Irn Bru cookies!

Remember this post about Irn Bru cupcakes?  They were good, but not quite right, and I thought further experimentation was warranted.

Well, some time last week, an ex-pat friend of ours (Brit in Canada) posted on Facebook that he missed Irn Bru.  What better excuse could I have come up with?  I know from homesickness (even if one wouldn't refer to that particular instance as homesickness), and he seemed to be having a crap week on top of that, so I offered to make him some Irn Bru cookies.  He seemed pleased by the idea, so I was like, YEAH LET'S DO THIS!

I did some research into using soda as a flavouring for baked goods and came across this post on grape soda cupcakes from Kelly of The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur.  I also looked for the right cookie recipe.  I finally settled on Kelly's recipe for Amazingly Soft Sugar Cookies.  I basically made an Irn Bru reduction and replaced most of the liquid with the reduction.  Kelly very kindly agreed to let me post her recipe with my minor changes, so here it is.

sorry about the crap pic - I was running late for work

Irn Bru Cookies
(recipe adapted from Amazingly Soft Sugar Cookies in The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza)

Ingredients:

• 4 c Irn Bru

Pour the soda into a pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until it reduces to about 3/4 of a cup.  Set aside to cool.

• 3/4 c margarine
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 1/2 c soy yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 c Irn Bru reduction (plus more if needed)
• 4 c flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar.  Add the yogurt and vanilla and mix to combine, then add 1/4 c Irn Bru reduction and mix until well combined.  Sift in the dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing as you go.  Add more reduction if the dough is dry.  Refrigerate for an hour or more (or freeze for 15 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.  Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls in your hand and then smoosh them down (alternatively, you can roll and cut them).  Place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes or until slightly golden at the edges.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely before icing.

For the icing:  Dump a good amount of icing sugar into a bowl and add about 3 tbsp Irn Bru reduction.  Beat with a fork until smooth.  It should be pretty thick - if it isn't, add more icing sugar.  Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the icing and place on cookie sheets to firm up.  If you're awesome like me, make another batch of glaze and double dip those bad boys once the first round of icing is set.

The whole process takes a few hours, but it'll probably be easier and faster the second time around since I know what I'm doing (and hopefully won't be having an allergy attack like I did this time).

After all that, I never got my friend's address!  But his loss was everyone else's gain - I gave the cookies I took in for shipping to my co-workers, and Mike ate the rest (about a dozen in one night - he really liked them).

I imagine this would work for other types of soda-based cookies, so I might give it a try with something else.  And I might also try to reduce the Irn Bru even further for a stronger flavour - even with the reduction instead of the straight soda, the flavour was still pretty mild.  Any ideas what I should try next?

Vegan MoFo - Quick dessert, quick post

Mike took me to dinner tonight.  We went to Bonsai.  I love Bonsai - so much that I've already done a MoFo post about it!  So I had to figure out something else to blog about for tonight.

On my way home, I decided to make cookies, since I figured they were something I could knock out between getting home and leaving for dinner.  I've never made anything from Kelly Pelosa's The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur, even though I've owned it for a year, so I decided to make something from that.  I already knew I wanted to make chocolate chip, so I flipped to that section of the book.  I picked a recipe that I liked the look of, only to discover that my applesauce had gone off (I really need to start freezing it in portions).  Then I chose another recipe but couldn't decide if I could go ahead and use actual soy yogurt instead of making the fake soy yogurt concoction the recipe calls for (a mixture of soy milk and cornstarch warmed up).  By the time I decided I could probably just use soy yogurt, it was too late to make the cookies.

And this is why I'm posting at 11.30pm - I've just finished making the cookies.  We got home from dinner, I sat around for a bit trying to decide if I'd rather just make blondies, and then I sucked it up and made the cookies.  I finally decided on Kelly's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

These won't replace my favourite chocolate chip cookies, but they were really tasty and pretty easy to make.  The recipe didn't say anything about flattening them, so my first batch was pretty puffy.  It also says it makes 16, but I managed to get 25 decent-sized cookies out of the dough.  This seems like one that would make decent sammich cookies, since the dough feels stiff enough to roll into a log and slice uniformly, but I just did the roll-and-squish method of dough shaping.

The book is packed with recipes I'd like to try, so I'm looking forward to having more time with it.  I've already decided to make another recipe for my office Xmas party.

Do you have the book?  What's your favourite recipe from it?