Vegan Vanilla-Chai Cookies

These are essentially my Vanilla-Chai Cupcakes in cookie form.  A bit crispy, they are delicious with coffee or tea.

For those who I subjected to my Curry Bomb Cookies, these are sweeter (but with less sugar) and less explosive.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons softened vegan margarine

6 tablespoons shortening (Crisco)
3/4 cup demerara sugar (or regular sugar)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons garam masala spice mix**

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups whole wheat (or all-purpose) flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt


Preparation: 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine, shortening, and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the water, garam masala, ginger, and vanilla.  Mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Shape the dough into walnut-sized balls and place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten slightly. 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes.

Makes approximately 36 cookies.

** Check the ingredients on your garam masala mix.  I accidentally picked up one with onion and garlic powder.  They didn't taste horrible, but they didn't taste good.  I recommend McCormicks.

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Vegan Vanilla-Chai Frosting Recipe

I designed this recipe to go along with my Vegan Vanilla-Chai Cupcake Recipe.  Not a huge fan of vegan margarine, I tried to substitute the vegan margarine with coconut oil.  The results were mixed (it tasted a lot like lightly-flavored fondant), so this is the best that I can do for now.  If you can think of a suitable butter substitute, please enlighten me.

Chai-Buttercream Frosting

1 cup vegan margarine, warmed until liquid

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

1 ¾ tsp garam masala

1 tablespoon coconut milk

Melt the margarine. Add the powdered sugar and beat in the vanilla and coconut milk.

If the frosting is still thick, add a few more drops of coconut milk.

Makes about 2 cups of frosting.

Vegan Vanilla-Chai Cupcake Recipe

I'm apparently on a bit of a cupcake kick.  I really enjoy making and sharing them.  Cupcakes are just a wonderful food.  They are serving-sized cakes!  How can that be a bad thing?

This serving-sized cake is spicy, sweet, and delicious.  I put frosting on some of them, but I actually prefer them plain.  They are just so yummy.

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid

2/3 cup demerara sugar (or raw sugar)

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 ½ cups lite coconut milk (warmed to room temperature)

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons garam masala spice mix**

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin pan with 12 paper baking cups.

Beat together the coconut oil and sugar. Mix in the coconut milk and cider vinegar. Add the vanilla extract. Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix in the garam masala and ginger. Combine well.

Slowly incorporate the flour taking care not to over mix.

Portion out the batter into the pre-lined muffin pan.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

I frosted my some of my cupcakes with this frosting, but I like them better without the frosting.

** Check the ingredients on your garam masala mix.  I accidentally picked up one with onion and garlic powder.  They didn't taste horrible, but they didn't taste good.  I recommend McCormicks.