Classic peanut butter blossoms go vegan! Each of these tender little peanut butter cookies is topped with a dollop of rich coconut ganache, for a burst of chocolaty goodness in every bite.
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoons water
- ¾ cup organic granulated sugar, divided
- ½ cup organic brown sugar
- ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- ½ cup vegan butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 1 cup coconut cream*
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Preheat the oven to 375° and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Whisk the water and flaxseed together in a small bowl. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes to gel while you gather the rest of your ingredients.
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Place ½ cup of sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Add the flax mixture, and beat everything together with an electric mixer on high-speed for about 1 minute, until creamy.
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Add the flour to the bowl, and sprinkle the baking powder, baking soda, and salt on top of the flour. Stir everything together until uniformly blended.
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Place the remaining ¼ cup of sugar into a small bowl.
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Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, then roll the balls in the sugar. Place them on the baking sheets, separated by about 2-inches.
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Bake for 10 minutes, remove the baking sheets from the oven, and transfer them to a cooling rack.
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Wait about 1 to 2 minutes, just until the cookies are cool enough to handle, then use your thumb for form an indentation in the top of each one.
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Allow the cookies to cool completely.
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When the cookies have cooled, melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or by placing them into a bowl and microwaving in 30 second increments, stirring in between.
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Stir the coconut cream into the melted chips. Allow the mixture to cool down a bit, to thicken.
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Spoon a dollop of ganache on top of each cookie. Allow the ganache to set at room temperature (about 1 hour), or chill to speed up the process.
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Serve.
You can buy cans of coconut cream at most grocery stores. Thai Kitchen is a popular brand. You can also extract the cream from a couple cans of coconut milk. Chill the can for at least 12 hours. The coconut milk should separate into cream (the solid portion) and coconut water (the cloudy liquid). Just use the cream. You'll probably need 2 cans of coconut milk to get 1 cup of cream.
Adapted from Betty Crocker.