Hello Lovelies, isn't that so crazy, only 6 more weeks until Christmas, how come each year time just flies faster. Wasn't it just summer some days ago?! But I really like xmas and the whole spirit around it, I'm looking forward to some cozy time with the family, the decoration, candle light and the whole advent time with lots of yummy cookies. I take great pleasure in trying new varieties and combinations every year. That's kind of a family tradition, we always tried new cookie recipes and never have been those people that made the same ones each year. So our experiments have been successful and sometimes not so much and of course we also had our favorites, that we made more than once.
So xmas baking can't start early enough for me and I really had a happy dance when a surprise package arrived at my door last week. From Tchibo filled with xmas baking utensils: a recipe book, an apron and two kind of cookie cutter sets.
So I put on some Christmas music and started baking. I created 3 different cookie recipes (all vegan of course) and I'm happy to share them with you today:
Snowy Christmas Trees
Ingredients:
Dough:
200 gr. ground almonds
100 gr. powdered sugar
100 gr. spelt flour
1 TSP vanilla extract
1 TSP cinnamon
2 TSP gingerbread spice
130 gr. vegan butter
Snow:
85 ml Aquafaba
80 gr. powdered sugar
decoration:
chopped pistachios
powdered sugar
How-to:
Preheat the oven to 180 degree. Add all ingredients into a bowl and knead into a dough. Add to the fridge for ca. 30 minutes. Roll out the dough on a dusted kitchen counter, ca. 3 mm thick and cut out the star cookies in different sizes. You can also use other shapes. I used the big and small star from the Tchibo cookie set. Add on a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes until slightly brown (keep an eye on them). Let cool down.
Prepare the snow in the meantime. Add the aquafaba (water from a glas of chickpeas) to a bowl or into your kitchen machine. Add the powered sugar and beat for 5-7 minutes until its stiff and peaks form (time it will be different if you use a hand mixer or kitchen machine).
Add a dollop on each star and pile them onto each other. You can use different sizes or the same ones, however you like it. Sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and bake again at 100 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the "snow" is stiff. Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
I think its not a big secret that I'm a big fan of aquafaba and it's amazing abilities to work like beaten egg white. It may sounds strange at the beginning, but trust me it tastes so good and not at all like the water of chickpeas. I would love if you give it a try!
Poppy Seed-Kipferl (Crescents)
Ingredients:
40 gr. poppy seeds (grounded)
350 gr. spelt flour
100 gr. raw cane sugar (grounded)
1 TSP vanilla extract
3 TBSP plant based milk
200 gr. vegan butter
1 Pinch of salt
Poppy Seed Sugar:
20 gr. poppy seeds (grounded)
100 gr. raw cane sugar (grounded)
How-to:
Preheat your oven to 180 degree. If you have whole poppy seeds, ground them in a food proccesor or mixer. Add all ingredients in a bowl and knead into a dough. Keep in the fridge for ca. 30 minutes. Dust the dough and take walnut sized pieces to form little crescents. Add them to a baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes until they are slightly browned.
For the poppy seed sugar mix the seeds with the sugar. Add the hot crescents to to mixture and coat them well. You can also dip them in melted chocolate.
I absolutely love poppy seeds, so I knew that this would be one ingredient I wanted to use for sure. And since I also love the traditional "Vanillekipferl" cookies, I thought that would be a perfect twist in them. And they turned out really yummy and had been the girls favorite.
Chocolate-Caramel-Cookie
Ingredients:
Cookie:
200 gr. spelt flour
100 gr. raw cane sugar (grounded)
1 pinch of salt
3 TSP cacao
100 gr. vegan butter
2 TBSP plant-based milk
1 pinch of cinnamon
Caramel:
6-8 dates
2 TBSP cashew butter (or peanut butter)
1 pinch of salt
some vanilla
1 TSP coconut oil
2 TBSP plant-based milk
chocolate:
100 gr. dark chocolate
How-To:
Preheat your oven to 180 degree. For the cookies: mix all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into a dough. Let cool in the fridge for ca. 30 minutes. Add to a dusted kitchen counter and roll into a square. Cut out the cookies with the cookie cutter from the Tchibo set. Add to a baking tray and bake for 8-10. Let cool down.
For the caramel: pit the dates (make sure to use very soft dates, like Medjol). Add all the ingredients into a mixer or food processor and mix until very well combined. This may take some time and you need to scrap the sides.
For the chocolate: melt the chocolate and add into the mold from the Tchibo set, let cool in the fridge for at least on hour.
Assemble your cookies, add caramel and then the chocolate on top and enjoy!
I used the recipe for vegan cookies from the Tchibo book for these and just added some chocolate and spices. The cookies might be a bit more work but totally worth it, I absolutely love the combination with the caramel and chocolate. And the date caramel is a much more healthier alternative to regular one. And since the quantity is more enough for the cookies you will have some leftover caramel to enjoy with bread, with fruits or granola.
The girls also used the leftover dough, to cut some more cookies with the other cutters from the set:
These are my 3 recipes for a bit different xmas cookies this year, I really hope you enjoy them. They are all vegan of course and instead of white sugar and wheat flour, I mostly used raw cane sugar and spelt flour so they are a bit healthier as well - but most important thing: they are really delicious. What would be your favorite, I would love to know!
Have fun baking and get ready for the cozy Christmas time ahead!
Love Verena
*This post is a cooperation with Tchibo Switzerland. Recipe are mine.
This post is also available in: deutsch
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