vegan chewy sugar cookies.

That was a reference to the popular Archies song, "Sugar Sugar"

Today was the first day I successfully veganized a recipe. I really like sugar cookies. In fact, they might be my favorite kind of cookie. Not the roll and cut ones, those are super lame and boring. I mean the Mrs. Fields, chewy, laden with rainbow jimmies kind of sugar cookie. I was nervous about adapting a recipe, but I recently committed myself to a baking life sans shortcuts. Basically, I'm going to use real sugary sugar and real (vegan) butter. What's the point of eating dessert if it's healthy? That's no fun. Also, sister Sam taught me how to take pictures of food today. She has a fancy camera and took all of these.

I added yogurt to replace some of the fat and add some real nice flavor. Next time, I think I'll experiment with vegan sour cream or vegan cream cheese.

Vegan Chewy Sugar Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup plain soy yogurt (or  veggie sour cream, or cream cheese)
2 tbs cornstarch
6 tbs vegan butter (or margarine), melted
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbs milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and yogurt, then add cornstarch, melted butter, oil, milk, and vanilla. Whisk it together real well, y'all. For at least a minute.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and combine until a soft dough forms. Now, I think at this point it's super important to refrigerate your dough. That way, it won't spread as much when you bake it and the cookies will turn out chewier. The longer the fridge time, the better. I was an eager beaver and only waited about an hour and a half.

When you just can't stand it any longer, preheat your oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll those puppies into 1.5in balls and flatten them slightly to allow for more even cooking. At this point, you should probably press them into some sugar and/or rainbow jimmies. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown, even if the tops don't look done (they'll finish setting up when they sit for a few minutes on the baking sheet). Cool on metal racks and then go crazy.