Vegan with a Vengeance

flattened cookies as these will spread slightly. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes till cookies have puffed a bit and are lightly browned. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes to firm up before moving off the cookie sheet. You can also make normal-size cookies using 1 to 2 tablespoons of dough instead, baking these 8 to 10 minutes.

Crispy Peanut Butter Cookies
    MAKES 2 DOZEN COOKIES
    Â 
    Cute, simple, crispy peanut butter cookies with a crosshatched top, perfect for munching on with a glass of soy milk.
    â…“ cup canola oil
    Â¾ cup brown sugar
    1 cup all-natural, smooth, unsalted peanut butter
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1 tablespoon cornstarch
    1 cup flour
    Â½ teaspoon baking powder
    â…› teaspoon salt
    Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.
    In a mixing bowl, cream together the oil, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add the cornstarch and beat till well combined. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt; mix well.
    Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about one inch apart onto a prepared cookie sheet and flatten each one a bit with the palm of your hand. Use the backside of a fork to press into each cookie, then press in the opposite direction to create a crosshatched pattern. Clean off the fork whenever it starts collecting too much dough. Bake for 12 minutes, let sit on the cookie sheets to cool for about 3 minutes, transfer to cooling rack to cool.

Buttery Lemon Cutout Cookies
    MAKES 2 DOZEN COOKIES
    Â 
    You can decorate these lemony delights with the simple White Icing (page 230), use a pastry bag to make swirly or stripy shape, or simply sprinkle them with some sugar.
    1 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, softened
    Â¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
    1½ cups all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
    Â¼ teaspoon salt
    Granulated sugar for sprinkling on the tops
    In a mixing bowl beat together the margarine and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour in 2 batches, beating well after each addition. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Mold the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until firm.
    Preheat oven to 325°F; line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
    Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut with 2-inch cookie cutters (heart and star shapes are awesome). Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets, sprinkle with granulated sugar, and bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool. Place the dough scraps in the fridge and roll them out again to make more cookies.

Fig Not-ins
    MAKES 24 COOKIES
    Â 
    I wuv these cookie bar things. They are larger than your store-bought fig sandwich cookies, but bigger is better, right? They’re a great snack for a brown bag lunch.
    Â 
    FOR THE DOUGH:
    Â¼ cup nonhydrogenated margarine, softened
    Â¼ cup nonhydrogenated shortening (such as Spectrum)
    Â¾ cups sugar
    2 tablespoons tapioca starch or arrowroot or cornstarch
    Â¼ cup rice or soy milk
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    Â½ teaspoon baking powder
    Â½ teaspoon baking soda
    Â½ teaspoon salt
    FOR THE FILLING:
    1 pound dried mission figs, chopped
    Â½ cup water
    Â¼ cup sugar
    1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
    Prepare the dough:
    In a mixing bowl, cream together the margarine, shortening, and sugar. Add the tapioca starch and mix well. Beat in the rice milk and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix well. Divide the dough into two portions, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour.
    Prepare the filling:
    Combine all the filling ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or so, stirring often. Let cool before assembling the cookies for baking.
    To prepare cookies:
    Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
    On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion of the dough into a rectangle roughly 9 × 15 inches (you don’t need to be too precise about it, it’s okay if it’s not
perfectly rectangular). Divide the dough lengthwise into three equal strips. Place the three strips on baking sheet a few inches apart and divide the filling equally among the dough strips, creating a line of filling along the center with ½ inch of space on either side of the filling.
    Roll out the second batch of dough to the same dimensions