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Vegan Ginger Cookies

What's this? Another vegan recipe? I know. I was testing a couple out at once, so sorry to anyone who sticks their nose up at vegan anything. Deal.

These are ginger heavy like whoa. Like, you better be a ginger fan if you're going to make these. Guess what? I'm not! What in the world! Why are you making ginger cookies, then? I thought. I thought, maybe, you know, maybe. The other day I bought some candied ginger because so many people rave about it, and you know what? I ate a piece and thought to myself, "This tastes like spicy soap. Blugh."

So I have to use it up somehow, right? Right. Otherwise, what a waste! Therefore, some ginger cookies. Brought to work. And "forgetting" to mention that they're vegan. Muahaha! You all just ate vegan cookies with healthy flaxseed, and you didn't know it!

These are almost more like balls than cookies, actually, but maybe I made them a bit smaller than intended. Whatevs. If you like yourself some ginger, you will likely enjoy these, vegan or not.

Vegan Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup minced candied ginger
1 cup vegan granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons ground golden flaxseed
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup vegan granulated sugar, for rolling

Cooking Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, and minced candied ginger. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, ground flaxseed, applesauce, oil, and lemon zest and juice.
Add the wet ingredients, all at once, to the dry ingredients and carefully mix together with a wooden spoon. Make sure all the flour bits are moistened and incorporated well. Form dough into a disk shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour, as long as overnight.
Preheat oven to 350F, have your rack in the middle. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove the dough from the fridge and use your hands to roll dough into acorn shell size balls. Roll balls in granulated sugar and place on baking sheet. Using the palm of your hand, slightly flatten the balls. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until just slightly browned, but still a bit soft in the center.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Recipe via Joy the Baker

In photos:

Some of your cast of characters. I did not chop up my ginger as small as is probably recommended, due to laziness and knife stickiness. I used a small cheese grater to get the lemon zest, as I do not own a zester. It worked grand.

Whisk up your flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger and candied ginger. I promise the candied ginger is in there. Somewhere.

In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, flaxseed, applesauce, canola oil, lemon zest and lemon juice. I used the juice of about half the lemon used for zesting. Strange baking fact: sugar is always with the wet ingredients!

Mix your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Make sure you get the drier bits at the bottom.

In attempting to make a flat slab, I made a heart shape. What is my subconscious telling me? Just go with it. Wrap it up in some plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Roll up some balls, roll those balls in some sugar, place them on your parchment-lined sheet, then smush them down a bit because they don't really spread. These are on the small-ish size. You can go a bit bigger if you like.

Out of the oven. As you can see, they are not much bigger than when they went in, and they don't brown a lot. Just a bit crack-ier. After you've let them cool on the pan, and then on a wire rack, store them in an airtight container. Voila!

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