Let’s be honest, if it weren’t for Pinterest I would feel pretty indifferent about Valentine’s Day – but with more festive recipes than I could ever possibly scroll through and red & pink DIYs galore, how can anyone resist?! For me, Valentine’s Day (or any other holiday, really) serves as a good excuse to stay in and put together something extra special in the kitchen. By special, I’m usually referring to sweets. I suffer from major sweet tooth, so for the most part, I try my best to keep sweets out of the house and refrain from making any… unless there’s a special occasion.
The recipe for these cookies is perhaps one of the most simple cookie recipes you will ever follow and its simplicity certainly does not compromise taste. I took some of these cookies to share at work a few days ago and they were quite a hit. The best part, if you ask me, is that they’re vegan. So that makes them healthy, right?
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 c + 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 c vegan butter (such Earth Balance or Smart Balance), at room temperature
- ⅔ c granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp almond extract (replace with vanilla if allergic)
- raspberry jam (or jam of choice)
Glaze
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 1 – 2 tbsp almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 1 tbs almond extract (replace with vanilla if allergic)
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat ove to 350 °F.
- With a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter until creamy (~1-2 minutes).
- Add the sugar, vanilla, and almond extract to the creamed butter and mix into well incorporated.
- Add flour and mix at lower speed until a soft dough is formed. You don’t want to over-beat the dough.
- Place the dough in a zipper freezer bag while you make the glaze.
- After making the glaze, remove dough from freezer and begin to form balls out of the dough (~1 tbsp of dough per ball). Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.*
- With your thumb, form an indentation in the center of each ball and fill with jam of choice.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.
- Let cookies cool for about 30 minutes before applying glaze.
*Parchment paper is not necessary but if you’ve never used it before, you’re missing out! Otherwise, lightly spray sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
Glaze
- In a bowl, add the powdered sugar, one tablespoon of almond milk, and almond extract and mix together. Slowly add more almond milk as you mix until you reach the desired consistency.
- Scoop glaze into a small zipper bag. Drizzle glaze over cookies by cutting a small corner of the zipper bag and pushing glaze through the bag’s hole.
– Corinna