Vegan Lactation Cookies 2

I have a new mini-vegan so it's time for a new lactation cookie recipe. This was based on a recipe that used large amounts of sugar, butter, and eggs. I decided on a healthier approach than just substituting vegan versions and came up with this recipe, which contains no oils or refined sugars except in the chocolate chips.

Lactation Cookies 2

Wet:
1/2 cup applesauce
1 very ripe banana
1/2 cup peanut or almond butter
3/4-1 cup dates
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp maple syrup

Dry:
1 cup ground flax
3 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
3 Tbsp brewer's yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup sliced or slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine wet ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix well.

Drop ping-pong ball sized portions of dough onto the cookie sheet and flatten slightly (the dough will not spread when cooked). Bake for 12 minutes.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.


Variations: substitute raisins, dried cranberries, or chopped dried fruit for the chocolate chips. Other nuts or seeds can be used instead of sliced almonds.

Fudgy Marshmallow Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are s'mores for adults - a gooey, fudgy, decadent cookie made a little healthier with a base of oatmeal and whole wheat flour. Regular cocoa powder can be used, but I prefer the darker flavor of dutched cocoa. These aren't the prettiest cookies since the marshmallows tend to melt and explode, but they make up for their homeliness in flavor.

There are two brands of vegan marshmallows that I know of -- Dandies and Sweet & Sara. Both are good, but Dandies have more of the air-puffed campfire marshmallow texture. If you use the bigger marshmallows from either brand, cut them into quarters or eighths before folding them into the batter.

Fudgy Marshmallow Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup dutched cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp ground flax
1 1/4 cups non-dairy milk (I used soy)
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup vegan marshmallows (I used Dandies and cut them into quarters)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two baking sheets.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients except for chocolate chips and marshmallows. Add non-dairy milk, coconut oil, and vanilla and mix well to form a dough. Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Drop dough on the baking sheets in 2 Tbsp-sized portions, making sure there is a marshmallow in each cookie. For a little more predictability in marshmallow expansion, you may want to fold the dough around the marshmallows instead of mixing them directly into the dough.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a plate or rack to finish cooling.

Garbanzo Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not gluten-free right now, but I still like to experiment with gluten-free baking. I have never used xanthan gum in my gluten-free baking because everything I've made has turned out fine without it so I think it's unnecessary in most recipes. These cookies are made with garbanzo flour, which gives a beany flavor to the dough but the beaniness disappears upon baking. They are also free of tree nuts, peanuts, and soy. If you desire, you can stir in coconut flakes, dried fruit, nuts, or seeds along with or instead of the chocolate chips. The cookies bake up soft and don't fall apart or crumble like many of the gluten-free recipes I've tried.

*Note* This recipe had a typo. It should have been 1/4 cup non-dairy milk instead of 3/4 cup.

Garbanzo Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup non-dairy milk

1 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups garbanzo flour

3/4 cup chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, use a fork to combine brown and white sugars, coconut oil, non-dairy milk, and cornstarch. If your kitchen is cool, it might be easier to mix with an electric beater because coconut oil solidifies below 76F.

Stir in vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Mix in garbanzo flour until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop dough by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can't pass up the mint and chocolate combination. It has always been my favorite flavor for desserts even though I'm not normally a chocolate-lover. I make these cookies with white whole wheat flour, which is a lighter-tasting variety of whole wheat.

Fresh from the oven.

Cookie dough ready for the freezer.
Are you like me and eat way too many cookies when you make a batch? Try baking just what you need and freezing the rest so you can pop a couple in the oven when you have a craving or when the kids think they need cookies. Freeze tablespoon-sized scoops on parchment paper, then transfer to freezer bags or another container so you can just pull out a few scoops, defrost, and bake!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup non-dairy milk,
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

With a hand mixer, cream together sugars and coconut oil in a mixing bowl. Add non-dairy milk, cornstarch, and extracts and mix again. The coconut oil will harden if the milk isn't at room temperature, but don't worry about that. Sift in flour, salt, and baking soda and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheet. These cookies hold their shape well, so you may want to flatten them slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Raw Coconut-Lime Cookie Balls

My current obsession is raw cookies. They are free of most allergens, quick to make, and a healthy snack to eat in the 3-second lull between group exercise classes and chasing two hyperactive toddlers. This is a variation of the versatile sunflower seed cookie I posted last week and they taste like Lara Bars. If you want a more Larabar-like bar, you can roll them flat and cut them before refrigerating instead of rolling them into balls.

Raw Coconut-Lime Cookie Balls

1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut (plus more for rolling cookies in)
1 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Pulse almonds, seeds, and coconut in a food processor until a coarse flour forms. Add dates and pulse into the dates are well incorporated. Add the coconut oil and lime juice and process until a dough forms.

Roll 1/2 Tbsp-sized portions of dough into balls and roll the balls in shredded coconut, if desired. Refrigerate for a few hours to overnight, and store in fridge.

Raw Sunflower Seed Cookies

I've been experimenting with raw cookies for the last couple days. I don't have a dehydrator, so I needed to come up with a recipe that only required a food processor. I posted a variation of this recipe containing almonds and peanut butter on my Facebook page a couple days ago. This variation uses coconut and sunflower seed butter instead, so it's suitable for people with peanut or tree-nut allergies. They are also sugar-free and grain-free.

It is easy to make your own nut and seed butters by running roasted or raw nuts or seeds in a food processor, scraping down the sides frequently until a butter forms. Different ingredients take different amounts of time to process into butters. Sunflower seeds process in about 5 minutes, while almonds can take 10-20. Sesame seeds are low in oil so require a little added oil to turn into tahini. For this recipe, I used some homemade unsalted sunflower seed butter that needed to be used up.

Raw Sunflower Seed Cookies

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (or coconut flour)
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seed butter
1 cup pitted dates
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Pulse the coconut in a food processor until it turns into a coarse flour. Add the sunflower butter, dates, and vanilla and process until the dates are incorporated and a dough-like mixture is formed. If the mixture isn't sticky enough to form a soft dough, add another tablespoon of sunflower butter and process again. Using your hands, form dough into balls. Flatten slightly into a cookie shape. Refrigerate for a few hours to overnight and enjoy.

Lavender-Lime Shortbread

These light and delicate shortbread cookies are great with tea. The lavender and lime combination may seem odd, but the flavors blend together wonderfully.

Lavender-Lime Shortbread

1/2 Tbsp dried lavender (food-grade)

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp finely grated lime zest

1/2 cup non-dairy butter, salted (I used Earth Balance)

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

fresh lime juice

Grind lavender to a coarse powder with a mortar and pestle or with a spice grinder. Stir lavender, sugar, and lime zest together in a mixing bowl. Add the softened non-dairy butter and cream the mixture together. Add flour and salt. Beat until a soft, crumbly dough forms, adding lime juice if necessary if dough is too powdery.

On a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper, form the dough into a loaf. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for an hour. 

Preheat oven to 350F. Removed dough from fridge. Cut the dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Let cookies cool for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Cool completely, then ice if desired. 

Makes about 18 cookies.

Icing (optional)

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lime zest

1/2 tsp ground dried lavender

In a small mixing bowl, stir together ingredients. If the icing is too thin, add extra sugar, and if it's too thick, add more lime juice.

Spoon icing onto the cookies and let set for at least half an hour.

Vegan No-Bake Lactation Cookies

I get so many requests for my vegan lactation cookie recipe, so I figured I'd post it publicly so that all the moms out there can use it.  And hey, it's not just for lactating moms!  My husband and son love these things.  No, they have not lactated as a result of eating them.  They are just tasty cookies with lots of stuff in them to help support lactation.  They are dairy-free, egg-free, wheat-free, and can be soy-free depending on what non-dairy options you pick.  They might not work for all women since everyone responds differently to galactagogues, but they work for me.

Vegan No-Bake Lactation Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I've used soy, rice, and almond successfully)

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup peanut butter (the natural all-peanut kind)

1/2 cup vegan margarine (Earth balance works well and comes in a soy-free variety as well)

1 Tsp vanilla

3 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1/2 cup ground flax seed

2-4 Tbsp brewer's yeast or nutritional yeast

Combine oatmeal, flax seed, and brewer's yeast in a large bowl. 

In a small saucepan, combine non-dairy milk, sugar, cocoa, peanut butter, and margarine. Stir over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil mixture for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add vanilla. 

Pour chocolate mixture over oatmeal mixture and stir well to combine. Drop cookies onto a cookie sheet or wax paper to cool or refrigerate until cookies are firm and no longer sticky.

Variations:
I've played with a couple of variations on this recipe recently that turned out well. Replacing the peanut butter with another nut butter like almond or hazelnut is tasty. I also tried adding a scoop of vegan protein powder to the oatmeal mix before adding in the heated liquid mixture, and that also turned out well.