Cookies

Name: Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Cups
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 3 h 8 min
Yield: 16 Cookie Cups
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 flax eggs* or 2 large eggs, room temp; 6oz dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped; 1/3 cup solid coconut oil; 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder; 3/4 coconut sugar; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 tsp peppermint extract; 5oz dairy-free semi-sweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped; 1/2 cup coconut cream or full fat fat coconut milk; 3-4 Tbsp dairy-free white chocolate chips; 1-2 Tbsp crushed peppermint pieces; 1-2 Tbsp sugar sprinkles

Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Cups (vegan)

December 11, 2019 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

Some of the ingredients I like for this recipe:

Flaxseed meal mixes with warm water to create a thick egg replacement. You don’t taste the flax at all in this recipe, but if you’re not vegan, feel free to use large eggs instead.

Semi-sweet chocolate is the perfect chocolate for these cookie cups! With just the right amount of sweet, you can use it for both the cups and the chocolate ganache. If you like your desserts extra rich, you can use dark chocolate (72%) for the ganache.

Coconut oil is a simple, dairy-free alternative to butter in this recipe. It sets up quickly in the refrigerator, so you’ll only need to chill the dough for 30 minutes. Plus, the coconut taste doesn’t come out in the final product!

Dutch-process cocoa powder has a richer chocolate flavor and deeper color.

Peppermint extract makes these peppermint cookie cups! Make sure to use peppermint extract and not mint extract (which tastes like spearmint toothpaste!).

Coconut cream (or full fat coconut milk) thickens the chocolate ganache. It’s a wonderful replacement for dairy cream, and you won’t taste any coconut in the final product.

Yield: 16 Cookie Cups

Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Cups

Rich and indulgent dark chocolate peppermint cookie cups topped with a decadent chocolate ganache, creamy white chocolate drizzle, and festive peppermint pieces!

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Additional Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 8 minutes

Ingredients

Cookie Cups

2 flax eggs* or 2 large eggs, room temp
6oz dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup solid coconut oil
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 coconut sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp peppermint extract

Toppings

5oz dairy-free semi-sweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup coconut cream or full fat fat coconut milk
3-4 Tbsp dairy-free white chocolate chips
1-2 Tbsp crushed peppermint pieces
1-2 Tbsp sugar sprinkles

Instructions

Make the Cookie Cups

Make your flax eggs by combining the flaxseed meal and warm water in a small bowl; set aside to allow time to thicken. OR bring your eggs to room temperature by placing them in a glass of warm water for around 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, fill a medium pot with about an inch of water and place over medium heat. Grab a heatproof bowl (one that will sit on your pot of water without touching the water), place it on your pot of water, and add the chopped chocolate and coconut oil. Stir frequently until everything is melted; set mixture aside.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt until flour and cocoa are combined; set aside.
Return to your chocolate mixture and stir in the coconut sugar. Add the flax eggs and peppermint extract and stir to combine. Finally, add the dry ingredients and stir until totally combined. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350°F and liberally spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick spray - I used olive oil spray. Remove dough from the refrigerator and scoop 1" balls (a little more than 1.5 Tbsp). Roll dough balls smooth and place in the prepared muffin wells.
Bake at 350°F for 7-8 minutes. Immediately press small, circular wells into the tops of each cookie cup, making them as shallow or deep as you'd like. I used the top of a sesame oil bottle with a 1" bottle cap - it worked perfectly! Allow cookie cups to cool in the muffin pan.
Once your cookie cups are cool, use a butter knife to very gently loosen the top edges of each cup. Turn your muffin pan over and hit the back until all muffin cups have released - this may take a bit of finagling, but all of your cups should come out clean.

Prepare the Toppings

Using the same double boiler method as above (heatproof bowl sitting on top of a pot of simmering water), melt the chopped chocolate and coconut cream, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, stirring here and there. Ganache should thicken quite a bit.
Use a ziploc bag or piping bag fitted with a small, circular tip to pipe the ganache into each cookie cup.
Melt the white chocolate chips by microwaving in 15 second intervals until smooth, careful not to over-heat them. Pour white chocolate into a ziploc bag, snip the corner, and drizzle the chocolate over the ganache.
Immediately (and quickly!) top the cookie cups with a mix of sugar sprinkles and crushed peppermint pieces.
Store cookie cup leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

*2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 6 Tbsp warm water
Make sure you use peppermint extract, not mint extract (which tastes like toothpaste!).
The piped ganache and melted white chocolate will begin to set soon after piping, so make haste with sprinkling the crushed peppermint pieces and sprinkles onto the tops!
It's important to bring your eggs to room temperature because cold eggs could affect the coconut oil, solidifying the melted oil into little chunks

Triple Chocolate Inside Out Cookies (DF)

December 2, 2019 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

Since giving up dairy (and subsequently chocolate with milk in it!) a couple of years ago, I’ve become really good at searching out milk-free chocolates. This means that I’ve grown accustom to the taste of some very dark chocolate since those are the ones least likely to contain milk. I remember going on the hunt for a vegan white chocolate around the holidays last year, and the only thing I could find was a bag of super expensive (for me, this is anything over $5) white chocolate chips. Nope. Not worth the money. After all, white chocolate isn’t even really chocolate. It’s made with cocoa butter and contains no chocolate solids!

I’d recently been thinking of doing an “inside out” type of cookie – chocolate cookie dough with white chocolate chips – and totally lucked out when I found a bag of Nestle white chocolate chips without milk! Yes! This is in no way sponsored, but Nestle now has a line of allergen-friendly chocolate chips, including white chocolate morsels! A huge win for those of us avoiding dairy products! And I found them at my local Wal-Mart. A bit pricey, but totally exciting and worth it for a white chocolate splurge!

These cookies are basically a chocolate version of my favorite Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. I simply added cocoa powder and tons of white chocolate chips to get that traditional “inside out” cookie. You’ll use melted butter and a bit of starch to up the chew factor of these cookies – I actually found them to be softer the day after baking them! Just be sure you don’t over bake these babies, which is easy to do. They will look under baked, but that’s when you want to take them out of the oven! Your white chocolate chips may even begin to brown a bit (as mine did) and then you’ll know it’s definitely time to take the cookies out!

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Melted vegan butter gives these cookies ultimate chewiness! We’re talking soft-the-next-day chewy, so don’t skip the melting step!

Coconut sugar is my go-to sweetener for most of my baked goods. It’s low GI, unrefined, and makes for a great replacement for regular granulated sugar. Don’t let the name fool you – it tastes nothing like coconut.

Brown sugar brings moisture to these cookies by adding that little bit of molasses that’s mixed into all brown sugars. Feel free to use light or dark brown sugar (dark has more molasses).

Arrowroot starch also helps to make these cookies chewy. If you have corn starch on hand, that will work, too!

Yield: 16 Cookies

Triple Chocolate Inside Out Cookies

Sweet and chewy "inside out" chocolate chip cookies filled with both semisweet and white chocolate chips!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 3 hours

Total Time 4 hours

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) vegan butter, softened
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg, room temp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp arrowroot (or corn) starch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dairy-free semisweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dairy-free white chocolate chips

Instructions

Bring your egg to room temperature by placing it in a glass of warm water for around 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted vegan butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla extract; set aside.
In a large bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Then whisk in the baking soda, baking powder, arrowroot starch, and salt until flour and cocoa are well combined.
Add liquid ingredients to dry and gently mix using a large spatula or wooden spoon until a few flour streaks remaining. Combine the semisweet and white chocolate chips, and then stir 3/4 cup of the mixed chips into the dough. Set extra chips aside and cover and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough balls 2 Tbsp in size and then roll them smooth, making them a little taller than they are wide (see photos in this post) and placing them on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Using the remaining 1/4 cup of mixed chocolate chips, press extra chips into the tops and sides of the dough "balls", reshaping as necessary. Refrigerate dough balls for 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 325°F and line another baking sheet with parchment paper. Add 6 dough balls to your prepared baking sheet and bake at 325°F for 6-8 minutes or until cookies have spread and look a bit puffy - take them out when they still look a bit under baked.
Allow cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. If your cookies come out of the oven a little misshapen, you can gently (and carefully - they'll be hot!) use your fingers or a small spoon to press the edges in to make the cookies more round.
Continue baking the rest of the cookies, making sure you let your baking sheet(s) cool down to room temperature before adding the dough balls.
Store any cooled leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

Chilling the dough is super important for the right cookie shape and texture.
I haven't tried these cookies with any alternative ingredients (GF flour, regular butter, etc), so I can't vouch for how they would turn out
Feel free to mix up your chocolate chips, adding dark chocolate chips, chunks, or simply adding only white chocolate!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 151 Total Fat: 6g Saturated Fat: 3g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 2g Cholesterol: 15mg Sodium: 143mg Carbohydrates: 23g Net Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 20g Sugar Alcohols: 0g Protein: 2g

calculated nutrition information may not always be accurate

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More chocolate cookie recipes:

Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies (DF)

Marshmallow Hot Cocoa Cookies (DF)

Vegan Chocolate Flax Cookies

Healthier Classic No-Bake Cookies (DF)

November 14, 2019 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

If you’re here then you’re probably already a huge fan of no-bake cookies. So many of us have fond memories of snacking on no-bake cookies as kids, or making them for our kids! My mom made these easy cookies all the time when I was a kid, and I was always overjoyed about them! They never lasted more than a day or two at our house.

I took the recipe my mom has always used and tweaked it a little for a “healthier” version – I use that word lightly, because I don’t think these cookies are actually healthy. But they’re better for you than the original! They’re made with olive oil instead of butter, raw turbinado sugar (and less of it!), and plant-based milk. I also prefer using old fashion oats for my no-bake cookies, but you can use quick oats if you prefer!

If you’ve made your own no-bake cookies before then you know just how finicky they can be. Will they set? Will they get too hard and crumble in your hands? Is it the weather? I’ve wondered these questions many times!

The secret to perfect no-bake cookies every time actually has everything to do with how hot the sugar mixture gets. For this no-fail recipe, you’ll want to use a candy thermometer since timing the mixture alone doesn’t guarantee that it will reach the right temperature to set without becoming hard. Once your sugar mixture ingredients come to a rolling boil (bubbling all over the surface) you’ll pop your candy thermometer into the mixture – making sure it doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan – and watch for the temperature to reach 100°C. I found that this temperature lends to a very gooey cookie (you’ll think they’re not going to set!) that after sitting out for a few hours turns into a soft, stackable no-bake cookie!

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Olive oil is a better-for-you alternative to regular butter (and even some dairy-free butters). It works just as well as other fats in this recipe, so don’t let its liquid state deter you!

Turbinado sugar is the raw, unrefined sugar you can find at almost any grocery store. Since I tested this recipe using only turbinado sugar (not regular granulated white sugar), I only recommend using turbinado! White sugar may cook/set differently and could affect the outcome of the cookies.

Dutch process cocoa powder gives these cookies a richer chocolate flavor. And look at that color! You can use natural cocoa powder in its place if you prefer it or have it on hand.

Natural peanut butter is the best peanut butter! Made with only peanuts, it has no extra sugar or fillers to affect these cookies.

Unsweetened almond milk works wonderfully as a dairy milk replacement in these cookies. I like the unsweetened, original variety for this recipe.

Yield: ~15 Cookies

Healthier Classic No-Bake Cookies

Ooey gooey chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies made with olive oil and raw sugar. These fudge-like cookies will stay fresh for days!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 minute

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 41 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 Tbsp dutch process cocoa powder (or natural cocoa powder)
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup natural (sugar-free) peanut butter
1 - 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

Instructions

Prepare your ingredients and workspace. Have your candy thermometer ready, your peanut butter measured out, and your oats available/ready to measure. Lay out a piece of parchment or wax paper on your counter (about the size of a baking sheet) and have a mixing spoon and cookie scoop ready.
In a medium pot, whisk together the milk, cocoa powder, and oil. Whisk in the sugar. Set heat to medium-low for a gas range and medium-high for an electric range. Allow the sugar to melt, giving a quick stir with your whisk. Insert your candy thermometer and allow the mixture to come to a full, rolling boil until it reaches 100°C or 212°F. If you're using a gas range, I recommend turning the flame lower during this waiting period to ensure none of the mixture gets too hot.
Immediately remove from the heat and mix in the vanilla extract and peanut butter. Working quickly, stir in 1 cup of the oats. If the mixture looks thin, add more oats by the 1/4 cup (I added 1 1/4 cups oats to my cookies).
Quickly scoop your cookies onto the parchment or wax paper, making them as big or small as you'd like - I used a 1.5 Tbsp scoop. For uniformity in cookie size and shape, I highly recommend using a cookie scoop. Then, once your cookies are all scooped, you can use the back of a spoon to re-shape them as you see fit - flatten them a bit, "tuck in" any rough edges, etc (this is totally optional and won't affect how delicious the cookies will be!).
Allow cookies to set for at least 30 minutes. They will be gooey. The longer the cookies have to set, the firmer they will be. After sitting overnight, these cookies will be completely firm but not dry and crumbly.
Store set cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. If you wish to store the cookies while they're still gooey, avoid stacking them or place parchment paper between stacks for storage.

Notes

I highly recommend using a candy thermometer to cook the chocolate mixture. I've found the timing method (where you boil the mixture for 60-120 seconds) that most recipes call for to be inconsistent at best, especially when taking different range types into consideration! A thermometer ensures that your cookies will set up without turning too hard or dry.
I don't recommend any sugar substitutes for this recipe.