Kelly Peloza - The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur: Over 120 Scrumptious Recipes Made with Natural and Simple Ingredients

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peloza, Kelly. The vegan cookie connoisseur : over 140 simply delectable vegan recipes that treat the eyes and taste buds / Kelly Peloza. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61608-121-8 (alk. paper) 1. Cookies. 2. I. Title. Title.

TX772.P37 2010 641.5636--dc22 2010021477. Cover design by Eric Kang Cover photo credit Kelly Peloza Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0002-4 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0003-1 Printed in China Contents Acknowledgments T o all my friends and family, taste testers, herbivores, cookie lovers, and everyone who encouraged me to bake endlessly. Special thanks to... Erica Mendoza, who tested about 100 recipes, for contributing so much to the creation of this book. Katie Hubbard of Dont Eat Off the Sidewalk! for being awesome and letting me crash on her Internet couch. Drake, for taste testing a few recipes, especially the dog treats.

Garrick Stegner, for donating a few recipes and helping out along the way. Louzilla Ryan, for always being eager to proofread and test, and being all-around fantastic! All my testers. I never could have done this without your ideas, reassurance, and constructive criticism. Thank you! Erica and Daniel Mendoza Tami Noyes Caitlin Johnson Elizabeth Ryan Carmen Borsa Ditte Johansen Nicole Assumpcao Brooke Osborne Lindsey Osterloh Catherine Dunleavy Thalia C. Palmer Jillian Balinski Melisser Elliott Jennifer Albaum Jen Briselli Stephanie Roy Jen M. Evan McGraw Laura Swan Nicole Carnes Sarah Keeler Kayla K.

Kathryn Diogo Madeline Sherrill Nicole Carpenter Joan Farkas Diana Harman Melissa Tsang Carrie Lynn Morse Sarah Baker Ashley Stephen Jasmine Phair Kristen Miano Nadine Doupe Jennifer Hamilton Cline Land Foreword I dont think Ive ever felt more like an old fogey than I did recently, when I explained how different things were when I was a kid to my nine-year-old son, Teno (well, except for just now when I used the word fogey, that made me feel really old, too). See, when I was a kid, I had to wait for things. If I wanted to watch The Simpsons, I had to wait until Sunday night when it aired. I couldnt just binge on Hulu or On Demand. If I called my friend and she wasnt home, well, then I just didnt get to talk to her. Sure, car phones existed, but calls were so outrageously expensive that people owned them but refused to use them.

And, if I wanted a cupcake, I had to wait until someone had a birthday party and hope like heck theyd invite me. Teno lives in a world where he can have anything he wants, and he can have it now. Its amazing, really(shaking my fist at the sky) what a time to be alive! But sometimes I wonder if that accessibility has worn away the specialness of some of these experiences. If I could have seen my favorite shows and movies whenever I felt like it, would I have bothered to memorize the funniest parts and incorporate them into my daily conversations? (Cut to me in sixth grade, making my way through the crowded hallway doing my best Garth impression, Scuse me, Id like to get by now.) I have instant access to every one of my friends at all times, which means I never call them at all! Teno just about yawns when he sees a cupcaketheyre virtually everywhere, which has rendered them completely undesirable to him. For all of these reasons, I find myself gravitating more and more toward cookies. Yeah, cookies.

All the completely unimpressive glitz and glamour of everyday life has me longing for the simple things. While I cant throw a rock in my neighborhood without hitting a macaron or a gourmet doughnut, Im still hard pressed to find a nice, unsexy, made-with-love cookie. Its just the sort of thing you have to make yourself, and probably always will. Once or twice a month, on a Friday night, I lug out the mixing bowls and throw together a batch of Peanut Kiss Cookies or Chewy Spiced Molasses Cookies. Teno stands by ready to eat as much raw dough as Ill let him (bonus to all the recipes in this book being vegan; no salmonella), and we cuddle up on the couch to watch The Simpsons (On Demand, of course) together. The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur has been a staple in my kitchen for years now because, if you havent figured it out yet, Im one nostalgic sap.

Just when I thought going vegan meant saying goodbye to childhood favorites like oatmeal cream pies and powdered-sugar-dusted pixies, Kelly Peloza comes along and cracks the cookie code. And for those times when Im not yearning for yesterday, there are lots of forward-thinking recipes, toomy favorites are in the No Bake chapter because, lets face it, sometimes it is just too damn hot to turn the oven on. Having known Kelly for some time now, Ive had a behind-the-scenes look at her painstaking recipe testing. The girl is relentless. Good enough is not good enough. Only perfection will do.

She does all the hard work, and I get to be the one who blows minds at office parties with a tray of perfectly iced, totally vegan sugar cookies. Im not saying our friendship isnt mutually beneficial, but I am saying I wouldnt change a thing. With all the variations shes tested and approved, what youre holding in your hands right now is a virtually endless supply of vegan cookie recipes for the true cookie connoisseur. Be that neighbor who gives out cookie tins for the holidays, be the office hero, or, be like me: parent to a hard-to-impress kid who does the happy dance when he sees The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur on the counter. Because in a world where specialness is getting harder and harder to come by, baking with love is still pretty special. Natalie Slater, baker, author of Bake and Destroy: Good Food for Bad Vegans , founder of bakeanddestroy.net and annual pro-wrestling-themed bake off SugarSlam Introduction I remember the moment perfectly.

Several years ago at Christmastime, I was making gingerbread people when inspiration struck. I would write a book entirely devoted to vegan cookies! At first it was just a pipe dream, but the more I sat on the idea, the more I knew I had to make it become a reality. I started writing this book during the summer of 2007 as a high school student soon to be a cookie-making machine. Creating and perfecting more than 140 recipes did have its challenges, but making vegan versions of old favorites and creating brand-new cookies people could enjoy for years to come was an immensely valuable experience. My objective for this project was to create a comprehensive collection of cookie recipes while staying true to my belief that vegan baking neednt be inaccessible or anything less than delicious. Immense dedication was put into the creation of every recipe in order to make each one unique, and because Im a firm believer that seeing is at least half of tasting, I wanted to be sure all the recipes were accompanied by mouthwatering photos to guide and inspire you.