In the Kitchen is where you will find all my recipes and adapted recipes, tried, tested, and eaten.
When I was a kid, I never had a huge sweet tooth. I distinctively remember proudly counting all of my halloween candy one year, 102 pieces – a tangible sign of my hard work and dedication – and only managing to eat 2 pieces. (I think the rest of the family had to finish it off.) Now I always loved cupcakes, but was not a huge fan of icing, and never really understood people who had no self control with sweets and lost it at the sight of chocolate cake. The majority of sweets (candy and baked goods) were just kinda meh to me. Pasta (read: carbohydrates) was more my thing. In the last few years this has changed. Well, let me clarify. I still love pasta and go weak at the knees for a bowl of spaghetti, but I am also learning to love dessert.
Now I am not sure if this is due to living in Germany (there is a lot less hidden sugar in food here than in the US) or just growing older, but I definitely need something sweet now and then and have learned to love a bit of de Postre after dinner. I still do not love it as much as most people – Nick could eat chocolate and whipped cream every day for the rest of his life. And I barely ever purchase candy bars and can’t even remember the last time I ate gummy candy, but I love warm desserts like pie, cobbler, and cookies. I’ve learned that ending the meal on a sweet note just makes dinner more complete. Sticking to a plant-based diet means I do a lot of my own cooking and baking, so it’s up to me to prepare something warm and sweet when the craving strikes. Therefore I am always on the hunt for good recipes.
Last week I came across a great recipe for Snickerdoodles, one of my favorite childhood treats, and decided to give it a try. (To all my American readers out there who might be around my age: Remember Fuddruckers and how they used to give you a coupon for ONE FREE COOKIE along with your meal. Yeah. That was awesome. I got the snickerdoodle. Every. Damned. Time.) They were super tasty but EXTREMELY sweet, so all you non-Americans beware.** I would tone down the sugar next time. In fact, these might even be abnormally sweet for those used to high amounts of sugary intake. Still, they were definitely a hit and worth making.
Chai Spice Snickerdoodles*
For the topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch cloves (didn’t have)
For the cookies:
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup natural sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons rice almond milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
001: Preheat oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with baking paper.
002: Combine the ingredients for the topping on a plate and set aside.
003: Combine the oil, sugar, “milk,” and maple syrup in a mixing bowl, mixing for at least a minute. When the mixture resembles applesauce, add in the vanilla.
004: Sift in the rest of the ingredients, being sure to stir the entire time. When all the ingredients are added, mix until you have a pliable dough.
005: Roll the dough into balls. (The original recipe called for walnut-sized balls but I went a bit crazy and made them a bit bigger, but made sure to leave plenty of space between each when placing them onto the cookie sheet.) Take each ball and flatten them in the topping mixture and transfer to a baking sheet, leaving a least 2 inches room between cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until bottom are slightly browned. Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, and transfer to a cooling rack. ENJOY.
*Adapted from the post punk kitchen
**From my personal experiences, it seems that American desserts tend to be a lot more sugary than desserts in Europe, so I would just warn anyone who might attempt this recipe who is not used to such sugary desserts that these were sweet, even for me.
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