Santa's Favorite Cookie?

As a child, I always looked forward to the moment on Christmas Eve when I got to arrange cookies for Santa on a pretty plate. I would also pour him a Christmas mug of eggnog to sustain him on his journey.

I am allergic to nuts, and one year I became concerned that Santa also had allergies and couldn't eat my cookies. I wrote to him asking if he was allergic to any foods. I don't remember his response, but I do know that these cookies are free from 7 of the top 8 food allergens! (They do contain wheat, but you can substitute a gluten-free flour mix for the wheat flour with yummy results- I tried it!) And they are vegan! That means almost everyone can enjoy these cookies!

And I am serious when I say that everyone who has tried them loves them!!!

They are my boyfriend's favorite cookies. When I bring them to work, they disappear in a (ginger) snap*. I gave them away in my Thanksgiving favors and people liked them even better than the sugar cookies that took me hours to cut out and ice. (And in case you are new to vegan confections, they do not taste "funny" at all. No one even notices they are vegan.)

These are so quick, I find myself making them all the time when I want something sweet. The batch is small enough that they won't go to waste if you are making them for yourself (hint: the dough is delicious too)... but you can also double or triple this for parties. Or for a hungry Santa.

*By the way, they are totally chewy, not actually like ginger snaps.

ingredients:

* 1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tsp ginger
* 1/8 tsp salt
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 4 tbsp vegetable oil
* 2 tbsp molasses
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 tbsp applesauce (I use cinnamon applesauce)
* About 1/4 cup turbinado sugar for coating cookies

how to concoct these yummies:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a mixing bowl. In a second bowl, combine brown sugar, vegetable oil, molasses, vanilla, and applesauce. Add flour mixture to brown sugar mixture and stir until mixed. Roll dough into balls (rounded tablespoon size or a bit larger), coat them lightly in the turbinado sugar, and smoosh them gently onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-16 minutes. Makes about 16 small/medium cookies.

(I found this wonderful recipe here on a blog called Cookie Madness. I only made a few tweaks, such as leaving out cloves.)

Serve with a tall glass of eggnog.
(If Santa can't drink eggnog, your cat will love it! Note: it might not be safe to let your cat enjoy more than a few licks of eggnog.)


Then sneak away to your bedroom and see if you can stay awake long enough to hear Santa's gasps of joy when he bites into his first cookie.

HO HO HO!

This post was written for Brooke (Tongue-n-Cheeky)'s Mrs. Kringle's Holiday Cookie Bake-Off: