Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies (Thanks, Dorie!)

Yesterday, I finally made it back into the kitchen after my brief hiatus. I craved something baked (which is nearly every day of my life)--but wanted it to be something quick. Well, making a batch of cookies is never as quick as baking a cake. I sometimes end up with a bowl of batter and like five-hundred cookies to roll into a 1" ball. I am always surprised by this--that the mixture is way more than I had anticipated. After my weekly visit to the library, I checked out Dorie Greenspan's Baking cookbook. If you watched PBS's Baking with Julia, then bought the companion cookbook, you might know Dorie. If you read Parade Magazine on the weekends, you might know Dorie--she often has a column on cooking or baking included. Dorie is an amazing cook! Forget that she is not vegan, more than half the world is not vegan, but that should not keep us vegans from trying out recipes and giving them our own spin. Taking cookie recipes and creating vegan versions of them is not rocket science. You have basic substitutions that will work fine in most instances, like Ener-G Egg Replacer and Earth Balance Buttery Sticks. *It is a different story when you are baking a cake, or brownies. What a vegan baker should remember that many times it is the weight of the ingredients and precise measurements that are critical in this sort of cookie science. I always make sure I sift my flour before measuring it. I don't mean running all the flour you have through a sifter, I mean, just give it a good stir. Fill your measuring cups with the flour with a spoon, then level off. Nothing is worse than a baked cookie that tastes like a mouth full of flour. Also, make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. And nothing is really worse than a hard-as-a-rock cookie! Thus overmixing is not allowed in making cookie batter. In this cookie, you can add crushed peanuts and chocolate chips in increments so that you have the purist peanut butter cookie, the chocolate chip peanut butter cookie and the peanutty peanut butter cookie. They all turned out to be really good--maybe I'm biased!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie

2 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

*remember to sift the flour!

1/4 cup white spelt flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

a pinch of nutmeg *this really gives this cookie a cool flavor boost!

2 sticks Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, at room temp. and sliced into thin pieces

1 cup peanut butter (not the oily natural kind, but natural Jif or Skippy works well)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4 cups Florida Crystals *using this instead of white sugar works well

3 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer powder mixed with 4 tablespoons warm water

1 cup chopped nuts *see note below

1/2 cup chocolate chips *see note below

1/2 cup Florida Crystals for rolling cookies in

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. First, always prep the Egg Replacer mixture so you don't have to do this at the last minute, set aside. Place the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside. Now, place the Earth Balance into another large mixing bowl and using a hand blender mix until creamy. Next, add both sugars and mix again until fully incorporated into butter. Add the peanut butter and mix well. Next add 1/4 cup Egg Replacer mix and blend into butter/sugar mixture well. Then add the remainder of Egg Replacer and blend well--give it a good 2-3 minute of mixing. Now, take the dry ingredients and add to the butter/sugar mixture in three increments. Here is where it gets fun--use your hands to do this. Yes, it is messy, but way better for the cookies! Less mixing=softer cookie! Roll the cookie into 1" balls and then roll in the sugar. Place on cookie sheet and press with a fork, first in one direction, then another. *For additional crushed peanuts and chocolate chips, just add these after you've made about 8 of the just peanut butter cookies. You'll have three types of cookies this way--if you then add the crushed peanuts for another 8 cookies and another type for the chocolate chip version. It makes for a good combo! Bake cookies for about 12 minutes--do NOT overbake! Try to rotate the cookie trays half way through baking--front to back and top to bottom--it helps them bake more evenly. Remove from oven and let stand and cool for about a minute. Remove from trays and place on cookie rack!