I usually don’t make Christmas Cookies or Holiday Cookies, but am motivated to send some to my brother. He has moved to his on the road lifestyle, I decided that I needed to send him some holiday cheer in the form of vegan and gluten free goodness!!! You can follow my brother, Michael and Tara’s blog here at RVegan Adventures. Get it RV and Vegan… Awesome!!! Currently they are stopped in Texas, which in my mind is a far, far away place you don’t mess with that is even farther away from vegan goodies.

Hence my inspiration this year to attempt to make healthy Holiday Cookies. They are the same base dough with some slight tweaking. Although there is still some sugar there is 1/2 of what would normally be in a cookie and plenty sweet from all that coconut. Also coloring is from plant sources: chlorophyll and turmeric.

Here is the base dough: (Split into 4 balls, each kind of cookie makes a dozen or more)

• 3 cups Bob’s Redmill GF flour
• 1 cup oat flour
• 2 cups powdered sugar (organic that has tapioca flour and no corn starch is preferred)
• Sprinkle of salt
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup coconut oil (unrefined and melted)
• 1/2 cup or more rice milk or nut milk (see directions)

Mix all ingredients and add just a little more rice milk until dough is easy to form and you are able to roll it out. I know some sugar cookie recipes require refrigeration to make the dough easier to work, but honestly I am not that patient and I have a two year old running around so it is a better idea to just get it done as quickly as possible. I then divide the dough into 4 equal balls.

Here are the variations:

Green Christmas Trees with Red Lentil Ornaments

Add 10 drops chlorophyll to turn dough green, roll out, cut cookies and then sprinkle some red lentils on the top. Bake 10 minutes at 350.

Lemon Almond Drop Cookies

Add juice of 1/2 lemon, pinch of turmeric (for color), zest of one whole lemon, and I also added 5 drops lime essential oil (since I was out of lemon). Roll into balls and then bake for 11 minutes at 350. I pressed an almond into the center and although the picture doesn’t look very yellow they are yellow.

Chocolate Star Cookies

Roll out dough and cut into star shapes. Bake 10 minutes at 350. After cookies are cooled I melted equal parts vegan chocolate chips and coconut oil. Then I dipped the cookies in the super runny chocolate mixture so just the face side had chocolate, but hey you could dip the whole thing in too!!

Raspberry Walnut Linzer Cookies

First I made 1/4 cup walnut meal and put that in a bowl. Then I added 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix this up. Then add your last dough ball and thoroughly incorporate. Roll out balls and put a generous thumbprint indentation in the center. Then add small spoonful of raspberry jam to make a pool in the center. Bake these for 12-14 minutes at 350. Don’t make the mistake I did and sample while still warm!!!! The jam inside turns into runny liquid hot magma and burns your hand, mouth, whatever it touches. Once these are cool the jam becomes semisolid again.

Hope you enjoy these cookies!!! Happy Holiday! And remember Peace on Earth starts with Peace on Your Plate, GO VEGAN!!!