I picked up Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero when Isa visited Ms Cupcake in London last month.
The book is great for both those who are and aren’t familiar with making cookies, which can be temperamental things. Isa and Terry offer a wealth of advice on “cookie science” covering how to bake them, ingredients, vegan substitutions, tools and troubleshooting.
They also offer a good selection of different kinds of cookies, from your more traditional ones to healthier options and bar recipes.
I’ve finally had a chance to make a go at a couple of the recipes : Chocolaty Crinkle Cookies and Mocha Mamas.
By far my favourite of the two, and of anyone who tried both, is the Chocolaty Crinkle Cookie. The secret ingredient is golden syrup, which produces a soft, tender and chewy cookie. They spread more than expected and ended up quite flat, but they don’t lose any softness because of it.
The Mocha Mamas were okay, but I think needed more moisture as they ended up a bit on the dry side. I also didn’t have any coffee essence, only instant coffee which I made into a thick syrup, which is perhaps why the coffee flavour didn’t really come through. The drizzle is delicious however, and it still got good reviews from those who tried them. My one other suggestion for the Mocha Mamas would be to make them as big as you’d like the finish product to be when you place the raw dough on your baking tray. They don’t spread much at all and I ended up with a first batch of teeny cookies.
Overall, I’d highly recommend Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar if you love baking and, well, cookies (who doesn’t). It’s also great for those first time vegan bakers who need to know what to use instead of eggs and how to tell when a cookie is done baking.
Isa and Terry also wrote Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World – check out my review of their Lemon Macadamia cupcakes.
Scrummy Inklings 