A personal holiday favorite, I've finally veganized this scrumptious little cookie. Vegan chocolate chips replace Hershey kisses and are enveloped by a soft and pillowy peanut butter cookie. I've made these lower-sugar using erythritol, but feel free to use regular sugar if you wish. They're easy, done in a flash, and perfect for cookie exchanges!
“Animal lovin’ ain’t shovin’ ‘em in the oven.”
Regrettably, there are a couple downsides to being vegan. They are few and far between and utterly irrelevant when compared to the unnecessary suffering of billions upon billions of our animal "friends" (oh I miss gouda cheese like no one's business but then think of veal and I'm set right), but I'll let you in on a vegan secret. We hate cookie exchanges.
Well, not vegan ones of course, but traditional ones. Why? Because we can't really participate. I know it's technically of our own doing, but it still kind of stinks. Sure, you could bring vegan cookies to the exchange but honestly unless you work at PETA or your entire extended family is vegan (who are you!?) your cookies might be the only vegan ones that make an appearance... which means you're only doing a cookie exchange with yourself. And that's not really a cookie exchange, now is it? No, you just made cookies. Lonely, vegan cookies.
So, to conclude, that's really the only time I kind of skulk in the corner; Grinch-like, wishing a holiday miracle would magically make all the cookies vegan. Or better yet, all the people... muah-haha!
Anyway, these cookies; I found it somewhat disturbing that I've been vegan for three years and still have not veganized peanut butter blossoms! They're one of my favorite holiday cookies and I fondly remember making them with my mom during the holiday season. Every Christmas morning my family would all trot down the trail about a quarter of a mile through the woods to my grandparents house for breakfast, carrying with us a huge platter of assorted homemade cookies. The peanut butter blossoms were always my favorite and of course I greedily ate as many as I could on the way down to ensure that I had my fill before they disappeared. I'm a much better sharer now... sort of... #noshame
In Alaska there's no such thing as vegan, milk chocolate kisses. Maybe in the states those exist, but not up here in the great north. So, I made do with vegan chocolate chips but if you get you're able to get your paws on some vegan chocolate kisses... by all means... send me up some! Do these exist??
I also used aquafaba in place of eggs (it's a freaking miracle that stuff), which is just the liquid from a can of chickpeas; if you've been living under a rock for the last half a year and have yet to discover this gift from the vegan gods. Erythritol lends itself to cut back on the sugar just a bit. These little guys are almost a little too sweet for my now geriatric tastebuds, so I scaled back on the cloyingness a bit as erythritol isn't quite as sweet as plain sugar... and also with none of the, well, sugar part. However, feel free to use regular ol' sugar if you like. I won't tell Santa. Enjoy!
Less-Sugar Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms
A personal holiday favorite, I've finally veganized this scrumptious little cookie. Vegan chocolate chips replace Hershey kisses and are enveloped by a soft and pillowy peanut butter cookie. I've made these lower-sugar using erythritol, but feel free to use regular sugar if you wish. They're easy, done in a flash, and perfect for cookie exchanges! Adapted from AllRecipes.com
Yield: ~ 50
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) vegan butter sticks, room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup vegan packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated erythritol (or 1 cup vegan granulated sugar)
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp table salt
- ~ 1 cup vegan chocolate chips, for topping
Cooking Directions
- In a large electric mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars on medium speed for about 1 minute until smooth and whipped. Reduce the speed to low and add in the aquafaba, vanilla, and water. Increase speed to medium and beat for an additional minute. Stop to scrap down the sides as needed.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. With the electric mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Stir until just combined.
- Preheat oven to 375° F and coat a cookie sheet with a nonstick cooking spray or line with a silicone baking mat. Form the dough into balls a little small than a golf ball and place on the sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 12 minutes until slightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and depress the center with the bottom of a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon. Drop into the depression about 5 chocolate chips and repeat with remaining cookies. Next, remove the cookies from the pan and allow to cool completely before storing. Repeat with remaining dough. Store in an airtight container.
Did you guys read this article regarding veganism on NPR yesterday? I love it! It's all about how the Israeli army is making it a whole heck of alot easier for the ever expanding mass of vegan soldiers to eat cruelty-free and lead vegan lives. "Vegan soldiers wear wool-free berets and leather-free boots, and they get an additional stipend to supplement their food, the military says." Ummm, that's freaking awesome. I mean, in an ideal world we wouldn't need soldiers but, hey...I'm just the messenger here.
