My favorite cookie of all time is the Linzer. It’s hard to find good vegan versions, and even harder to make good vegan versions. I try to use soy butter and other vegan butter substitutes as little as possible when I bake because, to me, the result always has a strange chemical taste. And without butter, a Linzer is not a Linzer.
So here is my oil based take on an old favorite. They’re part thumbprint, part Mexican wedding cookie and part Linzer.
The most important ingredient is, of course, the jam. Next to racism and poverty, there’s little else I hate more than crappy jam. Spring for the good stuff, like Bonne Maman preserves. It will make all the difference, I promise.
You can make these wheat free by replacing the all purpose/whole wheat flour with almond flour. If the dough isn’t coming together as it should, try adding xanthan gum a quarter-teaspooon at a time until the dough starts cooperating. It may take as much as a teaspoon and a half of xanthan gum, but no more than that.
Ingredients:
Yields approximately 36 cookies
1 cup unsalted almonds
1 cup rolled oats or oat flour
1 cup all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup canola or olive oil
½ cup strawberry or raspberry jam
½ cup powdered sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/gas mark 4 and grease cookie sheets.
In a food processor, whiz almonds and rolled oats (if using oats instead of oat flour) until you have a coarse meal. Add flour, spices and salt and pulse until everything is well combined.
In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together extracts, maple syrup and oil.
Pour in the dry ingredients from the food processor and stir to combine. A big ball of dough should form in the center of your bowl.
Roll heaped tablespoons, about the size of a walnut, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Indent the center with your thumb.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Let cookies rest on the sheets for ten minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
When cookies are completely cooled, roll each cookie in powdered sugar and dollop a quarter- or half-teaspoon of jam into the thumbprint indentation.
Store covered for up to five days.
Image © Yvonne Penzakov for BitchBuzz.com