WWW.FREI-STYLE.COMVegan Christmas Tree Cookies with Aquafaba Snow
Ingredients
Dough
- 200 g (7 oz.) ground almonds
- 100 g (3.5 oz.) powdered sugar
- 100 g (3.5 oz.) spelt flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp gingerbread spice
- 130 g (4.6 oz.) cold vegan butter ((block, e.g. Alsan))
Snow
- 85 ml (1/3 cup) aquafaba ((liquid from 1 jar of chickpeas))
- 80 g (2.8 oz.) powdered sugar
To decorate
- 2 Tbsp chopped pistachios ((about 20 g / 0.7 oz.))
- Powdered sugar (for dusting)
Equipment: Mixing bowl, Rolling pin, Star cookie cutters in 3 sizes, Baking sheet with parchment, Stand mixer or hand mixer, Cooling rack
Instructions
- 1.Quickly knead the almonds, powdered sugar, spelt flour, vanilla, cinnamon, gingerbread spice and vegan butter into a smooth dough. Flatten it and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- 2.Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- 3.Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 3 mm (1/8 inch) and cut out stars in three sizes. Knead the scraps together, roll them out again and keep cutting.
- 4.Place the stars on the sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Keep an eye on them, thin stars darken quickly. Let them cool completely and turn the oven down to 100 °C (210 °F).
- 5.For the snow, whip the aquafaba with the powdered sugar in a stand mixer for 5 to 7 minutes until firm and it holds peaks like beaten egg white.
- 6.Put a dollop of snow on each star and stack the stars from large to small into little trees. Turn each star slightly so the points sit offset.
- 7.Sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and bake the trees at 100 °C (210 °F) for 12 to 15 minutes until the snow is set.
- 8.Let them cool and dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
You can bake the stars up to 5 days ahead and keep them in an airtight tin; stack them with snow shortly before serving. If the aquafaba snow won't stiffen, simply keep whipping, a hand mixer often takes a few minutes longer than a stand mixer, and make sure the bowl and whisk are completely free of grease. Roll the dough on a silicone mat or between two sheets of parchment and you will hardly need any flour. Spelt contains gluten; for gluten-free trees replace the 100 g (3.5 oz.) spelt flour with a gluten-free flour blend, the almonds are naturally gluten-free. Stored cool and dry in a tin, the finished trees keep for about 1 week.
Nutrition per serving: 210 kcal · 4 g protein
MY NOTES
Ten more easy vegan dinners, free: frei-style.com/ebook