Sugar Cookies with Lemon and Nutmeg (Vegan)

Sugar Cookies with Lemon and Nutmeg (Vegan)

Now that my husband has joined me in a plant based/vegan diet, we are seeking out lots of new recipes.  My husband has quite a sweet tooth so I make a treat to have in the house now and again and he’s trying to be good about limiting his portions.  Of course I enjoying having any excuse to bake and try new recipes.

I asked him what sweet treat he wanted after we finished off some yummy and healthy blueberry muffins the other day.  He said, “Sugar Cookies!”  Most vegan sugar cookies I found call for vegan butter or vegan buttery spread.  I’ve never purchased these items so I looked for a recipe which used oil instead of “butter”.  I found a great looking recipe on a blog called “The Mostly Vegan” and the recipe turned out great.  Here is the recipe link:

https://www.themostlyvegan.com/soft-baked-vegan-sugar-cookies/

As if often the case with me, I decided to modify the recipe.  The sugar cookies I typically make are my husband’s Grandma’s recipe.  Unlike many sugar cookie recipes, Grandma’s recipe does not contain vanilla or vanilla extract; instead the cookies are flavored with finely grated fresh lemon zest and ground nutmeg.  The new recipe I was using called for vanilla so I just left that out. The new recipe I was using also called for adding colorful sprinkles to the cookie dough so the sprinkles were dispersed all through the dough.  I think that idea is brilliant but I had a feeling my husband would not like that.  So in my version of the cookies, I did not add any sprinkles to the dough but I added some colored sugar to the tops of my cookies as you can see in the photos.  

I am looking forward to making the new recipe again and will try it out with the sprinkles IN the dough. I think my friends at my fabulous local yarn store (Yarned & Dangerous, Canon City, Colorado) will like the colorful cookies!

Sugar Cookies with Lemon and Nutmeg

Based on a recipe found on “The Mostly Vegan” blog; Original recipe can be found here:

https://www.themostlyvegan.com/soft-baked-vegan-sugar-cookies/

• 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (if using a finer grain salt, use just 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated if you have it)
• 1 cup organic cane sugar
• ½ cup neutral vegetable oil 
• ¼ cup water
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• finely grated lemon zest/peel from one small to medium sized lemon (I used a Microplane grater to finely remove/grate the yellow part only) 

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. 
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar with oil, water, apple cider vinegar, and fresh lemon zest until smooth and incorporated.
3. Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until well combined.  At this point you can refrigerate the dough or bake it right away. The original recipe suggests refrigerating the dough first so that the cookies do not spread too much while baking. I baked my cookies right away without first chilling the dough and I am happy with how the cookies turned out.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Use an ice cream scoop or 2 tablespoon measuring spoon to portion dough into small mounds. Press down gently on the mounds with your palm to flatten slightly. Decorate the top of each cookie as desired (sprinkles, colored sugar, whatever you prefer on your sugar cookies).
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies should be puffed up and very lightly browned on the bottom (but not on the edges or tops). Remove from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining cookies.  
6. Cookies will deflate slightly while cooling. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.