By Audrey Sckoropad
When I was younger, my mom used to let us have holiday lunches with our friends at home. The idea was for everyone to bring a dozen homemade Christmas cookies. We tasted them, we traded them, and sometimes we chose our favourite. The creative process behind the cookies (learning how to cook and create recipes) and seeing everyone come up with something different—shortbread, chocolate, icing and decorative touches—made one thing clear: each cookie was unique and festive in its own way. I loved it. My mother has always known how to bring the magic of Christmas to life in our hearts.
Today I still enjoy baking Christmas cookies, and now I include my three children in this tradition. But even though I bake Christmas cookies every year, I don’t overdo it on the decorating; the simpler, the better! For me, the joy is in the moment I share with my children. Personally, I think the most important thing is that the cookies taste good and look pretty—they don’t need to be complicated. When we’re done, we put them in little Christmas boxes to give to our friends and guests during the holidays!
If I’ve inspired you to start a Christmas cookie tradition with your children, try my simple recipe for sugar cookies dipped in dark chocolate. They don’t need to be refrigerated, you don’t need any complicated techniques and all the ingredients are vegan, organic and mostly local.
I used organic all-purpose flour from La Milanaise. If you want a gluten-free version, just replace the flour with a gluten-free baking flour mixture.
To decorate the cookies, I dipped them in dark chocolate, partly because to me, a good cookie always has a touch of chocolate, but also because it’s really easy. I melted
Prana Organic Chocolate Chunks 70% Cacao in a double boiler. Then I took some of the cookies and dipped half in the chocolate. On others, I simply drew lines of chocolate by dipping a spoon in the melted chocolate and quickly drawing it over the cookie.
Instead of topping the cookies with sparkles or coloured sugar, I went for Oatbox Granola and unsweetened coconut flakes. This healthier and more delicious alternative adds another layer of flavor and texture. As soon as the cookies come out of the melted chocolate, sprinkle on the toppings!
You can also frost your cookies with a more traditional frosting. Let your imagination run wild and create all kinds of shapes and designs on your cookies!
If you want to get ahead of the game, you can make the cookie dough in advance and refrigerate it for up to three days before baking.
Lastly, I could have gone into the children’s toy bin to find my holiday cookie cutters, but I had a glass jar in front of me, so I took the circular lid and it worked like a charm! Then you could decorate round cookies like Christmas tree ball ornaments, if you want.
Okay, enough talking. Here is my sugar cookie recipe!
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ½ cup (125 mL) vegan butter
- ¾ cup (185 mL) organic cane sugar
- 1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla extract
- 2 cups (500 mL) organic all-purpose flour (La Milanaise)
- ½ tsp. (2.5 mL) baking soda
- ¼ tsp. (1.25 mL) salt
- 4 tbsp. (60 mL) almond milk
Decorations:
1 cup Prana Organic Chocolate Chunks 70% Cacao
Oatbox Granola
Shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
- Cream butter and sugar.
- In another bowl, sift flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Stir to combine and then add the milk, using your hands to form a ball. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add a little more milk until dough comes together.
- On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out dough to a thickness of about ¼ inch. Cut dough into whatever shapes you like. I used a jar lid to make circles, but you can also use cookie cutters or even a pizza knife or wheel! You can also make dough balls by hand and flatten them with the bottom of a glass instead of rolling out the dough.
- Place cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. It is normal for them to look undercooked; they will continue to bake when they come out of the oven. They also tend to harden slightly once cooled.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before decorating.
- Melt chocolate chunks in a double boiler.
- Dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate and place on waxed paper. Sprinkle with a little bit of shredded coconut and granola.
And that’s it! These festive cookies make a great gift—or you can enjoy them with your family!
