Snickerdoodles! (Of the vegan and gluten-free variety.)
Snickerdoodles! Probably the best cookie ever invented, and given the coolest name to prove it. Warm sugar cookies dusted with cinnamon and sugar sounds like heaven… but warm snickerdoodles on an afternoon where the high was to be 106 and the heat advisory was in effect for an entire week? How could that possibly make sense?! But I made it work by adding a layer of ice cream between those two cookies and calling it a day. (A much cooler day, if I may say so myself!)
350° oven, 12-18 minutes
Makes 2 dozen large cookies
Ingredients
1 c margarine
1 1/2 c sugar
1 tbsp egg replacer (Ener-g or ground flax seeds)
4 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c brown rice flour
1 1/4 c sourgum flour
3/4 c potato starch
1 tsp xanthan
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Cinnamon sugar for dusting (I use 1 tsp cinnamon to 1/4 c sugar)
Vanilla ice cream (your favorite vegan brand!)
Steps
Prepare 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray and set aside.
(I prefer a stand mixer for cookie baking, but if you don’t have one, no fear. You can use a hand beater for this part!)
In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar at medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until all sugar is incorporated into the margarine and it’s nice and fluffy.
In a small bowl, beat the egg replacer and water with the hand beater for at least one minute. It will froth up (like an egg!) and help your cookies be nice and fluffy. Add this mixture, along with the vanilla, to the margarine and sugar and beat until incorporated.
(At this point, if you are using a stand mixer, you can continue to incorporate the following steps on top of the wet ingredients. A hand mixer, however, will not handle the dough well and can overheat, so if that’s your tool of choice, switch over to a wooden spoon now.)
Measure out and pour in the flours, xanthan, cream of tartar, baking soda & powder, and salt. Beat until all flour is well incorporated. Make sure to turn the dough over, as wet ingredients tend to stick to the bottom and make your final cookies way too wet, causing them to not set properly in the oven.
If your dough is warm at this point, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up. You don’t want your cookies drooping in the oven. Make rounded balls of dough (about 2 tbsp) with your hands, then roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Place on prepared cookie sheet and lightly press down to guide how they will form. Do not flatten the fragile cookies! These babies are gluten-free AND vegan— they like to be pampered.
Watch your cookies. Sing them love songs. Turn them halfway, and when the edges are firm (after about 15 min), take them out and set on a surface to cool for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate where they can completely cool. Like I said, these babies are fragile. They hold up, but they’re a little more crumbly than their wheat cousins. They’re more durable when cool.
When the tray is cooled off, continue spooning, flattening, and baking until all dough has been baked (or you can freeze the remaining dough for up to one month).
Once cooled, spoon some vanilla ice cream between two cookies and make yourself and your loved ones a sandwich. Immediately forget about the heat and enjoy!
