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Cooking on Caffeine

making family-favorite recipes vegan and allergy-friendly

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    • Desserts and Pastries
      • Vegan Macarons: Recipes and Resources
      • Icings, Frostings, Toppings, and Fillings
      • Cakes
      • Cookies
    • Main Dishes
      • Vegan Quick and Easy Mexican Red Pozole/Menudo (Instant Pot)
      • Easy Creamy Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce
    • Sides
      • Gochujang Spicy Brussels Sprouts (Vegan)
      • Sautéed Basil Cucumbers and Grapes
    • Sauces, Condiments, and Cheeses
      • Easiest Vegan Cheese Sauce Ever *BASE RECIPE* (no blender needed!)
      • Easy Vegan Cheese for Pizza (Nut-Free, No Blender)
      • Vegan Choriqueso (Queso Dip with Chorizo)
      • Vegan Cream Cheese Filling for Danishes
      • Easy Creamy Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce
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    • Vegan Macarons: Recipes and Resources
    • Macaron Troubleshooting Series
    • Icings, Frostings, Toppings, and Fillings
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    • Three Common Kitchen Mistakes
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cookies

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies – Chai Espresso

December 12, 2020 //  by Meggan Leal//  Leave a Comment

Vegan gingerbread cookies with a little something extra – chai and espresso! Spicy, no-chill, and no-spread, they’re easy to make for any occasion.

These cookies are gorgeously spicy, keep their shape while baking, aren’t too sweet, and are nice and firm (but still keeping a soft bite) for making houses or figures or whatever else you want to do with them.

This is a fully baked cookie with its cutter put back over it to show absolutely zero spreading!

These are not puffy, soft, bread-like cookies. They’re identical in texture to my sugar cookies for decorating.

This recipe started when I realised that I had all the spices already mixed together. Like pumpkin pie or apple pie spice, my gingerbread spice was ready and waiting!

Chai Tea

Chai in India just means “tea”, so technically I’m using bags for masala chai. But here in the United States, they just say chai.

My chai tea bags I have hundreds of in my collection (I’m a huge fan – and if you are too, you should check out my chai spice cake) have a perfect menagerie of gingerbread spices.

They have ginger and cinnamon, black pepper, star anise, clove, and cardamom. All I needed to do was amp up the ginger and cinnamon and add some molasses, and I was golden!

So that’s what I did.

What if I don’t have chai tea?

If you’re wanting to make these vegan gingerbread cookies, but don’t have chai tea – you can totally mix your own blend!

If you want to make your own spice mix, you can totally do that.

Just blend together 1/2 teaspoon each of:

ground anise
ground clove
ground cardamom

And a half tablespoon plus one quarter teaspoon each of:

ground ginger
ground cinnamon

What are we using instead of eggs in these vegan gingerbread cookies?

Our egg replacement in these vegan gingerbread cookies is aquafaba.

Black bean aquafaba pour

Aquafaba is the cooking water from beans and other legumes. NOT the soaking water – the cooking water.

The ratio of starches and proteins means that aquafaba is moderately good at binding things, and it provides the moisture we need for our cookie batter. And believe it or not, it’s pretty darn neutral when it comes to flavor.

I use aquafaba in tons of recipes that usually use egg whites. It whips up beautifully for meringue cookies, is miraculously stable enough for vegan macarons, and even makes the silkiest no-cook meringue buttercream I’ve ever had.

You can use aquafaba from any beans you want, but I usually use it from canned chickpeas or kidney beans since that’s what I eat most of.

Why the espresso?

Uhhh.. Why not?

Do you know where you are? Cooking on Caffeine. No caffeine, no cook. That’s how it works here.

You can leave it out if you want, though. But you shouldn’t.

Seriously, have you never had a chai latte? HEAVEN.

The espresso is for more than just caffeine, though. It adds a very nice bitterness to round out the sweetness and other spices in the cookies. It also adds a nice dark hue reminiscent of holiday gingerbread cookies.

Other ingredients for the cookies

I forgot the cinnamon for the photo 🤦🏼‍♀️

You’ll need some flour. All purpose is what you want, not bread flour or strong flour or cake flour. All-purpose flour = cookie flour.

You need some brown sugar. The darker the better! Since it can be difficult to find vegan brown sugar, you can use your favorite granulated sugar and add a half a tablespoon of molasses to it. If you can’t find molasses or don’t want to use it? Coconut sugar is a great substitute.

For the fats in our cookies, (since they are vegan gingerbread cookies) we are using a mix of shortening and vegan butter. You can actually use all shortening if you want, but you cannot use all butter.

Grab some extra ground cinnamon and ground ginger.

Equipment to make the cookies

I use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

An oven.

You can also use a hand mixer or just a sturdy whisk or spoon with a medium or large mixing bowl.

I use a coffee grinder to powder my chai tea.

Life wouldn’t be possible without my amazing silicone spatula for scraping down the paddle and out the bowl.

You need a rolling pin and a cookie sheet that’s lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

And of course, you need cookie cutters!

How do you make the dang cookies?

If you’ve ever made my classic sugar cookies (regular or gluten-free) you’ll recognize this process! The only thing we are doing differently this time is adding our spice mix to the aquafaba before adding it in.

So first thing’s first – preheat your oven to 350F (about 175C) and line your cookie sheet to have it ready.

Next, blend your fats (the shortening and butter) together with your sugar. Only do this on low speed until the mixture is evenly blended.

While the fats and sugar are blending, empty your tea bags into a coffee grinder and grind the chai to a fine powder.

Add the chai, cinnamon, and ginger, and instant espresso powders to the aquafaba.

Stir the aquafaba mixture until well combined. It’ll look like a thick sauce.

Slowly pour the aquafaba mixture into the mixer running on slow speed one tablespoon at a time.

Once everything is mixed together and cleans the sides of the bowl, your dough is ready! It’s the perfect consistency when you can poke your finger into it without crumbling the dough or having it stick to you. It’ll leave a perfect impression.

You do not need to chill the dough.

If you don’t want to use it right away though, wrap it well and keep it in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to six months. Just bring it to room temperature before unwrapping and working with it.

Form the dough into a ball and turn it out on a floured surface. Press it down and sprinkle flour on the top of the dough to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.

Roll it out to your desired thickness. I do 3/8″ for thicker, softer cookies. 1/4″ is great for thinner, crispy crunchy cookies.

Cut out your shapes and transfer them to your lined cookie sheet. Re-roll dough scraps and cut out as many cookies as you want. Add a teaspoon of water if your dough starts to dry out.

Bake the cookies for 10-11 minutes or until the tops of the cookies no longer appear wet.

Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for five minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before icing or using for construction.

How do I decorate them?

Not the gumdrop buttons!

I mean, not unless you find vegan ones, anyway. 😉

Gingerbread cookies are usually iced in royal icing, so that would be my first suggestion. Try adding a bit of nutmeg to my vegan royal icing recipe to take the cookies up another notch!

Royal icing is also what you’d use to glue them together for a glorious gingerbread house.

They are also great with cream cheese buttercream – the tanginess plays off the spice so beautifully.

And here’s a filtered list of vegan candies available on Amazon you can go crazy with decorating to your heart’s content!

Can I make these gluten-free?

You definitely can make gluten-free vegan gingerbread chai espresso cookies! (boy that was a mouthful).

All you need to do is use my gluten-free sugar cookie recipe and add the spices and instant espresso to the aquafaba before adding it in – just like here. 🙂

Troubleshooting

Is your cookie dough too crumbly? Add aquafaba in, a teaspoon at a time until it’s the perfect consistency.

Is your cookie dough too wet? Slowly add in flour, 1/8c at a time until it’s the perfect consistency.

Did your cookies spread? Either your butter has too much water in it or you mixed at too high of a speed. Try using more shortening and less butter, and only mix on slow speed.

Are your cookies very tough and way too chewy? You probably overmixed the dough (this develops the gluten in the flour). Only mix on low speed, and stop mixing as soon as everything is combined.

Are the cookies super dry? If the cookies came out very dry, they are overbaked. Knock a minute or two off of your baking time.

How do you store the baked cookies?

Keep them in an airtight container. They’ll stay fresh for.. pretty much ever as long as they’re airtight. Try to eat them within a week for the very best flavor, though.

Pin it For Later

Recipe

Yield: 12 cookies

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies with Chai Espresso

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies with Chai Espresso

Vegan gingerbread cookies with a little something extra – chai and espresso! Spicy, no-chill, and no-spread, they’re easy to make for any occasion.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar (softened)
  • 1/4 cup (55g) vegetable shortening
  • 1/4 cup (55g) high-fat vegan butter*
  • 2 bags chai tea**, ground into powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1 serving instant espresso powder*** (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons (45ml) aquafaba
  • 1 5/8 cup  (200g) all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line your cookie sheet.
  2. Cream the sugar, shortening, and butter in a stand mixer on low speed with a paddle attachment.
  3. While the sugar is creaming, mix the chai, cinnamon, ginger, and espresso powders into the aquafaba.
  4. Once the sugar is thoroughly mixed into the fats, add the aquafaba mixture one tablespoon at a time.
  5. Add the flour 1/4 c at a time.
  6. Mix the dough on low speed until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a doughball - perfect consistency is when you can press your finger into it and the dough doesn't crumble or stick to your finger - but keeps a perfect impression.
  7. Lightly flour your rolling surface and turn your dough out onto it.
  8. Lightly flour the top of your dough and roll it out to your desired thickness.
  9. Cut out your shapes and place onto your lined cookie sheet.
  10. Bake for 10-11 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies no longer appear wet.
  11. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for five minutes before carefully moving them to a wired cooling rack to cool completely.
  12. Decorate**** and enjoy!

Notes

*My preferred butter is Country Crock Plant Butter sticks. Earth Balance and Miyokos also work. If you can't find a butter with at least 75% fat, increase the shortening to 3/8 cup and decrease the butter to 1/8 cup.

**See recipe post if you don't have chai tea bags, or wish to mix your own blend.

***I use Cafe Bustelo single serve espresso powder packets. They taste great and are super convenient.

****My vegan royal icing is perfect for decorating and gluing these cookies

© Meggan Leal
Category: Cookies

Category: Cookies, Desserts and PastriesTag: aquafaba, coconut-free, cookies, Dessert, holiday, Nut-free, Vegan

Aquafaba in Baking: 8 Amazing Pastry and Dessert Recipes

February 24, 2020 //  by Meggan Leal//  2 Comments

Aquafaba in baking is a miracle of the vegan world. Replacing eggs has never been easier! Try magical bean water today!

All it takes is to crack open a can of your favorite legumes (or cook your own). Drain off the brine and use it instead of eggs in plenty of recipes. From cookies to bread to icing and more – you’ll be amazed at what aquafaba can do for your baking.

I’ve gathered a list of my own aquafaba recipes as well as a couple favorites from my friends 86eats and Gretchen’s Vegan Bakery. Let me know what you make and how you liked it!

1
>

Easiest Vegan Meringue Cookies Ever with Aquafaba

Thanks to aquafaba, vegans and other egg-avoiders can now enjoy crispy meringues whenever they want, again.

2
>

American Meringue Buttercream (vegan)

If you love Swiss meringue buttercream but hate the work it takes, this is the recipe for you! No cooking required.

3
>

Vegan Royal Icing

Royal icing has never been so easy, thanks to aquafaba! Just mix and whip and ice.

4
>

Challah Y'all, Vegan Challah

Photo Credit: www.86eats.com

The classic Jewish enriched dough bread, made vegan instead of egg-heavy thanks to aquafaba.

5
>

No-Chill, No-Spread, Vegan Rolled Sugar Cookies

Classic sugar cookies made with aquafaba instead of eggs, with the twist that they don't need to be chilled before baking.

6
>

No Chill, No Spread, Vegan, Gluten-Free Rolled Sugar Cookies

The same classic sugar cookies as above, but made both vegan and gluten-free.

7
>

Aquafaba Italian Meringue Buttercream Recipe - Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

Photo Credit: www.gretchensveganbakery.com

The most stable buttercream you can get your hands on. It's a bit of work, but well worth it!

8
>

Vegan Italian Macarons with Aquafaba

The holy grail of aquafaba recipes: macarons. Not for the faint of heart; they're tricky to master, but not tricky to eat!

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Category: Recipe CompilationsTag: aquafaba, bread, cookies, Dessert, frosting, icing, macarons

Easiest Vegan Meringue Cookies Ever with Aquafaba

December 23, 2019 //  by Meggan Leal//  Leave a Comment

Vegan meringue cookies are super easy to make, with ingredients you probably have right now.

Thanks to aquafaba, vegans and other egg-avoiders can now enjoy meringue whenever they want again. Here, we are making the ever-loved crispy meringue cookies enjoyed by people around the world, but with a twist that makes them easier than even egg-white meringues.

What is Meringue?

Meringue (pronounced murr-ANG, with a soft g like in “sang”) is the product of whipping egg whites (or in our case, the vegan alternative aquafaba, which is the water from cooked or canned beans and other legumes).

Black bean aquafaba pour
Any legume’ll do. Garbanzos are the most commonly used, but any bean will give you whippable aquafaba!

When you whip them at high speed they turn foamy, then fluffy, and then the fluff firms up and can be baked or torched, or folded into batters to make super light and airy bakes.

Meringue has traditionally been used for a plethora of different recipes and applications: Angel food cake is made using it, macarons and macaroons are made with meringue, meringue buttercream and royal icing are both meringue-based sweets. It is used to cover baked Alaska and meringue pie and to make marshmallows. It’s even used to top some types of cocktails!

And then there is the humble meringue cookie.

What is a Meringue Cookie?

The meringue cookie is, at its simplest, dehydrated meringue. The fluff is prepared with sugar and sometimes different flavorings, then dolloped or piped onto a lined baking tray (or dehydrator tray) and baked at a very low temperature until all the moisture evaporates out.

What you’re left with is a crispy, sweet cookie that melts in your mouth in an instant. It’s basically the crunchy version of cotton candy/fairy floss.

They can be enjoyed on their own, made into “pops”, or used to adorn other desserts.

What can I add to it?

Unfortunately, meringue is a very unstable mixture. It won’t hold on its own in raw form without stabilizers like agar agar and xanthan gum, and once it’s baked it needs to be kept absolutely dry or it will absorb any and all moisture in the air and turn into sticky marshmallows (which isn’t normally a bad thing, but when you want crispy cookies it’s not exactly a celebratory occasion).

Beyond that, oil will immediately deflate your meringue if it’s mixed in, or will prevent it from ever fluffing in the first place if introduced at the beginning.

The oil thing is important, because it severely limits us on what we can mix into the aquafaba for meringue: Flavoring oils can deflate it instantly. Even citrus peels have been known to do it because of their high oil content. Cinnamon and turmeric will kill it. Cocoa powder has enough oil that it will also destroy it. Butter and coconut oil are no-gos.

In this same token, you need to make sure that all your utensils and bowls you’re using to make the meringue are free from grease. I do this by wiping everything down with vinegar before I start.

Things you CAN add to your meringue include alcohol-based flavoring like vanilla and almond. You can also add citrus juice. I like to add drink powder like KoolAid or Tang. You can fold in nuts or chocolate chips or even candy cane bits for a minty treat during the holidays.

Just make sure that your additions are not oily/greasy and that they won’t release fats at low baking temperatures.

Feel free to add sprinkles, edible dust, or spray color before they bake (as long as they’re oil/grease-free) for some added pizzazz, as well.

Sprayed with silver before and dusted with gold after dehydrating for New Year’s treats.

You can also drizzle them, dip them, or coat them with chocolate after they’re dehydrated and it will keep the crispness safe.

Cute little Santa hat meringues made by dipping the dried meringue in white chocolate and sprinkles

Cooking vs Baking vs Dehydrating

There’s a difference between what we are doing here and baking/cooking the meringue. The meringue itself has already been cooked during the bean-making/canning process, so we don’t need to do it again. And if we did, we would melt it.

Cooking our meringue at temperatures higher than 210°F or 99°C will turn them to delicious, sweet, candy soup. The aquafaba will return to liquid form because the sugar melts and it has no structure to hold on to, anymore.

The sugar we add into the aquafaba crystalizes while whipping and gives us the framework for our meringue. The millions of minuscule bubbles formed as we incorporate air hang onto that sugar framework, and it’s what allows the meringue to stand. If you melt the sugar, the whole thing is going to go down with it.

Now, sugar itself doesn’t melt until 337°F/170°C so I’m not talking about the sugar melting from the heat. It melts because your aquafaba starts to boil. Water boils at 212°F/100°C, and our aquafaba is made primarily of water. So it boils, all its bubbles pop, it dissolves the sugar, and you get a puddle instead of crispy cookies.

So that being understood, we want to keep our temperature low and slow, here – under that boiling point of 212°F/100°C. We want to slowly evaporate the moisture out of the cookies rather than cook them.

If your oven doesn’t have a setting that low, you can turn it to the lowest it does have and keep the oven door cracked open. My favorite technique for this is just to stick a wooden or silicone spoon in the door to keep it from closing.

Apart from the oven, an actual dehydrator machine will work beautifully for these guys.

What equipment do I need?

For this recipe, you need a small saucepan and stovetop/burner. A silicone spatula will also be useful.

You’ll need a large mixing bowl, either glass or stainless steel (or the bowl of a stand mixer).

You’ll need a mixer, either a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a handheld mixer will work. You can use a regular whisk and do this by hand – but I don’t recommend it at all. I’ve done it and it took almost two hours and I was sore for days after.

You need a baking tray. I recommend light colored aluminum, but if all you have is glass or dark colored metal, just turn your temperature down another 10°F.

You need either parchment paper or a silicone mat to line your baking sheet with.

You need a large spoon or ice cream scoop if you want to make rustic-style dollop meringues, or a piping bag and large tip/nozzle if you want to pipe them.

Different ways of piping or scooping your meringue cookies
Piped using a sultan tip

And you need either an oven or a dehydrator.

What ingredients do I need?

The ingredients here are really simple!

Aquafaba and granulated white sugar.

Everything else is optional.

For the optionals, I’m going to include a quarter teaspoon of something acidic to help the meringue fluff a bit. Acidity strengthens the structure, so you can add vinegar, cream of tartar, or even lemon juice and it’ll help the meringue to be more successful.

Oil-free flavors and colors are also optional. Just remember to forgo cinnamon, cocoa, turmeric, and other ‘strong’ flavors as they can melt your meringue. Vanilla is highly recommended though (if you’re not allergic) because it’ll make your meringue taste like marshmallows!

If your aquafaba is unsalted, you may want to add a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness a little.

The process: how to make the easiest vegan meringue cookies ever

Preheat your oven or dehydrator to the lowest temperature it will go. If it won’t heat lower than 210°F/100°C, keep them oven door ajar.

Line your baking sheets or dehydrator trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Shake your can of beans (or homemade beans) and pour your aquafaba into a small pan (make sure to thoroughly clean the rim of the can first).

Pour half the amount of aquafaba in sugar to the pan (pour the sugar in until it forms a small mountain whose ‘peak’ is slightly above the aquafaba).

Over medium heat, stir the mixture until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Once the sugar has fully dissolved, turn off the heat and pour the aquafaba syrup into your mixing bowl

Add a 1/2 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice, or 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar, or your acid-based drink powder now if you’re using them.

With your mixer with whisk attachment or beaters, whip on medium speed until the mixture is foamy, then add your vanilla.

Turn the mixer up to high until you get stiff peaks. This means that the peaks that form when you lift the whisk don’t bend or fall over, but keep their shape.

Stiff peaks!

Spoon, scoop, or pipe your meringues onto your lined baking sheets in whatever shapes you’d like

Put into your preheated oven or dehydrator and bake/dehydrate for two hours or until the cookies come clean off the baking sheet when cool and are dry all the way through.

Safe and sound in the dehydrator

How do I store them?

Store your crispy little cookies in an airtight container with either dry rice or silica packets to absorb any humidity. As long as they are kept like this, they will be good indefinitely.

If they happen to get sticky from humidity before you get a chance to put them away, just pop them back into the oven/dehydrator until they dry back out.

Pin it for later:

Pinterest image for Easiest Meringues Ever

Video Tutorial:

Coming soon!

Recipe

Easiest Vegan Meringue Cookies Ever with Aquafaba

Vegan meringues

Thanks to aquafaba, vegans and other egg-avoiders can now enjoy meringue whenever they want, again. Here, we are making the ever-loved crispy meringue cookies enjoyed by people around the world, but with a twist that makes them easier than even egg-white meringues.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/4-1/2 c aquafaba, any plain
  • 1/8-1/4c granulated sugar, vegan

Optional

  • 1 tsp alcohol based flavor extract (such as lemon, vanilla, or almond)
  • Gel or powder food coloring
  • 1/2 tbsp citrus juice for flavor
  • 2-4 tbsp chopped nuts, chocolate, or candy bits
  • 1/4 tsp acidity: vinegar, lemon juice, cream of tartar, etc.

Instructions

    1. Preheat your oven or dehydrator to the lowest temperature it will go. If it won’t heat lower than 210°F/100°C, keep the oven door ajar.
    2. Line your baking sheets or dehydrator trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
    3. Shake your can of beans (or homemade beans) and pour your aquafaba into a small pan (make sure to thoroughly clean the rim of the can first).
    4. Pour half the amount of aquafaba in sugar to the pan (pour the sugar in until it forms a small mountain whose 'peak' is slightly above the aquafaba).
    5. Over medium heat, stir the mixture until the sugar has completely dissolved.
    6. Once the sugar has fully dissolved, turn off the heat and pour the aquafaba syrup into your mixing bowl.
    7. Add a 1/2 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice, or 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar, or your acid-based drink powder now if you’re using them.
    8. With your mixer and whisk attachment or beaters, whip on medium speed until the mixture is foamy, then add your vanilla.
    9. Turn the mixer up to high until you get stiff peaks. This means that the peaks that form when you lift the whisk don’t bend or fall over, but keep their shape.
    10. Spoon, scoop, or pipe your meringues onto your lined baking sheets in whatever shapes you’d like.
    11. Put into your preheated oven or dehydrator and bake/dehydrate for two hours or until the cookies come clean off the baking sheet when cool and are dry all the way through.

Notes

Store your crispy little cookies in an airtight container with either dry rice or silica packets to absorb any humidity. As long as they are kept like this, they will be good indefinitely.

If they happen to get sticky from humidity before you get a chance to put them away, just pop them back into the oven/dehydrator until they dry back out.

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    Hiware 18/8 Stainless Steel Cookie Scoop for Baking - Medium Size - Durable Cookie Dough Scooper - 1 1/2 Tbsp
  • NSF-Approved Oven Thermometer
    NSF-Approved Oven Thermometer
  • Set of Two Half-Sheet Size Silicone Baking Mats with Macaron Template
    Set of Two Half-Sheet Size Silicone Baking Mats with Macaron Template
  • Commercial Aluminum Half-Sheet Pans
    Commercial Aluminum Half-Sheet Pans
  • 200 Count Disposable "Tipless" Piping Bags
    200 Count Disposable "Tipless" Piping Bags
© Meggan Leal
Category: Desserts and Pastries

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Category: Cookies, Desserts and PastriesTag: aquafaba, cookies, Dessert, easy, Egg-Free

Vegan Italian Macarons with Aquafaba

March 27, 2019 //  by Meggan Leal//  107 Comments

After over a year of trying to perfect the vegan macaron, going through countless recipes and recipe variations, I’ve finally gotten them figured out! And funny enough, it was by jumping off of the very first recipe I had ever tried and making some tweaks.

So first off, I want to thank Jasmine Lukuku over at The Blenderist for figuring her recipe out and sharing it with the world. If you want to check it out, it’s here and it’s wonderful if you’re starting.

Beautiful shells, but lopsided. I needed to figure out how to fix them.

It made some nice macs for me – better than any other published recipe I tried, but they weren’t absolutely perfect. And I need perfect. I want my vegan goodies to be so unbelievably great that even non-vegans and non-allergic people prefer them over the conventional version. So I set out to do that. And this recipe is the result.

If you don’t want to see the step by steps or photos, and don’t care to read my explanations for everything, go ahead and click here to skip down to the recipe card below. Otherwise – buckle up for a wild and crazy ride!

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS A MACARON?

The perfect macaron: Beautiful smooth shell with gorgeous ruffled feet that are less than half the height of the shell.

First off, an explanation of what a macaron is and what a macaron isn’t. A macaron is a little cookie made from meringue (traditionally, whipped egg whites and sugar) and almond flour.

There are three varieties of macaron: Italian, French, and Swiss. They are called as such based on what type of meringue is used. Italian meringue adds molten sugar to fluffed egg whites (or in our case, aquafaba fluff). French meringue adds raw sugar into the fluff. And Swiss, the least used method, melts the sugar together with egg whites over a double boiler, and then whips them up together.

No matter the meringue method used, they turn out almost the same – those who don’t make or obsess over macarons would never be able to tell the difference. That said, Italian macarons seem to be the most stable and the easiest to get right for beginners, so that’s where I’m starting in the blog.

Can you tell that these are French macarons? Didn’t think so.

Now, what are they like? I think of the texture as being a bit like a Milky Way candy bar: it has a crisp (but not hard) shell that breaks easily, melts in your mouth, but the whole cookie still has a good bit of chew to it. They are extraordinarily sweet, and the shells can be flavored but usually it’s the filling that gets the flavor and the shells are left to be “plain” sweet almond to compliment the filling.

Macarons also have iconic “feet” – a cute little ruffle along the bottom of the cookie that is formed as steam builds up inside of it during baking, causing it to rise up from the baking tray. The space between the cookie shell and the tray fills in with the raw batter which bubbles from the heat and makes the adorable little frilly feet everyone who makes macarons desperately craves and seeks out in their confections.

I wish I knew whom to credit for this image! If you know, please let me know. It’s genius!

Macarons are not macaroons. Macaroons are also made with meringue, but rather than being mixed with almond flour, macaroon meringue is mixed with shredded coconut. Then they are usually dipped in and/or drizzled with chocolate.

Macarons will self destruct in any manner they see fit. Here are a few examples of my fails.

Macaroons are easy. Macarons are not. Macarons are jerks who don’t like to play nice and you should not feel bad if your first batch does not turn out. Or your second. Or your eleventy sixteenth. That’s just the way this cookie crumbles (or melts, or explodes, or burns, or crystallizes, or implodes, or any other manner of destruction which they might dream up).

I’m hopeful that this guide will help you to succeed right off the bat. But that’s all I can guarantee: that I’m hopeful. I’m going to try to outline my exact process and ingredients, and hopefully it will help you to make beautiful macarons much sooner than a year after you first set out to do it. If not, don’t give up – change up your oven temp, try different brands of ingredients, search the internet for answers. Join my vegan macaron group on Facebook. Feel free to even send me a message to help troubleshoot if they’re really getting to you. We will get you making gorgeous vegan macarons!

My favourites are the ones filled with coffee flavored buttercream!

CHAPTER TWO: OVERVIEW OF INGREDIENTS

Macarons are, at their most basic level, three ingredients: almonds, sugar, and egg whites (aquafaba, in our case). Anything else extra is added to make the process easier and give more consistent results.

My recipe, adapted from that of The Blenderist, consists of almond flour, powdered sugar with tapioca starch added, sugar, garbanzo bean (chickpea) aquafaba, cream of tartar, and/or vinegar. Gel or powder food coloring may also be used.

These are the exact brands I use in case you want to replicate what I do to the T:

• Almond flour: Bob’s Red Mill superfine, blanched [UPDATE: I now use Blue Diamond almond flour, as that’s what Sam’s Club carries. It has worked marvelously!]

• Powdered sugar: H-E-B Organics

• Sugar: Zulka

• Garbanzo beans: Walmart’s Great Value organic

• Cream of Tartar: McCormick

• Vinegar: whatever store brand I have

• Food color: Some of my favorite vegan food coloring options are AmeriColor gels, ProGels, and Artisan Accents gels. Ultimate Baker has an amazing line of powdered colors that are both vegan and all natural, if you prefer the natural route! Make sure you use gels or powders though, not liquid.

As far as the almond flour goes, I have also heard great things about Costco’s Kirkland brand flour. I would not recommend Nature’s Eats brand as it has large pieces and doesn’t pass through the sieve well. I also don’t recommend Blue Diamond brand because it is quite oily and will result in splotchy, fragile macarons.  [UPDATE: I now use Blue Diamond and have been having fantastic results!]

For powdered sugar, if you’re not fortunate enough to live in Texas and have an H-E-B nearby, Wholesome 365 has an identical organic powdered sugar with tapioca starch added. If you don’t need a vegan sugar, any powdered sugar should work – whether it has corn starch, tapioca starch, or no starch at all.

The same goes for the granulated sugar; I use Zulka because it is made without bone char. If you’re not concerned about bone char use in your sugar, any granulated sugar should work fine.

For your aquafaba (aquafaba is the cooking liquid from beans – NOT the soaking liquid. It can either be the broth from homemade beans, or be poured from a can of beans) any canned or homemade aquafaba should work. As long as you’ve whipped it up successfully before, consider it a worthy candidate for macarons. I’ve also never noticed a difference in results from salted vs unsalted. I use the Great Value organic garbanzos because they have pop-tops and are easier for me to open.

As far as your cream of tartar and vinegar go, they are acids and help to stabilize the meringue. I don’t think the brand matters at all here, I just grab whatever is easiest to reach and is the cheapest. If you can’t find cream of tartar, then just use vinegar in its place. We will also use the vinegar to wipe out our mixing bowl which will help with the fluffing process.

CHAPTER THREE: OVERVIEW OF SUPPLIES

Check out my Amazon Shop to browse all the ingredients and supplies I actually use and recommend.

First of all, you need an oven. You don’t need a fancy one, but you do need one that can hold a consistent temperature. Make sure you’ve tested the internal temperature with a reliable oven thermometer (here’s one that’s NSF certified in case you need that). Macarons will fail if the temperature is even two degrees one way or another; it needs to be exact and it needs to be consistent. My oven offers both conventional and convection baking. For my macarons, I use the conventional setting – NOT the convection/fan setting. I’m working on figuring out what temp convection needs to be on in order for the macs to turn out, but I haven’t gotten it yet. I will update once I do. The heat from my oven also comes from the bottom coils.

Second, a working stovetop.

Third of all, you need a mixer with a whisk attachment. I recommend having a stand mixer because it’s going to be going for a loooooong while. I have two KitchenAid stand mixers: a smaller tilt-head mixer and a larger Professional Series mixer with a lever to raise and lower the bowl. Unless you’re going to be making a double batch, I highly recommend using the smaller mixer. While it’s possible to use the larger one, the whisk has a harder time reaching the aquafaba to whip it up. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can totally use a handheld mixer! Just expect to be standing there holding it for a while.

You absolutely need a kitchen scale that weighs grams.

A large metal or glass mixing bowl.

A fine mesh sieve. I use metal, and have never had luck with the plastic ones.

A silicone spatula.

A small, very clean saucepan.

A food thermometer that goes up to at least 400°F. I have a thermometer with a probe that connects to a timer. I can set a target temperature and it will alert me when it reaches it. I got it for about $15 at my local grocery store, and I highly recommend it because you can walk away from the stove and focus on other things without worrying about burning your sugar. A conventional candy thermometer will work just fine, however.

Next, you need piping bags. I love my tipless bags I grab from Amazon, but any piping bags will do. These are the bags I use:

Mseeur 200 Pcs Disposable Cream Pastry Bag 

As far as tips go, yes I use them. With my tipless bags. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but as I said earlier – I want perfect macs, and to get those perfect circles I need to use tips. I use Wilton 10 and 12. These are smaller than most people use but I’ve found the smaller the tip, the fewer bubbles I get in my macarons. If you don’t want to use tips, feel free to snip the bags so you have an opening about 3/8 to 1/2″ wide. If you want to use tips, grab a few here:

Wilton 12 Round Decorating Tip

A tall glass with a wide mouth. This will help you fill your piping bags with batter.

Light colored aluminum cookie sheets or baking pans. I have commercial half sheet pans that I bought at Sam’s Club. You can use any light colored aluminum pans you have, though. I’ve even used upside down cake pans! These are the types of pans I use:

Nordicware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker’s Half Sheet (2 Pack), Silver

Silicone mats or parchment paper to line your baking pans with. I recommend silicone mats. Parchment paper will cause your macarons to cook into oblong shapes with wrinkled bottoms. They will be just as delicious, but not perfect. You may also have to adjust your cooking time with parchment since the macarons will cook quicker and burn easier. Mats are relatively cheap on Amazon. The ones I use are these:

Macaron Silicone Baking Mat – Set of 2 

A cooling rack.

And finally, probably the most important supply: Patience. A lot of it. Sorry I don’t have an Amazon link for that. 😉

CHAPTER FOUR: PREP

1) Reducing your aquafaba:

The first thing you need to do is prep your aquafaba. If you’re using canned beans, give them a quick shake to distribute all the proteins first. Drain the beans and add the liquid to a saucepan. If you’re using homemade, you need at least 225ml. I don’t like to be exact here though, and usually make a big batch so I don’t have to prep aquafaba every time I make macarons. All we are going to do here is reduce our aquafaba by about a third. I eyeball it. It’s totally fine if you do, too. I do it on a low simmer so that it doesn’t boil up and over. That cleanup is not fun.

Also, if your reduced aquafaba isn’t gelatinous, that’s totally fine! It won’t be unless you refrigerate it (which I don’t do before I use it. It just use it!). I refrigerate the leftover aquafaba if I’m going to be making more macs in the next couple of days, otherwise I freeze it.

My reduced aquafaba. I judge by the line around the pan as to when it’s been reduced by about a third.

2) Cleaning your mixing bowl and whisk:

Even the smallest speck of grease or fat of any kind will kill your meringue before it even starts. To prevent this, make sure you wash them really well in hot water with a good lathering dish soap. Dry them with a clean paper towel, and then pour about a teaspoon of vinegar into the bowl. Using your paper towel, wipe the vinegar all over the inside of the bowl and then use the same paper towel to wipe down the tines of your whisk. It’s also a good idea to wipe down your silicone mats with your vinegar, too.

Skipping this step may mean your aquafaba never fluffs up.

3) Having all your supplies at hand:

Once you get started with the recipe, you need everything at arm’s length and ready to go. This isn’t something you can walk away from for long. Make sure all the dishes you’ll need are washed and dry and that you have all the ingredients you’ll be using.

CHAPTER FIVE: MAKE THE MACARONS!

Ingredients:

150g reduced aquafaba
200g granulated sugar
1/4c water
200g powdered sugar
200g almond flour
1/4 tsp cream of tartar OR 1 tsp vinegar

Method:

1) Preheat your oven to 310°F if you’re using silicon mats, 300°F if you’re using parchment paper.

2) Add 75g of reduced aquafaba to your mixer’s bowl along with your cream of tartar or vinegar. Turn the mixer up to medium high speed. You want to get it to soft peaks. That means that when you lift the whisk out of the fluff, it forms little mountains that fall over and wiggle a lot. They remind me of the waves in Japanese art.

75g of reduced aquafaba goes into the mixer bowl. I used 1tsp of vinegar for this batch because I ran out of cream of tartar.

3) While your fluff is fluffing, pour your granulated sugar into your clean saucepan along with 1/4 cup of water and put it over medium low heat. Do not stir. Add your thermometer – making sure the actual thermometer doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan but sits in the middle of your sugar mixture. We want to bring this to 245°F. I set my target temp for 225°F so that I can check my aquafaba fluff to see if it’s at soft peaks yet. If it’s not, I turn the heat down to low under the sugar and kick the mixer speed up by one.

200g of granulated sugar. Make sure the pan is extremely clean or it may burn.

4) While waiting on all of this to happen, measure out your dry ingredients. Use your spatula to push 200g of powdered sugar and 200g of almond flour through your sieve into a large mixing bowl.

200g of powdered sugar. (ok, 201. whatever.)

200g of almond flour.

Mixed together.

4) Once your sugar reaches 245°F, take it to your fluff and slowly pour it in while the mixer is on medium. Don’t worry about the sugar that sticks to the sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer back up to medium high and let it go until the outside of the bowl feels cool to the touch. At this point, the meringue should be glossy and white and it will be ribbony and sticky when you lift the whisk out of it.

5) Pour in the remaining 75g of aquafaba into the dry mix and combine it well. Congratulations, you’ve just made marzipan!

75g of reduced aquafaba added to the dry mix.

We now have almond paste! AKA marzipan!

6) Remove the mixer bowl, and using your spatula move 1/2 of the meringue into your marzipan, being careful not to grab any of the candied sugar on the sides of the bowl. Stir it until it’s mixed well and you don’t see any white meringue or chunks of marzipan.

Mixing the marzipan and the first half of the meringue. I added a few drops of AmeriColor “violet” into this.

7) Now is the part where you need to be careful. The macaronage. Macaronage is the careful folding of the meringue into your almond mixture so that we can knock out just enough air to form a perfect macaron batter.

Add the rest of your meringue into your almond mixture – again, being careful not to grab any of the candy bits on the side of the bowl. Tilt your bowl 3/4 on its side so that the batter slides down from the bottom of the bowl and rests along the side. This way, gravity is going to help us with the folding.

Use your spatula to scrape along from the top of the bowl, around the side, around the bottom, and back up the other side to the top of the the bowl. You should be cleanly picking up the whole mixture and folding it over onto itself. Do this gently until everything is incorporated. The batter should be relatively thick at this point. If you want to add gel color, you can do it now. You can add up to a teaspoon and it shouldn’t affect the macarons.

Now, alternate between smushing the batter along the sides of the bowl and scraping and folding – slowly and gently, until you can lift the batter with the spatula and draw a figure 8 with the batter that falls off. Once you can do this, STOP. Your batter is done. Err on the side of undermixed if you’re not sure.

I can make a figure 8 with my batter falling off the spatula, so this is where I stop mixing. It’s ready to bag!

8) Line a tall glass with your prepared piping bag/tip (just like a bag in a trash can). If using a tip, I like to twist the bag just above the tip and smush the twist down into the tip. This prevents batter from leaking out. Pour your batter into the bag and either twist or tie it closed. There should be enough batter to fill the bag two or three times. Cover what’s left in the bowl so that it doesn’t dry out.

9) Grab your prepped baking pan lined with a silicone mat or parchment (but remember that with parchment the cookies won’t come out as perfect circles).

Holding the piping bag perfectly perpendicular (up and down) to the baking pan, gently squeeze until you’ve made a circle about an inch in diameter. Stop squeezing, and quickly make a small circle with the piping tip as you lift it. This will prevent your macarons from having nipples.

Pipe your next macaron about 2.5″ from your first one. Continue until you’ve filled your tray.

Freshly piped macarons. And my babies in the background.

10) Now comes the fun part! You’re going to slam the tray down on a flat surface to bring all the bubbles up and out of your macs. I like to do it two or three times on one side of the tray, rotate, another two or three times, rotate, so on and so forth until I feel like the bubbles are all gone. I probably hit the tray around 20-30 times. If you have stubborn bubbles, you can pop them with a toothpick, clean sewing needle, or cookie scribe.

11) Once you’re done slamming the tray and popping bubbles, set your tray on a flat surface and wait for the macarons to form a dry skin. This is imperative because without the skin, the macarons will probably explode in the oven. This skin keeps all the steam inside the cookie and allows them to lift and form feet. I like to set mine on the (now cool) stovetop with the exhaust fan running above them.

12) Once you see that the cookies are no longer shiny and you can lightly run your finger along the surface without it sticking to you, set a timer for 20 minutes. Once that goes off, put your cookies into the oven on the lowest rack (if using parchment, you may need to use the middle rack). Set another 20 minute timer (22 if you’re using parchment).

Now sit impatiently outside of your oven, staring into its belly hoping and praying that your macs form feet (around 6-7 minutes is when this should happen) and that they don’t explode. If your oven has hot spots, you may want to rotate your tray at about 12 minutes.

Watching them in the oven without blinking.

At 20 minutes, the feet should appear dry (no longer shiny) and if you give one a gentle poke with your finger, it shouldn’t jiggle.

13) Pull the tray out and set it on a cooling rack. Do not attempt to remove your macarons yet! Wait until they are totally cool, and they should peel right off. If they don’t, pop the tray in the freezer for 3-5 minutes and then they will.

14) Find matching pairs and fill with whatever your heart desires – buttercream and ganache are the most common fillings. I’m also a fan of cookie butter. If you plan on using something a bit more wet like jam or curd, form a barrier on the cookie with some buttercream or chocolate first so that it doesn’t make the macaron soggy. Put into an airtight container and IF YOU CAN, place them into the fridge for at least 24 hours before enjoying. This process is called maturation and it helps to fill hollow spaces in the shell and lets all the flavors mingle and marry and become infinitely yummier.

Finished macarons ready to pop into the fridge for maturation.

If you can’t wait that long, they’re perfectly yummy straight away though.

This recipe makes between 70 and 85 shells depending on how large you pipe them. They can be put into an airtight container and refrigerated up to a week and frozen for up to six months.

Three Hour Video Tutorial:

Join me as I make a batch of macarons, from beginning to end.

Pin it for Later:

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Vegan Italian Macarons with Aquafaba

Allergy and vegan-friendly macaron cookies.

Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian

Ingredients

  • 150 g reduced aquafaba see recipe notes above
  • 1/4 c water
  • 200 g granulated sugar
  • 200 g powdered sugar
  • 200 g almond flour
  • 1 tsp vinegar OR
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 310°F.

  2. Add 75g of reduced aquafaba to your mixer’s bowl along with your cream of tartar or vinegar. Turn the mixer up to medium high speed. You want to get it to soft peaks. That means that when you lift the whisk out of the fluff, it forms little mountains that fall over and wiggle a lot. They remind me of the waves in Japanese art.

  3. While your fluff is fluffing, pour your granulated sugar into your clean saucepan along with 1/4 cup of water and put it over medium low heat. Do not stir. Add your thermometer – making sure the actual thermometer doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan but sits in the middle of your sugar mixture. We want to bring this to 245°F. I set my target temp for 225°F so that I can check my aquafaba fluff to see if it’s at soft peaks yet. If it’s not, I turn the heat down to low under the sugar and kick the mixer speed up by one.

  4. While waiting on all of this to happen, measure out your dry ingredients. Use your spatula to push 200g of powdered sugar and 200g of almond flour through your sieve into a large mixing bowl. Give it a good stir with your spatula until they look well combined.

  5. Once your sugar reaches 245°F, take it to your fluff and slowly pour it in while the mixer is on medium. Don’t worry about the sugar that sticks to the sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer back up to medium high and let it go until the outside of the bowl feels cool to the touch. At this point, the meringue should be glossy and white and it will be ribbony and sticky when you lift the whisk out of it.

  6. Pour in the remaining 75g of aquafaba into the dry mix and combine it well.

  7. Remove the mixer bowl, and using your spatula move 1/2 of the meringue into your marzipan, being careful not to grab any of the candied sugar one the sides of the bowl. Stir it until it’s mixed well and you don’t see any white meringue or chunks of marzipan.

  8. Add the rest of your meringue into your almond mixture – again, being careful not to grab any of the candy bits on the side of the bowl. Tilt your bowl 3/4 on its side so that the batter slides down from the bottom of the bowl and rests along the side. This way, gravity is going to help us with the folding.

    Use your spatula to scrape along from the top of the bowl, around the side, around the bottom, and back up the other side to the top of the the bowl. You should be cleanly picking up the whole mixture and folding it over onto itself. Do this gently until everything is incorporated. The batter should be relatively thick at this point. If you want to add gel color, you can do it now. You can add up to a teaspoon and it shouldn’t affect the macarons.

    Now, alternate between smushing the batter along the sides of the bowl and scraping and folding – slowly and gently, until you can lift the batter with the spatula and draw a figure 8 with the batter that falls off. Once you can do this, STOP. Your batter is done.

  9. Line a tall glass with your prepared piping bag/tip (just like a bag in a trash can). If using a tip, I like to twist the bag just above the tip and smush the twist down into the tip. This prevents batter from leaking out. Pour your batter into the bag and either twist or tie it closed. There should be enough batter to fill the bag two or three times. Cover what’s left in the bowl so that it doesn’t dry out.

  10. Grab your prepped baking pan lined with a silicone mat (or parchment if you haven’t gotten a mat yet, but remember you may have to adjust your baking time and your cookies won’t come out as perfect circles).

    Holding the piping bag perfectly perpendicular (up and down) to the baking pan, gently squeeze until you’ve made a circle about an inch in diameter. Stop squeezing, and quickly make a small circle with the piping tip as you lift it. This will prevent your macarons from having nipples.

    Pipe your next macaron about 2.5″ from your first one. Continue until you’ve filled your tray.

  11. Slam the tray down on a flat surface to bring all the bubbles up and out of your macs. I like to do it two or three times on one side of the tray, rotate, another two or three times, rotate, so on and so forth until I feel like the bubbles are all gone. I probably hit the tray around 20-30 times. If you have stubborn bubbles, you can pop them with a toothpick, clean sewing needle, or cookie scribe.

  12. Set your tray on a flat surface and wait for the macarons to form a dry skin. This is imperative because without the skin, the macarons will probably explode in the oven. This skin keeps all the steam inside the cookie and allows them to lift and form feet. I like to set mine on the (now cool) stovetop with the exhaust fan running above them.

  13. Once you see that the cookies are no longer shiny and you can lightly run your finger along the surface without it sticking to you, set a timer for 20 minutes. Once that goes off, put your cookies into the oven on the lowest rack (if using parchment, you may need to use the middle rack). 

  14. Bake the macarons for 20 minutes. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the tray at around 12 minutes.

  15. After 20 minutes, pull the tray out and set it on a cooling rack. Do not attempt to remove your macarons yet! Wait until they are totally cool, and they should peel right off. If they don’t, pop the tray in the freezer for 3-5 minutes and then they will.

  16. Find matching pairs and fill with whatever your heart desires.

  17. Put into an airtight container and IF YOU CAN, place them into the fridge for at least 24 hours before enjoying.

  18. This recipe makes between 70 and 85 shells depending on how large you pipe them. They can be put into an airtight container and refrigerated up to a week and frozen for up to six months.

Recipe Video

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Vegan Royal Icing

December 20, 2018 //  by Meggan Leal//  32 Comments

Fiiiiinally I’ve got this recipe posted for you all! Thanks for your patience, and sorry for the delay – but I think you’ll find it worth it!

This is my version of a vegan aquafaba royal icing. It dries hard and is suitable to decorate my no-chill, no-spread, vegan rolled sugar cookies with, can hold together a gingerbread house, can be used to decorate cake, can be painted on with edible paints or gel colors mixed with strong alcohol, and is easily colored, flavored, and manipulated to suit your needs (as I’ll get into in a later post).

Scroll down to get the recipe or just take a look at the video here if you prefer that method:

Some gorgeous cookies I made with royal icing for a baby shower; these were actually colored with homemade Skittles vodka!

Equipment:

So here are the things you’ll need:

Stand mixer with the balloon whisk attachment OR hand mixer with a large bowl
Rubber/silicone spatula (more than one is preferred if you’ll be mixing multiple colors)

Ingredients:

One can of garbanzo beans
Vegan powdered/confectioner’s sugar
Vinegar, lemon juice, or cream of tartar
Water or lemon juice
Gel or powdered food coloring, if using

The Method

The method is really quite simple:

1. Drain (and keep!) the water from your garbanzo beans. This is known as “aquafaba” and is our egg white substitute in this recipe. Put the beans away for something else.

2. Add about 1/4 cup of the aquafaba to your mixing bowl. The rest can be put into the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for three months.

3. Add about 1 tsp of vinegar (or a 1/8 tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon juice if you don’t have it) and the aquafaba and mix with a whisk attachment (you’ll see in my photos I have the paddle attachment connected – these photos are from before I knew better) just until frothy.

4. Add about a pound of powdered (confectioner’s) sugar to the bowl, and mix on low until incorporated.

5. Stop the mixer and add in another few cups of sugar, and mix on low until incorporated. Add more powdered sugar to the bowl a cup at a time, mixing on low between additions, until the mixture is about the consistency of school glue. Add in your 1 tsp of vanilla and white gel coloring at this stage.

6. Turn your mixer on medium high and let it go for about 8 minutes. You’ll end up with the perfect stiff consistency royal icing for piping words and fine details.

7. Thin your royal icing with water or fresh lemon juice (my favorite) to desired consistency. Thicken it with powdered sugar if you need to pipe flowers, use stencils, or glue gingerbread. You can also add any gel or powdered food color at this stage. I’ll add another post later getting more into coloring and consistencies, so be on the lookout for that.

That’s it! It’s that easy! You can keep the prepared icing at room temperature in a sealed container or bag for up to a week, in the fridge for a month, or in the freezer for pretty much forever. Just make sure to stir it well before you use as the water will start to separate from the marshmallow fluff you’ve created.

Consistency Tutorial:

This recipe will make AT LEAST a couple dozen cookies’ worth of icing. Us cookiers are always making too much icing because we really have no idea how many cookies it covers. Lol.

Have fun and please share your creations with me on Facebook!

Pin it for later:

vegan royal icing cover photo
5 from 2 votes
Print

Vegan Royal Icing

An eggless royal icing made with aquafaba. It can be used in all the same ways as tradition egg white royal, including decorating cookies, gluing gingerbread houses, decorating cakes, and making sprinkles and royal icing transfers.

Course Dessert
Prep Time 12 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes
Author Meggan Leal

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup ish Aquafaba (the cooking or canned liquid from beans; I prefer garbanzo)
  • 2 lbs ish Powdered/Confectioner’s Sugar
  • 1 tsp ish Vinegar (may be substituted with cream of tartar or lemon juice)
  • 1 tsp ish Vanilla (I use clear for bright white icing, but you can use natural)
  • 1.5 tsp ish Gel or Powdered Food Coloring (optional, though I always add AmeriColor Bright White to mine)
  • Water or Lemon Juice to thin prepared icing

Instructions

  1. Add about a teaspoon of vinegar to your mixing bowl

  2. Pour in about a 1/4 cup of aquafaba

  3. Mix on medium to high speed with a whisk attachment just until the top of your aquafaba is frothy/foamy

  4. Turn off the mixer and add in about a pound of your powdered sugar (half a standard sized bag)

  5. Turn the mixer on low until the sugar is mostly incorporated into the aquafaba

  6. Turn the mixer off and add half of what’s remaining of your powdered sugar

  7. Turn the mixer on low until everything is incorporated

  8. Turn the mixer off and lift the whisk to check the consistency of your icing. We are trying to get a school-glue type consistency. If it’s not there yet, add more powdered sugar about a cup at a time until you achieve it

  9. Once you achieve the school-glue consistency, add about a teaspoon of vanilla and a teaspoon and a half of white gel coloring (if you’re using it)

  10. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and let it go for about eight minutes

  11. After eight minutes or so, turn the mixer off. You should have nice, stiff royal icing! It’s perfect for coloring and thinning out to decorate cookies or thickening up for flowers, or using as is for writing and other fine detail work.

  12. Store the icing in an airtight container right away – it dries out very quickly – at room temperature for up to a week, in the fridge for a month, or the freezer for pretty much as long as you want

Recipe Notes

Find a video tutorial on our YouTube channel!

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No-Chill, No-Spread, Vegan Rolled Sugar Cookies

March 18, 2018 //  by Meggan Leal//  26 Comments

SKIP TO PRINTABLE RECIPE

I never planned on becoming a cookier (someone who makes cookies for a living), and I certainly never planned on becoming a vegan cookier – but life has a funny way of throwing you into the unexpected.

My daughters were both diagnosed with food allergies, and I had to learn to make things without eggs, without milk, without butter or cream, without bananas or peanuts, and without wheat (for the youngest, at least. If you need a wheat-free recipe, check mine out here).

That means an awful lot of experimenting happened, and I took a “don’t tell me what I can’t do” attitude to the kitchen. I decided to break down barriers of what people told me was impossible to make and make well, and blow their minds.

This is one of my first major successes on that front: vegan sugar cookies that not only taste amazing, but that are easier to make and less expensive than any non-vegan recipe I had ever used. And everyone loves them – so much so that they asked me to start selling them. So now I make and sell vegan cookies! And I want to share the wonderful recipe I use with you.

Free of eggs, milk, butter, cream, and precious time wasted to chill the dough, these rich, delicious cookies will wow everyone who tries them and have you being hailed as a vegan cookie master.

They’re soft but study enough to top with royal icing, buttercream, glaze, sprinkles, jimmies, sugar pearls, more cookies, or whatever else your heart desires. Or even eat them plain! Who am I to tell you what you can’t do?

So here you go:

No-Chill, No-Spread, Vegan Rolled Sugar Cookies
By Cooking on Caffeine

Vegan sugar cookies that not only taste amazing, but that are easier to make and less expensive than any non-vegan recipe I have ever used.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 9-11 minutes

Ingredients:
1 c granulated sugar (if you are vegan, make sure to use a sugar that is bone-char free like Zulka)
1/2 c vegan margarine, room temperature (I use Country Crock plant butter)
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (use pure vanilla extract if vegan)
3 tbsp aquafaba or 1 flax egg
3 1/4 c all-purpose flour

Directions: 
1. Preheat your oven to 350° F.

2. Mix sugar, margarine, and shortening just until combined.

A light-colored creamy mixture of margarine, shortening, and sugar in a silver electric mixer bowl with the paddle attachment raised.

3. While the sugar and fats mix, sift your flour into a medium-sized bowl. This step is optional, but some may find it helpful.

Flour being sifted through a sieve into a magenta-coloured plastic mixing bowl
4. Add vanilla and aquafaba (or flax egg). Mix until combined.

A person spooning a tan-colored liquid from a square-shaped clear plastic storage container into the creamed margarine-shortening-sugar mixture in a silver-colored electric mixing bowl.

5. Add flour. Mix until combined and the dough pulls away from the bowl. You should be able to press your finger into it, leaving a perfect impression, without it sticking to you.

A finger pressing into the finished cookie dough as it hangs on the lifted paddle attachment of an electric stand mixer with the silver mixing bowl below it.

6. Lightly flour your rolling surface.

7. Take half of the dough, form it into a disk and set it on your floured surface; cover the other half with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.

The finished cookie dough being pressed into a smooth ball by two hands.

8. Lightly flour the top of your dough, and roll it out to about 3/8” thick. Cut out your cookies with whatever cutters you desire and transfer them to a parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheet.

A hand using a purple-colored square-shaped plastic cookie cutter to cut square cookies out of the raw, rolled cookie dough.

9. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies no longer appear wet.

Nine square cookies on a silicone mat lined cookie sheet inside of an oven.

10. Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the cookies to rest on the pan for ten minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to come to room temperature.

The nine cookies from the last picture are now cooling on a black wire rack on top of a red table.

11. Add your leftover scraps of dough to the half you covered with plastic and repeat steps 6, and 8-10.

A disk of raw dough on top of grey and white measuring mat, with flour being sprinkled on top through a sieve. A black rolling pin is resting in the background.

After the cookies are cool, store them between layers of paper towel in a sealed storage container at room temperature. You may also freeze them this way – just be sure to allow them to thaw completely in the sealed container without opening it.

Decorate with my vegan royal icing or enjoy plain.

A variety of un-iced heart-shaped and flower shaped cookies atop a black cooling rack, itself on a dark green counter and surrounded by baking supplies and tools.
4.5 from 2 votes
Print

No-Chill, No-Spread, Vegan Rolled Sugar Cookies

Vegan sugar cookies that not only taste amazing, but that are easier to make and less expensive than any non-vegan recipe I have ever used.

Course Treats
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 24 Cookies
Author Cooking on Caffeine

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 c granulated sugar vegan
  • 1/2 c margarine vegan, room temperature
  • 1/2 c vegetable shortening
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract not imitation
  • 3 tbsp aquafaba or 1 flax egg
  • 3 1/4 c all-purpose flour

Instructions

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350° F. 

  2. Mix sugar, margarine, and shortening just until combined. 
  3. While sugar and fats mix, sift your flour into a medium-sized bowl (optional, but helpful).

  4. Add vanilla and aquafaba (or flax egg). Mix until combined.   

  5. Add flour. Mix until combined and the dough pulls away from the bowl. You should be able to press your finger into it, leaving a perfect impression, without it sticking to you. 
  6. Lightly flour your rolling surface.
  7. Take half of the dough, form it into a disk and set it on your floured surface; cover the other half with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
  8. Lightly flour the top of your dough, and roll it out to about 3/8” thick. Cut out your cookies with whatever cutters you desire and transfer them to a parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheet. 
  9. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies no longer appear wet. 

  10. Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the cookies to rest on the pan for ten minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to come to room temperature. 
  11. Add your leftover scraps of dough to the half you covered with plastic and repeat steps 6, and 8-10. 

Recipe Notes

After the cookies are cool, store them between layers of paper towel in a sealed storage container at room temperature.  You may also freeze them this way - just be sure to allow them to thaw completely in the sealed container without opening it.  Decorate with your icing of choice or enjoy plain.

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