There were several different cookies that my mom made every Christmas (she still does, just not all of them now). We made Russian teacakes, candy cane cookies (where you twist two colors of dough), chocolate crinkles, and cookie-press cookies! Technically, it's a pastry press because (as I recently discovered) it makes more than just cookies. But, to me, it's a cookie press. This year I was determined to make cookies with my son around the holidays, so I transformed the cookie-press dough recipe into a vegan Christmas miracle. I usually don't use sugar in my recipes, but it's the holidays...and it's not like I ate the whole batch...by myself...the day I made them...and then made a second batch to replace them before my husband and son came home. Yeah, I definitely did not do that.
Note: If you don't have a cookie press, which, I'm not sure why you wouldn't. If someone in your family either did not pass one down to you or merely gift one to you because they still use theirs, you might find one at a thrift store, yard sale, or ebay. But even without it, you can just roll the dough into 1-inch balls and flatten a little bit (but not with a fork, because that will make them peanut butter cookies).
Cookie press with my favorite holiday plates.
Ingredients:
1 cup vegan butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 flax egg*
1 t pure almond extract (ingredients should contain bitter almond oil)
1/4 t salt
2 1/4 cups flour (I used hard red whole wheat flour that I pre-ordered and picked up at the farmers market from Nash's Organic Produce, but any flour will work)
1/4 t baking powder
any color natural food coloring (I used a beet-powder based color)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream vegan butter and sugar together with a hand mixer (the original recipe didn't say "until fluffy", but I like to mix it until it has a little fluff). Add flax egg and almond extract and mix well. Combine dry ingredients (including the food coloring if you're using a powdered form), then gradually blend into butter mixture. If you're using a liquid food coloring, add it at this stage. Fill your cookie press with dough and crank those buggers out on an ungreased cookie sheet. Remember that the dough will expand a bit, so err on the side of smaller cookies to keep their proper shape. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
*To make a flax egg, combine 1 T ground flaxseed with 2 1/2 T water and let sit for at least 5 minutes.
Dough colored with a natural beet-powder based food coloring.
Before the oven.
Tastes just like Christmas.