These tender vegan ricotta cookies are made with a creamy cashew base, sweetened with maple syrup and flavored with zippy lemon. Perfect for holiday snacking!
Do you have a favorite holiday cookie that you'd like veganized? Tell me! I want ideas!
Not that I have a hard time coming up with varieties of cookies (or any sweets for that matter), but I have trouble narrowing them down. There are only 31 days in December and I just can't handle that many cookies. Also, you guys seem to come here for dinner ideas, so I can't completely forget about that for a whole month.
Another thing: my brain always goes straight to chocolate. (I guess you could have gathered that from the holiday treats I've blogger so far this year: mocha cheesecake and chocolate chunk blondies!) Chocolate is great, but a little variety is nice too, and I find that when I to branch out, things do tend to work out well.
Lemon ricotta cookies popped into my head very randomly the other day. I think I made them in a cooking class when I was young, but I can't remember for sure. I do remember what they taste like though, which is odd considering I don't actually recall eating or making them, but whatever. They were good, so let's leave it at that!
I make vegan ricotta all the time for savory recipes, and it's usually more elaborate than this. But ricotta cookies involve beating the heck out of the cheese with a mixer, so you don't need to worry about replicating the texture. So I just used some raw cashews and non-dairy milk. Oh, and since the cashews need to go into the food processor for blending, I just went and blended all the dough in the food processor. Easy!
If you've never had ricotta cookies before you're in for a treat! They're light, cakey cookies, which unfortunately makes it easy to pound a dozen or so in a sitting, but hey, what are holidays for?
Vegan Lemon Ricotta Cookies
These tender vegan ricotta cookies are made with a creamy cashew base, sweetened with maple syrup and flavored with zippy lemon. Perfect for holiday snacking!
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- ¾ cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours and drained
- ⅔ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup unflavored non-dairy milk
- ½ cup organic granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
For the Glaze
- 2 cups organic powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions
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Begin by making the cookies. Preheat the oven to 375° and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Place the cashews, maple syrup, and milk into a food processor and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the sugar, coconut oil, aquafaba, lemon juice, zest, and extract and blend until fully incorporated.
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If you're using a relatively high powered food processor, you can continue mixing in there. Otherwise, move everything to a mixing bowl and stir by hand from here on out. Add the flour, about ½ cup at a time, and pulse or stir until each addition is fully incorporated. When you add the last batch, sprinkle the salt, baking powder, and soda on top. Pulse or stir. You should have a soft, sticky dough.
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Drop the dough by rounded 2-tablespoonfuls on the baking sheets. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until fluffy the cookies are and just starting to brown on the bottoms.
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Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer the baking sheets to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely.
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While the cookies cool, make the glaze. Add a bit of extra powdered sugar if it seems too thin, a bit more lemon juice or water if it's too thick.
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When the cookies have cooled, dip the tops in the glaze. Optionally, decorate them with sprinkles.
Brilliant!
Thank you! :)
I am not able to have cashews so I was wondering if you thought walnuts would be a good substitution? I'm having a hard time finding recipes for pastries without cashews or almonds (both of which I cannot have). I would LOVE to make these cookies! It is a family fave and one of the many things I miss eating.
Love your blog. There are some amazing recipes on here that I can actually eat so, thank you!!
Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipes! I don't think walnuts would work here because they're quite a bit harder and more oily than cashews. My best guesses would be almonds or macadamias, but I can't say for sure without doing some experimenting in the kitchen.
Hi, could I use tofu instead of cashews, and how much would I substitute?
Could I also swap in whole wheat flour?
I'd try using half whole wheat pastry flour, if that's an option.
I haven't tested the recipe with tofu, so I'm not sure!