vanilla extract in a small bowl or large measuring cup. Melt margarine, then stir it into the wet ingredients, too.  (Mix margarine in last to keep it from clumping up.)  Stir wet ingredients into dry, then mix chocolate chunks into cookie dough.

Spread the resulting sticky dough into aluminum lined pan.  Bake for 33 to 35 minutes and until the edges are slightly browned.  Allow to cool completely, then slice into 16 squares.

A few notes about the recipe:

• I began with several browned butter chocolate chip cookie recipes when developing these bars, and it's important to use a dairy free margarine with a good flavor.  I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks.
• If you don't have an 8" by 8" pan, go ahead and use a 9" by 9", but shorten the bake time to about 30 minutes.
• The center has an almost marzipan like texture to it, and if there's not a tree nut allergy in your family, these would be absolutely fantastic with almond extract instead of vanilla.  Back in my carefree, childless days, I used to occasionally splash some amaretto into chocolate chip cookie dough, and that wouldn't be bad, either!
• The cookies really do need to cool completely before being sliced, otherwise you'll have an incredibly gooey mess on your hands.

I'm grudgingly sharing my blondies with:

• Allergy Friendly Friday hosted by Cybele Pascale.

Blogger Disclosure:

I was provided with free samples, but not paid for this review, although I did win the Enjoy Life Cookies for Everyone Sweepstakes a few years ago.  My opinions are, as always, my own, though possibly suspect as a self confessed chocoholic.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I look back at some of the older recipes on this blog, I cringe a little.  Originally I was making notes more for myself, rather than writing for a theoretical internet audience, so quality control wasn't really an issue.  I was still at the beginning of a pretty steep learning curve, and often I was just happy to put something edible on the table.

Since then this blog has become a very personal creative outlet, not just a recipe file.  I've gradually improved the design, and started to learn some photography basics.  (For those kind enough to offer suggestions, I am already painfully aware of my lighting issues!)  My standards for a recipe I'm willing to share have also improved from "not bad for restricted diet food" to "only dishes that are as least as good as, if not better than, the traditional version."

At the beginning of the year I promised updates and remakes of some those early posts.  My original recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies is a good example of one of my early experiments that desperately needed improvement.  This new version is incredibly good and chewy and could be served without any embarrassment, if there were any left to share after the cookies vultures left the kitchen.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 C dairy free margarine, softened (I used Earth Balance)
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/4 C plain or vanilla soy milk
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Additional Ingredients:
3 C oats (regular or quick cooking)
1 C chocolate chips (I used Divvies)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.  Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, whisk together and set aside.  Cream margarine and sugars together until light and fluffy.  Reduce mixer speed to low and add soy milk, vinegar and vanilla extract.  Mix until smooth, then add oats and chocolate chips, and stir in by hand.

Place large rounded spoonfuls of dough (up to a quarter cup) on cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn golden brown.  Allow to cool for at least 5 to 10 minutes before moving, to allow cookies to firm up.

Store cooled cookies in a tightly closed, well hidden container.

These cookies are a great way to start Food Allergy Awareness Week.  Tomorrow (Tuesday May 10th) I'll be co-hosting a Live Chat at 1pm ET at The Motherhood:  Recipe Swap and Tips for Cooking and Baking Delicious Allergen-Free Food.  It's being led by Lori Sandler of Divvies, and some of the other amazing co-hosts are Alisa Fleming of Go Dairy Free, Sloane Miller, author of Allergic Girl, and Cybele Pascal.

If you aren't able to make the chat, there will be a summary posted afterward.  Also feel free to check out the summary from last week's chat, Navigating Food Allergies:  Advocating for Your Child at School, also led by Lori Sandler, and co-hosted Gina Clowes of Allergy Moms, representatives from both FAAN and FAI, and me.  (I had posted last weeks information on the Allergic Kid Facebook page, but not here on the blog, in case you missed it.)  So bake up a batch of cookies, make yourself a cuppa and be sure to join us tomorrow!

I'm sharing my cookie remake with:

• Allergy Friendly Friday hosted by Cybele Pascal.

Guest Post on Frosting for the Cause

Today I have a guest post on Frosting for the Cause, Flowers for My Grandma.  You can find the recipe for Raspberry Flower Cookies with Lemon Icing, plus vintage photos of my grandma and me from the early 90's and (gulp) 70's.

A Gift for My Gluten Free Friends

I've been mostly MIA from the blog for the last few weeks as I've been preparing for a big first for me.  A local health food store, Rollin' Oats Market & Cafe in Tampa asked me to teach an allergen free cooking class.  (Gulp.)  Since I've inadvertently become the cookie lady in these parts, I decided that we'd make the now infamous Double Chocolate Brownie Bites.

If the focus was allergen free, though, it seemed almost taunting to make something so delicious that couldn't be consumed by anyone allergic to soy and downright mean to bake it up in front of the local celiac sufferers.  That finally tipped the scale toward the many other requests I've received for a gluten free version. So I went back to the drawing board with this little cookie that has become such a big part of my life and worked out a new recipe that is free of gluten and all of the Big 8 allergens.

If you visit the original post, you can scroll down to a link at the end for the even more allergy friendly cookie.  (I wanted to keep all the links in one place.)  And if you're in the area, I'll be teaching a second (free) class at the Rollin' Oats St. Pete location on Thursday, February 24th, at 6:30.  You can reserve a place by calling 813-873-7428.  Hope to see you there!

Creamsicle Cut Out Cookies

Here's a late Valentine's Day present, an easy, allergy friendly, roll out cookie dough that doesn't need to be refrigerated before being used, is soft and tender but still sturdy enough to stand atop a lollipop stick, and tastes oddly and deliciously like an orange creamsicle.

Creamsicle Cut Out Cookies

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 C nondairy margarine, softened
1 C granulated sugar
2 Tbs orange marmalade or orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one orange (optional)

Additional:
Vegan Royal Icing (recipe below)
sprinkles!

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Cut parchment paper to size of cookie sheets.  Measure dry ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together, then set aside.

Cream margarine with sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in marmalade or orange juice concentrate, vanilla extract and orange zest (if desired).  Slow mixer and gradually add dry ingredients until completely combined.

Spread out one of the pieces of parchment paper on a flat surface.  Place about a quarter to a third of the dough on it.  Cover remaining dough with plastic wrap or place in plastic bag to keep from drying out.  Flatten the dough on the parchment paper into a thick disc by hand, then cover it with a piece of wax (not parchment) paper.  While keeping the wax paper in place on the dough, use a rolling pin to roll it out to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in thickness.  (If planning to make cookie pops, make sure the dough is at least 3/8 inch thick.)  Peel off the wax paper and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes with space between them, but leave them in place on the parchment paper.  Use an offset spatula (preferred) or butter knife to remove the dough from between the cookies.  Gently slide the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet.  The leftover dough may be recycled as many times as needed to use all the dough, since additional flour is not added to roll it out.

Optional step for Cookie Pops:
Use offset spatula to arrange cookies on parchment paper so that lollipop sticks will not overlap.  Gently insert large lollipop sticks into sides of cookies until at least halfway across width of cookie.

Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes and the edges just begin to lightly brown.  Remove from oven and allow cookies to remain on sheet for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up before removing to rack to complete cooling.

Once cookies are completely cool, decorate with royal icing and sprinkles.

 Vegan Royal Icing

(Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking.)

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 Tbs water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 C powdered (confectioners') sugar
food coloring as desired

Combine Egg Replacer, water and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously until frothy.  Add powdered sugar and continue stirring until smooth.  Mix in food coloring.  (If needed, the thickness of the icing can be adjusted by gradually adding very small amounts of either water or powdered sugar.)

Sunblossom Cookies

I originally shared this recipe as a Sunday Sweets feature at the awesome site Go Dairy Free, but these cookies are just too good not to post here, too!  I promise you will never miss peanut butter cookies after trying the Sunbutter and banana combo.  The addition of the banana and reduction of the fat, make them less greasy and more soft and chewy than the classic criss-cross, and the ones with the chocolate chips are just amazing.

One note, occasionally the Sunbutter causes a greenish tint on the inside of baked goods.  The lemon juice should prevent it, but if you do see it, the cookies are just fine!

Sunblossom Cookies

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Wet Ingredients:
½ C sunflower seed spread (i.e. Sunbutter)
¼ C dairy free margarine
½  C granulated sugar
½  C brown sugar
1 perfectly ripe banana
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp lemon juice

Dry Ingredients:
1 ½ C AP flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Additional:
Granulated sugar to roll dough

Optional:
½ C allergen free chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Cream margarine, sunflower seed spread and sugars together until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.  Add banana, vanilla extract and lemon juice and continue beating until completely incorporated and no chunks of banana remain.

Sift or whisk dry ingredients together.  With mixer on slow, gradually add to the wet ingredients.  If using chocolate chips, stir in by hand after flour is incorporated.  Drop dough by tablespoonfuls (about 2) into granulated sugar.  Gently roll into sugar covered balls and place onto cookie sheets.  Press down twice with a fork to make a crisscross pattern.  (If using chocolate chips, omit crisscross with fork.)  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned.  Allow cookies to remain on tray for ten minutes to firm up, then transfer to a cooling rack.  Makes approximately 2 ½ to 3 dozen cookies.

Double Chocolate Brownie Bites

When I entered the FAANtastic Divvies Cookie Contest last year, I never expected that my recipe would actually win, or foresaw any of the excitement that followed.  I was just hoping to place and maybe score some Divvies store credit.  It has been an amazing ride, and we haven't even gone on our trip yet.  Spring break, here we come!

Lori Sandler of Divvies took this recipe as inspiration, and created the amazingly fudgey Choco-lot Brownie Cookies.  (No, I don't get a portion of the sales, but the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network does, if you needed another reason to order some!)  Since the Divvies recipe is actually different than the one I submitted, Lori is kindly permitting me to go public with it.

This recipe was the result of many failed attempts to create a gooey, rather than cake like, pan of egg, dairy, peanut and tree nut free brownies, which still eludes me.  When I finally tried to make cookies from the uncooperative batter, the results were fairly unattractive brown lumps.  Incredibly chocolaty but not too sweet, soft on the inside and chewy on the outside, brown lumps.  I hope you enjoy them!

Double Chocolate Brownie Bites

2010 FAANtastic Divvies Cookie Contest Winning Recipe

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
2 ½ C all-purpose flour
1 C allergen free cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 C dairy free margarine, softened
1 C granulated sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz container or 2/3 C plain or vanilla soy yogurt

Additional Ingredients:
10  or 12 oz bag allergen free semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl and set aside.

Beat margarine in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment at medium speed for one minute, then gradually add sugars.  Continue to cream together at least 5 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down bowl.  Reduce speed to low and add vanilla extract and soy yogurt.  Gradually add dry ingredients until mixed thoroughly, then turn off mixer and stir in chocolate chips by hand.

Use a 1 Tablespoon disher or cookie scoop to drop spoonfuls of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets at least two inches apart.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool on sheets for at least five minutes then move to a cooling rack.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

A few notes about the recipe: if you have a hand mixer rather than a stand mixer, you can still make these, but make sure the margarine is softened before you start and allow more time to cream it. A disher is also not necessary, but highly recommended if you are planning to make drop cookies on a regular basis. (And let's face it, if you've got a kid with food allergies, you're probably doing more baking than you planned!) The recipe also calls for plain or vanilla soy yogurt, but feel free to substitute whatever safe nondairy yogurt you can get your hands on. If plain or vanilla isn't on the shelf, go ahead and use a berry flavored cup instead. Cherry is especially good.

You may also notice that this is a fairly large batch of cookies. The proportions do simplify things by calling for an entire cup of yogurt and an entire bag of chips to be dumped in the batter, rather than carefully measured out. Honestly, though, I can't keep up with the demand for these things, mostly from the non food allergic, so too many cookies have never been a problem!

I owe a huge thank you to the wonderful people at Divvies and FAAN, as well as our local Tampa Food Allergy Walk Committee. We are incredibly excited to visit one of the Great Wolf Lodges, and I'll be sure to bring back lots of pictures!

Update: Due to many, many requests, I've created a version of this cookie that can be made both gluten free and free of all the Big 8 allergens. Here's the link. Please consider it a thank you to the wonderful allergy community!

Soft and Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

The last time I made gingerbread cookies, Halloween skeletons to be exact, I may have said a few harsh words about the recipe.  I just adore soft, chewy cookies and I had wrestled repeatedly with various gingerbreads until I finally got the results I wanted.  I think my frustration with the process may have left me feeling somewhat uncharitable.  I believe I called the recipe "fussy."

I admit it, I was wrong.

Apparently, if I take the time to follow my own instructions, they're really not so difficult.  I wasn't wrong about the cookies themselves, though.  While stuffing an entire tree in his face, The Kid volunteered that it was "more good than it looks," which may have been prompted by one of my mini-rants about goodies that look amazing, but taste dry and boring.  (It's like a high calorie bait and switch.  I do make an exception for gingerbread for houses, since they are a construction material, but lets start labeling the recipes as "for building" or "for eating!")

So here is a recap of this lovely, soft gingerbread.  Just ignore what I said about it.

Soft and Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

(Click for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
3 C AP flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt


Wet Ingredients:
1/2 C nondairy margarine, i.e., Earth Balance, softened
1/2 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C molasses
2 Tbs orange juice


Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream margarine in mixer, then add brown sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Reduce speed, then mix in molasses and orange juice. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Wrap dough in plastic and chill in refrigerator at least two hours or overnight.


Preheat oven to 350F. Cut parchment paper to fit cookie sheets. You will need 3 or 4 pieces of parchment paper if using standard half sheet pans.  Generously flour one piece of parchment paper, and place about a third of the chilled dough onto the parchment. (Leave the remaining dough in the fridge.) Pat the dough down with with well floured hands, then roll it out to 1/4" thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice to cut out shapes, leaving the cookies in place on the parchment. Carefully remove extra dough from around the cookies and reserve it, then carefully separate the cookies so that they are at least 1/2 inch apart.  (A very thin spatula works well for this.)  Gently slide the parchment paper onto a pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.


As additional portions of dough are rolled out, knead reserved dough completely into the fresh and use less flour to roll out.  All of the dough can be reused, but the last cookies may be slightly less tender.


After baking cookies, allow them to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then move to cooling rack.  Once completely cool, decorate as desired.

I might have been wrong about the cookie recipe, but the icing did need serious improvement.  Here's the royal icing recipe I'm currently using.  I don't use egg replacer much anymore, but to me it still wins for this application, since there's no mucking about with corn syrup, cream of tartar, etc.


I skipped the fancy piping and just spread the icing on thickly with a spatula, then put sprinkles on immediately (before putting the cookie down!) so that the icing didn't have a chance to start firming up.


Allow icing to dry overnight, then keep in an airtight container with wax paper between the layers.

Royal Icing

(Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking, which has egg replacer in Every Single Recipe.)

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 Tbs water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 C powdered (confectioners') sugar
food coloring as desired


Combine Egg Replacer, water and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously until frothy.  Add powdered sugar and continue stirring until smooth.  Mix in food coloring.  (The trees pictured had about 4 drops of green food coloring.)


If needed, the thickness of the icing can be adjusted by gradually adding very small amounts of either water or powdered sugar.

In case you thought we'd forgotten all about tradition, we also made gingerbread dinosaurs.  (It's just not a celebration without edible sauropods.)  The Kid decorated most of those himself, but unfortunately they all got eated were not available for photos.  One sweet little dinosaur did manage to avoid extinction, so she's sending happy holiday thoughts to the Guppy!

I'm submitting my sprinkly trees to the Baking Bites Gingerbread Cookie Contest contest.  You can see the rest of the cookie cutter madness at the contest Flickr pool.

A happy, sugary, holiday season to everyone!