Double-Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (Vegan!)

These are so festive :) Even though I'll take chocolate-mint anything anytime of year!
These were my first attempt at making vegan cookies. I've made quite a few other vegan sweets but those have all used egg substitutes I was familiar with. These called for a commercial egg replacer so I wasn't sure how they would turn out. It works! They were easy to make and I highly recommend these for any chocoholic, vegan or not. :)
Since they are dairy-free, they are also a good option for lactose-intolerant friends.

I made these as a special treat for my vegan sister and brother-in-law and decided to keep a couple for myself. Well, since I had some of those candy cane Hershey Kisses (bit of an impulse buy at Target last night), I figured I'd try out some thumbprint cookies with them. I have never tried making thumbprint cookies so this was a huge experiment! What do you know? I managed to screw them up a bit! Apparently the vegan baking gods did not appreciate my de-veganizing my cookies - the tops of the Kisses all burned! lol :) They still taste fine and they are just for hubby and myself so it's no big deal. They look really funny, though! Guess I gave myself a bit of bad cookie karma ;)

PS - the dough is also fantastic! And you can eat it since there are no raw eggs or other yuckies

This made 32 cookies
(I used my small cookie scoop - original recipe said it would yield 1 1/2 dozen but I always end up with more vegan goodies than the recipe states..! Nice problem to have, I suppose)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer (see photo below)
2 tbsp. water
3/4 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy butter (I use Earth Balance)
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I like the Wholesome Sweeteners sugars since they are organic and fair trade)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I use evaporated cane juice)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (semi-sweet chips are usually OK)

Ener-G Egg Replacer:
Method:
1. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Whisk together the egg replacer and water until it is thick and creamy. Set aside. Mine looked like whisked egg whites when it was ready (frothy). It will thicken up as it sits so don't worry if it seems too runny.

3. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat in the egg replacer as well as the vanilla and peppermint extracts.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture to the butter mixture. Stir well to combine and then add the chocolate chips. Mix the chips in but do not over-stir.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet. Do not try to press the blobs of dough down with a fork - it's too sticky and they come out not looking very nice (yes, I tried on one batch!)
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the baking sheet immediately after removing from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool.

These make great dunkers!

*If you would like to make a non-vegan version of these, simply sub 1 egg for the egg replacer. The butter amount would remain the same so you can sub in salted or unsalted butter as desired. I do recommend you make the vegan ones at least once. You'd never know they're vegan!
I know, I say that every time I post a vegan baking recipe. It's true, though!

Reference: Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking.

Oops... ;)