There was no post yesterday courtesy of Holiday festivities which I’m sure everyone can relate to. There are never enough hours in the day during the holiday season!

So, let’s talk Tangerine Butter Cookies. When compiling the list of cookies I was planning on making, I had to make a conscious effort not to make all chocolate cookies. Especially chocolate peppermint. I think at one point I had 4 chocolate peppermint cookies on my list. Not exactly an exciting selection. So here is my attempt to diversify!

Tangerine Butter Cookies

Veganized from Better Homes and Garden

makes about 5 dozen cookies; potential 30 minutes of chilling required depending on dough.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup vegan butter such as Earth Balance, softened
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Ener-G eggs
• 2 tsp finely shredded tangerine peel or orange peel
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup cornmeal (white was suggested but I had yellow on hand and the cookies turned out fine)
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar

Directions

In a very large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 1/2 cups sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs, tangerine peel, vanilla, and orange extract until combined. Gradually beat in oil until smooth. Beat in cornmeal. Beat in flour. If the dough becomes too thick for your mixer, stir remaining flour in by hand (I did not have this problem). If necessary, cover and chill for 30 to 60 minutes or until dough is easy to handle. (Again, I did not have to do this).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in sugar to coat. Place balls 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a wooden skewer or toothpick, press an “X” into each ball of dough. I did mine lightly since I would be redoing the “X” when the cookies were removed from the oven.
Bake in the preheated oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until tops are set. This will result in a cookie with a crunchy outside and a chewy inside. If you prefer an entirely crunchy cookie, cook until just starting to turn light brown. While warm, lightly press again with wooden skewer to make deeper “X” indentations. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

This seemed like a good cookie for those non-chocolate folks out there. You see a lot of lemon cookies so I liked how these were a little unusual. If you brought them to a holiday party, I think they would stand out amongst the gingerbread and chocolate peppermint cookies.

Christmas Pinwheel Sugar Cookies

Oh Christmas time. If you have read my blog previously, you know that Christmas is not my favorite time of year- Christmas carols playing in every single store you visit; Really, really lame Christmas movies on TV; not being able to find parking in my preferred area of the mall; the stress of Christmas shopping. I tend to find my Christmas spirit the week of Christmas. That’s when I really start to get pumped for the holiday.

This year I started a bit early, though. I’ve had more free time on my hands then ever before and have been able to do things that I never had time for during Christmas- making my own Christmas cards and presents, having more time to shop and most importantly, more time to make holiday cookies. Oh yes. Christmas cookies are hands down my favorite part of the holidays! Last year, I tried to do Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies for you but wasn’t able to make it through because of how busy I was at work. This year, though, this year I will be completing my Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies, gosh darn it, and it’s going to be awesome!!

Pecan Pie Cookie

To kick off the cookie baking season, here is a round up of my some of my favorite cookies to date:

Chai Spiced Cookies with Pumpkin

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Healthy Cookie Dough Bites

Holiday Ginger cookies

Lemon Thumbprint Cookie with Vanilla Blueberry Chia Jam

Mocha Macaroons

Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cookies

Pecan Pie Cookie

Pinwheel Sugar Cookie

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tune in tomorrow for the first new cookies recipe of the season!

One of the most tempting, non-vegan treats during the holidays for me is a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha and their peppermint cake pops. It’s just so comforting when it’s cold out and you’re having a stressful day. I have managed to figure out how to make a vegan Peppermint Mocha (Soy Latte with peppermint syrup and then add chocolate powder at the milk bar) but the cake pop was the kicker. It was just such a perfect little bite of sweetness but with the white chocolate, it definitely wasn’t vegan. So I decided, I can totally make these myself! They were one of the first things on my cookies list. I mean, I know that they aren’t technically a cookie but they are bite size and they are portable so they sort of fit into the category right? Right. Erin logic at work right there.

Chocolate Mint Condensed Milk
from Veganbaking.net

• 2 ¾ cups So Delicious Chocolate Mint Coconut Milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the “milk” and the sugar in a slow cooker. Set for high and cook for 7 hours, leaving uncovered the whole time. You should have 1 cup of condensed milk when you are done. Transfer to a bowl to allow to cool. Once cool, whisked in the vanilla extract.

If it cooks down too much, you can add water and food process it until you have 1 cup.

*this can also be done on the stove top. Go to veganbaking.net for the full instructions on that.

**If you can’t find this milk, you could heat 2 3/4 cups of almond milk with some cocoa on the stove like you were making hot chocolate. Once well combined, add to the slow cooker and proceed as instructed above, replacing the vanilla extract with peppermint. I didn’t try this but it would be worth a try. I think you would get similar results.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
from Brown Eyed Baker 

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 avocado, pitted and peeled
• 1 cup pure maple syrup
• ¾ cup almond milk (you can use the So Delicious Chocolate Mint milk here too but it doesn’t really make a difference in the taste)
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Purée avocado in food processor until smooth. Add maple syrup, almond milk, oil, and vanilla, and blend until creamy. Whisk avocado mixture into flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared cupcake cups. Bake 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with some crumbs attached. Cool.

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Pops
adapted from my almond joy cake balls
made about 15 large cake pops. I suggest making them a little smaller

• 1 batch of the above vegan chocolate cupcakes (or your favorite chocolate cake recipe)
• 1/8 cup condensed chocolate mint condensed milk
• 1/3-1/2 cup So Delicious Chocolate Mint Coconut Milk
• about 1 bags of vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2-1 tsp of peppermint extract
• 1 tsp shortening (this thins out and keeps your chocolate smooth. If you can’t find a vegan shortening that you like, I know Earth Balance has one, this is not necessary. Your chocolate will just be thicker)
• sticks for your pops (I used striped straws and cut them in half)
• candy canes crushed up

Crumble the cooled chocolate cupcakes into a large bowl. Add 1/3 cup milk and the 1/8 cup condensed milk to the bowl. With your hands, mix the ingredients in the bowl together until they are well combined. You want the mixture to be moist and easily stick together. If it is too dry, add the remaining Chocolate Mint coconut milk a little at a time until you are satisfied with the consistency. How much milk you will need will depend on how moist your cake is. Once the cake and milk have been combine to your satisfaction, roll into balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 1 hour. (if you are using straws, insert them into the cake pops before chilling. It’s more difficult after since they are hollow.)

Melt the chocolate, the shortening and the extract in a double boiler on the stove. Dip one end of the pop sticks into chocolate and inset into your chilled cake pops. Roll the chilled cake balls in melted chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Return to the fridge until read to serve.

These are so cute!! They would be adorable with little cake pop bags and festive ribbons if you are giving them away. I made mine way too big so definitely aim to make them on the smaller side. With the chocolate cake, chocolate condensed milk and chocolate coating, they end of being quite rich so smaller will be better. You can also decorate these with sprinkles, if you prefer, and leave off the sticks if you just want truffles. These are so versatile in decorating and customizing. And guess what? They would totally go with your vegan peppermint mocha!!