Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday- full of great company, perfect presents and of course, delicious food. My family is not religious, so our Christmas is always more about being together, being thankful for each other and everything we have, and generosity. This movie just about sums it up.
We also tend to stick to old childhood traditions, like watching Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas eve and eating crab for Christmas eve dinner. The Muppets continue to live on, but the crab tradition had to be thrown out the window this year since we now have two vegans in the house. Instead, I decided to make a seitan roulade with mushroom and walnut stuffing. I was a little skeptical at first about making my own seitan, but it ended up delicious! You can get the recipe here, but I used dried cherries instead of cranberries and took out the onion and garlic because my dad's stomach is super sensitive. Everyone loved it, even my carnivore brother.
Our other tradition is to make Christmas cookies and decorate them together. I'm pretty sure we've used the same recipe every single year. We found it in the back of a children's book- Mr. Cookie Baker- that my brother and I used to read over and over when we were little. Actually this book is the reason I wanted to grow up to be a baker (and look at me now!)
Of course we had to veganize the recipe this year, but they still ended up buttery, delicious, and so much fun to make!
Mr. Cookie Baker's (Vegan) Cookies
makes about 3 trays full of cookies
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup earth balance
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs worth of egg replacer or 1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp maple extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp non-dairy milk
1. Mix together 2 cups of the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the earth balance and sugar. Then beat in the egg-replacer, vanilla, maple and non-dairy milk.
3. Stir the dry into the wet and gradually add enough remaining flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.
4. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 375º and roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8" thickness.
6. Cut out into pretty shapes, then re-roll and repeat until all the dough is used up!
7. Bake the cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Frosting:
2 tbsp earth balance
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup soy milk
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and mix on high until smooth and creamy.
2. Divide into separate bowls and mix a couple drops of food coloring into each bowl.
Once the cookies are completely cool, decorate them with frosting and sprinkles and place them on parchment paper to let the frosting set.
These are great to share with your family and friends! Mr. Cookie Baker has never let me down. I hope everyone had a great holiday! Does anyone else have any fun family traditions?
