Once upon a time, I made you these Vegan Spritz Cookies.
I made the cookie dough on a Sunday, made the ganache on Monday, and finally finished assembling them on Thursday. In between, there were spoonfuls of melted chocolate, lazy naps, and lots of snow (June is like, tomorrow, right?). Sometimes, you just need to take a break between batches and pick up a day later, it’s all good!
While these Vegan Spritz Cookies do have some assembly required, they are utterly and completely worth it, two sugar cookies with chocolate filling? I would say so! As you can see from the picture above, determining the right amount of dough to squeeze out was a trail and error situation (I worked left to right, can you tell?). The trick is to squeeze out just enough to form a substantial cookie, without creating a huge splat of dough, case in point, 2nd row 1st on the left). Also, mistake cookies are possibly the best cookies, perfect for “taste testing” and quality control.
No worries if you don’t have a cookie spritz, Â I just happened to have one my grandmother gave to me and was eager to try it out. The dough would work perfectly formed in small cookies and pressed into flat discs.
Ganache. Let’s talk about this finicky sister. Creating just the right temperature for spreading proved to be one of my biggest challenges. Since the filling will harden when set, there is a fine line between slippery-as-Jell-O-molten-chocolate-lava and impossible-to-spread-chocolate-play-doh texture. I found the ganache worked best when I melted together the chocolate mixture, let it cool to room temperature, then stuck it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Not too warm, not too cold, perfect!
Once upon a time, I finally finished these Vegan Spritz Cookies, and they were worth it. Get into it friends, happy Friday!
Also, please send bright sun and a warm beach, I’m long overdue.
Vanilla Spritz CookiesÂ
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Earth Balance (or butter, however you roll)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 pureed banana
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Prepare 2 baking sheets, set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk together flour and salt, set aside. Using an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add banana and vanilla and beat on low until incorporated.
3. Mixing on low, slowly add flour and salt mixture until incorporated, scraping down bowl as needed. Transfer dough to cookie press or pastry bag fitted with a start tip. If you choose to form the dough into discs without a press, go ahead and proceed with that instead.
4. Press cookies onto prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart and forming cookies about 1 inch in diameter. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes.
5. Bake until cookies are golden and firm, 15-18 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and allow to cool completely.
6. Assemble cookies into sandwiches using chocolate ganache, recipe as follows. Refrigerate or freeze for 1 hour, or until set.
Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons Earth Balance
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
pinch of salt
1. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine coconut milk and Earth Balance, bringing to a boil. Turn off heat.
2. Add chocolate and salt, stirring until chocolate is completely melted. Let cool to room temperature, about 45 minutes and allow to chill in freezer for 5 minutes, or until pliable and spreadable.
Sydney Kramer (@CrepesofWrath) says
I love that you don’t need too many special substitute ingredients for these cookies – I am definitely going to make them for my vegan friends! Thank you for the recipe. 🙂
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
I’m so happy to hear that! : )
a farmer in the dell says
these are absolutely lovely! And I’m with you, is it June yet? I’m ready for sunscreen, sunglasses, and flip flops!
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
I know, right?! Give me a beach any day!
Richa says
these cookies are so pretty! and i hear you. i need some sun here too. and some warmed up water on the beach.
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
Thank you! I actually had some that turned out better, but these were a good first attempt : )
Starr says
I agree that ganache can be tricky to work with, but your finished cookies look great! I love spritz cookies 🙂
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
Thanks! I do too, they are just finicky sometimes : )
Lindsay @ VeganYumminess says
Oh Abby, these look AMAZING. I have a cookie press that I haven’t used in years. MUST get it out and try this recipe.
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
Dust that baby off, these are so so worth it! : )
veganyumminess says
These loook AHMAZING! Must get out that cookie press that I haven’t used in way too long….;)
Sophie33 says
Oooh waw, you finally got there i the end: ha! Delightfully vegan cookies! i love your tasty filling too! 🙂
These would make an excellent gift too!
Inger Wilkerson says
These are lovely! Chocolate ganache keeps coming up in my life so I may need to do something with it. Thanks for the tips!
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
It is probably one of the best things you could ever make, so it’s worth it!
Abigail (@teawiththemoon) says
Oh my! Thank you for this recipe! My husband can’t have dairy and so that leaves me a bit distraught sometimes as to what I should bake. And – I just got my grandma’s spitz press this year too. It must have been the thing back in the day 🙂 Thanks again!
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
So glad to help! I love the old presses, so much cooler than the new ones : )