Three Cookies

I baked three batches of cookies recently. All were delicious. One was easy to prepare, and the other two required a bit more skill, time, and patience.

Cookie No. 1 - the easiest and probably my favorite.

No Bake Peanut Butter & Popcorn Crispies




In a medium heavy saucepan over low heat combine:
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup brown rice syrup
2 cups cornflakes
1 cup popped popcorn
1 cup toasted shredded coconut

Bring just to a boil, stirring constantly until combined, then add in the cornflakes, popcorn, and coconut. Turn heat to very low. Drop big spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and let cool. (You really couldn’t taste the coconut in these cookies. I think you could sub in cornflake or popcorn crumbs instead and save your coconut for another treat.)

These were so peanutty delicious with a fun popcorn flavor and crispy flakes for a great texture contrast.


Cookie No. 2 – medium difficulty, and my new favorite non-chocolate cookie.

Citrus Ribbon Cookies

The only veganizing needed for this recipe is to replace the egg. You should only us Ener-G egg replacer. Anything else will interfere with the delicate flavor of the citrus. As you can see from my picture, I used a flax egg and that was wrong wrong wrong.

A bit of skill is required to evenly divide your dough into equal thirds, flavor and tint it, and then pat it into even layers in a loaf pan. Your cookies will turn out prettier and be much easier to mold if you wait to make these until your son returns your clear glass loaf pan instead of prepping them “blind” in a metal bread pan as I had to do; hence, the rather uneven layers.

Oh, well, I still couldn’t wait to bake these. Here’s how they looked after slicing and ready to go into the oven.

Even though the flax flavor was strong, once I got past that (which I really didn’t mind) the citrus flavors, layer by layer, came through very nicely. These cookies would be perfect for bridal or baby showers, Mother’s Day, or any sort of spring fling party. Oh, the cookie at the front of the plate was made with leftover dough all mushed together. You could just make all tie-dye cookies!

Cookie No. 3 – so time consuming and so messy I vowed never to make them again. Until I tasted them.

MSV Turtle Shortbread Wedges

I guess I actually made Goober Shortbread Wedges because I used peanuts instead of pecans (I’m not a fan). These cookies are insanely delicious. My whole family went crazy for them. I have dreamed of making a vegan Snickers, my favorite candy bar that I can’t remember the last time I tasted. These cookies are probably as close as I could ever hope to get. You definitely should make these, but there are a few points to consider.

1. It took much longer to make these than the recipe seems to indicate. The candy topping takes 30 minutes or more to reach 300 degrees; the recipe says 5 – 7 minutes, then until done. I hardly ever make candy so I wasn’t expecting it to take so long.

2. The recipe states that when the cookie is finally done, you should wait 20 minutes before cutting into wedges. When I took these pictures it was nearly midnight and I had waited an hour, so I had to go ahead and cut. But you can see it’s still not completely set.

3. It will take you a good half hour to clean up. Hot candy cools and solidifies on anything it touches and is extremely difficult to remove. You will have to clean up rock-hard glued-on clumps of sticky sugar from the stovetop, spoon rest, pot you cooked in, sink, countertop, floor, and anywhere else it may have dripped. (I’m still finding spots on the floor!)

4. My biggest issue when I read through the recipe was which type of baking pan to use. The recipe said to use an 8-inch round cake pan. I couldn’t imagine turning out or sliding out delicate shortbread with a soft topping. I decided to use a disposable 8-1/2 inch pan I had on hand. To remove the cookie, I cut the sides of the pan and folded them out flat, then carefully slid the whole cookie out. A cheesecake pan would work even better, as my pan was so full with the liquidy candy topping I was nervous moving it in and out of the oven.

But like I said, it’s definitely worth the time and mess to make these goodies at least once!